Chapter 408 (1): Elemental Mantra is Useless!
Palis Head Office, Church of Nature.
The four priests walked out of the High Reverend’s office, wondering what had gotten Sandrine’s panties in a twist today that she would call them in to scold them, calling them snakes for no good reason.
Though they were snakes, the point was that she had no evidence. The baseless accusation was unreasonable.
The four priests didn’t know that the moment they stepped into the office, they had entered Wayne’s vitality field, their senses manipulated to make them oblivious to the physical and mental examination taking place.
“Based on my examination, the Palis head office is still clean. The higher-ups haven’t fallen under the demons’ control...” Wayne sat at Sandrine’s desk and tapped it in contemplation. “The demons must have started from the High Reverends and slowly gone over the priests, archdeacons, and then the bottom-tier deacons.”
Just to be safe, they were taking one step at a time.
“That would mean that in addition to the Church of Heavenly Father, the Church of Sun and the Church of Moonlight have fallen as well. I need to pay them a visit and deal with the potential threats.”
Sun and Moonlight didn’t have as many followers as the Church of Heavenly Father; actually, not even the three churches of the Life Alliance combined had as big a following as the Church of Heavenly Father. Still, the total number of potential sacrifices was high. If the demons sacrificed them...
Wayne stood up. He was going to visit the two churches.
He told Isabella to return to the hotel and bring his and Mona’s luggage to the Palis head office. Then he told Sandrine to clean the breakroom adjacent to the office, replacing the bedsheet and comforter. The bed was so big that he feared getting lost when he woke up the next day. With Mona joining him, he would at least have a companion when he struggled to find his way out of bed.
Moving toward the door, he realized that Sandrine had fallen into step. He raised an eyebrow at her. “Why, are you looking for promotion, too?”
Sandrine shook her head. She admired the Nature Knight, but that didn’t mean she would offer her body. She only followed Wayne because she was worried about encountering demons.
Wayne had said that the demons enthralling Houry and Givenchy had a grander plan and would seek her out in the next two days, making her comply through coercion and bribery. Only by following him could she stay safe.
“Tsk, trying to make the Nature Knight your free bodyguard? How audacious of you. Entitled, too!” Wayne looked at Sandrine with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Sir Knight, I just paid for my mistake,” Sandrine said weakly.
She had known Wayne for one day, but her thoughts had already suffered a serious blow, and her body weakened. Even her wallet had been emptied.
All the savings she had accumulated over the years were depleted. She lost her motivation and couldn’t help but consider giving up hard work altogether, clinging to the Nature Knight’s third leg instead like Senna and Isabella had done.
She wasn’t going to carry out the thought, though. Sandrine might lack a moral compass, but she did have a sense of shame. She despised women who sold their bodies and refused to become what she hated.
Besides, she could tell that Wayne didn’t like her, proven by the derision dripping from his voice every time he talked to her. If she offered herself, he might mock her in response, making it a humiliating display of overconfidence. She might even receive another beating.
Life was hard!
“Nonsense. That’s not your money, but the church’s. You stole it!” Wayne scolded Sandrine on the moral high ground.
Sandrine couldn’t make any comeback. Giving up, she responded, “Yes, I stole the money, but I was ordered to do it. If I don’t take it, how would Lady Senna get anything? If Lady Senna doesn’t get anything, how would you get your share? If you don’t take the money, how are Lady Senna and I going to improve?”
“Oh, you’re a big-picture person, aren’t you?”
Wayne arched an eyebrow, raising his fist.
Rolling her eyes, Sandrine took a step forward and leaned in to take the beating she expected to come. After slicking back his hair, though, Wayne stared at the slacker with exasperation and slapped her on the shoulder, leaving a wiggling octopus on her.
“This is the power of Life and a part of myself. Do what you’ve been doing. This will protect you when you run into a demon.”
“You...”
Sandrine was ready to take a beating, but unexpectedly, Wayne was actually willing to protect her.
Do you like me?
No, he probably just wanted her body. He wanted a different taste the way Isabella tried different cuisines.
“There are two main reasons I dislike you,” Wayne said. “You’re good at embezzling, and you show your ignorance and arrogance when dealing with demons.”
He wouldn’t go into her opportunistic tendency. All people in power that he knew, including Auston, Senna, and himself, were opportunists who had done their fair share of stealing. In Auston’s words, there was no pure authority. Burning down warehouses to steal from them was a pledge of loyalty. To succeed, one had to provide their superior blackmail materials that could be used against them. A leader only valued those they could control.
Obviously, the frequency of warehouse fires and theft would only increase at the bottom level.
Wayne could get the absolute loyalty of his vassals, making them do whatever he said, but not everyone could be like him. Power was about the results rather than the process. The results showed whether one was trustworthy.
A simple example would be... well, he shouldn’t go into it. If Wayne wanted the water to be completely clear, he would end up killing all the fish. He would have to take out Auston and Senna reluctantly before slitting his own neck.
Since he couldn’t do it, he was in no place to point fingers at opportunists. He hated Sandrine mainly because of her arrogant and ignorant belief that the defense of the Life Alliance was unbreakable and would hold against demons even when they were risking their lives.
It was a typical Francan mindset. The white-flag-raisers would definitely be quick to surrender... Yeah, Sandrine was already saluting Wayne after barely a day.
“You’ve seen what demons are capable of. Keep that in mind and remember how formidable they are as enemies. I’m satisfied with your change, so consider this a reward and a promise that you won’t die at the hands of demons.”
“Thank you for your mercy.”
Wayne’s promise reassured Sandrine. It felt like she had been taken under his wings of protection, and his wingspan was impressive.
