Chapter 545
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Once the 'misunderstanding' was cleared, the angel and Voidwalkers continued on their journey, without taking any breaks.
Baiyi made no mention of the Arbiter's Rights, the Laws, or the collar on Noirciel's neck. Instead, he talked about topics that one would recount to visitors from abroad — food, culture, tourist destinations, and the cutest plushies on the market.
"That patisserie over there is well-known amongst girls like you. Every snack made there is delicious and looks great. You wouldn't believe how generous young women become just to get a taste of those amazing snacks!"
"The most popular plushie right now is a mega-plushie. It's as big as you are, and made from the softest fur available. If you hug it, you won't want to let it go."
"That? That's the hottest party on the continent! There, young boys and girls, who are dressed to impress, would dance and sing their night away. It's so electrifying, even someone like me is a little bit drawn to it…"
Noirciel did not speak much; all she uttered were Oohs and Ahs. However, the longer Baiyi spoke for, the more visible the angel's yearning was on her face. Did she really long for these things despite her best efforts to feign indifference?
As a master schemer, the Charlatan Walker could read Noirciel's face like a book. He began to talk to her in Baiyi's stead, grossly exaggerating the points he thought Baiyi had been bland about. The Charlatan Walker made the most mundane events sound like grand events and epic adventures.
An internal conflict had begun within Noirciel. Her wayward attitude was rebelling against her mind's effort to remain indifferent; it was like an itch that she was trying not to scratch. Poor Noirciel soon covered her face with her hands and whispered, "I must not yearn for all that. It will corrupt me further. I don't want to be abnormal…"
'That can't be good,' Baiyi thought and glanced at the Charlatan Walker, silently asking him to restrain himself. Baiyi could not risk the angel being corrupted right now; after all, he still needed her help to save Mia.
While the Charlatan Walker wooed Noirciel, Baiyi quietly examined her with his psychic energy. In the past, the angel was alerted even before Baiyi's physic energy touched her, but now, she was oblivious to his probing. No one could tell if this was because she trusted Baiyi more now, or because she was being distracted by the Charlatan Walker's words, which had caused her internal struggle. Baiyi was able to examine her fully and obtained secrets that had eluded him in his trip to the past.
Although her body appeared to be that of a little girl's, Noirciel was actually an energy being. The collar on her neck, the white blindfold over her eyes, the plain white robe she wore, and the wing behind her were all Divine Energy constructs. The host's body was used as a shell; this was why Noirciel had retained her host's physical appearance.
This was similar to the mechanism behind Baiyi's black meatball mode. Unlike his bizarre appearance in that mode, Noirciel looked human, with her Divine Energy acting in the same manner her outer garment was.
Noirciel was a beautiful young lady, who was as pretty as the beauties in Baiyi's harem. Her bodacious body complimented her name, and although she was not very tall, she possessed slender curves that seamlessly outlined her long, lean legs. Noirciel's hourglass figure was visible through her conservative robe, and anyone that looked at her would not help but imagine wrapping their arms around her delicate waist.
One thing Baiyi found unfortunate was that not every part of Noirciel's body was well-developed. She lacked in the same area that Mia and Attie did!
One look at Noirciel's appearance — her seductive body, the shameful collar around her neck, and the subservient blindfold around her eyes — was all it took for Baiyi to develope a different impression of a being who everyone was supposed to consider immaculate.
Baiyi quickly retracted his psychic energy, looked up, and said, "We're still a good distance away from Arfin City. Let's hurry."
Flying was the only way Noirciel could travel. The unique composition of her body made the usage of transporter portals useless; the enormous amount of pure energy in her body would disrupt the portal's function, and this could cause it to explode.
When Baiyi indirectly suggested that they fly, Noirciel lowered her head in embarrassment, letting out a pitiful whimper.
"Okay, so how about I carry you and fly?" Baiyi suggested.
The Fifth Walker fondly remembered the days he taught Mia and the other girls to fly. To have the girls acclimated to dogfights between seasoned sorcerers, Baiyi had implemented a strict and demanding training regimen so that they learned high-speed, high-altitude flight right from the get-go. After a while of training, however, the girls would begin to complain about the chilly high winds and how out of breath they were, and then rushed into Baiyi's embrace and rubbing their little cheeks on him. Then, as Baiyi carried them home, they would cuddle snugly in his arms.
