The radiant barrier that had shrouded the Holy Light Cathedral for several days began to gradually disintegrate, and countless pale golden particles escaped from the melting energy barrier, fluttering and dissipating in the depths of the night, and the gradually dissolving Inside the barrier, the melodious bell continued to ring.
The melodious sound of the bell sounded like an invitation.
Gawain and the two guardian dukes stood on the square in front of the church area, looking at the scene in the direction of the church, Duke Baldwin frowned slightly: "It's strange... the priests should come out of the cathedral to meet the believers at this time ... why is the church district so quiet?"
Gawain looked up and saw that the church area maintained a strange silence and solemnity amidst the scattered dust of holy light. He could not see the bishop and high-ranking priests appearing, only some ordinary people walking in a hurry. Priests and attendants were running back and forth between the buildings, and some panicked figures could be seen in the corridors of the cathedral's upper floors, which was indeed an abnormal situation.
While the three of them were guessing what was going on in the church, the solemn and heavy door depicting many miracles and runes was finally opened.
However, what came out of it was not a group of priests composed of bishops and high-ranking priests, nor was it Pope Saint Ivan III, but Veronica Moen in a plain white dress—she slowly Walking out of the church, he walked towards Gao Wen and the others, holding the platinum scepter that belonged to the Pope in his hand.
I don't know if it was an illusion, but the moment he saw the "Saint Princess", Gawain felt a faint sense of discord. Although Veronica looked the same as the last time he met, but... he always felt that the other party Where there is a trace of incongruity.
This feeling is inexplicable, and was quickly overwhelmed by an astonishing news——
"The Pope has been summoned by the Lord, and the bishops died in the divine descent ceremony." Veronica said calmly with her usual gentle expression.
Gao Wen and the others were stunned for a moment.
… Some people were indeed taken aback, but the ones who were surprised were those outside the church—when the door opened, the pope disappeared...
"All... martyred?" As if he couldn't believe his ears, Patwin took a step forward and asked, "Is it the scene of the divine descent technique? Was there an accident?"
"Extraordinary people can bear the power of divine descent. The Pope is too old to last until the end of the ceremony. In order to prevent the ceremony from getting out of control, the bishops sacrificed themselves as a container," Veronica said, turning her head slightly Open up, "The cathedral has been opened, and the Great Hall of Light still maintains the scene at that time."
This is the meaning of inviting three people to visit inside.
Baldwin and Victoria looked at each other, and after a moment of hesitation, they walked towards the main entrance of the church. Gawain woke up from a brief stunned and thoughtful moment. Countless guesses and thoughts popped up in his mind, but they all converged into looking at Veronica's deep eyes.
The virgin princess just kept a calm expression and responded frankly.
Before turning around and walking back to the church, Veronica noticed some changes outside the church area—
Soldiers of Cecil's Legion were everywhere on the street. The Ansu King's Banner over the Silver Fort in the distance had disappeared, and above the main tower where only royal flags were allowed to hang, Cecil's sword and plow flag was illuminated by a beam of light. Bright, fluttering with the wind in the night.
Reminiscent of Gawain Cecil himself who appeared here, the expression of the saint princess finally changed slightly. She raised her eyebrows slightly and asked aloud, "What happened in the city?"
"It has changed a lot. Ansu's royal power has come to an end, but it is a peaceful evolution," Victoria said in a cold voice. "The current owner of this place is His Majesty Gawain Cecil."
"I'll explain it to you in detail," Gao Wen said to Veronica, "A lot of things happened, and we all need to sort them out."
Veronica lowered her head, drew the emblem of the Holy Light on her chest, and said softly: "I have converted to the Holy Light, and I am no longer Anzu's princess. The succession of kingship has nothing to do with me... This city survived, and this It's the things that matter."
Gawain looked at her for two seconds, but said nothing, and walked towards the church not far away.
In the great hall of light, the power of the holy light has calmed down, and the hazy holy light has once again condensed into a sea of clouds, floating slowly above the hall, and the pope's holy seat is empty at this moment, not even a single remnant can be seen. All the traces that could be found in the hall were a dozen piles of embers surrounding the holy seat—those gray-white ashes were distributed on the key nodes where the divine descent technique was performed, and they were all the remnants of the former bishop's council.
This seemed to be the trace left after the raging holy light burned the human body, and there was no sign of fighting or being invaded by foreign enemies in the entire Great Hall of Light.
However, the two dukes, Baldwin and Victoria, who were about to start rebuilding the order in the city and shouldered the important task of maintaining the stability of the core area of the empire, only felt a headache at this moment.
At this time, they couldn't help but envy Wales, who left in time, and even couldn't help but have divergent guesses—that His Majesty the King must have known about the shocking changes in the cathedral, so he pulled away so resolutely.
"Gods..." Baldwin's face was extremely ugly, "I'd rather deal with those crystal cluster monsters..."
Victoria glanced at him quietly, and said in a calm voice, "Do you want to guard the city again?"
"That's not what I meant..." Baldwin immediately waved his hands, then looked Victoria up and down, "Why didn't I realize that you are still sarcastic?"
"Just curious, ask," Victoria said casually, and then looked at Veronica, "In other words, there are no bishop-level clergy in the cathedral now? How many high-ranking clergy are left?"
"It is true that all the bishops have been martyred, but the high-ranking priests have not been damaged, and the functions of the church are still operating normally," Veronica said, while slightly raising the platinum scepter in her hand, "I have been approved by the platinum scepter, You can manage the cathedral temporarily, but now the kingship has changed, the order of Saint-Sunil needs to be reorganized, and the believers also need to seek peace in the new environment. I am afraid that many things will require me and Gawain Cecil …Your Majesty will discuss it before deciding.”
