Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 463 The Caged Bird
Darrant was also secretly trying to figure out Ethan's identity.

Knowing about Sevier and being able to freely enter and leave the Cathedral of the Dawn's Crown, all these clues lead to an obvious conclusion—this seemingly unkempt and frivolous bishop is actually Julius's confidant, and only in this way could he possibly know the secrets about Ivy Margaret and Sevier.

With this in mind, Darrant lowered his guard slightly.

Since Pope Carlo ascended to the throne, the relationship between the Church of Life and the Church of the Holy Word has been somewhat delicate. Because of Julius, they sided with Carlo when he first made his call to arms. However, during this time, Darrant could always sense that the Church of the Spirits was the one that Carlo truly placed second.

There is an inexplicable and ambiguous relationship between Carlo and the spirit mother Yayuma.

Logically speaking, Yayuma is several generations older than Carlo, so there shouldn't be any gossip about them. But who would know in a place like the Vatican?
Some people like little boys, and some have said that "women are like fine wine, the older they get, the better they become." On the other hand, Ethan, who openly had an affair with a nun, is just an ordinary, normal person.

Before the meeting began, Darrant had heard some rumors that Yayuma had secretly visited the church before the meeting started and stayed with Carlo until late at night. After that, Yayuma's eyes were healed, and the way she talked with Carlo in the following meeting also changed significantly.

This forced Darrant to believe the truth of those rumors.

This is definitely not a good thing for the Divine Word sect.

Carlo needs their strength to fight the Empire now, but what about after that?

Given Carlo's unpredictable personality, no one knows what he will do after everything is over.

This is the biggest difference between Julius and Carlo. The former is an ambitious man with a clear purpose and an excellent partner; while the latter, at least in Darrant's eyes, is a capricious orator and a person whose emotions outweigh his reason. The war he rashly started was seen by many, including Darrant, as a result of personal feelings, wanting to set the whole world on fire.

Darrant was lost in thought and naturally overlooked the barely perceptible arc of electricity.

"Yes, it's what you think."

Ethan was surprised to find an unexpected bonus here. He hadn't realized that the seemingly impenetrable alliance of sects in the far west was actually full of ulterior motives.

Many people questioned Carlo at the meeting, either out of herd mentality or because they were threatened by Carlo, which forced them to join this unexpected war.

“Julius considered the possibility of the coup failing, but even so, there will always be someone who needs to finish what he left unfinished, won’t there?”

These two sentences really struck a chord with Darrant. Compared to Carlo, Julius was much more reassuring.

How bad could someone chosen by Julius be?
"After his death, I took up the study of the chorus and the spell of Holy Word."

Ethan paused briefly, as was his skill at using riddles to get to the point, "But you should have heard that things aren't going well with the God-Servants."

"Did something happen at the mage tower?"

Darrant blurted out the question. He had heard about the turmoil within the Mage Tower a few months ago. The former president of the Astrologer's Guild died unexpectedly, and a former wanted criminal named Rowena not only replaced her as the new leader of the Mage Tower, but also became the first magician to advance to the Saint rank since the Sixth Era.

During his collaboration with Julius, Darrant heard more or less about his mentor, Turzan, and the secrets of the existence of the God-Servants organization.

That was the real mastermind, someone capable of influencing the course of an era.

Julius had hinted to him that the leader of the servants was actually the god of trickery, Cadra himself.

"The magician blocked the news of the mage tower. All I heard was that the attitude of the servants changed after that."

Ethan said, "You should have realized it by now, right? The servants didn't participate in this war."

Darrant's expression grew increasingly serious.

Ethan's few words spurred things to take an increasingly worse turn; these brief exchanges almost confirmed all the terrible premonitions deep in his heart. If...

What if the servants of the gods allied with the empire?
That means there will suddenly be several more Saint-level combatants on the front lines.

It is a consensus among all that a saint can reverse the outcome of a local war.

At the first meeting, Carlo asked him to use the secrets of Ivy Margaret to keep the others in check, but Carlo never mentioned the true trump card of the Church of Life to him. All Darrant knew was that the Church had been mining holy relics in various parts of the far west for the past year, but they knew nothing about how they were ultimately used or what results were achieved.

The leaders of other sects, being kept in the dark, were unaware of the existence of the servants of the gods and the changes that had occurred in the empire after the coup, and thus remained blindly optimistic.

They had no idea what they would encounter on the battlefield once war broke out.

This can only be attributed to Carlo's excellent brainwashing skills; even the sect leaders, like the ordinary people in the far west, were deceived by his oratory abilities.

Ethan then asked, "I need to know exactly how confident you are."

"Now that you know about the chorus, things are much easier. You should know how those killing machines came about, and... their true purpose."

Darrant observed Ethan's reaction, and only when Ethan gave the right answer could he be completely at ease.

This is a secret known only to him, Julius, and his mentor, Turzan.

“In the séance, they exist as the shell of ‘gods.’ For this reason, it is necessary to remove their minds through some means so that they can completely accept the descent of ‘gods.’”

Ethan's answer relieved Darrant, who was now completely convinced that Ethan was Julius's chosen confidant.

To many at the Imperial Vatican headquarters, the chorus appeared to be killing machines trained by Julius, and they had no idea of ​​the true meaning of the Holy Word.

“Ivy Margaret is the perfect ‘skin’, and the entire plan for the chorus started because of her.”

In Julius's original plan, Ivy Margaret would eventually return to the Empire, and after he completed the final séance, she would become the true leader of the chorus.

Although he was somewhat prepared, Ethan's feelings were still incredibly complex when Darrant confirmed it to him personally.

