Chapter 938
Preparing for Battle
To get the Child of the Moon to confront the demons… strictly speaking, it wasn’t all that difficult.
The Children of the Moon could themselves hunt demons, and a larger number of them could form an effective suppressing force.
There were only three reasons why the Children of the Moon hadn’t come over yet: one, no one had effectively organized them; two, the Children of the Moon feared the overwhelming power of the Fallen Heavenly Envoys; and three, they were all watching with schadenfreude as the Fallen Heavenly Envoys made trouble for Star Antinomy.
The nature of this matter, from the perspective of the Children of the Moon, was basically equivalent to an outbreak of European Giant King Crabs combined with a shooting incident.
The best method, in fact, would be to resurrect Alistair as a pure Blood Angel. A pure Blood Angel could basically be considered a divine manifestation of Sasha. This true progenitor of the Child of the Moon race, predating even the Blood Heavenly Envoys, wasn’t unrecognized by the Children of the Moon, even if few people worshipped her.
It was simply useless to worship her.
For the Children of the Moon, who couldn’t enter the Dream Realm anyway, they cared more about tangible worldly benefits than whether their object of worship was worthy.
This philosophy was similar to Eivass’s style in his past life—if a god wasn’t useful, you switched. Under such circumstances, the Blood Heavenly Envoy was the most useful, the Banquet Heavenly Envoy the second most useful, and therefore the Blood Heavenly Envoy had the most followers, with the Banquet Heavenly Envoy second.
However, if a god truly descended to the mortal realm, then one would still be devout. This was because the object of worship would have shifted from the “untouchable Dream Realm” to the “tangible Mortal Realm.”
However, the final key item needed to resurrect Alistair was still missing, and coincidentally, it was within Star Antinomy.
Should they enter first, snatch the item, and then escape?
Eivass pondered for a moment and felt that, to be cautious, it was best not to.
Now that the Banquet Master had been promoted to Banquet Heavenly Envoy, and Sister Sasha had also been elevated from a “Disciple’s Disciple” without a formal title to a Heavenly Envoy’s Disciple, any involvement with her residual body might be judged as involving “other gods.”
In that case, they might not be able to pass through the barrier upon returning. In fact, just obtaining it could alarm the Fallen Heavenly Envoy.
Eivass’s plan largely depended on the fact that the Fallen Heavenly Envoy “wouldn’t immediately get serious.”
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to get serious, but it was difficult for him to do so directly.
Alistair had once felt the alteration of thought caused by the Mark of Sin—and the Fallen Heavenly Envoy possessed all unused Marks of Sin, with himself being the most heavily modified. It was difficult for people to fight against their own nature, and the Fallen Heavenly Envoy had a stronger “nature” than anyone else: arrogance.
He was the embodiment of pure arrogance and the first Heavenly Envoy to be pulled down by the Ouroboros Ring ritual. His power in the Mortal Realm was undoubtedly the greatest. Protected by the Ouroboros Ring ritual, even an apostle of the Hourglass couldn’t forcefully “balance” it.
Because of this, Eivass needed to disturb the Fallen Heavenly Envoy as little as possible.
If Alistair couldn’t be resurrected before defeating the Fallen Heavenly Envoy, how could he get the Children of the Moon to obey the orders of Eivass, the Pope?
Eivass’s rate of advancement was too fast, and he hadn’t needed to use his wits to solve problems for a long time.
Now, he found himself deep in thought again, but not with any noticeable delay.
Threats? Exploitation?
Perhaps a combination of both.
One could exploit the information about that “fake Perfect Being.”
That vampire literary writer, who had been transformed into a false Perfect Being under Cardinal Loki’s conspiracy—this news would easily spread to those countries ruled by the Children of the Moon.
They might not necessarily believe strongly in the theory of Perfect Beings, as it was a theory discovered by Valentin I and the Red Phase combined, but perhaps a guarantee in the name of the Pope would be effective.
Thus, Eivass had a plan: he could claim that the Church had mastered the relevant technology by analyzing the “Perfect Being.” While on the ship, they could fire a small “Paradise of the Complete Man” towards both the Iris Flower and the Daffodil Duchy. Based on the experience of killing the Red Phase previously, the domain [Paradise of the Complete Man] would last for at least a few months.
[Paradise of the Complete Man: All creatures and Phantom Demons without the Path of Love or the Transcendent Path are suppressed; Humans gain Regeneration LV3, Children of the Moon lose all weaknesses, Werewolves gain Rational Fortitude, Yokai changes are not seen through.]
This domain would be enough to make the Children of the Moon believe the Church—nothing was more direct than personal experience!
Once they lost all their weaknesses and then felt that sense of weakness upon regaining them, it would drive them mad.
The area near the Spirit Tower still retained the [Paradise of the Complete Man], and it could serve as a base for the Children of the Moon to start their war.
Once the idea was settled, executing this part no longer required Eivass.
It wouldn’t work to approach them in the capacity of Avalon’s Minister of Affairs. But if the Pope’s Guard were to deliver the message personally, it would be like “the Emperor’s personal visit.”
Eivass happened to have four Pope’s Guards with him. They could be divided into two groups, each heading to the Iris Flower and the Daffodil Duchy to deliver the letters. Their combined combat power surpassed that of an ordinary Fifth Tier, and their safety would also be guaranteed.
Eivass, meanwhile, would remain in Avalon to oversee the equipping of Griffins.
Once the blessed Griffin armor was ready for deployment, and these Griffins and their handlers, trainers, and human counterweights were accustomed to it, the First Legion could be renamed the Sacred Griffin Knights.
Because this matter could not afford any mistakes, Eivass was personally in charge.
Yulia, for her part, set aside her newly acquired abilities and continued to complete her inventions.
The talents Eivass had rescued from Star Antinomy—especially those in Leipzig who had been under the purview of Count Leipzig—became Yulia’s assistants.
Initially, Eivass had merely mentioned Yulia’s great invention to one of them. What that person said upon returning was unknown, but the next day, over forty Alchemists came wanting to participate in the research. Among them were old friends of Master Nobel—or rather, they were all here.
It was unknown whether they were here to repay a debt or to piggyback on achievements.
A research team of this scale clearly could not continue to live in the Silver and Tin Hall.
Although Yulia herself was somewhat reluctant, she moved to the Royal Alchemical Factory. While Star Antinomy used terms like “research institute” and “project group,” it became a factory in Avalon, which was frankly an unappealing name.
But many hands indeed made light work.
No matter how much of a genius Yulia was, she certainly couldn’t match the experience and profound knowledge of these older Alchemists. Although she had almost inherited Master Nobel’s legacy, the research field of a single Alchemist was always too narrow.
The academic path, the further one went, the more specialized it became. This was an unavoidable problem in the human learning model. Many masters in a single field understood adjacent specialties less than “undifferentiated” students.
Nöbel’s original intention of introducing his network to Yulia was actually accomplished within Avalon!
Seeing that Yulia’s strength was too high, clearly different from Lily’s—Eivass also had a reference point, realizing that Lily hadn’t evolved synchronously after Shadow Demons evolved into Night Demons.
So Eivass performed another Sheparding Ritual on Lily, synchronizing the power previously contracted with the Shadow Demon to the contract with the Night Demon.
Since a Sheparding Ritual had already been completed once, this one was much simpler. After synchronizing again, Lily gained a curse ability, and other than that, it was merely an increase in numerical strength.
And on the third day after Yulia completed her Sheparding Ritual, a guest Eivass hadn’t seen in a long time arrived.
“Bishop Mathers?”
Eivass was very surprised and rose to greet him. “Why have you come?”
(End of Chapter)
