Chapter 206

Chapter 206
## Chapter 206: The Palga Knight Order

The sense of futility was overwhelming.

To have a “feast” snatched away not just once, but twice in rapid succession was maddening. Even after making meticulous adjustments to ensure the previous blunder wasn’t repeated, the outcome remained unchanged.

“……This is beyond belief.”

It was so absurd that the initial spark of rage didn’t even have the strength to catch fire. Yet, the reality was undeniable. They had no choice but to submit to the verdict delivered by the “Great Will of the Moon.”

This left them with a single path forward.

“That orthodoxy is fundamentally different from our own.”

The denial wasn’t born of simple stubbornness. The Golden Goat’s orthodoxy was a complete outlier compared to the entities they had formed contracts with. It started with the impossibility of a twelfth orthodoxy existing at all.

Then there was the physical manifestation they had just witnessed. It didn’t resemble an orthodoxy; it looked like a reaper pulled into existence by one.

“The reaper is the reflection of orthodoxy.”

A shadow, a tool for the dark work, a disposable hound. There was no logical reason for the source of orthodoxy itself to take the shape of a reaper.

In short:

“It’s a deception. It isn’t true orthodoxy.”

An orthodoxy incapable of manifesting its own reaper was a fraud. It had to be. They had been misled once, but they wouldn’t be fooled a second time.

The words of the Golden Mask drew somber nods from the gathered circle. If this wasn’t a genuine “orthodoxy,” then it had made fools of everyone present, and a harsh retribution would be required. True “orthodoxy” would surely be capable of summoning a reaper to its side.

“Let’s see if you can actually do it.”

The Golden Mask’s gaze burned with a challenging light as he stared at the Golden Goat, practically begging for a demonstration.

It was precisely at that moment.

—*Kwaaaaaang!*

A thunderous explosion erupted from the exterior grounds. It carried the weight of a massive celestial body crashing into the earth.

The ground buckled, and the very foundations of the imperial palace groaned under the vibration.

“What was that?”

“Is the palace under siege?”

The guardians’ expressions darkened. Who would possess the insanity to strike the heart of the Arhon Empire? Such an event had been unheard of since the nation’s birth. To even reach these walls, one had to navigate a labyrinth of security. An external strike should have been intercepted miles away.

If the threat wasn’t coming from the outside, then…

“……From within?”

“No, wait. That isn’t an attack. This is something else……”

The initial roar faded, replaced by a suffocating pressure bleeding in from the gardens. It wasn’t the sound of a siege; it was the sound of a sudden arrival. A colossal presence had manifested nearby.

*Thud! Thud thud thud!*

A knight scrambled into the hall, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he dropped into a deep, desperate bow.

“Pardon the interruption of the feast! But this requires your immediate attention…!”

“Explain this chaos,” the Golden Mask demanded.

The knight, clad in silver plate, looked up with wide, terrified eyes.

“A—a titan has appeared in the palace gardens!”

“A monster?”

“It’s……!”

“Get to the point. An intruder breached the garden?”

“No! It didn’t breach anything! It simply appeared out of thin air……”

“……What kind of creature is it?”

Manifested from nothingness. The massive weight they felt in the air was undoubtedly linked to whatever was now standing in the garden. But this was the imperial capital—the seat of the Emperor. It was a fortress of legends who wouldn’t blink at a common beast.

“Unless it’s something beyond comprehension.”

The knight’s sheer terror suggested this was no ordinary threat. The fact that he had risked execution for interrupting the banquet proved this was a “transcendent” entity. Had the White King or Black King finally made their move?

When the Golden Mask pressed for a name, the knight swallowed hard and forced the word out. The name made the Golden Mask and the guardians freeze in disbelief.

“‘Baal’……! Baal has manifested!!”

—

The palace garden was now the stage for a nightmare.

A titan filled the vast landscape. Knights stood with bared steel, their hands trembling, while the agents of the Reaper Church—those wearing the masks of beasts—watched the creature’s every twitch with bated breath.

*Gulp.*

The sheer majesty and the crushing weight of its aura made it hard to breathe. They all recognized the legend before them.

“How can Baal be here……!”

“Wasn’t it erased in the abyss?”

The Four Evils. The four calamities that had brought the ancient world to its knees when the land was still unified. One of those horrors, Baal, now stood in their courtyard.

It was illogical. The Baal summoned at the Cultivator’s Mountain had transformed into the abyss itself before vanishing under mysterious circumstances. That was the official record. So why was the vanished beast now standing in the heart of the empire?

“Why is it stationary?”

“Summoned entities rarely move without the intent of their master.”

“……?”

It was then that a new sound cut through the tension.

*Clack! Clack!*

The rhythmic strike of hooves announced a newcomer. All eyes shifted, and a wave of recognition turned the soldiers to stone.

“The Palga Knights……!”

“‘Raiga,’ the Supreme Commander……!!”

