Sylvester decided not to waste any more time and started preparing for the worst immediately. Unfortunately, time and time again, his life has proven that the worst always happens. Even if some miracles appear later, initially, the worst part comes and does break you.

"Are you mad? You won't survive there, not with your current rank. I'm a Bishop and half-past Master Wizard. I couldn't even take one strike from that monster."

Sylvester was with the necromancer clergyman. He had never expected to see a necromancer in service of the god of light. His past world had painted a specific view through various books and entertainment, that dark magic and necromancy equal bad.

Sylvester was no longer in the mood to joke as the task was too big. "Bishop Lazark, I respect your opinion, you are more experienced than me, but I am more experienced than you in Light magic and fighting a Bloodling. We are stuck here, and down south, the road has been blocked by the mist, and in the north, beyond the Northern Duchy, the brigands are targeting any letter I send.

"If we try to go to Holy Land personally and bring help, then before we even return, the entire town will be gone, just like the village you went to investigate. That would mean assignment failure for both of us."

"How are you planning to fight?" Bishop Lazark asked.

Sylvester raised his palm and let it shine in bright light. But it was different this time as the light was not just for the sake of it being light, but rather, this was to solidify it and turn it into a sharp little spearhead. "With light, of course… and Bishop, I'm also a Master Wizard."

"How in the heavens have you solidified the light magic? This is unheard of… maybe one of the Popes could do it but… how?" The man was shocked beyond belief and appeared to have not heard the last words of Sylvester.

"Death—near-death experiences, Bishop. The last time I was caught up with a bloodling to save myself, I came up with this. They don't lie in the Holy Land when they teach us that pushing oneself often results in improvement—death as well, sometimes." Sylvester replied and decided to let the man be in his room. It felt too gloomy for some reason.

"Meow!"

However, as Sylvester was about to leave the room, he saw a skeleton… a moving skeleton of a cat. It even had fake cat ears. "How is it making the sound?"

"Oh, that's just the advanced level of reanimation spells. Meet Harpy. She used to be my cat. She died, and I brought her back. She has been my one true partner on all my adventures."

"..."

Sylvester was out of words. 'Buddy, you need to find some friends fast.'

"Take care. Tell me if you ever change your mind and decide to come with us to fight that Bloodling." Sylvester bid goodbye and headed out.

But the necromancer stopped him again. "What's your Master Wizard level?"

Sylvester smiled back. "Join me in the fight and find out. See you later."

'I'll make you join anyway by guilt tripping you, crazy man.' Sylvester, as always, was cooking something up.

…

Sylvester wanted to take time off healing people and exorcizing demons to start training for his eventual battle, but he had to take part in the trial of Chief Kennard and Pollux, the fake Archpriest.

The trial was being held in front of the people, and they would also give the punishment publicly.

As the new chief of the town, Sir Holand presided over it and announced the verdict that he had discussed with Sylvester beforehand.

"People of the Sphinx town, I am regretful and ashamed to reveal the folly that these two have committed against this town. They single-handedly tried to destroy us all, for their evils knew no bounds. While Chief Kennard was caught trying to kill the only man in town who knew how to heal the mentally ill, Pollux tried to kill his team.

"Doing so would have brought the full wrath of the Holy Land, the Holy Army, and the Inquisition. Yet, these two wished to go ahead with it—but it's the nobility of Lord Bard, the great healer, that he did not hold the town responsible. However, the sinners must be punished—with the highest possible punishment.

"May I announce it, Lord Bard?" Sir Holand asked, but his brows were twitching at that moment. He did not wish to let Sylvester speak here as that would cause doubt regarding authority in people's minds, but this was a part of the deal he had made with Sylvester.

For Sylvester, this was the best time to shine some light upon the minds of the town folks and earn some of their worship and loyalty.

He smiled and showed his palm and sent out bright golden light from the palm, then he started singing, and the large bright halo at the back of the head earned loud awes.

♫The time is of the essence,

Yet anytime one can feel the lord's presence.

For it resides everywhere and in all.

He sees our sins, immense or small♫

♫It matters not whether you worship him or not.

His light gives warmth to even those who forgot.

And burns the sinners who plot—are caught.

As per, these here have been brought.

Merciful—they shall die, instead of being locked to rot.♫

♫May the holy light enlighten the darkness around.

May he heal this town's painful wound.

In his light, let all be drowned—let joy be inbound!♫

"AMEN!"

Heads suddenly turned as one hooded man with a freakishly dark aura and a skeleton of a cat on his shoulder shouted. His eyes appeared to shine in delight and worship, however.

'I will never get used to a necromancer being a fanatic for light.' Sylvester thought as he stopped singing. But he didn't expect Bishop Lazark's shout to start a wave.

"Amen!"

"May his light enlighten us!"

'Good lord, the heathens have been reignited with faith in Solis?' Sylvester was shocked to see a great many people chanting together.

