"What storm?" Gabriel inquired, slightly confused.
The only thing that could trouble him at this point was if any Churches were coming after him. However, he was sure that none of the Churches knew about him being here... He made sure of that. Then why would he need to run?
"You really don't know anything, do you?" Avilia sighed, slightly surprised at how ignorant this guy was. Then again, she also knew that there was genuinely no way for him to know. Even she only knew because she was there when the Lord of Flames was informed about the location where the stone was broken.
"What don't I know?" Gabriel asked. "There's no reason to be vague. Just be direct. Who is coming for me?"
"No one is coming for you specifically, but you're also caught in this whole mess this time. You've been marked by the Fate Stone with everyone else who was in this city when the stone was broken," the Holy Priestess of Summoning replied. "The Church of Flames will be directly involved this time."
"Fate Stone?" Gabriel only grew more confused. He had no idea what the Fate stone event meant, but he hadn't forgotten the last words of the Emperor of Arecia, where he said that the entire city would suffer. He had a feeling that whatever doom the Empire was facing had something to do with him.
And since Avilia personally came here to warn him this time, it was clear that he hadn't bluffed.
"The Church of Flames will be coming to destroy this Empire? So you're saying that the Church of Flames doesn't know I'm here specifically? This time, it's a coincidence that I'm caught in this mess... But what's this Fate Stone?"
Gabriel couldn't believe that even when he was trying to avoid the Churches to gain more strength, he was still caught in this mess with a Church. He wanted to understand the whole situation before doing anything.
The Holy Priestess of Summoning explained everything that happened after she left Gabriel last time, including being taken to the Meeting of Saints.
The Saints had a rule that no one was allowed to tell anyone about the discussion that took place in the meeting of the Saints, but Avilia couldn't care less, especially since no one had any way to know if any information was leaked. She already knew that other Holy Priests didn't bother about this rule either.
She also told him about the incident that occurred after they came out of the meeting regarding the Fate Stone. Along the way, she explained to him about the Fate Stone.
"The third strongest Holy Priest, Lerian... This is certainly a mess if they come here to investigate."
After hearing everything, Gabriel perfectly understood just why this was a problem. The Holy Priest of Flames was said to be quite strong after all, with spells that targeted large ranges.
'I am an Advanced Tier Mage, but he's said to be at the peak of Soul Strength... I might be able to face him if I go all out, but the problem arises when other Churches join in... I'm not strong enough yet. This Empire will certainly be destroyed if I fight at this point...'
There were some things that he didn't tell Avilia, keeping his secrets to himself. However, he still knew that if he wanted a better chance, he had to take Avilia's help in this.
"If Lerian comes here to investigate, he would definitely ask to meet the Emperor," he stated. "If he meets me, I can't be entirely sure that he won't find out my real identity. But if I sent someone else to pretend to be the Emperor, it won't take him long to find out the truth either... If that happens, he might even destroy this city in anger."
"That's why I'm asking you to leave." Avilia nodded. Find Lambard, and he might be able to help you take off the Mark of Fate Stone from you. I heard you had some dealings with him. If you know his new location, you should go there."
"His new location?"
Gabriel hadn't known that Lambard's City had changed places, and even the Churches didn't know where the city of Abbadon was presently established.
After being informed by Avilia, he realized that this option was out of the question as well. He only knew the last location of the City of Apophis.
Even he didn't know the new location. And even if he knew, he had a feeling that Lambard wasn't going to help him. Those two didn't have any good relationship anymore after all.
"I can't take Lambard's help. Even I don't know where he is," he honestly told Avilia. "That's not an option."
As Gabriel spoke, he kept observing Avilia's reaction, trying to gauge her position.
"Don't look at me like that. I won't help you fight Lerian." Noticing Gabriel's strange gaze, Avilia shrugged. "I told you before... I'm supposed to be neutral..."
Gabriel didn't react much. He wasn't surprised by her reaction.
Even though Avilia was strong, he knew that her position was slightly complicated. If she joined him to fight a Holy Priest, it could create a large-scale war between all Holy Priests. They weren't close enough for her to take this risk yet.
He also didn't want her to take this risk. She was his trump card for the future, someone who could get him more information about the Holy Priests. He didn't want other Holy Priests to find out that she was working with him as well.
"Don't worry. I am not going to ask you to fight for me," he explained. "I have an idea, and I'll handle Lerian myself. I just need a little time and a tiny bit of help from you..."
"What help?" Avilia asked, frowning. For some reason, she didn't have a good feeling about this. Just what help was Gabriel looking for if this wasn't asking her to fight?
"I want to borrow a beast from you..." Gabriel explained. If possible, he wanted to avoid this situation, but he couldn't. "A beast that can fly and carry me."
"A Flying Beast? Why do you need one?" Avilia inquired, having no idea.
...
Gabriel took a brief pause before telling one line to Avilia. However, that one line was enough to shock the Holy Priestess of Summoning.
"What the... Have you gone crazy? Are you looking for death?!" The Holy Priestess of Summoning exclaimed, standing up in shock.
When she came to Gabriel to inform him, it was only because she believed he wasn't strong enough to handle this mess. She wanted him to run away and continue growing until he was strong enough to face a Holy Priest to break the balance. However, she didn't expect him to devise such an absurd idea!
