The magic guide car still drove smoothly down the wide street leading to the Obsidian Palace.

The glow from the Magic Crystal Street Lamp was passing through the car window.

The seat next to him was empty, and there was no sign of anyone having been there, and there seemed to be only two people in the car from beginning to end, a close acolyte in charge of driving, and a prince in charge of power.

Pei Dinan's face was dark, his spiritual power was diffuse, but he didn't feel any residual magic fluctuations around him, and he couldn't even sense the remnants of life breath, he looked at the attendant in the front seat again, the latter didn't know what had just happened, but he seemed to feel the gaze from the master behind him, so he asked, "My lord, what happened?" ”

“…… No, nothing. Duke Peridinand said in a deep voice, as he reached out and touched the seat next to him—the leather seat was so cold that there was not even a residual human body temperature.

The old duke's face immediately became more gloomy, and there was a thoughtful look in his eyes, and outside the car window, flickering neon lights and faint music suddenly appeared, briefly attracting Pei Dinan's attention.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw several tall buildings towering out of the left window, the spire of the Church of St. Jolem de Mars peeking out of top of those buildings, and to the right of the window was the Van Na Ang Sharon, the magic car had just passed by the entrance of the salon, and the noise was reaching his ears through the window.

"We just passed the Van Naung neighborhood?" Pei Dinan's pupils contracted slightly, and he immediately raised his head and asked the cronies and attendants who were driving in front of him.

"Yes, my lord," replied the attendant at once, "we have just passed the salon of Van Na Ang—and you will have a little time to get to the Obsidian Palace, do you want to rest?" ”

"......" Peidinan was silent for two seconds, then shook his head, "No." Speed up and we'll get to the Obsidian Palace as soon as possible. ”

Although the attendant felt a little strange, he did not ask questions, but immediately received the order: "Yes, my lord." ”

The black magic guide car picked up speed on the sparsely populated night street, and after a while, the majestic silhouette of the obsidian palace finally appeared in Peddinand's sight, and the old duke's heart was still haunted by a faint uneasiness, and his mind kept coming up with the strange sudden visit of Malm Dunit, and the inexplicable words that the other party said to him, but when he saw the spire and palace walls of the obsidian palace, his slightly uneasy heart gradually calmed down.

The guards on duty late at night checked the vehicles and verified the personnel, and Duke Peddinand stepped into the palace, led by a lady of the inner court, he made his way to Rosetta Augustus's private parlor.

"Isn't Ms. Diana on duty tonight?" He looked at the female officer who was walking in front of him and asked casually, "Usually she is responsible for this time." ”

"She has another job," replied the lady respectfully, "at the command of His Majesty." ”

"Hmm." Peidinand simply replied and did not speak again.

As he passed the last arch leading to the inner court, he raised his head and glanced at the roof and columns that had long been familiar—the classical polygonal pillars supported the corridor leading to the inner court, and the beams at the top of the pillars that extended in four directions depicted heroic reliefs, and near the arches, all the beams and sculptures were joined and decorated with gold, and the black and red curtains hung down from the sides of the arches, majestic and solemn.

Like the throat of some kind of giant beast, mortals may only build their houses like this to symbolize the majestic imperial power.

Radiant suddenly felt some unprovoked exclamations in his heart, and then he shook his head and stepped across the door.

……

In Rosetta Augustus's private living room, the bright lights and faint aromatic scents lift the spirits of each visitor, and the soft sound of music sounds from somewhere, so that those who step into it are unconsciously relaxed.

The majestic ruler of the empire was sitting in his favorite high-backed chair, and when Peddinand stepped into the room, he was looking down and carefully flipping through a large, thick book, looking engrossed.

"Your Majesty," Ferdinand saluted Rosetta, "I'm here." ”

"Oh, Ferdinand—you came earlier than I expected." Rosetta looked up and smiled at the sight of Ferdinand, and he stood up as he tucked a page of bookmarks between the large book in his hand and placed it beside him.

