Chapter 43

"I am very curious about what she will do next. Is she going to start looking for other women who catch her eye to compete with Samael, or is she unable to hold back and finally going to enter the fray herself? I am very much looking forward to how this play will unfold next — —"

After speaking, the five-hundred-year-old dragon mother couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth, as if she were holding back laughter.

Gwendolyn sighed in despair.

Why were the strongest people in the Roman Curia, besides her, all such unreliable sorts? It wasn't that they were bad; everyone was kind, but there were always some areas…

"Gwendolyn, you haven't taken a vow of chastity, so stop acting like an old spinster. Don't you want to enter the fray and fall in love too?"

Remina even wanted to give her crazy ideas!

"I know the Holy Sword is with you. You can keep up with Qi Xing in battle, and you can even provide effective assistance in the battles between the [Silver Coin Messenger]. And as long as you enter the competition, the little nun will definitely support you with all her might."

"Just these things are enough to make you invincible. What's the point of being a two-hundred-year-old virgin? Go on, go on — —"

"Don't be ridiculous. I have already dedicated my vow to my sword."

"Every female knight says that before she grows soft."

Sigh.

Gwendolyn sometimes really wanted to punch her, what could she do?

046: This is a trial

The Roman Curia itself, of course, did not know any divination techniques.

But they had a long-standing custom of hiring fortune tellers.

Although there were some theological disputes regarding whether the future could be foreseen, the Roman Curia still pragmatically accepted some forms of divination.

Arithmetic divination and Tarot divination were basically accepted; drawing lots and casting lots were traditional techniques rarely used; astrology was an allowed, but regulated, matter.

As for all divination involving mediumship, they were all regarded as dark witchcraft by the Roman Curia and were prohibited.

Because mediumship-type divination could potentially attract evil spirits and give deceptive results.

The Roman Curia, which aimed for stability, could certainly not allow such things.

But no matter what kind of divination it was, it was not something the priests did themselves, but rather left to the hired fortune tellers.

Fortunately, Qi Xing had brought the hundreds of people from the [Association] headquarters inside his gourd.

Now, these fortune tellers from various schools immediately put their magical arts into operation.

The holy candles in the hall flickered, casting a hazy glow on the marble floor.

Although the practitioners from various schools came from all over the world and had different beliefs, their goal at this moment was only one — — to calculate the hiding place of the [Black Spartacus] group and stop this black disaster of white rain from spreading further tonight!

A Druid draped in a gray-green robe, holding an oak staff, knelt on the ground.

He took a piece of wood carved with runes from his waist and threw them onto the ground, letting them scatter randomly.

He slowly reached out, his fingertips touching a few pieces of wood facing up, and whispered: "Eiwaz (Life and Death), Perth (Hidden and Fate), Laguz (Water and Abyss)…"

After frowning and pondering for a moment, the Druid stated his opinion: "The oak's roots go the deepest, where it leads both to the world of the dead and to the underground rivers… The Tiber River, the rainwater has already seeped in… They might be maintaining the ritual underground at the Tiber River."

The astrologer from India sat quietly on the marble floor, with a brass astrolabe placed in front of him, engraved with Sanskrit symbols, symbolizing the eternal trajectories of stars and planets.

He gently rotated the astrolabe and whispered a chant.

"Saturn is in the fourth house — — the House of the Grave, symbolizing the land of oblivion, deeply buried ruins."

The astrologer's voice was low and steady; he pointed to the markings on the brass disk and continued to explain: "Pluto is intersecting with Saturn at this moment, meaning the echo of death is awakening, and the door of darkness has been opened."

"The city of the dead… it might be the catacombs." He said firmly, "They are maintaining the ritual in the place where the dead are buried."

A black-robed witch stroked her Tarot cards, her fingers sliding over the cards, and she slowly drew three cards, laying them out on the marble floor.

"The Sun (reversed)."

"Judgment."

"The Magician (reversed)."

Her brow furrowed slightly, as if these three cards revealed a forgotten history.

"The Sun reversed… a place that should have been bright is now plunged into darkness. Judgment means the dead are waiting for rebirth here, and the Magician — — represents a manipulator, or perhaps a usurper."

The witch took a light breath and pointed her finger at the Sun card: "This place once belonged to the Sun God, but the symbol of the sun has been subverted — — it is the Saint Clement Basilica. It was once a Mithra temple, a place where the faiths of the Sun God Mithra, Apollo, and Christ once intersected and contended."

"The Son Christ once seized the throne of the sun there… Now, the voodoo sorcerers are usurping the dominion of the weather there."

Besides these few, there were many other different divination methods and different divination results.

