403 Trade With a Loss (2/2)

”I did not expect the situation to be so grave.” An old priest in red nodded and looked into the depth of the room. Behind the drapes was a coughing and frail figure. ”Archbishop, let me go.”

Behind the drapes, the figure opened his mouth but quickly started coughing. ”This battle is truly difficult,” a hoarse voice came brokenly between coughs. ”Through the years, the Ministry of Information has been declining with no hope for rising again. New blood is rare… Father Will, please take them back.”

”Yes, Father.” Will nodded respectfully.

”The others…” The figure hacked and doubled over. He uttered painfully, ”The others…just clear them out.”

”Yes, Father.” Nodding, Will rose.

A servant came over with his sword and armor. He rushed out of the palace with his sword. Soon, a ray of light shot into the air and sped toward the distance.

Silence returned to the dim room. The only sound was the coughs behind the drapes.

”Archbishop,” someone asked cautiously, ”how should we deal with this?”

”This?” The man did not seem to understand.

Which event? During these past few days, too many things had happened and all were major events… No one would have thought that a new mess would arise before the betrayal of the Romulusians truly ended. The craziness of Anglo's new sword bearer had shocked everyone.

So many people had gotten up and fought secretly because of this. It had affected so many people and even the Sacred City's dignity was involved. Some people had definite stances while others were not. The most frustrating fact was that the Papal Chamber did not say anything. Even the Silent Authority had started investigating…

So how should this be dealt with?

The man behind the drapes only coughed.

-

The beam of light flew across the Sacred City with scary speed. Flying in the half-aetheric state, it was comparable to the speed of sound. Within a few minutes, it had crossed the long distance. However, the closer he was, the stronger the sense of danger in Will.

He instantly appeared within the location marked on the map. He was amongst an endless mountain range. There was a large mine under his feet. Machines rumbled and countless people bustled around.

”Here?” Closing his eyes as he sensed, the light descended.

As the people screamed in terror, he brought his sword down. Breaking apart a boulder, he revealed a scrap of red cloth. It was from Philip's robe.

Will's face darkened. He closed his eyes and sang a hymn. After a few measures, the prediction score from Revelations sent a sign.

Sixty kilometers to the north.

The light flashed and appeared sixty kilometers away. In the wilderness, a clump of burnt hair hung from a branch. Frowning, Will sang again. The revelation said: thirty kilometers to the east.

Will did not move. He sang once again and another revelation appeared: nineteen kilometers to the south. He continued using the music score to track Philip but they pointed in all directions with dozens of different results.

Boom! In anger, the blade gouged the earth.

Will was livid as he finally realized that someone was using the 'medium misleading' of Revelations to disrupt his perceptions. All Revelations music scores would lead to the wrong result!

To strengthen the effect, someone had probably scattered objects with Philip and Colt's aura all around the Sacred City! If Will put effort in to look deeply, he could sense the differences between the media, but in a hurry, he could not tell. He could only rush in the wrong locations.

And now, someone had probably already isolated him. He was late…

As veins bulged, Will roared in anger.

-

The true battlefield was in the distance.

The wilderness had been scorched. The earth was wounded and turned to singed soil. It was as if giants had been fighting here and destroyed everything. A mountain in the distance collapsed. A tragic crack had opened in the land as well. Deep inside, lava shone vaguely. It was the scar left by the Sword of Judgement. The disordered aether created a turbid mass. The music theory here had become tangled and would not recover for years.

In the center, Naberius with a chest riddled with holes crawled out of the lava. He roared in pain, ”This time…really is a loss…”