“Got it. I’ll lead the others there soon,” the man on the screen said.

Since it was an emergency, the top brass of the Holy Church were gathered to discuss plans moving forward.

“Yes, understood,” Karon replied with his usual fake smile before cutting off the transmission spell.

However, contrary to his words, Karon had no intention of waiting for them to arrive.

It was only natural.

After all, he was different from that guy who simply couldn’t comprehend the biggest secret hidden by the Holy Church that he learned from the missing Pope.

The power and abilities they possessed were worlds apart.

As a cardinal responsible for the most critical aspects of the Empire, Karon wielded an incomparable power compared to anyone in the Holy Church.

He wasn’t called the next Pope for nothing.

“Those idiots coming here will only get in my way.”

They were all nothing but hypocrites.

Just looking at that one guy made it clear.

He knew well that as their power expanded, corruption was inevitable, and while he acknowledged that some issues were occurring, he also felt he had to address them.

Even if he understood things couldn’t be fixed, he said one should at least try to correct the wrongs.

“Ugh, it’s absolutely disgusting.”

Whether they act like saints or engage in all kinds of corruption behind closed doors, the Holy Church was full of those pests.

The latter group at least communicated somewhat effectively, but…

They’re still just half-wits, feeling repulsed by the efficient means of using orphans to create a Holy Grail.

He recalled a time he suggested it, and they firmly rejected it, saying it was clearly worthy of divine punishment.

Stupidly revealing their discomfort meant he could silence them there and then, which was a small relief.

“Everyone’s so frustrating.”

By using people as materials, one could harvest divine power without end.

Those insects deflected the idea of using humans for such purposes like hypocritical gasbags.

But make no mistake; there is simply no material more efficient than humans.

Karon had come this far. He caught the eye of the Pope, who understood his intentions, and gained the position of heir.

However, this efficient method could only be realized within the Empire.

That’s because those hypocrites would surely reject the sensible means of utilizing the divine.

Thanks to that, he wasted unnecessary time ensuring tight security.

He could have mass-produced Holy Grails more efficiently but couldn’t.

“Great, now things are about to get annoying.”

Just dealing with the Black Fangs’ leader was already a full-time job. Now, he had to clean up unnecessary evidence because of their visit.

For now, he must quickly turn over the corpse of the hero to the Empire.

He had maintained a deep relationship with the Second Prince, so he could just ask him for a favor.

If he entrusted it to that sly Emperor, he’d definitely lose his claim over it. The Second Prince was just right for the job.

“…?”

Why did it suddenly feel unsettling and anxious?

A bad premonition washed over him. It felt as though he was making a wrong choice.

However, Karon was a rational human being.

Therefore, he didn’t abandon his most efficient plan just because of some instinctual unease.

“… Cardinal, the preparations for the ritual are complete!”

Amidst organizing evidence, a report came from one of his subordinates.

Karon quickly moved his feet.

As he conjured a spell, a hidden passage appeared.

He descended the stairs leading to the underground chapel.

Walking through the dark corridor, he came across a well filled with a red liquid.

Holy Blood.

An object that had been passed down for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. A relic created from the bones and flesh of a saint who had completed her duties.

The very history of the Holy Church, the most potent item they owned.

It was Karon’s trump card that he had saved for last.

Though he felt a bit regretful, trump cards are meant to be used at moments like this.

There hadn’t been a moment more critical than now.

Before the leader of the Black Fangs could expose his biggest secret, he had to take actions to counter it.

Karon submerged himself in the well.

His white robe soaked in red.

He felt a powerful energy envelop his entire body.

No matter how strong the leader of the Black Fangs was, there was no way he could withstand this.

The manifestation of a living miracle.

This was a vessel that had amassed the power of the saint over dozens of generations.

It was on a whole other level compared to the Holy Grail.

Unless one was a monster like the Emperor of the Empire, they could never resist it. Soon that leader would lose his consciousness and become a mere puppet of the Holy Church.

He would soon pay a price.

The price for touching a being that should never have been provoked.

The cost of daring to challenge the Holy Church without knowing one’s place.

Karon smiled as he prayed in that sacred well.

Leader of the Black Fangs…

…

He sent his consciousness into that person’s mind.

*

“… Hey, are you alright, Cardinal?”

A voice broke through Karon’s thoughts.

He rubbed his forehead with exasperation and spoke curtly, “Nothing happened. Don’t disturb me with your nonsense.”

His words were unusually forceful.

Throwing away all pretense, his words startled his subordinate.

But Karon had no time to deal with that.

It was only natural.

Nothing had happened…

Well, that’s a lie.

Too much had occurred. He felt dizzy from it all.

‘What the hell was that?’

Why were there images of human waste and… disgusting photos of elderly women filling his mind world?

It was one thing to have a twisted preference; he certainly sensed a strong hatred towards those images.

But if he hated them, why did they occupy such a significant space in his mind?

It felt as if he was facing them all day.

‘No, that’s not the only weird thing.’

Fursuits.

His obsessive love for beastkin led him to wear a costume that transforms him into one.

He had bought that item with an entire month’s salary and felt an attachment to it.

A muscular hand brought a stone etched with electric patterns close to a yellow rat’s total excretion.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t erase the strange breath and cold sweat of that yellow rat from his memory, nor the excited expression on its face.

And something far worse that felt like thinking about it could overturn every rational thought he had built.

Images and videos that made no sense as to why they even existed in the world flooded his mind realm.

The more he scanned his mind space, the more he stumbled upon such bizarre content.

What kind of mental state did this guy possess, and what kind of life had he lived? No matter how much he pondered, he couldn’t begin to guess.

But one fact was clear.

This person was definitely not the leader of the Black Fangs.

There was no way such a creature could lead the Black Fangs.

It simply couldn’t happen. Absolutely no way.

Such a being beneath even the standards of ‘human’…

No, a being that fell below that could have pushed the Holy Church into a corner.

“… What the heck is going on?”

Thus, Karon fell into confusion.

With such a bizarre mental landscape, he had hastily returned to reality before his mind broke down in perception.

No matter how he thought, he couldn’t understand what had just happened.

…

That person was certainly known as the leader of the Black Fangs.

A character whom the Empire had launched a nationwide manhunt for. If he didn’t know about him, that’d be even weirder.

But that ‘person’ couldn’t possibly resemble the leader of the Black Fangs at all.

Then… does that mean it was all a mistake made by the Empire?

Every single bit of it?

Was it possible that such vast efforts to investigate were merely the Empire’s troops making fools of themselves?

‘Does that even make sense?’

A colossal force like the Empire confusing such a loser with the leader of the Black Fangs.

How could such an outrageous thing happen?

Yet… given the current situation, that was the only explanation. There was simply no other way to rationalize this chaos.

“C-Cardinal…”

Just as Karon was particularly flummoxed, his oblivious subordinate kept bothering him.

“I told you to shut up,” Karon snapped, his sanity already slipping.

But strangely, the subordinate didn’t obey his command.

“U-Um, is everything really okay?”

In this already troubling atmosphere, Karon’s temper flared at that questioning tone, and he thought about reprimanding the subordinate before stopping himself.

He had no choice but to halt.

Because he looked where the trembling subordinate was pointing.

“What is this…?”

The most powerful relic possessed by the Holy Church.

An item that had been passed down for hundreds, maybe thousands of years, alongside the history of the Holy Church.

The treasure of all treasures.

The well of miracles was drying up.

In that brief moment, nearly half of the Holy Blood had evaporated.

…It was the moment when the history of the Holy Church was halved for the sake of chasing droves of furry fan art.