Yama Rising

Saint Peter's Church.

At the top of this Gothic-style church was a small bell tower. Ironically, the Gothic style was known for being eerie, mysterious, suspenseful, and terrifying, but it was commonly employed in many fields including construction, sculpting, and painting. This type of style was exaggerated and balanced, compact yet complex, and the main exponent of it was these large churches. Almost 80% of the most renowned churches in the world were constructed in the Gothic style.

Somehow, the symbols representative of the Gothic style, such as bats, roses, crows, crosses, and blood were juxtaposed with the church, which was supposed to represent all things holy and pure. Most ironic of all was the man standing at the top of this Gothic-style church.

Brando's hands were in his pockets as he surveyed the area surrounding the church from his vantage point.

Late at night, Philadelphia was so quiet that it was as if it were a city for the dead. Beneath the Death God Dax flags were lit candles, providing faint glimmers of light in the darkness.

The werewolves under his command were hidden in the shadows around the church, and even further away were close to 1,000 witch hunters. Most of them were only Knights and Counts, and there weren't even many Viscounts among them, but they certainly made up for the lack of quality with sheer quantity.

Even though he had already struck a deal with the bishops, promising them that he and his werewolf subordinates wouldn't stray more than 100 meters away from Saint Peter's Church, the witch hunters had still been deployed here to ensure that Brando kept his promise. There wasn't much trust between the two parties to begin with, and even now, Brando could sense two bishops watching him intently in the night.

He paid no heed to this whatsoever.

"It's already been a week..." he suddenly murmured to himself.

Indeed, it had already been a week since Matthew's death.

The church couldn't sense it, but he could sense a pair of eyes constantly watching this place from the shadows. It was an extremely tense and oppressive feeling, and the more quiet it was, the more tension there was in the air.

As a Yama-King, he had a certain sense of premonition toward danger, and it was exactly because of this that he didn't dare to relax in the slightest. The longer his opponent waited, the more power they would be able to unleash once they sprang into action!

"Who is trying to benefit from the creation of this grand script of death?" He continued to murmur to himself through gritted teeth as he raised his head to look up at the dark night sky. Up above, the moon had been completely devoured by the dense dark clouds, and even the light of the stars had been concealed. "You better not let me catch you. Otherwise, I'm going to make you regret your decision no matter who you are!"

…………………………………

Several streets away, a man in a suit was also staring at Saint Peter's Church, which resembled a monster in the night.

On the rooftop of every building beside him were at least three witch hunters, and a series of chains, plastered to which were bible pages, had already sealed up the streets around the church, forming a circle with a radius of around 200 meters. Furthermore, at least 2,000 crossbows were aimed directly at the church from afar.

All of the evil forces in the eastern region of Usonia, the werewolves and vampires, were gathered here. No one had ever paid particular attention to this change, yet in the blink of an eye, it had become an extremely important location. What exactly could be hiding in there? What could possibly warrant a Master Mason promising the church so many benefits just to convince them not to interfere?

The man was making subtle grabbing motions at the empty air around him as he casually asked, "What kind of secret do you think is hidden in there, Angelina?"

There was no one around him, but as soon as his voice trailed off, a pair of eyes opened up on the shadow beneath his feet, and a female voice replied in an indifferent manner, "I don't care what it is. The bishops haven't ordered us to intervene, so it would be wise for us to repress our curiosity. To be honest, I don't like working with you. You're a paladin who thinks about nothing but battle and judgment, and you're not suitable to act as the captain for this operation."

The man chuckled in response. "Unfortunately for you, I'm the only one left in the east, so I'm your only choice. Rest assured, no matter how curious I am, I won't do anything as long as they don't provoke me."

"I certainly hope you can keep that promise." The pair of eyes feel shut in silence.

Several seconds later, the man licked his own lips in a bloodthirsty manner as he murmured in a voice audible only to himself, "But if they do dare to do anything, then the holy radiance of the lord will cleanse this entire sinful city!"

Time slowly passed by, and soon, the toll of the bell rang out, indicating the arrival of midnight, accompanied by the howling winds.

It seemed like a completely ordinary night.

…………………………………

The bell of the church tolled over and over again, and atop a tall building, a small group of witch hunters heaved a collective sigh of relief.

They were quite young, all of them were in their twenties, which was considered to be very young in the witch hunter occupation. If it weren't for the incredibly dire situation in Philadelphia, they wouldn't even have been transferred here.

The leader of the group was a man who appeared to be around 25 or 26 years of age, and patted the shoulder of the woman next to him before stretching lazily as he said, "It's time to go, Elena. The next group will arrive to replace us in 20 minutes, and... What are you looking at?"

Elena was wearing a tight-fitting black jumpsuit that hugged her flawless body, as well as a black cape that was flapping like the wings of a crow in the fierce wind. She was a brunette Caucasian woman with green eyes, and her face was completely devoid of emotion. However, she was staring directly at Saint Peter's Church with an intense and unblinking gaze.

No one said anything, and several seconds later, the leader of the group urged, "Let's go..."

