Chapter 1003: Shadow Hunter (asking for monthly tickets!)
Although Aiwass has been the "Pope of Humanity" for four months, Yasen still doesn't know what the Pope looks like.
Although the news of Aiwass becoming the Pope wasn't immediately broadcast to Iris due to Alice de Harcourt's arrest and investigation, the scene of Aiwass's earlier resistance against the Fallen Angels was briefly broadcast live to Iris. While only the part of the city near the Star Antimony saw it, it was enough for people to take photos and distribute them everywhere.
He had only heard people mention that the Pope and the Fallen Angels looked almost identical—this was actually the main focus. After all, this was too easy to arouse people's imagination.
Yasen hadn't gone out of his way to see it, purely for personal reasons—he wasn't interested in such high-ranking figures. He neither admired them nor hated them. They were completely irrelevant to his life, career, and ideals. He didn't like to join in the fun.
At least before actually meeting Aiwass, Yasen couldn't imagine how this real big man could be so gentle, rational and down-to-earth... This was absolutely unimaginable for Iris.
——Precisely because he is now the son-in-law of the Duke, he knows how the bigwigs will treat those common people without status.
After seeing Aiwass's face clearly, Arsen suddenly opened his eyes wide.
The pupils are trembling!
Although there are slight differences in appearance and there are strange huge antlers on the head, there is no doubt that the long platinum hair is the most distinctive feature of the Vendôme family!
They are extremely proud of their platinum hair that is "as bright as golden light" and "as brilliant as the sun".
It is said that this is because they have divine blood flowing in their ancestors.
Those with hair and eye colors that are clearly different from those of ordinary people, or that are too bright, are generally evidence of divine blood. This was also the case with the royal family of the former Helasar Empire.
As for Aiwass's appearance, it was even more shocking—
Yassen had seen portraits of every generation of the Vendôme family. Unlike the nobles of other families, their appearances remained remarkably consistent. They all resembled one another to a degree, appearing in their twenties. Put together, they looked like brothers and sisters.
——And Aiwas’s appearance is almost exactly the same as that of an ancestor of a certain generation of the Vendôme family whose name was erased!
It was said that this ancestor was the sinner of the Vendôme family. Because of his existence, the Vendôme family was burdened with hundreds of thousands of blood debts... From then on, they changed their surname. Before that, the Vendôme family had not been named Vendôme.
But at the same time, this ancestor is also the pride of the Vendôme family.
——It is said that he once challenged the gods.
It is also said that the god he challenged was closely related to the fall of the Herasil Empire.
His identity was already an unspoken secret. Even though Arsène's last name had changed to Vendôme, he still wasn't qualified to ask for details. Only the head of the family could know this...
And what Shylock said to the Duke is said to be related to this.
At the time, Yassen couldn't understand why Sherlock, having just arrived at the Vendôme family, could reveal secrets that could shock the Duke. Now he finally understood...it was because Sherlock had seen the portrait of the Vendôme family.
Especially the only nameless portrait!
Sherlock immediately realized that this matter was related to Aiwass, and thus obtained information that Yassen did not know... Their information gap began from that time.
"...Why," Aiwass was a little surprised, "haven't you seen me? I thought I was quite famous."
"Hmm...how should I put it..."
Yasen's expression was a little distressed.
He didn't know what to say.
Yassen's personality had always disdained intelligence about "bigwigs"—after all, most Iris people were like that. They loved deconstructing those bigwigs, using all sorts of gossip and political jokes to make them seem less mysterious and less great, thereby making themselves more great in disguise.
As many people praise the greatness and pioneering work of the human Pope, there are just as many who sing a different tune.
Especially since the "Pope's" authority came from the Elven Kingdom, a nation that Iris dared not offend, this gave them an even stronger excuse—the Pope's glory wasn't "human glory" at all, but rather the worship of the elves. Thus, some of the Iris people who disliked elves also disliked Aiwass.
Yes, hatred of elves—
This is related to the nobles of irises.
The Iris nobility has always considered themselves the orthodox descendants of the Hrasil Empire, and therefore has a great admiration for elven culture. All nobles must learn the Elven language, and this priority is even more important than learning the Iris language.
After the people rebelled against the rule of the nobility, they decided to overturn everything the nobility admired. The nobility liked traditional and solemn architecture, so they insisted on making it lively and light. The nobility admired elven-style handicrafts, so the people opposed these handicrafts. The nobility liked traditional opera, so they encouraged new opera. The nobility liked elegant and slow-paced dances, so they insisted on encouraging uninhibited, novel and avant-garde dances. The nobility liked long skirts that dragged on the ground, so short skirts are now popular...
Elf culture is one of them.
But they didn't dare to destroy buildings that truly belonged to the elves, so they just stayed away and denounced those craftsmen who "worshipped elf culture and built buildings in an elf-like style."
After all, the Iris people's rebellion was never motivated by any particular ideology or conviction; it was simply because "that's the trend," because "everyone else does it." They didn't understand the true meaning of resistance, because they never rebelled when it was truly necessary. Premature and overly successful rebellion only conditioned them to believe that simply making a scene would yield benefits, leading them to gradually view it as entertainment, an art form.
As a pure-blooded Iris man, Arsene is actually no exception.
"...So, you mean that the Iris people boycotted me as if I were some high and mighty figure?"
Aiwass was very surprised, but couldn't help laughing. "No wonder there are so many operas and dramas about me... Sherlock mentioned this in the letter he sent me before. He said that people admire me very much and have composed a lot of operas for me.
