Is it another conspiracy against yourself?

But Diana was never one to lack courage, and her pale expression returned to normal in an instant, and her face once again showed a calm demeanor.

"I'm sorry, Sal, let's get out of here for a while. Diana winked at Constantine.

As she walked out of the mayor's house, Diana stopped and said to Constantine, "I'm going somewhere, Constantine, you go back and tell Diderot to stay near the hotel with his guards, and don't leave until anything happens." ”

"Your Highness, are you going to handle this alone?" Constantine looked directly at Diana. "But you must know that neither the Guards nor I will stand idly by when your safety is at stake, for you are the future saint of the Holy See, the daughter of Your Majesty, the one unique in the entire Empire. ”

"Yes, I'm sorry, but this must be done by me myself, and I will not leave it to my knights. Diana turned her face away, her tone more tough than ever, "Along the way, many of them have already paid with their lives because of me, and this time, I will not put anyone in danger again." ”

As she said this, the Pope's words echoed in her ears again, strengthening her resolve.

"It's an order. Without hesitation, Diana turned and walked away, hurrying towards the end of the street.

"Do you want to chase?" thought to Constantine, this princess was the cornerstone of all his plans, and if Diana had any mistakes, his journey would be meaningless.

"Leave it to that guy for a headache!" muttered the young monk, and without saying a word, hurried to the hotel.

As for where Diana would go, he knew very well.

Although the town of Springwater may not be large, like many empires and many places on the continent, there are churches for the glorious believers to pray.

The church in Quanshui Town is decades old, the brass door is covered with rust marks, and the angel relief on the top of the church, the wings on the back have disappeared somehow, and the face is also very blurred.

Gently pushing open the brass door, the door that had been eroded by wind and rain for decades moved its heavy body and struggled to swing aside, and the sunlight penetrated the door and illuminated the interior of the church.

The scene in front of her froze Diana's gaze, and her expression froze for a moment.

Sixteen townsfolk lay on the smooth floor, their eyes hollow, and beneath them was a huge magic circle, which emitted a dark green light, staining the corpses of the sixteen townsfolk a shocking dark green.

Blood oozed from the bodies of the sixteen townspeople, gurgling along the grooves carved out of the floor, sixteen thin lines of light blood outlining the skeleton of the magic circle, merging into the center of the magic circle -------- a cluster of dark green flames.

Diana's body froze, because in her eyes, in the turquoise flames, there were clearly sixteen entangled and weeping spirits.

"You're late, Your Highness. The old man's voice shattered the terrifying silence, and the mayor of Springwater, Clough, stood on the edge of the magic circle with a slender cane, his expression very calm.

"Uncle Roy, Aunt Alice, Mr. and Mrs. Rice, Mr. and Mrs. Ian......" Diana's lips trembled as she swept over the sixteen soul-drained husks, all of whom she knew, even knew very well.

"This magic array in front of you, I wanted to complete it fifty years ago, but unfortunately I never had a chance. Old Clough's back was slumped and he looked listless.

"Stop, grandpa, what the hell are you trying to do?" Diana stepped forward, beautiful pale golden flames dancing at her feet, moving the floor with her thoughts.

"The Flame of Sin-Cleansing is really an eye-opener, is this the power of the Divine Favorer?" the old man muttered to himself, not answering Diana's question, "Compared to the Holy Flame under your feet. The Purifying Fire that Victor has been cultivating for decades is as ridiculous as a child's fireworks. ”

"You know Victor?" said Diana, looking at the unremarkable old man she had in her impression. "Who the hell are you?"

"Elvis Jerome, Grand Inquisitor of the Hall of the Holy Spirit, has seen the Holy Maiden. The old man bowed slightly, and made the most standard etiquette in a church to Diana. "As for Clough as you call it, it's just one of my many identities. ”

"Did Drakes ask you to kill me?" Dianna stared at Elvis, and by now, she had fully understood that the old man standing in front of her was no longer the ordinary magician, kind and kind old mayor she was familiar with, but the second person in the Church's dark institutions ----- the Inquisition.

"I have great respect for Lord Drex, but we don't share the same philosophy in many ways, Drakes is the most old-fashioned old believer, and his dream is to restore the influence of the Church on the continent thousands of years ago, before the golden age came, and I am different, I am just an old man who is about to go to the grave, with no ambitions, and only wants to see the land of my homeland before returning to Heaven. The old man smiled, "Please, it's that old fellow Meron who asked me to do it, he is very upset about you becoming a saint, especially since many of the things you have done in Baines have threatened the very essence of church rule in his opinion. ”

Diana fell silent, she was no stranger to Meron, the archbishop of the southern diocese of the empire, a number of powerful figures in the church, this person is also a well-known conservative in the church, and has always been very jealous of her, ten years ago she was forced to leave the imperial capital, leaving the Temple of Radiance, and there is also the shadow of this archbishop behind the scenes.

