Chapter 16

Nick took his new skill and tried to use it. But he didn't succeed, after reading the skill description again, Nick decided to predict what could happen himself and the skill began to help him with this. It rejected some events that he thought about and added more weight to other possibilities. In general, it was a prediction skill that relied on the user's thought process and the amount of information available to him. What he considered the most likely event was a cruel punishment of the priests, they would not even get to the church. After 10 minutes of driving, a portal opened not far from the city and 4 people came out of it. Nick's smile grew wider.

Name: Gareth Ghostblade 200 years old

Раса: Evolved Human [Rare] Lvl 200

Class: Phantom Sword Art Elite [Special] Lvl 400

Class: Noble Fortress Defender [Special] Lvl 300

Name: Benedict Kinseth 225 years old

Race: Human [Uncommon] Lvl 200

Class: Phantom Sword Art Elite [Special] Lvl 336

Class: Great Butler Bodyguard [Special] Lvl 400

Name: Reynald Breathing 90 years old

Race: Human attuned to air mana [Rare] Lvl 200

Class: Air Mage [Rare] Lvl 300

Class: Great Tactician [Special] Lvl 310

Name: Walter Traveler 82 years old

Race: Mana-Tuned Human [Rare] Lvl 200

Class: Space Mage [Special] Lvl 300

Class: Arcane Mage [Rare] Lvl 300

The priest was surprisingly calm, Nick expected him to be in a state of extreme panic. The priest ordered the carriage to be stopped and then got out of it to meet the people.

"Hello, what brings the esteemed House of Ghostblade to us at this moment?" The priest asked with a slight smile. Gareth Ghostblade, the one in charge of all security for the family's estate, answered.

"Members of the esteemed church, I am sure that there is a perfect explanation for why two young masters of famous houses are in restraining shackles. And I hope that you can explain it to me clearly." Gareth behaved calmly and the people around him too, only Benedict showed visible anger.

"All simply respected gentlemen, these people attacked members of the church and therefore we are taking them into the custody of Archbishop Raiheim."

"I know you're telling the truth, but how do you explain that you met them outside the city?"

"We were, of course, returning from carrying out our sacred mission. And when our groups crossed paths, these young men attacked us."

"I believe you, but you have two options. Either you give us the young masters, or you try to tell the church how you and the others were left without hands." Gareth announced his demands as if he was telling someone about something inevitable, but the priest, on the contrary, reacted aggressively.

"You are threatening the church?! Unheard of! I will tell the Archbishop about this! And for attacking a member of the church, you will face the Inquisition!" The priest did not believe what Gareth said at all. Nick understood this, no one attacked members of the church for no reason. And it did not matter who it was, everyone would be awaited by the Inquisition on the orders of the Pope. But Nick knew why they were here, and therefore Gareth knew too. Apparently, the Archbishop really wanted to meet them and therefore decided to rely on the reputation of the church. Most likely, he expected to keep them on a leash for some time, for unknown purposes.

"It doesn't matter, you're too small to understand what's going on right now and it doesn't matter at all. I'll give you 3 seconds to think about it. Time's up."

"You will only take these children if you kill me."

The priest said this with a smug smile, but he did not expect Gareth to carry out his threat. A moment later, a dozen blows hit the golden barrier that appeared. The priest had to invest a lot of mana to protect himself, but a moment later, the Space Mage cast a dispel spell and the barrier cracked. It did not matter what the priest did, he already found himself with his hands cut off, and in the next moment, the hands of all the other ministers of the church were also cut off. The priest and his retinue could not believe their eyes, all of them had their hands cut off, they were all bleeding, but they were not in danger of dying in the near future due to their tall build, many were crying loudly, some were begging for mercy, it was a massacre in the literal sense of the word. But Gareth and the others showed no mercy.

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"Benedict, go and free the young gentlemen, and in the meantime we'll give them a healing potion so they don't die from bleeding."

Nick took great pleasure in seeing the priest heal his open wounds where his hands had once been. His face no longer showed complacency, now he knew for sure that he should not have taken on this job. Gathering all his resolve, the priest spoke.

"Dear Gareth, you've got what you wanted, you can go."

"Alas, but you are right. As much as I would like to cut you with the cursed blade. It would be considered too cruel. Do not forget to mention this to His Eminence. Farewell."

Nick and Liam had long since been untied and were watching the whole spectacle. Nick wanted to know exactly how the church felt about it. The space mage created a portal and they crossed it with the others.

The priest who remained in place could now show his anger.

"How dare they! They cut off all our hands. The Church will not forgive them!"