"I was actually puzzled by one thing at the time - if they respected me enough, shouldn't they have dared not touch on such a topic? After all, the adaptation is not random, not to mention that the plot involves pink singing... Where did they get the courage to do that?"
Now Aiwass finally knew.
This is actually the cowardly and tolerant cultural resistance of the Iris people - just like the jokes like "Soviet jokes" and "French jokes", the purpose of which is to gradually deconstruct the authority of the Pope in this way.
The words in Sherlock's letter are actually very sarcastic!
Aiwass couldn't help but sigh, Sherlock's level of sarcasm has really been getting higher and higher since he came to Iris...
"You're not angry?"
Yasen was surprised to see Aiwass laughing happily.
Based on his understanding of important figures, even if one was well-educated and didn't show their dislike outwardly... they would still feel obvious displeasure and remain silent. He wasn't a clown, so who would be happy to be framed?
But Aiwass disagreed: "They have mouths on their bodies, how can I stop them from talking?"
“…I really can.”
Yasen hesitated to speak, but still spoke in a low voice.
Unlike Avalon, where Iris Flower had no censorship of speech or work, they had always taken a more direct and thorough approach—anyone who dared to gossip would be captured, skinned, drained of blood, and hung outside. Within a few days, everything would be quiet.
Since we cannot eliminate speech, we should directly eliminate the carriers of speech.
And by this time, the Iris Man fell silent.
Hearing this, the smile on Aiwass's face gradually faded.
He prepared to perform a prayer ceremony pointing to Ms. Morgan and sighed helplessly, "Perhaps it is because of this reason that the Iris people, who are so 'resilient', did not receive the favor of the Anti-Heaven Department.
"Their actions have already fallen into the realm of aesthetics. Treating resistance as a form of performance art will ultimately achieve nothing. It's just a waste of life..."
The fusion of beauty and transcendence is also the way of nothingness.
But just as Aiwass was preparing for the prayer ceremony, Yasen suddenly opened his eyes wide.
"careful!"
He shouted loudly and suddenly stretched out his right hand towards Aiwass.
——Castling!
He and Aiwass exchanged positions in an instant.
And then, Yasen's body was silently cut in half by the huge pincers!
The pliers made no sound, there was nothing behind them, and they didn't even cast a shadow. If Yasen hadn't just happened to be looking at Aiwass, and the lightning flashed in the sky at that moment, he wouldn't have noticed that something was attacking Aiwass!
However, Yassen was not dead - his coat was cut into two pieces neatly, and he rolled out of the shadows in his shirt, grabbed Aiwass and ran away.
——Clothes substitute!
This is also one of Arsene's "Phantom Thief Tricks".
No matter what kind of damage he suffers, as long as he uses this move in time, he can use "a piece of clothing" as a substitute to escape safely. This ability is strong because he only "moves himself" and does not interact with the opponent's ability, so he can ignore the energy level suppression of most extraordinary skills.
As long as you can react, having more clothes on your body is equivalent to having more lives!
When he was still a very young Phantom Thief, he relied on this trick to escape!
“—Don’t run.”
Aiwass said calmly: "It's no use - close your eyes."
As he spoke, Aiwass broke free from Yasen's hand and raised his other hand high.
The next moment, an extremely brilliant light shone from his hands!
Yasen did not react to what Aiwass said - or rather, he did not develop the habit of following Aiwass's orders unconditionally.
Instantly, Yasen's head was buzzing with light. He felt a strong dizziness and tinnitus, causing him to stumble. A strong urge to vomit sent him collapsing to the ground. For Yasen, with his exceptional senses, this was as damaging as a highly irritating gas to a dog with a keen sense of smell.
But fortunately, the unknown enemy also screamed - it was probably a scream, because it made a "squeak" sound like a cigarette butt roasting a cockroach, and then disappeared.
"Don't run away."
Aiwass said slowly: "There's no point in running away.
"Those are seventh-level shadow-hunting beasts. They survive by devouring the shadows of other phantom demons. Once stripped of their shadows, they become confused and lose their dreams. These creatures can appear at will in blind spots of others' vision... You still dare to run? Where are you trying to escape to? Are you trying to save your life?"
"…Is it gone already?"
Yasen retched and asked hoarsely, "Do you still need me to...close my eyes?"
"No need," Aiwass replied, comforting him, "Don't be too afraid. I came to the Shadow Kingdom because I'm familiar with the phantom demons here..."
Before he finished speaking, another bolt of lightning struck.
From the frightened look in Arsen's eyes, Aiwass realized that the enemy was approaching.
This is also the reason why he didn't let Yasen close his eyes.
Because relying on yourself alone is not enough to identify whether there is a hunting beast behind you.
"—Vignes!"
Aiwass called out.
A torrential downpour of blood fell.
A chilling dark purple aura of corruption seeped out.
"...Not Alai?"
Miss Night Demon's unhappy voice came: "I thought you were going to take her with you all the time...you don't even need to call me."
The next moment, countless dark purple chains covered with corrupted runes spread out and tightly bound the three shadow hunting beasts behind Aiwas!
——This is the authority of the Fallen Angels, [Sin-bound]!
Although he was only at the sixth energy level, Vines easily bound three seventh energy level phantom demons!
Last day off, tomorrow is the beginning of the month!
On the 1st, I will resume updating twice a day, at noon! Please vote for me at the end of the month and the beginning of the month!
(End of this chapter)
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