"We can talk now," Gao Wen said immediately, "if you have no objections."
"Alright," Veronica nodded lightly, and looked at the two guardian dukes, "The two grand dukes can wait in the lounge temporarily."
Gao Wen saw that this "princess saint" seemed to have something to communicate with him in private, so he said to Baldwin and Victoria: "You might as well go back to the castle and rest, we can talk about something tomorrow."
"Okay." Victoria nodded and said briefly, and then left the cathedral with Duke Baldwin who seemed to be preoccupied.
It wasn't until he came outside the cathedral, where the holy light couldn't shine, that Bai Dewen couldn't help but look back, and said to Victoria: "Do you think this is strange? Although St. Ivan III It is indeed old, but it is not to the point that it cannot support the divine descent... And the bishops are all martyred? Although I believe their beliefs are indeed so pious that they can be martyred at any time, but no one survived the divine descent ceremony... Really Too much of a coincidence."
"It's true," Victoria said, "but there's no clue."
"Her Highness Veronica must know more..." Bedwin hesitated to speak, "but she doesn't seem to plan to say it, at least not in front of us."
Victoria was silent for a moment, then turned around and looked in the direction of the cathedral.
Fine snowflakes escaped from her hair, and her voice came from the breeze: "But overall, this is a good thing."
Baldwin was startled, and his expression became subtle. After a few seconds of silence, he showed an expression that he didn't know whether to cry or laugh: "Yes, it's a good thing... It's just that there are so many things happening at the same time, it's really overwhelming. People can't relax."
"The turning point of the times... that's about it."
Inside the cathedral, Gawain and Veronica stood in the Great Hall of Light. The former looked around uncomfortably: "Are we talking here?"
"Please rest assured, there are no extra eyes here," Veronica said in a gentle tone, "including the eyes of the God of Light."
Gawain took a deep look at Veronica: "This sentence doesn't sound very pious."
Veronica just showed a slight smile, and gently raised the platinum scepter in her hand: "The platinum scepter representing the bridge of the will of the God of Holy Light has been under my control, and no one who believes in him will question me. piety."
"But I don't believe in him," Gao Wen said, "Did Saint Ivan III really die by God? Is the bishops really a martyr?"
"They gave their lives for their beliefs. By definition, they are martyrs," Veronica said calmly. "Do you still regret their deaths? As a ruler who is about to reshape the national order Or, the sudden decline of the church should be a good thing for you."
In everyone's normal impression, words like this would never come from Veronica, the pious "Saint Princess"!
Gawain stared into the eyes of the saint princess, and he could finally confirm that the sense of incongruity he felt in Veronica was not an illusion, but the sense of incongruity did not just appear today, but It is a kind of disobedience that always exists in this saint princess and is always hidden by her.
It's just that something happened, but the special aura on Veronica's body was very obvious today, and Gawain happened to be quite sensitive to some "inhuman" things, so he noticed it.
He looked into Veronica's eyes and felt like he was staring at a puppet, a kind of heterogeneous aura that was very similar to human beings but was different from human beings when he carefully perceived it. The trait... He seemed to have vaguely felt it in the other party before.
"I'm not going to play charades anymore, who exactly are you - you know what I mean - and what exactly do you want to do?"
"Have you ever heard such a sentence..." Veronica smiled lightly, and said word by word, "—human beings will live forever, even if they disobey the gods."
"The Disobedient Plan!" Gao Wen blurted out, and he finally felt astonished, which even broke the indifference he had maintained so far, "You...how did you know this sentence?!"
The devout saint princess turned out to be the insider of the rebellious plan? Why would she know? She got ancient knowledge? Is there a rebellious plan inheritance within the Moen royal family? Or... are there ancient survivors like Kamel
Questions exploded in Gawain's mind, and what surprised and confused him the most was that a disobedient (if Veronica was a disobedient) turned out to be a "devout" believer of the God of Holy Light, and even became a member of the Church. High-level executives—but if he imagined it carefully, he suddenly felt that such a development was quite in line with the meaning of "disobedient".
An organization that can study God in slices and extend its power to the most pious church, the rebellious elements in it are indeed not low...
"The disobedience plan has never ended, as long as human beings continue, we will not stop," Veronica said under Gawain's gaze, "You don't have to be so surprised—isn't there already a living disobedience by your side?" Are you dead?"
"Kammel..." Gawain frowned, "Then who are you?"
"This question is actually not very important, but if you are curious, I can tell you a name," Veronica said softly, "'We' used to be called Ophelia Norton. You don't necessarily know the name. I understand, but you must know this surname."
"Norton? The surname of the royal family of Gondor?!" Gawain opened his eyes wide, and suddenly felt that he had been exposed to too much information today, "Ophelia... I really don't know very well... but the 'we' you just mentioned What means?!"
"This involves the division and reorganization of the soul, and it involves some secrets. I'm not sure if I should let you know now. As for the name Ophelia? Norton... You can ask Kamel after you go back. He should I will give you an answer that satisfies you."
Gawain could tell that the rebel with the identity of "Veronica Moen" in front of him didn't completely trust himself, and he didn't plan to reveal all the secrets, but he didn't press the question forcefully, but asked: "What are you trying to do by telling me this?"
"Do something against the gods," Veronica smiled, and gently raised the platinum scepter in her hand, "For example... let the holy light return to mortals."