The First Pope - Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Cynthia stood motionless at the edge of the cliff, gazing up at the sky. Olivia waited for a moment, but seeing no movement from her, she couldn't help but walk over and ask in a low voice, "What are you looking at?"
She followed Cynthia's line of sight but saw only a gray, hazy sky. Olivia lowered her gaze to Eunice below the cliff and silently chanted a spell. A whirlwind brought Eunice up.
After being rescued, Eunice showed no gratitude. With a cold face, she walked past Cynthia and left directly.
Polly watched Eunice's retreating back and frowned. "How rude."
Olivia gazed at Eunice's back and said faintly, "That's the witch who practices the Power of Darkness."
Polly already had a poor impression of Eunice, and it worsened upon hearing that she practiced dark magic. "Isn't it better to seriously study Witchcraft? Let's not have another Sethite clan."
Although the Sethite clan always insisted they had no connection to the Tremere wizards, and even less to the witches, they too had studied and used Witchcraft before choosing to practice the Power of Darkness.
And it was because of their foundation in Witchcraft that they were able to achieve twice the results with half the effort when practicing the Power of Darkness.
In truth, the witches of today did not know that Witchcraft was fundamentally another form of the Power of Darkness.
Like the Power of Light, the Power of Darkness could not be practiced by just anyone. Although the Tremere line originated from the human race, the Power of Darkness had always flowed in their blood. This was also true for their current offshoots, the witches and the Sethite clan.
As for why they had a dark constitution, that was an unsolved mystery even during the era of the gods.
"Not everyone who practices the Power of Darkness will become like the Sethite clan," Olivia said, withdrawing her gaze from Eunice. "But the Power of Darkness is very difficult to control. The witches should really heed their elder's words and stay away from it."
But from the looks of it now, the restraints left by Hettie Morgan no longer had much effect.
The sound of their conversation brought Cynthia, who had been staring blankly at the sky, back to her senses. She turned to Olivia, her tone and expression unexpectedly serious, and asked in a low voice, "You can't see it either?"
Olivia frowned. "What did you see?"
Above the temple was just a gray, hazy sky. No matter how Olivia looked, she couldn't see anything else.
Cynthia's brow furrowed. She lowered her eyes in thought for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "Give me your hand."
Olivia looked down at the hand extended toward her and didn't move.
Seeing Olivia's suspicious gaze, Cynthia rubbed her nose and explained with a smile, "I just want to show you the illusion above."
Her earnest and serious expression dispelled some of Olivia's suspicion. Olivia remained silent for a moment, then raised her right hand and tentatively tried to take Cynthia's.
Olivia only lightly held Cynthia's fingers and then looked up, only to find the sky was still gray and hazy. She frowned, beginning to think she might have been tricked by this silver-haired God Race member again, when Cynthia suddenly reversed her grip, enveloping Olivia's hand in her palm. Her fingers were forced to interlace, and their palms pressed intimately together.
The unfamiliar touch made Olivia feel slightly uncomfortable. She subconsciously tried to pull away, but to her surprise, Cynthia's strength was greater than she expected, and she couldn't break free at once. Olivia's face darkened. Just as she was about to scold her and demand she let go, Cynthia suddenly spoke. "Can you see it this time?"
Olivia frowned and looked up expressionlessly. Her eyes then widened slightly, and she gasped in astonishment, "This is..."
The originally gray sky had been replaced by a vast expanse of dark green. The scene presented within it seemed to be from another plane of existence. There were endless mountain ranges and dense forests. Dark green figures shuttled through the woods. These figures looked much taller and stronger than humans, with gray-black skin. Their upper bodies were the same as humans, but their lower bodies were long snake tails.
Although they had snake tails instead of legs, their movements were exceptionally agile and nimble. The swing of their thick tails revealed the immense power they contained.
Cynthia turned her head. Seeing Olivia's equally astonished expression, she raised an eyebrow and asked, "You don't recognize what race they are either?"
Olivia slowly shook her head and said in a low voice, "...This race never appeared during the era of the gods."
Although she wasn't born in the era of the gods, she had received the inheritance from the previous Elf Queen, so she was well-versed in the history of all the races on the Sitatul Continent.
She was certain that this race had never appeared on the Sitatul Continent before.
Moreover, the background in the vision was completely unfamiliar.
Cynthia stared at the figures that were part human, part snake, and mused for a moment. "Don't you think they look a lot like the statue of the Beast God?"
The statue of the Beast God also had a human torso and a snake's tail. The only difference was that the Beast God had two hard horns on its head.
This unfamiliar race captured all of Olivia's attention, making her forget that her hand was still being held by Cynthia. "They are very similar. Perhaps this is a race created by the Beast God."
"Can you tell where they are?"
"It looks unfamiliar." Olivia scanned the mountains and forests in the vision, trying to recall a place on the Sitatul Continent that resembled the background. Just then, a figure running through the forest suddenly stopped. As if sensing something, it turned its head toward Cynthia and Olivia.
