Chapter 212: God's Peculiarity

Chapter 212 The Hobbies of a God

Church of Samsara, Academic Affairs Building.

The room at the furthest depths of the fifth floor was originally meant to be the office of the Chief Bishop of the Church of Samsara in the Kingdom of Wien, but at this moment, Lord Sako, the Chief Bishop, was waiting respectfully outside the office door, demonstrating his deference and submission.

The Church of Order developed and operated Wien as its own foundational base. Although it did not oppose other churches establishing institutions and mission houses in Wien, the entire ecclesiastical circle knew exactly whose territory Wien was; the Third Knights Templar stationed in Wien was the best proof of this;

As for the Church of Samsara, it was unfamiliar with Wien. First, because the territory had long been occupied by Order, the Church of Samsara was more like a guest staying over; second, the people of the Maclay cultural system were not very interested in the doctrines proclaimed by the Church of Samsara.

Particularly the Wienese, ever since the Age of Discovery, their ancestors had taken pride in being pirates, an imprint in their bones and genes that made them more willing to enjoy present thrills, while they couldn't care less about what the afterlife would be.

Although the continuous influx of foreign immigrants and the development of industry and finance in recent years had caused the groups of bankrupt and lost souls in rural and urban areas to gradually increase, expanding the believer base of the Church of Samsara to a certain extent, it ultimately failed to become a major force in the grand scheme of things.

Therefore, although Sako was the Chief Bishop of the Kingdom of Wien, his status within the church was actually not high; if it were, he would not have been "exiled" here to break new ground.

Unlike the overall aged feel of the Academic Affairs Building outside, the inside of the office was very luxurious, containing not only an office study but also a living area with two bedrooms and a living room inside.

At this moment, two women were lying on the bed, one of whom Karen still knew, Bertha, who had once served as a secretary at Piaget’s psychological clinic.

Bertha leaned like a little bird against the side of the woman next to her, whose long legs, even slightly curled, were not a bit shorter than Bertha's as she lay flat, and it must be known that Bertha’s figure was already very tall.

The woman was named Talina, a member of the Simosen family, and the Simosen family had historically produced several "Gatekeepers" of the Church of Samsara, which was equivalent to the Pope.

Therefore, although the contemporary Gatekeeper of the Church of Samsara was not from the Simosen family, the family's influence within the Church of Samsara still ranked in the top three, and it was even hailed as the "Royal Bloodline" of the Church of Samsara.

It was precisely because she had come that Bishop Sako outside the room willingly relinquished his office to her and obediently stood outside to show his devotion, for he desired all too much to be transferred out of Wien; he felt he was not yet very old and still had room for advancement within the Holy Church, so he would not give up any opportunity he could seize.

"Bertha, do you like this appearance very much?" Talina turned her head to look at the woman in her arms and asked.

"Yes."

"Is it because of that person you are looking for?"

"I don't know."

"Any clues about him?"

"I can't find his trail at all, it's as if he completely vanished."

"Do you need me to have someone help you look for him?"

"No need, that you are willing to see me makes me very content and grateful."

"Fool, why say such things, in the eyes of others you are a remnant of Light, but in my eyes, you are just a lovely Angel of Light."

"Then what about you, what did you come to Wien for?"

"To find my brother, the family received word that he is in Wien, but whether he is specifically in York City, I don't know."

"A pity, my people have already all withdrawn from York City, otherwise I could still help you look."

"Don't be silly, that brother of mine loves nothing more than finding a woman whose appearance closely resembles his first love to live in seclusion and lead an ordinary life, he is a total pervert, he does not wish to be found."

"Your brother still hasn't stepped out from the shadow of losing his first love?"

"Not only has he not, he has sunk even deeper, Father told him that woman had long entered samsara, and for this he even dared to defy Father, that day if Mother hadn't intervened in time, the two of them, father and son, almost came to blows.

But who would have known, he actually made an imprint of his first love's memories, used the secret method of Samsara's inheritance to seal the consciousness of other women, and then installed his first love's memories upon them, right now, he has been living this kind of life all along.

Except under this method, the lifespan of ordinary women is drastically shortened, generally not living past half a year, so he must continuously look for new women who resemble his first love to live with."

"I can dress myself up to look like his first love, I can advertise in the papers as a model to draw him out."

"What, having me alone isn't enough, you also want to get into my brother's bed?"

"What nonsense are you talking about, I only have you in my heart."

"Heh, I don't believe it, they all say men's mouths are the best at lying, but actually, women's ability to lie is not a single bit worse than men's."

"I only hope to encounter your brother, and then find an opportunity to purify that piece of scum."

