Mid-May.
In the Creti Empire, a colossal realm on the southern reaches of the Southern Continent, lies its capital, Brierda.
No matter how warm and bright the season made the city-state appear, no one noticed that deep beneath the earth, a city from an ancient, forgotten epoch was slowly awakening.
Should one receive tacit permission through the unseen, one could traverse that long, gloomy path leading directly to the black palace at its deepest core.
Inside the palace, a silhouette walked forward, footsteps pacing with a deliberate rhythm across the carpet.
He wore the deep green dress attire of a scholar, complemented by a top hat. His hair and beard were trimmed with meticulous care, giving him an urbane, elegant air—as though he had never once set foot on a battlefield.
The faintly glowing lantern in his hand cast deep, elongated shadows upon him and the surrounding hall.
He strode forward until he reached the grand black iron doors of the council chamber and pushed them open.
The cavernous council chamber was steeped in dim gloom, where flickering candlelight along the perimeters replaced conventional lighting. The towering ceiling seemed to scrape the firmament, and at the far end of the carpet stretched a banquet table dozens of meters long. Flanking both sides, every high-backed chair resembled a throne, its crest etched with the gemstone totem corresponding to its master.
Looking across the hall, only two figures sat waiting upon the seventh and eighth chairs.
Both turned their gaze toward the newcomer.
"Decay Cardinal Farmer."
Marquis Heriteer, seated upon the seventh high-backed chair, spoke in her cool voice.
"Your commission has been fulfilled."
The man in the deep green formal attire opened his briefcase, lightly setting a sealed test tube onto the table.
Despite the simplicity of his movement, it put the two Blood Clan marquises on high alert—a clear sign that should Farmer exhibit the slightest hint of hostility, they would strike without hesitation.
Inside the motionless test tube rested a terrifying alchemical organism. Had Farmer shattered it within the palace, it would likely cause considerable destruction.
A moment later.
Marquis Heriteer raised her hand slightly, drawing the test tube into her grasp, and gave a faint nod.
"We shall fulfill our promise in the near future. When the time comes, lead your Decay Branch to become official members of the Creti Empire."
Reclining across from Marquis Heriteer in the eighth high-backed chair, the burly figure of Marquis Somerset spoke to Farmer with a touch of arrogant swagger.
"Heh, I look forward to it."
Decay Cardinal Farmer stood at the end of the long table, facing Marquis Heriteer and Marquis Somerset, his chuckle calm and steady.
In today's Creti Empire, beyond the Tier 9 Blood Clan duke and the Tier 8 Blood Clan marquises, two cardinals of the Resurrection Church had already allied with them.
More than half of the empire's generals were under their control. Soon, they could commence purging internal obstacles and accelerate their infiltration plan.
"Still, was it truly necessary to go to such lengths just to kill Mikhail's daughter? With this, she is dead beyond a doubt, even if a Tier 8 protects her,"
Decay Cardinal Farmer remarked with interest.
Previously, the Blood Clan had even commissioned the Resurrection Church to eliminate her. Regrettably, whether it was the people sent by Bishop of Destruction Ivanos or those dispatched by Decay Cardinal Farmer himself, all had failed.
Over the past six months, that thorn in the Blood Clan's side, Duke Mikhail's daughter Hyperion, had vanished without a trace.
This had driven the Blood Clan, who had lurked behind the scenes all along, to personally take action at exorbitant costs just to kill that frail young woman.
"The longer that half-demon remains alive, the less anxious that Tier 8 demoness becomes. Her rate of advancement is frankly absurd. If she is allowed to continue hiding and cultivating in the Creti Empire like this, she might already be at Tier 9 the next time she assaults us,"
Marquis Somerset sighed.
Ever since they captured Duke Mikhail, that silver-haired demoness had refused to let the matter rest. Whenever she caught any member of the Blood Clan, she tortured them ruthlessly, even interrogating them until she uncovered the location of their underground palace.
Yet so long as she could be provoked into deep hatred, no matter how much she grew, she would never stand a chance against the Blood Clan's greatest current powerhouse—Duke Lachiel, the Third Progenitor.
Duke Lachiel's authority, [Blood Mind Control], stood at the pinnacle of mental and illusion magic. The heavier an enemy's negative emotions, the easier it was for Duke Lachiel to exploit a fracture in their mind, executing total mental control and forced brainwashing.
However, the threat posed by the silver-haired demoness was not the primary purpose behind killing Lady Hyperion.
The true significance of Lady Hyperion's death lay in breaking Duke Mikhail's mental defenses.
Only by doing so could they reduce Mikhail to a slave of the Blood Clan and force him to surrender all his original spells.
