Small villain's Viewpoint

Chapter 31

"Julius?!"

Jade nervously checked the limp Julius, laying unconscious in front of the bloody stone tablet. ".....", Sighing in relief, despite looking deathly pale, Julius is fortunately still breathing.

"What happened to him?", a harsh voice asked him, even without turning his back, Jade knew who it was. Its a very unpleasant presence, if it weren't for  Julius, he would have directly executed this vermin on sight.

"He entered a ritual, its better to let him finish it as a ceremonial ritual must be completed; otherwise the person who entered the pact will be punished with a strong backlash", Jade calmly explained, fixing Julius' posture.

"I don't know why my friend had decided to keep you, but I suggest that you behave yourself. If it weren't for him, I won't mind exacting holy punishment upon you", gritting his teeth, the priest directed a piercing look towards Michael, his eyes glowing with a golden hue.

"Haaa...", upon hearing that, Michael snorted in mockery, answering the priest' warning with a disdainful look. "Perhaps he sees something he can exploit in me?",  to add in Jade's ire, Michael chuckles in glee seeing the man's face contort into a dark expression.

The same as his friend, must be a hypocrite as well, Michael doesn't know the reason why the cleric waste his time in keeping a cursed person, but he at least knew that the man did it to benefit from doing so.

"......I see, it seems that staying with a bunch of children had rusted my friend's judgement", his words were calm, and yet Michael detected a sense of fury in it.

"Do you think I don't know what you're thinking? Please humble yourself. I'm pretty sure that a trash like you could hardly give my friend any benefit, if there is any at all", scoffing, Jade approached Michael, looking a bit dreadful.

"As expected of a church's dog, acting holier than thou, yet treating people like me as if we are trash", Michael frowned, displeased that Jade whom he determined as an incompetent combatant, is daring to argue with him.

"Ha....ha ha ha.....,its the first time someone called me that. I'm pretty sure that even our own saint had been cursing me for insubordination", laughing, Jade have never been this amused before.

"......"

"Sh**, what are you-", Michael dodge in time as a long golden chains suddenly appears behind him, chasing him till the edge of the barrier. "Well since we are in a proper stage and all, it won't be that hard to explain to my friend that a bunch of monsters had torn you to pieces. Although it might make him suspicious, but at the very least he won't have to bear the crime of hiding a cursed person", Jade narrowed his eyes as he sways  the golden chains from his hands.

" What do you think you're doing?", michael spat angrily, escaping from the clicking chains that keeps on encaging him. The chains is somehow making him feel weak, extremely aware of the danger coming from it.

"Its the standard way of capturing a cursed person. As an exorcist, we capture any corrupted individuals with a holy relic to ensure their absolute surrender",Jade calmly explains, using the opportunity to kill off a nuisance while everyone is busy surviving.

"Do not fret. I will kill you swiftly so you won't feel any pain. My faith follows a benevolent goddess after all, so I will give you that mercy"

"You damn lunatic!! Do you think that fool will like this?", Michael gritted his teeth in anger, avoiding Jade's constant attack. This is why he hates their kind, always pretending to be benevolent yet capable of murder without batting an eye.

"Didn't you hate him? You sure do have the audacity to cling to him despite claiming so. And I'm cleaning you off to save him, I can't have an ungrateful trash like you ruin his life and reputation", rushing towards the raider, Jade was surprisingly overpowering Michael, who was also shocked to see the seemingly useless priest calculate his movements before finally succeeding in locking him inside his chains.

Ugh ...

"You f***", Michael cursed, the pain searing his insides as the holy chains slowly crush him.

"Ruin him? What the heck are you talking about!! So just by simply staying with a cursed person is enough to ruin him!?? So much for being a holy person, you guys can't even save the life of a person. Do you think I wanted to become like this?", Michael screamed in anger, letting go of his frustration.

"Do you think that we banish a cursed person just because we hated them? Look at him, he cannot even heal his self because of you!!"

" Ever since the foundation of all faiths, the divine power that all followers of goddesses posseses cannot ever mingle with the 'blessings' that the demons give. While a cursed person becomes subdued, a weaker holy person cannot receive any blessings from the goddess at all!!"

" Divine power is our lifeblood. And you've been draining that from him like a leech, even stopping him from receiving any blessings from Hestia!!"

"And you dare treat him like a garbage!!"

Jade screamed in fury, almost crushing Michael to death. " If the church caught him, he will be excommunicated. That will mean completely cutting off his lifeblood. You see unlike raiders and mages, you got your power from nature itself. Even if you lost your magic, its easy to get it back. While losing divine power will mean that a priest will have to slowly count the days he loses it all, till he dies since we cannot receive divine powers from another goddess once we got cut off from our faith"

" Yes, we are selfish. But we cannot live with every one once we leave our church, it would mean death for us"

Jade's helpless expression broke as he look at the unconscious Julius. "Do you think that your value is high enough for him to risk his life?"

" You have to go. I'd rather be treated as a murderer than see him slowly die", Jade approach Michael, his eyes losing its bright color.

"You-?!

The ground grumbles, shaking the two. Observing the yelling people from afar, the priest frowns before running towards Julius, checking his breathing.

The stone table shone brightly before crumbling into dust, leaving only a stone pillar that is engraved with runic signs.

Why? The ritual should be completed by now."Julius?", the man nervously checked his pulse, his anxiety growing as the cleric remains passive.

"Put me down first!!",the forgotten Michael commanded, eyes narrowing as he feels a familiar presence. " Its not the time for this!! Put me down!!", he grew anxious, as his intuition tells him that those people are nearby.

"What a pathetic sight you've become, leader"

Eyes glowing with fury, Michael glared at the man who turned him like him this, the person whom he treated as his closest friend. A companion whom he trust.

The man who destroyed his party, and killed the woman he treated like a family.

"Harvey!!!!"

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Thanks for reading....