353 Conflic (2/2)

”About… one in two thousand…” he murmured. His voice sounded very hoarse like sandpapers rubbing against each other.

”The divinity of atoms… the foundation of Theology… have been destroyed by His Almighty…”

The young pastors did not leave, waiting for further orders from the cardinal.

After a while, the young pastor felt that the room was getting hot, and some vague sounds came out from Abidal's throat.

The young pastor hurriedly looked up, and he saw the scene that he could never forget in his whole lif.

Abidal's face was written with great fear and loss. Then, a beam of pure and holy light burst out from his body and devoured the shocked face.

The small pieces of light were everywhere in the room. The young pastor failed to make a sound.

Under the bright light in the afternoon from outside of the window, the holy light seemingly had been dyed with touches of scarlet.

Abidal was not alone here in the parish of Holm. Other several bishops who were rather devout were also devoured by the holy light. As the report was sent out after the Church's verification, no one ever felt suspicious before opening it.

As for another twenty bishops, although they were lucky enough to have their lives spared, they had started to doubt the doctrine and theology, thus it was going to be very difficult for them to go any further with their divine power.

...

At noon, in the Radiance Church.

When Philibell was about to pray, he heard the scurried footsteps outside of the door from the red-robed cardinals.

”What happened?” asked Philibell, having a bad foreboding.

The red-robed cardinal was still in panic and answered a bit confusedly, ”Sir… six bishops have been devoured by the holy light… twenty-three have been severely injured. Also, a red-robbed cardinal, Vily, was also injured in his belief.”

”Devoured by the holy light? Injured in belief? What did they see? They shouldn't get the access to the newspapers,” Philibell asked coldly.

”It wasn't the newspaper… It was the intelligence.” The red-robed was also in a great shock and his utterance was not organized at all, ”A new particle has been found, inside of an atom…”

”What?!” Philibell could not believe his ears.

...

It did not take the inquisition long to figure out that Andrade was the one who did this.

In the interrogation room sat Andrade and Vaharall, the Adjudicator, while Philibell and Varantine were standing beside the glass, observing what was going on inside of the room.

”When… When did you give yourself up to the Congress?” Vaharall was furious, but also, at the same time, he felt curious. He wondered why Andrade could still use divine spells.

The smile on Andrade's face was rather pure and calm, ”I don't have anything to do with the Congress. The pope, using the Congress's theory to alter the theology, is the biggest defiler! He is messing with the divinity of the power, and showing no respect to the Lord. Again and again, the Congress juggled us between their hands! We shall abandon the theology of this kind!”

Outside of the interrogation room, Varantine's eyes squinted and he said to Philibell, ”Since when the power of this kind of radical conservative has risen again?”

”When facing the Congress directly, and facing the great shifts over and over again, there are some of us who would start to doubt the necessity of reforming theology.”

While in the room, Vaharall roared, ”So that's why you decided to kill the bishops, your siblings! What do they have to do with your so-called piety?!”

”Anyone who got severely injured by the experiment is the defiler, as they had completely given themselves up to the profanity! Killing them is my best way to show my piety to the Lord!” said Andrade with no fear. ”Burn me down to ashes, Your Excellency, Vaharall! I shall ascend into Mountain Paradise in the fire!”

...

In the headquarter office of the Congress.

Atlant Forman, the Eye of Curse, grinned to Douglas, ”It is true that we cannot force the pastors to do things that conflict with their fundamental belief, but what if they have already let the seed of doubt grow? We find the holes in their mind, and then we make the most use of them. I call this the ultimate application of Illusion.”

Atlant opened his eyes. In his black pupils, there were creepy shadows and figures.

”As long as one can think, one can never avoid being affected by Illusion!”