"Not long ago, Elora went to buy the map of the Abandoned City of Gods." Thalia stated.
"Are you trying to anger me?" The Holy Priest of Flames Lerian asked, slightly annoyed that the girl was raising the topic. He already knew his subordinate lost the bidding war. He couldn't understand just what she was trying to get at, other than attempting to piss him off.
"Get to the topic!"
"That's what I'm doing," Thalia rolled her eyes. "While she was there, she met two people at the Palace of Lambard."
She informed everyone how Elora lost one of the Head Priestesses of the Church of Water at the hands of a Dark Mage.
"Just that? Doesn't it just mean that the Church of Water is just too weak? Is there even a reason to call this meeting?"
Most people didn't think of the story much... At least not this far. However there was one exception. It was Avilia. From Thaila's description she was sure that the person Elora had a conflict with was none other than Gabriel.
"That much was truly not worth paying much attention. Do you really think I'll call a meeting of Saints over that?" Thalia rolled her eyes. Out of everyone here, only Lerian was someone she found irritating since the man didn't care about anything. He didn't even have much patience. He already acted like he was better than everyone else and no one bothered him either.
Out of everyone here, only this man was talking and intervening.
"Back to the topic. A few days after that, the Academy of the Elements was robbed..."
"Huh?"
Finally, Lerian's curiosity peaked. The death of a mere Head Priestess of Water was not even worth mentioning in his eyes. However robbing the treasury of the Academy of Elements? That wasn't easy to achieve, especially for a dark mage!
Achieving that meant that the Dark Mage not only managed to pass through the Ancestral Barrier of Light that covered Lumen City, but they also managed to infiltrate the Academy of Elements and steal all their precious treasures. Even he wasn't sure if he could've achieved something like that if he was in their place.
"Izen didn't stop him? Shouldn't that be impossible? With his strength and the Numen that nullifies all magic, shouldn't it be impossible for someone to rob the Academy?" Lerian frowned, thinking if there was even a way. "Unless... he wasn't in the Academy?"
"That's right. That guy wasn't in the Academy at that time." Thalia nodded.
"Hah, no wonder. That does decrease the difficulty by a lot. But still, entering the holy city of Lumen and robbing the Academy of Elements right under the nose of the Church of Light, hahahah, not bad." Lerian couldn't help but laugh the more he thought of it. "No wonder I didn't hear of this. Those idiots must be so embarrassed that they don't want this story to spread!"
"I don't think it's the time to laugh!" Thalia grimaced. "The Ancestral Staff of Darkness is stolen. It's most probably already with the Ruler of Darkness. Not only that, they also have other treasures of the Academy. With such treasures, it's only a matter of time before their strength increases even more!"
"Not only that, even Lambard is siding with the Dark Priests. With the kind of funding and resources he can offer, it can get really troublesome and really fast."
"Is that all? I didn't have much of a conflict with Lambard. That guy was certainly very resourceful. However, now that he has chosen a side, I don't need to hold back. I'll go to Abbadon and deal with him. We should be able to clean the Church of Darkness in a few days. I hope the new Ruler of Darkness won't disappoint me."
Lerian removed his foot from the table and stood up. "Not much of a problem."
"Lerian, stop." Before Lerian could leave, a voice came from the back. "I'm sure there's more to it. We should listen properly first."
Lerian stopped and turned around, glancing at the silver haired woman in the back. The young woman was dressed in all red, which created quite a contrast with her pure silver hair.
The woman had a blindfold around her eyes which hid her eyes from everyone. She was also the only person amongst the Holy Priests who couldn't see. Despite that, she was also one of the peak powerhouses amongst the Holy Priests. She was the Holy Priestess of Earth Rivia.
Amongst the current eight Holy Priests, Rivia was someone who had been a Holy Priest the longest. After her was Lerian and then the Holy Priest of Wind Yael.
Amongst the ones who had been in contact with their Holy Grimoires the shortest time, at the top was Elora, who only recently became the Holy Priestess of Water. The second shortest time was said to be the current generation of Ruler of Light who had never made an appearance.
The Holy Priest of Nature Welin looked the oldest out of everyone, but he was also the one who had the third shortest time since being selected by the Holy Grimoire. And the fourth shortest was Avilia.
Even though each Grimoire possessed immense power of that element, it was said that the longer one had with their Grimoire, the more power they could withdraw, including the more powerful spells.
If Lerian paid attention to anyone in this entire group after the death of the last Ruler of Light, it was Rivia even though he was confident that he could destroy her in the battle if the two of them fought.
"Is there anything else to say?" he asked Thalia, still not taking his seat.
"There is a lot. You can't attack the City of Abaddon," Thalia answered, sighing. She told everyone here the last part of her story about how she and Elora attacked the City of Abaddon already, only to fail in destroying it.
"Now we don't know where the city of Abaddon is currently situated," she ended her story. "That was everything."
Lerian was silent as he heard the last part of the story about how the two Holy Priestesses attacked.
There was only silence in the entire hall. The air around them started getting warmer.
"Are you being serious right now?!" Lerian asked, finally losing to his anger. He smacked his fist on the table in anger.
Bang~
The entire table that was made from the strongest of marbles in the world broke apart as if it was made of the weakest of glass!
"So we had only one clue to get to the Dark Priests and you idiots attacked them all alone? Not only did you attack the place but you also failed to conquer that place? Can you be any more useless?"
"You already did everything to ruin every opportunity we had of finding the Church of Darkness and now you come to us to help you salvage the situation after ruining everything?"
****
Even though tempers were flaring inside the Palace, nothing could be sensed from the outside. The palace not only contained all the noise inside to ensure that no one outside was able to hear what was being discussed inside, but also the increase in temperature couldn't be sensed on the outside.
It was as if the inner area of the Palace was in a different realm itself.
Head Priests of many Churches were standing outside the Royal Palace, keeping an eye on each other even though it wasn't necessary.
However at the same time, another Head Priest came flying from a distance. Two wings made entirely of flames could be seen on his back, as if he was an angel of flames.
"What is he doing here?"
One of the Head Priests of Flames flew up to intercept the middle aged Head Priest of Flames who was flying in haste.
"You came so far from the main branch. Did something happen?" The Head Priest, who accompanied the Holy Priest of Flames here, asked.
"Yes! The crystal! It... It's finally broken!" The middle aged Head Priest exclaimed. "We need to inform him!"