This explains why Ivy and Mary look exactly alike.

It was the existence of these people that made Ivy a puppet controlled by thought from the moment she was born.

In her growth process, what was Julius's manipulation and what was her free will?

Last night, halfway through the activity where he was playing the priest, Ethan received a call from Ivy.

During the phone call, she mentioned her experience at home, where she saw her mother's ghost in the mirror. She consulted numerous books in the capital's library about this, but could only conclude that it was an impossible "paranormal event."

Her mother was cremated, and a priest read a eulogy, thus preventing her soul from becoming a ghost. It was for this reason that Ethan left insults about Carlo on parchment, determined to sneak into the Cathedral of the Dawn at dawn.

He learned the names of Sevier and Darrant from Ivy.

Her father mentioned that during the time they fled their family, they had a wonderful time in Gear City, until the appearance of a Heartbinder from the Holy Word sect gave Sevier the idea of ​​going to live in the far west.

The land of salvation lies in the West.

They will eventually find peace and redemption in the far west, and will truly sever the fate that the child is destined to bear with the blood of Margaret.

"Fate is fascinating, desirable, yet forever elusive."

As Ethan brought up the topic, Darrant's thoughts drifted back to many years ago.

He met Sevier at the Gear City Guild's banquet. As agreed with Carlo, he needed to spend a month convincing Sevier that fate had made the best arrangements for her and her unborn child in the far west.

"The Margaret family holds the key to ancient technology, and because of the existence of the Golden Fleet, the royal family will definitely keep them firmly in their hands."

Darrant recounted the fate of the Margaret family, having said the same thing to Sevier: "Each head of the Margaret family would give birth to a boy and a girl. The girl would be used as a bargaining chip in a political marriage to the royal family, while the boy would stay at home and be raised from a young age as the family's future heir."

However, fate took a turn in this generation.

Because the future heir of the Margaret family fell in love with a wild woman whose identity and bloodline were not pure.

The royal family and clans were worried about the alteration of their pure, ancient bloodline, and even more worried that the unborn girl would inherit genes from her mother's lowly status.

"Henry VI still decided to follow the ancient tradition, but he also made an agreement with the Margaret family—after the baby girl was born, she would be separated from her parents and sent to the Papacy, where the high priests of the Church of Life would cast a spell on her to remove her innate bad genes. At the same time, her mother would not be allowed to see her again during the baby girl's growth."

At this point, Darrant paused briefly, a sarcastic smile appearing on his face, "It's all for the sake of the empire's centuries-old traditions and the purity of bloodlines."

Regardless of the reasons or perspectives, the royal family and the Margaret family reached this agreement, and even the current Queen Margaret has not raised any objections.

This made his job much simpler.

Darrant no longer needed to weave a convincing lie. He only needed to "accidentally" reveal the agreement between the royal family and the Margaret family to Sevier, thus allowing her to understand the nature of the Holy Word spell and what was about to happen to the unborn baby girl.

"The Holy Word spell will remove the bad elements from the baby girl, but it will also take away some extra things, such as her ability to perceive emotions. She will not experience joy, sorrow, or despair. Once all this is done, she will spend the rest of her life like a wooden doll."

Darrant knew that no mother in the world would willingly hand her child back to the Margaret family and the royal family after hearing about her child's fate.

"So, you became the mastermind behind this plan."

Ethan said.

"You overestimate me. I am just a pawn in Julius's plan, just like you, or even... perhaps he is too."

Behind Julius were his mentor, and... the god of trickery.

For a true God, all things in this world may be mere pawns in His hands.

"There are many details in this plan that I haven't mentioned, such as the agreement between the royal family and the Margaret family, which was completed in the presence of Julius."

"Isn't this what makes fate truly fascinating? That rebellious heir made the bravest decision, fleeing the capital with his beloved to live in a border city. At that time, he must have believed that he had broken free from the control of fate and gained a free life."

At this point, Darrant changed the subject, "But what about before that?"

"When he met Sevier at the banquet, when they confessed their love to each other under the moonlight, which of these were choices of his own free will, and which were arrangements of 'fate'?"

“It was ‘fate’ that chose Sevier.”

Ethan learned everything he wanted to know: "If we want to transform Ivy into the most perfect form, her parents are crucial; it's a fusion of Holy Word and 'Reincarnation'."

The gears of fate had already begun turning long before Ivy was born.

Upon hearing this, Darrant nodded in satisfaction. Although the person chosen by Julius looked very young, he was definitely not stupid and immediately saw through the mystery.

This sparked his strong interest in the young man, Ethan, since this was his first meeting with Ethan, and Julius had never introduced him to the young man when he was alive.

"Young man, tell me your name."

"Ethan."

Ethan, Ethan...

Darrant murmured the name, and the next moment, his smile froze on his face.

His eyes widened in horror.

"you--!"

"Thank you, Mr. Darrant."

All the spells Darrant wanted to recite got stuck in his throat. His unfocused gaze watched as Ethan got up, slowly walked to his side, and raised his hand to block his view.

He closed his eyes, and his consciousness vanished into eternal darkness.

Darrant felt almost no pain, and was not even aware of the passing of his life; everything was fleeting.

The fatal wound was located in the heart.

Permeated by the wind element, the cells seemed unaware that they had been severed.

As the midday sun shone on the Cathedral of the Dawn, a shocking piece of news spread like wildfire among the various religious sects.

—Darrant was murdered.

Someone in the headquarters of the Holy See, in the presence of the Goddess of Life, and before anyone could detect anything amiss, murdered the greatest mind-binder in the world!
(End of this chapter)