Raiga, the leader of the Palga Knight Order and widely considered the empire’s most lethal blade, had arrived. He was flanked by dozens of his elite warriors. Dressed in armor marked with the numeral for “eight” on the pauldrons, he stood with arms crossed, observing Baal with a detached curiosity.

“Hmm. I return only to be greeted by a rare sight.”

He hadn’t expected to run into Baal the moment he stepped back into the palace. If the summoner had created something that didn’t exist, it would be a fake, right? But the craftsmanship was too perfect. It wasn’t just the shape; even the internal flow of power was a mirror image.

A truly unique dilemma. A counterfeit so perfect it was indistinguishable from the original.

“You’ve arrived late, Commander Raiga.”

A group pushed through the ranks of soldiers—the leadership of the Reaper Church. When the Golden Mask spoke, Raiga merely shrugged.

“I don’t have the luxury of sitting through banquets like you people.”

*Thud!*

Raiga reached into his tunic and tossed a small object onto the stones. It was a severed, pitch-black pinky finger.

The Golden Mask looked down and whispered, “……The third ‘fragment’?”

“Indeed. The third ‘Fragment of Ruin.’ It was a nightmare to reclaim.”

The Fragment of Ruin. A dark mirror to the Goddess’s Star.

*Wriggle! Wriggle!*

The severed digit twitched on the ground, seemingly alive with a corrupted will.

“Eek……!”

“Stay back!”

The surrounding knights recoiled, sensing the oily, nauseating aura of the object. Raiga let out a dry laugh.

“You lot should be careful too. That finger is looking for any opening to slide down a throat and find a new host.”

He was openly mocking the Reaper Church leaders. It was a clear display of the friction between the Palga Knights and the Church. Unfazed, the Golden Mask reached down and secured the Fragment of Ruin.

“I appreciate the warning. ……I’ll take charge of this.”

“Go ahead. That’s your burden to carry.”

Raiga clicked his tongue in boredom. He turned his attention back to the massive beast looming over them.

“So…… who is responsible for this masterpiece?”

“……”

The Golden Mask remained silent. He couldn’t answer because he didn’t know the source either. Intrigued, Raiga began to circle Baal, inspecting it like a piece of art.

“It can’t be the original…… yet it possesses an aura that says otherwise. It seems to be sustained by the summoner’s internal energy……”

Raiga tilted his head in thought. Since Baal was dead, this had to be a fabrication. Yet the detail was staggering. If the real Baal stood next to it, would there even be a difference? Furthermore, while it was a summon, the energy it leaked wasn’t standard mana.

It felt like…

“Hmm, this isn’t mana—it’s reaper power. Is it possible the one who called forth Baal is an orthodoxy?”

He had immediately identified the source of the power. However, an orthodoxy was supposedly limited to summoning “reapers.”

As Raiga voiced his confusion, the Golden Mask felt a cold chill. In terms of reading the flow of energy and hidden truths, Raiga surpassed everyone. If the Commander made a claim, it was a certainty.

If this was a summon fueled by reaper energy, there was only one possible candidate.

One by one, the guardians turned their heads toward a single person. Raiga followed their gaze, his eyes flashing with newfound interest.

“……So, you are the ‘twelfth’? The one who brought Baal here?”

A faint, dangerous smile touched his lips. He knew of the new guardian’s arrival. He had been curious, but summoning Baal was beyond his expectations.

“……Yes. Baal is the ‘reaper’ I have manifested.”

I gave a slow nod and stepped into the center of the garden.

—

The Palga Knight Order. The empire’s foundation, an elite force culled from the eight great houses. Their leader, Raiga, was an enigma who rarely showed himself to the world.

But the moment I looked at him, I understood.

“……He doesn’t need to summon a monster. He is one.”

At a distance, he looked like an ordinary man. No overwhelming mana, no crushing presence. But that was the most terrifying part—it meant he had completely internalized and sealed his vast power. He was the most formidable human I had ever encountered, perhaps on the same level as Wilhelm.

“The Emperor’s true weapon. That is Commander Raiga.”

The Palga knights were formidable in their own right, but Raiga was in a different league entirely.

“He’s hunting Fragments of Ruin. But for what purpose?”

The revelation that he was personally hunting the fragments was jarring. Having a third meant he already held two others. Considering these fragments were usually found within demon kings or beings like Baal, it meant the Palga Knights had been out hunting legends while the rest of us were at a party.

‘I can never let him find out I carry a Fragment of Ruin.’

Given his current mission, my situation was precarious. Raiga had instantly deduced that Baal was a product of orthodoxy. His eyes were far too perceptive. He could likely see right through me.

‘But he shouldn’t be able to bypass Observation Immunity.’

I tried to steady my thoughts. No matter how sharp his intuition, “Observation Immunity” was a hard barrier. As long as I kept my mouth shut, the secret remained safe.

“But……”

I looked past the Commander. There was something I couldn’t explain.

“……Why are you standing there, Isabella?”