A pair of dark green eyes were filled with curiosity.
Suddenly meeting the gaze of this strange, unfamiliar race startled both Cynthia and Olivia. The human-snake hybrid creature suddenly moved closer to them, its face enlarging in the air, but in the next second, it vanished.
The dark green illusion disappeared abruptly, and the gray, hazy sky reappeared in Cynthia and Olivia's vision.
"...She saw us," Cynthia said in surprise.
Olivia silently retracted her gaze, her eyes slightly downcast, lost in thought.
Polly, who couldn't see anything, listened to their conversation. Though her heart was filled with questions, she could only endure it, not daring to interrupt.
Now that they had finally looked away, she couldn't help but ask in a small voice, "What did you see?"
Olivia didn't speak. Cynthia turned her head and answered Polly's question with a smile. "We saw a strange race that looks a lot like the statue in the temple."
Polly nodded, only half-understanding. Just as she was about to say something, her peripheral vision caught sight of Cynthia and Olivia's still-clasped hands.
Her eyes widened slightly, and she let out several deliberate, dry coughs.
Polly's coughing broke Olivia from her reverie. Olivia frowned in displeasure. Seeing Polly coughing while giving her meaningful glances, she looked down and then expressionlessly pulled her hand free from Cynthia's grasp.
Cynthia observed Olivia's expression and felt that she didn't seem angry. A smile returned to her lips as she said softly, "I left in such a hurry last time that I forgot to explain. This is a kind of talent of the God Race. Through palm contact, I can let you see some of the things I see."
...And some of her thoughts. Cynthia wisely chose not to say the second half of the sentence.
Although Cynthia didn't say it, Olivia still remembered the disrespectful thoughts she had sensed from Cynthia last time. She let out a cold snort, put her hands behind her back, and turned her face away, her tone indifferent. "A boring talent."
Cynthia's gaze swept over Olivia's face, the corners of her lips rising unconsciously. She agreed, "Yes, it is quite boring."
"...You're boring too." After saying this, Olivia turned to leave without giving Cynthia time to respond. But after a few steps, she noticed the silver-haired God Race member hadn't followed. She paused and said coldly, "Aren't you coming?"
"I need to find Chelsea and the others first." Cynthia pointed in the opposite direction and said gently, "They're over there."
Olivia said nothing, but she changed her direction.
Cynthia watched Olivia's back, chuckled softly, and followed after her.
Somewhere in the Blood Domain.
Inside a gloomy yet magnificent ancient castle, a crimson carpet stretched like a river of blood into the depths of darkness. At its end, Talia sat up straight in her chair, her expression somewhat frozen.
A figure appeared on the crimson carpet. Della walked apprehensively before Talia. The arms that had been burned to white bone by the Power of Light had already healed, but the heart-piercing pain was still fresh in her memory. She glanced at Talia and asked, somewhat wretchedly, "Elder Talia, that God Race member used..."
Before she could say the words "Grand Light Spell," Talia interrupted her. Talia glanced at her and said calmly, "This God Race member is very strange."
She had never seen a member of the God Race who could use Light Magic.
However... Talia's tone shifted as she said gravely, "You've disappointed me, Della."
"Although that God Race member used the Grand Light Spell, its power shouldn't have been enough to seriously injure you."
Della lowered her head uneasily. "...I was injured last time in the Slade Sea Region."
A white cat leaped from the floor onto Talia's lap. Its red eyes stared playfully at Della. Talia reached out and stroked the cat's tail. The cat lay down comfortably, stretching its two front paws forward. A thin silver chain was wrapped around its paws, barely visible if one didn't look closely.
"When I sent you to the Sitatul Continent, didn't you say you could definitely handle such a small matter?" Talia raised her hand slightly. The dark green statue on the table was delivered into her hand by a cloud of red mist. She toyed with the statue for a while, her tone unreadable as she asked, "You lost the Beast God's Godhead too?"
Della knelt on the ground, her expression grim. "It was snatched away by that God Race member."
"Give me some time, Elder Talia," Della said through gritted teeth. "I will tear that God Race member to shreds."
"There's no time for you to deal with that God Race member." Talia tossed the statue in her hand to Della, leaned forward slightly, and said in a low voice, "Those folks from the Ventrue clan have sent vampires to the Sitatul Continent. They already know what we're doing."
Della's face grew solemn. "Who did they send?"
Talia shook her head. "It's not clear yet."
"The plan to destroy the temples must be accelerated." Talia looked up, her gaze sweeping across the table. She then picked up a fiery red statue and said nonchalantly, "The next target is the Fire God's temple."
"As long as we destroy these temples, the Sitatul Continent will never have a chance to recover." Talia's lips curved into a low laugh. "So what if those idiots from the Ventrue and Brujah clans occupy the Blood Domain?"
"The Sitatul Continent will belong to us... a new Blood Domain."
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