It was, of course, difficult to summarize a reliable conclusion from this.

Prophecy and divination were always tricky things.

Ambiguous, vague, with no direct answers, only signs and questions.

But here was Sister Elaine, who knew a little bit of everything and could use her human brain like a computer.

With her integrating these signs and symbols and quickly analyzing them, everyone's divination efficiency increased crazily, surging forward!

If the [Association] headquarters had really been blown up by [Black Spartacus] at the start, the Roman Curia would probably be completely blind and fumbling in the dark now.

When Qi Xing came out of the lounge and walked to the Sistine Hall, it happened to be just when Elaine was selecting three possible voodoo ritual locations from fifty different divination methods, from those vague symbols and signs.

First, the ancient Roman catacombs.

There were many ancient catacombs in and near Rome, starting from the 2nd century to deal with land shortages.

Many of them had even been discovered only in recent decades — — in other words, it was very likely that some catacombs had not been discovered yet.

The damp, dark underground environment was very suitable for dark rituals, and it was obviously not easy to find.

Secondly, the Tiber River — — the Tiber River that ran through Rome, with its long history.

Some fortune tellers believed that there might be undiscovered ancient secret chambers under the water of the Tiber River.

Perhaps they had found a sunken ancient Roman altar, covered the old Latin inscriptions with voodoo symbols, and reused it as an altar.

The last group of fortune tellers believed that the voodoo sorcerers were hiding under the Saint Clement Basilica, right in the ruins of the ancient Mithra temple.

This place was once a place of contention for three deities.

Mithra, Apollo, Christ… The position of the Sun God was once contended here, and now, perhaps new usurpers were casting spells here, seizing the dominion of the weather.

When Qi Xing walked into the hall, they happened to be discussing this possibility.

Qi Xing heard it and actually showed some interest: "A place that contended for the dominion of the Sun God?"

In an instant, seeing him step calmly into the holy hall, the fortune tellers and exorcists present all held their breath.

Some bowed their heads slightly, some immediately stopped their divination.

All eyes were focused on this strongest person of the [Association], the [Strongest Man on Earth].

"It's [Master Leipu]."

"[Rep-Man]!"

All other conversations stopped.

All eyes turned to look at him.

Everyone looked at him with awe.

Because he was the one who could level the University of Rome with the aftermath of his battle, and the one who saved them from [Black Spartacus] and the white rain that turned people into blacks and grew monsters.

His figure was the manifestation of ancient divine power, a player in the mythic war, and even more so, the one who could decide their life and death.

Some strong people could get an orgasm just from this kind of gaze and awe from the crowd.

Unfortunately, Qi Xing did not have that fetish.

"Simply put, you have found three possible ritual locations."

He continued to speak:

"Is it possible that all three are true?"

Elaine shook her head: "This ritual cannot be performed separately or in parallel. But since three locations were calculated simultaneously, the other two are probably not unrelated. I plan to suggest organizing assault teams, letting the Knight Commander and the Duchess take elite squads to clear them one by one."

She had already learned the lesson from the cruise ship last time, not to split forces randomly.

Since Qi Xing was not participating in fighting the small fries this time, let the two powerhouses fight like a lion hunting a rabbit, knocking out the three suspicious locations one by one — — Elaine, on the other hand, didn't need to go; there was no lack of her combat power here.

"The idea is very good." However, Qi Xing nodded, but then said, "But you split into three roads and go simultaneously."

Huh?

"Is that okay?" Elaine frowned, "[Black Spartacus]'s other cadres shouldn't be a concern. But if Romani Domingo himself is maintaining the ritual at any one of them…"

Gwendolyn plus Lady Remina plus Father Amos plus a bunch of Church elites, if everyone went together, perhaps there would still be a slight chance to fight to the death and repel the [Silver Coin Messenger] (maybe).

Splitting forces would really become delivering themselves on a silver platter.

"I have already said it. The people were let in by Amos, and the disaster was raised by him. The Church should find a way to solve this white rain itself. I won't clean up the mess — — I only want to kill that black guy."

Qi Xing said indifferently,

"So if you get killed by others, I won't care; if you really find Romani, I will fly there within five seconds; if you are so useless that you can't even hold on for five seconds, then you can only blame yourself."

These words immediately made the three experts of the Roman Curia look at each other.

And Qi Xing's words were not finished yet.

"Also Elaine, you and Lady Remina form a team."

The Duchess was preparing to fly out alone with her long spear, pinning all the voodoo sorcerers she encountered to stakes, and hearing Qi Xing's words, she couldn't help but be a little strange: "Ah? Why let me take her?"

"Because you two are not very reliable."

