"Prince Ferdinand?" On Fire Island, the girls, hearing this name, asked curiously, "Who is that?"

"I don't know," Aske shook his head, "I heard he is a prince from the Aragon-Castilla Kingdom."

"Oh," the girls nodded in unison, only Miel beside them showed a wry, helpless smile.

When she had first set out from Valencia City, she had sensed someone spying on her using some method, so she had activated her strong Fate Ability and thoroughly observed the timeline.

Of course, she figured everything out. The Azure Longsword and the Royal Family of Aragon had no personal enmities; it was merely some divergences in interest involving the Bull Mercenary Group and the affairs in Lusitania.

However, Ferdinand kept interfering time and again, only to be thoroughly defeated in the end. Looking at her own group, who were unaware of even the actions the opposition took against them, it was a disparity so vast that it stirred a sense of sympathy.

Poor Ferdinand, really pitiful.

Since the opponent had already suffered a humiliating defeat, Miel felt too lazy to talk about this with everyone, she merely mentioned it casually to Sherry, asking her to notify the other girls' backing Demigods to take care of that restless prince.

As for what the girls were interested in, it had already moved on to the next phase.

"Aske, you've grasped the 'Taunt' skill, haven't you?" Thira asked.

"Yes," Aske nodded. With the help of the members of Golden Sparrow Mercenary, he had finally completed the last bit of accumulation that day and successfully advanced to Lv. 19.

Only a step away from Demigod now.

"That's great." The girls said this insincerely, exchanging glances, their expressions carrying little sense of celebration. Medea, in particular, had a gloom in her eyes so dense it seemed like the clouds before a storm, almost dripping with icy moisture.

"No worries. Progress isn't important, let's all continue to work hard and aim to become Demigods soon." Seeing their somber expressions, Aske thought the girls were upset because they were left behind in levels, so he gently reassured everyone.

Thus, the girls forced smiles upon their faces.

And so, regardless of the various thoughts in everyone's hearts – joy, sorrow, excitement, dejection – the ritual for Aske and Peggy to become gods was finally set to begin today.

......

Solomon City, Church Court.

In the past half-year, the Giotto Bell's overall trajectory had been quite unstable, sometimes advancing a few minutes and sometimes retreating a few, causing the believers in the square to feel despair, the stone ground covered with old bloody stains from their prostrations.

Fortunately, if one disregarded the minor disturbances in the short term, the overall trend of the apocalypse countdown was merely a linear acceleration, and there were no sudden, horrifying jumps of 2-3 hours like before.

As the Giotto Bell oscillated frequently, the murmurs among the Cardinals about the Holy Throne also gradually increased. Although the BI data department hadn't said anything, everyone knew who was messing with their Chaos algorithm and fragile nerves.

On the other hand, each time the clock moved closer to the apocalypse, the Valian Bishop's assertiveness in the Cardinal Council increased, very much in the style of "my sister is R4, if you don't listen to me, I'll have her destroy the world," causing great distress among the other bishops.

However, The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps was not without accomplishments. The "Kapei" Synthetic Human they had brought up from the Abyss, carrying a precious prehistoric data library, had caused a great shock and was of immense benefit to the current Church Court.

The Holy Throne even boldly claimed that Mr. Kapei was worth five Synthetic Humans.

"The Azure Longsword? R4?" That afternoon in the laboratory, after hearing a Cardinal express his concerns, Kapei oddly said, "I really don't understand why you would believe the analysis and judgment of a supercomputer. Remember, a program is still just a program, after all."

Aren't you a Synthetic Human too? Strictly speaking, also a computer program! The Cardinal secretly criticized.

"But in terms of computing and reasoning abilities, the super AI Raphael is undoubtedly stronger than all of us combined, isn't he?" he questioned cautiously, "Given limited clues, Raphael can calculate outcomes faster and more accurately than us, isn't that right?"

"That's true," Kapei said, "but don't forget."

