Silas's words left everyone present stunned.
"Mr. Temperance, is what you're saying true?"
Justice Audrey couldn't help but ask.
She hadn't expected that the intelligence she'd gathered had been off from the very beginning.
"The culprit behind the Great Smog was a Sequence 4 'Despair Witch.'"
Silas said, "This information came from a spirit channeling performed on her. It's absolutely reliable."
"...You killed her?"
The Hanged Man Alger couldn't help but ask.
Based on what he'd learned from within the Church of Storms about the chaos at the palace, he felt that Temperance's strength far exceeded that of an ordinary Sequence 5.
Killing a demigod didn't seem like an impossibility for him.
"It wasn't me."
Silas glanced at him.
"I only held her off for a while until a Sequence 3 powerhouse arrived on the scene.
She was the one who killed the Witch, and she performed the spirit channeling as well."
A Sequence 3 powerhouse?
Mr. Temperance sounds quite familiar with her...
Audrey thought to herself.
Being tactful, she didn't ask about the true identity of that high-sequence powerhouse, but instead continued listening to what he had to say.
"From the spirit channeling, I learned something almost unbelievable."
Silas said in a heavy voice, "The mastermind behind the Backlund Great Smog incident is actually the current King of Loen, George III."
As his words landed, the space above the gray fog fell silent for a moment.
"Oh my god..."
Audrey murmured.
Although she had already heard about this at the banquet that night from the Blood Reverend's own mouth, she still found it hard to accept.
A king had so casually wiped out the lives of tens of thousands of his own subjects?
Even more shocked than her were Magician Fors and Moon Emlyn, because this was the first time they were learning that the King was connected to the Great Smog incident.
The King?
The King killed the people of the East Borough?!
Fors felt both absurd and shocked. She even somewhat doubted Temperance, but instinctively felt that while he might be insane and ruthless, he never lied.
The Demoness Sect... the "Primordial Witch" attempting to awaken... the King using tens of thousands as sacrificial offerings...
As Emlyn White listened, anger gradually welled up in his heart. Of course, as a Sanguine with a long lifespan, he had no particular attachment to nations.
His anger stemmed from another reason: deeply involved with the Church of the Earth Mother, he had served as a priest, relying on his knowledge of potions to treat many impoverished people who came seeking help, and had also witnessed the deaths of many.
"Damn it..."
Recalling the miserable state of those people, his eyes grew even redder and his fangs extended past his lips.
"...Why?"
After a moment of silence, Justice Audrey finally couldn't help but ask.
Yes, why would the King do such a thing?
"The Witch said he wanted to use this incident to promote development and establish a new order."
Silas gave a cold laugh. "I have no idea what that bastard specifically wanted to accomplish."
"Didn't you inquire more thoroughly?"
"Unfortunately, before I could ask more carefully, an accident occurred..."
Silas briefly described the situation he'd encountered at the time.
An elegant woman in black robes tore through space, causing the Witch's soul to make contact with the outside world, and she was silenced for leaking secrets.
It sounds like the same person I encountered.
Klein listened from the side, thinking to himself.
"Everyone should know what happened after that."
Justice Audrey said, "The spread of the smog was stopped in time by the Church of Storms, but it still caused tens of thousands of deaths.
Publicly, the royal family claimed that Prince Edessak was also swept up in the plague and died.
But in the explanation given to the three major churches, they said he had colluded with the Demoness Sect, intended to rebel, and caused a series of disasters..."
Everyone nodded silently. This was the version they had learned about.
"But this matter isn't over yet, is it?"
The Hanged Man Alger said, "According to the news I received at sea, the Blood Reverend launched a brazen attack on the night of year's end."
"Yes."
Justice Audrey instinctively looked toward the blood-red figure across from her.
"On the night of New Year's Eve, the Blood Reverend took control of the Pritz, which was docked at Backlund's military port, and manipulated the warship to bombard the palace..."
"After the warship was destroyed, the Blood Reverend even single-handedly broke into Sodlark Palace.
Under the siege of one Sequence 3, two Sequence 4s, and numerous Sequence 5 and 6 Beyonders, he forcibly charged toward the King's palace, with no one able to stop him.
Only when the royal family's angel arrived was he finally restrained.
Even then, he threw his own head into the King's palace and, through self-detonation, stained the throne with blood."
"Steam above... ah no, The Fool above."
Magician Fors thought to herself, listening with both fascination and terror.
As a writer, she loved this kind of dramatic plot point and intense conflict, but as a member of the Tarot Club, she also clearly knew that this insane Beyonder who had stormed the palace and dared to oppose the entire nation's power structure was sitting right across from her.
She lifted her eyes and stole a glance at Temperance.
"Even more impressive than I imagined."
The Hanged Man Alger was equally astonished, because the intelligence he'd obtained from the Church of Storms wasn't firsthand and lacked detail, unable to compare with what Justice, being at the front lines, had witnessed.
He was shocked by the Blood Reverend's power, that he could actually fight against so many strong opponents.
He couldn't help but look toward Silas.
During this time, Alger had basically figured out Temperance's identity.
And just then, someone finally couldn't hold back.
"Everyone... why do you all keep looking at Mr. Temperance?"
Sun Derrick asked in confusion.
Living in the City of Silver, he knew nothing about Loen or Backlund, nor did he understand what royalty even was.
But what he could see was that several members kept stealing glances at Mr. Temperance beside him, which struck him as rather odd.
The atmosphere immediately became somewhat awkward.
All three had made their movements unconsciously, never expecting they'd be caught by Sun, who was usually somewhat naive.
In truth, because they were immersed in their emotions of amazement, none of them had been able to hide their thoughts.
"Oh, it's nothing."
Silas said frankly, "Probably because they just learned that I am the Blood Reverend."
"..."
The three hadn't expected him to admit it so openly, and for a moment didn't know what to say.
"...Huh?"
Now it was Moon Emlyn's turn to be dumbfounded.
***
At the same time, in the conference room at the bottom of St. Samuel's Cathedral.
The surface of the silver mirror rippled with watery light, showing the assembled official Beyonders the scene from that day.
There, the massive rust-colored warship was cleaved in two by invisible strikes from above, but one shell successfully fired, bombarding into the palace.
That blood-red shell transformed into human form upon landing.
The face of that human figure, however, was a complete blur.