Chapter 682 Aiwass: Wearing a yellow robe?
After drinking the divine wine, the Pure White Saint suddenly fell into a state of amber in pain.
All of this was broadcast live by reporters and spread throughout the entire church.
Combined with the cardinals' solemn expressions and their counterintuitive decision not to drink, a terrifying truth emerged in the minds of those who witnessed this...
“—It’s an assassin!”
A reporter from Xingti blurted out: "Someone is trying to assassinate Her Highness the Saint!"
What he said was just pure speculation.
Because on Xingti's side, assassinations during press conferences were commonplace. Many spokespersons were suddenly murdered during press conferences... The conflict between their demonologists and alchemists had already reached this point.
Some are blatant assassinations, some are to eliminate dissidents within the camp and frame the opponent at the same time, and some are on the third level - considering the existence of the second level, they deliberately carry out blatant assassinations to disguise them as frame-ups by the opponent.
Anyway, Xingti's official intelligence department probably won't be able to find any results. After all, the intelligence department itself dares not offend anyone... Even the Xingti king dares to smooth things over.
Putting aside other things, what if something really is found out?
Then I'm afraid Xingbi will split on the spot.
So in the end, no matter who dies, they become ammunition for the two camps to attack each other. People don't care about the facts at all... or rather, the part that they hope to be true, that is, the fact they believe.
But the moment he said this, the sound was broadcast live along with the picture.
In such a solemn election ceremony, people subconsciously trust the credibility of official reporters—after all, if someone lacks literacy, they probably won't be invited in. So their judgment is likely well-founded.
In an instant, the news of the saint's assassination spread throughout the church!
The second circle, inside a tavern.
A dwarf uncle suddenly slammed the table and shouted, "I knew it! Those people don't drink because there must be something in the wine!"
The sixth circle, inside the guardhouse of the ruins.
The two elves looked at the screen in astonishment, and the things in their hands froze in mid-air.
"...Is this fake? The Saint was poisoned?"
"Is that... the Tears of Time?"
The two murmured.
The eleventh ring, in a lounge.
An elderly elf slammed the table and stood up, angrily scolding the youngest elf at the table: "The Saint was murdered, is this your conspiracy?"
The young elf being questioned was sweating profusely: "Maybe... maybe... I seem to have heard of a similar plan..."
He had come from a controlled fire and was proud of the organization he belonged to.
He believed it was a progressive move to help the old-fashioned and decadent elves update their systems, effectively reducing the elves' amber formation rate and undoubtedly benefiting the Theocracy in the long run. It was just that there were too many old guards who were unwilling to accept new things and give up their sense of superiority as inheritors, so they were not understood by the people.
But after hearing that Cardinal Loki was colluding with the giants and actually seeing the evidence, his faith collapsed - so he withdrew from the Controlled Fire.
Later, he heard a rumor: Cardinal Loki was originally a giant, who was inspired by the candlelight and thus became an elf. Then everything connected... If Cardinal Loki came to power, it would be like a giant becoming Pope!
He suddenly felt that he had been deceived - it would be better to let a human be the Pope!
At least humans looked pleasant, while giants were not only ugly, but had also hunted and cooked large numbers of elves. They held a deeper hatred for each other than the dwarves, and there was no way they would allow a giant to become the new Eternal Pope and the most powerful being in the world.
Especially after the Vatican announced the evidence of Cardinal Loki's contact with other giants, he became even more convinced that former Cardinal Loki had ultimately chosen his own race over identity.
"It must be a conspiracy of the giants!"
The young elf, who had originally belonged to the controlled fire, wiped his sweat and said firmly, "This must be an assassin hired by former Cardinal Loki! I heard of similar plans when I was in the organization..."
"You know why it wasn't reported?!"
"I reported it! There must be a dozen similar plans, and no one knows which one is real or which one isn't. Look, none of the cardinals drank, only that human did... It's obviously been reported! You can't blame me for this, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who knows about this!"
And so they started arguing.
Such arguments occurred in every corner of the Theocracy—just as many members of Controlled Fire once accounted for a high proportion, so many people are now being questioned during the "Assassination of the Saint".
