Fire Mage

Chapter 476: Ananku

Charles then closed his eyes and shifted his attention towards his Inner World.

Soon, he extracted the memories which he got earlier from Irzoch and replicated them.

Following that, he made a few alterations, fused them to create a small memory cloud-like orb, and even placed his 'Will' in the deepest part of the orb.

Moreover, he even added some of his personal information into the orb.

Charles then opened his eyes, touched the green pendant while linking his mind with the artifact's soul, and ordered.

'Send him out now.'

A spatial crack appeared 2 meters away from him the next instant and soon formed into a 1-meter tall portal.

Cardinal Smith walked out of the other side a second later and looked around the surroundings.

But before he could think further, Charles waved his hand, dismissed the portal, and locked his gaze on Cardinal. Simultaneously, he cast [Burning Thoughts] spell on him and erased his current thinking.

After that, he raised his hand, took out the memory orb from his Inner World, and threw it towards him.

In a blink, the memory orb arrived in front of Cardinal Smith's forehead, entered deep into his head, and tried to fuse with his original consciousness.

But suddenly, an invisible divine power appeared out of nowhere and blocked it!

'Hmm? The divine power? It is protecting his original consciousness, huh.' Charles paused in surprise and then sent the memory orb into his Inner World.

Cardinal gripped his head with both hands and staggered to and forth the next instant. His breath turned louder, his legs started trembling uncontrollably, and he even let out painful groans. Even though Cardinal Smith was a powerful Awaken, his soul was weak.

So, forceful memory insertion caused him severe headaches!

Although Melody and Irzoch got startled a little, both knew that their master had done something to the Light Church Cardinal and decided to remain silent.

Nobody spoke a word in the throne hall for the next few minutes.

After some time, Cardinal finally managed to return to his previous state and checked his body in a hurry.

Once he noticed that nothing abnormal had happened to him, he breathed a sigh of relief and shifted his attention towards Charles.

"What-?" As he was about to ask what had happened, part of his memories suddenly vanished from his Inner World.

At that moment, only a sense of calmness and truthfulness appeared in his eyes.

He glanced around, soon frowned as he realized that he was in the Throne Hall, and asked.

"Do you need any other help, my friend? If not, I have to return to the Holy See sooner."

Unlike before, he showed some respect towards Charles, which surprised Melody and Irzoch to some extend.

Meanwhile, Charles nodded his head and spoke.

"I want to ask you some questions, Mr. Smith. Can you answer me honestly?"

On the other hand, Cardinal showed a hesitant look and soon agreed.

"As long as it doesn't include anything confidential, I will answer those questions."

'Heh, confidential, huh.'

Nodding his head, Charles placed his right hand on the golden throne's arm and asked.

"What's your goal?"

Although Cardinal got confused a little, he didn't put too much thought into it and answered truthfully.

"The purpose of my life is to become an integral part of our supreme Goddess, transcend the notion of all emotions, and blend into eternal bliss. It's a common goal for all Light Church devotees."

"But how are you going to achieve that? Jumping into the Abyssal Rifts like what Goddess Zaqiel's disciples did in the past?" This time, Melody glanced at him and asked mockingly.

Although Cardinal somehow became their ally, she didn't trust him a single bit and openly showed her hostility.

In the meantime, Cardinal Smith made a forced smile, shook his head, and responded calmly.

"We call that state as 'Infinite One.' It's like ending the cycle of life and becoming one with the 'Creator.' But before attaining that state, every soul would be judged in the presence of Divine Lady and then sent to Hell or Heaven based on previous life sins."

"Heaven and Hell? You guys believe in that concept?" In truth, Charles hadn't read anything called 'Heaven' or 'Hell' in any Light religious books and got surprised inside.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Smith heaved a heavy sigh and shook his head.

"Not all of them believe in that particular concept. Unlike others, only the higher-ups of the Light Church follow the concept of becoming the 'Infinite One.' Moreover, we also knew that our Goddess isn't an almighty but a mortal once. Haa, it all started around five centuries ago." While speaking, Cardinal hurriedly touched his silver bracelet, took out a leather-covered book from it, and tossed it towards him.