"Thank you for your gentle words and great service to the people, Lord Bard." Sir Holand thanked and proceeded with the punishment. "Kennard Frugson and Pollux Hoff are to be hanged till death. Guards, do the work."

The town's border guards quickly came and erected a wooden frame to hang the two men. Then two wooden stools were brought on which they were made to stand. The town didn't have that many executions as punishment, so they didn't have any fancy execution stages set.

"May the lord guide your soul to the right path." Sylvester mumbled loudly.

"Do it!"

Bam!

The two stools were pushed away from underneath their feet. It was a hard fall as when the rope tightened around their neck, a snapping sound came, clearly indicating their necks were indeed broken, though it still took some time for them to completely die as their feet kept kicking around desperately for a few more seconds.

Their eyes bulged out, and blood oozed from their nose, eyes, and ears. Then a few more seconds passed, and they became static, their eyes freezing in place and turning hazy.

Sylvester nodded at the newly elected chief, Sir Holand, and left the place to start training for something he was desperate to achieve before entering the mountains to kill the Bloodling and freeing the town.

He got Miraj to come along as the cat was helpful at telling him when he was doing something wrong as per instructions.

He arrived outside the town's wall as he needed some privacy. Then in a desolate location, he started practicing the same overpowered move he had mistakenly used when he was a month old. The strange beam of light razed everything to the ground in its path and left a cave on the cliffside that it hit—he still vividly remembered.

"Chonky, be focused. We're going to need this if we're to survive fighting that bloodling, got it?"

Chonky saluted with his paws. "Aye aye, Maxy. You show, and I see."

Sylvester nodded and imitated what he did back then. He put his left palm on his chest and extended the other hand towards the barren land, showing the palm. Then, he started singing hymns, as that was what initiated the attack years ago.

♫...O'Lord, grant me your sword.

May it shine bright in the hands of the bard.

So you shall be more adored…♫

Sylvester kept singing whatever came to his mind as he didn't have to be specific about the situation right now since nobody was listening to him.

Bzzz!

"Ah! Maxy, there were sparks!"

Sylvester's heart raced as he felt something heavy and warm in his palm. His unconscious mind kept reminding him he only had a week to prepare at most, so he shouted the hymns even more.

♫...Let this barren land be the witness,

Let your light show its bright swiftness.

I will bring down the heathens,

You point, and I ensure the burning quickens…♫

Buzz!

Woosh!

"Yes! Yes!... No! Noooo…" Sylvester, at first, got excited to see a streak of light shooting out of his palm very fast. But, at speed it appeared, it also vanished and showed no sign of being destructive. Instead, it was a simple streak of massless light.

Miraj quickly climbed Sylvester, sat down on his shoulder, and started to pat his head with paws. "Easy, easy… Maxy. You can do it! My old caretaker used to say, 'Where there is hill, there is a cave.' I know we will find this cave too."

"..."

'Does he mean 'Where there is a will, there is a way'?' Sylvester wondered and let the cat try to cheer him up as he looked at his palm and wondered what was causing this failure. What was the missing piece they still had not found yet?

Bam!-Bam!-Bam!

Bam!-Bam!-Bam!

Bam!-Bam!-Bam!

Suddenly, Sylvester heard loud, fast drums three times in three beats. "Well, that was our call. Let's go, Chonky. They need us."

Sylvester packed the little items he had and returned to town. There, at the entrance, Sir Dolorem was awaiting him.

"What happened now?"

"Another demon possession."

Sylvester sighed and walked along. This was the fourth Demon Possession in the past few days, and sadly, he couldn't connect the dots for this matter. 'Does it have something to do with that underground castle?'

"Aaarrgh! Wraaaa!"

As they reached the house, Sylvester quickly got busy as the demon had taken over the person, this time a woman. The physical mutation was already in full swing as her skin turned deep gray, her eyes turned red, and three more pairs of eyes emerged underneath the natural ones.

Thankfully, Gabriel and Felix had already contained the woman inside a rune circle. The bad part was that they didn't tie her to anything. Sylvester wasn't scared, however. Instead, he folded his sleeves and prepared to jump in, as his light was basically the best tool for this work. "Did you find the key?"

Felix nodded and handed him a book. Sylvester, just out of curiosity, opened it and looked. And that left him bewildered, for someone had scribbled strange characters on it. "Sir Dolorem, what language is this?"

The bald knight took a look and appeared confused. "Never seen it before, Priest."

Sylvester glanced back at the demon in amazement. "Could it be—their language?"

___________________

[A big thanks to Justus_Halbach for Magic Castle. Sorry for the late bonus chapter, was busy setting privileges. There will be two more chapters with the next release as well.]

GT = 1 Bonus chapter.(Each one helps a lot)

Super Gift = 1 Bonus chapter.

APE TOGETHER STRONG!