From God of Lies to Lord of All Worlds

Chapter 198: The Brotherhood Part Two

When was the first time Gabriel had dreamed of those things in his memories?

It happened when he was about eight years old. On the night he learned those so-called assassination techniques from his grandfather, he touched this family stone and fell asleep, entering this bizarre dreamscape.

In the dream, he traversed the castles of England and France, walked through the farmlands of the Germanic people, and fought alongside the Crusaders, slaying every marked enemy in the deserts of the Middle East and the wastelands of North Africa.

He was an Assassin Master, an Inquisitor belonging to the Inquisition, and a special operative tasked with maintaining the world's balance.

His targets were not feudal lords, nobles, or Caliphs, but rather a group of individuals bewitched by demons, people who had long forsaken the light within their hearts!

"Demons must be eradicated, otherwise they will inevitably pollute the mortal realm!"

Muttering these words, he thrust the hidden blade from his sleeve straight into the heart of the person standing before him!

Following that, the "person" would disintegrate into a pile of ashes, a mound of flesh, or just an empty sheet of human skin... anything but a human being.

Gabriel snapped back to reality. These childhood memories flashed before his eyes; it was precisely because of these memories that he had walked the path of an assassin.

He had originally thought this was merely a case of what one thinks about by day, one dreams about at night. But thinking about it now, this was clearly a set of inherited memories from a unique era!His family was never some simple lineage of nobles; they were the descendants of killers and assassins that existed throughout history!

And now, in this daze, Gabriel seemed to see something more. Was that... a radiance originating from an even older epoch?

An even more miraculous scene unfolded before his eyes, allowing him to hear what sounded like echoes from hundreds of years ago:

"The Brotherhood has been established, but most of us must retreat into the deep mountains to secure our legacy. As for those who remain..." an old man said with a furrowed brow. "We need people to help us relay information, ensuring we can eventually return from the mountains!"

"Yes, this is essential. Otherwise, if The Church recovers and we remain completely ignorant, how could we possibly return to rebuild The Church?"

"If that is the case, then we will stay!" hearing this, a man wearing a cloak stated directly. "Our Inquisition assassin squad will stay behind. Even if demons purge the entirety of Europe, we have the ability to survive. We will pass on messages to you and inform you of the outside world's situation, right up until the Lord descends once more!"

The crowd nodded in agreement. Having seemingly reached a consensus, they prayed together as they watched the cloaked man lead his subordinates away slowly, marching straight into the blazing battlefield ahead.

Everyone knew that those who hid would likely survive, while those marching into battle would be lucky to have even a few live to see another day.

Yet, they still marched toward the battlefield without hesitation, solely to provide timely intelligence and to ensure the true survival of the successors hidden in the mountains.

This spirit of sacrifice, this selfless devotion, was enough to leave anyone in absolute awe!

This was the power of faith. For their faith, they were willing to give everything they had, including their very lives!

The scene shifted, zooming in on that cloaked figure, now viewed through the perspective of a new individual holding this special badge.

The cloaked man was bleeding profusely, his breath trembling and his body contorted. He was clearly on the verge of death.

"Mentor!" the man cried out in sorrow. "How... how are you holding up?"

The cloaked figure remained shrouded in the darkness, whispering softly, "Frey, the crisis has been averted. The last of the demon priests are dead. My mission can be considered complete!"

"I have felt the call of the Lord, Frey... From now on, the entire assassin faction of the Brotherhood must rely entirely on you!"

"Go tell our brothers in the mountains to come out. The demons have been eradicated, and there will be no more true demons appearing in the world..."

He coughed up a pool of fresh blood. Though he looked thoroughly exhausted and in agony, he still forced himself to stay conscious. "But... The Church has also lost its innate power. The price of this battle was unspeakably tragic. Even His Holiness the Pope might be joining me in death. The Catholic Church will enter a very long period of rest. It is time to rest; we have fought for far too long!"

"Go and tell them. Right now, the Lord's radiance is nearly hidden; their power will be unable to manifest in this world again!"

"The assassins possess shadow power, and even that is merely clinging to survival by a thread. As for the power of Holy Light, it now requires massive numbers of believers, holy water, and the holy relics left behind in the past just to be invoked..."

"Tell them to remain hidden. The Church no longer has a place for us, and they can barely protect themselves, so we must continue to survive on our own!"