With the front side of the book facing up, Peddinand saw the gilded inscription on it out of the corner of his eye: "Society and Machines" – he recognized the book, and in fact he had read much of it. Rosetta Augustus ordered copies of the book to be printed and given to some of the nobles and officials, and Duke Ferdinand, the most trusted aristocratic representative of Emperor Tiphon, naturally had this honor.

The book was from Cecil, but Ferdinand had to admit that a lot of it was inspiring, and he was impressed by many of the concise "principles" that no one had ever thought about, but at this moment, when he saw the book on the coffee table, he recalled some of the contents of the book in his heart, and he felt a ...... for no reason Disturbed.

However, now is not the time to think deeply about the "Cecil way of thinking" in the book, Duke Peddinand diverted his attention and looked at Rosetta: "Your Majesty, you summoned me into the palace late at night, ......"

Rosetta Augustus's gaze swept around, and the few attendants and high-ranking ladies in the hall immediately retreated silently, and only when there were only two people left here did the ruler of Typhon nod to the Grand Duke and said in a deep voice, "Malm Dunit was summoned by the Lord tonight - about four hours ago. ”

Pei Dinan's breath suffocated suddenly, he felt his heartbeat suddenly stop for half a beat, and all the uneasiness that had accumulated before was finally faintly connected, and this brief change did not hide from Rosetta's eyes, who immediately cast a concerned gaze: "Pei Dinanqing, there is something wrong with your reaction - what do you know?" ”

"Your Majesty," Ferdinand took a light breath, his expression unusually serious, "I saw Malm Dunit tonight—on the way here. But he appeared very strangely, and the whole process was ...... Full of disobedience. ”

"Tell me the details right away," Rosetta said immediately, "all the details." ”

"Yes," Peddinand nodded, and began to recount his strange experience, "It must have happened an hour ago, when I passed by the 'salon' in the Van Naung neighborhood. There were no witnesses other than me, ...... at the time"

The narration did not take much time, and Ferdinand tried his best to restore all the details of his strange experience in a concise narrative, and as his words fell, Rosetta the Great's brow was furrowed, and his expression became extremely serious.

"It could be an illusion, or some kind of 'projection' that acts directly on the mind," Petdinand said of his own speculation, "and either way, the situation is very serious - the anomaly of the Church of the God of War has spread to the top of it, and if Malm Dunit as Pope becomes the source of the anomaly, then the response plan we have set up may be ......"

Rosetta suddenly interrupted Ferdinand's words: "Have you ever thought that this anomaly did not spread to the top, but originated from the top in the first place?" ”

Peddinand's eyes widened a little, and then he quickly fell into deep thought, and after a brief thought, he raised his head: "Your Majesty, Malm Dunit has been summoned by the Lord...... Exactly? Are there more details? ”

"The news has not been made public, and only the Great Holy Church and you and I are currently aware of it. You know, according to the tradition, the Pope of the God of War Church has to notify the royal family as soon as possible regardless of the cause of the death to ensure that the situation is stable, and in this regard, the Great Church still fulfilled its responsibilities well this time, but after that, things were a little wrong," Rosetta said to Peddinand, "After reporting the news of the Pope's death, the Great Church refused the normal process of sending representatives of the royal family to perform the ceremony on the body without giving any reason, and they also closed the communication channel with the Obsidian Palace. ”

"They shut down communication with the Obsidian Palace?" Pei Dinan was suddenly stunned, "Then ...... over there in the Great Sanctuary now?"

"Diana is trying to investigate, and I'm waiting for news from her," Rosetta said, "and I'm calling you here to prepare for something worse." ”

"More ...... Bad situation? ”

"The priests and ascetics of the god of war are the most powerful of all the clergy, and the recent changes in the situation have made them too nervous," Rosetta said slowly, "The royal knights and the obsidian army are already preparing near the Grand Sanctuary, the Church of St. Joelham and the Church of St. Martim, but we have to go further."

"If, as you and I have discussed before, the Gods of War are likely to collectively spiral out of control and go berserk, then they are likely to take actions that are even crazier and more unpredictable than normal humans, and facing this threat in the city is a challenge, and young Hadilan is probably not experienced in dealing with such complex situations.