For elves who are lazy and introverted, they rarely experience drastic mood swings.
Today is undoubtedly an exception.
It was visible to the naked eye that the entire theocracy was in chaos.
At this moment, the magic mirror of the eleventh ring began to work on its own. Faces, some frightened, some angry, some curious, some sad, and some astonished, kept appearing in the mirror and then disappearing.
A blond young man wearing a monocle touched his chin and stood in front of the magic mirrors.
He was wearing a pure white suit with dark golden runes outlined on it.
Behind him, there was an angel floating with closed eyes, a pair of white wings behind him, and skin shining with pure white light.
The angel's appearance was half similar to his own.
Moreover, except for its long pure white hair and more feminine and gentle face, it is almost exactly the same as Aiwass when he was seventeen or eighteen years old!
"Is this Loki's conspiracy?"
The young man muttered to himself, "This doesn't seem like his style. It's a bit rough... Could it be that Moriarty guy?"
Moriarty?
A mechanical and echoing voice came from the angel behind the young man.
It asked the question but did not open its mouth.
"Well, it's possible."
The young man nodded, explaining, as if talking to himself or to the angel behind him, "Moriarty's plans are often of this style—he doesn't coerce or trick anyone into taking action. He simply puts the right people in the right place... He tells them what they truly want to do, and then gives them the power to do it.
"Everyone acts for their own benefit, but in the end, everything works in his favor. That's why I admire him—he's different from his teacher, Loki. Moriarty knows exactly what plans have the lowest probability of failure."
What's the plan?
The angel continued to ask questions.
It has a strong desire to know everything in the world, like a child who has not yet experienced the world.
"Oh."
The blond scoffed, "That's naturally a good plan for everyone."
The young man said this, raising his hand.
A cane appeared in his hand along with the twists and turns of light. He gripped it tightly and then lowered it slightly.
Dark golden ripples slowly spread out from the "monitoring room" like water waves.
Neither the elves walking outside nor the Pope's guards guarding the door were aware of the young man's presence or the occurrence of the water waves.
The water wave continued to spread outward until it touched something and suddenly stopped.
"Found it."
The young man suddenly spoke.
At this moment, the magic mirrors reflecting faces suddenly adjusted their images, focusing on a single person. All screens became full-coverage surveillance from every angle.
——It’s the vampire writer who is imprisoned!
"Let's go, Aiwass."
The young man spoke softly, commanding, "Let's go meet him... He's probably the last remnant of Loki in the material world. He's half in the material world, half in the dream world. He'll be a formidable opponent whether we advance or retreat, but as long as he remains stuck here, there's nothing we can do."
Kill him, Jacob?
"Definitely not. Killing him would actually free him. If Loki were to be completely released into the Dream Realm, by the time he completes his self-improvement under Sizhu, he'd likely become an Apostle. By then, when we speak to him, our status will be one level lower. Confining him to the Material Realm would actually yield the best results."
"The Theocracy is secretly imprisoning him, neither killing him nor releasing him. I'm afraid they're also planning this. Although they don't even realize what Cardinal Loki truly fears..."
[Gray Sky Master, is that so? He actually wants to die, and the Theocracy doesn't know?]
"Yes, you guessed it right. How clever of you, Aiwass."
Jacob, leaning on his cane, casually praised: "You are understanding people's hearts more and more."
He adjusted his tie with his other hand and chuckled, "Let me first tell Lord Loki about... the unexpected incident of 'The Saint's assassination.'"
On the other side, the elves quickly sorted out the "truth".
As early as last month, rumors circulated within the church. It was said that the lunatics of the "Controlled Fire" sect had obtained a special poison that could cause normal elves to fall into amber, and even rapidly worsen the condition of elves that had already begun ambering.
The news was a hot topic at the time, even causing considerable panic within the Church. Rumors spread that he had been poisoned by a madman controlled by fire, and the accidental deaths of several Amber Condensers were believed to be closely related to this incident.
But later, with the death of Cardinal Loki, "Controlled Fire" lost its leader and thus ceased operations. This incident gradually faded from people's sight.