Duke Mikhail's dark magic was simply too useful to the Blood Clan.
Even in broad daylight, it could serve as a protective umbrella for their kin.
If they could also locate Marquis Bernhard, the Ninth Progenitor, they could allow Bernhard to absorb Mikhail, maximizing Mikhail's utility.
"Oh? Is she stronger than me?"
Hearing this, the Decay Cardinal was immediately intrigued.
"She is not. But the next time she surfaces, who can say?"
Heriteer replied, listening to Farmer's question that sounded modest yet radiated boundless confidence.
Every single one of the Resurrection Church's cardinals was indeed a terrifying human of unfathomable strength. In fact, never in any previous era had Heriteer witnessed humanity's power flourish to such an extent.
Had the Blood Clan not possessed immortality, they would likely have been reluctant to casually provoke an organization as enigmatic as the Resurrection Church.
"That strong, is she?"
Decay Cardinal Farmer nodded, the intrigue in his eyes growing even deeper. He seemed quite eager to find an opportunity to capture this exceptionally gifted demoness and add her to his laboratory.
Farmer packed his briefcase, adjusted his top hat with one hand, and turned to depart, only to hear Marquis Heriteer's voice call out once more.
"By the way, have there been any developments within your Resurrection Church lately?"
"You're asking me?"
Farmer laughed, pointing at himself.
A Blood Clan astrologer, of all people, was asking him for intelligence.
"..."
Marquis Heriteer had no intention of repeating herself, her gaze telling Farmer she was not joking.
The Prophet on the Northern Continent had already begun interfering with her.
Furthermore, intelligence between the two lands suffered from severe delays and proved difficult to verify, constantly exerting mysterious disturbances upon her observations lately.
Acquiring as much real-world intelligence as possible would also help her actively calibrate her next observation.
"On the Northern Continent, it seems there has been a change in bishop,"
Farmer reflected for a moment before answering.
"Who won?"
Heriteer never cared about losers; she only cared about the victor.
"..."
Decay Cardinal Farmer shook his head.
From the hazy divine script, they could only roughly decipher its underlying meaning, but remained entirely ignorant of the person's true identity.
...
Meanwhile, on the Northern Continent, within the Protos Empire.
Amidst the brilliantly illuminated skyscrapers of Herrom, ancient cathedrals coexisted with otherworldly floating thoroughfares. The night sky was not merely deep blue; at times, it flickered with golden fireflies, like a mirror reflecting the city below.
In a private gallery atop a high-rise in the city center, Sigrid sat quietly leaning back in her chair, gazing out the window.
"Archbishop, I shall take my leave now,"
Gloria, standing at the doorway, bowed and asked for dismissal.
After a long pause.
"Oh, alright,"
Sigrid answered absently.
"..."
Listening to the archbishop's listless response, Gloria thought of saying something, but ultimately held her tongue, quietly closing the door and withdrawing.
Every day was indeed extraordinarily busy. As the archbishop's executive secretary, Gloria found her own schedule packed to the brim.
To them, being busy was actually a good thing; it signified that the Protos Empire needed them, and that the Domination Branch was becoming increasingly intertwined with the empire.
Now, not only was their public reputation among the citizens of the Protos Empire improving day by day, but many supporters of Luoqi McCarthy were also willing to shower their passion upon the Domination Branch. More importantly, Great Sage Isis had chosen to place her trust in Bishop of Domination Sigrid as a comrade-in-arms.
Even during the battle pursuing Duke Morotian, where Isis had partially discerned the true nature of Sigrid's three demon summons and subsequently received Sigrid's confession, Isis had still been willing to help Sigrid release those three direct retainers who had been held under assumed identities in Herrom Prison.
Yet Gloria knew that the archbishop's weariness did not stem from work.
Inside the gallery.
After Gloria closed the door, Sigrid remained seated in the hollow gallery, quietly watching the night sky.
Who knew how long she had been daydreaming like this.
"Right, his Proof of Saint is still with me."
Sigrid seemed to remember something.
She had been so busy these past few days that it had completely slipped her mind. Back in the northern Snowfield Province, in order to disguise himself as the Holy Son of Extinction using the unique-carry [Proof of Saint - Extinction] and escort her past the checkpoint at Box Mountain Province's train station, Lanqi had temporarily returned his [Proof of Saint - Domination] to her safekeeping, fusing it back into her Proof of Bishop.
After hesitating for a moment, Sigrid drew out her [Proof of Bishop - Domination].
Under normal circumstances, she would not take out her Proof of Bishop.
Now, sitting alone and thinking of a certain someone, she felt an urge to look at the item he had left behind with her.
