Book One The Black Lion Old Version

Blue Lions Conspiracy of the western church

Ashe rode his horse on autopilot; it had been 8 days since the blue lions started their return journey to Garreg Mach. He didn't know how to feel angry and sad. He still couldn't get over what Sasuke said before the battle. If Lonato was truly fighting for justice, was he and his cause unjust? It was difficult for him to understand. His classmates didn't talk to him; he appreciated it. He needed space and time to center himself.

He just wanted to be back and put the whole thing behind him. Then he saw the Knights of Seiros approaching their party. Catherine signaled for everyone to stop, and she got off her horse, along with the leader of the horsemen. He watched as she spoke.

"What's going on?" asked Catherine, knowing there was something up with having what looked like hundreds of knights.

"The Western Church's influence is much stronger than we thought. There's a plot to assassinate the Archbishop. We've got a confession out one of Lonato's supporters who wanted to save his life because he was being a pawn of the Western Church who didn't care about his son or his cause." This shocked everyone, especially Ashe.

"You mean they used him?" he said, not believing it. His fist clenched with rage.

"We cannot 100% confirm it, but we're going to put down the Western Church. We have tolerated them for too long; if they continue their heresy, it will spread to other churches' branches on the continent. We cannot allow that, or else the whole continent could potentially be engulfed in war."

Things were far more complicated than Ashe originally thought.

"Looks like we're not returning yet, sorry we're going to be needed for this" Catherine told the class.

Catherine, along with the Knight, went back on their horses and rode together to think that they would be heading toward the western church, which is located so soon they're backtracking to a degree close to where the battle was. No, he couldn't think about it; he had to stay focused. Maybe he would get answers. Then again, things would never be that simple.

"The archbishop herself is coming?" asked Catherine to the knight that she talked to earlier, whose name was Rob.

"Yes, she wants to see it personally that this rebellion is completely stamped out." Something was off; the Western Church was never this organized; someone was pulling the strings behind the scenes; there was no way they could have been this coordinated otherwise. The archbishop going herself could be the opportunity they're waiting for. Could this be what Lonato was doing? Was he the decoy to lure her out? No, he would never agree to something like that, but something was off. What were their goals other than killing the archbishop? There had been something more. There had been conflict between the Western Church and the Central Church for generations, but never got to the point of violence.

Though she knew there were many followers of Lonato, how many of them would she have to put down before this would end? No matter what she does, she will be seen as a bloodthirsty judge, jury, and executioner, not what she wants those who judge her to say she does not take pleasure in ending people's lives. She looks at Sasuke, whose expression on his face was hard to read, when he mentioned justice and revenge. She couldn't help but think that Sasuke is on his own crusade of revenge. She heard about Itachi Uchiha; his reputation was that of a bloodthirsty psychopath who took great pleasure in killing people during his missions with his class. His peers feared and hated him; it was one of the greatest mistakes they had ever made. He used that training to wipe out his family and clan.

To think that a clan that existed for centuries was wiped out in a single night, and the only survivor was the young man who was beside her. She met Itachi once, and she was terrified of him; terrified that he would kill her just to make a point. He was only 15 and had already graduated at the top of his class. Sasuke; she didn't feel the same killing intent from him, but there was something else. Mercedes; ever since they started being on speaking terms, she felt his darkness lessening to a degree. Sasuke and Dimitri were a lot alike.