The Devil's Cage

Kieran was showing an expression of disbelief.

The Church of Shadows, although it was rarely mentioned by Sister Moni, it didn’t mean Kieran didn’t know of their existence or the influence they had in the current dungeon world.

Back when the churches ruled, the reason why the Church of Light couldn’t reign over all was because of the existence of the Church of Shadows.

Both sides were arch enemies because of certain creeds they upheld, plus both Light and Shadows had no lack of frantic believers, the open and secretive battles were endless.

But the fact that the Church of Shadows separated from the Church of Dawn still made Kieran feel it unbelievable.

“This is really shocking!” Kieran was stunned for 2 seconds before giving such a comment.

“Believe me, you are not the first and will not be the last. The Church of Shadows was originally a concept, an ideal of a certain knight of Dawn, “protect the believers from the shadows” but as time went by, such an ideal was getting more recognition and expanded further, especially after multiple Holy Wars, a lot of knights of Dawn couldn’t accept their helplessness against the death of the innocent believers, so they went the more extreme way.”

The sister said tirelessly with a smile on her face.

“That is why Guntherson has such an outstanding undercover technique?” Kieran remembered the old guardian knight’s performance when they first met.

“Yes, but Guntherson was not really skilled, at least compared to a real knight of Shadows, he is just on the average level. Did you read through Guntherson’s notes? Did the term [Dark Movement Technique] come up?”

Kieran nodded immediately at the question. How would he not know of the only complete skill name in the notes?

“When the [Dark Movement Technique] is trained to its highest state, it allows the user to shuttle across shadows.”

Kieran widened his eyes right away at Sister Moni’s description.

Shuttle across shadows? With Transcendence [Undercover] and having experienced the skill above Transcendence level, Kieran knew perfectly well how scary this Basic skill [Undercover] was when it reached Transcendence, let alone shuttling across shadows.

Once such an undercover skill was used together with assassination techniques, what would happen?

Could you imagine passing by an empty corner, you made sure there was no one there but after you walked by, suddenly a poisoned dagger came out from the spot and thursted itself towards your back? Imagine how terrifying it would be!

Even if a person was alarmed when they walked by, it would still be useless.

Kieran was very certain that the Church of Shadows had similar means as well, the smeared out name of the skills was enough to prove everything.

With the combination of all the smeared out skills, the target might not even know what happened after death.

“So the smeared out names of the skills in Guntherson’s note are all from the Church of Shadows?”

Kieran asked again, trying to confirm his thoughts.

“A part of it, yes and the other part, no. I can’t be frank to you about certain things, it’s best for Guntherson to tell you himself when he returns.” Sister Moni looked at Kieran with an apologetic look.

“It’s fine, sister. You’ve told me enough.”

Kieran waved his hands right away and asked with a confused look, “So if the Church of Shadows has their own Shadow Knights, what about the war 50 years ago?”

“You are curious about why they didn’t make a move back then?”

“Yes. With a bunch of top-tiered assassins that could shuttle across shadows, it’s hard to imagine how did the nobles could win back then.” Kieran was being completely frank.

It was the point that baffled him the most because he really couldn’t not imagine how did the nobles secured their own safety against such formidable foes. Or in other words, how did the nobles oppose the Church of Shadows?”

“If the Church of Shadows really participated in the 50 years ago, it might have really change the outcome. However, six months before the war broke out, the Church of Shadows sent out an secret notice to every other church, claiming that they have to leave the scene because of “God’s will”, and the date of their return is uncertain.” The elderly sister sighed with a bitter look.

No one else knew how powerful the Church of Shadows was than other than Sister Moni herself and because of that, the bitterness on her face looked even more helpless.

“God’s will?” Kieran frowned.

As always, Kieran never believed in such coincidences from the bottom of his heart.

“After they separated from the Goddess of Dawn, they worship someone named the Lord of Shadows, a neutral God. The Lord of Shadow had quite the tacit relationship with the Goddess of Dawn and also because of that, when the Church of Shadows formed, it received the Church of Dawn’s full support and not another Holy War.” Sister Moni revealed more secrets to Kieran.

“So are you sure that the bishop of the Church of Shadows and the shadow knights are still…”

Kieran didn’t utter the word “alive” but his meaning was explicit enough.

“I am not sure but I can’t think of anything that can cost them their lives. Although we called him the bishop, as a matter of fact, the bishop was the pope, a powerful existence that could even oppose a myriad of modern soldiers. Plus his twenty Shadow Knights, each of them were frightening powerhouses, when they band together, I don’t think anyone could’ve threatened them, more so, that “will” did have the divine presence to it.”

“Is that so…” Kieran didn’t object anymore but his brows furrowed harder.

…

Meanwhile in a palace garnished with gold and gemstones, a middle-aged man with a bright red bishop outfit was kneeling down, praying softly before a gigantic divine statue that the palace needed to build an extra dome on top just to cover.

Only the soft prayers were echoing throughout the palace.

The guards on duty around the palace were strictly quietly, none of them dared to utter disturbances and even their breathing was controlled.

After a full half an hour, the middle-aged bishop stood up when he finished praying.

The messenger knight who has been waiting for a while finally delivered the letter.

“Oh, God’s Child? There’s still a God’s Child in this era?”

The middle-aged bishop couldn’t help but show interest when he read through the letter.

Though mockery was mixed in his exclamation but as he read through the letter, his brows slightly furrowed.

The contents in the letter mentioned something the bishop was familiar with but he wasn’t sure of it. Yet it didn’t stop him from making decisions.

“That bastard!”

The bishop coldly grunted before tearing the letter apart.

He didn’t squash it or tear it with his fingers but when he clenched his fist, the special made letter were torn to shreds just like that.

When he opened his palm again, the paper shreds flew away like dust.

“I need to pay a visit to the Church of Dawn,” the bishop said as he walked.

“Yes, lord bishop!” The knight beside him bowed and executed the order.

Over ten minutes later, an airship that fused blooming technologies and alchemy together rose up above the palace sky.

It then flew towards where the Church of Dawn was with speed faster than a sprinting horse.

Meanwhile at a certain spot outside the outer rim of the palace, an elder saw the flying airship and couldn’t help but squint his eyes.

Then, the elder quickly merged with the shadows, vanishing into nothing.