Chapter 348: True Colors
"Knight... Sir, what exactly is this?" Pence gritted his teeth tightly, struggling to maintain the circulation of energy on the surface of his body.
"Hmph... probably some other kind of evil material," Henry said coldly beside him.
"No," Hawkwood shook his head.
Right now, in the perception of this Templar Knight, a holy power enveloped the entire council hall.
This was not a holy artifact meant to target evil existences, but an item used by the Church to "guide" the masses.
A millennium ago, when the Knights Templar were still under the jurisdiction of the Church, the latter relied on such items to firmly control the destinies of ordinary people, which was how the Church managed to exist in Europe for so long.
This situation had only improved in the last hundred years.
He didn't expect the Church to actually use these things again this time. Were they not afraid of a complete fallout with the North American government?!
Hawkwood fell deep in thought.
This secret was known only to a few high-ranking members of the Lord Knights and had always been kept as one of their "leverage" points to topple the Church, so he did not voice it out loud.
Meanwhile, on the main stage.
The members of the North American delegation, including Underwood, slumped in their chairs, looking extremely exhausted.
"Mr. Secretary, what's wrong!" Parolin suddenly spoke up.
"Were you perhaps frightened by the Demon God soldier just now?"
He wore a look of deep concern. Unnoticed by the others, a tiny crucifix slipped from his sleeve into his hand as he slowly walked toward Underwood.
"This condition might cause the soul to detach from the body, ultimately leading to spiritual dementia. But don't worry, I'll take a look at you right now..."
Not long ago, in the guest lounge.
"Lord Parolin, this is North America after all. What if those guys don't agree?" Kalvis whispered.
"I never expected them to agree," Parolin stood by the window and said calmly.
"Then you..."
"These politicians are all old foxes. Without any benefits, how could they possibly step forward to bear the infamy."
"Is that why you brought that evil existence here?"
"Correct. If it succeeds, fine. If not... then we'll have to use that holy relic."
Parolin's eyes flickered: "A country with a mere two hundred years of history actually delusions of challenging the Church. Hmph... There have been many such guys over the past millennia, but they are all buried under dust in the end."
"How the world should progress is not up to them."
Back to the present.
Gail held her head and slowly stood up.
She had almost lost consciousness just now, but fortunately, she recovered at the last moment.
She touched her waist; a silver amulet was currently emitting a faint glow.
This was given to her by Mr. William before they came, and Mark had one as well.
Gail immediately realized something. She jerked her head up and happened to see the scene of the Cardinal walking toward the Secretary.
Relying on her sixth sense, she instinctively felt the other party harbored ill intentions. She immediately reached out, grabbed the holy artifact off Mark, and threw it toward the main stage.
This poor gentleman had just blinked his eyes before passing out again.
At the same time, the amulet reached the barrier and passed right through without any hindrance.
The next moment, the surface of the amulet bloomed with a dazzling light, forcing even Parolin to block it with his hand.
Subsequently, the light split into six beams, shooting toward different locations.
Immediately after, six pillars of light also appeared on the outer layer of the Memorial Hall, shooting straight into the sky.
This scene caused the citizens all around Washington D.C. to gasp in amazement.
Then, a golden curtain expanded outward from the sides of each light beam, completely enveloping the Memorial Hall.
At the same time, inside the council hall.
A wave of golden energy spread throughout the entire Memorial Hall, like a gentle breeze, blending all the energy in its path together.
And the oppressive force weighing down on everyone vanished instantly, as if it had never existed.
"To actually dissipate this power in an instant, this is impossible!" Parolin exclaimed in shock.
Even he couldn't achieve such an ability.
"Could it be the Pope..."
Parolin's facial muscles contorted as he walked step by step toward Gail: "Who exactly is the person behind you? Where does your power come from!"
For an ordinary exorcism faction to possess such Church power was simply unimaginable!
Gail took a few steps back, staring at him warily.
Those actions just now were naturally taught by Mr. William.
Earlier, she and Mark had placed the holy artifacts according to the positions on the blueprint. Most of them were distributed in various corners of the Memorial Hall, leaving only one final vacancy, the location of which happened to be the main stage.
At this moment, a voice came through her earpiece.
Gail shifted her gaze slightly, then quickly looked back at Parolin.
"I don't quite understand what you mean. It was merely the Light of Humanity's newly developed equipment sensing danger and reacting to it. But you, Your Eminence..."
She looked him up and down.
"You are suddenly so agitated. Could it be that the power just now was caused by the Church?"
