Chapter 971 — Nightfall

"The news has not been made public; at present only the Grand Cathedral and the two of us know of it. As you know, by tradition, whenever a pope of the Church of the God of War dies, for whatever reason, it must be reported to the imperial house at once to ensure stability. In this respect the Grand Cathedral has once again fulfilled its duty well this time, but what came afterward is somewhat amiss," Luoyan said to Pei Yi. "After reporting the pope's death, the Grand Cathedral refused the normal procedure of allowing a representative of the imperial house to come and perform the rites over the body, and gave no reason whatsoever. Moreover, they have closed off their channels of communication with the Obsidian Palace."

"They've closed off their channels of communication with the Obsidian Palace?" Pei Yi was instantly astonished. "Then what of the Grand Cathedral now..."

"Dailan is trying to investigate; I am waiting for her word," Luoyan said. "And I summoned you here to make preparations for a worse situation."

"A... worse situation?"

"The priests and ascetics of the God of War are the most formidable in combat of all the clergy, and the shifts in the situation of late have made them far too tense," Luoyan said slowly. "The knight order directly under the imperial house and the Obsidian Guard are already in position near the Grand Cathedral, the Saint Yolerum Church of the God of War, and the Saint Matim Church of the God of War. But we must make further plans.

"If, as you and I discussed before, the priests of the God of War may collectively lose control and go berserk, then they will very likely take actions more frenzied and more unpredictable than those of normal humans. Facing such a threat within the city districts is a challenge, and young Hadilen likely has no experience to confront such a complex situation.

"Be prepared. Should circumstances require it, we may need the Guardian Knights of the Realm to enter — that, of course, is the worst case."

"Could the situation develop to that extent?" Pei Yi's brows were tightly locked, his expression solemn. "The Guardian Knights of the Realm act only in wartime, when the imperial capital is threatened with annihilation..."

"If the empire's largest church runs completely out of control in Aldnan, the situation will be little better than the capital coming under attack in wartime," Luoyan said slowly. "I do not wish matters to come to that... but regrettably, from the first sign of anomaly in the Church of the God of War to the deterioration of the situation, the time has been too short. We have not had enough time to prepare, and without conclusive evidence and sufficient justification, we cannot take more drastic action against the church directly... You must be prepared, Pei Yi."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Very good. Then let us discuss some of the details..."

...

Silence and gloom shrouded the deepest recesses of the Great Cathedral. Along the corridor leading to the inner sanctuary, the candle flames in countless niches had gone out; the radiance that had once illumined the sanctuary was gone, leaving only a single row of candles hanging from the corridor ceiling to provide the barest minimum of light, so that this long passage would not sink utterly into darkness.

According to the sacred scriptures of the Church of the God of War, the candles in the niches of this corridor leading to the inner sanctuary were extinguished only after the highest authority of the Church, the representative of the god in the mortal world, had been called to the Lord.

They would remain extinguished for ten full days and nights, until the new leader of the Church received enlightenment, passed the trial, and successfully took up the papal staff; only then would they be lit again of themselves by the "flame bestowed by God."

In the dim corridor, fully armed knights of the Curia stood silent and upright between pillar after pillar and niche after niche, while the battle-priests and high-ranking clerics guarding the door stood before the great gate like statues.

It was early winter, and mist had already enveloped Aldernan. Starlight could scarcely pierce the clouds and fog over the plains, and so the imperial capital beneath the night sky seemed all the darker; yet to the clerics within the Great Cathedral, the darkness of this holy hall was deeper still than that of the capital outside.

A wisp of breeze drifted through the dim corridor, slipping past layer upon layer of the Curia guards' line of sight.

No vital reaction, not the slightest leakage of magic, scarcely even a heat fluctuation that could be sensed. The elite transcendent guards in the corridor never perceived that an uninvited guest had passed beneath their very eyes through the defenses and entered the prayer chamber at the deepest heart of the inner sanctuary.

Malm Duniter's prayer chamber was empty and bare, with only a single dim oil lamp illuminating its center; in that murky glow, a figure in black, black-haired, emerged from the air.

Dailan released the concealment effect of the light-bending force field, and while maintaining precise perception of her surroundings, she began to survey this not particularly large room.

As expected, the corpse was long gone, and by now it had most likely been thoroughly "purified" by fire.

Whatever form the former pope had died in, whatever twisted and horrifying remains he had left behind, they had surely by now become a handful of ashes and a wisp of smoke.

But that did not mean no clues at all would remain in the prayer chamber.

After quietly casting her gaze around, Dailan pressed her hand to her temple. With a faint whir of machinery, the skin at her forehead suddenly split along a seam, part of her "skull" drew back under the push of a morphing device, and certain delicate structures gleaming with faint light extended from within; ray after rapidly flickering ray began to scan the entire room.

At the same time, the black-haired head maid's eyes turned cold and indifferent, the photosensitive units deep within her pupils adjusting slightly as she began carefully recording every trace the scan revealed.

Under the probing of the scanning rays, great swaths of the floor and walls, the furnishings, even the ceiling of the entire room glowed with fluorescence!

Those were the traces of splashed blood, the horrifying residue that could appear only after every drop of blood in an adult's body had been smeared across the surfaces. Though the clerics charged with handling this place had already wiped away the blood visible to the naked eye with alchemical potions and divine arts, their efforts had clearly not escaped Dailan's sight.

Suddenly, Dailan's gaze came to a halt.

She looked at the small platform on which the oil lamp rested. On the face of the platform near the floor, a line of faint, barely discernible letters, once smeared there in blood, met her eyes in the form of fluorescence.

"Reverent prayer, beseeching mercy, having received the holy will... as you wish."

(A friendly book recommendation, "We Monsters Don't Want to Die," fantasy category, a wild-idea story. The above and below omitted; boosted it, offered up to heaven.)