NOVPUBLichtenstein Castle, the Basic-layer Cathedral.
A silence falls over the towering cathedral, with its antiquated domed colored glass reflecting a bright, mysterious light.
The priest, dressed in a white robe and topped with a silver crown, stands solemn and sacred alone in front of the altar, his eyes closed in serious reverence.
The afternoon light, piercing through the clouds, casts a golden glow on everyone inside the cathedral.
Around the priest, there is solemn silence, with only the soft wind bringing the low tolling of the cathedral bell.
The cathedral has been cleaned by now, and the remains of Grand Priest Carigula, the former castle owner, have been buried outside the castle, with the priest offering his prayers for him.
The priest slowly raises his hand.
"Merciful Lady Goddess, please cleanse the deceased of sorrow, pain, and confusion, grant them tranquility, release their shackles, and lead them into the peaceful and luminous kingdom of heaven, to enjoy happiness in the afterlife."
His voice is deep and resonant, reverberating within the four walls of the cathedral, like a warm force.
The words are imbued with respect and mourning for the deceased, as well as comfort and blessings for the living.
After the priest’s prayer is over, the mundane noise and turmoil have faded away.
For a long while.
"Is this the power of Divine Arts?"
The young master of the Canberra Kingdom’s business association can’t help but look up at the faint light feather swirling above Grand Priest Carigula’s grave outside the window, he exclaims.
Such prayers for the deceased can prevent the souls of powerful dead from turning into resentful spirits and protect them from being enslaved or having their memories probed by evil necromancers.
Because of the rapid progress of the investigation and the detective not only changing the mechanisms of the Shadow World but also disappearing from the map, everyone finds themselves without a clear goal this afternoon.
The pressure is now on the traitors.
The traitors originally had five days to find the witch and the werewolf, but now this has been greatly reduced to two days.
At the suggestion of the priest, they first buried Carigula Grand Priest’s body.
Although this is not the real world, the Shadow World as a projection of history shows that such a Grand Priest who sacrificed himself for human freedom indeed existed in history and should be buried.
It also prevents anyone among the traitors who possess information-type necromantic magic from obtaining key information from the body of Grand Priest Carigula before the start of the Shadow World.
So now in the cathedral hall, everyone is gathered sporadically as they did in the early morning.
But everyone fell into silence.
No one knows what they could do next other than wait for the traitors’ turn.
But the atmosphere is not as oppressive as it was in the morning.
There are still a few hours from sunset.
Then the two traitors who are the blood masters will awaken, and the traitors will be able to use the Blood Clan Authority, posing a great threat to all challengers.
"How likely do you think it is that the two traitors are both resurrection believers?"
Lanci, standing in a corner, suddenly asked.
Instantly attracting everyone’s attention.
The way he looks so focused, it seems he has been wanting to hear everyone’s thoughts for a while.
"There is a very high likelihood. It can be directly assumed that those who have this motivation to trigger a disaster are resurrection believers, and they are indeed very vicious ones."
The young master of the trade association is the first to answer with certainty.
"According to statistics from the Shadow World Association of the South Continent, in all the challenger confrontational Shadow Worlds, 98.2% of the challengers who desire to trigger a worldly disaster are resurrection believers."
His words startled everyone a little in the cathedral.
This successor of the big business association actually knows something.
"I see."
Lanci slowly nods, and glances at Hyperion, their eyes briefly meeting.
They even know that the Rebirth Church is deliberately targeting them.
Without surprise, when they were matched, there were quite a few resurrection believers also participating in the Shadow World.
Add to that Hyperion’s initial double premonition as the "actress", and they can almost raise the statistical probability of 98.2% given by the young master of the business association to 99.9%.
"Priest, do you believe that the Lady Goddess of Destiny exists?"
Lanci looked at the three clergymen from the Northern Continent and expressed his doubts.
Such abrupt questions made the other challengers feel somewhat confused again.
"Although we have no way to know how long ago the gods disappeared like rules integrated into the world, and no one has ever seen a god with their own eyes... They still exist in another way, only they can no longer interfere with the world in the usual material aspect. This is also the reason we clergy can use divine arts, our existence can prove their existence."
The priest answered quite gently.
Often, no matter who it is, as long as they ask them about the gods, they will patiently answer.
This is precisely their duty and responsibility.
"I see,"
Lanci nodded.
He gained understanding of divine arts and Magic Cards from the clergy when he was in Nanwantian Border, and his understanding was very similar to that of the priests from the Northern Continent.
After all, looking at Lanci’s attributes, becoming a priest was the best choice.
Divine Arts are a variation of spells, they need to rely on and mobilize the divine power of the gods that remain in the world.
Even without using one’s own magical power as the activation source, divine arts can achieve miraculous spell effects.
Therefore, the strength of most pure divine arts will depend on one’s mental attributes and degree of faith.
However, Lanci, as a materialist, does not believe in gods.
Even if he becomes a clergyman, his level of faith would not be high, so being a priest is not the right path for him.
So he decisively chose another most healing profession, the White Magician.
"Despite whether you believe in any of the many kind-hearted gods, you can normally use our priest’s divine arts or Magic Cards, but different gods will bring different additional effects. All these coincide with the ancient legendary murals that the 32 Original Slabs can piece together. Maybe in a distant and unknowable divine age, there were many gods active in the world."
The enthusiastic executioner added,
"Among all the temples in the North and South Continent, the reason why there are the most priests and believers who believe in the Goddess of Destiny is not because the additional effect of the Goddess of Destiny is the strongest. It’s simply because there are the most people who genuinely want to believe in this benevolent goddess."
"There are the most myths about her, such as ’The Goddess of Destiny loves all creatures equally,’ ’She is the only god who can still interfere with the world’, and various other sayings are still circulating in the world."
"There is even a legend that the divine nature of the Goddess of Destiny is that as long as you pray to her, she will have the power to slightly influence your fate, and the longer and more devoutly you pray, the more your prayers will reach her."
The three clergy from the Church of the Goddess of Destiny took turns introducing Lanci to her.
To swear to the gods in this world is a very serious matter, they believe that the gods will hear.
The oath to every god must not be taken lightly, whether these gods exist and can interfere with the world, they may cause karma.
The Rebirth Church has had several high-level cases where believers request redemption from the Goddess of Destiny which lead to treason. Or it might just be unclear whether they were priests of the Goddess of Destiny from the beginning and merely infiltrating the Church. Every time these people who seem to be favored by fate cause unimaginable fatal blows to the Rebirth Church, it is hard to say whether the Goddess of Destiny is interfering with their fate.
This is also why the Church of the Goddess of Destiny and the Rebirth Church are mortal enemies.
"I understand, thank you all three of you."
After Lancaster finished listening, he just politely thanked them and showed no intention of wanting to join their church to the three enthusiastic clergymen. He turned again and looked at the crowd in the cathedral.
No one knew what his next move was going to be.
Just when everyone was focused on him...
"Please join me in praising Lady Goddess of Destiny. If I am a heretic, a malicious traitor, please guide my fate towards the destruction of the Rebirth Church!"
Lanci raised his right hand, clenched it into a fist, and declared with his clear voice.
"...?"
The challengers looked at Lanci in confusion.
People soon began to understand the meaning of Lanci’s words.
Although Lanci’s oath may not necessarily come true, after all, fate is something mysterious.
However, the Rebirth Church has an unwritten rule--
If someone has a clear karma connection with the Goddess of Destiny, it is difficult for them to be promoted to a high level.
What the Rebirth Church fears the most is the intangible interference of the Goddess of Destiny.
Lanci seemed to want to do something that would completely ruin the future of the believers of the Rebirth Church!
