Chapter 698
Ruoan Eternal
“Eivass is right.”
Just then, a gentle and intelligent young voice rang out.
Accompanied by a burst of colorful light, a girl with white hair, white eyes, and a black and red robe appeared out of thin air behind everyone, along with a ripple of void.
Eivass looked at her, his expression momentarily complex.
So this was the pure white he had seen before…
He nodded slightly and gently greeted her, “Your Majesty the Pope.”
“Don’t call me Your Majesty the Pope,” the young Eternal Pope said with a smile, her voice as gentle as a mother’s, like a teacher’s, “Just call me Ruoan from now on.”
Once out of combat, her voice immediately softened.
Her previous sharp and forceful tone was like a teacher stopping a child from doing something dangerous. It was as if she were a lactating mother beast protecting her young, her eyes red, as if she would immediately go mad and tear apart anyone who approached.
As she completely calmed down, a gentle and quiet aura emanated from the slender-looking little girl.
This was a completely different style from Lixia, the boisterous old kid. Even if Lixia pretended for a moment, outsiders could easily see that she didn’t belong to that age group. But even though the Eternal Pope possessed a gentleness and composure beyond her years, she didn’t seem out of place at all.
At this moment, the shrine belonging to the Silver Crown Dragon had its ceiling shattered by the Perfect Being, and sunlight shone directly on her. Ruoan’s excessively fair skin reflected a captivating, pure radiance under the light.
“Ruoan…”
Eivass murmured.
He had heard this name from the Candlemaster before.
“My name is Ruoan Eternal.”
Her voice carried a strong sense of joy, a sense of finally and gloriously retiring. “After I step down as Pope, I’ll become a Saint… At that time, I’ll have to call you Your Majesty the Pope.”
“Please just call me Eivass. After all, I’m not the real Pope. So, should I call you Madam Ruoan?”
Eivass nodded soberly and politely, then complained in a low voice, “Why did you leave so abruptly…”
“I had to save those people who were attacked and suffering.”
The Eternal Pope placed her hand on her chest, a divine radiance appearing on her face, her long eyelashes fluttering. “As for you guys… I believe in you.”
“…I don’t even fully believe in myself, Your Majesty the Pope.”
Cardinal Dominic, standing by, grumbled, “That was a Perfect Being of the Sixth Tier—it’s just that he’s not good at fighting, otherwise, we would all be dead here.”
“Seeing him use that move, I knew you guys couldn’t lose.”
The Eternal Pope explained, “I saw that move when I was little. It’s the ‘Creation Technique’ that draws upon the essence of life. Once it’s initiated, it cannot be interrupted… It’s like high-level Prayers and Rituals, which also cannot be easily interrupted. If interrupted, the caster themselves will suffer backlash, and the Creation Technique is even more so.
“That guy is a genuine idiot. I believe you can deal with someone like that who isn’t very intelligent.”
“Indeed.”
Eivass agreed with a nod.
In a fight against multiple opponents, suddenly using a channeling spell that couldn’t be forcibly interrupted… The Eternal Pope was too ladylike. We usually call such people idiots.
Eivass hadn’t even summoned the Little Crow—he still had plenty of strength to defeat this guy while being out of his tier.
Although most of the damage was done by the Honey Badger, Eivass did have a way to deal with him.
Even the Honey Badger couldn’t help but laugh. “Seriously, it’s the first time I’ve seen someone who didn’t react even after being hit by Shadow Strike three times…”
“Because such an idiot usually dies with the first move, right?” Eivass’s lips curled upwards.
“Yeah!”
The Honey Badger couldn’t help but laugh. “Didn’t he notice that if there’s fire in front of him, there must be a shadow behind him?”
“He’s a believer of the Bear Heavenly Envoy… in that regard, it’s quite fitting,” Eivass joked.
“…Are there really Avalon people who believe in the Bear Heavenly Envoy?”
The Honey Badger couldn’t help but gasp. “That’s true, if he believes in the Bear Heavenly Envoy, then anything he does seems reasonable.”
It was clear that the Honey Badger also knew the origin of the Bear Heavenly Envoy.
Meanwhile, Ruoan took this opportunity to introduce the much-relaxed Honey Badger. “This person in front of you, this acting Pope, personally participated in the fall of the Bear Heavenly Envoy not long ago.”
The Honey Badger’s eyes widened instantly, and she looked at Eivass in disbelief.
The Heavenly Envoy’s… fall?
Could a Transcendent from the Material Realm really do something like that?
You’re only Fourth Tier!
“Eivass is right,” Ruoan’s expression became a little more serious. “We won’t kill you—silencing people for the sake of secrecy would be too crude, uncivilized, and a waste.”
The Honey Badger pursed her lips and said nothing.
…After all, on their side with the Eagle Eye, that was usually how potential leakers were handled.
When in doubt, silence them first.
They were, after all, an organization that purely adapted to Paths. The smartest people in the organization were a group of liars who couldn’t be trusted. There weren’t many truly intelligent people, but there were quite a few cowards.
To avoid leaks and prevent the matter from affecting themselves, the secret execution of colleagues who might leak information or betray them was something that happened almost daily. There was even a Master Assassin who was specifically responsible for killing their own people.
…And now, she had arrived in a truly civilized world and was finding it a bit difficult to adapt.
However…
“A waste?”
The Honey Badger was a little confused. “Does the Church lack a Fifth Tier like me?”
“Certainly not,” Ruoan said patiently. “But we lack an expert like you, a Child of the Moon. The harm that the Children of the Moon cause to humanity has also been a concern for many years.”
Hearing this, the Honey Badger’s eyes suddenly brightened.
She asked eagerly, “Is the Church finally going to take action against the Children of the Moon? Are you going to sanction the Children of the Moon within the Iris Flower territory?”
“Regrettably, it’s unlikely,” Ruoan shook her head.
“Why not deal with them…”
The Honey Badger found it difficult to understand. “The Children of the Moon are usurping one human kingdom after another! They can always infiltrate them easily, quietly corrupting nobles and wealthy merchants who fear death. They always help each other out of loyalty to their own kind, opening doors for their own kin—isn’t this a disruption of order? When the rulers of various countries encounter danger, the Church intervenes… but what about the Children of the Moon?”
“Because the Church has always had a principle… that is, the principle of voluntary protection.”
Ruoan explained patiently. “The Children of the Moon are not forcibly capturing those nobles and forcing them to transform. Rather, those people, greedy for eternal life, voluntarily transform without regard for consequences. It is their own choice, so whether it leads to the destruction of their nation or their race in the end is merely a natural consequence.
“The Church is merely an observer, not a protector. Although the Children of the Moon are encroaching on human living space, in our view, this is like rebels within a kingdom launching a rebellion, rather than an invasion of extraordinary power from an external enemy. All we can do is educate them—warn them not to believe the temptations of the Children of the Moon.”
“But warnings alone are not enough!”
The Honey Badger became somewhat agitated. “We’ve tried this long ago, and it’s useless—few of those nobles truly care about their souls or their true selves. Even if you tell them that the Children of the Moon are just another person, only a few will waver. The temptation of eternal life is too great; strong and powerful authority must be used to supervise to prevent the infiltration of the Children of the Moon! Just like Avalon—”
“—Because you need to understand one thing, Madam Honey Badger,” Eivass interjected from the side. “What the Church represents has never been natural justice or absolute fairness.
“Or rather, the Church represents the interests of the Church.
“And the Church represents the interests of the Nine Pillar Gods.”
(End of this chapter)
