For the next two days, Hastur acted as if nothing had happened and continued staying in the ancient castle as its lord.
On the second day after arriving, he rode a horse and circled the surrounding area, gaining a rough understanding of the terrain around the castle.
On the third day, he expanded the scope of his outing, riding farther out and touring various plantations in the outer areas, using the town called Wolf as a reference point.
Regarding his actions, Caius and the others still said nothing, silently fulfilling all his requests.
Caius even had someone bring over an extremely detailed map. It marked every village in detail and included not only his entire territory but also the lands of several nearby nobles.
Some distinctive villages and towns were even accompanied by brief notes.
For example, Kolf Village, thirty kilometers away from here, mainly produced raw materials for the textile industry, with animal husbandry as a secondary activity.
Dar City, located 100 kilometers west of Sperlin City, focused primarily on agricultural production and also possessed some iron and coal resources.
All such key information was meticulously recorded on the map. Even hidden and remote paths were included. It was practically a strategic military map.
Because of this, Hastur couldn't help but admire how seriously Caius had taken this task.
...
Late on the third night, a little past eleven.
Inside the Hall of Stars, Hastur finally used the power of the stars to completely transform the body hidden inside the coffin into a vessel for the descent of the stars.
The body possessed no consciousness. The divinity within it had been washed and stimulated by the power of the stars and had now become fully active.
Even without entering that body yet, Hastur could feel the vigorous and surging power contained within it.
When he tried to extend his consciousness toward the body through the Chain of Order, it went smoothly. His consciousness entered the body and merged with it perfectly.
The body felt exactly like his original body. With only a slight movement of thought, it could perform the corresponding actions.
It was far more real and controllable than the puppets in a puppet show.
However, Hastur's spiritual power tonight was close to exhaustion. His head felt dizzy and heavy, so he did not conduct too many tests.
After dispersing the power of the Hall of Stars, the vessel of descent transformed into a new point of light, existing independently from the stars belonging to the True Creator.
Did that mean this body had completely escaped the influence of the True Creator?
Hastur stared at it carefully for a while, then paid attention to the reaction of the True Creator.
There was none. Just as always, it remained silent.
He glanced at Adam again. He also showed no extra reaction.
It seemed that He still did not know about the loss of 008 from Ince Zangwill.
Perhaps because Ince Zangwill was still alive, He had not yet cast too much attention toward the matter.
Hastur swept his gaze across the stars once more as usual. After confirming that nothing was abnormal, he left the Hall of Stars.
...
Backlund.
Deep inside an alley near Saint Samuel Cathedral, inside the house hiding the vessel of the stars.
Mr. A was listening to the panicked report from his subordinates.
Although he had sealed the basement door and blocked it with huge stones, he still stationed two people outside to guard it, preventing anyone from entering.
Just moments ago, they came to report in panic that they had heard knocking sounds coming from the coffin in the basement.
"What are you panicking about? This is the normal sound of the Lord's offspring about to be born. After some time, He will descend in a complete form."
Mr. A scolded the two subordinates with a gloomy face.
How foolish.
Just two days ago, the Lord had even sent him a divine revelation praising him greatly.
That proved his actions had greatly pleased the Lord.
Under such circumstances, abnormalities appearing now were completely normal. It was a sign that the Lord's consciousness was about to awaken within that body.
What offspring of the Lord?
That was the Lord Himself, the vessel for the Lord's descent!
But such extremely secret information was naturally something he would not casually reveal to irrelevant people.
"Continue guarding the place carefully. Once the Lord's offspring is born, I will naturally give you the rewards you desire. You know my generosity."
"Yes." The two subordinates happily turned and left.
"Heh... getting so excited over such trivial rewards. To me, no reward compares to a single word of approval from the Lord."
Mr. A's lips unconsciously curled upward again.
Recently, he often recalled the sentence in which the Lord praised him.
He could listen to it endlessly. The more he thought about it, the more devout his heart became.
...
Saint Samuel Cathedral.
Archbishop Anthony Stevenson was currently bowing devoutly before the statue of the Goddess of Evernight.
The stained glass windows beneath the dome reflected the light of the crimson moon.
Candles made from moon flowers and deep red sandalwood burned all year round, releasing a fragrance that pleased the Goddess.
The atmosphere was calm and distant, like a heavenly mother embracing everything.
Archbishop Anthony Stevenson slowly straightened his body, a trace of confusion appearing on his face.