Just thinking about those good old times brought a smile from the bottom of his heart. When was the last time he enjoyed such a pleasant experience since the girls learned to fly on their own without him?
If Noirciel said yes, he would be able to revisit that old, fuzzy warmth of his past once more!
Noirciel shook her head.
Baiyi found his chest sinking in disappointment. He had not expected the Angel to be so surprisingly demure.
"Er, what if I give you… a piggyback ride?" Undaunted, he rephrased his question slightly and tried again.
Noriciel shook her head, and Baiyi wondered if this showed how much the little angel wanted to get close to him.
"But we don't have any other choice, do we? Your body makes it impossible to speed up by any other means. Not only that, I can't even cast any kind of spell on you, too," Baiyi pointed out in exasperation. He could not cast a Levitation Spell, nor any kind of magic, on the Angel because her energy would disrupt them all. "If we remain on our current speed, we'll only arrive at Arfin City after sundown!"
'Why must Angels also be completely resistant to magic? Doesn't that just make them ridiculously overpowered? Honestly, did the designers of this universe even know what "power balance" means?' Baiyi complained quietly in his head.
Determination suddenly glinted in Noirciel's eyes, and before Baiyi could say anything, she suddenly raised her head to meet his gaze and spread open her arms. Realization struck Baiyi like lightning; it was as though she really wished to cuddle! Her eyes were even filled with such a strong sense of sheepish eagerness that Baiyi could see it through her blindfold.
Baiyi took some time to recover from his shock. How... no — when did Noirciel learn Little Mia's critical move? Was it because Lulu had seen her best friend performing it to ingratiate on Baiyi once or twice, and now Noirciel pulled it out of Lulu's memories? Why was it that despite Mia and Lulu's many strengths, this clumsy little Angel learned this instead? Worse, despite this being her first trial, she copied it perfectly. Was it a sign of her latent talent in 'The Art of Kawaii'?
Hundreds of snarky remarks were charging through Baiyi's mind, yet he found himself automatically reacting to the gesture, his arms wrapping around Noirciel on their own accord before bringing her close to his chest. As his hands closed around her delicate waist, Baiyi announced, "Alright, hold tight. This little rocket is standing tall and ready — I mean, I'm about to fly." [1]
Just like that, he ditched the Charlatan Walker and zoomed towards Arfin City like a bullet. In a blink of an eye, the Charlatan Walker found himself alone.
"Goddamnit! I can't do that!" The Charlatan Walker groaned. Left with no choice, he looked for the nearest transporter portal for himself.
Honestly, Baiyi was living a young man's fantasy. He was practically tearing through the sky in heart-thumping high-speed with a young girl's warm, soft body pressing on his chest as she held onto him throughout the ride. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the Pope, whose only thumping was the migraine pounding in his skull.
He had just returned to his chamber with a long face and his fingers rubbing furtively on his temples. He had never felt so defeated and frustrated before.
The past hour had been annoyingly grueling. It was almost impossible to send Jola away, especially when he had pelted the Pope with a barrage of poignant and nigh-unanswerable questions. The only way the Pope had managed to deflect them was through myriads of excuses and repeated appeal to his authority as the head of the Church, but he knew that it was only temporary.
To make matters worse, the apostle had returned with a battle report stinking with failure. The Pope was so enraged by it that he had unsaintly cursed Baiyi in his mind.
He had been correct in presuming the Angel to be useless in a fight, yet he did not expect her to be so incompetent that not even a fight had started. Nothing the Pope planned — from the hopes of seeing Noirciel wounding the Devil critically, to his men gathering valuable information about the latter's abilities — had come to fruition. After all of that had cost him, the only thing the Pope had managed to give the Devil was another addition to his harem!
How fortunate it was that an Angel must return to the Divine Realm after three days! The Pope could suffer from a brain aneurysm just by imagining a very plausible future where the Devil held hands with the Angel and forced her to call him daddy before nonplussed believers. Even eternal torment in hell looked absolutely tame when compared to this!
