Chapter 427: All of It Was Deception  

"You actually... knew?!" Shock and embarrassment filled Valace's aged face.

All he said before was meant to make Greg believe in the noble mission of Secret Rite Tower. However, he hadn't expected that Greg already knew the truth. This meant that all his previous lies were exposed... and he had merely been dancing around like a clown.

How couldn't he not be angry and annoyed?!

Greg was in his own world after unleashing the heartfelt anger that he had.

How... How could he say that!

Greg had always been an honest and straightforward person. Hearing about the fate of Joseph, the knight he admired the most, being all a result of a Secret Rite Tower scheme thoroughly shook him.

Thus, he couldn't help but speak up for Joseph. But all this was based on his own speculation that the bookstore owner was the evil god from what had been said earlier.

But, Valace's reaction... Is Boss Lin really 'that evil god' which destroyed the era of elves?

"You're messing with me!" Valace growled as he glared at Greg lividly. He tried to get up, causing his baggy, decaying skin all over his body to tear like fabric.

But he couldn't break free from his decaying body. The shiny silver armor fell off him, revealing his rotting body with organs visible. There were even maggots gnawing on that putrid flesh, which made Greg's scalp tingle in fright.

Although Valace's body was decayed and reeking, it was also constantly growing. Death and immortality coexisted in him.

But in truth, Greg was really uncertain if 'that evil god' was Boss Lin...

In his eyes, the bookstore owner was undoubtedly a powerhouse. While his position was a confusing one and his stance toward humans was neither friendly nor hostile, all signs indicated that he seemed to have aspirations toward changing.

Those things that were unfair and unkind...

What Greg had said about the 'evil god' was just a bold guess based on his thoughts and current clues, and partly because he didn't really believe Valace's so-called truths.

At the very least... The battle at 67th Avenue was clearly a trap set by Valace to force Boss Lin to make a move and see if Joseph could get the former's attention.

It had only been a conjecture before, but Valace's reaction meant that Greg was spot on.

Greg met Valace's gaze. "So what if I'm messing with you? What right do you have to stand your ground, liar?! If Boss Lin is an evil god, then everything you've done so far has been intentional. All your talk about wanting to defeat the evil god was fake, you guys are just willing to become the evil god's lackeys!"

"Liar? Lackey?" Valace got up from his chair. He was incredibly tall, but also extremely hunched, and his skeleton-like appearance was frightening.

He roared with maniacal laughter, "Hahaha…! How ridiculous. You don't understand anything at all. That's a god, a true god. Only 'He' has eternal power, and that power, even if only a tiny fraction of it could be harnessed... is way more powerful compared to anything humans can achieve!"

...Harness?!

Greg caught on to this word, then had a bad feeling. An ominous foreboding came to him, and he realized that Valace had already raised a hand and grasped a long sword from the void. Krackk—!

Just as Greg was feeling uneasy, a metallic sound hit his ears as a sharp blade pierced through Valance, from behind his knight throne.

Greg was stunned.

Valance had a look of disbelief as his aged shell shattered like glass. A cold emotionless voice came from behind the throne—

"So it really was you people that forced my mother to die!"

Greg immediately recognized this familiar voice. "Melissa?!"

Greg was both surprised and relieved to see the red-haired lass emerge from behind the tall throne.

"It's me, Greg," said Melissa firmly, her sword imbued in flames, and the scorching temperatures made the blade glow red.

After answering Greg's question, Melissa didn't continue speaking with him and instead turned to the dying Valace and declared, "This talk of fighting the darkness... It's all fake. Secret Rite Tower was never created to protect anyone."

Melissa continued, indifferently, "More than a thousand years ago, you and your compatriots didn't enter the Lower District to eradicate the evil god for the sake of humanity's future."

Melissa pulled her blade out of Valace's decaying body. The latter's body spasmed like a dead fish as black, foul smelling blood gushed out of the hole in his chest.

"You established Secret Rite Tower to seize the power of the evil god and to seek the path in becoming a true god yourselves," Melissa revealed the cruel truth.

"The so-called expedition was just a bunch of greedy and selfish people gathering together, defying the orders of the witch, and fighting in the darkness in a bid to gain immense power.

"The so-called secret rite was the ceremony to capture that divine power. You set up this ritual in the underground capital to capture the infant divinity that was born with time... But with your strength, just approaching was extremely difficult, and your so-called ritual was destroyed and easily torn apart like a soaked piece of paper.

"You suffered heavy losses in that ritual and became the only fortunate survivor but unable to control your own body. Yet you thirsted more for the power of the evil god. Thus, you twisted your goals, established the so-called 'Knights' and Secret Rite Tower, fabricated your own story, and created the spirit of knights that everyone pursues.

"How utterly ridiculous."

