As Gabriel received the answer, he was quite pleased. It meant that Izen wasn't willing to take the risk. He wasn't a hundred percent sure which helped him about a lot of troubles.
"In that case, I advise you to stop wasting our time with these rumors and leave."
Gabriel took a few steps back, still facing Izen to not reveal his hands. The Head Priests and Avilia were already inside the Church of Light and the doors of the Church started closing once again. Since Izen wasn't confident either, the Head Priests didn't take his words seriously. They trusted their Holy Grimoire's selection after all.
Even as the door started closing, Izen's eyes remained focused on Gabriel. He didn't take his eyes off until the door completely closed. As time passed, his feeling about Gabriel being a dark mage only got stronger. However, he actually had many doubts that made him think that there was a good chance about him being wrong.
If Gabriel was a dark mage, would Avilia really work with him? Even though in anger, he had spoken such words about Avilia working with Dark Mages, he wasn't quite convinced of that himself.
"Something really strange is going on..." He stood before the Church of Light as the others started dispersing.
****
Once the doors closed, Gabriel could finally relax. For the time being, he didn't have to fight anyone. At least as long as he was inside the Church of Light.
"Do you all have some enmity with Izen?" he asked Qian. "I never met him yet he targeted me. It makes me think as if he was actually targeting the Church of Light to ruin your reputation. Is that the case?"
Gabriel couldn't let people suspect him so he changed black into white and made it appear as if Izen was targeting the Church and not him. That way, he could get the help of the Head Priests in one way or another.
"Even though we don't have a deep friendship between the Church and the Academy, there shouldn't be any enmity either. So we have no idea what he was trying to do." Qian shrugged, not taking Izen seriously. Even though Izen was strong, since he wasn't a Holy Priest, the Church didn't consider him worth their respect.
In the eyes of the Church, they were true Nobles, devoted to the gods. As for Izen, he was just a strong commoner. No matter how strong a commoner became, he wasn't worthy of their respect and consideration.
"It might be because he knows something about me being selected as the new Holy Priest," Gabriel responded. "Maybe he had doubts about that so he wanted to test. I never thought he would come up with such an absurd story to make me show my Mark of Light though."
The way Gabriel talked, even the gods could've been fooled. There was not the slightest hesitation in his eyes. His words were flawless as if they came from his heart without any falsehoods.
"Maybe. That guy is really cunning after all." Qian nodded. "I suggest that you don't leave the Church anytime soon. He might be keeping an eye out. If you have something to do outside, you can tell us and we'll do it for you."
The Head Priests had finally received a Holy Lord. They couldn't let anything happen to him until he was strong enough to protect himself.
As much as the Head Priests were surprised about Gabriel's talents and calmness, what stunned them even more was the girl that walked next to him. If it wasn't for Izen, they never would've known that Avilia was the Holy Priestess of Summoning! Such a strong existence was the wife of their new Holy Lord!
With the backing of Avilia, even if Gabriel wasn't a Holy Lord, he would've been treated with extreme respect by anyone!
"Stop looking at me if you don't want me to permanently blind you." Avilia didn't even have to look around to know just who was staring at her. It was only before Gabriel that her words were calm and considerate. Before the others, she was still the demoness that was unpredictable.
Hearing the threats coming from Avilia, right inside their headquarters, some of the Head Priests felt their lips twitch but they didn't say anything. They stopped looking at her. The woman was already hard to deal with after all.
The Head Priests took Gabriel with him to the depths of the Church of Light, stopping right outside the huge golden doors. The doors were similar in size to the door that Gabriel saw in the Church of Flame. It had the Mark of Light and a seal on the door.
When he went through a similar door in the Church of Flames, he was immediately pushed to his knees by the statue on the other side. He didn't know if there was a similar statue of the Goddess of Light on the other side of the door. However, if that was the case, he really wondered if something similar was going to happen.
Unlike the Church of Flames where the room was seemingly already open and explored many times, the room here appeared to be sealed. From the amount of dust gathered, it looked as if the room hadn't been opened in a long time.
"This is the most important place of the Church of Light. Ever since the last Lord died, no one entered this place," Qian explained. "Only a Holy Lord can open the seal on the door. That's why, only you are allowed to enter."
"Please go inside. You shall receive a blessing from the Goddess of Light."
The Head Priests took a few steps back after explaining. They also told Avilia to step back. Even they weren't allowed to enter, let alone Avilia. This was the holy ground of their Church after all.
Avilia was really curious about what was inside the room. However she also felt that these Priests weren't going to allow her to enter. She still wanted to see what was inside though. She sent a small shadow to hide in Gabriel's shadows. She couldn't see what her sparrow was seeing, but it wasn't the case for her shadow beast's clone.
As soon as Gabriel and her Shadow Beast entered, she believed she could finally see just what secrets lay ahead.
Gabriel could feel the shadow beast clone attach to him, but for the time being, he didn't care. It wasn't a big deal. If anything, this way Avilia could know when he was in trouble inside and come to help!
Gabriel could feel his heart beating heavily as he stepped closer to the doors. Taking a deep breath, he placed his hands on the door.
