Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
In San Ivansburg…
Belkovsky, the pontiff of the North Church, was walking toward the room of prayer slowly. He was tall and muscular, nothing like how Benedict III was. As a matter of fact, he was indeed a level-two knight who activated his own blood power through his own work. Even though he chose the path of divine power later, he had paid special attention to the exercise and maintenance of his body. After all, performing “God’s Grace” was a heavy burden for the body too.
He extended his right hand and pressed the door of the room of prayer with his eyes focused. He did not have the habit of considering problems while walking, like what the other high-level managers did. For him, one thing had to be done with full attention when he did it. Only if he was not distracted could he expect the best result. Therefore, when it was time for dinner, he would have dinner; when it was time to walk, he would walk; and when it was time to consider, consider. He never let go of the tiniest detail.
Suddenly, his right hand that was about to open the room of prayer stopped on the bronze doorknob. His eyes squinted, and a holy light vaguely rose around him, connecting to the barrier of the divine power of the whole cathedral.
“Who’s here?” Although Belkovsky would not perceive everything in the whole Saint Ivan Church all the time, he maintained the basic alert. If a certain expert approached the cathedral without him knowing it at all, it would be too great a humiliation for the pontiff of the North Church. Also, most importantly of all, the expert just now briefly revealed himself as if he were announcing his arrival!
Belkovsky was actually more puzzled than scared about the mysterious expert. Even if Benedict III arrived in person with his “God’s Arrival” recovered, it was not entirely impossible for him to survive in the cathedral of Saint Ivan Church. “God’s Grace” plus the core of the defense that the North Church had been working on for hundreds of years was enough to offset God’s Arrival, preventing it from causing fatal wounds.
It was just like why the “previous popes” never attempted to bombard Allyn with God’s Arrival. That could’ve knocked down the City in the Sky but wouldn’t have been able to heavily wound the legends inside. Without including the attacks of other people, at least Douglas and Brook, who were at the peak of legendary, wouldn’t worry about getting killed.
The legendary wave appeared and disappeared again, at exactly the same spot as just now, which slightly confused Belkovsky who was ready to attack. He smelled something unusual. Then, the holy light on his back turned from a hollow into concrete, giving birth to an angel who had six wings on the back. Then, the angel lunged into the void and disappeared before Belkovsky.
Outside of the Saint Ivan Church was a spacious square that was in the wild and primitive style that was adored in the Schachran Empire. In an alley near the square, the darkness before dawn had completely shrouded the place, making it appallingly quiet. It was a major contrast to the magnificent cathedral nearby.
Holy light arose in the alley, and the angel whose eyes were closed showed up and turned into the appearance of Belkovsky.
“Hehe.” Creepy laughter came from the darkness in the alley. It did not sound to be from a human being at all and carried the intense air of death.
There were few experts that Belkovsky was scared of, and Douglas was the only one among them who was not a demigod. Therefore, he showed no courtesy to the stranger who was pretending to be mysterious. “If you don’t have a good reason to attract me here, you’d better think of a better one after you reach hell.”
In the laughter, a little bird that was purely black flew out. There were pale and hilarious feathers above its head, and the bird’s body seemed to be made of the purest death. It had come with the worst news.
Belkovsky observed it carefully, only to discover that the mysterious bird had disguised it so well that his projection could not see through it at all. He could, if he arrived in person and examined with divine power, but in such a case, the bird would probably collapse and disappear, not leaving any clues for him.
“You may call me Bird of Death, but I brought you a piece of good news this time.” The bird perched in midair as if it were on a branch.
Belkovsky snorted, not taking it seriously. “Good news? There’s little good news for me nowadays.”
“Is that so? Is the discounted bundle of the ways to transform into primeval devils through the power of feelings not good news for you?” The Bird of Death cackled creepily.
“What?” Belkovsky’s eyes constricted as he stared at the weird little bird for the first time. Even his nonexistent breath seemed to become heavy now.
After a brief silence, he looked at the Bird of Death and asked, “Do you know the ways?”
Over the past two years, many uncanny accidents had taken place in the territory of the North Church, and the results of the investigation all pointed at the primeval devils. Together with the intelligence that Belkovsky acquired from the Dark Congress and the Boundless Ocean, he had more or less guessed that somebody was trying to collect the power of feelings in order to transform into primeval devils.
Furthermore, the Congress of Magic made it clear in their broadcast that transformation into primeval devils was Thanos’ creation, and that he had successfully become a demigod in such a way. Although Belkovsky was not entirely convinced by the open broadcast, he did have a theory after hearing it. The pontiffs and saints in the past could not find a way to be demigods and were only able to steal and make use of the power of faith because they were missing a critical procedure. Therefore, he was quite tempted by the method as described by the Bird of Death.
