Chapter 354: Message

In the Bright Hall in Lance, the Holy City.

Except for Bellia the God's Glory, Stone the Four-winged Knight, and Philibell the Bright Angel, who were too important to leave the fortresses unattended, all the major members of the grand cardinal group had gathered together. Their power was so great that the air in this hall was beyond heavy.

"Your Saint Highness, the Congress has been progressing toward prying into the exclusive reign of God, and we cannot stay timid and hesitant anymore. We must destroy the Congress completely before it grows even stronger," said Azaro, another leader of the inquisition, the Light Guard. He was the one who first started talking, and it was evident that Azaro wished to declare war against the Congress.

Holding his scepter, the Pope, Benedict II, listened to Azaro without saying anything.

Then, Sard, the grand cardinal in the parish of Violet, stood out, saying:

"Your Saint Highness, the discovery of the new particle is only an overturn in the understanding of atom theory in theology, which has nothing to do with the doctrines in Canon. We have discussed this before as well, and we also once doubted atom theory before. This so-called overturn cannot affect most of the cardinals, bishops, pastors, and followers, and it cannot do any harm to your dignity and glory."

Sard was as quiet as a lake, which seemed to be rather clear but, in fact, hard to see through. His flat, unhurried voice and tone was like a spring breeze.

"I think Sard just made the point. Since the former several popes started to reform theology, we have been altering our theories constantly. This time, nothing is really special compared to what happened previously. There's no reason for us to prudently declare the war," agreed another grand cardinal, Astira, the Wind Angel.

In another several grand cardinals' eyes, Sard and Astira were beyond cunning.

It was true that the former popes had been working on reforming theology, so an overturn like the discovery of the new particle was very likely to happen every few decades. However, the decline of the Pope's reputation and dignity was also due to the repetitive changes to theology! As the only speaker of the Lord, how could the Pople keep making the mistakes like this?

Although knowing that Sard and Astira's words were not true, many grand cardinals lowered their heads without saying anything. Being able to stand here, no one in the Bright Hall was stupid. The truth was not always that important.

When the Pope lost his stateliness, the members of the grand cardinal group must be the ones who would get most of the benefits! The same thing had happened to the North Church!

At the same time, there were also many grand cardinals standing by the Pope. They were saying that it was now time for the Church to switch the focus onto the Congress, instead of the North Church. The Church had made the bad mistake and thus left the Congress the chance to grow this fast.

When more and more grand cardinals were involved in the argument, the Pope raised his scepter and said solemnly, "The thing has happened. What we need to do now is update the theology theory as soon as possible so that most of the clergy can avoid being affected. Meanwhile, we shall put greater pressure on the Congress, and when we're ready, we destroy them."

The Pope had chosen a neutral viewpoint.

The Pope's words surprised many of the Pope's supporters. In the history of the Church, although there were only few times when a war was declared to defend the glory of the Lord, way more frequently a war was launched when a pope's dignity was challenged, including the war between the South and North Church over several hundred years. They did not expect that the Pope would just handle it so easily.

There was an imperceptible smile on the Pope's face. He took a glance at Sard and Astira meaningfully.

"Your Saint Highness, we can't just sit and do nothing before we are ready. If that's the case, the devout followers would doubt us that we're doing nothing to defend the glory of the Lord." suggested Azaro, "We shall figure out who the finder is and put the person onto the Cleansing List. We shall purify the person."

Benedict II slightly nodded, "Philibell shall be the one handling this."

Sard knew what was in the Pope's glance. Now he stood out again and said, "Your Saint Highness, we should keep a close eye on the clergy in Holm. The presence of such a radical conservative like Andrade is not just an accident but shows that there's a trend in Holm. We shall treat it very carefully."

"Let Varatine and Vaharall handle this. They're members of the grand cardinal group. They are pious and capable," said Benedict II in the same calm manner as if he did not have any negative emotions such as anxiety or anger.

Varantine was the leader of the ascetics, the representative of the most devoted follower, while Vaharall, the Adjudicator, was also one of the leaders of the inquisition. They were the best ones to handle this kind of issue.