The only silver lining from this fiasco was that the apostle and the templars had returned relatively unharmed. Yet, when the Pope remembered how incessant Jola's questions were, even that silver lining dulled.
Frankly, if these were the entirety of his troubles, the Pope would have just been livid rather than suffering from acute migraines. The biggest problem this debacle revealed, and the real reason why the Pope was stressed, was the Devil's accomplices — the legendary Apostle who had walked the Abyss alone and the greatest Holy Knight in Church history.
That scheming snake! He must have deliberately brought those two into the battle precisely because their existence as Voidwalkers continued to stump the Church. The Devil was obviously using them as his anti-Church cards!
Conservative hardliners in the Church had convoked meetings after meetings to counter those two turncoats for a long time, but the only reliable method they managed to come up with was to bowdlerize the Church's legends gradually so that their importance diminished. Some had suggested slanders by accusing them of having fallen from the Lord's grace, while some had suggested denouncing them as fakes who misappropriated and smeared the names of the legendary figures. As long as those two were unable to demonstrate any theurgical powers nor used spells like Word of God, there was no reason why the public would doubt the Church's statements!
Some were even naïve enough to believe that the two Church icons were sleeper agents pretending to ally with the Devil. They had wholeheartedly believed that these two would strike that darkness reincarnate when he least expected it!
Now, however, it became clear that those were all the Church's pipe dreams.
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Once the 'misunderstanding' was cleared, the angel and Voidwalkers continued on their journey, without taking any breaks.
Baiyi made no mention of the Arbiter's Rights, the Laws, or the collar on Noirciel's neck. Instead, he talked about topics that one would recount to visitors from abroad — food, culture, tourist destinations, and the cutest plushies on the market.
"That patisserie over there is well-known amongst girls like you. Every snack made there is delicious and looks great. You wouldn't believe how generous young women become just to get a taste of those amazing snacks!"
"The most popular plushie right now is a mega-plushie. It's as big as you are, and made from the softest fur available. If you hug it, you won't want to let it go."
"That? That's the hottest party on the continent! There, young boys and girls, who are dressed to impress, would dance and sing their night away. It's so electrifying, even someone like me is a little bit drawn to it…"
Noirciel did not speak much; all she uttered were Oohs and Ahs. However, the longer Baiyi spoke for, the more visible the angel's yearning was on her face. Did she really long for these things despite her best efforts to feign indifference?
As a master schemer, the Charlatan Walker could read Noirciel's face like a book. He began to talk to her in Baiyi's stead, grossly exaggerating the points he thought Baiyi had been bland about. The Charlatan Walker made the most mundane events sound like grand events and epic adventures.
An internal conflict had begun within Noirciel. Her wayward attitude was rebelling against her mind's effort to remain indifferent; it was like an itch that she was trying not to scratch. Poor Noirciel soon covered her face with her hands and whispered, "I must not yearn for all that. It will corrupt me further. I don't want to be abnormal…"
'That can't be good,' Baiyi thought and glanced at the Charlatan Walker, silently asking him to restrain himself. Baiyi could not risk the angel being corrupted right now; after all, he still needed her help to save Mia.
While the Charlatan Walker wooed Noirciel, Baiyi quietly examined her with his psychic energy. In the past, the angel was alerted even before Baiyi's physic energy touched her, but now, she was oblivious to his probing. No one could tell if this was because she trusted Baiyi more now, or because she was being distracted by the Charlatan Walker's words, which had caused her internal struggle. Baiyi was able to examine her fully and obtained secrets that had eluded him in his trip to the past.
Although her body appeared to be that of a little girl's, Noirciel was actually an energy being. The collar on her neck, the white blindfold over her eyes, the plain white robe she wore, and the wing behind her were all Divine Energy constructs. The host's body was used as a shell; this was why Noirciel had retained her host's physical appearance.
This was similar to the mechanism behind Baiyi's black meatball mode. Unlike his bizarre appearance in that mode, Noirciel looked human, with her Divine Energy acting in the same manner her outer garment was.