“Do you not know that Viken secretly announced the way to become a demigod?” said the Bird of Death in mockery.
“What?” Belkovsky exclaimed again. He was surprised more times today than he was many years before. It was not because he was not calm and focused enough but because the Bird of Death’s message was too shocking!
The Bird of Death let out horrible laughter again. “The elven queen knows it, and that’s why Lankshear went missing. The Demogorgon of Darkness knows it, and that’s why the former Prince of Demons went missing. Legends who hardly perished except in major battles in the past have gone missing one after another. Have you sensed nothing wrong?”
“That explains a lot…” Belkovsky was not blindly believing the Bird of Death’s words; he had been suspicious about those cases all the time and vaguely inferred a terrifying fact based on his secret intelligence. Today, the truth of the cases had been offered to him. “What can Viken get from doing this?”
It was what confused him most.
“What can he get? Let the enemies brutalize each other, stabilize the internal situation, and buy more time for his recovery. Do they not count? Also, those people are sort of Viken’s experiment subjects. Their experience will help Viken find the problems of his method and the ways to solve them so that he can see the gate to a real god. After all, he is a demigod, and his life can be preserved in the worst scenario. There’s still a chance for him to start all over again.” The Bird of Death chuckled. “Besides, the candidates he chose are all the legends who do not have a stable source of faith.”
“No wonder he didn’t tell us…” Belkovsky nodded softly. As the pontiff of the North Church, he had a stable source of faith and had been stealing power from it. If he had the way to become a demigod, he would make significant progress very quickly. Since the North Church and the South Church were of the same origin, it was more than easy for them to steal each other’s power of faith. Viken certainly would not reveal it to his mortal enemy unless his brain was broken.
Calming himself down, he asked straightforwardly, “What do you want?”
For a big shot like him, the decisiveness at the critical moments was indispensable. Therefore, instead of rambling on, he went to the center of the problem. Besides, he was not worried that the Bird of Death would trick him with fake information. Such a clandestine deal certainly had to be completed part after part. With his knowledge, he could easily tell if the information was true and could cancel the deal any time if he determined that it was false.
“I only have the way of status transformation, but not the way to steal and utilize the power of faith, or the secrets to combining them to break into the level of demigods. However, I know for a fact that you have acquired the way to steal and make use of the power of faith from the World of Souls, and it has been improved by many generations of pontiffs. So, let’s make an exchange,” the Bird of Death said coarsely in a low voice.
Belkovsky’s eyes turned cold. He knew the secrets of the pontiff? Who was he? Did Viken tell him?
Holding back his confusion, Belkovsky said, pretending to be disappointed, “There’s no complete information?”
“No, but this is your last chance. Other people certainly would not expose it. Nobody wants to have more competitors. If you are unwilling to accept the exchange, I’ll go and look for your saints. I don’t think they will turn it down.” The Bird of Death’s pale and hollow eyes were full of mockery.
Belkovsky was a bit angry, but the temptation was much greater. Weighing the pros and cons, he nodded. “If we are only talking about the way to steal and make use of the power of faith, that’s not a problem.”
The most important secret of the North Church was still the way to pass on strength via “godhood”.
“Right. You also need to give me the files of the bloodline of Elimination. I’m quite interested in that.” The Bird of Death mentioned it casually, as if it were just an unimportant issue.
After the schism, the night watchers of the North Church had plenty of knights with the bloodline of Elimination. They had plenty of files.
Belkovsky thought that it was an unimportant issue as well. The files regarding the Elimination blood power were not confidential, but he still believed that it was necessary to show his attitude. “No other requirements, unless you can offer other valuable things.”
The Bird of Death chuckled. “Alright.”
The two of them quickly exchanged their files before they bid each other farewell, both in satisfaction.
Looking at the statues of the previous pontiffs and saints in the room of prayer, Belkovsky was suddenly full of ambitions. Although he did not have the last and the most critical files, he had made much more progress. Also, he had picked up a source of files. The experts who were aware of the secrets such as the Demogorgon of Darkness had to be careful later!
Inside the Atomic Universe, Lucien opened his eyes, and the black Bird of Death suddenly collapsed.
He pretended to be the Bird of Death this time partly to acquire the files and partly to set a new enemy for Viken to mess up the situation. After all, the last and the most critical method hadn’t been offered to Belkovsky yet, and there was still a long way to go before he became a demigod! Lucien certainly did not want there to be more demigod enemies for the Congress in the future.
“Aren’t you trying to make the situation chaotic? I’ll help you make it even more so! However, the messing up of such a level is still not good enough…” Lucien put on an expression that was called by his students as the demon’s smile.
