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The convening of the council didn’t require complex procedures. They simply gathered, meditated on the teachings of the Great Master, worshipped the Celestial Gods and the spirits of the Golden Age, shared a simple financial report, regional updates, and briefly listed doctrinal issues and various agenda items to be discussed. After that, the real council began.

After the worship, they shared baked white bread and red brewed wine, which had completely replaced the old burnt offerings and sacrifices. The clergy gathered in the hall calmly waited for the council to begin.

Soon, a report on the general budget execution and actual expenditures from the Church’s headquarters followed. Throughout the report, sharp questions and answers about the budget execution continued, but neither the questioners nor the respondents showed any excitement or agitation.

It was simply a matter of calmly conveying the facts. After the pointed discussions, various issues and agenda items were finally addressed. After many topics were discussed, it was finally the Paladins’ turn to speak.

Indeed, the moment everyone in the Toriento Bishopric had been waiting for—and worrying about—had arrived.

Despite the mixed pressure of interest and discomfort from many, Sophia stood on the podium with a composed expression, unfazed. Even after Cardinal Andrea’s statement, the eyes and ears of those gathered in the hall were entirely focused on Sophia.

Standing on the podium, Sophia looked around with a dignified expression. She wasn’t thinking about how to persuasively convey her message. Instead, she was thinking about something else—what she needed to do moving forward.

“Everyone, before we discuss the agenda, there’s something I must say first.”

If they wanted to address this issue more thoroughly and decisively, they first needed to clarify the responsibility for why this agenda had come up in the first place.

Ultimately, the reason this agenda had come before the council was due to an incident in Agnon. And in the Agnon issue, Sophia couldn’t escape responsibility.

After all, if it hadn’t been for the light of her Immovable King Wisdom Technique, the Great Demon drifting beyond the Domain Horizon wouldn’t have had any reason to take notice, nor would it have spread its instruments as a declaration of war.

Of course, if it hadn’t been for that incident, humanity might not have noticed the existence of the Great Demon beyond the Domain Horizon until it finally achieved its goal and threatened humanity’s survival. So, in hindsight, it might even be considered fortunate.

However, that fortunate event didn’t justify the sacrifices and suffering humanity had endured. At least, Sophia felt she had to take responsibility for it.

“Everyone, you must remember the day the instruments spread across the continent. Some of you here must have observed the instruments rising like wildfire.”

Her responsibility extended beyond that. If her abilities had been slightly stronger, if she had reacted more cautiously, she could have reduced the number of instruments scattered across the continent.

If there had been even one more person capable of doing what she did that day, perhaps the damage could have been entirely avoided.

She laid out her thoughts one by one, as if reproaching herself. The Great Demon that entered the Domain Horizon, the instruments that spread across the continent, her inadequate response, and everything she had contemplated since then. Above all, the Immovable King Wisdom Technique.

After pouring out all the words she had kept inside, she calmly waited for the reactions. There might be condemnation or reproach. It might be somewhat unfair, but it wouldn’t be strange if someone held her responsible for all of this.

Indeed, the people gathered in the hall began to murmur and look at each other after Sophia’s confession. Cardinal Andrea covered his forehead with his hand, Hildegard looked shocked, and Giovanni di Salieri, the Bishop of Toriento, simply observed the situation in the hall with an unreadable expression.

Suddenly, one of them stood up and requested the floor. Sophia turned to look and raised an eyebrow upon seeing his face. It was Bishop Johannes Bethel of Strasbourg.

“Dear brothers and sisters. Before we discuss Sophia de Chazel’s confession, there’s something I’d like to say first.”

Looking around, Bishop Johannes recalled a past memory. When demons had infiltrated Strasbourg, he hadn’t fully understood the threat they posed or the sacrifices the Paladins were making. That ignorance could have brought a great crisis to Strasbourg.

He had deeply reflected and repented for that mistake, and it had become an opportunity to broaden his inner self and elevate his virtues. Through this, he had grown rapidly and finally succeeded in cultivating a Light Power worthy of a bishop. It was a case of misfortune turning into fortune.

But if Sophia hadn’t comforted and encouraged him when he was trembling under the demon’s evil aura, what would have become of him?

“Sophia de Chazel seems to believe that clarifying responsibility and bearing it should come first, but I think differently. What’s more important now is considering what we should do next.”

“I agree.”

“Seconded.”

Bishop Agnes Lefebvre of the Saint-Manue Convent and Bishop Giovanni di Salieri of the Toriento Bishopric agreed with Bishop Johannes. After expressing her agreement, Bishop Agnes glanced at Sophia and winked, shrugging her shoulders with a playful and mischievous expression. Sophia’s eyebrow twitched slightly at Bishop Agnes’s gesture.

Encouraged by these supporters, Bishop Johannes Bethel continued.

“Then let’s move on to more important and practical matters. We tried to purify the instruments with Light Power, but this energy, unlike the usual demonic strength, couldn’t be properly purified with ordinary Light Power. It was as stubborn as the foulness it exuded. However, on the day the instruments were first observed, we noticed that a significant amount of them disappeared for some reason. In fact, thanks to that, the instruments that spread across the continent afterward were a minuscule amount compared to what was initially observed.”

As he spoke, more and more people nodded in agreement. The deeper one’s practice of Light Power, the more they could feel what the bishop was describing. Wasn’t this why they were reacting so seriously to this agenda?

“So, I ask you, Sophia de Chazel. Was it you who erased those instruments that day?”

Sophia nodded in agreement to Bishop Johannes’s pointed question.

“Yes.”

As soon as her answer fell, the hall became as noisy as a marketplace.

Frankly, for the clergy gathered here, determining right and wrong in this matter was less important than finding a weapon to counter the overwhelming evil they faced. They had a mission and duty to do so.

It was only natural that they reacted sensitively to the light that could erase the instruments.

“This time, I’ll ask. That light you used to erase the Great Demon’s instruments in Agnon—can we also attain that power? Through a set training process?”

“Of course. This isn’t a miracle gained through special awakening but a natural property of light obtained through practice.”

The commotion in the hall grew louder. If Sophia’s words were true, this was an important discovery for the path the clergy would take.

“Excuse me, but could you let us experience that light once?”

A trembling voice from a nun-priest who had come from the frozen north made the request. At her words, the gazes of the monks, nuns, priests, bishops, and cardinals in the hall all focused on Sophia.

Bishop Agnes Lefebvre, Bishop Johannes Bethel, Bishop Giovanni di Salieri, Hildegard Ritter von Wolfstein, and Esiocles Emanuele all looked at her as well.

Sophia didn’t answer immediately to the nun-priest’s request or the expectant gazes of everyone. Instead, she took a deep breath, calmed her mind, cleared away impurities, and made it transparent. Finally, her thoughts settled quietly at the center of her heart.

“All is impermanent, and there is no eternity. There is no self, no other, no form, no emptiness. In the midst of nothingness, there is a mind that remains unmoving in nirvana. This is called the mind of the Immovable King.”

Light Power is born from a person’s virtue and moral conduct. Since it directly reflects the state of one’s mind, this change manifested immediately.

Moments later, a radiant glow of gold and jade suddenly surged from Sophia.

 

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