Chapter 69: The Prophet of the Red Flesh (5)
No reply came from the crimson prophet. Her shock turned to silence; pieces of the puzzle finally falling into place.
Hesabel’s strike, Zihilrat’s schemes, Reinhardt’s soldiers lying in wait, the chosen sword over secretive tentacles, facing the Rite of Division and the Lighthouse of the Watcher…
It was Isaac’s game, his victory kept hidden till the end.
Though flaws were abundant, the red-fleshed prophet now sensed a late-blooming fear of Isaac.
Imaginations ran wild, fear festered.
‘Fear brews in a mind that thinks.’ Isaac stayed mum, observing the red-fleshed prophet.
Let her craft her own terrors.
So, it’s not like there weren’t any coincidences, right?
But hey, Isaac was already getting ready for the moment he’d meet the prophet of the red flesh again. The damage he caused this time might’ve just been a lost hand for her, but the psychological impact? That was gonna stick with her.
As Isaac got closer, the prophet of the red flesh let out this scream-like cry.
“Come on, those words are so cliché.”
“If I come back…!”
Listening to the prophet ranting, Isaac couldn’t help but think that angels are pretty tough to kill. She could go on and on with her nonsense for days.
But Isaac still had one weapon left to deal with the still-not-sober prophet – the dagger, the Rite of Division, that she had thrown away.
The prophet shuddered as she saw it.
“Ah, you’re scared now, huh?”
The prophet tried to escape, but Isaac was quicker. The moment the Rite of Division pierced her flesh again, a piercing scream filled the air.
With a loud crash, red fragments shattered around as the prophet was banished from the earth.
Isaac pocketed the dagger and it was all over. The Hendrake Fortress had completely changed.
Then, footsteps approached.
The soldiers of Hendrake Fortress had woken up and were opening the city gate. The soldiers of Reinhardt were staring up at Isaac from below, their expressions unreadable.
Cheers? Fear? Shock?
They had witnessed everything – the prophet’s true form, the slicing, the ruin. The atmosphere had shifted among the soldiers who had seen it all.
Finally, a knight knelt before Isaac, followed by the others, including the residents and soldiers.
Isaac felt faith growing inside him. It wasn’t just cheers for a hero; it was worship for a powerful being.
So, you devoured the ‘Red Flesh’.
Thanks to the ‘Dead God’s Intestine’ perk, your consumption game is strong.
The power of miracles from the ‘Red Chalice’ faith gets a permanent boost.
Yup, your charm among the masses increases with the ‘Red Prayer’ perk.
After everything was settled,
Isaac watched the cleanup at the Hendrake fortress from the walls.
Reinhardt’s soldiers had things under control, the Hendrake soldiers subdued and evidence secured. They needed some care, being all weakened and mentally scattered.
Isaac was going through the aftermath of the battle.
‘Well, after chowing down on that Red Flesh… the Red Chalice faith miracles got a serious boost, way better than we hoped for.’
The power of the Red Chalice faith seemed to have gone up by around 20%. It might sound a bit vague, but for Isaac and his Red Chalice miracles like ‘Red Prayer’ and ‘Bloodsucking’, it was a big upgrade.
The other miracles also got a nice 10% bump. Just from eating, Isaac got some solid results, a real win-win.
On top of that, this time he picked up a non-combat ability with the ‘Red Prayer’ perk. It seemed like this consumption gig could help sway folks, kinda fitting for a sly guy like Isaac.
That perk came in handy for Isaac in various situations.
But the real prize was the reward he got for completing a mission from the anonymous chaos.
[‘Chaos Reward for Consuming the Prophet of Red Flesh’ unlocked.]
[Now you can beef up or mix together one of the ‘Nameless Chaos’ faith miracles.]
Boosting and blending miracles.
This was a super rare treat from ‘Nameless Chaos’. Depending on how things turned out, it could be top-tier, bordering on next-level. But for Isaac, it also posed a bit of a headache.
‘The issue is we don’t know many miracles tied to the nameless chaos faith, so the combo results are up in the air…’
Sure, you could predict to an extent. Merging A and B should give you AB or BA, not something totally unrelated like C. But the big question was: would it actually work well? Like turning a chicken knife into a cow slaying one.
Still, doing something was better than nothing at all.
‘I’ve got my enhancement plan nailed down.’
The main focus was ‘Touch of Chaos’. Those tentacles were Isaac’s go-to move. Any chance to boost them had to be taken. The tough part was deciding what to pair them up with.
‘It’s not urgent, so I’ll mull it over more.’
Seeing the results ahead of time would be sweet, but Isaac doubted any combo would be a letdown. He opted to think a bit more before diving in.
And there were a bunch of other things on his plate right now.
“Hey there, Sir Isaac, badass Holy Grail dude.”
As Isaac mulled things over, Reinhardt strolled up.
Meeting Isaac’s gaze, Reinhardt bowed and saluted respectfully.