Noirciel was a beautiful young lady, who was as pretty as the beauties in Baiyi's harem. Her bodacious body complimented her name, and although she was not very tall, she possessed slender curves that seamlessly outlined her long, lean legs. Noirciel's hourglass figure was visible through her conservative robe, and anyone that looked at her would not help but imagine wrapping their arms around her delicate waist.
One thing Baiyi found unfortunate was that not every part of Noirciel's body was well-developed. She lacked in the same area that Mia and Attie did!
One look at Noirciel's appearance — her seductive body, the shameful collar around her neck, and the subservient blindfold around her eyes — was all it took for Baiyi to develope a different impression of a being who everyone was supposed to consider immaculate.
Baiyi quickly retracted his psychic energy, looked up, and said, "We're still a good distance away from Arfin City. Let's hurry."
Flying was the only way Noirciel could travel. The unique composition of her body made the usage of transporter portals useless; the enormous amount of pure energy in her body would disrupt the portal's function, and this could cause it to explode.
When Baiyi indirectly suggested that they fly, Noirciel lowered her head in embarrassment, letting out a pitiful whimper.
"Okay, so how about I carry you and fly?" Baiyi suggested.
The Fifth Walker fondly remembered the days he taught Mia and the other girls to fly. To have the girls acclimated to dogfights between seasoned sorcerers, Baiyi had implemented a strict and demanding training regimen so that they learned high-speed, high-altitude flight right from the get-go. After a while of training, however, the girls would begin to complain about the chilly high winds and how out of breath they were, and then rushed into Baiyi's embrace and rubbing their little cheeks on him. Then, as Baiyi carried them home, they would cuddle snugly in his arms.
Just thinking about those good old times brought a smile from the bottom of his heart. When was the last time he enjoyed such a pleasant experience since the girls learned to fly on their own without him?
If Noirciel said yes, he would be able to revisit that old, fuzzy warmth of his past once more!
Noirciel shook her head.
Baiyi found his chest sinking in disappointment. He had not expected the Angel to be so surprisingly demure.
"Er, what if I give you… a piggyback ride?" Undaunted, he rephrased his question slightly and tried again.
Noriciel shook her head, and Baiyi wondered if this showed how much the little angel wanted to get close to him.
"But we don't have any other choice, do we? Your body makes it impossible to speed up by any other means. Not only that, I can't even cast any kind of spell on you, too," Baiyi pointed out in exasperation. He could not cast a Levitation Spell, nor any kind of magic, on the Angel because her energy would disrupt them all. "If we remain on our current speed, we'll only arrive at Arfin City after sundown!"
'Why must Angels also be completely resistant to magic? Doesn't that just make them ridiculously overpowered? Honestly, did the designers of this universe even know what "power balance" means?' Baiyi complained quietly in his head.
Determination suddenly glinted in Noirciel's eyes, and before Baiyi could say anything, she suddenly raised her head to meet his gaze and spread open her arms. Realization struck Baiyi like lightning; it was as though she really wished to cuddle! Her eyes were even filled with such a strong sense of sheepish eagerness that Baiyi could see it through her blindfold.
Baiyi took some time to recover from his shock. How... no — when did Noirciel learn Little Mia's critical move? Was it because Lulu had seen her best friend performing it to ingratiate on Baiyi once or twice, and now Noirciel pulled it out of Lulu's memories? Why was it that despite Mia and Lulu's many strengths, this clumsy little Angel learned this instead? Worse, despite this being her first trial, she copied it perfectly. Was it a sign of her latent talent in 'The Art of Kawaii'?
Hundreds of snarky remarks were charging through Baiyi's mind, yet he found himself automatically reacting to the gesture, his arms wrapping around Noirciel on their own accord before bringing her close to his chest. As his hands closed around her delicate waist, Baiyi announced, "Alright, hold tight. This little rocket is standing tall and ready — I mean, I'm about to fly." [1]
Just like that, he ditched the Charlatan Walker and zoomed towards Arfin City like a bullet. In a blink of an eye, the Charlatan Walker found himself alone.
"Goddamnit! I can't do that!" The Charlatan Walker groaned. Left with no choice, he looked for the nearest transporter portal for himself.
