Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
In the Bright Hall, the Holy City Lance.
The entire world trembled a bit. All the cardinals present felt it. In the clear blue sky, there was a blurry image of a brand new world, so strange and so familiar at the same time.
It was the dimension that they had been seeking for in the past three years, where Alterna and the mysterious existence fell.
“Someone found it,” Squinting his eyes, another Saint, Anasta, broke the solid silence in the Bright Hall. “This world seems to be quite special; its revelation made too big a stir, so now we can also precisely locate it… it’s another fair competition.”
All of them turned to look at the Pope, waiting for his further decision. Should they stick to the war plan, or switch their focus to the newly-found dimension, to finding the injured Alterna and the mysterious existence?
Except for the two Grand Cardinals, who looked rather calm and indifferent, the rest of them all looked a bit excited. For them, the choice would definitely be the latter!
Was Lucien Evans important? Of course. This was not the first time that Lucien Evans brought disaster to the Church, and they all knew it well that Lucien Evans was very likely to become the next grand arcanist and legendary mage in his thirties or forties. If they simply left Lucien Evans alone, he would quickly grow into a huge threat to the Church.
However, compared to the secrets hiding behind Alterna and the mysterious existence, Lucien’s importance paled. If they could catch Alterna and the mysterious existence and find out their secrets, the gain would be immeasurable for the Church, for the Pope, and for everyone!
All the previous popes wished to be immortal like Alterna, just like the saying —”eternal is the Silver Moon, eternal is the Moon God.” However, because their power came from the God of Truth, they could not prolong their years using magic and potions, thus five-hundred years was their limit. Also, after becoming the pope, their bodies aged even faster from bearing the power of God, even though they were already Saints before ascending to the throne.
The Grand Cardinal group’s members could easily notice that the popes never lived long, but they did not know the reasons behind. The most reasonable guess was that a human being’s body and soul ascending to demigod level would have to bear unrepairable damages.
Therefore, knowing the secrets of the real demigods could for sure prolong the Pope’s life span.
As for the grand cardinals, knowing even the smallest piece of secret would greatly benefit them. They would see much bigger hope in ascending or even becoming demigods, Saints, or Angels on the Ground to enjoy immortality.
With such power, the entire Church would be invincible!
Under the burning gazes, the Pope released a sigh and said calmly, “eliminating Lucien Evans, the Fallen Angel, was what we were planning on. However, now the Lord has decided to send us to an even more dangerous and challenging task. This is our honor and pleasure. Sard, you will still lead the parish of Holm, as well as the entire five parishes to stand against the Congress of Magic. Before this ends, no spare support can be sent to you. This is a tough situation.”
“Your command is the will of the Lord. Only truth lives forever,” answered Sard without any personal emotions.
However, in other grand cardinals’ eyes, he was of extremely bad luck.
Being the leader of the five major parishes and ranking only below the Pope in the Church was once the ultimate pursuit among all the powerful characters in the Church. However, the Congress of Magic had become much more powerful than ever, and thus the role had now become a very risky one. What was more important was that Sard was going to miss the chance heading for the dimension to look for Alterna and the mysterious existence. But since Sard did not say anything, they were also glad to have fewer competitors.
“Anasta and Maria, you two shall come with me.” Benedict II commanded calmly.
Maria was another Saint, and just like Anasta, he was fully trusted by Benedict II.
Different from the constitution of the North Church, in the South Church, the Pope had unparalleled authority and power. No one dared to stand out and speak against the Pope. What surprised them even more was that the Pope was going to join in the exploration of the dimension! Ever since the division of the Church, His Holiness had never stepped out of the Holy City.
The Pope has put an even heavier emphasis on this than they expected.
“Arzaro, Varantine, Bellia…” The Pope picked another five members from the Grand Cardinal group, who were either saint cardinals or legendary knights. “… should also come along with me.”
This arrangement had made the most from what the Church had right now. The Church had so many enemies that the Pope had to be very cautious all the time in case they would launch a strike when the Church was unprepared, although the Pope believed that their enemies would also choose to focus on chasing after the newly-found dimension.
Also, this time the Pope would join in person, and he is confident in himself.
