Defying the Fate of Beheading

"After many years, I didn't expect to be working with you all again."

The young Mage took off his hat and said with a playful smile:

"Your Eminence, truly unexpected that you would seek me out."

In the shadows, a white-robed Priest slowly emerged.

If there were experienced followers of the God of Love Church, they would probably immediately guess the identity of this Priest.

Or rather, upon hearing someone say "Your Eminence," they should have conjectured.

After all, the title "Eminence" is usually reserved for three types of people.

The Emperor of the Empire.

The Empress.

Or...the Pope.

Yes.

Emerging from the darkness was indeed the current Pope of Love, Hiro Hayman, from the God of Love Church.

Hiro Hayman looked at the young man coldly, with undisguised annoyance in his eyes:

"If it weren't for the plan, I really wouldn't want to cooperate with a guy like you."

The young Mage chuckled softly and said:

"But it seems that we have no choice but to work together now."

"The dark replacement of the Love God is only one step away from revival, and at this point, no one can back out."

Hiro Hayman was silent for a moment but eventually sighed and said:

"You're right, we need the revival of the dark replacement."

"So, have you gathered all the key elements?"

The young Mage smiled and said:

"Of course, the residual power in the 'Book of the Dead' is enough to guide the wandering dark side of the Love God to descend."

"I'm more wondering if you've truly made the preparations on your side?"

"After all, resurrecting the dark replacement is one thing, whether it affects us is another."

The Pope of Love snorted coldly and said:

"This is not something you need to worry about; we have more steadfast allies."

The young Mage pondered for a moment and finally smiled, saying:

"If that's the case, then that's really good."

He snapped his fingers, and the void seemed to pixelate, gradually forming a magnificent painting.

He quietly glanced at the painting.

The young Mage in the painting smiled warmly, his golden hair shimmering, appearing to be a very gentle person.

He sneered and said:

"Looking at it really makes one nauseous."

He turned his head towards the Pope and said:

"I've brought you the remaining essence of power from 'The Love of My Life.'"

"With these, all prerequisites to awaken the dark replacement of the Love God are fulfilled."

He waved his hand, turned, and left the church.

Hiro Hayman watched the young Mage's departing back, the sunlight outside the temple shining on his golden hair, yet unable to disperse the thick deathly atmosphere and gloom surrounding him.

The Pope shook his head, turned to the cardinal, and said:

"Begin."

The cardinal accepted the items and silently hid into the shadows.

...

[Location: City of Art · Beatrice's Room]

Beatrice, after exploring the City of Art, opened the door to her room.

Qian followed behind her and paused as soon as she entered.

She heard the sound of water coming from the bathroom in the room.

She looked at Beatrice and said:

"Your Highness, I'll leave first."

Beatrice nodded.

As soon as Qian left, the movements from the bathroom quieted down.

Shortly thereafter, Louis emerged wearing a bathrobe.

His hair tips were still dripping, and he was using a towel to dry his hair.

Beatrice glanced at him, her gaze instinctively lingering around the open collar of the bathrobe.

The deep V-neck revealed his streamlined chest muscles.

Unconsciously, her face turned red.

"You're back!"

Louis walked over directly, picked her up, and spun her around in mid-air:

"Shouldn't you be saying 'Do you want to eat dinner or me first?' next?"

Beatrice spat and said:

"Dream on!"

A moment later, she hesitantly said:

"Do you want to eat food that I cooked myself?"

"If I could eat that, it would be even better."

Beatrice hummed softly, saying nothing more.

Louis didn't mind this; he simply held her, lying on the bed, and started talking about the relevant situations he had explored down there.

Beatrice quietly listened to him beside him.

After a long time, she curiously said:

"Louis, you always seem to meet strange people in places others overlook."

Louis coughed lightly.

He couldn't exactly say he saw it in the Greed Diary.

Beatrice reached out to stroke his cheek and said:

"I won't ask how you know, but since you've discovered the entrance to the Demon Hall's passage, report it to the relevant imperial departments."

"These professional matters are best handled by them."

"They'll communicate with Mr. Roland at that time."

She sighed again: "Just didn't expect that within the empire, such a powerful being is still honoring the ancient pact."

Louis curiously asked:

"What do you mean by an ancient pact?"

Beatrice said:

"In the beginning, there was an ancient pact among the Demigods, where all Demigods had the duty to guard the spatial rifts."

"Because for spatial rifts which can be manipulated, the must-have subplane of a Demigod is a universal method of response."

"So in the past, those about to become Demigods would actively sign the pact to guard the spatial rifts."

"This is also why Demigods used to be so revered."

"But as you might guess, it lasted less than 1000 years and was essentially abandoned."

Louis nodded.

Such matters were only to be expected.

Although standing from the perspective of all intelligent beings, the ancient pact was beneficial to the entire world.

In general, small rifts didn't pose a danger to Demigods.

Guarding the spatial rifts, once publicized, could actually earn a lot of respect from people.