545 If You Want to Kill My People, I'll Be Your Problem
While the chaos continued on the ground floor, High Priest Setheiman quickly made his way down to the main temple's inner sanctum to look for the Archpriest. Many priests had the same idea. Thus, he wasn't the first to reach the fifth underground floor.
When he arrived, there were already six dozen other High Priests and two dozen Grand Priests surrounding Archpriest Thurman.
At the same time, High Priest Setheiman's arrival caused everyone to shift their attention to him briefly.
"Your Holiness, I have brought the false Sun God as you have required of... But I have greatly underestimated the false Sun God's nature and allowed him to make a mess in our holy temple," High Priest Setheiman knelt and pleaded, "Please punish me, Your Holiness!"
"I am already aware of the situation above. The fault is not yours but mine to bear. You may arise, High Priest Setheiman," Archpriest Thurman calmly gestured to the High Priest to stand before shifting his attention to the Grand Priests gathered. "Gentlemen, it seems we will have to push forward our plans."
"We've only completed and charged the core function of the spell, Your Holiness. Unless we finish the entrapment array to immobilize the target, we have a high chance of missing the shot and wasting all our efforts," a Grand Priest quickly voiced his concern.
However, Archpriest Thurman's expression remained calm.
"I am aware of that, Grand Priest Sixtus," Archpriest Thurman acknowledged with a nod before saying, "However, it's not like we are without options. We don't need the full entrapment array; we just need to hold the target for a few seconds."
"Do we have a way to lure the false Sun God close to the central pillar?" Archpriest Thurman inquired shortly after.
"This..." a Grand Priest hesitated before seeking confirmation of his doubt, "You want to use the mana refinery's power to immobilize the false Sun God, Your Holiness?"
"That's right, Grand Priest Eustace," Archpriest Thurman affirmed.
"But that's our largest mana refinery in the entire empire. Its light-attribute mana production is on a different level compared to our other mana refineries," Grand Priest Eustace mentioned.
"It doesn't matter if we exhaust all its power to trap the false Sun God as it would only delay us for a few days... But if there's any chance it gets damaged or even destroyed, it'll be a terrible loss and set us back substantially"
"I don't know if we can risk this kind of loss," Grand Priest Eustace added.
"There's no need to weigh the pros and cons. Our target is possibly a being beyond Transcendent. We can't afford to hold back. If we want to make this person one of ours, we must utilize everything we have!" Archpriest Thurman asserted.
They had to give it their all. There could not be any mistakes.
"In that case, there's no need to figure out how to lure the target to our central mana refinery pillar. That person will definitely pass it, Your Holiness," High Priest Setheiman assured.
Since the false Sun God was going after all the gold coins hidden in their pillars, the person would at least pass the central mana refinery pillar twice.
Nevertheless, some Grand Priests couldn't accept waiting for that to happen.
"So, we are just going to let him smash our filter pillars while we wait? How many gold coins must we lose before we stop him?" another Grand Priest asked with a frown.
"No matter how many gold coins we lose, we will get them all back once we've gained control of our target, Your Eminence," a High Priest stated, clenching his fist with a hopeful expression.
"You think I care about the loss of wealth? Are you stupid? Or you don't know at all?" The Grand Priest glanced at the High Priest contemptuously and said, "This isn't about that at all. Those gold coins are crucial for absorbing the sunlight and filtering out the harmful effects."
"If it wasn't because gold had such a property, why would we even need to stuff our gold coins there? Where do you think the higher quality light-attribute mana in the inner sanctum comes from? Surely, you didn't think it all came from the central mana refinery pillar alone?"
"If we lose too many gold coins in the pillar filters, the light-attribute mana produced by the central mana refinery pillar will become too dangerous to absorb," the Grand Priest stated seriously.
"Do you want to grow six arms and three eyes? Do you want a bubbly flesh or a dick sticking out of your head? No? What about-"
"That's enough, Grand Priest Benno," Archpriest Thurman showed a hint of displeasure, immediately silencing Grand Priest Benno.
"My apologies, Your Holiness. I have spoken out of line," Grand Priest Benno apologized.
"There's no need to try and scare everyone. The thing you said would only happen if the priests absorbed too much over an extended period. We will fix their filter pillars before that can happen to anyone," Archpriest Thurman calmly said.
"More importantly, have we confirmed if the false Sun God possessed any holy aura yet?" Archpriest Thurman asked shortly after in a much serious tone.
"Yes, Your Holiness," High Priest Setheiman answered.
"While escorting the false Sun God to the temple, I have indeed detected a faint trace of holy aura on the false Sun God's body. He had most definitely practiced the Holy Aura Scripture to acquire it."
"Good! Then, it's time to put an end to this false Sun God's reign and restore our Sun God Temple's influence and authority!" Archpriest Thurman firmly stated before commanding everyone, "Follow me!"
"Yes, Your Holiness!"
...
Meanwhile, half the main temple's priests had deflected to Vaan's side on the ground floor. Vaan's words enlightened them and gave them the courage to stand true to their beliefs.
As such, they no longer mindlessly followed the orders of their superiors.
"How dare you all revolt against the hands that raised you! Since you dare to betray the Sun God Temple, you can all die! Templars, kill these heretics, who have decided to follow the false-!"
Before a High Priest could finish his words, something struck him so quickly that his body seemingly exploded on the spot, stunning everyone.
From the start of the mess caused by Vaan, the High Priest had been the first person he killed. As such, everyone was greatly surprised by the sudden change.
"If you want to kill my people, I'll be your biggest problem!" Vaan asserted his dominance with a stomp, cracking the ground.
At the same time, his fierce aura exploded outward, pushing everyone back.
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