Honestly, Baiyi was living a young man's fantasy. He was practically tearing through the sky in heart-thumping high-speed with a young girl's warm, soft body pressing on his chest as she held onto him throughout the ride. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the Pope, whose only thumping was the migraine pounding in his skull.
He had just returned to his chamber with a long face and his fingers rubbing furtively on his temples. He had never felt so defeated and frustrated before.
The past hour had been annoyingly grueling. It was almost impossible to send Jola away, especially when he had pelted the Pope with a barrage of poignant and nigh-unanswerable questions. The only way the Pope had managed to deflect them was through myriads of excuses and repeated appeal to his authority as the head of the Church, but he knew that it was only temporary.
To make matters worse, the apostle had returned with a battle report stinking with failure. The Pope was so enraged by it that he had unsaintly cursed Baiyi in his mind.
He had been correct in presuming the Angel to be useless in a fight, yet he did not expect her to be so incompetent that not even a fight had started. Nothing the Pope planned — from the hopes of seeing Noirciel wounding the Devil critically, to his men gathering valuable information about the latter's abilities — had come to fruition. After all of that had cost him, the only thing the Pope had managed to give the Devil was another addition to his harem!
How fortunate it was that an Angel must return to the Divine Realm after three days! The Pope could suffer from a brain aneurysm just by imagining a very plausible future where the Devil held hands with the Angel and forced her to call him daddy before nonplussed believers. Even eternal torment in hell looked absolutely tame when compared to this!
The only silver lining from this fiasco was that the apostle and the templars had returned relatively unharmed. Yet, when the Pope remembered how incessant Jola's questions were, even that silver lining dulled.
Frankly, if these were the entirety of his troubles, the Pope would have just been livid rather than suffering from acute migraines. The biggest problem this debacle revealed, and the real reason why the Pope was stressed, was the Devil's accomplices — the legendary Apostle who had walked the Abyss alone and the greatest Holy Knight in Church history.
That scheming snake! He must have deliberately brought those two into the battle precisely because their existence as Voidwalkers continued to stump the Church. The Devil was obviously using them as his anti-Church cards!
Conservative hardliners in the Church had convoked meetings after meetings to counter those two turncoats for a long time, but the only reliable method they managed to come up with was to bowdlerize the Church's legends gradually so that their importance diminished. Some had suggested slanders by accusing them of having fallen from the Lord's grace, while some had suggested denouncing them as fakes who misappropriated and smeared the names of the legendary figures. As long as those two were unable to demonstrate any theurgical powers nor used spells like Word of God, there was no reason why the public would doubt the Church's statements!
Some were even naïve enough to believe that the two Church icons were sleeper agents pretending to ally with the Devil. They had wholeheartedly believed that these two would strike that darkness reincarnate when he least expected it!
Now, however, it became clear that those were all the Church's pipe dreams.
Once the 'misunderstanding' was cleared, the angel and Voidwalkers continued on their journey, without taking any breaks.Baiyi made no mention of the Arbiter's Rights, the Laws, or the collar on Noirciel's neck. Instead, he talked about topics that one would recount to visitors from abroad food, culture, tourist destinations, and the cutest plushies on the market."That patisserie over there is well-known amongst girls like you. Every snack made there is delicious and looks great. You wouldn't believe how generous young women become just to get a taste of those amazing snacks!""The most popular plushie right now is a mega-plushie. It's as big as you are, and made from the softest fur available. If you hug it, you won't want to let it go.""That? That's the hottest party on the continent! There, young boys and girls, who are dressed to impress, would dance and sing their night away. It's so electrifying, even someone like me is a little bit drawn to it"Noirciel did not speak much; all she uttered were Oohs and Ahs. However, the longer Baiyi spoke for, the more visible the angel's yearning was on her face. Did she really long for these things despite her best efforts to feign indifference?As a master schemer, the Charlatan Walker could read Noirciel's face like a book. He began to talk to her in Baiyi's stead, grossly exaggerating the points he thought Baiyi had been bland about. The Charlatan Walker