"At that time, our Goddess Zaqiel sent us an oracle and told the Pope to unify the Kingdoms. Not only that, but she also told the Pope that she sent a trusted Angel to the Faith Realm from the place called 'Elysian World' to guide humanity. But the one who appeared was not an Angel but a monstrous Nightmare Creature! It was a Devil!"

In the meantime, Charles caught the book, flipped open the page, and read the title.

'The Seven Hells.'

"Your Goddess is currently residing in one of the Seven Infernal Worlds?" A surprised look appeared on his face.

"We don't know much about her current location. But what we do know is that Devil had many holy books like this one. Also, His Holiness told me that our Goddess indeed sent an Angel for us, but the Angel seemed to have encountered something during its journey and later turned into a Nightmare Creature. If not for the Pope of that time sacrificing his life to seal it in a box, the whole world might've gotten corrupted by that evil being and turned into a demonic land."

"It's quite a fascinating story indeed. This story perfectly fits with the Evil God's scheme prophetic words." Charles let out a chuckle and flipped the pages before reading the book.

"First Layer of the Infernal Plane, Xedeus... The true ruler's name was Al Amar Seiyon, but he disappeared along with the God of the Underworld before the Age of Origin Time. He had many titles like the Fallen Overlord, Prideful Being, The White Devil, etc.,"

"The legend claim that it was Overlord Seiyon who 'created' the first language itself by teaching it to High Humans and High Elves... There was also a legend saying that he was born before the birth of the Universe itself, but nobody knew the truth. Even though he disappeared for more than one hundred thousand years ago, nobody dares to become the next ruler of the first Hell."

'Oh? So, he is the Fallen Overlord, huh.' Charles nodded, flipped the pages continuously, and soon stopped at a particular page.

"Second layer- Evil God Avar... He is the new Evil Emperor of Greed and Wealth..."

It was information about the Second Hell. But as he further read about the Evil God Avar, he soon lost interest.

He again flipped the pages and soon stopped as he read a poetic verse.

"In the groves of fierce mountains, Ananku wear

Bright flowers and appears in whatever form desired.

Male Owl, along with its female hoots in the

Huge, dark town square at this confusing

midnight time, when she rises and roams in many forms.

Like an Angel who descends from heaven,

She wanders mostly with ghouls and spirits.

She was called a Queen of Ghouls, Guardian of Spirits, Demoness who incites lust and kills oneself, or Devil who corrupts men.

She was also called Demon Goddess of Lust and Desire, Deity of Shores, Ocean, and Mountain. She is the ruler of the third Hell)."

'Oh? This Devil seems to be an interesting one.' He muttered inwardly and then continued to look at the rest of the pages.

"Fourth Layer- Maayon,

Devil of Wrath & Destruction, Blood Devil."

"Fifth Layer- Guber, Lord of Gluttony and wealth."

"Sixth layer- Pora, Evil Goddess of Envy and Jealousy."

"Seventh Layer- Red Prince, Self-proclaimed descendant of Fallen Overlord and also a sloth. He is also called as Evil God of Fate and Destiny."

Charles's eyes flickered as he read information about the Red Prince.

'But Runeth said he merely ruled the 66th Domain of the First Layer, right? He recently became the ruler of the Seventh Hell? Tsk, I need more information.' He closed the book and tossed it back to Cardinal.

Then, he looked at him and asked.

"What happened to the ones who jumped into the Abyssal Rifts? Why did they do it?"

"They are a bunch of fanatics who tried to leave this plane." Cardinal Smith responded shortly.

Meanwhile, Charles pondered for a few seconds and finally spoke.

"So, that's why the Light Church wanted to unify the kingdoms, huh. But why did they fail?"

"Our Church also has people with two different ideologies. Although His Holiness and some high-rank members wanted to unify the kingdoms, most of them are firmly opposing the decision."

"You mean the Shadow Angels?" Charles asked.

"No.. Shadow Angels are just a part of the opposition group."