No matter how radical the ideas of the Controlled Fire might be, or how dangerous their agitation might be, they were a group with clear aspirations—they were essentially radical elves who wanted to elect Cardinal Loki as Pope. Their further goal was to promote professionalization within the Church from top to bottom, thereby narrowing the gap in status between these lower-class elves and half-elves and the "inheritors" of long-standing traditions.
After all, their purpose is ultimately political; and their political purpose is ultimately for their own interests.
With the death of Cardinal Loki, they were doomed to fail in their previous goal. This organization was originally composed of Cardinal Loki's fanatical followers, and it was impossible for them to elect the next leader and nominate him as Cardinal before March 3rd.
Naturally, Cardinal Loki would not be so stupid as to prepare a backup plan for "what if I'm gone" - only when there is no other choice can "Controlled Fire" willingly sacrifice itself for this.
But now, the facts are before our eyes——
No elven cardinal dared to drink the wine. And no matter what the Saint's motive was for taking a sip of the wine, there could only be one truth.
That is, the radical remnants of the Controlled Fire contacted the assassin and assassinated the Eternal Saint who was about to be elected as the Eternal Pope!
Although the papal election ceremony theoretically selects three candidates, and then all cardinals vote in real name, but basically, the Eternal Saint is elected in each generation... Therefore, there is nothing wrong with directly considering "Pure White" as the next generation of Pope.
——Rounding it off, that means the Pope was assassinated!
As long as you are an elf, you will never dare to do such a thing.
Because all elves know the authority of the Papal Office, and even more so the power of the cardinals...
As expected.
In less than half a minute, these world's top healers stabilized the condition of Her Highness the Saint.
Cardinal Europa claims that this amber phenomenon caused by poisoning is actually reversible and can be cured within a few months;
Cardinal Matilda claimed that she had the technology to reverse the amber to a certain extent, but it would take some time;
Cardinal Dominic claimed that the saint's condition has stabilized and her life is not in danger;
Cardinal Belisarius claimed that he had checked everyone's cups and that only the Saint's cup was poisoned, and that the poison was the "Tears of Time" used by the Controlled Fire before;
Cardinal Galatea claimed that she had confirmed that no one had ever left the place and that all candidates for sainthood were pure and sinless.
"Search all rooms near the ceremony hall. I'm searching all reporters! Dispatch the Pope's guards to conduct a comprehensive search for any suspicious fluctuations in the path!"
Although Siegfried still didn't quite understand what was happening, he still issued a martial law order very professionally.
And only ten seconds had passed.
Because of her overly frightened expression, Miss Alice was the first to be suspected by the Pope's guards, and they immediately discovered that the "photographer" following her was just a carefully crafted shadow shell.
"This is technology from the assassin organization 'Eagle Eye'!"
Cardinal Valrhona confirmed.
Aiwass watched all this with drunken eyes.
He felt as if this was happening in a dream, a very unreal feeling.
Aiwass instinctively felt that something was wrong.
The cardinals seemed to have rehearsed this beforehand—they were giving way too much useful information. Normally, in such a chaotic environment, arguments would be perfectly normal. It should have been a chaotic mess, with a bunch of people constantly spouting worthless information like a repeater.
But he didn't know what he should do at this moment.
He approached Gray, who was still covering her eyes in pain, and spoke softly to comfort her:
"—Do you want dates?"
But at this moment, Gray suddenly grabbed Aiwass's wrist.
Her wrist was so strong that she didn't look like someone who was poisoned at all.
"I've...almost recovered."
Gray said this and reluctantly moved her hand away.
It was only then that Aiwass noticed.
It turned out that Gray's amber marks had not expanded at all.
——It even shrunk a bit!
"The papal election ceremony is very sacred... It must be held in its entirety and cannot be terminated for my personal reasons. However, I consider that if I am not there, the election of any cardinal as pope will probably cause controversy..."
The Saint's voice reached all the reporters with crystal clarity: "I propose that Aiwass temporarily elect the Pope on my behalf. If successful, he will become the 'Acting Pope.' As a human cardinal, he will not affect the interests of any sect and will only serve as my agent until I recover."
"—Raise your hands if you disagree."
Update completed! It's hard to split, so it's a two-in-one chapter!
(End of this chapter)
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