made the most mundane events sound like grand events and epic adventures.An internal conflict had begun within Noirciel. Her wayward attitude was rebelling against her mind's effort to remain indifferent; it was like an itch that she was trying not to scratch. Poor Noirciel soon covered her face with her hands and whispered, "I must not yearn for all that. It will corrupt me further. I don't want to be abnormal"'That can't be good,' Baiyi thought and glanced at the Charlatan Walker, silently asking him to restrain himself. Baiyi could not risk the angel being corrupted right now; after all, he still needed her help to save Mia.While the Charlatan Walker wooed Noirciel, Baiyi quietly examined her with his psychic energy. In the past, the angel was alerted even before Baiyi's physic energy touched her, but now, she was oblivious to his probing. No one could tell if this was because she trusted Baiyi more now, or because she was being distracted by the Charlatan Walker's words, which had caused her internal struggle. Baiyi was able to examine her fully and obtained secrets that had eluded him in his trip to the past.Although her body appeared to be that of a little girl's, Noirciel was actually an energy being. The collar on her neck, the white blindfold over her eyes, the plain white robe she wore, and the wing behind her were all Divine Energy constructs. The host's body was used as a shell; this was why Noirciel had retained her host's physical appearance.This was similar to the mechanism behind Baiyi's black meatball mode. Unlike his bizarre appearance in that mode, Noirciel looked human, with her Divine Energy acting in the same manner her outer garment was.Noirciel was a beautiful young lady, who was as pretty as the beauties in Baiyi's harem. Her bodacious body complimented her name, and although she was not very tall, she possessed slender curves that seamlessly outlined her long, lean legs. Noirciel's hourglass figure was visible through her conservative robe, and anyone that looked at her would not help but imagine wrapping their arms around her delicate waist.One thing Baiyi found unfortunate was that not every part of Noirciel's body was well-developed. She lacked in the same area that Mia and Attie did!One look at Noirciel's appearance her seductive body, the shameful collar around her neck, and the subservient blindfold around her eyes was all it took for Baiyi to develope a different impression of a being who everyone was supposed to consider immaculate.Baiyi quickly retracted his psychic energy, looked up, and said, "We're still a good distance away from Arfin City. Let's hurry."Flying was the only way Noirciel could travel. The unique composition of her body made the usage of transporter portals useless; the enormous amount of pure energy in her body would disrupt the portal's function, and this could cause it to explode.When Baiyi indirectly suggested that they fly, Noirciel lowered her head in embarrassment, letting out a pitiful whimper."Okay, so how about I carry you and fly?" Baiyi suggested.The Fifth Walker fondly remembered the days he taught Mia and the other girls to fly. To have the girls acclimated to dogfights between seasoned sorcerers, Baiyi had implemented a strict and demanding training regimen so that they learned high-speed, high-altitude flight right from the get-go. After a while of training, however, the girls would begin to complain about the chilly high winds and how out of breath they were, and then rushed into Baiyi's embrace and rubbing their little cheeks on him. Then, as Baiyi carried them home, they would cuddle snugly in his arms.Just thinking about those good old times brought a smile from the bottom of his heart. When was the last time he enjoyed such a pleasant experience since the girls learned to fly on their own without him?If Noirciel said yes, he would be able to revisit that old, fuzzy warmth of his past once more!Noirciel shook her head.Baiyi found his chest sinking in disappointment. He had not expected the Angel to be so surprisingly demure."Er, what if I give you a piggyback ride?" Undaunted, he rephrased his question slightly and tried again.Noriciel shook her head, and Baiyi wondered if this showed how much the little angel wanted to get close to him."But we don't have any other choice, do we? Your body makes it impossible to speed up by any other means. Not only that, I can't even cast any kind of spell on you, too," Baiyi pointed out in exasperation. He could not cast a Levitation Spell, nor any kind of magic, on the Angel because her energy would disrupt them all. "If we remain on our current speed, we'll only arrive at Arfin City after sundown!"'Why must Angels also be completely resistant to magic? Doesn't that just make them ridiculously overpowered? Honestly, did the designers of this universe even know what "power balance" means?' Baiyi complained quietly in his head.Determination suddenly glinted in Noirciel's eyes, and before Baiyi could say anything, she