After the arrangement, the Pope said to them, “get the senior-ranks, top two hundred night watchers, radiant knights and above to prepare themselves. We know nothing about the dimension yet. Maybe it’s as broad as the Star Tomb, then we’ll need stronger support.
“As for the punishment that Lucien Evans deserves, two or three top night watchers should still bear the mission in mind.”
The Pope still insisted on killing Lucien as soon as possible even now.
“As command, Your Holiness,” answered the members in chorus, as they drew a cross in front of their chests,
“Only Truth lives forever!”
…
In the boundless starry sky, Oliver shrugged at ease and said, “there’s something wrong with this dimension. The stir we made was too loud to avoid the attention. The North and the South Church may already be on their way now. I’ll get in there first. You go back and tell the president all the information we collected. Let him make the plan and gather everyone else.”
“I see.” Hathaway did not waste her words. Turning around, she did an elegant Space Jump using her demiplane — Element Paradise. A few hours earlier, she received Fernando’s secret message and was informed about Lucien’s New Alchemy. Therefore, she resisted the temptation of exploring deeper into this dimension, and instead, applied to guard Allyn in the next five-year period, in order to assimilate and further improve the theoretical system.
After Hathaway left, Oliver released a sigh,
“Here starts the chaos.”
…
On the Night Highland, in a busy city.
The buildings in this city carried the style of ancient times. Some were heavy solid stone huts from of the Age of Steam, while some were green treehouses left from the time when elves were still ruling this territory. However, most houses and buildings in the city had pointy tips and looked grayish, which was typical of the ancient Magic Empire. This city was a place where most races in this world gathered together, including human beings of different ethnicities, werewolves, beautiful elves, pale vampires, scaly Kuo-toans, and so on.
All of a sudden, the space and the living creatures cracked like a mirror. The image of the two human beings having a heated conversation in the corner broke into small pieces, together with the buildings and the entire city.
On the empty land, a black castle emerged. In the castle, the lid of a huge coffin opened fiercely, and a man in his thirties wearing a black evening suit and a cloak that was black on the outside and red in the inside flew out. His eyes were scarlet, creepy but enchanting.
“Finally…”
In the next second, Dracula had vanished.
On the Night Highland, the several vampire princes all responded in the same way. They had all set out, leaving their territories behind exposed to possible attacks — There was nothing more important than the Primordial Ancestor.
In San Ivansburg, in Antiffler, in the Dark Mountain Range… Countless legendaries looked up at the sky simultaneously and immediately set off for that dimension, with or without companies. No one could resist the temptation, not even the arrogant Rudolf II or the mysterious Pope of the North.
…
“We are heading for the dimension — Douglas, I, Vicente, Hellen, Atlant, Hull-Chulia, Chelsea, Davy… Eleven legendaries in total to support Oliver,” said Fernando who just directly showed up in the Atom Institution. “You stay in Allyn. Don’t fool around. If you have to, use your Transformation Mask.”
If Lucien had not made such a mess and thus became the most hateful one in the eyes of the Church, Fernando would bring him and his other students together with him, so they could gain experience by exploring the dimension under his protection. However, now the dimension would soon be turned into the battlefield among the legendaries. Lucien should not take such a risk.
In case the Church would launch a sudden attack, the Congress also saved six legendaries to help Hathaway safeguard Allyn, including Brook, who was still recovering from the damage in his cognitive world.
Although Lucien was, of course, very curious and he did long for the power hiding in that dimension, he had not lost his reason to greed. Joining the battlefield of the legendaries as a sixth-circle sorcerer would be directly courting death. He had better just stay here and hope that the Congress could bring back some pieces, so he apply to research on them in the future as a grand arcanist. With the credits he just earned from the light quantum hypothesis and New Alchemy, Lucien was now already a level-seven arcanist. Expecting more citation credits coming up, plus the Influence Factor, Lucien believed that he could become reach level eight in a few years.
“Yes, Sir. I’ll be cautious,” said Lucien like a deferential, good student.
Meanwhile, his brain was spinning fast — Seizing the chance, he could bring out the dwarves from the Night Highland once his magic tower was ready.
This was the best chance ever!
