Gabriel placed his hands on the door, feeling a flood of energy rushing toward him. Only he could feel that storm of energy around him. He felt as if he was being torn apart by that destructive energy. It was as if the door was warning him to take his hands off if he didn't want to die.
Gabriel's face turned pale. He wondered if this was a trap by the Head Priests. They were the ones who told him to place his hands there to break the seal!
Just as he was about to take his hands off, the destructive energy suddenly disappeared as his white bracelet sent a soothing energy around his body, forming a protective layer around his body that could specifically counter this destructive energy.
For some reason, Gabriel felt that even his Dark Aura or the aura of Necromancy couldn't counter this destructive energy in such a short time, but this pure white energy of Light that came from his Holy Grimoire of Light instantly neutralized it!
"So it was a defensive mechanism to keep outsiders away..."
Gabriel didn't take his hands off anymore and just waited there. After some time, everyone heard a heavy click. The seal was temporarily removed and the heavy door started opening.
Only half a meter wide opening was made between the doors before the door stopped opening.
Gabriel took his hands off and passed through the small opening to enter the holy region of the Church of Light. The shadow clone also followed Gabriel inside.
After Gabriel entered, the door closed on its own...
Avilia was quite eager to see just what secrets were inside this holy region. However, before she could even see anything inside, her face went pale. She coughed out a mouthful of blood as she felt her body heavily injured!
"H-how?"
She held her chest, feeling extremely weak. It was as if she was injured! As soon as her Shadow Beast Clone entered the holy region, the clone was destroyed by something. And because of the connection, even she was injured!
Even a Holy Lord shouldn't have been able to destroy her Shadow Beast Clone in such a short time. However, that happened! She didn't know what was on the other side, but it was terrifying! She felt as if she could've been easily killed as well if she had passed through that door!
All the Churches had such Holy Regions where they have tributes to the statues of their gods and goddesses or prayer. The Church of Summoning also had one! However, this place was very different.
In other places, the Head Priests could also enter and they could also invite others if the others earned enough merit! However, in this place, even the Head Priests couldn't enter!
Only the Holy Lord could pass through! That's why she wanted to know just what was different about this place! She hadn't expected herself to get injured instead!
'In such a place, could Gabriel survive? He has the Element of Darkness and his weird element as well. Whatever lies on the other side, he probably can't fool it...'
At this point, she even wondered if Gabriel could come back alive from the other side.
****
Gabriel walked through the door, finally entering the other side.
As soon as he stepped on the other side, he felt a strange energy all around him. It was as if he had walked to an entirely different world altogether. He couldn't sense any of the natural aura that he could sense back at home!
What was even stranger was that the small sparrow that was sitting on his shoulders disappeared abruptly, as if the summon was cancelled. The shadow beast clone that was following him was destroyed as well. Only he stood in that place with no prying eyes.
"This place...?" Gabriel didn't remember seeing the place before. Moreover, for some reason, even though he had walked into a hall in the underground area of the Church of Light, the sky above his head was clear!
He could even see clouds and a sun above him! He didn't feel any teleportation so he was sure he was still underground! For some reason, in this small hall, there existed an entirely new world altogether!
The world was vast. As far as his eyes could see, he saw no end.
He cast flight spells to check his surroundings using the sky, but the flight spell didn't work. Let alone his Flight Spell, none of his spells could work at all!
All the illusions around him had dispersed, revealing his true self. Even the mask that he was wearing was shattered, falling to the ground!
Only his clothes that were the artefacts he had revived with his Ancestral Staff were still intact.
"What is this place?" The curious eyes of Gabriel looked around everywhere as he tried to make a sense of the situation.
He could see him standing in the middle of nowhere! There were nine fall stone slabs standing all around him, forming a circle and he was in the center.
All the stone slabs were similar in size. However, all of them had a different color. There were no words written on the slabs. The stone slabs didn't look like ordinary pieces of slabs either.
There was something special about them that even Gabriel could understand. It was as if the stone slabs were very profound. He couldn't even look at a stone slab for more than a few seconds without experiencing a heavy headache. This place really wasn't simple.
He couldn't see any statue of the goddess of Light in this place, making this place different from the other Churches' Holy Regions.
"What are these slabs?" he wondered, talking to himself.
"They are naturally something good for you."
Gabriel was still lost in his thoughts when he heard a voice. The voice belonged to a woman!
Gabriel couldn't believe that there was another person in this strange place. He abruptly turned around, noticing the blue stone slab behind him.
Next to the slab, he could see a woman in her early twenties, standing lazily. The woman had a strange fruit in her hand which she had already taken a bite out of.
She was dressed in a beautiful white gown that highlighted her mature aura even more.
"Who are you?" Gabriel frowned. The woman next to the slab... He had never seen that woman! It wasn't the Goddess of Light he saw in the dream when he received the Grimoire either! So who was she? That was the question.
"Don't worry. It's not surprising that you don't know that old hag," another voice came from another direction. The voice this time had some arrogance mixed in, as if the person who spoke had quite the arrogance.
