Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
After hearing Lucien’s declaration that he had found the godhood, Fernando, Douglas and the rest of them all activated their special items, allowing them to also see the five clusters of godhood.
At this moment, the cover of the black coffin that had been placed vertically suddenly hit the ground, raising a mist of dust and revealing the ‘owner’ of the coffin inside!
Faced with such an accident, Douglas, Fernando and the rest of the team were all set to cast spells, and Lucien had an additional silver pocket watch in his hands.
A gold-haired handsome man in a white robe was standing inside the iron coffin. He was tall, his eyes were closed, and his hands were crossed before his chest.
There was not the slightest hint of life in him. He seemed to be dead for years, but his skin was healthy and smooth without any decay. The greatest feature on his face was the hawk nose that made him look very aggressive.
“Ivan?”
Suddenly, Lucien heard Douglas and Fernando’s shock in the telepathic bond at the same time!
Ivan?
It was a very common name in the Schachran Empire, but when it appeared with the vintage crosses around, Lucien could only think of one person:
Saint Ivan, the first pontiff of the North Church!
Saint Ivan, the ‘culprit’ who caused the schism of the Church!
Saint Ivan, who let the capital of the Schachran Empire named after him!
Why was he here?
After only one brief moment, the ‘Ivan’ inside the black coffin suddenly opened his eyes. That was a pair of eyes that were bluer than the ocean and clearer than gems. They were so deep that all the light around were absorbed by them, resulting in a temporary darkness.
……
In the Saint Ivan Church in San Ivansburg, inside a secret confessional…
Belkovsky, the incumbent pontiff of the North Church who had the typical huge nose of Schachran, was praying before the cross, when his eyes suddenly widened. His bright yellow eyes were immediately replaced by azure.
“Who broke into the Room of the Holy Spirit?” He said in anger. In the next, his body turned into illusionary light, as if he were melted into the air.
In the Saint Aleksey, the Saint Felix, the Saint Uriel, and the Saint Geno Churches, four Grand Cardinals in the level of saint also opened their closed eyes in the middle of their prayers.
……
The ball of godhood before the coffin of ‘Ivan’ suddenly flew into his body, allowing bright wings of godhood to be opened on his back. They were purer than the sunlight and more brilliant than the stars!
His nose protruded and turned larger, making his looks the most typical style of the Schachran Empire. His eyes were gradually dyed yellow. Behind his head, the brilliance of godhood displayed various illusionary faces, including Saint Ivan that they had just seen and many strangers that Lucien did not know.
Pa, pa, pa. The covers of three of the coffins that were placed flatly were opened, and three men in white long robes flew out and melted into the balls of godhood before them, flapping the wings of godhood.
The last coffin was still quiet, but something seemed to have flown into the ball of godhood above it, narrowing and lengthening it into an angel of light with yellow eyes.
A record suddenly occurred to Lucien. “…The six grand cardinals—Ivan, Aleksey, Nicon, Uriel, Geno, Felix—launched a surprise attack on Wilfred’s Demiplanes Magic Tower. In this intense battle, the six grand cardinals killed the necromancer and destroyed his phylactery… Nicon was killed by Wilfred.”
“During the fight against the vicious necromancer Wilfred, the Grand Cardinal Geno, was severely injured by Wilfred’s counterattack before his death. Geno’s soul was entangled by the power of death. Seven years later, Geno died in Lance, the Holy City…”
“…That day, God stared at the Holy City. Four saints, namely Ivan, Aleksey, Uriel and Felix, and seven saint cardinals, including Salt, Antlers and Siriusius, stood under the illumination of gold light, and accused Gregory of being the living embodiment of the Lord of Hell…”
For a moment, the whole secret chamber was so sacred and dazzling that it was a weird contrast to the silent and monochrome colors in the room a moment ago.
“Advanced Time Stop!”
“Storm Barrier!”
“Torso of Death!”
“Legendary Transformation!”
“Devilish Puppet!”
“Vengeful Gaze!”
Six spells were chanted at the same time. Although they were not sure what was going on yet, it was obviously not something good and had to be stopped immediately!
At this moment, ‘Saint Ivan’ suddenly opened his arms, as if he were embracing the people and the filthy world.
Countless tiny angels immediately appeared around him and sang anthems and hymns that sounded like ‘hallelujah’ that Lucien heard in his previous life.
A giant hole was broken in the monotonous black, white and grey up above. The projection of Mountain Paradise appeared. The light was poured into the body of Saint Ivan through the connection of the ball of godhood, making the wings of godhood even more dazzling and brilliant. His energy soared quickly and soon surpassed that of Fernando and Douglas, reaching the level close to a demigod!
It was God’s Grace!
With such changes, time and space shook, and the secret room was enshrouded by holiness. The legendary spells from Douglas, Lucien and the rest of them were dissolved before they were launched!
“Abominations shall be punished.” Ivan, whose blue eyes emitted vague yellowness, stepped forward and announcement solemnly, before hallowed light surged out like a tide.
Lucien immediately felt a space-time change, as if he had left the World of Souls and entered the infinite cosmos. He could see the brilliant stars far away, but he could no longer detect Fernando, Erica and the rest of the team who were right next to him.
Right then, Douglas’ grave and slow voice echoed. “Gravity Cage.”