The priest took a pendant from his pocket and pressed one symbol. A voice came from the pendant.

"Yes, I'm listening to you Fabio. Everything went well?"

"No Archbishop Rayheim, Gareth Ghostblade has arrived along with three other [Special] class users. They cut off all of our hands and took the children. Archbishop, please report this to His Eminence, they must be punished by the Inquisition!"

"Tsk, Phantom Blades, I didn't expect them to put up such resistance. But you're right, this is something to tell His Eminence."

***

Later that evening, the Archbishop called a meeting in the main church of the holy capital, Alexandria. Almost all the senior members of the church were present.

"I am officially beginning our meeting. Dear Archbishop Rayheim, why have you called this urgent meeting?" said the Pope.

"Yes, Your Eminence, I regret to inform you that a group of priests was attacked by the House of the Phantom Blade. They brutally cut off the hands of all the church members who were there."

A deathly silence fell over the hall. Even the Pope did not know what to say. This attack could be interpreted in many ways. Treason against the Holy Kingdom, open war with the Church, or any other reason. But usually the Church considered it a declaration of war. But there was no point in that, there was no reason for such a strong House to openly attack the Church, it was simply stupid. So the Pope did not rush to conclusions.

"And what prompted this attack?"

"The priests were transporting young master Dylan Ghostblade and young master Liam Changeable Water. They attacked the same priests for no reason."

"Okay, but why would they attack priests? Are you not telling me something?"

The Archbishop swallowed the saliva that had accumulated in his throat and continued under the stern gaze of His Eminence.

"Yes, Your Eminence, I have sent the priests to escort the young gentlemen to the church for a talk."

"Okay, so what were the kids doing at that moment?"

"Ahem, they registered under fake names in the adventurer's guild and went to do the introductory mission, they were met by priests outside the city after the mission. Then they were attacked by young gentlemen."

Pope rubbed his temples and decided to ask again to be completely sure of what he had heard.

"You, against my orders, wanted to contact the supposed reincarnators and tracked them down for this purpose. After which the priests were rebuffed by the House of the Phantom Blade?"

"Yes, Your Eminence, But I didn't expect the House of the Phantom Blade to react like this. Showing such aggression towards the church is unacceptable to anyone!"

In his 1,000 years of leading the church, no one had disobeyed his direct order. The Pope was very angry, which did not suit his status at all. He tapped his fingers on the table and decided to give a clear example of why no one had done this before. Activating his [Mythic]-level skill [Holy Supreme Authority Church], he spoke.

"By the authority vested in me, I deprive you of the title of Archbishop and appoint you an acolyte for your crimes against the Church."

When Pope spoke, Archbishop Raiheim knelt down, his body began to convulse, blood began to flow from all his orifices, at the end of his speech, he lost consciousness due to intense agony. In the hall, all the high-ranking officials of the holy church were very scared, they had only heard about the possibility of Pope having such a skill, but had never seen it in action. Only Yuriel remained calm.

"Tell him that he is being transferred to the Yateya Fortress. I want him to have the right to earn forgiveness in the battle against the monsters. Heal everyone who was injured by the House of the Phantom Blade, and also send a sincere apology to their House and the House of Changeable Water for what happened. I declare the meeting closed."

Name: Rayheim Zorin 252 years old

Race: Human attuned to holy mana [Rare] 400 Lvl

Class: Acolyte [Uncommon] 1 Lvl

Class: Holy Mage of the Purifying Flame [Special] 400 Lvl

***

After Nick and Liam came out of the portal, they were met by their mothers Firel and Limia. They looked at their wounds with concern and asked how this could have happened. After a long conversation that they were still children and it was too early for them to go outside since they could not protect themselves, they were sent to their rooms to rest. After Nick had a good night's sleep, he went out for a family dinner. His father was at dinner and he announced what everyone was so worried about.

"Pope personally apologizes for what happened and asks for our forgiveness as a church. The guilty Archbishop has been punished and demoted to the status of Acolyte, and he has been sent to the fortress of Yateya to atone for his guilt."

Isn't that great?

"But it still shows how much you two matter. You will not go out again without such stupidity without open protection. And until your 15th birthday you will not leave the borders of our estates."

"What??? But that's not fair!"

Nick turned on his new skill, but it didn't work. He couldn't predict anything at this point. Nick noted with great regret that he still hadn't fully figured out the skill. He had nothing to counter his father with except stupid objections, so he decided to agree with him.

"Dylan, this is not up for discussion, you will resume your training soon and I expect great success from both of you."