...

In the Radiance Church in Holm.

Philibell just got the command from Lance and the updated version of theology.

There was a miserable look on Varantine's face, "The power of God... had descended to such an extent?"

Facing the great pressure from the Congress, the Church was always trying to get ready whenever a new cognition shift came to them. Through all these theology meetings and discussions, the Church could always find a new explanation based on their previous belief in order to weaken the power of impact.

As the original explanations of the overturned theories most came from the cardinals and bishops, it was not hard for most of the clergy to accept the changes of the theories. At the same time, the dignity of the Pope could thus be maintained, as the Pope was never directly responsible for it.

All the three grand cardinals had attended the meetings which took place a few days ago, and the updated content was not a surprise to them. Varantine was strongly against the modification, however, there was nothing he could really do.

The updated theory believed that there was the law of causality between any things in this world, and the first and foremost reason was God, called First Cause. Meanwhile, when all the laws of the world had been built up, there should be an initial push to drive the world, and, again, God generously offered the push.

Stone, the Four-winged Knight was a bit upset, "So we should just sit here waiting for some ridiculous chances? We are not going to do anything, right? Again and again, the Congress keeps challenging the dignity of the Lord... What kind of guards of Lord are we?"

Although they believed that it was the radical conservatives in the Church who should be mainly responsible for the great loss, the grand cardinal still regarded the discovery of the new particle as a provocation from the congress.

There was a slight smile on Philibell's face, "This time, our loss resulted from the leak of information, which in turn shows that the Congress isn't prepared either. They are still working on persuading their own people. So, as we have suffered from the loss and already paid for it, why don't we just publicize the finding of the new particle. After all, many middle and senior-rank mages are taking a much firmer viewpoint on the side of atom theory than us."

As for the pastors and those in training, they were still studying the development of theology, and thus they would not be affected too much.

"I agree. We can't lose more." Vaharall nodded, "We can make a good use of it to strike a blow to the Congress."

The only thing was that it seemed to be rather weird and even ridiculous that the bishops and pastors started to inform the arcanists and sorcerers new arcana theory.

"We start from Rentato, where the headquarter of the Will of Elements lies." Varantine suggested, "Many of those sorcerers from the Will of Elements believe in atom theory."

Stone showed his support, "Good plan. But we still have to figure out who found the new particle. We must purify the person!"

...

In a quiet corner close to the Holm Royal Magic Tower, a pastor was promoting the new theology theory to a coachman aloud, while taking a glance from time to time at the gate of the magic tower not far away from them, "God first created the particles, including atoms. There are also even smaller particles than atoms. God used all the particles to build the world..."

The coachman felt confused. He could not understand the words very well. He was only capable of repeating, "God is sacred and almighty. God has created the world."

After a long time, not a single sorcerer came over or even walked by. The young pastor was a bit concerned, "Why does the tower seem to be so quiet?"

"Sir, I've heard that those sorcerers in the tower are doing some kind of... closed... training." The coachman grinned, "I don't really know what it is."

...

In the Radiance Church, the report that their action had failed soon arrived.

"The Congress is well prepared," said Philibell seriously. "Andrade's thing... did not happen by accident."

Vaharall was responsible for this and he put forward his own thoughts: "Andrade was indeed a radical conservative. But I don't think it's a mere coincidence that the intelligence happened to arrive at the retreat room when Andrade was on his shift. There are two possibilities: either the senior spy has betrayed us, or the spy has been found out by the Congress, which is using this as their weapon. Also, Andrade's way of thinking is way too radical, I think he was affected by some illusions. Illusion is the most difficult magic to be noticed..."

The study became very quiet. They did not want to face the fact that very likely their senior spy to which they had devoted lots of effort had been exposed.

For many times, they had given up using the senior spy just to protect him!

The grand cardinals started to get quite upset.

All of a sudden, something hit Philibell and he hurriedly took out the original piece of intelligence and started to decode using the rules they had agreed on a long time ago.

Within a minute, Philibell got the short message from the senior spy:

"Win trust."