The small octopus wriggled its way under Sandrine’s collar, finding a valley and settling down inside.
(一`‸´≖;) (￣～￣;) ✧(ŐŐ)
Wayne squinted. Sandrine pursed her lips, remembering him saying that the octopus was part of him.
Isabella just thought the octopus looked fresh after getting a clear look.
Wayne had no words. It was common knowledge that each tentacle on an octopus’s body had a mind of its own, so it truly wasn’t his doing. The octopus had chosen its habitat on its own.
“Anyway... What are you looking at, Isabella? You can’t eat that, or you’ll mutate.”
Wayne coughed into his fist, swatting Isabella on the head and giving her another small octopus. To make sure that she wouldn’t do something stupid, he warned her not to eat everything.
Before he could finish, the octopus perched on Isabella’s head also climbed down her neck and dove under her collar.
Damn it. Now there was no explaining himself even if he had mouths on every part of his body.
Eyes twitching, Wayne said stiffly, “At least they’re well hidden. The demons won’t notice... right?”
“...” x2
Sandrine rolled her eyes, while Isabella looked down and pondered whether she should ask Wayne for another octopus just in case.
Maybe this one would accidentally jump into her bowl!
***
Leaving the Church of Nature’s Palis head office, Wayne contacted Mona with his thoughts and asked about her investigation. She hadn’t found anything substantial, still looking for trails left by the reincarnated angels.
At the end of the conversation, Wayne checked his watch and told Mona to meet him at the church’s library at nine PM.
The churches of the Life Alliance usually used libraries as the fronts of their bases, the Church of Sun being an exception. They not only built libraries, but also gyms.
Since it was closest, Wayne decided to visit the Church of Sun first.
It was a twenty-minute drive. Taking the sewer, he made it in two.
With his impressive eloquence and likeability, he stepped into the Palis head office of the Church of Sun. The moment he passed through the barrier, his expression stiffened.
His connection with Houry was severed.
Either Houry had entered another barrier, or the demons had noticed his mutation and destroyed him, scattering his ashes near the head office.
Wayne extended his thoughts to look for Houry. He noticed how few members of the church were in this vast space, and all of them were low-ranking. There wasn’t even a high-level archdeacon among them. Soon, he followed his thoughts to a council hall. There was no sign of life in the room, but only mage robes or other clothes on the floor.
There was also a golden robe that belonged to the priests and Houry’s black suit on the marble floor. With their bodies evaporated, leaving behind only their clothes, not even a miracle would bring them back.
“I’m too late...”
Wayne’s expression turned grave. The demons had more control over Palis than he had expected. It had only been two hours since he sent Houry away, yet the demons had already noticed his change and eliminated him. Also erased were the priests corrupted by the Seven Deadly Sins, the deacons, and other members of the church.
They moved fast and decisively, giving Wayne no chance to track them.
“Damn it, the Church of Moonlight!”
Wayne rushed out of the Church of Sun’s head office and headed straight to the Church of Moonlight’s library, worried that he would find the place filled with rivers of blood if he didn’t hurry.
He checked on the little octopi he had left with Sandrine and Isabella. They were fine, still nestled in the women’s bosom.
That’s worse!
Wayne put himself in the demons’ shoes and concluded that the Church of Moonlight’s head office might have already fallen. Then, the demons would write on the wall with blood, “Take down Sun and then Moonlight so that Nature will stand alone as the sole master of the alliance.” The three churches would break into a civil war.
Whether that would escalate into an all-out war of faiths was a question, but the chaos would surely last quite a while.
Wayne rushed to the library of the Church of Moonlight as fast as he could. It had already closed down. The empty, silent corridors seemed like part of a haunted house.
The sun fell, and the silver moon slowly rose. As if reflecting Wayne’s troubled thoughts, a patch of dark cloud approached and concealed the last light source, bringing about an omnipresent darkness.
Wayne found the entrance to Moonlight’s base, unlocking it with pure Moonlight gathering at his fingertip. Taking a deep breath, he stepped in.
“Please don’t let it be too late...”
The Palis head office was identical to the Londan base, with four moons of different phases in the sky, overseeing two peaks, a valley, a waterfall, and a calm pond below that reflected the four moons.
Sensing a chilling killing intent, Wayne followed his nose to Givenchy. Thankfully, she was still alive. He wasn’t too late. He also sensed the demon here to erase the evidence, prompting him to formulate an undercover plan.
He rushed straight to the cathedral of moonlight.
“I’ve chosen you, my new disguise.”
Boom!!
Givenchy’s vitality field shattered as she staggered and collapsed to the ground. Her bow broke, and blood stained her clothes. She almost lost her form under the pressure.
All around her, the church members who had been corrupted by the Seven Deadly Sins had all been turned into ice statues, from deacons to priests. Caught in the crossfire, they hit the ground and shattered.
The Church of Moonlight’s forces in Palis were wiped out, leaving Givenchy the sole survivor.
She didn’t fare well, either. Her muscles and blood vessels had all frozen, her body temperature below zero degrees. Coughing out red slushy, her mutated body was the only thing keeping her alive.
Across from her were a golden and a silver figure in long robes. The golden figure sat on top of the church’s rooftop with her legs crossed. Watching Givenchy struggle, she laughed and said, “How loyal the High Reverend of the Church of Moonlight is. She still refuses to say who her master is. Stop interrogating her, Galen. End her misery!”
“Stay out of this, Corte!”
The two women’s voices were polar opposites; Corte’s was strong and powerful, while Galen’s was melodic and rhythmic.
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