The mystery of magecraft contained within every book, every page, spread wantonly throughout the library. The pages flipped in the evening breeze pouring from the high windows, rustling loudly. Though invisible to the naked eye, the Executors, who wielded the mystery of 'Miracles', could feel a great crisis approaching!
In the bright light, the rows of towering bookshelves seemed to truly transform into giants spewing crimson lava, coming down on them like an avalanche under Lu Kang's brightly outlined long coat!
Carelessness after carelessness—but it wasn't that they weren't careful enough. It was just that Lu Kang's methods were endless. He didn't seem like a self-taught mystic scholar, but more like a traditional magus backed by a complete system. Yes, this feeling, this sensation, the Executors had only ever felt from those magi with a complete lineage system. Those ancient magus families with their own foundations—members of the Clock Tower, a force that was mostly active in Western Europe, a rival to them!
The Executors exchanged a glance and made a decision in an instant. Not to flee, not to retreat, but to go all in.
"O all ye peoples, hear my words. All inhabitants of this world, give ear..."
They began to pray! As if they were not standing in an enemy's domain, a library smeared with the power of heretical magecraft, but in a solemn and holy church.
"Both low and high, rich and poor, together, give ear. For truly, no man can redeem himself."
They continued to pray! The three of them, side by side amidst the flying pages, their voices chanting in unison, spread throughout the brightly lit, spacious, and majestic pavilion filled with books and shadows!
Lu Kang listened to their prayers, watching the brilliant golden light appear on their bodies, watching the hazy, angelic figures slowly outlined behind them, as if in response to their prayer. It was a light. Endlessly brilliant, endlessly holy, endlessly pure and majestic!
No matter what happened in the dark, within the Church, there still existed pure faith. Faith is not necessarily good. But extreme faith is absolutely fanatical!
"Is this the 'Baptismal Chant', a Great Miracle corresponding to Great Magecraft?" Lu Kang knew what they wanted to do.
Every Executor was a master of combat. They were like the 'spellcasters' among magi who use magecraft for combat. They would choose the simplest way to activate a miracle, sacrificing power for efficiency, reducing the amount of mystery for the sake of surprise, in order to complete their mission faster and more perfectly. So the miracles performed by Executors are all modified. The more powerful, the more dangerous. The less powerful, the faster.
However, some miracles, like the Grand Rituals in magecraft, can never be modified or simplified. They must be performed through chanting and prayer to be manifested, higher and stronger 'Great Miracles'! The so-called 'Baptismal Chant' was just such a thing. It was supposed to require a hundred, or even a thousand people chanting together to manifest the brilliance of God in this world where mystery was gradually becoming scarce. But if performed by only a few people, it was not impossible to activate, but the price was heavy... so heavy that it required the sacrifice of life!
They were self-destructing! Willing to die to complete their mission, willing to sacrifice their lives to impose what they believed to be the absolute judgment on heretics! Their chanting expressions were serious and solemn, but their eyes, revealed under their hoods, were full of fervor!
What a bunch of lunatics. Fanatical believers! Lu Kang thought to himself. He listened as the chanting grew louder but did not stop them. He knew he couldn't. A Baptismal Chant is not easily activated, and once activated, it cannot be interrupted. Rushing in would only lead to more serious consequences.
The most correct way to deal with mystery has always been to observe, analyze, and then act. And during this observation process, Lu Kang was certainly not doing nothing. He was flipping through the pages of a book. He was using his consciousness to control every book, every page, every word in this library that he had inscribed with mystery.
They were chanting. Chanting a prayer of miracle that manifests the power of God! He was also piecing together. Piecing together a mystery from the future!
Light and light vibrated continuously. At this moment, the library seemed to be divided into two different worlds. The multicolored lights representing magecraft and the holy brilliance symbolizing miracles tore at each other. This was a confrontation between 'Magecraft' and 'Miracle', a race between them before they unleashed their full power! In between, the surrounding environment seemed to be smeared into an abstract painting of distorted light and shadow—it was the hesitant trial and error of Van Gogh, the chaotic lines and blended color blocks of Picasso!
And then, the next second—the light suddenly exploded!
Lu Kang was stunned. The three Executors were also stunned! The prayer-based 'Baptismal Chant' came to an abrupt halt. From the divine brilliance that had appeared above their heads and behind them, another figure emerged. Their ritual had been usurped. What they had summoned was not God, but another existence—and because of this, they did not have to pay the price of their lives.
