NOVEL NEXT Chapter 123: Saving Haral
Holy Calendar Year 1450, October 2.
The Evil God Church within the Sun Divine Palace at the Holy Capital summoned the Evil God and Demon Legion, intending to overthrow the Holy Royal Court.
The Falling Star Queen, the Saintess of the Royal Court, a Favored of Shadow and the Holy — Charlotte de Castel used her body as a vessel, summoned Divine Descent, slew the Evil God, and banished the Demon army, saving the Royal Court Sanctuary and millions of believers in the Holy City from peril.
October 3, the Cardinal Group of the Holy Royal Court listened to the Oracle, announcing the Shadow God as one of the Royal Court's deities, formalizing the Shadow Church as a legitimate branch of the Holy Royal Court, and officially proclaiming Falling Star Queen Charlotte as the sole legitimate Saintess, the earthly incarnation of the deity.
On the same day, Angus de Valle was elected as the new Chief High Priest of the Holy Hall Knight Order, known as Valley II.
October 4, according to the Royal Court Oracle, at the proposal of the Royal Court Chief High Priest Valley II, the Cardinal Priest Team unanimously passed the abolition of the thousand-year-old "Blood Hunting Order," no longer listing the Dark Night Bloodline embedded in the Order World as Deceit Demon's heresy.
October 10, the new Chief High Priest's inauguration ceremony was held at the Holy Palace, due to the heavy workload of rebuilding the Holy Capital, the ceremony was kept simple without a grand celebration.
...
A week later.
On the trade route in the north of the Church Authority Country leading to the Xi Younai Empire.
A simple carriage traveled briskly, carrying a beautiful golden-haired, blue-eyed maiden heading north.
The maiden leaned against the window, gazing at the distant forest outside, her eyes vast and long.
Beside her, a fat Black Cat nibbled on dried fish while casually browsing through the official announcements of the Holy Royal Court released a few days ago.
Moments later, it put down the announcement and looked at the maiden, asking somewhat perplexedly:
"True Ancestor, Your Majesty! Have you really not considered taking this opportunity to bring the Holy Royal Court under your control? Since the Creator God is your descendant and is now missing, you are naturally the lawful successor of the Holy Royal Court!"
"That is the Holy Royal Court! Gathering the Holy Royal Court, all the Holy believers would become your strength!"
Listening to the Black Cat, the maiden withdrew her gaze from the distant mountains and forests.
She glanced at it and gently shook her head:
"The Creator God is the Creator God, the Blood True Ancestor is the Blood True Ancestor, abolishing the Royal Court's heretical trial on the bloodline is sufficient, and the rest is unnecessary, realistically, right now."
"Why is it unrealistic? Haven't you already mastered the Holy Power? And... aren't you in need of a vast number of believers?"
The Black Cat asked.
The maiden paused, then shook her head:
"No, it's already different. I once wanted a large number of believers to quickly accumulate strength. As for now... I no longer need them."
Indeed, they are no longer needed.
Charlotte once wanted to develop the Church to oppose the Holy Royal Court and also to create a way to grow Divine Power.
But now, the Holy Royal Court is no longer her enemy, and she has ascended to become a True God, no longer urgently requiring Divine Power.
More importantly, having absorbed the Holy Royal Court's thousand-year collection of Holy Scripture Fragments and the Faceless Divine Statue, Charlotte's Divine Power has grown to an exceedingly extravagant degree.
Rather than accumulating Divine Power, she feels she now needs to thoroughly digest the powers she has absorbed.
It's quite strange.
Whether it's due to her complete inheritance of Lilith's Position, or the ability of the Blood Holy Scripture itself, despite having absorbed such a vast Blood Divine Power all at once, she feels besides being somewhat unfamiliar with the new powers, she hasn't experienced other discomforts.
It's as if the power she absorbed was meant for her; the newly increased Divine Power is indistinguishable from the Blood Divine Power she herself controls and condenses, making it impossible to tell them apart.
In any case, Charlotte now genuinely has no concerns over Divine Power.
As for the Holy Royal Court, Charlotte currently has no plans to transform it into her own Church.
At least, for now, she doesn't.
Although the upper echelons of the Holy Royal Court are aware of the true origin of the Holy Royal Court and Charlotte's true identity, the vast majority of middle and lower-level believers are not.
The Holy Royal Court has battled with the Bloodline for a thousand years, some things cannot be openly revealed all at once; otherwise, it would inevitably cause greater chaos.
A few days ago, the announcement of removing the Bloodline from the Heresy List caused unrest in the Church Authority Country, even though Charlotte had saved the Holy Capital.
Changing beliefs requires time.
Forcing a change in worldview, except for those with firm hearts, most people would likely have their faith collapse instantaneously.
The Holy Royal Court is no longer what it used to be.
With the Holy Presence Day approaching, and the magic power concentration on the Mireya Continent further increasing, the slumbering deity will awaken one after another. During this phase, Charlotte cannot allow internal conflicts within the Holy Royal Court that could aid her, leading to more chaos.