She still remembered when she first met him; this Proof of Bishop had surprised him quite a bit.
"Eh?"
Looking at the silver moon crown in her hand, which shimmered with an orange glow, Sigrid let out a sound of bewilderment.
Logically speaking, according to the rules of the Deathmatch Arena, defeating Bishop of Extinction Askesan should have upgraded her Proof of Bishop to possess dual voting rights.
Yet for some reason, her bishop's holy sigil, shaped like a silver moon crown, had transformed into the likeness of the sun and moon shining together.
Clearly, the [Proof of Resurrection - Domination] held by her subordinates had undergone no changes, so why had her [Proof of Bishop - Domination] altered?
It was then that Sigrid gave it a gentle snap, only to find that the new holy sigil split into two.
"Wah, no!"
In a fluster, she hurriedly pressed the holy sigils in her left and right hands back together, and the sigil restored itself to its previous state.
"Phew—"
Sigrid let out a sigh of relief.
That brief scare had made her think she had applied too much strength and broken her Proof of Bishop.
Calming down to look closely, she discovered that the two holy sigils could fit together like interlocking keys, or be separated into two distinct sigils.
And so, Sigrid split the sigil apart once more, examining both hands.
Beside her original silver moon crown, the other piece appeared remarkably like a radiant corona.
[Proof of Bishop - Mad Love]
[Type: Equipment Card]
[Rarity: Orange Epic]
[Tier: 0]
[Effect: Proof of identity for the Bishop of Mad Love; can also be used by the Bishop of Domination. Capable of crafting all tiers of Proof of Resurrection for the Mad Love Branch; bestows special-attack and intimidation attributes against holders of lower-tier Proofs of Resurrection; can track the approximate locations of clergy belonging to the same branch; can identify the authenticity of Proofs of Resurrection presented by other branches. Can open the Cardinal Council Chamber, Deathmatch Arena, and Cardinal Voting Ceremony.]
[Remark: Holder: Sigrid Novia.]
"What on earth is a Bishop of Mad Love?"
Sigrid stared in bafflement at the radiant corona, only to realize that Lanqi's [Proof of Saint - Domination] was nowhere to be found.
Her expression gradually froze into a daze.
"No way... Doesn't that mean he's become a cardinal just like me?"
Stunned, Sigrid set down the two holy sigils in her hands and murmured to herself.
It seemed that because the Deathmatch Arena had judged both her and the Holy Son to have defeated Askesan together, it had ultimately resulted in her Proof of Bishop ending up like this!
Originally, a one-on-one duel between bishops in the Deathmatch Arena was completely contradictory to the standard promotion path of slaying a bishop. Yet somehow, thanks to the wild stunt she and the Holy Son pulled off, it had generated an unprecedented erroneous judgment never before seen by the Proof of Bishop!
Her brows knit tightly in thought.
Though Lanqi carried no Proof of Bishop on his person right now, he was undeniably a cardinal in status.
The Southern Continent United Kingdom Council possessed a unique ancient relic capable of detecting the approximate movement tracks of the Resurrection Church's cardinals, which was precisely how they had been able to guard against them for so long.
Yet if Lanqi had become a new cardinal without even knowing it himself...
The people of the Southern Continent would discover that a fiercely formidable cardinal had strutted into the Hutton Kingdom, settled down, and was practically sitting right on top of the United Kingdom Council.
And then both the Resurrection Church and the Church of the Goddess of Fate would rack their brains to exhaustion without ever figuring out who this cardinal could be!
Still, it shouldn't cause any major issues.
Unless war suddenly erupted across the peaceful and stable Southern Continent, and Lanqi started running all over the place. That might lead to a scenario where every nation wondered why a cardinal had abruptly infiltrated deep into their rear lines, completely throwing off their military calculations and plunging the plans of every faction into utter chaos.
"Uh, I should find a chance to visit the Southern Continent and return this Proof of Bishop to him."
Even though she could use it herself, she felt that since it was a pair, it would be much better if each of them held one.
Before that, the Protos Empire on the Northern Continent still needed her. At the very least, she had to wait until the alliance with the Kingdom of Asethelan was successfully finalized before she could possibly step away.
A round trip to the Southern Continent would take at least two months, and the Protos Empire currently could not afford to let her leave for that long.
Still... one year was too long. If she could pay him a visit in the Southern Continent halfway through, that was reasonably acceptable.
Life suddenly didn't feel quite so unbearable anymore.
Sigrid held the two holy sigils high, gazing through their brilliance at the vibrant, colorful gallery. The longer she looked, the happier she grew, a sweet smile curling upon the corners of her lips.
Chapter 489