suddenly raised her head to meet his gaze and spread open her arms. Realization struck Baiyi like lightning; it was as though she really wished to cuddle! Her eyes were even filled with such a strong sense of sheepish eagerness that Baiyi could see it through her blindfold.Baiyi took some time to recover from his shock. How... nowhen did Noirciel learn Little Mia's critical move? Was it because Lulu had seen her best friend performing it to ingratiate on Baiyi once or twice, and now Noirciel pulled it out of Lulu's memories? Why was it that despite Mia and Lulu's many strengths, this clumsy little Angel learned this instead? Worse, despite this being her first trial, she copied it perfectly. Was it a sign of her latent talent in 'The Art of Kawaii'?Hundreds of snarky remarks were charging through Baiyi's mind, yet he found himself automatically reacting to the gesture, his arms wrapping around Noirciel on their own accord before bringing her close to his chest. As his hands closed around her delicate waist, Baiyi announced, "Alright, hold tight. This little rocket is standing tall and ready I mean, I'm about to fly." 1Just like that, he ditched the Charlatan Walker and zoomed towards Arfin City like a bullet. In a blink of an eye, the Charlatan Walker found himself alone."Goddamnit! I can't do that!" The Charlatan Walker groaned. Left with no choice, he looked for the nearest transporter portal for himself.Honestly, Baiyi was living a young man's fantasy. He was practically tearing through the sky in heart-thumping high-speed with a young girl's warm, soft body pressing on his chest as she held onto him throughout the ride. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the Pope, whose only thumping was the migraine pounding in his skull.He had just returned to his chamber with a long face and his fingers rubbing furtively on his temples. He had never felt so defeated and frustrated before.The past hour had been annoyingly grueling. It was almost impossible to send Jola away, especially when he had pelted the Pope with a barrage of poignant and nigh-unanswerable questions. The only way the Pope had managed to deflect them was through myriads of excuses and repeated appeal to his authority as the head of the Church, but he knew that it was only temporary.To make matters worse, the apostle had returned with a battle report stinking with failure. The Pope was so enraged by it that he had unsaintly cursed Baiyi in his mind.He had been correct in presuming the Angel to be useless in a fight, yet he did not expect her to be so incompetent that not even a fight had started. Nothing the Pope planned from the hopes of seeing Noirciel wounding the Devil critically, to his men gathering valuable information about the latter's abilities had come to fruition. After all of that had cost him, the only thing the Pope had managed to give the Devil was another addition to his harem!How fortunate it was that an Angel must return to the Divine Realm after three days! The Pope could suffer from a brain aneurysm just by imagining a very plausible future where the Devil held hands with the Angel and forced her to call him daddy before nonplussed believers. Even eternal torment in hell looked absolutely tame when compared to this!The only silver lining from this fiasco was that the apostle and the templars had returned relatively unharmed. Yet, when the Pope remembered how incessant Jola's questions were, even that silver lining dulled.Frankly, if these were the entirety of his troubles, the Pope would have just been livid rather than suffering from acute migraines. The biggest problem this debacle revealed, and the real reason why the Pope was stressed, was the Devil's accomplices the legendary Apostle who had walked the Abyss alone and the greatest Holy Knight in Church history.That scheming snake! He must have deliberately brought those two into the battle precisely because their existence as Voidwalkers continued to stump the Church. The Devil was obviously using them as his anti-Church cards!Conservative hardliners in the Church had convoked meetings after meetings to counter those two turncoats for a long time, but the only reliable method they managed to come up with was to bowdlerize the Church's legends gradually so that their importance diminished. Some had suggested slanders by accusing them of having fallen from the Lord's grace, while some had suggested denouncing them as fakes who misappropriated and smeared the names of the legendary figures. As long as those two were unable to demonstrate any theurgical powers nor used spells like Word of God, there was no reason why the public would doubt the Church's statements!Some were even nave enough to believe that the two Church icons were sleeper agents pretending to ally with the Devil. They had wholeheartedly believed that these two would strike that darkness reincarnate when he least expected it!Now, however, it became clear that those were all the Church's pipe dreams.
