Don’t Be Holy! - Chapter 176

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Mahma’s villa was located at the edge of a high cliff, and with hot springs nearby, it was the perfect place for recuperation.

But in other words, this meant that the terrain leading to the villa at the edge of the mountain had many hiding places, and being private property away from people’s eyes, no one would know if anything happened there.

“I hear someone coming.”

After numerous threats and persuasions, the knights who came along finally agreed to follow Magnus’s will. It took holding a knife to their throats, threatening their families, enticing them with the power and money Magnus would soon grasp, and a lengthy speech about how corrupt Rubel had become.

Magnus lifted his head high to confirm if Rubel was really coming, and if he was coming alone.

After waiting a bit longer, Rubel could be seen riding a white horse. His intent was evident in the way he rode fearlessly with his body bent forward. That intense determination to punish his brother with his own hands.

As if to prove he hadn’t come as a Holy Knight, his attire was light. He didn’t wear proper armor, only simple leather protective gear, as if to say that capturing Magnus was nothing special.

“That bastard……”

Magnus gritted his teeth, then raised his hand while carefully watching the point where Rubel was approaching. The knights who were holding the ropes had been waiting for Magnus’s signal, and meanwhile, Rubel didn’t slow down his galloping pace at all.

‘One, two, three.’

Counting in his mind, Magnus sharply dropped his fist when he saw Rubel’s horse reach a certain point. At that moment, sharp obstacles sprang up from the ground.

“Die right there.”

Rubel’s horse neighed loudly in surprise at the suddenly rising ground. Simultaneously, a gale-like wind rushed at everyone, momentarily preventing them from opening their eyes properly.

When the wind passed, Magnus was the first to look down, but there was Rubel, safely having jumped over the obstacle, now calming his horse.

While gently stroking the horse’s neck, Rubel spoke evenly.

“Is this what you’ve been sitting around doing? Must have been fun. Not boring at all.”

Magnus stepped forward, clenching his teeth.

“You would have been better off dying impaled right there.”

“You really do talk a lot of nonsense. Just like someone who’s been playing the role of the eldest son all this time.”

“You think I can’t do it?”

As he emerged from the bushes, Rubel’s gaze fell upon him. Even Magnus, who had prepared himself for everything, involuntarily flinched when he met Rubel’s frozen cold eyes.

To cover up the fact that he had momentarily been afraid, Magnus deliberately straightened his shoulders and puffed out his chest.

“You’ve fallen into a trap.”

When he spoke with his chin lifted, Rubel pointedly looked back at the trap he had just jumped over.

“Doesn’t seem like it.”

“Your coming alone is proof of that.”

Ignoring Rubel’s flippant reply, Magnus shouted loudly. As he spread his palm toward the sky, darkness began to bubble up inside it.

Rubel watched calmly with deeply submerged eyes what Magnus was doing. His horse began to back away nervously, as if sensing something.

An eerie wind circled around, and from the distant edge of their vision, the ground could be seen turning black.

“Witch’s sorcery?”

As Magnus recited the incantation taught by the witch, the darkness clinging to his hands grew larger. The gold rim that had been inside his body emerged and moved along his arm to encircle the darkness.

Magnus sneered maliciously. The knights sensed he was doing something improper and retreated hesitantly.

“It’s already too late.”

But as Magnus said, it was already too late to flee. That statement applied to Rubel, to the knights, and to Magnus himself.

Rubel frowned at the dense smell of darkness.

“Don’t tell me it’s a spell to summon monsters?”

“Wouldn’t I need at least this much to deal with you?”

Though he rarely praised his brother, Rubel’s face only darkened.

“You’ve gone mad. The eldest son of the Shinote family consorting with a witch and using sorcery.”

As if making a proclamation, Rubel thundered in a loud voice. As if shouting to the heavens.

How could he dare commit an act that would nullify everything Rubel had done as a knight of God, squeezing out his very soul in devotion to the Divine Empire.