Melissa glared angrily and pointed her sword straight at Valace. Through gnashed teeth, she growled, "Everything was all a deception! My mother saw through it and was silenced by you. And like her, there are hundreds of people who inexplicably disappeared in Secret Rite Tower, or even more!

"But the greatest deception is the cursed sword. You hand over this cursed sword to the strongest Great Radiant Knight of each generation just so that they can die at the most appropriate time for the most appropriate reason!

"This way, they will never have the chance to discover the truth and will always be your puppets! Just like how my father once was!"

The turn of events left Greg stunned, and he wasn't able to speak for a moment. However, from her tone, it didn't seem like Melissa was speaking untruths. Thus, Greg's brain was in great turmoil, shaken by the truth.

"It's... not like that at all!" Valace howled as he writhed in his seat like a fish drying up on the beach. His body had long been dead, but his soul was bound in this rotting body, existing miserably for all eternity.

"It's not like this... I didn't fail, my ritual was successful!" Valace raved. "I am a generational genius that bounded the god underground, but I never expected...

"I never expected..." Valace croaked hoarsely, "that 'god' would be reincarnated and resurface through a vessel, via my ritual..."

"I could have become a god… I am a god!" Valace exclaimed in a crazed fashion.

Melissa frowned. She thought Valace would refute his crimes, yet she never imagined this madman to argue that his ritual had been right.

A madman! A real lunatic! The fact that this person who had always been Secret Rite Tower's spiritual pillar caused the death of both her parents made Melissa feel nauseous. At the same time, although Melissa hadn't yet reached Supreme-rank, she had control of her mother's knowledge and her father's Supreme-rank power. The flames tempered on her blade ignited a blazing fire on Valace's decaying yet immortal body.

"Melissa!" Greg cried out hurriedly. "You mustn't do this. Once Valace dies, you will become the enemy of the entire Secret Rite Tower. It isn't worth it!

"I-I'll do it. Let me do it. You can kill me afterward. This way, you'll have a chance to stand at a higher position and seek revenge for Teacher Joseph..."

"Do you know? All this was what my father told me." Melissa sighed.

"Mr. Joseph?!" Greg exclaimed in incredulity. "He's still alive?"

Melissa glanced at the burning Valace and clenched her fist. "No, my father is dead, but the flames never die. All his power became his will that he left by my side.

"But I couldn't comprehend it on my own. Fortunately, I went to see Boss Lin, and he gave me a book—Will of Fire."

Flames enveloped Melissa as she said resolutely, "It was this book that helped me completely understand the Supreme-rank power left by my father. I also learned about his past, future, as well as the truth of Secret Rite Tower."

"It's actually like this?" Greg was stunned. It turns out that everything... is all a part of Boss Lin's plans.

Melissa didn't refute, instead choosing to watch the burning Valace. At least she was halfway through her revenge. Now, all that remained was to find the surviving remains of Wilde.

"Melissa," Greg regained his composure and said, "We have to leave Secret Rite Tower immediately. Although what you said was the truth, we don't have actual evidence. Secret Rite Tower is still Valace's domain. The other elders and knights won't let us be."

After hearing this, Melissa pursed her lips, nodded firmly, and took a final glance at Valace's rotting body which had turned into ashes.

Just as they had turned and ran to the elevator, the alarm went off!

The shrill blare of the siren echoed throughout Secret Rite Tower. Melissa tightened her grip on her long sword, her red hair fluttering in flames, and she said, "We have to fight and kill our way out. I no longer care about anyone else anymore. Such a Secret Rite Tower should never have existed."

"No..." Greg was about to argue with Melissa when he heard a familiar, sinister chortling from behind him.

Greg widened his eyes and turned back, only to see another old man that had been sitting at the conference table slowly stand up and reveal a smile that Greg was all too familiar with.

"Valace...?" Greg exclaimed in shock.

"Melissa, you are as foolish as your mother and father!" Valence slowly lifted himself up.

"How are you..." Melissa's pupils shrank.

"How am I still alive?" Valace interrupted Melissa and sneered. "You underestimated me, who made the ritual to capture the evil god, too lightly... However, I really have to thank you."

Valence slowly twisted and hobbled toward Melissa like he was getting used to this new body for the first time.

"I, who was corrupted by the evil god, gained eternal life but was also forever imprisoned in this decaying body. I tried every possible way to destroy this body, made countless puppets of myself, and sought to be reincarnated, but that body was both rotting and immortal. I simply had no way of destroying it.

"It was thanks to you. Your Supreme-rank flames ended up thoroughly burning up that body of mine."

Melissa stared in disbelief.

Valace glanced at his own body with a look of crazed delirium. "After close to a thousand years of imprisonment, today, I finally..."

Melissa didn't wait for him to finish, turning into a raging flame and charged. However, Valace, the founder of Secret Rite Tower and a powerhouse closest to Supreme-rank a thousand years ago, felt no fear.

He revealed a cruel smile.