"Oh my, to be so willing to sacrifice your lives... that's not the mark of a qualified Executor, you know?" a crisp and pleasant voice subsequently sounded. The summoned phantom floated in the air, looking at the Executors below, and also at the youth in brilliant light opposite them.
'She' was looking at Lu Kang Luvest!
"Lady Kishinami Kiara of the Burial Agency?" the three Executors called out the identity of the apparition. They were surprised, yet delighted! The newcomer was a member of the Burial Agency—the strongest department in the monster-filled Executor organization—a gathering place of monsters among monsters. Although their ritual had been interrupted, if this person had arrived...
"Oh my, my. Although I'm glad you're not blaming me for tampering with your ritual—I'm only a projection of a miracle here, so I don't have much power," the phantom said. She then added, "Since things have already come to this—how about we each take a step back, Mr. Sacristan Lu Kang Luvest?" She turned her gaze completely to him.
Lu Kang did not respond immediately. He just stood upon the magical domain formed by the convergence of books and words, staring fixedly at her. "Kishinami Kiara?" Lu Kang chewed on the name, finding it exceptionally familiar... Nonsense, how could it not be familiar? Wasn't this the alternate-universe counterpart of one of the seven Evils of Humanity, one who originated from humanity but would destroy it, Sessyoin Kiara?!
"It seems you know me. Then things will be easier. I was just worrying about how to handle this big situation, being newly dispatched to the Tsarist country and all, not knowing the lay of the land. Fortunately, you're also someone who can listen to reason." The projection of Kishinami Kiara responded thus. Though just a phantom, her figure was hazy and transparent as she floated in the air, yet Lu Kang could glimpse a very full figure and a long nun's habit trailing on the ground.
He said, "How do you propose we each take a step back?"
"Naturally—according to the laws of mystery established by King Solomon," Kishinami Kiara said. "Render unto God the things that are God's, and unto man the things that are man's. As long as you cease your actions and leave the court, then no matter where you go, we will not pursue the matter. After all, you have already deciphered the principles of 'Miracles'. That should be enough of a gain for you, shouldn't it?" The clear, pleasant voice did not move Lu Kang, but it made the three Executors below's faces change slightly.
"Deciphered the principles of 'Miracles'?" They realized that their previous actions had, in fact, revealed one side of miracles to this heretic lurking within the Church!
Lu Kang had indeed used them to observe the Church's system of mystery, which was different from magecraft, but he was scornful of Kishinami Kiara's suggestion. He said, "That's something I obtained myself. What I've obtained is mine. What? You want to use my own things to trade with me?"
It seems negotiations have broken down... Kishinami Kiara was slightly taken aback. She wanted to say more. But Lu Kang gave her no more chances! He firmly believed that the magic of words was not much inferior to magecraft. However, it was indeed time to end this. This entanglement and contest...
"As you said," he began. "'Render unto God the things that are God's'—this is the law established two thousand years ago by Solomon, the creator of 'Magecraft', and Christ, the son of God, the creator of 'Miracles', for the two ends of modern mystery. But I would rather say, Solomon's to Solomon, Christ's to Christ, and I—"
"Want it all!"
Amidst his calm voice, Lu Kang slowly opened the book he had been holding. In an instant, all the books in the library opened simultaneously. Countless words subsequently glowed with a fine, flowing light, like stars lighting up in the universe. Specks of light scattered throughout the library, surrounding them in the central open space of the hall, which was already encircled by towering bookshelves!
The grand and vast mystery, after gathering momentum, was displayed without reservation! Myriad words then combined as one, like closing a thick tome of mystery.
"Negotiations have broken down," Kishinami Kiara's projection said in a calm tone. "But next time, it won't be ordinary Executors who come, you know?" She was not angry. Nor was she displeased. What she had was, on the contrary, the excitement of a hunter who has found its prey!
"I look forward to it—it would be best if you came yourself, Kishinami Kiara!" Lu Kang, in his simulated state, was fearless. He was lacking a stepping stone to make a name for himself in the world of mystery, after all!
The next second, with a hum, the myriad words combined into one, then exploded in an instant. The迸溅 (splattering) light flooded the entire library like a torrent. The figures of the Executors and Kishinami Kiara were simultaneously submerged in it.
[You have expelled the Church's Executors and Kishinami Kiara of the Burial Agency.]
[You understand that your actions are a provocation to the ancient power of the Holy Church, but you are not afraid, because you do not fear a false death, and also because you see this as an opportunity.]
[You have gained a preliminary understanding of the framework of 'Miracles'.]
[You now have a preliminary idea of how to merge bloodline and crest to create your own system of mystery.]
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