Volume 6, Chapter 63 – Moving in the Shadows

Slowing her speed to a level that wouldn’t surpass Evelyn’s, Yisi stepped on the snow, her eyes fixed on the Omniscient Map. It wasn’t until the light dot representing the angel in the east had dissipated that she finally felt relieved.

We’ve finally reached this step.

The previous efforts were not in vain.

After the six Angels That Failed to Evolve had escaped from her hands, she had begun to plot all of this.

In order to stop the discrimination against the Fallen, it was necessary to change their image in the eyes of ordinary people. And the obstacle to this, besides the Fallen’s own flaw of going berserk, was the church’s propaganda. In order to maintain its rule, the church had to create a common enemy that was naturally in a position of weakness and could be easily targeted. This way, the internal conflicts could be shifted to the outside. Therefore, if the church was not overthrown, the Fallen would never have a chance to turn their lives around.

But she couldn’t just let the church, a behemoth in the human world, disappear directly. That would cause unimaginable and uncontrollable disasters. So she had set her sights on the church’s centralized system. From the fact that the hunters needed a majority vote from the Inquisition Hall to be deployed, it could be seen that the church had once not been a very centralized organization. But after Julius’s two hundred year rule, it could be said that the entire power of the church was concentrated in the hands of this one Pope. Therefore, this became her breakthrough point.

As long as the Pope changed his tune, the Fallen could obtain the status they deserved.

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The question was, how to make Julius change his tune?

From what she had seen on the fifth level, Yisi no longer placed her hope in Julius. Supporting a new Pope was the best choice. That was why she had deliberately gotten close to Evelyn—of course, the necklace was also a reason, but the necklace was no longer the main factor. In order to have Evelyn help her after she ascended to power without using violence, she had to first establish a good relationship with her. Now, she has already completed this step.

Thus, only three key problems remained.

First, how to make Evelyn overthrow Julius and have enough prestige and power to convince the masses, so that she would not be quickly pulled down from her position by the cardinals after becoming the Pope.

Second, how to change Evelyn’s prejudice against the Fallen.

Third, why Julius had not made a move yet.

The first and second problems were easy to solve. As long as Evelyn went to the fifth level of the church when the time was right, she would understand everything. What made Yisi uneasy was the third problem. Why had Julius not made a move at all?

She could observe Julius’s movements with teleportation and concealment magic and could see his actions in repairing the magic circuit of the Tower of Ymir. But she could not see what he was planning in his heart. Evelyn might not have discovered it, but the church was full of Julius’s spies. Even the paladin who had helped Evelyn escape from the rioting believers before was someone who had close contact with Julius.

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So, let’s assume that Julius was aware of all of Evelyn’s plans—including her escape and her attempt to increase her prestige—and still chose not to interfere. Then there were only two possibilities. One, he believed that no matter how much Evelyn struggled, she would not be a threat to him. Two, Julius had other plans, and those plans required pushing Evelyn to a certain point. And with the cautious personality of Julius as described by Evelyn, the more he did nothing, the more uneasy she felt. Although it wasn’t the kind of danger like walking on a tightrope, it was similar to the worry of a safety accident when riding a cable car.

Of course, even so, her plan was still being executed.

She could have easily killed the six fleeing angels long ago. Or rather, when Evelyn had received the magic medicine made from mixed blood from Pepe and was waiting for her outside the inn, she had already tied up the six angels in the sewer and driven them out with magic that was powerful enough to threaten their lives. Thus, she had created the scene of the paladins encountering the angels, letting Evelyn ‘coincidentally’ run into them. Then, she would give her a hint from the side, warning her about the growth potential of these monsters.

And then, she would monitor these monsters, letting them do evil while ensuring that no one was injured—the man in black that Evelyn had mentioned before who had alerted the paladins was her. The reason she didn’t deal with them herself was also to let more people know the terror of these monsters, and then let Evelyn, through the descriptions of these paladins, sense that the monsters were becoming stronger and stronger.

Although there were some unexpected incidents along the way, such as the sneak attack this afternoon—she hadn’t expected the angels to have the guts to attack the scroll shop after sensing her magic power—but apart from that, everything was proceeding on the right track.

Even the current event of the angels attacking the temple was, to a certain extent, related to Yisi.

The west side of the temple was the most loosely guarded of the five temples. But even so, with the protection of the hunters, it was very difficult for the angels to get close. So Yisi first used magic to make all the guards on the west side of the temple fall into a deep sleep, then used teleportation magic to move them to a safe place, and then drove the angels to the vicinity of the west side of the temple.

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A good show, deliberately performed for everyone in the city of Mitters Bayer, was thus staged.

No one would be killed or injured, and the temple would only be corroded in one corner. Compared to the Fallen that Julius had harmed, and would continue to kill in the future, this small loss was insignificant.

It was a pity that she hadn’t learned much summoning magic. Otherwise, she could have staged a good show of a thousand beasts besieging the city, with the church at its wit’s end, and Evelyn appearing to turn the tide of the battle. After being shaped into a hero of the church, Evelyn’s lofty position in the church would be a matter of course. Even if Julius wanted to do something, he would have to think twice.

The only uncertain factor was why Julius had let Evelyn act freely…

Julius had been hiding in the tower and had never come out. If she didn’t think that Julius was not the type to let Evelyn act freely, Yisi would have surely thought that Julius had really devoted all his body and soul to the repair of the tower, almost no different from being dead.

“Yisi, we’re almost there!”

“Ah.”

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Evelyn’s nervous voice pulled Yisi back to reality. The feeling of the cold wind blowing into her neck made her tighten her collar.

No matter what Julius was planning, she could not remain inactive like him. Even if Evelyn’s current actions were part of his plan, she only needed to counter his moves as they came. She already had all the secrets of the church in her hands.

The angels, the grace of God, the child of God.

“I’m not immortal like that old fossil…”

Recalling the frightened look on Mary’s face when she had taken her deep into the church and asked her to use her second ability to observe the remaining lifespan of the observed, Yisi shook her head.

Evelyn’s choice was correct. She shouldn’t have placed her hope in Julius dying of old age. That guy had already transcended humanity and had a near-infinite lifespan. If there was no interference, the Ymir Church would forever only have the 23rd Pope.

That guy was a Fallen.