"Humans are a combination of emotion and reason, while computers operate on absolute reason. Calculating unpredictable emotional elements with absolute reason can easily lead to incompatible bugs."

Cardinal: ???

Although I understand each noun, why does it sound so strange when put together? After all, you are a product of artificial intelligence; is it really okay to speak ill of it like that?

"Of course, I can't understand it myself either," Kapei continued, "after all, I am just a synthetic human, and all these are settings programmed into my cognition by Director Kapei."

Director Kapei... The Cardinal was stunned for a moment before he realized that it referred to the synthetic human's previous owner, who was the director of that ancient abyssal research institute thousands of years ago.

He couldn't help but feel melancholic. Back in the technologically advanced prehistoric age, humans were so spirited. Even super artificial intelligence was merely a tool in their eyes.

How have we become so cowardly today?

At that moment, suddenly, Raphael's voice came from the laboratory's ceiling speaker:

"Lord Leonardo, please come immediately to the Cardinal Council Center in Ratlan Palace."

"Then I shall return, you may carry on," the Cardinal, startled, quickly said to Kapei.

Kapei nodded indifferently, without giving a reply.

Since coming to the Church Court, while academic permissions were mostly unlocked for it, it was never informed or involved in political matters, and the intention of keeping it at arm's length was clear.

The red light in its eyes flickered for a moment, then it continued with the experiments at hand.

At the Cardinal Council meeting, Bishop Leonardo was the last to arrive in the hall, and saw the bishops each seated solemnly at their places, with grave expressions watching the data displayed by Raphael on the silver screen.

"... Just now, according to information sent back by The Azure Longsword," Holy See Innocent spoke solemnly next to the screen, "we have been able to confirm that two of them… have been promoted to Demigod Rank."

The Cardinals began to stir uneasily. If he remembered correctly, this mercenary group had formally come to their attention at the end of the year before last, at which time they didn't even have a single Transcendent of Law Level within their ranks.

In a year and a half, two had become demigods; indeed, the speed was astonishing.

"Your Majesty," Bishop Leonardo, the last to arrive, spoke up, "is the message reliable?"

The Iberian Peninsula was currently enveloped by the Dark Sky, with neither electromagnetic waves nor optical detection capable of penetrating, so how did we receive this message?

"The message comes from the belladonna of the Pure Blood Monastery, Your Excellency Agrippina," Innocent replied coolly.

The Cardinals then began discussing amongst themselves.

The Pure Blood Monastery had internal, extraordinary means of communication that weren't blocked by the Dark Sky. As to why Agrippina would inform the Church Court, it was likely a show of power—the Pure Blood Monastery had recently been very active in the underworld of Italy and Sicily.

But what everyone was concerned about now was not this, but specifically whom among the demigods: according to Agrippina, one of them was her direct disciple Peggy, who was also a monitored subject possessing the Death Law.

That is, if the sister of Valian Bishop could also be promoted on the basis of the Evolution Law. The Church could then officially commence the destruction plan for the Source Tree suppressed beneath the Church.

"In the next few years, based on the plan we initially formulated, the Church has three main focus areas," Innocent spoke somberly, and everyone listened intently.

"First, make contact with Miss Nora Valerius Lysinius as much as possible and deepen mutual trust. In this regard, please collaborate closely with the Lixini Family."

Accompanying the Holy Throne's gaze, Valian Bishop nodded earnestly.

"Second, building on the first point, assist Miss Nora Valerius Lysinius in ascending to the Demigod Rank as quickly as possible, in coordination with Miss Peggy to permanently destroy the Source Tree!"

It was not "suppress," but "destroy," which somewhat invigorated the Cardinals present. After all, not everyone liked working above a massive pile of death explosives.

"Third," Holy See Innocent paused here, his authoritative gaze slowly sweeping over those present:

"Upon completion of the first and second points..."

"Evoke all the forces of the Solomon Church Court and the artificial intelligence Raphael, to permanently disintegrate and dismantle The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps!"

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