355 The Curtain Unfolds
“How is that possible… Th-that’s…”

Perceiving that his will, once infused with the Holy Spirit’s boon, was swiftly shriveling like a deflated rubber ball, beads of sweat promptly trickled down Sigmond’s forehead.

Within the Holy Spirits Church, the nobility of status was divided according to the distance between man and the Holy Spirits. Each rank of clergy has absolute dominance over subordinate believers, including but not limited to weakening, distorting, or even directly invalidating the other party’s abilities through edicts.

However, the Living Saint was an exception. As an existence that exceeded all ranks, the Living Saint surpassed the 10 man-defined levels and was the right-hand man of the Holy Spirits to carry out Their ‘wills.’

Especially after one wore the Holy Spirit Protection Ring, their strength wouldn’t be affected by anything—even the Patriarch of the Second Order couldn’t diminish the boon Sigmond received at all.
Logically speaking, this was how it should have been…

However, something beyond common sense happened.

The ring on the magic chanter’s finger made Sigmond forget to breathe for a moment.

“Holy… Holy Spirit Protection Ring?”

These words coming out of Sigmond’s throat were akin to a person trapped in a dry well as he crawled out using an unstable lifeline.

When people saw something impossible turn true, that would be what their tone would be like.

Legend had it that it was sealed in the Eighth Holy Spirit Treasure at World’s End by William Kane. One of the Holy Spirit Protection Rings, which were originally supreme holy relics of the Holy Spirits Church, was now worn on the finger of a magic chanter.

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, but his greatly weakened kept reminding him that this could only be this explanation.

“Do you want to continue?” the person asked him calmly.

Sigmond swallowed and didn’t dare answer immediately.

At this moment, he was frantically thinking through a series of questions.

Why has the Holy Spirit Protection Ring, which had vanished into the annals of history with William Kane, materialized in the hands of an obscure Frost-type Divine Realm magic chanter?

And it would be such a coincidence that he just appeared in front of me, a Living Saint who has just been canonized due to my achievements, as an absolute trump card to restrain me?

It was such a coincidence that he couldn’t believe that it wasn’t a trap specially targeted at him or even the Second Order.

Could it be a trap set up by the Empress of Silence and Ava State’s leader, as well as other hostile factions?

More importantly, how he obtain this ring?

Could it be that the person in front of him was…

Looking at the man in front of him, Sigmond glanced back at the girl with white eyes.

Could it be that the person in front of him had found a way to open the Eighth Holy Spirit’s treasure vault with the help of the Blind Sisters?

After making up his mind, he retracted the phantom of the Holy Spirit behind him.

After the other party took out the Holy Spirit Protection Ring, there was no point in continuing this battle… It was impossible for him to defeat the other party.

Unlike magic, which allowed one to fight against a stronger adversary, battles between Prophets were essentially a competition of who could obtain more blessings from the Holy Spirits. If there was an obvious difference in this aspect, the outcome was decided before the battle began.

Although the other party wasn’t a Prophet, relying on the suppression of that ring, he could weaken his ability to below 40% of normal—even though he had fought against him with all his might before, he was only slightly ahead. If his blessed state was weakened to below 40%, he would be in grave danger even if he tried escaping.

Sigmond gritted his teeth.

Clearly… Clearly I was just a little short.

He could have become a Saint and become a part of Mother, achieving eternal immortality as a mortal.

“Who are you to hold that ring?” Sigmond asked.

“An avid collector… Therefore, it’s time to hand over the thing you’ve been holding.”

William waved his hand and Sigmond’s shadow distorted. The shadows clung to his limbs as if they had gained life. Then, they turned into dim chains and bound him firmly.

Something that the other party had been holding rolled to the ground. William slowly walked over and bent down to pick it up.

It was an ordinary-looking acorn, with the pattern of the Holy Spirit Mother’s holy emblem vaguely on it.

With William’s memory, it was impossible for him to remember wrongly. This thing was the core of the World Tree.

“I see…” Looking at the acorn in his hand, William understood many things.

Two timelines were converging. At this moment, he existed in two timelines at the same time. On one side was the flesh and blood hall he could observe, and on the other side that he couldn’t observe was the secret chamber where the core of the World Tree was placed.

Being limited by human understanding, he could only observe one outcome even if there were two possibilities at the same time.

This logic was a little like a famous thought experiment of sealing a cat in a box.

“So the Lady of Starvation’s Origin of the Moon is already in-game…”

William had obtained a total of eight Origins of the Moon from the console. Other than the Seed of Hope, the other seven corresponded to the seven original Sovereigns based on their names and descriptions—the seven Newborns.

With the Lady of Starvation being a Rebirth Sovereign, William didn’t know the name and nature of Her Origin of the Moon.

William originally thought that the DLC that didn’t see the light of day wasn’t going to bring the Rebirth Sovereigns into play. But from the looks of it, Their Origins of the Moon might have been placed in Currere like this acorn.

Looking at the Mother holy emblem printed on the acorn and thinking of the Holy Spirit phantom that he had just obtained, William seemed to understand where the other party’s achievements that could elevate him to a Living Saint came from.

William waved his hand and untied the Shadow Chain binding the other party’s mouth. Before the other party could speak, William said sternly, “Imbecile, aren’t you afraid that employing the Moon Realm’s conduit to gather the secondary aspects of the Holy Spirits will end up tainting the essence of the Second Holy Spirit with the Moon Realm?”

Sigmond, who was about to say something, was stunned by William’s aggressive tone. After a long time, he replied, “What Moon Realm conduit?”

William felt a headache when he saw that the other party didn’t seem to be lying. He pressed down on his nose bridge and changed his method of asking.

“The current situation is dire. If you don’t want the objects in the arms of every Second Holy Spirit figurine consecrated by each family to morph from swaddling clothes to putrid flesh, please answer me plainly now. Did the Second Order conspire with a Void Sovereign on this expedition to Ravenwood?”

When he asked this question, his tone was serious and he even used the Illusion spell, Words of Justice, to increase his eloquence, making the other party feel that he was telling the truth.

“That’s the Whispering Empress fulfilling an ancient contract with the Holy Spirits Church. Moreover, She took the initiative to add an oath that even the Void Sovereigns can’t violate… The Whispering Empress, Beatrice, can’t interfere with the purity of Mother’s secondary aspect.”

Sigmond hesitated for a moment before answering.

William’s heart sank. Just because Beatrice can’t interfere doesn’t mean that the other Void Sovereigns couldn’t. Hadn’t they thought of this?

“An imbecile who doesn’t realize he’s been fooled…” William muttered under his breath and looked at the person. “There’s still a chance to salvage the situation. I need you to help me pass on a few words. First…”

Before William could finish speaking, a cold and dignified female voice sounded from midair.

It was Floral’s voice.

“All Forest Elf citizens, citizens of Emerald Province, descendants of Ava State’s conquerors, hello.”

“I’m Floral Kane. Today, in the name of the last queen of the ancient Holy Tree Kingdom, I’ll give a reasonable order to all the forest citizens—I request everyone to quietly accept their fated deaths…”

As the voice echoed, the dead baby named Unborn Fetus not far from William suddenly turned to look at him.

To be precise, it looked at the Ironstone Heart in William’s hand.