"I just don't get it." Elena suddenly cut him off as she broke her silence. "Why? Why are these pieces of scum being allowed to enter the pure and holy church? Are we not the guardians of God?"

She raised a hand to tuck a few strands of stray hair behind her ear, revealing the crossbow strapped to her arm in the process. The crossbow was forged from holy silver, and it was giving off a menacing flame in the night. "You, me, everyone here... All of the witch hunters here are orphans whose parents were slaughtered by these monsters! They're right in front of our eyes, so why can't we kill them?"

"Calm down, Elena!" The leader of the group grabbed onto her arm and forced it back down to her side as he said with gritted teeth, "Brando is right there! I hate to admit it, but he's a true demon and there are many demons just like him in the Freemasonry! In the face of such a powerful enemy, we can only bide our time unless we have the power to eradicate them in one fell swoop. If we fail to wipe them out in one go, then we'll be met with fierce retaliation and vengeance from them! I'm sure you know just as well as I do how much influence the Freemasonry has in the world. The Rockefeller Family, the Rothschild Family, Ms. Lee from Daehan, Mr. Mitsui from Nippon... All of them hold unimaginable levels of influence across the entire world! In contrast, the influence of our church is completely incomparable! Do you want to see more orphans like us in the world?"

Elena didn't say anything.

The leader of the group took a deep breath and said in an authoritative voice, "It's time for us to rest. Otherwise, when we need you to contribute your efforts in the future, you'll find that you've spent too much energy on pointless things."

"My parents died by the hands of a werewolf," Elena replied in a hateful voice. "Right now, the patriarch of the werewolf clan is no more than 200 meters away from me, yet you think all of this is pointless? Do you know how many of the witch hunters here want nothing more than to rush in and fight them to death? It's taking all of my willpower not to succumb to the urge to do just that!"

The leader of the group heaved a forlorn sigh. "At the end of the day, Brando is a Duke. We won't even be able to get close to him."

A wry smile appeared on Elena's face, "I suppose you're right."

"We're still too weak right now. Let's get out here," the leader of the group said.

Thus, the rest of the group departed, while Elena turned back to take one final look at the church with a reluctant expression.

She was walking away very slowly. She couldn't forget that horrific night. Her entire village had been massacred by werewolves, and not even a single animal was left alive. She was extremely fortunate to have survived the ordeal while hiding in a closet, yet the police had completely swept the incident under the rug, attributing the incident to an attack from a pack of wild animals.

She wanted to rush over to Brando right now and sent a crossbow bolt right through his heart!

However, she couldn't do that. She knew that she didn't have the right to act so recklessly. All of the people present had similar experiences to her, and in order to prepare for a complete victory where they could eradicate all of these heinous creatures, she had to hold back her thirst for vengeance. Despite this, it was still very difficult for her to bide her time, given that she had been living with this burning hatred for over a decade.

The sound of leather boots on concrete rang out throughout the corridor of the building. This building was quite old, and the sound-activated lights weren't all that sensitive. Furthermore, it was not a very spacious building, and walking through its corridors could easily spark one's claustrophobia. She was struggling to repress the burning killing intent in her heart as she walked along with countless chaotic thoughts running through her mind. All of a sudden, she abruptly raised her head.

The smell of blood was wafting through the air, and it was becoming more and more pronounced.

Zap... Zap... The sound activated light bulb overhead flashed a few times before being completely snuffed out. Furthermore, it wasn't the only one, all of the sound-activated lights in the entire building had been snuffed out in unison!

There's something wrong here! The training that she had received from the church had already become second nature to her through countless repetitions, and she immediately crouched down like a leopard about to pounce. At the same time, her arm was outstretched, aiming directly at the opening to the staircase.

There were supposed to be people in front of her, and the sound-activated lights should've turned on in response to the sound of their footsteps.

However, that didn't happen.

The rest of her team was up ahead... What had happened to them?

Amid the tense silence, she heard a sound that made her blood run cold in her veins.

Crunch, crunch... Elena's pupils instantly contracted upon hearing this.

This sound was something that she had heard on repeat for an entire hour back when she was cowering in that closet!

It was the sound of a feeding demon, the sound of human bones being snapped by sharp fangs!

"Fuck!" She gritted her teeth tightly before turning around and rushing back without any hesitation.

A werewolf capable of killing her entire team without making even the slightest sound had to at least be a Count, and there was no way that a mere Knight like her would stand a chance!

"Never allow your hatred to blind you", that was the first doctrine taught to them by the catholic church. In this situation, she had to rush onto the rooftop of the building to set off a snare, and only then would she receive reinforcements.

This building was 20 stories tall, and she was currently on the 11th floor.

She sprinted along the corridor like a crow, rushing as quickly as she could toward the rooftop. Meanwhile, her entire team was lying unconscious on the ground on the fourth floor. A werewolf with blood all over its entire body was standing right beside them, gnawing on a bone with its sharp fangs.

Attached to this werewolf's back was a thread that no one could see.

Elena was under the impression that she was moving extremely silently, but in the ears of an Infernal Judge level werewolf, her footsteps may as well be rumbling thunder. Less than a tenth of a second after she had set off, the werewolf immediately began to pursue her.