Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Like a shattered kite in the air, Octave’s body was fiercely punched backward by Lucien. Blood spurted out of his mouth, and he had totally lost his consciousness.
Suddenly, the look on his face distorted, and from his body, beams of light burst out. The light was shaped into four pairs of white wings behind his back.
Octave’s light blue eyes slowly opened, but now they had become colorless. Looking down upon Lucien, the eyes were sheer cold.
“Angels on the Ground?” Lucien murmured.
Octave heard Lucien’s exclamation and said triumphantly, “We’re the righteous blessed by God, apostles who take Lord’s true will. Of course, we have the power of angels. And you, you filthy Fallen Morning Star, should be cleansed by us!”
Octave said his words quickly. The lines came from the Cannon, and the language was from heaven.
However, Octave’s mind was rather clear under the angel’s power, and he knew that the power would not last long. Also, if the fight between them went on, the Radiance Church, Holm Royal Magic Tower, Nekso Palace could notice the chaos here at any time. Therefore, he flapped his wings, from where scattered light came out. The light spots then joined together, turning into a magnificent lightwave that rushed at Lucien with significant momentum.
Lucien, who was now with radiant knight power, was caught up in fighting against the light wave. Even the power in his left hand could not help him get out of trouble. Seeing that, Octave scoffed, and then, without hesitation, he reached Lend after a flash and grabbed him. Lend was already out of consciousness because of the crystal dragon’s breath. Octave’s four pairs of wings blocked the dragon’s claws, and then Octave forced his way out of Salvation Church.
The wings closed, the light disappeared. Octave took Lend with him and both of them vanished into the darkness.
He knew that Lucien and his pet couldn’t be chasing after them. Given that he was one of the biggest enemies to Sard, Stone, and the leading night watchers, Lucien had to leave the site as quickly as he could.
Octave cast a series of divine spells to remove the trace he left, and after Lend recovered, he made it twice as secure by asking Lend to use his blood power, Elimination, to cover their whereabouts. Then he finally headed for his real destination.
The night had quieted down because the fight stopped just in time. Those who possessed formidable power in the city were left in peace.
“I didn’t expect him… Lucien Evans…” said Lend word by word in extremely bitter hatred. He hated himself for not being powerful enough to kill this cunning demon himself.
Octave sneered, “It was a sneak attack, or we wouldn’t have been so passive. But his left hand is weird. The power in it is like your blood power, but even better in nature. It felt… It felt like his power had a much higher rank.”
“Higher rank? Was Lucien Evans once the archangel, Fallen Morning Star, God’s Left Wing?” said Lend out of astonishment. Although Lucien’s titles were familiar to many night watchers, they never believed that it was true. They believed that it was the Pope’s explanation to eliminate the negative influence.
Octave was afraid of the power in that left hand. He remained silent, as he didn’t know the answer either.
In silence, they kept moving ahead. After a while, Octave said in a low voice, “We can ask the great prophet. He’s the Angel King who carries the true will of the Lord. His mission is to defeat the corrupt pope, so he should know Lucien’s secrets. In the future, we’ll be able to be more prepared.”
Lend slightly nodded, “We’ll also have to confess to the great prophet since we failed our mission. Richard hasn’t been on our side yet, and we also failed to kill him and cast the blame on a sorcerer. By the way, Cardinal Octave, I don’t remember you being this talkative. You know, you didn’t have to say that out loud…”
Octave did not have to say it – the part that mentioned killing the pope. Octave and Lend both knew about it since they were the core members of the secret group.
Octave touched his face. Although all the wounds had healed, he still remembered the unbearable pain he just went through. He said in a bitter emotion, “I got punched on my head. Yes, I talked too much. I feel that I’m still not able to fully control my body and my mind.”
Lend nodded as he understood. Without saying anything further, he and Octave arrived at a small, shabby church.
Although the place looked shabby, the inside decoration was stunning. Its exquisiteness and luxury was a sharp contrast to its outside appearance.
Octave and Lend were very used to it. They quickly walked through the praying hall, heading for the confession room.
“You two are back.” said a young man with sharp facial features who was walking towards them. He was in his early thirties, but was already wearing the red robe.
Octave slightly nodded, “Arthur, we failed.”
The young man was the most promising red robe valued by the great prophet, and also the most talented priest in Holm Parish in the past fifty years. Before thirty-five, he had already become a level nine red robe. The man named Arthur was regarded as one of the most competitive candidates for the saint cardinal position. However, due to his radicalism, he was always excluded from the central power of Holm Parish.
