Who Said A Necromancer Can't Be A Priest?-Chapter 96: Trantua’s Secret

Aaran wasn't lying when he told the high priest he could die. The Emperor was no fool. Even if Aaran hadn't informed him about what he had planned, he would know who saved Aurelia.

When that happened, he would have marched down with his army and executed everyone for using or concealing knowledge of dark magic. That's why Aaran sent him the letter, but the Emperor wasn't the only one who received the letter.

The press media did as well. Aaran did it so that the Emperor couldn't hide his confession and punish all of Aurelia. That was also the reason he asked Lucien to hit him.

Aaran's family doted on him, they would never harm him. The mark of that slap would symbolize Aurelia disowning him. The official letter could wait, meanwhile the slap would extinguish any hatred other kingdoms might have for Aurelia.

Now that Aaran had surrendered, the Emperor had no right to attack Aurelia. However, he knew a simple confession won't stop the Emperor. He would find a reason or the other to hit Aurelia.

Aaran had to push his plan forward before that happened.

As for the knights before him, they wore divine relics from the head to the toe. They had a dozen priests constantly pouring divinity into the relics.

It was their protection from darkness, not like Aaran was planning to fight them. Still, it felt good to see them so frightened. The Emperor clearly wasn't taking any risks.

"Raise your hands!"

One of the decked out knights yelled. The other didn't say a word, just pointed the weapon at him.

"Sure."

Aaran did as he was asked. The guy kept pointing the weapon towards him while the other handcuffed him. These were special handcuffs, another creation of the magic tower, which essentially severed Aaran's connection with his core.

In other words, he couldn't use darkness as long as those cuffs were on him. The entire city watched as he was dragged away, but none of them dare look him in the eye.

Unlike the knights, they had seen firsthand what Aaran was capable of, and after the events of the last night, none of them wanted to anger him.

A moment later, they arrived at the magic circle and were teleported back to Velrune.

***

The reception at Velrune was exactly like Aaran expected. Unlike the Aurelians, all they saw was a criminal. They didn't remember the things he had done for them over the last decade, but were ready to ridicule him.

Still, Aaran didn't blame them. In their pursuit of darkness, the former emperors had filled the heart of the people with rage against those who possessed darkness.

It was their way to ensure no dark mage ever rose to challenge them. All the while, the Emperor's kept practicing and advancing their knowledge of darkness. It was hilarious how Aaran was being punished for doing a quarter of the disgraceful things that their emperor had committed.

By the time they reached the palace, Aaran was drenched in rotten vegetables and eggs. Someone even spat on him while someone else poured ink on his face.

Perhaps the Emperor put them to it to vent his anger. Unfortunately, it only fueled Aaran's determination to bring him down.

Aaran once again returned to the court, only to find the Emperor and Donovan there. There were no ministers or servants, and even the knights and priests were asked to leave.

Since the Emperor was already in a foul mood, no one dared to question him and obeyed.

The Emperor looked at Aaran, hoping to see regret. He was once the most powerful person in the Empire, but now he was reduced to a criminal. One awaiting execution at that.

"Why?"

The Emperor asked a simple question.

"Why do you think?" Aaran scoffed, only for Donovan to hit him in the stomach.

Aaran doubled over, coughing… well, pretending to. Thanks to his resistances, he didn't feel a thing. Still, for his plan to work, he had to play along for the moment.

"Don't you have any fear, hitting the next Emperor like this?" Aaran chuckled, looking at Donovan.

The Emperor scoffed in disbelief. For a second he had hoped Arran would see reason. If he did, all his crimes would be forgiven… that is, if he destroyed Aurelia himself.

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Now it seems the Emperor would no longer have to make that choice. The son he hoped he had didn't exist, and there was no need for Aaran to exist, either.

"Prepare for an execution immediately," he instructed. "Throw him in the cell for the few pitiful hours he has left."

Donovan bowed and was about to leave when Aaran laughed and got up. He stared right into the Emperor's eyes before uttering the words that shocked Donovan and the Emperor.

"Trantua, do you think this will save you?"

The Emperor's face went blank. So did Donovan's.

"How do you… know that name?"

"That's not important, now is it?"

Trantua.

Aaran had always called the Emperor by that name in his mind. For the world, he had always been a Runedral. It was an attempt at whitewashing their history, and with a history like theirs, it was the right move.

Roughly a thousand years ago, Trantua was a small kingdom. It was also the kingdom where the first demon king rose to power. But it wasn't a coincidence, because it was the then king Trantua who summoned him in exchange for power and knowledge.

The Demon king taught them the way of darkness. As the king learned more, his ambitions grew. He wanted to take over the entire world. While the Demon king threw the world into chaos, the Trantuans used that moment to expand their territory.

Even after the Demon king was defeated, Trantua didn't stop. They kept attacking and taking away territories. It wasn't till the then Queen Alicia Aurelia, who was also the one to kill the first demon king, threatened Trantua that they stopped.

The people learned of their ways, but before they could act themselves, another virtue, simply known as Runedral, killed the Trantua's royal bloodline, establishing the Runedral empire that they now knew.

Just like that, the dark mages of Trantua were gone, replaced by the Runedrals. At least that's what the historian wrote.

In reality, Trantuans never perished.

By the time Runedral attacked them, the then king Morpheus Trantua had mastered the art of spirit walking. He possessed Runedral's body, using it to kill himself, and created a new kingdom to rule over.

However, he was afraid that someday a spirit walker might reveal his secret. That's why he fanned people's flame of hatred to smoke out any dark mage and kill them.

People saw Runedral's actions as that of a hero. In their eyes, he wanted to prevent another Trantua kingdom from rising, hence he all dark mages were executed. That led to the formation of the Covenant. But that was a tale for another time.

The Emperor had treated Aaran like his son, but never told him the secrets of his family. However, since he knew that, killing him became a necessity. But before Trantua could give the order to Donovan, Aaran revealed another thing.

"Kill me, and the secret would be revealed," Aaran smirked. "I'm not the only one who knows the truth, and if you don't do what I want, the news will spread like wildfire."

"No one will believe you!" Trantua yelled.

"The people of Runedral won't," Aaran shrugged. "But the rest of the world won't show you that consideration, would they? Hell, they are just waiting for an excuse to take you down and they are desperate to use anything thrown their way."

Trantua clenched his fists before taking a deep breath.

"What do you want?" he asked.