With the failure of the evil Pope Aesop’s body double, the Sky Cathedral located underneath the Scripps Cemetery began to go through some unusual changes. The seemingly brand new buildings started to deteriorate rapidly, and the entire Vaolette Town turned into a dilapidated ruin within moments.
Rays of gold light burst out of the ruins of the St. Mary’s Academy. The brightest light rays were concentrated around the St. Mary’s Cathedral at the center of the academy. Bella almost felt sorry for the evil Pope Aesop as his secret collection of treasures had all been destroyed.
However, Aesop did not truly disappear. His evil consciousness still existed. According to Bella’s divine artifact, the “Meredith Holy Lamp,” it could still detect traces of Aesop’s evil consciousness as it wandered the St. Mary’s Cathedral, and it was clear that Bella would not be able to get rid of Aesop that easily.
The first generation Pope Goldsmith had been completely wrapped up in strips of white cloth like a mummy. To make it more convincing, Bella and the others bought a replica of the Pharaoh’s coffin and placed Goldsmith inside. Bella also placed some of her own precious treasures within the coffin as well.
Kleina and Captain Mathilde were still trapped in their bindings. First of all, Bella did not have the time to remove them. Secondly, she wanted to make use of this opportunity to do some naughty things to them. Since the Assassin Noreya and the Puppet Master Elaine were one of Bella’s “naughtier” dorm mates, they were familiar with her deviant tastes, and as such they did not attempt to dissuade her at all. Furthermore, both of them were clearly “S,” which meant that they welcomed the sight of such activities as well.
When the fallen Pope Douglas saw the area being destroyed from the top of the Sky Cathedral, he decided to ignore it and immediately escaped back into the Soul Tower within the Underground Sea. After all, Soul Island was still his base camp. Even if this place became decrepit, with Aesop’s abilities, rebuilding would not be an issue.
This time, Bella was unable to get the “Light of Sin” that represented the second generation Radiant Pope’s status, as well as the “Light of the Fallen” of the fourth generation Radiant Pope. However, she was able to gain possession of the “Origin of Light” and the “Adjudicator of Light” that represented the status of the first and fifth Radiant Pope, respectively. This would add on to the “Lonely Light,” the cross that represented the third Radiant Pope’s status, that she had gained much earlier.
At the moment, Bella owned three crosses from the previous Radiant Popes, which were equivalent to the previous Popes’ “Imperial Seal.” The personal cross that represented the current Pope’s status was given to him by the sixth generation Radiant Pope Lindberg. That cross had more than ten thousand years of history. As Bella had three such crosses in her possession, she already owned two more crosses than the current Pope.
Midway through their journey, Bella and the others switched over to the flying throne and escaped the Scripps Cemetery’s Underground Sea Region. Moving along the opening in the sky, they managed to return to the Underground Maze. Once they were out, the opening was sealed. The Underground Maze had already been taken over by the Puppet Master Elaine’s demonic beings, which meant that it could be considered a safe zone.
The entrances and exits of the Scripps Cemetery had already been blocked off by the Radiant Church’s Vatican Secret Guard. Bella and the others changed into simple black cloaks and escaped in another direction. The church’s blockades were no match for Bella and her demonic beings. While Bella explored the Inner World, the demonic beings under her command had already dug out a passageway inside the Underground Maze, which Bella used to leave the Scripps Cemetery.
Within the depths of the Scripps Cemetery, members of the Radiant Church, led by the Red Archbishop Ellen, waited in anticipation of an upcoming battle. Every single person was on high alert for anything unusual occurring in their surroundings. Archbishop Ellen had already noticed that a few extra members had mysteriously appeared on the hill. However, he did not say anything.
Ellen realized that those extra members included the Church’s heir President Maria, the Holy Swordsman Cynthia, the Four Holy Maidens, as well as the Dark Holy Maiden Liz and a few others from the Darkness Church. He knew that if he were to reveal his identity right now, the Radiant Church would descend into internal chaos and cause infighting.
President Maria was clearly in cahoots with the Holy Swordsman Cynthia. In addition, they were joined by reinforcements from the Darkness Church. Under these circumstances, even the Pope would not dare to offend President Maria, let alone Ellen, who was only a Red Archbishop.
If they were to engage in a confrontation, Archbishop Ellen had a less than thirty percent chance of winning. The Holy Swordsman Cynthia alone would be able to take him down alone without the aid of President Maria and the four Holy Maidens.
The rock that blocked the entrance of the Scripps Cemetery had been blown apart. Then, a few weary figures staggered out from a grave. One of them was Randall, the Young Master of the Blood Skull Organization.
Randall was considered to be one of the lucky ones. The other two teams from the Horrorshow Group and the Skeleton Tower had been completely annihilated inside that Underground Maze. If the Radiant Church hadn’t blocked the entrances, Randall and the others would have escaped the Scripps Cemetery a long time ago. No one in their right mind would want to remain in that godforsaken place for longer than they had to.
“Archbishop Ellen, I demand an explanation. What’s with that rock that blocked the way? If not for that stupid rock, we would have escaped much earlier, and we could have avoided so many deaths.”
