Spiral of Madness: Ascension of the Villainous Dragon Prince-Chapter 132: Kill The Grievance [3] — The Bastard Priest

The moment the battle against The Gardener was over, the Alliance between Louis and Soma was broken. The prince did not hesitate to point his lance at his throat.

"Hm? Haha... surely you jest," Soma laughed, showing no trace of worry despite Louis pointing his Soul Weapon at him. "Aren’t we friends, Prince Louis?"

"Friends?!" Louis clenched his teeth. "I would never be friends with a monster like you... Because of you, my mother...!"

Louis recalled his third regression—when the entire Kingdom had been decimated by the Abyssal Mother’s arrival. His own mother had died in that moment, along with everyone and everything else.

This deep-seated resentment refused to fade, even though this Soma had yet to commit any crime in the present timeline.

Yet the prince could not help but direct his hatred from previous timelines toward the man standing before him now.

However.

"Prince Louis... Wait!"

Mirai stopped him.

Louis glared back at her, fury blazing. "Mirai, don’t be foolish! This man must be eliminated or else—"

"Everyone is watching," Mirai said quietly.

"...!" Louis noticed the massive crowd that had gathered. Nearly a hundred citizens—many recently freed from the Gardener’s grasp, some just returned from being turned into Entities—stood staring in awe. "Damn it..."

"Prince Louis! He’s back!"

"He was never dead...!"

"He came back to save us..."

"Priest Soma, thank you!"

"Who is that girl though?"

"Who cares? They’re all our heroes!"

"Thank you! Heroes!"

"Priest Soma, thank you so much!"

"Prince Louis! Prince Louis! Over here!"

Children cheered alongside adults. Louis found himself cornered. If he murdered Soma in cold blood now, his reputation among the people would collapse. Even if he stopped this coup, another—sparked by the citizens themselves—could erupt. The Church’s popularity might skyrocket, and the Abyssal Mother could use Soma’s death as an excuse to invade and recruit more followers.

They could even turn him into a martyr, further antagonizing Louis.

"Hahah... oh please, everyone, don’t praise me! Praise Prince Louis! He is, by far, our greatest hero! And this here—Lady Mirai—she is also an incredible Spiralwalker. Both of them are Sinners too! Isn’t this beautiful?"

"Mirai... where did she come from?"

"Is she a noble?"

"I’ve never seen her face before."

"Well, who cares? She saved us all!"

Mirai, too, was suddenly famous—now a publicly known figure across the country. The attention brought deep embarrassment to the socially awkward girl.

Louis forced a brief smile and nodded. "Soma, I’m well aware you have more important matters to attend to right now, don’t you?"

Gungnir gleamed. Soma sensed that Louis’s killing intent had not faded. He knew that if he did not leave immediately, Louis would still kill him.

"Hohoh, indeed. I have many things to do myself! And this is your country after all, Prince Louis! So I hope you can take responsibility for your absence and do better as a ruler! The Castle remains under revolutionary control, so I suggest you hurry there and end this before more victims are claimed."

Soma slowly dissolved into particles of darkness, vanishing on the wind—leaving many onlookers in stunned awe.

"Let’s see each other again in the future, shall we?"

Louis heard his despicable voice one last time before Soma disappeared completely. He had abandoned his plan to summon the Abyssal Mother after these events exhausted his energy and resources.

"Everyone, please follow the knights and evacuate to safety. It is still not completely safe here!" Louis commanded. His knights moved to protect the population and guide them to the underground shelter.

Among the crowd, he spotted a group of children led by nuns—including Melisa. Selene, however, was nowhere to be seen, filling Louis with deep worry.

He quickly summoned five reserved enslaved souls and transformed them into ghosts, issuing a simple command: find a girl matching Selene’s description.

The ghosts flew off in every direction, beginning their search for the young Sinner.

"Who are you looking for, Your Majesty?" Mirai asked.

"A girl named Selene," Louis replied. "A young Sinner who has lived on these streets and in the sewers for years... We need to recruit her. She needs our help... and she would also be a valuable asset."

Though Louis masked his kindness with pragmatism, he was genuinely concerned for the girl. He had grown attached to both her and Melisa through previous regressions—even if he disliked admitting it.

Still, he knew he could not waste time searching himself.

"Let’s move," Louis said. "Tisha, Pekorine, Catrise—come with me. Fernand, Elises—this is where we part ways. Keep the people safe! Eliminate any remaining Entities!"

Louis infused Despair and additional Fantasium into the Skeleton Armor and Weapons, granting them one final boost.

"Once the day ends, remove the armor or you’ll die from a powerful curse," he said casually before departing.

The knights stood speechless. Though they felt immensely stronger, they could also sense the deadly curse woven into the armor...

While flying, Tisha asked the question burning in her mind. "Lord Louis... d-did you really just slay a Grievance?!"

Pekorine nodded. "I’m still not sure if what I saw was real...! That thing’s entire influence was simply erased."

Louis smirked. "It was real. The Gardener is no more. Don’t worry about it ever again."

Tisha exhaled in relief. "We’ll learn how that happened later. Were there any gains from defeating such a powerful being?"

Mirai looked confused. "...Gains?" 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Louis opened his palm, revealing a crystallized red rose with a blue diamond eye. "I found this inside my soul when I awoke. It seems to be a powerful Relic, but I have no idea what it does yet. I’ll analyze it carefully later. Mirai, do you sense anything within your soul?"

Mirai checked but shook her head. "No... Nothing!"

Louis nodded. "Then I suppose that’s it. Pekorine, Tisha—let’s hurry—Hm?"

Mid-flight, Louis sensed Zorba’s presence in the distance. Explosions roared everywhere. Zorba’s life force was rapidly fading—he was on the verge of death.

"Was he discovered by one of the Commanders?!" Louis wondered. "He’s on the way to the castle... We might as well assist him. Hurry!"