Only God

"The place where Solamus appeared in his divine form? She once battled the Fire God there."

Rita the Witch nodded, signaling that Eden was correct.

"Hehe, they follow the orders of the Ghost King Rui Gongde, seeking peace with devils and pursuing holy artifacts everywhere. These so-called holy artifacts are the relics Solamus left behind, seemingly for some sort of rite. Anyway, we cannot let them succeed."

Having heard this, Eden had clarified the enmity between the Witch Gathering and the Zor Elves.

Returning to the subject at hand, the heresy that worships the King of Kings, their scripture seemed to hold some satire against Solamus.

Eden paused to recall.

In the scriptures of the heresy, there was no lack of praise and veneration for the various prophets that had appeared in the history of the True Religion. And the very first prophet, Al, was especially favored and extolled by the heresy; his figure frequently appeared in the heretical poems as a symbol of his ascent to the high mountain and pursuit of the divine.

However, in comparison, Solamus seemed to be somewhat disfavored by the heresy.

Even though the scriptures were not devoid of praise for Solamus, they were often written with subtlety and insinuation, even labeling him as the least among the prophets.

The keen Eden linked all these things together, feeling that there must be some hidden connection, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

After a while, he decided to put these questions aside for the moment; he would inevitably find more clues.

"If that's the case, it seems we can trust you."

After saying this, Eden continued:

"In all honesty, two days ago, the devil attacked me again, but I managed to repel it."

"By yourself?"

The Chief Witch couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.

Before Eden could speak, Arsia spoke up for him:

"Of course, by himself. The reinforcements hadn't arrived, and all the devils had already fled."

The witches showed surprised expressions.

Mona clapped her hands and said:

"It seems that, like me, you are of the Third Rank;

let me tell you, my divine path is 'Secret Magic Wizard.'"

This was Eden's first time hearing of this divine path.

However, this was not unexpected; after all, those forty obscure ancient texts were scattered around the world, and even the Church had only collected a portion of them, a number so small it could be counted on two hands.

"I am of the Holy Chorus."

Eden stated.

"A typical path of the Church,"

commented a witch.

"I am not only a Night Watchman but also a Priest."

Eden declared.

He didn't mention that he was also a priest who had been judged heretical.

Once revealed, that would inevitably cause trouble.

"I need your help, I need you to assist in tracking the direction the devils have taken. It's been only two days; they couldn't have gotten far."

"So did the devil attack directly, or did it possess someone?"

"Possession, those who were possessed by the devil are still here."

"Then, on their persons must linger the devil's aura, sisters, take immediate action."

...

Although not all wizards were related to the devil, almost all of them knew how to deal with it.

A famous wizard once compared the knowledge of witchcraft to the ocean, with the devil being the waves atop it, one who wishes to venture within must grapple with the mighty waves.

Under the actions taken by Eden and Arsia, the Witch Gathering made contact with the two individuals who had been possessed by the devil, capturing the devil's spiritual traces from them using drugs and rituals.

The process went so smoothly that it greatly enlightened Eden.

"Though mortals often set the devil opposite to the angel, in truth, the devil's essence is still that of a spiritual being, absolutely incapable of being compared to angels."

Chief Witch Mona explained to him kindly.

Watching the witches bustling about, Eden asked,

"Is there anything I can help with?"

Mona shook her head,

"There's nothing needed, well... rather than that, I'd ask you all please not to interfere in this matter. I'm afraid your good intentions may lead to bad outcomes."

Though Mona's words were blunt, Eden felt no discomfort in his heart; he knew that if he insisted on helping, he might end up doing more harm than good.

Bored, Eden turned his head towards Arsia and noticed that the noble Princess sat on a bench inside the house. She sat in the shade, accompanied by Witch Rita, and the two seemed to be engaging in pleasant conversation.

On Witch Rita's face hung an obsequious smile, seemingly trying to ingratiate herself with Arsia. In contrast, Arsia appeared calm and composed. She rarely laughed out loud, even when Witch Rita shared extremely amusing anecdotes about wizards, she would simply cover her mouth; this graceful demeanor, which Eden seldom saw, seemed to precisely captivate the witch's fancy.

"What is she doing? Arsia... does she have some scheme in mind?"

Eden wondered to himself.

After so many days of companionship, Eden had come to know Arsia's character, almost understanding her every move, jestingly saying, even to the point of knowing whether a cocked hip meant walking or sitting down.

"Speaking of which, you mentioned Ghost King Rigongde..."

Before he could finish, Eden saw Mona's face turn pale, as if she had a profound psychological shadow regarding this topic.

"I'm sorry... I..."

"No, no need to apologize. You are not a member of the Zor Elves, and you do not understand my people."

Mona paused, took a deep breath, then slowly continued,

"Ghost King Rigongde, he... was also our king of the Zor.

During that period, that... time of great division, too many cruel tragedies occurred; I wasn't born yet, and only understood fragments from what my mother told me.

To summarize, Rigongde, originally was Prince Logos, of what the Nus Elves refer to as the Exile Kingdom. It was he... after losing his throne, who rebelled against his own brother with an army, and in the end, after the civil war was subdued, his forces were defeated, and he led the remnants northward to escape, establishing the kingdom of the Zor Elves."

"You all... do not have the same skin color?"

Facing Eden's query, Mona nodded, lifting her arm and gazing at her sky-blue skin,

"Yes, originally we had fair skin like other elves.

But after we established our new kingdom, Rigongde tamed the devil within himself and made the ghosts submit to him, becoming a Ghost King.

On the day of the Ascension Celebration, he poured the Devil's Seed into the Blood Wine and distributed it to all the elves, and deceived my people by proclaiming it was a blessing from God.

From then on, the devil was planted in the heart of every Zor Elf.

Mortals of other races often attract devils or give birth to them only in times of great inner darkness, while we Zor Elves are born in the company of devils."