“Young Master Randall, let’s discuss this in-depth later. Did you see a captain of a grave robbing team with the code name “Lady Knight”? She seemed to have entered the cemetery with you.”
“No, I did not. I’m leaving. I expect an explanation from you soon. Otherwise, I will have no choice but to speak to Archbishop Salo.”
Infuriated, Randall left with his remaining followers, who were haggard and weary. Archbishop Ellen had no idea how to answer his question and was contemplating his options when Bella and her gang strutted out of the other side of Scripps Cemetery’s entrance with an entourage of a horse-drawn carriage in tow.
The Archbishops were speechless. There were a few dozen carriages, and each one was overflowing with all sorts of treasures. The first two carriages had two strangely designed coffins on top of them, and one of the coffins had curses engraved all over it.
Grave robbers these days are getting more arrogant. They even dared to transport the treasures that they had stolen in broad daylight and right under the noses of the people who were guarding the cemetery. Many followers of the Radiant Church were furious. They wanted to investigate the loot. However, they were ordered by Archbishop Ellen to stand down.
Although Bella was wearing a black cloak, she had three crosses hanging on her chest. Archbishop Ellen caught sight of the crosses that belonged to the first, third, and fifth generation Popes. Because of this, he felt that this matter was above his pay grade, and Archbishop Ellen decided to report this to the current Radiant Pope.
As he watched Bella and the others get off the hook, President Maria and the others on the hill nearby began to retreat, Archbishop Ellen knew that they had narrowly avoided a potential internal conflict within the Radiant Church. Bella was right; the people in this Other World did not recognize the coffins of the ancient Pharaohs from her previous world.
Bella and the others lied that they had found another path while tunneling through the maze when they were robbing the Scripps Cemetery and ended up inside one of the ancient graves. Those Pharaohs’ coffins and the treasures had been dug up from those underground graves.
No one from this Other World dared to check those coffin replicas as Bella continued to boast about them. The members of the Doors of Truth Society who were guarding the St. Louis Church Academy did not dare to open the coffin that held the fifth generation Radiant Pope Roxanne. The new coffin that Elaine had placed Roxanne into had the Ancient Egyptian God of Death Anubis engraved on it. Moreover, Roxanne emanated cursed energy, which made it seem like the coffin was really cursed.
“This is Anubis’… Anyway, this is the coffin of one of the ancient Evil Gods. The ancient corpse within it had been cursed. On this side, this is the Sun King’s coffin. Do you still wish to check them?”
“It’s fine… Grand Duchess Bellina. You may go! Since those treasures did not belong to the Scripps Cemetery, according to the agreement, they can take them with you.”
Once the members of the “Doors of Truth” Society verified that those treasures in the first few carriages were real, they let her go. Before that, Bella had already tucked the crosses that represented three of the Radiant Popes into her cloak. Since those treasures had been part of Bella’s personal collection, they were all authentic, and none of them were of questionable quality.
Bella had joined Kleina and Captain Mathilde inside one of the last few carriages that were covered in black cloth. She took advantage of the confusion and left the St. Louis Church Academy with ease. Bella had already spent the deposit that Randall had given her through fund transfer. Since he had no clue about Bella’s true identity, there was no way he was getting his money back.
No one would ever expect Bella, who was a Grand Duchess, to cheat 100,000 gold coins out of someone. No matter how much Randall suspected it, he would never believe that the Grand Duchess Bellina, who had a monthly income that far exceeded that amount, would be the one who cheated him.
After the incident, the Scripps Cemetery was renamed to the Gabriel Memorial and was permanently sealed. Those grave robbers who had gone missing inside the maze had basically died in vain. To this day, the Radiant Church had not revealed the reason for sealing off the Scripps Cemetery. However, the previously promised reward of 100,000 gold coins would be split evenly and given as compensation to the four main Evil Organizations of the Human Empire’s Underground World – the Eye of Darkness, Blood Skull, Horrorshow Group and Skeleton Tower.
Of course, the organizations were not satisfied with that. However, they were in no position to object to the Radiant Church’s actions publicly. Furthermore, the four Evil Organizations were not united, and each of them had their own hidden agenda. This meant that they could not cooperate to put up any resistance and could only reluctantly accept the 25,000 gold coins each as compensation.
Bella had no idea if the remnants of the evil Pope Aesop and the fallen Pope Douglas’ evil spirits would come out to create trouble again. When she left the maze, she had sprinkled some of the “Tears of the Goddess” from the Creator of Light Vianne at the entrance that led to the Underground Sea Region. Bella guessed that it would be able to suppress the two evil spirits for a reasonable period of time.
The northern campus of the Olsylvia Academy, the Filomena Nobility Academy.
After much effort by the craftsmen, the original ruins of the Benedict Manor had a brand new image. With the large number of funds that Bella invested, the craftsmen were extra diligent as they had not met such a generous boss like her in a very long time.
Normally, when the nobility or royalty engaged their services, food and lodging were not provided. In addition, their salary would be paid monthly, which ranged from around just under twenty silver coins to a few thousand bronze coins. The worst thing was that some of those scum would delay their payment on purpose, even if they had the money. This made many of the craftsmen extremely miserable.