The darkness of void surfaced, and the vast cosmos was gone. Then, Lucien discovered that he had been teleported. He did not know which palace he was in at all!
“Has Mr. President stopped ‘Saint Ivan’?”
……
Above a certain palace in the Temple of Spirits, the objects and the walls were all twisted and shattered under the terrifying pressure. However, despite the profound and heavy darkness, the transparent wings transformed from godhood did not seem affected.
“I’m told that you found the path to becoming a demigod by the general theory of relativity. I’m very curious about it.” Smiling, ‘Saint Ivan’ opened his right hand and broke the gravity cage more than easily after a single press.
“Paradise of Stars!” A weirdly-shaped celestial globe appeared in Douglas’s hands. As it emitted a brilliant light, it cast the place around him really into a cosmos that was dark and boundless.
It was his unique legendary item that could directly create the lock of ‘Paradise of Stars’ to improve himself and suppress the enemy.
In the meantime, he spread out his spiritual power. “You are not Ivan!”
Since the Congress of Magic had a chance to rise only because Saint Ivan divided the Church, Douglas and Fernando had met Saint Ivan a lot at that time. After a brief identification, he soon realized that something was wrong.
The wings transformed by godhood flapped behind ‘Saint Ivan’, shattering the falling stars in the lock. “Does it really matter? We have been integrated. After we obtain the real immortality, I will be Ivan, and Ivan will be me. We will also be a lot of other people.”
“The inheritance of strength?” Thanks to his experience, Douglas seemed to have grasped something. “No wonder only four coffins are opened. That’s because the last coffin belongs to Geno, who completely perished a few years after he returned to the Holy City. So, he could only be replaced by certain items to pass on his strength!”
“No wonder the ratio of saints is so high in the North Church!”
Saint Ivan smiled. Without any further ado, he carried out his strength close to that of a demigod and suppressed Douglas who only had the assistance of the lock.
……
Inside the barrier of storms, black tornadoes were sweeping, and countless gigantic lightning was striking, shattering the intense air of death and the frozen black, white and grey. Heat and coldness took turns to destroy everything around.
“Aleksey, Uriel.” A world of storms seemed to have been born in Fernando’s red eyes. Whoever was seen by him would bear unimaginable horror. His barrier of storms surrounded the two white-robed men and the Lich King who was preparing for an ambush.
The two white-robed saints were no strangers to Fernando. They were two of the three saints who followed Saint Ivan to divide the Church. The last of them was clearly Felix.
‘Uriel’, black-haired and black-eyed, shook his head and did not say anything. He merely chanted: “Light of Judgment!”
The wings made of godhood were closed, blowing up a light that seemed to be from the highest part of Mountain Paradise, judging everything in the world.
It was a pity that he and ‘Aleksey’ were only close to the peak of legendary even though they were melted with the balls of godhood. Together with the assistant of the Lich King, they were only on par with Fernando and were caught in a fierce battle. They were even losing the battle.
The aftermath of their battle destroyed the palaces around, causing the ever-rising terrible howls inside the Temple of Spirits.
In another palace, the Lord of the Undead encountered ‘Felix’ and was slightly overpowered by the enemy who had melted the ball of godhood. The rainbow dragon that Erica transformed into and the angel of light that the ball of godhood before the coffin of ‘Geno’ turned into were fighting now in the sky and now in the Lake of Evils very intensely. Although she was one level lower, she had the help of legendary items and the enemy had nothing, so she could still resist the enemy for now.
……
“Even ‘Saint Ivan’ is only close to a demigod under God’s Grace. He cannot kill Mr. President at all. That’s a man who had a head-on clash with a real demigod, the pope, and returned in one piece. Although he may be briefly overpowered, it remains to be seen who the final winner is when the effect of God’s Grace is over.” Lucien was not worried about Douglas, or his teacher Fernando. “My teacher is an out-and-out top legend. He can escape safely even if he is attacked by the four enemies.”
The noises when the balls of godhood were melted were too huge, which informed Lucien of the enemy’s capabilities clearly. The angel of light was a level-three legend, and the other three saints were all close to the peak of legendary. Even if they were to attack his teacher together, they could only suppress his teacher for now. Although it would be dangerous for his teacher when the four level-three legendary spectres came to aid, his teacher was certainly not a fool who would wait for the enemy’s reinforcements to arrive without doing anything.
“For somebody at the top of legendary, they can leave whenever they are in danger, unless they are stalled by somebody in the same level.” Lucien remarked with mixed feelings. It was actually himself, Erica and Klaus who were in danger. Also, even though Vicente was a grand arcanist in the school of necromancy, it remained to be seen whether or not he could be resurrected if he died here.
Thinking of what happened earlier, Lucien basically guessed who were inside the coffins. “Five saints… It seems that the coffin that was not opened belongs to Geno. He died a long time ago, so they made use of him in a different way?”
……
Inside the secret chamber, because of God’s Grace from ‘Saint Ivan’, the other people had been separated or teleported. The place fell quiet again.
Suddenly, the coffin of ‘Geno’ was opened, and a white-robed man with bright red eyes slowly crawled out. The decayed muscles on his body began to drop, replaced by newborn flesh and skin.
Looking at the place where ‘Saint Ivan’ and Douglas were fighting remotely, he put on a mocking smile and then walked towards the entrance!
