Bishop Lacus was very upset. This wraith had been trapped here for three years. The lowest foundation of the Cathedral of Luminous Pragis was this seal, but at that time, other wraiths were placed here. The one in front of him was the seventh wraith to be sealed here.
During her time as bishop, she had been secretly extracting power from the wraiths. Because the wraiths themselves were also part of the seal, she didn't dare to take too much. As long as she controlled the frequency of extraction, the wraiths would slowly recover.
She just didn't expect this wraith to be so vicious, resorting to a tactic that would result in mutual destruction, completely intent on dying together.
Now Bishop Lacus was in a very bad state, unable to even stand up and forced to sit on the ground to recover his strength. The wraith wasn't in much better shape.
This was the first time in the past fifty years that a non-senior church official had passed through the bronze door, and...
"He looks like an ordinary citizen from a poor family, a thief. Looking at the things he stole, they're not worth much. He's not very dangerous..." Bishop Lacus had thought about many things in just a few seconds."But now I'm seriously injured, my divine power is almost exhausted, and I can only cast one low-level Holy Spell at most.
As for my equipment... my Holy Robe is torn, the crystal in my crozier is broken, and its internal structure is damaged... The wraith should be in a similar situation to me. It's best to let this kid try to exhaust the wraith with his last attack, then I'll use my last bit of strength to finish it off."
The wraith on the other side had similar thoughts. It took about 0.3 seconds to examine the intruder: "A human male, around 20 years old, dressed simply, with green stone debris on the soles of his shoes. His pupils reacted to the ghost fire with a 0.2-second delay, so he can be judged as not being a Pathseeker. When his gaze lingered on the small skeleton, his Adam's apple rolled three times. He has developed an emotional resonance with these humans.Normally, he posed no threat, but at this moment... he was highly threatening!
They all wanted to use Edrick as a pawn, so they spoke to him at the same time.
"Lost lamb, it's so good that you're here! Quick, help me completely seal this evil wraith!"
"Help me! I've been imprisoned by this hypocrite! I may be a wraith, but I've never hurt an innocent person!"
Edric didn't move or speak, his gaze wandering between the wraith and the bishop, lost in thought.
Seeing Edric's reaction, the wraith and the bishop realized that this kid was not easy to deal with. Ordinary people would usually be frightened, confused, and shocked when they saw this scene, but Edric was a little too calm, too calm to be an ordinary person.
Now, Edrick was the most important factor that could influence the outcome of this battle.
"Look at all these bones around us!" The wraith spoke first, his voice suddenly changing to that of a young girl. "These are the ugly crimes of the church! This hypocrite used our bones to make holy images and our souls to power ghost lights, all to make the nobles believe that the Holy Spirit appears in the candlelight of the church!"
Damn, he beat me to it! Bishop Lacus cursed under his breath but tried to salvage the situation: "Lost lambs, do not be blinded by evil lies! It was this heretic's mechanical demon that crushed the hearts of thirty-eight boarders with the gears in its chest!Their souls are trapped in the ghostly flames, repeating the screams of their deaths every day. I absorbed those ghostly flames to free the trapped nuns!"
Seeing this scene, the Wealth-Scattering Lad was a little confused: "They all seem so sincere. Who is lying?"
As children of deities, the Wealth-Scattering Lad and the Flower Maiden could feel the resentment of the sacrificial girls, but they couldn't tell who was lying. Judging from what they saw before them, what they said seemed to make sense.
"She's a blasphemer! She pretended to be a man to infiltrate the government. She must have a secret she can't tell anyone! And look at the holy oil on her sleeve. It's not holy blood at all!" The wraith suddenly spewed angry black mist into the air and roared, "Last week, she used the ribs of a sacrificial offering as a stirring stick to distill 'holy whiskey' in the sacristy. Smell her breath, it's worse than the corpse oil in the mass grave!"
"I'm not the most devout believer, but it's too difficult for women to get promoted in the church, so I had no choice but to dress as a man. But it's for the sake of helping more people by gaining access to more resources! I make alcohol to earn money to help the poor. A third of the orphanages and cemeteries in Stellaxis are funded by me!"
Edric remembered the day he buried his parents. The monument at the entrance of St. Clare Cemetery was engraved with the name Bishop Lacus. As a transmigrator, Edric did not reject the idea of women dressing as men. He knew very well that no matter which world he was in, women were treated with malice.
Bishop Lacus pointed to the small bones on the cave wall, "The families of these children all drank the relief food I exchanged for 'holy water whiskey.'"
"Our fingers trembled under the chisels in the icon workshop..." The voice of the wraith suddenly shattered into dozens of children's voices, and the mechanical axle emitted a dull sound like ribs rubbing against each other. "Every night, he would push open the wooden door reeking of alcohol and use 'the Lord's choice' to trick us into wearing white veils..."
Bishop Lacus's holy robe tightened suddenly, leaving red marks on his collarbone: "Lies! You stole the nuns' last prayers!"
He pointed to the chain of biblical proverbs on the wraith's wrist, "These sacred runes prove your true nature: you are a cursed mechanical demon, not the 'wraiths of children'!These children were boarders who came to observe the making of holy images, but you lured them into the cave with illusions!" "
"Then explain why a filthy mechanical demon is sealed beneath the holy bishop's cathedral?"
"A dangerous demon like you can only be saved by sealing you in the safest place and using the most sacred powers to reform you!"
Edric listened to the heated debate, pretending to think, and occasionally crouching down to inspect the bones. Seeing Edric's inquisitive expression, both sides became even more animated.
