Before the first light of dawn even arrived, the clerics had already picked up their texts of 《The Divine Words of Dawn》 and begun their daily preaching.
No one would ever imagine that bound beneath the Dawn Cathedral sat a knight.
“Ah!”
Iron chains bound Serandic's body, his fangs constantly extending and retracting.
“Do not let the feral instincts consume you, Seran.” The white-robed man raised the lantern in his hand and brought it close to Serandic.
The light produced by the burning holy oil seemed to possess a miraculous power—one capable of suppressing negative emotions and clearing the mind.
“Master... I'm hungry!”
Under the light of the holy oil lantern, Serandic seemed to regain a sliver of reason.
The white-robed man put down the lantern. After a moment's hesitation, he offered his own arm.
“Do not let the will of this foreign flesh claim your body. Never forget who you are.”
An excruciating pain flared from his arm. In the very next second, a large chunk of flesh was torn right off the white-robed man's arm.
“Master... why... why turn me into this...?” Swallowing the flesh, Serandic wanted to cry, but his current body could no longer even shed tears.
Blood dripped down, staining the white robe crimson.
Yet Yade paid it no mind as he pulled back his mangled arm.
Gentle Dawn battle qi covered the wound, constantly stimulating the growth of new flesh in an attempt to cover the exposed bone.
“Seran, the only person who can decide what you become is you.” Yade had only two regrets in his entire life: one was his old friend, and the other was his former heir...
“But like this... am I really still human?”
Serandic could clearly feel the restless violent urge within his body under the full moon.
If he hadn't chained himself up in advance...
...he likely would have already started a slaughter.
“You are human. You are merely a human who has changed appearance...” Yade spoke with absolute certainty.
His tone was gentler than it had ever been before.
“But I... I crave living flesh... I've become a monster...”
Serandic wasn't even sure what he actually was anymore.
To call himself a vampire, he feared neither sunlight nor holy water; to call himself a werewolf, he showed no signs of turning into a wolf.
The only trait he shared with certain variants was a thirst for raw flesh and blood... especially when encountering particularly 'nourishing' flesh.
For example—Ogre.
“You are not a monster!” Yade's raised voice drowned out Serandic's self-loathing whispers.
“Master...” Serandic had never imagined that a day would come when he would despise his own body to such an extent.
“Even the Holy Light—my Dawn battle qi—has abandoned me...” When he had first been reborn from death, Serandic had been thrilled.
But as time went on...
...he could feel more and more how different he was.
First, he gradually stopped breathing...
Then, he suddenly developed a craving for raw meat... First chickens and ducks, then cattle and sheep... followed by lower-tier monster species.
He could feel his appetite growing larger and larger.
His demand for quality flesh was rising as well.
It was as if a voice inside him was constantly whispering, “Eat, completion awaits... That is what they owe you.”
Eventually, with the passage of time...
...he began craving human flesh!
Looking at Serandic like this, the voice of his former companion seemed to echo in Yade's ears once again: “The Holy Light betrayed me... No, I was abandoned by the Holy Light... Yade! I will never forgive you!”
“Seran, no one can give up on you!” Yade raised his uninjured arm and gently rested it on Serandic's head.
“But...”
“No 'buts'. Sleep... Seran. Just go to sleep, and everything will be fine.” Yade's soft voice reached Seran's ears.
Soothed by the soothing warmth of the Dawn battle qi, Seran's blood-red eyes finally slowly closed.
However, moments later, his eyes snapped open once more.
“Yade! I told you, you can't keep me trapped! Hahaha! In the end, you still need my power!” When 'Serandic' raised his head again, he seemed like an entirely different person.
He bared his fangs and glared furiously, looking as if he wanted to tear the white-robed man to pieces.
Yet, bound by the specialized iron chains, his movements posed no threat to Yade at all.
These chains were the Mana-Inhibiting Chains passed down within the Church of Dawn. It was said that a knight had once used these very chains as his weapon.
“Hmph...” Yade's gentle, benevolent eyes instantly turned cold.
After a cold snort, he picked up the lantern and unscrewed its cap.
Extinguishing the flame, Yade raised his hand and poured the scalding holy oil directly over 'Serandic's' head.
“Ahhh—!” A violent shriek tore from 'Serandic's' throat.
Seizing the opportunity, Yade pinched both sides of Serandic's cheeks and poured the holy oil straight down his throat!
Following a fit of violent thrashing...
...'Serandic' went completely still, the light in his eyes dimming into pitch black.
With a soft sigh, Yade put away the lantern, clutched his flesh-torn left arm, and departed from the basement.
“Watch him closely...”
“Understood.”
As the heavy iron door slammed shut, the room fell once more into silence and darkness.
Long after, Serandic, still bound by the chains, lifted his head again.
“So hungry...”
...
“I'm so hungry... I wonder when breakfast will be served.”
The early morning light peeked through the cracks in the window. Ogre, who had been busy for most of the night, sat up from his soft bed.
Casually taking a red fruit he had picked the night before, Ogre took a bite as he pushed open the window facing the sun with one hand.
“They've probably been found by now,” Ogre mused, his eyes sweeping toward the village cemetery.
Under his enhanced vision, Ogre quickly spotted several clerics beginning their patrol.
It likely wouldn't be long before the bodies of the werewolves and hunters were discovered.
“That should waste some of their time,” Ogre chuckled to himself as he watched the village come alive again.
Tossing the fruit core aside, he picked up 《The Divine Words of Dawn》 from the table with interest.
“Do good deeds without leaving a name... How did that saying go again?” Ogre flipped to the bookmarked page in 《The Divine Words of Dawn》 and found the passage.
“O believer of Dawn, for what reason do you perform good deeds? Is it out of guilt, or is it out of faith?”
As the Old God faded, the newly risen deity posed the question with great interest to an ascetic.
He was curious: when doers of good no longer received praise...
...would anyone still choose the light?
“Does that matter, respected deity? As long as good deeds are done, isn't that enough?”
The believer of Dawn prostrated at the feet of the newly risen deity. When he raised his head once more, he gave a direct answer: “If You must have an answer, I can only tell You: Do good deeds and ask not of the future; whether the dawn rises or not, whether big or small, this world will always need heroes...”
The name of that believer... was Wubi.
He was one of the two legendary knights who liberated human slaves.
The knight symbolizing the dawn—Wubi.
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