"Equipment and instruments? Hmph... what a bitch," Parolin cursed inwardly.
He glanced around from the corner of his eye.
Right now, Underwood and the others were gradually waking up, and the Sorcerer Association and Lord Knights had also stood up.
Parolin knew the previous plan could no longer be executed, so he smiled faintly: "Then perhaps I was mistaken."
He then looked around with a puzzled expression.
"As for the power you mentioned? What power? Are you referring to Mr. Secretary being frightened by the Demon God soldier just now?"
Hearing this, Underwood lowered his head and narrowed his eyes.
He had fallen unconscious twice just now, clearly the handiwork of the other party.
However, for the sake of the overall situation in North America, even knowing who was behind it, he had to endure it for now.
But he didn't plan on staying any longer, so he stood up: "Cardinal Parolin, I think we should conclude today's council here. It would be difficult to reach a conclusion even if we continue."
With the Light of Humanity's earlier resistance and the item provided by the exorcism consultant, Underwood was no longer as insecure as he was at the beginning.
"The Secretary's respect for the public commands my admiration," Parolin said. "But we do indeed need the divine artifact to fight the Demon God's legion."
Underwood narrowed his eyes and was just about to respond when he heard the Cardinal speak again.
"Since that's the case, I have one final method, but it might require the assistance of our fellow exorcists."
Parolin said, looking at the audience below.
Hawkwood had long since drawn his longsword. Hearing the other party's words now, he remained silent.
"Your Eminence, I wonder what method you are referring to..." Longbarn spoke up proactively from the side.
Originally, he thought they were truly going to be forced to do something against their will alongside the Church this time, but he didn't expect things to take a turn.
"The Divine Artifact Summoning Ritual must proceed, and someone indeed needs to stay inside during the process," Parolin said.
Just as everyone was wondering why the other party was bringing up an old issue, the Cardinal's tone shifted.
"However, the Church also has another method to drive the ritual. As long as there are enough friends with supernatural powers hosting the magic array, it can greatly enhance its attractive force."
Parolin looked at the crowd.
"If we proceed according to this method, then we will only need 5 volunteers. And they won't need to consume any life force; they only need to contribute a few dozen milliliters of blood."
Hearing this, the crowd was instantly stunned.
"Mr. Hawkwood, Ms. Gail, and everyone else... I wonder if you are willing to help?" Parolin asked.
"If even this is unacceptable, then I'm afraid the Church is out of options."
Underwood's fists under the table were clenched tight.
"Fifty people reduced to five, ten years of lifespan changed to a few dozen milliliters of blood..."
The difference between these two conditions was like night and day!
Talking about joining the national defense system, necessary sacrifices... these guys from the Church were completely playing them!
This was probably the condition the Church had planned all along, and the previous ones were merely to test the waters.
If Underwood had actually agreed, the Church would undoubtedly have been happy to see it happen.
On the other side, although the several exorcism factions present did not publicly state their position, they were already feeling somewhat swayed inwardly.
After all, the implications of this condition were relatively minor, and it sounded much more normal.
They could even agree to it right now.
However, having witnessed the Church's earlier actions, they all wisely remained silent.
It was Gail who spoke up first: "Your Eminence, the Light of Humanity is not proficient in magic arrays. There might be mistakes when the time comes."
"Hehe... Ms. Gail is being too modest," Parolin smiled and turned around.
"Maintaining the magic array itself is not complicated. As long as you have equipment and instruments of the intensity we saw just now, you can easily handle the task."
He specifically placed heavy emphasis on the words equipment and instruments.
Gail was about to retort, but then a voice came through her earpiece again, so she closed her mouth.
"I think this condition is very good!" It was Longbarn who was the first to express his stance.
The previous method of cooperation would have highly likely ruined the reputation of the Sorcerer Association, and he, as the one who signed the contract, would have been despised by everyone.
Now that there was a choice, he was naturally a hundred times willing inwardly.
"I will report Your Eminence's words truthfully to the Knights Templar," Hawkwood finally spoke.
"As long as the conditions are true, I believe the Church and the Lord Knights will reach a partnership. But if Your Excellency insists that I state my stance right now, I'm afraid that will be very difficult."
"Of course! A partnership is a matter of broad implications; it's always right to be careful," Parolin nodded with a smile.
Looking at him, it was as if the incident of forcing everyone to state their stance earlier had never happened.
"Old fox!"
"Hypocrite!"
The crowd couldn't help but curse him inwardly.
"The summoning of the divine artifact is a matter of great importance, and the Church still needs some time to prepare. Therefore, everyone can go back and consider it slowly," Parolin said.
