In Lance, the Holy City …
The entire Bright Hall was caught in indescribable solemnity and silence. The quiet atmosphere seemed to have frozen. Whether or not they were involved in the operation to capture the artificial planet, all the Grand Cardinals lowered their noble heads, ready to welcome the fury of His Holiness.
The operation this time was such a failure that it was destined to fail from the very beginning. His Holiness' risk was meaningless. Somebody had to take the blame!
Compared to the legendary sorcerers of the Congress of Magic, the saint cardinals and the divine Knight of the Church were not as detached. Their position and the power they controlled would limit the growth of their strength. The higher their position was, the more power they had, and the closer they would be to the Lord. Therefore, the punishment they received was not an insignificant symbol.
Also, before they grasped the mysteries of faith, the previous popes had the "divine method" of "Excommunication". The saint cardinals who were used would be cut off from Mountain Paradise and could only use their own "heart of faith" without any replenishment. Very soon, they would be reduced to legends who had no level and no power.
The legendary sorcerers' position, on the other hand, was entirely based on their own strength. Even if they lost their identity as members of the Highest Council, it would not affect anything. Their reliance on the Congress of Magic was the integration of resources and the environment of arcana and magic studies. Therefore, they were much more detached than the Congress of Magic. Their punishment would not hurt them at all.
It was also one of the reasons why the Congress of Magic had so many factions and internal conflicts could not be resolved. The detachment of the legends had both advantages and disadvantages.
Among the Grand Cardinals, Philip was the most uneasy one. He was the one who completed the plan, and Benedict III gave him the greatest freedom. Even he himself was a part of the plan, but he had screwed it up!
The intense noises when the artificial planet exploded echoed in Philip's heart like the Congress of Magic's laughter that was full of mockery and malice. He could not let it go for a long time.
Even though he was a newly-advanced saint cardinal and a "young man" who had the potential to become a saint and a hardcore supporter of the pope, he had to consider how to shoulder His Holiness' wrath and how to avoid "losses" as much as possible.
After Pope Viken condensed and stabilized the "hearts" of the Church with the methods to transform their physical state with the feelings of the believers and how to make use of the power of faith, they all made some initial gains. They were now able to steal the power of faith on their own and were no longer scared of "excommunication". However, it also meant that they were more dependent on the Church as an organization!
Compared to the experts who had to secretly collect the power of emotions and spread their faith, they were much happier with the Saint Truth. Every day, they could steal the power of faith from the parishes under their control openly without doing anything else. If they were punished and transferred to a remote parish, it would be a severe loss!
Benedict III, wearing the holy crown on his gray head and holding the platinum scepter in his hand, stared at the Grand Cardinals indifferently and did not say a word for five minutes.
He did not release the pressure of a demigod, but the invisible pressure froze the entire hall. None of the Grand Cardinals dared to open their mouths.
Suddenly, he sighed softly. "What happened this time has nothing to do with you. It's not your fault. The plan is actually almost perfect. The grand arcanists have been distracted and stalled successfully. The evil sorcerers can only blame themselves for being too cunning to deploy such a weird self-detonation device on the artificial planet."
His peaceful tone and his determination of the matter melted the frozen atmosphere. Philip took a long breath in relief in his heart and was filled with sincere gratitude. His Holiness was truly broad-minded and wise.
"Your Holiness, what do we do now? Do we plan a similar operation again? " Philip intentionally asked the question that he knew the answer to in order to shift the focus of the discussion and stop dwelling on the failure in the past.
As if he did not know what was on his mind, Benedict III said in a neither too high nor too low voice, "Until the weirdness of the self-detonation device is figured out, none of the similar plans can possibly work out."
"Your Holiness is right. The magic effect will explode when it is removed, and such a powerful explosion cannot be underestimated. If we do not figure out the reason, chances are that somebody will be killed because of it next time." Astira, the Angel of Wind, said in fear. If the power of the self-detonation was close to the power of "Eternal Blaze", they would've been screwed. Since the artificial planet that was not a legendary item could unleash an explosion of the level of "atomic fission", it was not entirely impossible that "Eternal Blaze" could do the same.
Melmax also nodded. "Unless the Godly Eye arrives and controls it with divine powers such as' God's Hourglass', I can't think of any other way except to capture it by force. However, it will take too long to capture it by force, which will escalate into a full-scale battle."
Arvin, "Godly Eye", one of the six seraphs, was one of the only two experts in the Saint Truth who could use divine powers such as time freeze. The other one was naturally Pope Viken.
His ability to control time and space seemed to be a gift from the God of Truth. Therefore, even the Knight who inherited his bloodline and Astira who had melted the power of the Angel of Wind could not really stop time. The best they could do was to slow down and accelerate time.
"We can take a more roundabout and inconspicuous approach." Philip looked at Benedict III. "Your Holiness, the way to become a demigod that you secretly announced must've shaken the minds of some of the high-level sorcerers, right? Through them, we can … "
He didn't finish his sentence, but every Grand Cardinal on the spot knew what he meant. It was no different from stealing secrets and carrying out assassinations through spies.
In the emergency meeting at the beginning, Benedict III "told" them about the Saint Truth. He described "Sun King" Thanos as the holy son of the God of Truth, the supreme being who had arrived on the ground together with the God of Truth and the pope, and the holy son who tried to destroy the Evil Magic Empire and save the world. He described his research to explore the mysteries of the gods as the experience of awakening his memories under the influence of the God of Truth. He described the failure of his experiment, the melding with Mountain Paradise, and the loss of all his self-awareness as saving the world by opening the Chamber of Immortality and awakening the minds of human beings. Then, he sacrificed himself and returned to the God of Truth.
Such a "story" could only make the Grand Cardinals suspicious. However, Viken's point was not to make up a story but to make them understand that the God of Truth was indeed the true god who had the highest power except that he was in hibernation, which could be proved by the overwhelming power of Mountain Paradise that they sensed. Also, since Viken announced the mysteries of demigods and faith on his own initiative, they were naturally "convinced".
Viken did not hide the way to become a demigod from them in secret, either. They were not against it. After all, they had an enormous area of faith under their control, and they did not need to compete with other people. They could watch other people compete with each other and make the competition more gory by helping different forces. If they joined hands, they would have a pope who could perform God's Arrival on their side!
Benedict III shook his head. "I did not ask for anything when I gave them the way to become a demigod, and they will not do anything for us that is against their interests. As a matter of fact, I prefer that. When they are close to success, it will be the time when flowers bloom. Things will become very interesting, and we will have greater gains. Therefore, I do not want their 'efforts' to be noticed for the artificial planet."
"Are we giving up just like that?" Philip was more or less disappointed.
Benedict III smiled. "It will be a different story if they voluntarily reveal it and ask for an exchange. I know that the Bird of Death is desperate for a certain amount of the power of faith, and he has hidden himself very well. Even if he is exposed, he will have a scapegoat. Also, I'm going to meet someone. Perhaps I can get the secrets of the artificial planet directly from him …"
After saying that, he stopped talking and announced the end of the meeting of the Grand Cardinals.
Melmax, Maria, Kati, Astira, and the rest of them were confused and curious about who the Bird of Death and the pope wanted to meet in the end, but they had to hold back their thoughts and leave the Bright Hall in silence.
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