Qi Xing said calmly,

"You are my friend. Letting a married woman fight a giant [redacted] black man one-on-one, I'm not stupid."

"Letting you two form a team, even if there is a contingency, you will definitely have the power to hold on for more than ten seconds; if you two actually lack the wisdom to exert your power… I will be very unhappy."

His tone was very flat, yet it was as irresistible as a giant dam cutting off a river.

Lady Remina was even stunned for a moment.

Very unhappy… did he mean he was unhappy with the black man? Or unhappy with the two of them if they were stupid beyond expectations?

Would Qi Xing have said such things before… maybe, perhaps… but he definitely wouldn't have said it so naturally, so absolutely.

That evil god probably really made Qi Xing figure out some things.

Elaine didn't say anything.

Because she already understood that Qi Xing was conducting a screening: screening who had enough power and wisdom to fight side by side with him; and who were the people who could only be protected by him in a bottle from now on.

"Knight Commander, you take some people to the Tiber River." Qi Xing continued, "I remember the Roman Curia's vampire species is not afraid of water?"

Gwendolyn nodded.

According to legend, some vampires are afraid of flowing water. But there are too many different vampire species in the world, and what each vampire fears is actually quite different.

The Stafia vampires of the Order of the Holy Lance are a special type of traditional Eastern European vampire, afraid of neither water nor holy objects. What they are afraid of is something else, and they can even sunbathe normally.

And they are not afraid of [Black Spartacus]'s white rain, because they are not humans at all. Their vampire legend actually happens to restrain this kind of guy who plays with [redacted] [redacted]… but this part will be detailed when it is used later.

"The ancient catacombs, the Roman Curia should have a way to go underground, and get there without getting rained on, right?"

Qi Xing continued,

"So this, Father Amos, you handle it."

The ancient catacombs under Rome. Even if Qi Xing used his lightning speed, if something really happened, he probably wouldn't be able to rush there quickly.

If the [Silver Coin Messenger] was really hiding in the catacombs, wouldn't Father Amos be finished?

However, it was precisely this task that Qi Xing wanted him to do — — if he couldn't even take this responsibility, couldn't even bear this risk of death, where would the account for Father Amos deliberately letting two [Silver Coin Messengers] grow mature in Rome be settled?

It was simply incredible to say.

Qi Xing clearly had no command authority, no power to give orders. He was not a bishop, did not hold a scepter, did not wear a holy robe, and was merely a guest advisor hired by the [Association] — — yet when he spoke, his words seemed to turn into invisible laws, carrying an irresistible power, making everyone present instinctively hold their breath. All thoughts of refusal or rebuttal vanished long before they were born.

If this was the power of the [Master], it was understandable why the Roman Curia had been particularly afraid of [silver coin] for two thousand years.

Now Qi Xing would not clean up their mess, letting them fight the small fries themselves, and bleed to save their own city. Only when the enemy he [wanted to kill] appeared would Qi Xing make a move.

What else was there to say? They were not ungrateful to that extent.

The decisive battle destined to change the fate of Rome unfolded.

— —

Darkness.

In the room shrouded in darkness, two candles were lit.

Next to each candle was a voodoo mask, black and green, two masks floating in the darkness of mid-air.

"[Madame Poison Bee] is dead."

The black mask spoke in a calm tone. The voice became ambiguous after passing through the mask, making it impossible to judge gender and age.

"[Hot Girl] has also been captured."

"[The Four Titans] only have you two left. Understand what this means, right? Only you and [Clematis] are left — — [The Beauty], huh."

It said to the green mask.

The green mask did not speak for a while. After a while, it spoke coldly: "The leader's plan has reached the final stage, it is normal for the Roman Curia to get serious. Those two were originally the weaker ones among [The Four Titans]. It is normal to be defeated by the Roman Curia."

"I am much stronger than them, and I am still hiding in the ruins of the Saint Clement Basilica, with defenses prepared all around. Even if the [Chief Exorcist] of the Roman Curia wants to break in, it's not that easy, and not an opponent I cannot handle."

The green mask's tone was very calm and confident.

"By the way, I have been helping the leader prepare the ritual and maintain the magic for the past three days, so I haven't paid attention to the situation outside. How were [Madame Poison Bee] and [Hot Girl] defeated? Did Father Amos take action personally? Could it be that even the Order of the Holy Lance was dispatched?"

It asked casually.

"Oh, they were both killed by [Rep-Man]."

The black mask said with a smile,

"Two punches, one each, all wiped out."

"What?"

The green mask was stunned for about ten seconds.

Then it finally started screaming: "[Rep-Man] — — it was actually [Rep-Man]!? Why is [Rep-Man] in Rome!?"