Chapter 237 - 237 Failed Secret Mechanism

237 Failed Secret Mechanism

Storm Province, Myriad Feet City, Terra Cathedral.

The Eighth Order was experiencing a surge in popularity due to the manifestation of the figurines. Pilgrims from all over the empire had flocked to its supreme temple for the past few months.

It was quick to seize the opportunity to expand its influence. Other than implementing martial law early on, they held grand sermons and preachings to make the most of this situation that could have potentially been a crisis for the Church. Along with the news that the empire’s expeditionary army was sending troops to Ava State, this increased public support for the Eighth Holy Spirit and the Riel royal family.

Now, countless believers were visiting the Terra Cathedral daily to hear the sermon of the Eighth Order’s Patriarch, Adrian—the spokesperson for the Eighth Holy Spirit in the mortal world. As a result, the hotels, taverns, relay stations, and other shops in Myriad Feet City were thriving. This city, which had declined after the Riel royal family’s relocation, seemed to be experiencing a revival after 800 years.

“I’ve already stated that the publicity needs to be handled carefully. The current situation is going to be a problem…” Adrian said, feeling helpless as he listened to the prayers outside the cathedral that drowned out the hymns.

Today wasn’t the Church’s day off, but the Terra Cathedral was closed.

Not only was the door shut, but it was also heavily guarded. Even when the manifestation of divinity occurred, it wasn’t this heavily guarded.

Fully armed Church paladins and guards transferred from Myriad Feet City blocked hundreds of believers who hoped to make a pilgrimage to the church.

This was because Patriarch Adrian, eight archbishops under him, three upper echelon members of the Astral Council, and a black-robed man emitting an aura that kept people away were holding a secret ceremony of utmost importance inside the church.

The huge chanting crowd used their souls to evoke a sufficient amount of faith resonance. The upper echelon members of the Astral Council continued to provide mana in a dazzlingly complicated nexus, and the mysterious black-robed man was communicating with the power of the Moon Realm.

These were just to support the ritual. The true body of the ritual was the cathedral itself.

Two years after his failed expedition to Ava State, the founding emperor, Terra Riel, ordered the construction of the Terra Cathedral. The Senate had always opposed the empire’s landmarks of faith being in the style of the elves, but the emperor crushed their dissent.

The reason for this was to achieve such a day.

The Terra Cathedral, built to mimic the Moonlaw City palace, harnessed the power of the High Elves’ Mist Souls through symbolic resonance, allowing the emperor’s power to transcend karmic ties and be engraved in a cycle of fate.

This was a plan that he had been in motion about for over 800 years. Despite the low probability of success, he knew it was worth a try.

For this plan, the Eighth Order didn’t hesitate to cooperate with the Moon Realm’s controversial beings and used the Void Sovereign Steelheart Widow to create a vessel that could contain Holy Spirit Terra’s strength and plunge it right into the enemy’s heart.

But there was no way to explain these things to the devout believers outside the door.

Those who hadn’t yet become gods had to pretend to be gods in order to have a chance at becoming gods. In a way, religion was just a form of deception.

Adrian was one of the few people who understood this truth.

Even more remarkably, he still chose to be devout despite understanding this principle.

“Forget it. Let’s keep going. Let’s finish these tasks as quickly as possible. This is an opportunity we can’t miss…”

Adrian knew that there was no one who could share his feelings, so he sighed.

Most of the people present were more about action than words. In a way, this seemed to be a common trait among the powerful in this world. So, when Adrian gave his orders, everyone got to work.

The secret ritual was activated, and the nexuses all over the place lit up one after another.

Adrian, at the center of the ritual, felt the surging faith and magic power intertwine with the power of the Moon Realm. Then, from more than 10,000 kilometers away and an countless number of concepts, it allowed his master to sit firmly on his throne.

At first, the secret ritual went smoothly.

Then… it failed completely.

The black-robed man’s communication with the Moon Realm had ceased. The security chief from the Demon Burial, a skilled assassin, slit the man’s neck with a dagger inscribed with runes of agony. The man had refused to continue their arrangement.

“This is a message from Ms. Aiur’s oracle. She will pay for breaking the contract, but the contract between her and His Excellency Terra is now null and void,” the Steelheart Widow’s spokesperson in Currere announced.

The man’s face remained emotionless, as if the excruciating pain was nothing to him.

Adrian nodded and signaled for the Demon Burial assassin to leave.

He knew that inflicting torture on Steelheart Widow’s followers was like threatening a woman with castration.

So, he stepped forward and snapped the man’s neck, removed his head, sealed it in the Cocoon of Time, and handed it to an attendant.

The attendant stared at Adrian in fear and confusion.

“Sacrifice the soul of Aiur’s spokesperson in Currere to the Void Sovereign’s enemy. It’s time to find a new partner for our cooperation,” Adrian said matter-of-factly.

Adrian didn’t let it phase him. The Moon Realm’s absence only made the secret ritual a bit harder. The most crucial part was already done. But then…

The Moonlaw City palace, which was in sync with the Terra Cathedral, vanished without a trace.

How could an entire palace just disappear?

Adrian was in shock.

The ritual came to a halt as everyone present stared at Adrian, the leader of the ritual, with confusion.

“It’s okay. It could just be a technical issue,” Adrian quickly calmed down and reassured them.

“Even without physical coordinates, we can still use the Holy Spirit Disc’s matrix to search. As long as the matrix is complete, there’s nothing the Eighth Holy Spirit can’t see…”

Adrian explained, holding the figurine tightly to his chest. He used his authority as Patriarch to connect to the matrix of Holy Spirit Discs and communicate with Holy Spirit Terra, whose consciousness had been divided into countless fragments. Using His will, Adrian set out to locate the missing Moonlaw City palace.

It would take more time, but Adrian was determined to use the matrix to search and allow the secret ritual to continue.

As a result, the entire Terra Church fell into a long, awkward silence as time passed minute by minute. But then, through a storm, Adrian saw the outline of Moonlaw City’s palace through the Holy Spirit’s vision.

Suddenly, his gaze met a pair of silver eyes, emanating an abyss-like power.

Suddenly, Adrian was slammed with a force that broke his connection to the Holy Spirit Disc’s matrix. In that moment, he perceived the matrix becoming incomplete.

When he opened his eyes, he saw a group of people surrounding him with worried expressions. It appeared that he had been knocked to the ground.

“I, urgh…”

Adrian tried to speak, but the strong smell of blood in his mouth made it difficult.

He looked down at his chest and saw that it had collapsed.

His consciousness started to fade, drifting away like a kite with a broken string.

Before he lost consciousness completely, his final thought was: Who was the person who looked at me?

…

“Presiding Judge?”

“Oh… What’s wrong?” William snapped back to reality.

Blake’s worried gaze met William’s.

“You were in a daze for a few seconds… Do you have something to say?”

William shook his head and said, “For some reason, I felt like someone was staring at me from afar through the Holy Spirit Disc. So, I simply reflected the last bit of mana left on the disc.”

Despite being the “last bit,” the mana was enough to maintain multiple clones at once.

William gazed at the shattered disc in his hand with heartache before looking up and speaking.

“But that’s probably just my imagination… Alright, it’s time for you to talk about yourself. What did Valk’s subordinate, Reason, say when it suddenly came looking for you guys?”