Arthur’s eyes slightly squinted considering that he wasn’t expecting this answer, “Failed? With three level nine scrolls?”
“We were close, but then we ran into Lucien Evans. I believe that he was there to persuade Richard.” said Octave. He did not mention anything about Lucien’s left hand to Arthur, as he thought to himself that this should be a secret only accessible to the great prophet.
“He was hiding, so we were not prepared. He even had a dragon! We managed to run away using Angels on the Ground.” Octave added.
Arthur’s brown eyes lit up for a moment. He then thought to himself and said, “This is our chance. We will keep it a secret for now. Not telling anyone else that Lucien Evans is contacting Richard might be of benefit to our future plans. If we have no solid evidence, because of Richard’s prestige, we’d probably be in trouble.”
Lend said calmly, “I know what you mean, Arthur, but the decision should be left to the great prophet.”
Arthur did not say anything but directly left for the abbey in Rentato.
Octave and Lend continued to walk along the corridor and then they were surprised to find that they had run into seven to eight red robes on their way, which meant that most of the senior-ranks in the secret groups were all here today, and they were all extreme radicals, consisting one fourth of the entire Holm Parish.
“What’s going on here?” Octave asked Lend.
Lend had no idea, although he joined the group prior than Octave, “Maybe there’s some emergency. We’ll know very soon.”
They knocked on the door of the confession room. The gentle but clear voice came, “Octave and Lend? Come on in.”
Pushing open the door, Octave and Lend walked in. They bowed to the great prophet who had just finished his confession.
Space was limited here. The candle in the room was not capable of lighting up the entire room. Shadows stretching on the ground, the place seemed a bit intimidating.
The great prophet was standing in the darkness, his face was hidden, but his deep eyes had the power to attract anyone’s attention, as if they could suck in one’s soul.
Octave saw that there was a book in the great prophet’s hand, but he could not see the name of the book clearly.
“You failed?” The prophet asked calmly and gently.
“Yes.” Octave and Lend lowered their heads deep, and they recounted what happened in detail.
“This isn’t your fault. I made a mistake. I did not ask for God’s implication before sending you two there.” said the prophet sorrowfully, as if it was him who failed the mission.
“But, it has proved the fact that we’re on the correct path. If we take actions too late, the priests will fall into the vicious sorcerers’ traps one by one! The pope and some of the grand cardinals are in fact helping the evilness!” the great prophet raised his voice.
“You’re the great prophet; you lead us to confront the evilness,” both Octave and Lend crossed, “only truth lives forever!”
“What do you two think of the Grand Cardinal Sard? Do you think he might join us?” asked the great prophet.
Octave and Lend both looked up at the great prophet in confusion. Why would the prophet be asking this question?
At this time, finally, Octave was able to see the name of the book:
The Interpretation of Dreams.
“The great prophet, why are you reading this strange book?” Octave could not help asking.
At this time, the great prophet’s face started twisting and divine light burst out from his body. The white, light wings stretched out and filled the entire space. Behind the wings there was the bright sky. Suddenly they were up in the air, not in the confession room anymore!
The dignity and divinity made them have the urge to kneel down.
“Six-wing Seraphim… No, wait, this isn’t right…”
Octave stared at the gorgeous-looking angel standing in front of him in astonishment, but somehow the face was quite familiar to him, as if he had just seen it.
Then the beautiful face put on a creepy smile. The answer struck Octave,
“Lucien Evans!”
The surroundings had all disappeared. Octave opened his eyes. Richard, the crystal dragon, and Lucien Evans were staring at him.
What was it? Was it a dream?
Seeing Octave panicking, Lucien grinned,
“The ones you saw in your dream came from your consciousness. I’ve got a rough idea about who the members are.”
“The place looked shabby, but inside it was luxurious and grand enough to be compared to the Bright Hall, which indicates that in your belief, you’re doing something righteous, even though it requires you to hide in the darkness and your hands will be covered in blood. You look upon heaven, however, you’re in hell…”
“You couldn’t see the face of the great prophet. This means that when you talked to him, the great prophet hid his face…”
“The confession room was narrow, dark, and intimidating. This shows that when you first came to the great prophet, you were in the darkest period of your life. Assumably, that confession room was the very one that you were in…”
“At the end, there were light wings. He once showed his great power in front of you, and that was perhaps where you got your power from, Angels on the Ground…”
Lucien’s tone was dull, but Octave’s face was getting pale.
In Octave’s eyes, Lucien was blocking part of the light from the window of the Salvation Church, making it look as if he actually had the six pairs of light wings.