"Having taken up so much of everyone's time today, let's conclude the meeting here."
Having said that, he immediately drew a cross on his chest, then led the people from the Church out the door.
The rest of the exorcism organizations waited for a moment before quickly leaving as well.
Second Floor, Guest Lounge.
Gail pushed the door open and saw a person standing inside.
"Mr. William!" Her eyes lit up. "The Memorial Hall has been searched. No other Church personnel remain."
Only then did she notice a tied-up person sitting on the floor—it was Underwood's Chief of Staff.
"I revealed my identity, but this guy insisted on arresting me, so I had to tie him up first," William shrugged.
At this time, several members of the Paranormal Special Operations Group also walked in.
Claire hurriedly stepped forward and untied the Chief of Staff: "Sir, this is the exorcist we invited earlier..."
"Publicly kidnapping a government official, regardless of who he is, this is a crime!" the Chief of Staff barked coldly.
"And you, Captain Claire! Letting Secretary Underwood face such danger at the council just now, you..."
He was halfway through his sentence when Underwood walked in from the hallway.
"Sir, are you alright!" the Chief of Staff immediately went up to him.
But the former walked right past him, heading straight for William.
"You must be Mr. Exorcist. Truly young and promising!" Underwood tightly grasped the latter's hands, the surprise in his eyes difficult to conceal.
"If it weren't for your professional exorcism materials earlier, I probably would have made a fool of myself on stage long ago!"
Just now on their way back, Claire had already explained the course of events to him.
Purifying the Demon God soldier, resisting the sudden surge of power... all of these were the doing of this exorcist.
"You flatter me, Mr. Secretary. These are all merely my duties," William nodded.
"Humble and reliable. Young people like you are the true future of America," Underwood praised.
William merely smiled faintly. He had zero interest in "contributing to building America."
"Mr. Secretary, about those final conditions the Church proposed..." Claire changed the subject.
"Hmph!" Underwood instantly dropped his smile.
"I will report what happened today truthfully to the President. With this instance as an example, I believe it's time for some guys who still harbor illusions about the Church to wake up."
He then looked at William again.
"I wonder if Mr. William would be interested in joining the Special Operations Group? I believe the position of Deputy Lead Investigator should still be vacant?"
Hearing this, Claire glanced at William, then nodded in agreement.
"I am flattered by your high regard," William bowed slightly.
"But I temporarily have no intention of looking for a job, and besides, there is still the matter of the Source Power weapons to keep me busy."
"That is truly a pity," Underwood nodded.
"As for the final conditions the Church mentioned..." William spoke again, "I suggest you can agree to them first, otherwise the Church might resort to other means to force the issue."
Hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement.
"As for whether there's another conspiracy behind these conditions, I will continue to investigate during this time. However, I might need Captain Claire's help."
"No problem!" Claire agreed immediately.
"During the initiation of the summoning ritual, the resources of the investigation group are at your disposal. If we get any information, we will notify you immediately."
"The same goes for the Light of Humanity," Gail also nodded.
"Since that's the case, I will be relying on everyone's hard work," William smiled faintly.
One week later.
On a flight to Louisiana, William rested his head on his hand, looking out the window.
After the Exorcism Council concluded, William temporarily bid farewell to Gail and traveled across North America alone.
On one hand, he had to gather as many legendary items as possible before the Divine Artifact Summoning Ritual began, so he would have enough confidence to handle any crisis that might arise.
On the other hand, he also needed to continuously purify evil existences to upgrade his panel abilities, storing more trump cards for the future.
The magic array he set up at the Memorial Hall earlier was a new trick he had recently developed: using high-quality holy artifacts to amplify the influence of the Holy Light barrier, and combining it with his rapid comprehension of runes to alter the arrangement of spirit particle runes in an instant.
That was why Parolin's holy relic failed back then.
"Once these Holy Arts are cultivated to a high level, they can indeed be integrated with each other..." William pondered inwardly.
At this time, the fuselage jolted, followed by a sensation of immense drag. The next moment, the cabin broadcast sounded.
"Respected passengers, we have arrived at our destination for this flight, New Orleans..."
Half an hour later, William walked out of the terminal.
He skillfully hailed a taxi and gave the driver an address.
Shortly after, at the Witch Academy.
A Black woman quietly climbed over the courtyard wall.
Holding several dolls in her hands, she made her way all the way to the outside of the main hall doors.
The next moment, the woman threw the dolls onto the ground, then pulled out a dagger and viciously stabbed it into them.