Fernando instinctively moved to activate his storm barrier to keep other Legends from prying, but Saer de quickly said, "Use a different spell. I can't project myself inside a barrier."
He wouldn't dare swagger out of the Radiance Cathedral to meet Fernando, Hathaway, and the other great arcanists face to face—that would be practically serving himself up on a platter. Holy Spirit Priests simply didn't have the vast arsenal of means, the eerie unpredictability, or the sheer resilience that made Legend-level mages so difficult to kill.
And so Fernando and Hathaway joined forces to erect layer upon layer of anti-scrying magic. The seemingly empty, tranquil expanse of sky concealed countless killing traps.
Only after all this was done did Fernando fix his scarlet eyes upon the humanoid figure formed from condensed air. "You want to cooperate with us. Is that the two of us, or the Council?"
Whenever someone else could speak on her behalf, Hathaway was always reticent, standing quietly to the side. As for Afris, Fernando had blocked its perception of the surroundings from the very beginning—it could neither see the figure before them nor hear their conversation.
This wasn't because Fernando distrusted it. Rather, its nature was still young and immature—it would often let secrets slip without realizing it. Moreover, such perceptual blocking was torture for others but had absolutely no effect on a dragon. Afris had already fallen fast asleep, floating in midair using Fernando's power.
Saer de chuckled warmly, just as he did when delivering sermons. "The kind of cooperation I'm after can't be sustained by the two of you alone. The Magic Council is clearly superior to the Northern heretics in both elite strength and rank-and-file personnel, yet you're cooped up in cities like Arinor, Lantert, and Kukus—unable to work together with the nobles to control a vast empire and its vassal kingdoms and principalities the way the Northern heretics do, free from the Church's influence within, needing only to watch the front lines and fortresses. That's a disgrace to the reputation of the second-greatest power across all realms."
Fernando restrained his imposing aura and declared in a booming voice, "Because we grew from weakness to strength, unlike the Northern Church, which possessed the power to partially rival the Southern Church from the very start and enjoyed the full support of the Northern nobles."
"The Church has established one major and four minor teleportation arrays in five cities—Lantert, Kukus, and others—along with Legend-level divine barriers. This ensures that the moment we try to drive out the Church's foothold on the Storm Straits side, they can reinforce in time, turning a regional conflict into a full-scale war. The resulting casualties would demand careful forethought from both sides. But I believe that as the Council grows, in ten years, the situation will change dramatically."
"Ten years? You mean the Legend ascensions brought about by New Alchemy?" Saer de asked unhurriedly, probing the finer details.
Hathaway interjected, "Yes. Ten years will give us enough time to refine the system somewhat and correct the errors within."
"When the time comes, Hathaway will certainly ascend to the pinnacle of the Legend realm, and among the great mages of the elemental and alchemical factions—Lavendie, Morris,
In truth, however, his inner confidence far exceeded his outward show. The reason he held back was to mislead Saer de—no matter what the man's true motives were, feeding him a bit of false intelligence might yield wondrous results down the line. For figures of their caliber, even conversation was a form of combat.
Saer de smiled. "Lucian truly is a remarkable talent. In ten years, the Magic Council will force the Church to weigh whether to sacrifice more than half its College of Cardinals or withdraw from the countries on the far side of the Storm Straits. His Holiness the Pope had originally estimated at least sixty years, so he wasn't in any rush."
The Divine Descent was terrifying but could only be used once. It had killed
Once that happened, as long as two great arcanists at the pinnacle of the Legend realm could keep the Pope occupied, narrowing the gap in Legend-level combatants, the remaining Legend mages would surely exact a devastating toll on the College of Cardinals. After all, the Southern Church was beset on all sides—it couldn't possibly mobilize all its Legend powerhouses to besiege the Magic Council unless it offered concessions and trade-offs to secure the cooperation of the Northern Church and the Dark Council.
Of course, such a possibility was remote in the extreme. The contradictions between heretical factions were irreconcilable, and they certainly wouldn't sit idle and watch the most powerful Church devour the Magic Council without suffering a single loss—because if that happened, they would be next before long.
"Ten years isn't terribly far off. Tell me, Saer de—what kind of cooperation do you have in mind?" Fernando said, his expression grave.
He had just been following Hathaway's ten-year timeline to describe the Council's potential growth. In reality, with New Alchemy, with the mass-energy formula, with the reverse-engineering of the "Atomic Fission" and "Atomic Fusion" spell models—even though the gaps in knowledge were still too vast for complete mastery—he was confident he could reach the pinnacle of the Legend realm within one to two years. Hathaway likewise. And if the neutron were discovered ahead of schedule, then the potential ascensions of great mages like Lavendie and Donald would come sooner as well. Measuring the Council's transformation in terms of ten years would lead to a gross miscalculation.
Saer de said calmly, "I can shorten ten years to one. In a year, you'll be able to control the
"His Holiness the Pope needs more than a year before he can use the Divine Descent again—unless he disregards the toll on his life. So one year is an excellent window. When the time comes, I will shut down Lantert's teleportation array, and you won't need to worry about members of the College of Cardinals arriving in time to reinforce. Spatial transit from the Sacred City of Lance takes at least half an hour—I believe your strength is more than sufficient to seize control of Holm and the other territories within that half-hour window and push the front line to the Storm Straits."
Storms seemed to sweep through Fernando's scarlet pupils, betraying his inner turbulence. And though Hathaway remained as aloof and cold as ever, the focused intensity of her gaze spoke of her keen interest.
For the Magic Council, seizing control of the far side of the Storm Straits meant pulling out the Radiance Cathedral like a thorn—and the biggest obstacle was the super-large teleportation array within the divine formation. Due to the unique nature of the divine barrier, it was unaffected by external spatial anchors and couldn't be sealed in advance. And yet now, Saer de was claiming he would shut down this lifeline of the Church!
"What do you want in return? And what about the cardinals from the other four dioceses and the epic knights of each nation?" Fernando asked, restraining his impatient temper.
Saer de let out a soft laugh. "You must have made some progress in dissecting the false god. The Church has also finished investigating Lucian's involvement with the Church of El—you've surely received his report. Don't tell me you don't know what I want? I want to do what the Pope of the Northern Church did—split the Church and re-establish a holy see based on my own doctrines, drawing closer to the great Lord."
"The territories on the far side of the Storm Straits are an ideal choice. I will reform the Church's creed, return the right to interpret the Holy Scriptures to the faithful, and turn it into a Church of Truth for the nobles, a Church of Truth for every believer—completely fused with them. In this way, the Church under my control will be no different from the nobility in substance, becoming an entity you can rely on and unite with—just as the Northern Church relates to its own nobility."
"For the epic knights and the nobles, this represents an acceptable balance. Until the Southern Church is utterly destroyed, you cannot abandon them, and you must respect them."
"What I'm doing now is working through the radical faction within the Holm diocese—simultaneously reshaping the clergy's religious convictions and placing my own followers, while steadily inflaming tensions between the nobles and the Church. When the time comes a year from now, they'll be wavering. At that point, when a new balance becomes possible, the progressive nobles will abandon the Church without hesitation and embrace my cause. And the conservative nobles, weighed down by the shifting situation, will eventually make a similar choice."