On the other hand, with Bella as their employer, she provided food and lodging and paid them daily. In fact, her one gold coin a day was never late. Compared to working for the other nobles, it was basically heaven.
“Grand Duchess Bellina, everything is going smoothly. I believe we would be able to complete the work either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow!”
“Mmm, alright. Master Steve, it’s been tough on you and your disciples so far. Once the project is completed, everyone will get another one hundred gold coins as a reward.”
When the project’s head craftsman Master Steve and his team that was working on remodeling the Benedict Manor heard what Bella said, they nearly kowtowed in gratitude. A reward of one hundred gold coins per person was equivalent to a few years of their income. As they looked at Bella’s retreating figure, Master Steve instructed his disciples to keep a lookout for any projects from the Sarnia Duchy. From now on, he planned to work long term for Bella.
Bella, who had rushed back to the Olsylvia Academy, did not manage to catch her breath before heading to the Benedict Manor with the Seed of Life in hand. She had already asked Lolita to transport the loot that she had brought back from the Scripps Cemetery. In addition, the first generation Radiant Pope Goldsmith had already personally removed the seal on the golden box that held the Seed of Life.
“Grand Duchess Bellina, how did you manage to unlock the seal on that golden box?”
“Princess Delias, well… it’s a secret. I’ll tell you about it when we have the time. Let’s plant it!”
Bella had come to the Benedict Manor’s remodeling site under the pretense of checking up on the project’s progress. As for the matter of her sending the Seed of Life, she did not mention it to anyone unnecessary. The Seed of Light was the Elven Race’s long lost sacred object. The Moon Elven were not the only ones who were looking for it. In fact, every single tribe of the Elven Race was looking for the Seed of Light. Even their distant relative, the Fairy Race, had joined in the search.
Princess Delias of the Moon Elven hugged the golden box that held the Seed of Life in delight. Like Bella, she had concealed the fact that she managed to obtain the Seed of Life. Even her mother, the Queen of the Moon Elven, was kept in the dark. Other than the Seed of Life, Bella also brought back many precious seeds and eggs for agricultural purposes. Once the Ancient Tree of Life germinated, those seeds and eggs could be given a new lease of life.
Although the area around the Benedict Manor was already on high alert, Bella used the remainder of Randall’s 100,000 gold coins after paying the craftsmen, to employ a large number of temporary private guards. At this moment, there were at least a thousand guards who were patrolling the area around the manor.
There were many people who had their sights set on the Seed of Light. Bella realized that there were many pairs of eyes staring intently at the Elven Princess Delias. She was now wearing a suit of heavy knight’s armor and had replaced her regular sword with a machete, which could be easily unsheathed at a moment’s notice.
“It’s the Elven Princess! Quick, let’s take a look…”
Once the Elven Princess Delias emerged, the boys of the Olsylvia Academy got a little overexcited. With someone in the crowd egging them on, large numbers of boys poured out of the academy and began to charge towards the human defense wall set up by the guards. While the guards were occupied by the crazed boys, a handful of black figures slipped out of the crowd and moved towards their target, the Seed of Life in Princess Delias’ arms.
Although they were moving very quickly, they were no match for Bella’s reflexes. After observing the Assassin Noreya, those guys were moving at a snail’s pace compared to her usual speed. Bella reached out and grabbed onto Delias, pulling her into her arms. The Demon Thieves who had been lying in wait quickly shot those unfortunate figures to death with their arrows.
“The Rose Society is killing people! Come…”
Before the students who were trying to create trouble could finish their sentences, they were subdued by the members of the Rose Society who were lying in ambush. Bella held on to a confused Elven Princess Delias and continued to make their way towards the area where they decided to plant the Seed of Life. The guards had taken control over the short-lived commotion at the perimeter.
“Grand Duchess Bellina, your human academies…”
“Ignore that. I have my ways to handle this. Just do what you have to. I will take care of everything else.”
There was a competitive edge in the air even before the Seed of Life was planted. This caused the Moon Elven Princess Delias to hesitate for a moment. However, Bella’s certainty gave her confidence. According to the Elven Race’s ancient books, once the Seed of Life was planted, it would require one week to ensure it was secure. Delias had planned to plant it first and played it by ear afterward.
As luck would have it, the moment the Seed of Life was planted, a little accident occurred. Bella was the only one who saw it. When the Moon Elven Princess Delias was about to place the seed in the pit, the Seed of Life fell right out of her hand. It dropped into the pit and was instantly swallowed up by the ground.
Delias’ eyes were filled with disbelief. However, Bella saw everything. A pair of pale-skinned hands grabbed the Seed of Life right out of Delias’ hands and absorbed the seed into the soil. Since those hands did not seem to have any ill intent, Bella did not attempt to stop it.
The moment the seed was absorbed into the soil, a ray of emerald green light shot out of the ground. This was the natural aura that contained the infinite possibilities of growth. Under the light, a tree was rapidly growing as quickly as the eye could see.
