The fire around the specter disappeared... There was not even a single sign of the specter being harmed, let alone being destroyed! It was as if even the Infernal Flames failed even to touch him!
The Specter passed through the glass doors, floating closer to the Infernal King.
****
Eliana glanced back at the other Head Council Members. She was just an acting Dean. If Elora was here with an important request that needed the authority of a Dean, then she didn't feel comfortable handling that herself. She wanted the entire Head Council to be there, so a consensus could be made for them.
"If you're here for a minor matter, of course, we can talk alone." Eliana agreed, but she added a condition. "But if you're here for something that requires me to use the Dean's authority over the Academy, then I'm afraid I would have to keep the Head Council with me. We take important decisions together."
Elora was quite disappointed with the response. If she was here at this time, of course the matter couldn't be small. She needed the help of the Dean of the Academy. With her condition, Eliana had indirectly rejected her offer of talking alone without explicitly rejecting it.
Elora let out a sigh, thinking about it for a minute. "Fine. All of them can be there."
Ultimately, she could only agree. She was here to take their help, and she couldn't do that by forcing them.
"That's great. Please come inside!"
Eliana escorted Elora and the others inside the castle.
The Head Council members accompanied them, quite curious about what Elora was here for. From her response, it was clear that Elora was here to ask for some help from the Academy... And a significant help at that.
Both the groups had eight people in them. The group from the Church of Water was led by Elora, while the group of Head Council was being led by Eliana.
The sixteen people entered the meeting hall where Eliana had declared her verdict about Caen's test in the morning.
The doors were closed after everyone took their seats, with Eliana and Elora sitting face to face.
"We can talk about anything here, and the news won't get out of this room. So you can talk freely."
Elora sat with her hands on the table, gazing at her fingers as if trying to think of the best way to raise this topic. She seemed a bit distracted about something as well.
All the Head Council members waited for her to speak.
After a brief period of silence, Elora finally spoke. "You might be wondering why there are so many Head Priestesses with me outside the Church?"
"That thought did cross my mind," Eliana affirmed.
"A Head Priestess of ours was killed," Elora answered. "Not too long ago at that."
"Hmm?" Eliana and other Head Council members were taken aback. Head Priest and Priestesses weren't ones that could be killed that easily. They were pretty strong, after all.
"A battle with a Head Priest from another church?" Qin asked. "That can explain it."
If a Head Priestess was killed, it could be possible that another Church was involved since they had the strength needed.
"But why would someone kill a Head Priestess from the Church of Water?" Xinci shook her head. "That won't make sense. No Church would do something like this to someone from another Church, especially someone at such a high position."
She further stated, "That makes me think it wasn't the work of another Church."
"You're right. You don't have to guess anymore. We already know who the culprits are," Elora chimed in. "It was a group of two. One of them was a Dark Mage for sure, maybe even both of them."
"A Dark Mage that killed a Head Priestess? Are there still such strong Dark Mages left?x Yann asked. "That's intriguing."
"Surprisingly, it's the second time we are hearing of Dark Mage today. Apparently, a Dark Mage also killed a Priest of the Church of Light in a small village," Rem chimed in, remembering reading about something similar in Hawrin's file. "Could it really be a coincidence? Or could it be that the Church of Darkness is trying to make a return?"
"I'm not sure. But the Dark Mage lured Ruyi behind them. By the time I found out, she was already dead. I tried to find them, but as you might expect, it's not easy," Elora further explained.
"Is that why you're here? How can we help you with that? If you couldn't find the Dark Mage that killed your Priestess, how can we?" Eliana appeared confused. Just how was that related to the help the Church needed? She didn't understand.
"We don't need your help to find them." Elora smiled in response. It seemed as if these people were underestimating her.
She continued, "We will find that person ourselves. I was just explaining the reason for so many to be accompanying me. Apparently they are concerned that the Church of Darkness might be making a return and might target me. So they insisted on accompanying me here."
"So if you were worrying about their presence here, don't be. We aren't here for war," she once again assured Eliana. "As for why we're actually here... It's because we need to borrow an item from your Museum for a few minutes... We only need to use it temporarily. The item won't even leave your museum, that I can assure you."
"If you want, you can also accompany us to make sure we don't do anything else."
*****
Gabriel entered the Museum of Element, entering the ground floor where he had been in the morning. The guards seemed different at the moment, but their positions were the same.
He walked to the stairs. Once again, he could feel the eagerness of his Ring! He was getting closer to what it wanted!
With each step he took, he was closer to his goal, but he still had to take care of the guards. That was his biggest concern at the moment.
He reached the main floor... The hall where the most important of Numens were kept, but as soon as he stepped into the hall, his expression twisted!
