Chapter 152: The Copy

Chapter 152: The Copy

The mission to reach the church of Acolytes took them a few hours as they reached the city of Lonevla. It was outside the eight districts of Ciradyl, established in the Vanille Porta, a place for the ports.

Although the continent of Atlanta was the smallest continent of the world seven, even then it was the center of most industrial revolutions and rapidly expanding innovation and technology.

They paid and got into the carriage. The five of them rested comfortably, and in a while it stopped near the city gate. But Mo Fei opened the door for Miss Rose first, and she got out of the luxury carriage first.

Later, he let old Bai exit first, even though Lionel beside him couldn’t wait and exited the other side. Then, Mo Fei and Benson finally exited, landing on the lands of Lonevla.

Miss Rose looked at Lionel, crossing her arms together, and spoke. "Lionel, you should learn etiquette from Mr. Sherlock."

Lionel glanced at Mo Fei, who gave him a mocking, prideful expression, although it didn’t work on Lionel as he simply shrugged before turning toward the pathway ahead. "Miss Rose, standard etiquette is designed for ordinary men who need rules to appear memorable."

He adjusted the cuffs of his coat and swept a gaze over the bustling port streets of Lonevla. "A true hero doesn’t wait to open doors; he steps through them first to clear the path. Mr. Sherlock is simply performing his role with admirable dedication."

?Mo Fei’s eye twitched slightly at the effortless deflection.

?"Besides." Lionel added, looking back over his shoulder with an insouciant wink. "If I spent my energy worrying about protocol, who would keep this story moving forward? Now, shall we move on?"

"That’s not your fantasy." Mo Fei murmured, maybe next time he’d try better.

?Old Bai darted his eyes around, while Benson subtly stepped in line behind Lionel, accustomed to the young man’s unshakeable self-absorption.

Miss Rose sighed silently as she followed behind.

?The Vanille Porta region’s wind carried the salty scent of the nearby vast ocean and the allergic smell of dust particles, alongside the scent of unfamiliar spices. In the marketplace, the pungent smell of fish mixed with the salt carried forward.

The first thing Mo Fei noticed about Lonevla was that the city had sound, a very loud one, which didn’t come from crowds. It was the hissing of the sea with some distant noise of merchants and the public who walked by.

Somewhere beyond the walls, enormous bells rang at measured intervals. Chains groaned against iron hooks while the wooden crates struck the decks of ships with dull thuds as the distant horns answered one another through the fog.

Lionel remarked smoothly, resting a hand casually on the pommel of his sidearm. "Now, the city would only make the hero’s victory look that much more impressive."

?Mo Fei sighed as he heard his muttering, stepping up beside Miss Rose and murmuring to her. "If trouble starts, Miss Rose, kindly permit me to let him take the front-line first."

"Yes, please."

"I can hear you, Mr. Sherlock." Lionel glanced back.

"Oh, that’s so unfortunate."

In a few minutes, they reached an empty place, where only a door stood. Behind it was nothing but an echo of a bell coming from it.

Old Bai adjusted his spectacles before staring at the door for a while. "I remember that church here." He pointed toward the door and scratched his head.

Mo Fei blinked once, his mind racing with thoughts as he remembered that Lin could control keys, which included opening doors that didn’t exist physically. He looked at Lionel, who didn’t seem bothered by that. "You aren’t surprised that a building disappeared?"

Lionel shrugged. "Why? It’s just a door."

"It isn’t attached to anything."

"Perhaps only waiting for a building; just give it one if you are too worried, Mr. Sherlock."

’I swear I’ll behead him someday.’ Mo Fei remained quiet.

Benson approached the door as old Bai finally remembered. "Ah, I remembered now."

Old Bai took a few steps forward and stopped exactly near the door, then turned to the left before taking exactly four steps, then pressed his hand against the air as suddenly the large Cathedral loomed ahead of them.

He removed his hand from it as he stared at the sigil.

Mo Fei’s mind instantly remembered the hideout of Epilogue, where Lin also used the same technique, but it was more efficient and showed no hint of physical door.

They opened the door and entered inside without any other words and closed it behind them.

Just from behind, a thud came as someone landed on the ground. A woman with a blue hood as she held the pendulum in her hand. "That artifact will be mine soon." She mumbled as she placed the artifact directly at the door as a strange crimson light erupted from it.

The pendulum began to swing violently as she quietly pulled out an orb that manifested a word. "Mimick."

"Time to play the circus, Jester."

The whole orb took the shape of a humanoid being, wearing a jester’s cap with a mask shaped earring; the woman stepped back as the ancient worms bit the figure’s mind. "This artifact has never copied this Authority, but it’d be great if I got to know about Lightless Authority by this copy."

She quickly disappeared as the figure entered inside the church of Acolytes.

The half-wicked smile of a jester over the plastered face curled up on his lips.

The interior of the Church of Acolytes had the typical pews and stained glass, but alongside that, it was a labyrinth of doors, hundreds of doors reaching toward different rooms, lining every wall and corridor.

Some were simple wood. Some were made of stone. Each one led to a different room, as they finally entered the central hall of the cathedral, where a few people had been waiting for their arrivel.

One of the men, who had blonde hair and blue eyes, stood up from a seat. He wore golden embroidered clothing with a professional suit and typical hat of that time. In his wrists, one of them had the ribbon with the Authority symbol named ’Keybearer’ with his rank as ’The Gatekeeper.’ Ordinal Eight.’

"Welcome, Midnight Wings, I suppose?"

Benson nodded and gestured toward Old Bai who pulled the box out and put it on a table.

Mo Fei’s gaze lay on the statue of the Goddess. She was depicted as a woman with long flowing hair that descended to Her waist. Two beautiful keys with a red and blue gemstone rested within Her while four floated around Her in the air; each had been pressed into the invisible doors.

Her eyes were closed, though her eyelids were slightly parted as a crown of flowers rested on her head dripped a petal down.

Although she seemed gentle enough to be worshipped as the goddess of peace, every key around her warned that nothing enter or leave without her permission. She was present everywhere but also nowhere.

Moreover, Her shadow, which should be black, yet it wasn’t the dark outline cast by the candlelight; that shadow was absolutely dark, which sometimes shifted color to iridescent cosmic Indigo.

The man quietly took the box of the key. "I’m Alistair, welcome to our lady’s church."

Miss Rose returned the welcome with a bow before turning toward the pillars that stood around the Cathedral, which unusually also had doors that opened to nothing.

Mo Fei’s hair straightened as he suddenly felt the wind change. He quickly opened his Apprentice’s Eyes and pulled his revolver out; the spirit threads were close, coming from the chandelier above.

He tilted his head toward it as suddenly the chandelier shook and dropped where Old Bai had stood.

Without wasting another moment, Mo Fei surged forward before slamming a kick onto the chandelier as it broke apart, hitting a pillar beside.

All of their expressions tensed as they felt it too. To Mo Fei, the Authority seemed too familiar, although it was a copy, which he understood as soon as he looked at the spirit threads that were faint silver.

Old Bai stumbled backward, looking at the chandelier. Benson and Lionel both looked at the ceiling while Miss Rose scanned the place to find anything.

She saw a shadow move through the pillars where the silhouette of a jester moved.

Mo Fei quickly saw through the spirit threads that the person had lunged at Benson’s spirit threads, but before the Jester could slash one of the threads, Mo Fei had shot the bullet toward a pillar.

BAM!