The wraiths accused the bishop, "Why is the church's sealing array engraved with an inverted triangle? The sacred rune is a right triangle, representing the three-pointed holy light and the supreme order of the triangle. An inverted triangle is clearly blasphemy against God!"
Bishop Lacus retorted, "The inverted triangle is a warning!It warns all mortals to stay away from mechanical demons, just like these saints whose hearts have been cut out. They use their sacrifice to tell you that listening to the whispers of demons is turning away from the light of the Lord."
Edrick's hands were not idle, as he communicated with the Wealth-Scattering Lad and the Flower Maiden: "What do the whispers of demons have to do with the Master of Murmurs?"
The Flower Maiden seemed to roll her eyes: "The demons the old man is talking about are just a derogatory term used by the church for all heretics. It's true that all murmurs were originally the corruption of the Master of Murmurs, but in order to suppress dissent, the church invented a new concept, such as demons and witches, so that all opponents could be burned at the stake."
Edrick wasn't surprised. He had read some history on Earth and knew that when religious authority becomes absolute, suppressing heresy is inevitable.
Edrick's fingertips brushed against the stalactite's mucous membrane, the warm, sticky sensation mingling with the musty odor spreading across his palm.
Edrick scraped off the flesh-like mucous membrane from the stalactite, and the dark red liquid solidify into a gel-like substance in his palm. He suddenly stood up and flung the mucous membrane strips wrapped around his wrist toward Bishop Lacus, who was ten steps away.
It was impossible for an ordinary person to throw something so accurately, let alone irregular mucus, but Edrick had mastered the Third Set of Low-Level Civil Servant Broadcast Exercises from the Celestial Theodome and had control over his body that surpassed that of ordinary people.
"A little trick!" The bishop was already prepared. Even while arguing with the wraith, she remained alert to any possible changes. With a hoarse shout, the remaining light of the Holy Shield barely evaporated the mucus, but the splattered blood droplets ignited the whiskey stain on his sleeve, sending up a ghostly blue flame.
Edrick had noticed before that this flesh and blood mucus had properties similar to petroleum, but was even more unstable and would ignite with the slightest impact. The flames produced by the ignited whiskey and that little bit of flesh and blood would not cause much damage to the bishop, but it would panic him. Taking advantage of this opening, it was enough for the wraith to deliver its final blow.
The mechanical axle of the wraith emitted a shrill buzzing sound, and the crimson black mist suddenly contracted, circling Edrick like a living thing and rushing straight toward the paralyzed Bishop Lacus.
At this moment, the wraith knew very well that since Edrick had decided to help it, it had to gather all its strength to kill the bishop first. Although it had also considered killing Edrick and the bishop at the same time, this cunning woman was not as weak as she appeared, and she definitely had a trump card up her sleeve.
The bishop's pale palm struck the ground, sending shards of shattered holy crystal flying in three streams of faint light, weaving a semi-transparent triangular barrier before her. The black mist collided with the barrier, emitting a piercing screech, and managed to gnaw a gap in the edge of the holy shield. The crimson mist seeped through, burning black fingerprints on her shoulder.
"The seventh time..." The bishop's low moan was mixed with blood, and he slammed the remains of his crozier against the iron chain at the edge of the sealing array.
The rusty chains snapped, and the suspended cage crashed down onto the mechanical core of the wraith. However, the runes on the cage lit up the moment they made contact. This was the bishop's trump card. His own power had been exhausted, but the seal itself still had power, and he used sacred runes to turn the cage into a sharp blade.
With a rumbling sound that shook the earth, the lapis lazuli bricks burst apart, and a black and red mist spurted out from the crack in the center of the seal array. The wraith's axle finally couldn't bear the burden, and after a flash of blue light, it suddenly went out, and the mechanical arms fell limply.
The bishop's broken body fell to the ground, silent.
Edrick was too close and was also seriously injured in the impact. If it weren't for his physique, which was stronger than that of ordinary people, the shockwave from the explosion alone would have been enough to kill him.
The wraith's power was almost exhausted, and when it realized that Edrick was still alive, it was quite surprised, but then felt relieved: "Good boy... No, big brother, come save us!"
At first, the wraith had indeed wanted to eliminate Edrick and the bishop together, but the fundamental problem remained unsolved. It was still sealed here, and without the bishop, a new bishop would come to the church, and then it would be dead.
Edrick was in no hurry. It was still early, and the bishop had surely instructed his men not to approach this place no matter what they heard, so he had plenty of time. Coming to his senses, Edrick staggered toward the bishop's body.
Now was the perfect time to loot the body of a murderer. As the head of the Stellaxis Church, the bishop must have had many valuable items on him.
But just as Edrick approached the bishop's body, something happened that terrified both him and the wraith: the bishop's wounds were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye, and a despairing aura of terror tore through space and time and descended upon the bishop.
The space around them shattered like a broken mirror, and from the cracks emerged wisps of pure white mist. Within the mist surged terrifying energy, like a massive cruise ship crushing a small canoe.
The entire cathedral was shaken by this force. Regardless of what the bishop had instructed his subordinates earlier, they could not stop the alarms from sounding once this force appeared.
Because this was clearly the power of heresy!
A force that did not belong to this world entered the bishop's body and healed his wounds. The bishop's eyes opened once again.
On the one hand, they were intimidated by the powerful energy, and on the other hand, they were frightened by the bishop's recovery. For a moment, the wraiths and Edrick didn't dare to make a move. The bishop seemed to be in a strange state.
Her gaze shifted from dazed to clear, and finally she broke into a smile: "JEE-zuhs H. CHRIST!… Either I'm dreaming or I just landed myself smack-dab in some kinda fairytale."