"Our era has passed, Frey! From this day forth, you will not inherit my position as Mentor; instead, you will become a member of the Brotherhood!"

"Scatter, establish a family, guard these secrets, protect our faith, and never forget the assassin's creed!"

"I hope you will watch over and support one another, right until the day the Lord's radiance descends once more!"

The assassin finally passed away. Right before he died, he reached out his hand, gazing up at the sky. "O Lord, my faith has not been extinguished after all!"

Frey gave a slight nod. Carrying this badge, he vanished into the darkness. Watching this scene, Gabriel felt somewhat stunned.

The name Frey was far too familiar to him. The very first noble title their family held in France was that of a count, and the name of that count was Frey Martin!

It turned out that the priest's words from earlier were not aimless talk after all. Their family truly seemed to possess the legacy of the Holy Light.

"So, this is the underlying nature of my family's kindness?" Gabriel muttered to himself, seemingly gaining a much deeper understanding of his own origins.

The visions were still not over. A new scene struck him—it was the sight of Frey swearing his oath to join the Brotherhood.

"We watch over each other, we rely on each other, we await the dawn, we never betray..."

After the oath concluded, an ancient man who looked almost inhuman spoke in a hoarse voice, "Then, Mr. Frey, if the Brotherhood should one day require you or your family to make a sacrifice, what will you do?"

"The Martin Family will give everything for the revival of the entire Church!" Frey declared loudly. "Even if we must fight down to the very last member of our family, we will never cease!"

"Everything for the Brotherhood! For a greater future!"

The scene shifted once again. Gabriel saw his family's old house, the stone building passed down from hundreds of years ago, though in this vision, it looked incredibly new.

A young man walked out of the house, flicking a hidden blade in and out of his sleeve, yet his eyes were brimming with fear. "Father, why does grandfather's corpse look like it was twisted? Is this what pollution is?"

"What exactly did he go do? Why didn't he say a single word to us? Why is it that when you went to find him, you brought back a corpse like this?!"

"Tell me, Father!"

Hearing this, the middle-aged man before him remained silent for a moment before finally replying, "Because this is the mission of our Martin family, Milk. Whenever the Brotherhood sends word, we must go and help them resolve such crises!"

"We are assassins. Resolving it costs us the least; we don't have to launch a forceful assault and then cover our tracks like the Holy Knights do!"

Hearing this, the young man still couldn't understand. "Why is it only us left? Why only us? What about the others? Are there no other people in the Brotherhood?"

"The predecessor of the Brotherhood was The Church! With so many supernatural departments, did they really have to send someone of grandfather's age to execute this kind of suicide mission?"

At this, the middle-aged man nodded. "Yes, it is just us left! The Knights Templar only has two sixteen-year-old boys remaining, named Rankoch and Payin; the exorcist families of the Holy See Council have lost eleven bloodlines in the past fifty years; the chief justices of the Religious Tribunal have all died in battle, leaving only seven clerks; and the supernatural relics of the Inquisition have already consumed seventy-six devout judges..."

"In the region of France, the Martin Family is the only assassin family left. If we don't want those demonic creatures to continue growing stronger, this is what we must do!"

"Now, the next mission falls to me!" The middle-aged man's eyes held no fear, only a unique sense of unwavering resolve. He spoke softly, "Don't worry, Milk. After I die in battle, according to the Brotherhood's regulations, our family will enter a period of silence until the next successor grows up!"

He looked at the young man with gratification. "You are excellent. You are one of the most outstanding members of our family, so you must carry our lineage forward!"

"Do not harbor resentment, for this is our mission! If we do not do this, the world will be overrun by demons in the future. If we do not do this, The Church's thousands of years of effort will be completely ruined overnight!"

"My son, you must remember the assassin's creed: nothing is true, everything is permitted..."

"We are guardians, and we are also the sacrifices standing on the frontlines of death at all times..."

"For the Lord's realm, and for our glorious mission!"

In the vision, the young man stood frozen in horror, and then everything faded to black.

Seeing these revelations, Gabriel's pupils contracted. Milk Martin—his great-great-great-grandfather, and the earliest true bloodline ancestor the Martin Family could currently trace.

This further proved his suspicions that his family was indeed connected to the assassins. However, he had never imagined that this connection could be so tragically heroic!