Chapter 503 - 206: Your Strength!?

"Is that so? What a shame..." Wei’en sighed. "I suppose my only choice is to inform the Second Officer that we’ll be detouring to a city-state on the West Coast for our next stop."

Pavla bit her lip, a faint inkling of his plan forming in her mind. "You? You wouldn’t..."

"If you won’t talk, I’ll just have to find other members of the Dawn Church and get information about her from them."

Pavla glared at Wei’en, her cheeks puffed in anger. "How could you?"

"Or what? This is information only devout followers of Dawn like you would know. Wouldn’t it cost me a fortune to get information about her through other channels?" Wei’en spread his hands, his expression the picture of innocence.

"You... I..."

"Still not planning to talk?"

Wei’en shot Pavla a faint, unreadable smile. He picked up a napkin, wiped a potato crumb from the corner of his mouth, and made a show of standing up. "Well, it can’t be helped. I guess I’ll have to go tell Ronan to change our course."

’Evil Mage!’

Pavla’s cheeks puffed out. Countless words she’d heard used to describe bad guys flashed through her mind, but in the end, she only managed to spit out three. "You’re so bad!"

"Thank you for the compliment. This is what a Mutated Mage is supposed to be like, isn’t it?" Wei’en raised an eyebrow at her, feeling not the slightest bit of guilt for bullying the new Kind Saintess.

After a long moment, Pavla finally bit her lip and said, "Lady Celestia is the First Saintess of Dawn. She has held the title for thirty years."

"Thirty years? She can’t be young, then. Is she old?"

"No! As a Saintess, barring any accidents, she could live until the end of the age!" Pavla’s cheeks puffed out again; she thought Wei’en’s words were simply detestable.

’The end of the age?’

Wei’en was taken aback. ’Does a Saintess’s power have such an incredible effect?’

’Doesn’t that mean that as long as she doesn’t encounter a fatal threat, she can serve as the Guardian of the Dawn Church indefinitely?’

’As expected of a True God Church. Their foundations run deep!’

"Go on."

"I don’t know her abilities, I only heard from Huberto..." Pavla’s expression dimmed, obviously thinking of the Judgment Knight who had recently died. "He said that Lady Celestia’s power is perfectly suited for executing heretics!"

"Oh? You don’t know the specifics of her abilities?"

"I don’t," Pavla shook her head. "She’s rarely left the Holy Sanctuary for a very long time. She’s always in the Judgment Hall... Hmm, but I do know she has two incredibly powerful Judgment Knights serving under her."

’Judgment Knight?’

Wei’en frowned as the detestable image of Bellmer surfaced in his mind.

"How powerful are they?"

"Even stronger than Sir Huberto!" Pavla looked at him, both ashamed and annoyed. "You’d better be thinking about how you’re going to escape. Otherwise, if Lady Celestia catches up to you, you’ll..."

"I’ll what? Die?"

"Anyway, every time she and her Judgment Legion leave the Holy Sanctuary, they are guaranteed to return victorious!"

"How impressive."

"I’m telling the truth!" Pavla grew frustrated again. ’This Evil Mage is just the worst!’

Wei’en smiled. "Yes, yes, I believe you. And I’m scared now."

But despite his words, his gaze shifted to Tina beside him and the clown doll still sulking in the distance. ’I probably won’t die... but I definitely have to run!’

He had originally assumed the Judgement Saintess’s power was on par with Black Jack Yuan’s. If that were the case, he could have relied on Tina and the forbidden artifacts in his possession to put up some resistance.

Now that he knew the Judgement Saintess was a veteran of at least fifty, he’d have to be a fool to face her head-on.

’Right. At tonight’s gathering, I have to find a way to meet a Wizard from the Spiritual Mystery School!’

Although he hadn’t gleaned much useful information, he now had a clear idea of how to handle the Dawn Church’s impending pursuit and had made his decision.

"Alright, you all stay here. I’m going to go take a look outside."

"I’ve told you everything. You’re not going to change course now, are you?"

Pavla stared at Wei’en with wide, bright eyes, terrified he would go back on his word. ’After all, the Evil Mages in stories are best at lying...’

"I probably won’t."

With that, Wei’en took out the Golden Key, gave it a slight twist, and vanished from the theater.

’Probably?’

Pavla mulled over the word. ’Does that mean there’s still a chance...’

"Shawa, do you think that evil... I mean, Wei’en... he won’t change our course, will he?"

"I don’t know." Miss Zombie shook her head stiffly. "But I do know that Wei’en doesn’t like killing."

"Him? He doesn’t like killing?"

Pavla thought of the night the Kenzan Frollov was stained red with blood... ’No matter how she looked at it, he didn’t seem like an Evil Mage who disliked killing!’

Meanwhile, just as Wei’en returned to the captain’s cabin, he heard Clelia’s seductive laughter from outside.

’Huh?’

’Clelia snuck out?’

"...Is this your trump card? Twilight Secret Cultivators?"

’Huh?’

’Twilight Secret Cultivators?!’

Wei’en’s brow furrowed. He instantly blinked out of the captain’s cabin, reappearing on the lookout post of the Leonard. He surveyed the area, his Spirit perception blanketing a ten-kilometer radius.

’It really is those bandage-wrapped people from the Dusk Sect, but something about them seems strange.’

Five Twilight Secret Cultivators stood silently behind Clelia without a sound, shrouded by countless shadows.

Those illusory shadows were all heads, both male and female, yet their expressions were all... seductive?

’They look completely different from the ones I saw on Dakman Island!’

Wei’en sized up the Twilight Secret Cultivators and looked quizzically at Clelia. ’Did she do this?’

"Damn you! What did you do to them?!"

At that moment, a burly man on the other side of the deck roared, clearly infuriated by Clelia.

"I didn’t do a thing. It’s quite obvious your subordinates would rather be pirates on the Leonard!" Clelia laughed seductively, waving a hand. "Tell me, am I right?"

"Yes, My Queen!"

A voice that sounded like a chorus of countless others echoed across the deck. As they spoke, the cloth wrappings on the five Twilight Secret Cultivators slowly unraveled, spiraling around them as if in preparation for battle.

"Damn it!"

Stacy glared at the Twilight Secret Cultivators, shouting in fury, "You... you damn, ugly bastards! Is this how you keep your promise to Lord Dis?! Getting controlled so easily! You’re worthless, worthless, worthless!"

"Worthless, you say? Care for a demonstration?" Clelia snapped her fingers and pointed at Stacy. "Ah, forget it. Just show her what you can do."

"As you command! Sir! Mino! Sevibart!"

Then, to Wei’en’s astonishment, the cloth wrappings around the five Twilight Secret Cultivators shot forward.

The bizarre, humanoid creatures he’d seen before—formed from a mixture of ash and blood—materialized around the cloth strips and charged toward the woman with a roar.

"I curse you!!"

In an instant, the burly, pirate-like man was devoured by those bizarre creatures. Blood sprayed everywhere, staining the deck red.

"Wh-what’s going on? Clelia, your power...?"