After all, the upper echelons already know the historical truth and have, after "equal" communication, acknowledged her status.
Everything else will come in time.
More crucially, Charlotte already counts as half the master of the Holy Royal Court, having obtained access to its faith network.
She can already casually mobilize Holy Power through the faith network, lacking only the ease of converting Holy Power and Blood Divine Power.
Even without transforming the Holy Royal Court into a Church that reveres her as the Main God, she can control the accumulated power of the Royal Court.
Unless... Haral awakens.
Thinking of this, Charlotte lifted her head and looked at the Wisdom Divine Artifact, the Guardian's Staff, seated opposite her, still appearing as an elderly figure, clad in a holy divine robe.
To be honest, she also found the Guardian's Staff quite suspicious.
Not just the Guardian's Staff, but even this era's Haral... perhaps should not be fully trusted.
Charlotte was unsure why she had such thoughts.
But her spiritual sense and instinct told her that she should pay attention to this.
Yet Charlotte was still very curious about why she had such thoughts.
She always felt as if she had forgotten something, overlooked something.
"Guardian's Staff, are you sure that the entrance to Haral's slumbering place is really in the Xi Younai Empire?"
Charlotte looked at the Guardian's Staff and asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty the True Ancestor, my lord slumbers in the Holy Realm of different space that He created. After detecting the Sun Divine Palace's infiltration into the Church, I used the power of the Creation Law Enforcement Cardinal to banish the coordinates of the Eternal Realm."
"Three days ago, after re-marking and summoning with your power, I located the new entrance... which is situated within the territory of Xi Younai Empire."
The Guardian's Staff said respectfully.
Charlotte nodded slightly, no longer questioning.
It was said that a week ago, the turbulence in the Church Authority Country had settled, and Charlotte did not intend to return to the Falling Star immediately.
She simply sent the delegation from Falling Star Kingdom back and used Divine Power to create a Divine Power Avatar as a substitute to return along the way. Accompanying them was Sebastian, who, upon Helios's fall, was eager to return to the Moon God Island to check the state of Elf Island.
As for Charlotte herself, she planned to do something else.
Charlotte had once made an agreement with the Guardian's Staff, which was to help it rescue its master, Haral, when she had the strength and opportunity.
Before Divine Enthronement, the Guardian's Staff was unwilling to speak in detail, always evasive.
But after Charlotte became a True God, the Guardian's Staff finally confessed.
Haral had indeed fallen into slumber.
Moreover, like Helios, Haral was likely also in a state of "corrosion."
And one of the Guardian's Staff's appeals was to go to Haral's slumbering place and awaken him.
To be honest, after the Guardian's Staff's confession, Charlotte was somewhat hesitant.
She could not be sure if the Guardian's Staff was truly trustworthy, nor could she be sure whether this was a trap.
But after contemplating, she ultimately decided to agree to the Guardian's Staff's request.
For no other reason, the Guardian's Staff had indeed helped her a lot. During her divine war with Helios, it was the Guardian's Staff that blocked a fatal blow for her.
If the Guardian's Staff truly harbored ill intentions towards her, it had countless opportunities to deliver a fatal blow long ago; there was no need to watch her ascend to a True God.
Although she harbored some reservations, at least up to now, the Guardian's Staff had not harmed her.
Of course, this was a rational judgment based on Charlotte's current understanding.
Moreover, Charlotte was indeed curious about Haral's condition.
Not just Haral.
According to the Guardian's Staff, the Eternal Realm where Haral slumbers is not only Haral's sanctuary but also the sanctuary of many sub-gods of the Holy Royal Court.
After a series of observations confirming no crisis in this journey, Charlotte ultimately decided to agree to the Guardian's Staff's request.
After that, it was about helping the Guardian's Staff relocate Haral's slumber place.
It is inaccurate to say it is locating the slumber place; Haral is slumbering in the different space he created, while what Charlotte did was summon the entrance to that different space.
Unfortunately, perhaps because of the ancient times, the summoned entrance did not appear in the Church Authority Country but rather shifted to the north in the Xi Younai Empire.
Therefore, today's journey took place.
Indeed, even without the Guardian's Staff's request, Charlotte would eventually choose to head north.
Having absorbed the bloodline Divine Objects collected by the Holy Royal Court, Charlotte had already successfully undergone Divine Enthronement.
However, Charlotte could feel that although the Blood Holy Scripture was nearly restored, it was still a bit lacking.
As for what was lacking, it was the Laws of the Wildness Path and Spirit Path.
The Wildness Path is held by the Wildness Clan, the Valadet Clan, and the Spirit Path is held by the Salem Clan, with one main base located in the Eastern Yonai Black Land and the other in the Coria Kingdom.
As far as Charlotte knows, they also possess Holy Scripture Fragments.
And the fragments in their possession are the last needed by the Blood Holy Scripture.
Lilith had once hinted to Charlotte that in order to transcend, she could not be separated from the assistance of the Blood Holy Scripture; Charlotte had to complete the Blood Holy Scripture.
Thus, even without the Guardian's Staff's request, Charlotte would still head north to "visit" these two clans.