"When I was young, I inherited a lot of favors from Meron, and without him, I, an ordinary magician who was kicked out of the flange for secretly learning dark arts, would not have been able to gain a foothold in the vast land of the Holy Empire and escape the pursuit of those pesky paladins. Elvis's palm rubbed his cane slightly, "What's even more ironic is that he also helped me, a dark mage, enter the Inquisition and help him secretly do some dirty things that the world thinks." ”

When he said this, his expression was calm, and his tone was extremely peaceful, as if he had changed back to the kind and gentle old mayor familiar to the people of Quanshui Town.

"Your Highness, you were born high, and although you have taken on the expectations of His Majesty the Pope for you at a very young age, and faced all kinds of conspiracies alone, you have not experienced the pain of a small person like me. Many years ago, I was uprooted from home, penniless, endured humiliation, had no talent but nowhere to use it, and no matter how many spells I knew, I couldn't buy a life-saving copper plate and a piece of bread to satisfy my hunger.

"I spent every day wandering, and I didn't know when I would starve to death on some dark street corner, or be tied to a cross and burned alive in full view of everyone. So, for me at the time, I didn't hesitate to exchange my whole soul for a chance to survive. ”

"Meron gave me this opportunity, so I sold my soul to him, and it was a good deal, for both of us. ”

"I'm thankful to Meron, and even though I know he's been using me for decades, I'm still grateful to him, and without him, I wouldn't have been able to spend the last peaceful years of my life in this town. ”

"But I'm getting old and tired after all, so I left the Hall of the Holy Spirit ten years ago and came to this town to be an ordinary mayor, which is not bad. ”

"But the past cannot be severed after all, and Meron found me again, and he promised me to leave and let me return to my hometown, provided that I must kill you. ”

"I'm sorry, Your Highness. ”

Time passed minute by minute, and the old man's voice couldn't help echoing in the church, revealing the stories of the past years one by one, and the voice was extremely soft, even the sentence at the end did not reveal the slightest murderous intent, but the words were full of heavy gloom.

This scene seemed familiar to both of them, and in those days, Diana had more than once heard the old man in front of her talk about his deeds, and she listened to it with relish. It's just that nowadays, the place where the story is told is no longer the impression of a warm study, but a cold church. The old man in front of him was not the kind mayor in his impression, but a ruthless judge, the candlelight in the night was replaced by a hideous demonic flame, and the soul let out palpitating sorrows in the flames, replacing the hearty laughter of the old man in Diana's memory.

Everything has changed.

And what about herself? Can she watch it all happen and be unmoved? Is it just helpless grief?

The flames of cleansing sin rose from the ground, turned into a pillar of fire tens of meters high, and rose to the top of the church, causing the air in the entire church to boil.

Elvis's eyelids jumped.

"I'm sorry, Grandpa Clough, for the last time I'll address you like that, and thank you for the stories you have brought me through the most difficult of those years. The emerald eyes were devoid of the initial anger and sadness, only absolute calm, "However, you can no longer walk with me." ”

"Then, now I can only forget the past and do what I can still do now, so that the souls of these dead people can be truly rested. ”

"You've grown up. The old man sighed and said, originally thought that Diana would be difficult to accept for a while after learning the truth, and then chaos, but she did not expect that she controlled her emotions very well, and also perfectly controlled her strength, leaving him without the slightest flaw.

The golden flames couldn't help spreading, engulfing the entire church in the blink of an eye, surging in the direction where the old man stood.

However, at this time, the girl found that the Flame of Cleansing was choked by an invisible force in the space within a few meters of the old man's body, and he could no longer move forward, while Elvis stood in the holy flame with an indifferent expression.

Obviously, the other party has been prepared.

Then, from the firelight, a rhythmic chant was heard: "Apostle from the Endless Abyss, Lord of the Demons who bear the flames of Purgatory, please accept the sacrifices of this world, obey my call, and descend here." ”

With a bang, the turquoise flames in the center of the magic array erupted violently, and formed a bottomless black hole in place, like an entrance to hell, bursts of pitch-black wind whistled out from the deep hole, the holy flame swayed restlessly in the wind, and then, a cold and evil voice sounded in Diana's head:

"It's a disgusting and unbelievably sacred, and unexpectedly strong. Hey, you actually have a glorious imprint on your body, ah, my summoner, you really gave me a big surprise, how long has it been since I tasted the taste of angelic souls, thousands of years, or tens of thousands of years? Very good, your soul, I took it. ”

Then, a more violent wind poured out from the black space, the black storm swept by, and the holy flame shrouded in the edge of the magic array shattered like a piece of paper, and the scattered sparks ignited the entire church, turning the church into a purgatory full of light and fire, the black demon cave stood in the purgatory, and in the mouth of the cave, there was a demon's arrogant sneer.