While he had always been polite, it was more out of respect for Isaac’s background in the order. But now, he acted like a follower.
Isaac felt a twinge of pride but didn’t dwell on it.
Being a humble Grail Knight was his role to play.
“Don’t sweat it, Count Reinhardt.”
“It’s not up to me, Sir Grail Knight. How could I even…”
Reinhardt had seen Isaac take down the prophet of the Red Flesh. Watching an angel, a once-in-a-lifetime sight, get beaten by a plain old human was like something out of a fairy tale.
So, Reinhardt was totally convinced that Isaac was like, some sort of secret agent or maybe even an angel in training sent straight from the light scriptures. Isaac appreciated Reinhardt’s respect, but was all like, “Yo, let’s not let that slow us down, alright?”
Cutting to the chase, Isaac asked, “How’s the cleanup going?”
“Oh yeah, we’ve taken care of all the bodies in the castle. Still fixing up the passages, but the main routes are good to go. And guess what? We found those peeps who were locked up in the dungeon…”
Reinhardt hesitated. He had rushed to see Isaac before everything was all wrapped up, and Isaac knew exactly what was on his mind, playing it cool and waiting for the deets.
“We located Lord Kyle Hendrake. Guy seemed totally out of it, like he’d lost his marbles.”
“Dang, that sucks,” Isaac remarked.
Kyle Hendrake’s situation was pretty messy.
He’d been up to all kinds of shady stuff—embezzling cash, getting into brawls with soldiers and knights, even pulling a sword on a Grail Knight, and hanging out with suspected heretics Raela and Owen… Dude had a laundry list of crimes.
But here’s the kicker: the ‘Prophet of Red Flesh,’ this big shot archangel from the Red Chalice crew, was scheming with him in his own territory.
It could all be chalked up to ‘falling for the Red Chalice’s tricks,’ but how was some regular dude supposed to go up against an angel mastermind?
Sure, Kyle had messed up big time, but who was gonna decide how much he should pay for it all? Reinhardt, who had been holed up at the inn? The inquisitors who were late to the party?
The one calling the shots was Isaac, the dude who had been watching and sorting out this whole mess.
And Isaac had put off passing judgment on Kyle.
Of course, Isaac had already figured out how to work Kyle into his plans, but it needed to be handled with care to keep up appearances.
“Got it. Protect Kyle Hendrake, dude’s a key witness. I’ll keep digging into Raela’s heretical business,” Isaac said.
The inquisitors were on their way.
Isaac had to suss out what Raela had been cooking up before they showed up.
***
Isaac turned Raela’s room inside out.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to show for it. Isaac wasn’t really expecting to strike gold.
The Red Chalice crew was all about sneaky plots and hush-hush deals. It would’ve been a shocker if the ‘Prophet of Red Flesh,’ their big shot archangel, had left any breadcrumbs. They’d been prepping for a castle lockdown for days, any incriminating evidence had probably been nixed.
There were some sus items, but nothing slam dunk.
‘There’s gotta be a reason she was holed up here…’
The Immortal Order and the Red Chalice Club had some grand plan for making a new deity in Hendrake’s hood. Even though Calzen Miller had disappeared, there was some major motive for setting up camp here. Isaac knew the deal, but not the exact spot.
It was like holding the map to treasure but not knowing where X marks the spot.
‘And what’s the deal with reviving the ancient gods on top of this new one? It’s all connected, right?’
The Immortal Order wasn’t just in it to birth a new god.
They were also on about waking up the old gods.
Hey, so it’s kinda fuzzy what they were aiming for by stirring up these not-so-holy creatures, but the Red Chalice Club was lending a hand in the scheme. Maybe Raela set up shop here to gear up for bringing back an old god.
As we dug into Raela’s mission and checked out the docs, some dots started connecting.
In the papers scattered in Raela’s crib, there were flyers for Loracus, with some familiar names like Seor and Ariet, and some border spots.
Harking back to his gaming days, Isaac saw that more than half of these spots had sanctuaries.
‘Were they setting up spots to bring back ancient gods? Those prime locations would’ve been handy…’
Maybe they used Loracus to move around the Walraika hunters. But, it wasn’t clear if this needed an archangel to get involved.
With this intel, Isaac could kinda guess where they were gearing up to revive these ancient gods. Not all these spots would be part of the plan, but gathering this info could hint at their endgame.
‘And the Immortal Order…’
No matter how sneaky the Red Chalice Club was, they were small fry compared to the Immortal Order. Isaac had seen the Order trying to bring an ancient god back at the Ariet Monastery. The Walraika hunters were just the muscle then.
‘Thinking back to the game start, most ancient gods were like tough bosses or named baddies. They were good for XP, but why revive them?’
As Isaac mulled over it, he figured he might be looking at it the wrong way.
‘What if the goal wasn’t reviving these old gods but scoring experience points?’
A new thought dawned on Isaac.
‘What if someone’s prepping to take down the revived ancient gods to fuel up?’