Bertha sat up from the bed and began to put on her clothes.

"Leaving so soon?"

"I cannot stay long in York City, the people of the Church of Order are still constantly hunting down the remnants of Light in the Wien region, I don't want to implicate you."

"No need to worry, the Church of Order will soon have no time to care about you all."

"Is it because of the matter regarding the Church of Pamires?"

"Yes."

"I heard that the Church of Order lost a Knights Templar."

"Yes, you should be clear about what a terrifying consequence it is when a space suddenly collapses, the latest news is that in that broken spatial countercurrent, many shattered pieces of armor from the Knights of Order were discovered."

In fact, Talina knew even more, such as the person who used the sacred artifact of the Church of Pamires to destroy the prison space was a sleeper agent planted by their Church of Samsara within the Church of Pamires.

But these matters were not suitable to be spoken to Bertha, they were merely bedfellows, yet belonged to two separate camps, they could sleep in the same bed in secret, but on the surface they were not even permitted to stand together.

"Then isn't the Church of Pamires finished?"

"Yes, even if the Church of Order lost a Knights Templar, wanting to annihilate a Church of Pamires is still very easy, but after this time, what was originally a somewhat loose prototype of an alliance will become clearer and more solid.

Just like back then when the many Orthodox Churches dealt with..."

Talina stopped.

Bertha did not mind and took the initiative to finish the words: "Just like back then when the many Orthodox Churches united to deal with the Church of Light?"

Talina smiled.

"Alright, since you don't need my help to find your brother, then I shall leave first."

Talina stood up and hugged Bertha: "Can't you accompany me a little longer?"

"I intend to leave Wien in the near future as well, there are many matters that still require me to tie up loose ends."

"Alright."

After offering a token gesture to keep her, Talina began to put on her clothes.

Just at this moment, the entire building suddenly underwent a distinct tremor.

"What's wrong?" Bertha asked in surprise.

Talina, having dressed, immediately drew a blade hanging by the head of the bed and walked toward the window.

"Crash!"

The window suddenly shattered, glass flying everywhere.

Talina swung her blade, sweeping back all the glass fragments flying toward her and the airflow sweeping in from the outside, but accompanied by a final violent shudder, Talina discovered that the walls all around the bedroom were gradually beginning to be assimilated by blackness.

"Bang!"

The bedroom door was kicked open, and Talina's personal guard rushed in, shielding Talina in the center.

The guard captain reported: "Miss, the outside of the Academic Affairs Building has been sealed off by a terrifying formation that suddenly appeared."

"What about the building's defensive formation?"

"Shattered directly, failed to resist."

"What on earth is going on!"

"Miss, Miss." Sako ran inside, "Miss, the one sealing off our Academic Affairs Building is... is the Throne of Order!"

Hearing these words, a flash of panic immediately appeared on Talina's face, for she harbored a guilty conscience.

And Sako's position did not qualify him to know the "truth" of this matter, so he was still comforting Talina: "Please wait here a moment, My Lady, I will send men out to communicate and see if there has been some misunderstanding."

The captain of the guard spoke up at once: "It is no misunderstanding. The Throne of Order is an existence equivalent to a forbidden-level array. Since the Church of Order has deployed it to seal this place off, it is certainly not as simple as a misunderstanding."

Talina, however, made a prompt decision: "Rodon, prepare to activate the [Samsara Crystal]. We are breaking out."

The captain of the guard said in astonishment: "Use the Samsara Crystal? Al... alright, My Lady."

The Samsara Crystal was an extremely precious material, its greatest characteristic being absorption and annihilation; if a fragment of power were compared to a completed jigsaw puzzle pieced together, then it could forcefully gouge out a piece of the puzzle temporarily within a short duration.

This Samsara Crystal was not something Talina's guard had been carrying with them all along, but rather a precious gift Talina had brought to Wien this time to hand over to another high-ranking church official on behalf of her family; now there was no time to deliver the gift, it had to be used right now.

Before turning to make the arrangements, the captain of the guard suddenly halted his steps, turned back to Talina and said: "My Lady, because the Throne of Order array outside is very powerful, your subordinate believes that even if we use the Samsara Crystal to open a gap, the time that gap can be maintained will probably only suffice for fewer than ten people to pass through."

By this count, it was only enough for Talina and her own guard to pass through.

Sako hurriedly said: "Please escort the young lady out of here first, Captain. You must protect Her Ladyship's safety at all costs."

Immediately after, Sako bowed to Talina again and said: "Please rest assured, My Lady. No matter what misunderstanding it stems from, I will take my men and hold this building to negotiate with the people of Order."