Tonight, as usual, he had prayed to the Goddess. Yet he felt a faintly discordant aura in the surroundings.
But he could not precisely capture where it came from. He could only vaguely sense that it was very close.
"Has something unclean appeared near the cathedral?" After thinking for a long time, Anthony Stevenson concluded that this was the most likely possibility.
It might also be a reminder from the Goddess tonight.
At present, the Goddess' attention was occupied elsewhere.
Perhaps some bold cultists wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to cause trouble.
After pondering for a moment, he ordered the clergy in the cathedral to assemble.
At the same time, he dispatched a Red Gloves squad to conduct a large-scale search of all areas near the cathedral.
Every corner would be thoroughly inspected. No filthy or impure thing was allowed to approach the Goddess' sacred hall.
...
Leonard had always been quite lucky.
This time, the squad he belonged to received a task from Archbishop Anthony to cooperate with the cathedral's clergy in conducting a major cleansing of the area around Saint Samuel Cathedral.
An older teammate told him that whenever Archbishop Anthony sensed something lurking nearby but could not precisely locate it, he would initiate a large-scale purification operation.
Leonard found it curious. This was Saint Samuel Cathedral.
Aside from the Tranquility Church, this was one of the strongest defensive locations of the Church of the Goddess of Evernight.
Even the Goddess' gaze might constantly be watching over this place. Were there really cultists bold enough to offend such a place?
The mission for this purification operation had been issued late last night.
Early in the morning, Leonard and his teammates began searching nearby buildings one by one.
Even the residents living there had their identities checked one by one. Any unfamiliar face immediately became a key target for observation.
Many police officers from the police station also came to assist, ensuring the verification of everyone's true identity.
After working the whole morning, they found nothing. But in the afternoon, they caught two unfamiliar faces.
Following that clue, they gradually locked onto a house hidden deep within an alley.
The large-scale search had clearly alerted the people inside.
They began hiding inside the house and stopped going out.
"Damn it! How did the people from the Church of Evernight Goddess react so quickly?"
Sensing something wrong, Mr. A's handsome face darkened, and a cold light flickered in his eyes.
Under the current circumstances, it was impossible to move the coffin from the basement to another safe place.
The only option was to draw all the attention of the Church of Evernight Goddess away and make them believe that the people inside this house had already fled.
Only then could the secret hidden in the basement be preserved.
To carry out this plan, Mr. A personally went to the basement door and ordered his subordinates to completely fill up the outer passage of the basement.
They also rearranged the layout of the room, placing large furniture like beds and cabinets directly over the basement entrance.
After finishing all this, he carefully checked every detail to make sure nothing looked suspicious.
Only then did he begin implementing his real plan.
He tied an ordinary coffin onto a carriage. Then he lay inside the coffin himself, disguising it with various miscellaneous items, while several subordinates were assigned to create chaos.
Once everything was ready, several houses near the target building suddenly caught fire.
The blaze spread fiercely, causing a huge commotion.
Amid this chaos, a carriage loaded with junk quietly left through the back door of the house.
Obviously, such tricks could not completely deceive the Red Gloves squad.
They had already been watching this house.
When chaos erupted elsewhere, they still remained here while other clergy went to assist with the fires.
Sure enough, they spotted a carriage attempting to leave during the confusion. They were certain the carriage carried something evil and defiled.
So when it began to leave, they followed it secretly, intending to capture their base at the same time.
The carriage wandered around the streets of the Northern Borough.
Only after night fell did it head toward the more densely populated Eastern Borough.
"Not good. They've discovered we're following them and deliberately headed toward crowded areas!"
"Don't worry. We've already made full preparations."
When the carriage passed a corner in the Eastern Borough, a Sealed Artifact that had been prepared in advance sent it directly into the Spirit World.
Leonard entered the Spirit World as well. The battle was completely one-sided.
With full preparations, the Red Gloves squad, together with two bishops from the cathedral, crushed the enemies effortlessly.
But when the hidden coffin on the carriage was discovered, Leonard and the others became immediately vigilant.
From their earlier confrontation, they had already confirmed these people were members of the Aurora Order.
Based on their history of madness, even if the coffin contained nothing but explosives, it would not be surprising.
In other places, members of the Aurora Order had once driven a carriage loaded with explosives straight into a church and detonated it, destroying the entire building.
So when dealing with these lunatics, one had to remain extremely cautious.
Otherwise, they might drag everyone down with them into the abyss of death.