Outside the carriage windows, darkness deepened. Within the sealed interior, magic blocked out all sound, rendering the air suffocatingly heavy.
"Then what else am I supposed to do?"
Elaine looked down, murmuring.
She would rather die than suffer the cost of betraying the Bishop of Destruction.
"If I had to guess, your happy life was ruined by Ivanos when you were young, and you fought your way up from mounds of corpses to reach where you are today. Am I right?"
From what Lanqi had learned previously about the backgrounds of direct retainers in the Destruction branch, and how Bishop of Destruction Ivanos groomed his Great Clerics, he was certain that the vast majority of Great Clerics who professed loyalty to Ivanos were dominated purely by fear.
This was obviously the wrong way to manage a team.
"Yes..."
Elaine nodded, her eyes filled with despair, yet her broken smile carried a faint longing for release.
She didn't fear death, but she feared Ivanos.
Just picturing that figure prevented even the slightest thought of defiance from forming in her mind.
"My life is already over."
Her voice took on a pleading note, as if begging him not to say another word.
Even listening to words that urged her to betray the Bishop of Destruction was an unforgivable sin.
Yet Lanqi merely nodded.
"Then have you ever considered killing yourself in another way and starting an entirely new life?" he asked.
"..."
Hyperion shot Lanqi a sideways look. She couldn't even begin to guess what would happen after this classic opening gambit of his.
She didn't even want to listen to what the two of them were about to discuss.
"There's no escaping him... The people who tried to flee the Destruction branch before, the horrific ends they met..."
Her eyes bloodshot, Elaine clutched her head. The seductive, faint hums drifting occasionally from the Poet of Great Love plunged her even deeper into terrifying memories.
"Yet didn't Phoenix escape successfully? His younger sister is now a disciple of High Priest Loren, with a bright future ahead of her. And once he finishes his prison sentence, he'll start a brand-new life in Ikerite," Lanqi asked gently.
Hearing that, Elaine hesitated.
She did know that a direct retainer named Phoenix had successfully escaped.
But that was because an extraordinary figure had intervened to help him, even rescuing Phoenix's sister along the way.
How could such an opportunity ever come looking for someone like her?
"...I don't have that chance. It's too late for me to turn to the High Priest, and I wouldn't dare."
The faint flicker of hope in Elaine's eyes died as quickly as it had appeared, and she began frantically shaking her head again.
For a soul steeped in sin like hers, Ivanos was actually the only one who offered a refuge. High Priest Loren was simply too dazzling, like a burning flame, making people like her afraid to draw near.
"What if there were a woman stronger, fiercer, and more domineering than Bishop of Destruction Ivanos—a fellow Cardinal who protects her subordinates with everything she has, cherishes them, and treats them kindly? Would you be willing to turn to her?"
Lanqi spoke with utter sincerity, as if describing a deeply revered senior.
Elaine lifted her head, staring blankly at Lanqi.
It felt like listening to a fever dream.
How could such a Cardinal possibly exist?
Wait, actually, there might be one.
"Could it be...?!"
Elaine had a rough guess as to which Cardinal he meant.
Recent news of the Resurrection Church across the Northern Continent had been completely dominated by that triumphant conqueror!
"Don't worry. As long as there's still a sliver of hope left in your heart, I will help you. Live on. We Great Clerics of the Destruction branch need to form a happy mutual-aid community to help our fellow comrades who have suffered the same torment break free from Ivanos's control. At the same time, so that such tragedies are never repeated, we will continuously pray to the Lady Goddess of Fate. One day, Ivanos will face her divine punishment."
Lanqi raised a finger to his lips in a shushing gesture.
He pulled out a Great Cleric credential from the Domination branch, revealing only a single corner to Elaine, and moved it slowly before her, guiding her gaze with his hand.
When Elaine looked ahead once more, only those emerald eyes met hers. They seemed to encompass her entire vision, piercing right through her mind.
"..."
Talia watched blankly as Lanqi talked on and on.
As if hypnotized, the female cleric's unfocused pupils seemed ignited by a dark spark, and her mental state visibly grew stranger and stranger.
Talia was utterly baffled. When had this boy developed such a talent?
From the moment she touched Lanqi this morning, Talia had sensed that over the past half year, his mana and mental capacity hadn't grown much at all. His training as a magic artificer had almost certainly been half-hearted and sporadic.
Talia guessed that during his six months in the Northern Continent, Lanqi had spent every day enjoying himself with no thought of returning south, idling his time away and accomplishing nothing of substance.
That realization had left her feeling faintly disappointed deep down.
She knew it was shameful to secretly hope that Lanqi would bring her another gift.
Yet for a period in the past, Talia had genuinely wondered if Lanqi was her personal wishing machine—whenever a thought crossed her mind, Lanqi would deliver exactly what she wanted before long.
First came abundant money, followed by legal status and a peaceful life in the Hutton Kingdom, then ancient Demon Realm technology, and finally, he brought Hyperion right to her doorstep.
Now that a full half year had passed, Talia had subconsciously harbored a faint expectation that Lanqi might present her with another satisfying gift.
While she wasn't delusional enough to dream that Lanqi would somehow stumble into restoring her lost kingdom, she had still hoped he might bring back some souvenirs from the Protos Empire—or perhaps, by some stroke of luck, a scrap of intelligence regarding Antanas.
Now it seemed she had simply overthought things. Even human children knew there was no such thing as a chosen one in this world.
Everything before had merely been a string of coincidences.
Inside the motionless car parked on the roadside, dozens of minutes slipped by.
The reflection of Elaine's gaze in the window had shifted to complete, devoted reliance.
Where she had once been ruled solely by deep-seated terror and past trauma, everything had now been transformed into an entirely different emotion.
Lanqi wore the satisfied look of someone wrapping up a job and turned toward Talia and Hyperion.
"You two head home first. Tata, I'm counting on you."
He looked earnestly at them.
Talia nodded.
Lanqi meant for her to protect Hyperion and the Wilfort family.
His jinx of a mouth had hit the mark once again; those Resurrection Church scoundrels were already closing in on Hyperion without a moment's pause.
"Don't worry," Talia replied.
She had an ominous premonition that tonight would be exceptionally perilous.
Beneath the unnatural calm, violent undercurrents had long been surging.
She didn't know what kind of enemies would emerge, but she would do everything in her power to protect the Wilfort family.
Soon, Lanqi turned back to Elaine.
"Please give us the locations of the other Destruction Great Clerics. I want to save them."
Radiating a sense of duty and zeal, Lanqi looked like a headmaster who simply couldn't stop once work arrived. He grabbed his coat and pushed open the car door.
While Tata escorted Hyperion home, he would take Boss Cat along to recruit some talent for Sigrid.
Even though he didn't know what massive conspiracy the Resurrection Church and the Blood Clan were concocting tonight, raiding their home base first was definitely the right move. Once their plan was set in motion, something was bound to go wrong somewhere along the line.
"Understood!"
Elaine nodded and followed Lanqi out of the vehicle.
"..."
Hyperion watched the two walking away into the distance. Lanqi was chatting as he walked, mentoring Elaine on how to be a progressive, forward-thinking youth. Hyperion was left entirely at a loss for words.
The Bishop of Destruction was terrifying, yes.
But Lanqi was hardly any better.
Chapter 506