"Be prepared, we may need the Knights of the Protector if the situation warrants—of course, that's the worst-case scenario."

"How could it get to this point?" Pei Dinan's brows were furrowed, and his expression was solemn, "The Knights of the Protector will only act when the imperial capital is threatened with destruction in the event of war......

"If the Empire's largest sect were to get out of control in Aldenan, things wouldn't be much better than the Imperial Capital was attacked during the war," Rosetta said slowly, "I don't want things to go like that...... Unfortunately, the time between the appearance of the Ares and the deterioration of the situation is too short for us to prepare, and we cannot take more drastic action directly against the Church until there is solid evidence and a sufficient name...... You have to be prepared, Pei Di Nanqing. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Very well, then let's discuss some details......"

……

Silence and darkness shrouded the deepest part of the Great Chapel, and in the corridor leading to the inner sanctuary, the candles in the countless niches had been extinguished, and the light that once illuminated the sanctuary was gone, except for a row of candles hanging from the top of the corridor providing minimal light, so that the long corridor would not be completely plunged into darkness.

According to the sacred texts of the Church of the God of War, the candle in the alcove in the corridor leading to the inner sanctuary will only be extinguished when the highest person of the Church, the spokesman of the gods on earth, is called by the Lord.

They will be extinguished for ten days and nights until the new church leader is enlightened, completes the test, and successfully receives the papal scepter, before being ignited by the "God-given flame."

In the dreary corridors, heavily armed papal knights stood in silence among pillars and alcoves, and the battle priests and high-ranking priests guarding the doors stood like sculptures in front of the gates.

It was early winter, and the fog had already covered Aldenan, and the starlight could not penetrate the clouds and fog on the plain, making the imperial capital even darker at night, but for the priests in the Great Temple, the darkness in this sacred temple was even greater than that of the imperial capital outside.

A breeze blew through the dimly lit corridor, past the sight of the papal guards.

There was no life response, no leaking magic, and even little perceptible heat fluctuations—the elite transcendent guards in the hallways didn't notice the uninvited guest crossing the line right under their noses and into the deepest prayer chamber of the inner sanctuary.

Malm Dunit's prayer room was empty, except for a dimly lit oil lamp illuminating the center of the room, and in the dim light, a black-haired figure emerged from the air.

Diana lifted the concealment effect of the curved light force field, and while maintaining a precise perception of her surroundings, she began to look at the small room.

As expected, the corpse was long gone, and most of it had been completely "purified" by the flames by this time.

No matter what the former pope died, and what twisted and horrific remains he left behind, he must have now been reduced to a handful of ashes and a wisp of green smoke.

But that doesn't mean there won't be any clues left in the prayer room.

Diana quietly looked around and pressed her hand to the corner of her forehead, accompanied by a very faint sound of mechanical operation, the skin on her forehead suddenly cracked a gap, part of the "skull" was pushed back by the transformation device, some shimmering delicate structures poked out of it, and a rapid flickering ray began to scan the entire room.

At the same time, the black-haired maid's eyes became cold and cold, and the light-sensing unit deep in her pupils adjusted slightly, and began to carefully record all the traces scanned.

Under the detection of scanning rays, large swaths of the room's floors, walls, furnishings, and even the roof glow with fluorescence!

It was the spilled blood, the terrifying residue that could only be revealed after smearing all the blood from an adult's body, and although the priest in charge of dealing with it had already erased the visible blood with alchemy potions and divine magic, their treatment obviously could not escape Diana's sight.

Suddenly, Diana's gaze froze.

She looked at the small platform where the oil lamp was placed, and on the façade below the platform, near the ground, a faint line of letters that had been smeared with blood was shining into her sight.

"Reverent prayer, prayer for mercy, and divine will...... As you wish. ”

(Friendship pushes the book, "We Wild Monsters Don't Want to Die", fantasy classification, brain holes, omitted above and below, milk sacrifice.) ）