"What's the commotion? Why is there a crowd?"
Gabriel was prepared to put his plan into action, albeit a bit in advance, but before he could even declare his identity, he heard a voice coming from the back.
There wasn't any magic in the voice, but he could still feel some suppression. It wasn't enough to affect him, but it was still enough for him to be sensed.
Unlike him, the others looked even more shocked, especially the Knights.
All the Royal Knights looked in the direction that voice came from, going down to their knees. The crowd also appeared shocked. They cleared the path right away.
As soon as the crowd stepped aside, Gabriel was also taken aback.
There were two people in the back. One of the two was a man who was in his late forties. The man was wearing a beautiful Royal Attire of the Arecia Empire. A charming golden robe hung on his shoulders.
Unlike the Royal Knights before him, the man seemed different. If the Royal Knights were a small pond of strength, then the middle-aged man looked like he was an entire lake!
All the Royal Knights that Gabriel saw before carried Artificial Treasures made by humans. However, the middle-aged man was clearly carrying a Numen!
There was a heavy sword on his back, yet the man was effortlessly carrying it. Gabriel was sure that the sword that the man carried on his back was a Numen and not a weak Numen!
Even though he could feel that the heavy Sword wasn't on the same level as the Sword of Ulien, it was still a high-tier Numen.
Most of the Royal Knights were on one knee before the middle-aged man. It was clear that they were giving this respect to the middle-aged man. However, the person that really shocked Gabriel was the second person!
Next to the middle-aged man was a woman... The person whose presence seemed like a disaster to Gabriel.
The woman next to the middle-aged man appeared to be much younger. She didn't even look like she had turned eighteen properly. Even her height was only slightly over five feet. However, Gabriel knew the true identity of that person!
The woman wore a very ordinary black dress as if she was trying to be inconspicuous and not attend much attention. Ordinary people couldn't even feel her aura properly to differentiate her from an ordinary person.
Strangely enough, despite hiding her aura, the woman didn't hide her Elemental Mark! The Mark... It was a mark he had seen quite a few times before, but this time, the owner of this Mark had an aura that wasn't ordinary! This person was clearly a Holy Priestess, the Head of a Church!
'Head of the Church of Summoning... What is she doing here? Is she the guest that the Empire invited for the Knight Tournament? But why is she here so soon?'
Even though most people here were intimidated by the middle-aged man, only Gabriel was there, who was taken aback by the woman instead. He didn't care for the middle-aged man as much as he did for the woman!
She was a Holy Knight! He had only met a Holy Knight twice. First was Lira, who could sense his element right away. And second was Elora, the Holy Priestess of Water. Thanks to his gloves and Lambard's domain, she couldn't sense his Aura.
Unfortunately, this time Gabriel didn't have the protection of being in that domain. He also didn't have the Ring of Apophis. He only had the ring that was given to him by the Spectre. He didn't know if the Ring was enough to hide his Aura enough to fool a Holy Priestess!
'Even with the ring, Izen was able to find out what I am. Could it be that she too...?'
The last time Gabriel came face to face with Izen, even that guy discovered him. However, he wasn't sure if it was because his ring wasn't strong enough to hide his Aura from Izen or because Izen had some other skill and had the help of luck. Whatever the case, he knew that situation had changed drastically for now.
Gabriel only took a monetary glance at the Holy Priestess of Summoning before shifting to the middle-aged man, not wanting to attract too much attention for now if possible.
Still, he was prepared for a battle. If the Holy Priestess of Summoning recognized him and attacked him, he was prepared to fight! However, for now, he could only curse his luck for meeting her here.
Avilia Achlon, the Holy Priestess of Summoning, had long black hair with bangs that covered her forehead. Unlike her hair, her eyes were a darker shade of Crimson.
Avilia was known as one of the strongest Heads of Churches of present times. She was known as a powerful Holy Priestess who could control hundreds of powerful beasts during battle. It was said that if she wanted, she could destroy an entire Empire without even leaving her room!
Despite such strength, she was not particularly liked by the masses, all thanks to the legends about her. There were a lot of stories about her being an arrogant person who didn't give respect even to the Holy Priest of Light.
Gabriel had heard a lot of stories about this person, and that's why she was also the one he was most guarded against.
It was said that amongst all the Holy Priests of the current Generation, she was the only person who wasn't a member of a Church before becoming a Holy Priest!
According to some of the stories, it was said that initially, when the Holy Grimoire of Summoning selected her as the new master, she rejected it right away. She refused to even touch the Grimoire, calling it a waste of her time.
Her rejection offended the Church of Summoning a lot as they felt the girl was saying that their Church wasn't worth her time. Her actions offended them so much that quite a few Head Priests of the Church of Summoning decided to kill her so the Grimoire could select another person instead of her!
Unfortunately, that was also their biggest mistake, as that was what truly wrote the future path of Avilia in stone. It was said that when she was attacked and was actually on the verge of death, she actually accepted the Holy Grimoire of Summoning and slaughtered everyone who came to kill her.
Not only that, but she also killed everyone who was a part of this scheme before actually taking over the Church of Summoning! In that part of the world, Avilia was the god that couldn't be offended!