Talina glanced at Sako. She knew clearly that if Sako knew of that matter, he probably would not have spoken such grand diplomatic words so calmly; perhaps in the eyes of this Lord Archbishop, the current situation was still just a misunderstanding, or some slight friction and controllable confrontation between two churches, which would not escalate to actual bloodshed and an irremediable state.

But a knight-commander's regiment of the Church of Order had just been wiped out; Talina dared not gamble, because she knew well that once the Church of Order learned the truth, the wrath of Order would inevitably consume everything here!

Talina then looked at Bertha and said: "You come with me."

"Alright."

Bertha did not choose to refuse, let alone polite formalities, immediately pressing close to Talina's side.

The captain of the guard said: "Please come to the roof in five minutes, My Lady. We will open the gap on the rooftop. Once the gap is open, please choose a direction to retreat first, My Lady, and your subordinates will lead men to hold the rear while drawing the attention of those Order people."

"Good." Talina nodded, "I will settle your families... the families of all of you."

The captain of the guard, leading the protectors, then shouted in unison:

"Endless Samsara, loyalty never dies!"

...

"...Praise Order!"

"...Praise Order!"

Karen was being led by his captain, incessantly offering prayers, and after every single line of prayer, a phrase of "Praise Order" had to be appended.

What the captain prayed for was that no accidents whatsoever would occur with the sealing of the administrative building before their eyes;

Yet Karen felt that although the captain did not know the term "death flag," he should know the artistic conception represented by the term, and the captain's prayers had a sense of deliberately triggering this kind of conception.

Because previously in the car, the captain had said that since the Throne of Order had been deployed to seal this building, barring any accidents, they would lose the opportunity to take advantage of the chaos.

Therefore... let an accident happen.

Otherwise, they really would have to admire the moon tonight, and furthermore...

Karen raised his head. The weather tonight was very bad, looking as if it were about to rain, so the moon was not visible at all.

Finally, the captain stopped his prayers.

Karen also stopped immediately. It seemed the captain had also realized how ridiculous the behavior of the two of them just now truly was. Fortunately, there was no third person here to witness it.

"Karen, do you usually pray to the God of Order often?"

"I rarely pray to God to beg for anything, but simply offer greetings and praise to the Great God."

Neo spoke up: "I also rarely pray to God. The last time I prayed was when the Count successfully negotiated with the Church; I thanked God for granting a dawn of hope to me who was holding fast."

But the result...

Karen suddenly realized that the captain's change seemed to have begun from Elisa's death. In Old Saman's words, it was that the captain had begun to enter the stage of losing his way.

Yet in Karen's perception, the captain did not seem to be losing his way, but looked more like "awakening" another consciousness within his body.

Though the personality was the same, the way of speaking was the same, and the way of behaving was also the same, the feeling he gave off, however, was different.

Perhaps, the previous captain had already "died" while standing before Elisa's tombstone.

What the captain said about how even if he did not know what he was living for now, he would still habitually strive to live on, resembled more of a "subjectless consciousness" state brought about by a handover.

The old was sinking into silence, the new was awakening; the captain was right in this intermediate phase.

"Captain, have you ever seen a psychiatrist?" Karen asked.

"Why ask this all of a sudden?"

"I know a very excellent psychiatrist. If you are willing, I can introduce you."

"Do you think I need one?"

"I think you could go experience it."

"Heh, when even a Lax copper coin doesn't know what I want in my heart, I don't think a psychiatrist can be of any use."

For a moment, Karen actually could not refute it, because he had witnessed with his own eyes the captain picking up a Lax copper coin with his bare hand while maintaining a face of utter calm, and then tossing it back down quite casually.

So, not only did the captain have no psychological issues... but he was also psychologically impregnable?

Or rather, the captain before the change occurred was instead the manifestation of psychological issues? His current change was not the occurrence of a problem, but belonged to a kind of healing?

At this moment, Neo looked at his watch and said: "The garrison is coming soon. It seems nothing unexpected is destined to happen here tonight. Our prayers have been answered."

Just as the words left his mouth,

"Bang!"

On the roof of the administrative building opposite, a black vortex suddenly appeared, as if a hole had been opened in the area covered by the Throne. A string of figures leapt out from within the hole, causing a wave of disorder among the crowd below who were maintaining the array. They had not anticipated that the Throne would actually display a gap in this bizarre manner without any warning.

Karen spoke up: "Captain, an accident has happened."

Neo slapped his hand down onto the railing before him,

and said:

"Sure enough, God likes to listen to words in reverse."