Tayfun felt an inexplicable chill as he walked down the stone steps of the sinkhole.
At the bottom of this quiet and deep church was the church's most important secret — the Hermes Mechanism.
It was the first time he had set foot in this place.
"Did His Holiness Mayne really let me come here to see him?" According to convention, only the Archbishop who was regarded as the successor of the Pope was qualified to enter the Pivotal Secret Mechanism. He was too old to take over Mayne's position.
"You've served the church for so many years and worked together, so His Holiness trusts you very much," Isabella said with a smile. "Moreover, the past rules are not suitable for the upcoming war. The will of God should not be buried underground. It needs to be revealed to all the lost believers and lead us to the final challenge."
"This is... His Holiness's idea?"
"Yes," she said softly.
After entering the mechanism, two Judgement Army soldiers came to greet him. "Your Excellency, His Holiness is presiding over the Magic Stone experiment. If you have a God's Stone of Retaliation with you, please hand it over to me for the time being — it may affect the operation of magic power."
Tayfun nodded and handed a God's Stone necklace to them.
"His Holiness is here. Please follow me."
Isabella turned into a long passage and pushed open the iron door at the end. With a harsh squeak, Tayfun saw another Pure Witch with her face covered. She blocked the door like a ghost. Her white skin could be seen under the black veil that wrapped her body. It seemed that she was naked except for the veil. The most eye-catching thing was the witch's eyes, which were different from ordinary people's pupils. Her eyes were a dull silver-gray and there seemed to be a whirlpool spinning in them. If one looked at them for a long time, they would be sucked in.
Tayfun lowered his head subconsciously.
Only then did he notice that the witch was not wearing shoes. Instead, her feet were covered with a bright red dot on each of her well-proportioned toes.
The bishop could not help but think of the saying, "The taste of a witch is incomparable to that of an ordinary woman."
"Damn it, are these witches all goblins?"
He quickly moved his slender feet away and heard Isabella's reminder. "Your Excellency?"
"Ahem." Tayfun collected his thoughts and walked into the house.
The room wasn't big, and the rosin torches hanging on the walls were burning vigorously, but he didn't smell the familiar sweet fragrance.
Four Pure Witches sat around a stone table, fiddling with a pile of glittering and translucent stones. Beside the stone table stood the current Pope, His Holiness Mayne.
Tayfun was just about to kneel and kowtow when Mayne caught his arm.
"There are no outsiders here, so there's no need to be so formal," he said with a smile. "We are old acquaintances, Lord Tayfun."
It had only been two months since they last met, but Mayne's forehead already had a few more wrinkles, and there were a few strands of silver in his hair. However, his tone was still as familiar as before, without the slightest arrogance.
"You can't do that..." Tayfun suddenly felt a surge of warmth in his heart. "Even if there are no other believers, I have to follow the order of the church."
"And what I said is order." The Pope smiled disapprovingly. "Let's not talk about this... How's the situation up there? I originally planned to ask Isabella to convey your message, but since you're here, tell me about it. "
"Yes, Your Holiness." Tayfun nodded. After describing the current situation of the church, he talked about the last order Isabella mentioned. "Right now, we're preparing resources for the Kingdom of Dawn. I'm afraid it will take a lot of effort to mobilize them again. Why did you suddenly decide to attack Graycastle first?"
"That's the main reason I called you here." Mayne sighed. "Graycastle is now showing signs of decline. The Order for the Selection of Crown Prince and the Pill of Madness have achieved the desired effect, and the Kingdom of Dawn is in civil strife. Their destruction is only a matter of time, so it doesn't make much difference who attacks first."
"I think so too, but... Graycastle is still a huge opponent."
"There are two main reasons why I decided to change the attack plan," the Pope said slowly with his hands clasped behind his back. "The first reason is basically the same as your concern. Graycastle has the largest territory and the richest resources. It's a huge enemy, but it also means a huge reward. If we can convert it into the territory of the church soon, the benefits will be much greater than occupying the Kingdom of Dawn. If we had ten years, I would definitely carry out the plan set by Lord O 'Brien, but we don't have much time. The appearance of the Fearful Beast of Hell means that the Bloody Moon may appear much closer than the date mentioned in the Holy Book. At this time, it's worth taking some risks and making more sacrifices. "
Tayfun nodded slightly. This reason was indeed good, but the problem was... it did not seem like Mayne's style. "Then your second reason is..."
"Roland Wimbledon of the Western Region," the Pope said decisively.
"You mean... Prince Roland of Graycastle?" He could not help but be startled.
"Based on the information we gathered over the past year, I discovered something incredible," Mayne patted the Bishop's shoulder, "Whether it was the Church's actions against him, or the Kingdom of Graycastle's actions against him, they all failed without exception. The first failure can be traced back to the Duke of the Western Region's attack on his territory. At that time, what did Roland have? Nothing but a run-down town. Outsiders think that he surrendered to the demons and defeated the Duke's Knight Group. But we all know that, except for Extraordinaries, one or two witches are no threat to a fully armed Knight equipped with God's Stones of Retaliation. "
"Later, the information became more and more unbelievable. For example, in a secret letter sent to the Holy City two months ago, the new King Timothy once sent nearly 2,000 crazed soldiers to attack the Western Region, but they were defeated immediately. What does this mean?"
Tayfun could not help but gasp. 2,000 crazed soldiers! Even in Hermes, they were still a force to be reckoned with.
"If we look at the information separately, we might not find anything, but when put together, it's very shocking — Roland Wimbledon has never been defeated in a war!" The Pope said in a deep voice, "And from the information, we can see that his power is growing at an amazing speed, and there's a tendency to expand outwards. If this drags on for another year, the entire Graycastle may fall into his hands. At that time, I'm afraid that if we want to annex this vast land, we'll have to pay a much greater price. " He paused and looked at Tayfun. "There are many things to deal with in the agency. I have no time to take care of the operation and expansion of the church, so I can only entrust these matters to you."
After the Archbishop left, the appearance of the room also changed.
The torches on the wall disappeared, and so did the Pure Witch who was studying the Magic Stone and the stone table. The figure of the Pope gradually faded away, and finally, only Isabella, Zero, and the black-veiled woman were left.
"If you didn't tell me, I wouldn't have known that Prince Roland of Graycastle is such an interesting person." Isabella smacked her lips. "Why do I think he's more likely to defeat the demons than the church?"
"What do you mean?" The black-veiled woman frowned. "Do you want to betray the church?"
"Betray? Don't make it sound so bad. "Isabella shrugged." Isn't the purpose of the church to ensure the survival of human beings in the Battle of Divine Will? If someone else can do it, I don't mind serving them. "
"You...!"
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