A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 260 The Persecution of Seraph

The next day, Rorschach returned to St. Miller's Cathedral, having been invited by Joseph. The priest led him through the blockade of the paladins to the source of the disaster.

The magnificent cathedral was still floating in the air. If the streets hadn't been blocked off and passersby hadn't been driven away by magic, there would surely have been many curious onlookers and believers who wanted to witness the miracle of the angels' descent.

"Go up yourself. I'm old and my hands and feet aren't what they used to be." With that, Joseph stopped and watched as Rorschach cast a spell on him and flew into the church.

Although it's called the interior, Seraphim didn't care about the church's age or whether it was a World Heritage Site when it took off; it just burst out of the main building. Fortunately, all the structures were suspended at that moment, and only Rorschach and Duplessi were present.

"You've come." The red-robed prime minister seemed to have aged considerably overnight. "In the end, Seraphim was destroyed by your mages?"

"They were expelled from the material world."

Duplesci accepted the fact: "That is, He was destroyed; He was already dead."

Rorschach walked through the shattered hall, stone carvings, marble floors, stained glass windows—a treasure trove of art and the sacred, now broken into pieces. He came before Deplesi, the cardinal sitting in his chapel.

Will the church float above Valuvana forever?

Duplesci shook his head: "It could be a few days, or it could be a few months. It might crash to the ground with a bang, or it might fall slowly. In short, nothing lasts forever."

"Gods will perish, miracles will be forgotten, and churches and magic guilds will eventually become history."

"You are very weak." Rorschach noticed that the bishop was not in good condition. He used to be full of energy and majesty when they met, but now, bathed in the morning sun, he looked listless.

"Not only me, but the Church within the Holy Kingdom is at its weakest point, even weaker than when the old Empire collapsed—when God had not yet gone far away."

"In a silent world, the power of those blessed by God comes from two sources:"

"First, there is the order constructed by the Lord of Light and Order through mysticism. Although the builder no longer responds to His followers, the system He left behind is still functioning well. But in the end, the divine magic we use now is nothing more than an echo of the old era."

"Secondly, since Clovis, the first monarch of the Holy Kingdom, received the anointing and coronation from the Apostolic Throne, the Church has been an important part of the Kingdom's creation and rule. The Church of Order itself is the maintainer of the Kingdom's order. In the past few decades, the position of prime minister has been more important to me and to the Church than the position of archbishop."

"Therefore, those who receive divine favor draw power from the order of both the mystical and the real dimensions, causing miracles to occur. However, today..."

Deplesi gripped his cane and tried to stand up to continue, but failed. He remained seated on the broken bench and continued, “The kingdom is in deep crisis, the old order is crumbling, and its collapse is irreversible.”

"The Kingdom is the only ship that leaks from the top. If you were the king, the Holy Kingdom might have enjoyed more stable prosperity." Rorschach then added, "At least Necker wouldn't be so frustrated."

"My only consolation is my humble origins. If I were king, the first thing I would do is send that dangerous scoundrel to Basti." The vizier smiled, a rare occurrence, but the smile vanished in an instant, for the topic was far too heavy for him:

"But the prosperity of a kingdom depends on the wisdom of its ruler, which only proves the incompetence of the old order. Returning to the Church itself, due to the resurrection of Mother Earth, the divine magic system built by the Lord of Light and Order in the original text layer has also been damaged. Therefore, the decline of the Church is not limited to the Holy Kingdom, but to the entire world. Of course, this process began when the Eternal City lost the North."

Ultimately, a church that only has a 'past' has no future.

Rorschach was more concerned with Mother Earth: "Resurrection?"

The archbishop did not answer immediately. He made a listening gesture, paused, and then continued: "...There's no point in saying more. Most of the pollution on the continent has now been drawn to the capital and disposed of there, through your and my hands."

During the Grand Mass, Deplesi sensed that the rituals prepared by the Church were insufficient to dispel the aura of Mother Earth throughout the city. The moment he picked up his sword, he received a divine oracle, which indirectly led to the events of last night.

However, the process was completely unexpected.

First, no one expected the remains of Archangel Seraphim to descend; second, no one expected the Magic Guild to be able to wipe out the angel who was corrupted in one fell swoop.

From this perspective, the power of the mages has completely surpassed that of the church.

Based on the information revealed by Deplesie, Rorschach pieced together the clues and concluded that the "white dwarf" he saw should be a symbol of angels, and the Lord of Order's intentions seemed clear.

The gathering of cultists was likely deliberately orchestrated. The gods sent angels to contain all the corruption of Mother Earth, and then used the power of the sorcerers to banish the angels, thus also eliminating Mother Earth's presence on the continent.

"Why can't the paladins eliminate them one by one? The magic guilds have the same attitude towards cults, and we can reach an agreement on this issue."

"It's because our cooperation failed that God arranged things this way. Even if we cooperate here, what about the Empire? What about Istani? There are still many conceptual and extraordinary invasions. It is precisely because of the archangels' judgment and devouring that you have the opportunity to eliminate them all at once."

At this moment, Deplesi realized that the Lord of Order must have foreseen the chaos that would follow in the kingdom. If the Mother Earth's infiltration was allowed to continue amidst the chaos, the consequences would be unimaginable, and the Church's power would become even weaker.

The power of the gods, but they can only intervene indirectly.

"I've told you all this so that you can investigate the world's last ulcer, the Kingdom of Istani. All indications suggest that much of the cult's support comes from the island."

Rorschach was somewhat surprised. The final clues to the mechanism and Deplesi's request all pointed to one place: Istani. He instinctively asked, "Why me?"

"Why you? How should I know? Don't you understand? I wasn't the one who made the request." In an instant, the church went completely dark, and the two found themselves in the vast starry sky, where blue, purple, and red starlight shimmered with varying brightness among the clouds.

"So go! You can't stay in the kingdom anytime soon anyway, and your hope of becoming an archmage lies there, that's what He said."

Rorschach felt his body begin to fall, and before he hit the ground, he heard Deplesie say her last words: "As for me, I'm tired. The kingdom and the monarch no longer need the Cardinal."

This incident, known as the "Seraph Persecution," was a heavy blow to the Church. The bishops withdrew from the council, as well as from the mansions of nobles and the banquet tables of the king. They hurriedly inquired about what had happened to Joseph and then rushed back to their dioceses or to the City of Eternity.

Although the emergency response that night was excellent, thanks to the joint efforts of the church and the guild, the combined casualties caused by the cult's rituals and the angels were less than the number of lives lost to hunger in the kingdom.

However, the incident still greatly agitated the already tense nerves of the citizens of the capital, and the entire city began to arm itself.

(End of this chapter)