The Archbishop's Combat Prowess

"Chen Fan..."

Another somewhat hoarse voice, heavy with mechanical stiffness, came from within the side hall.

"I remember him. I think he was one of the God Chosen under my instruction."

Hearing that even more familiar voice, Isa outside the door slowly widened her eyes.

Wallis Bishop.

Her superior, and the person she was about to report her task progress to.

As Isa stood there in shock, the voice within the side hall continued.

"As I recall, this God Chosen has always been well-behaved."

Wallis Bishop questioned the Archbishop before him. "Archbishop, could there be some misunderstanding here?"

"A misunderstanding?"

The Archbishop's voice was icy to the bone. "Under the Lord's gaze, he personally took this book down."

"What? Does Wallis Bishop intend to question the Lord?"

Faced with the Archbishop's rebuke, Wallis instinctively took half a step back. At the same time, he bent his mechanical spine and apologized to the Archbishop.

The Archbishop snorted coldly and spoke again. "The author of this Forbidden Book hid information within the interlayer of the book's final page."

"Though this God Chosen did not discover the information hidden in that interlayer... the Divine Descent Ceremony and the God Chosen Ceremony are imminent. It would be better to investigate this matter as soon as possible."

"Wallis Bishop, since he is a God Chosen under your instruction, I will leave this investigation to you."

"Once any problem is found..."

The Archbishop fell silent for a moment. "Strip him of his status as a God Chosen and send him to the church's Execution Platform."

Upon hearing this, Isa's heart shuddered, and she unconsciously retreated half a step.

"Who is it?!"

A shrill, hoarse mechanical synthesized voice rang out from the side hall.

Immediately afterward, the half-closed hall doors were yanked open. A tall figure clad in crimson robes appeared before Isa.

"Ar... Archbishop, greetings to you. M-may the Lord be with you..."

Isa lowered her head as much as possible, hiding her face beneath her large black hood.

"A priest..."

Beneath the dark red hood, four Mechanical Eyes glowing red stared fixedly at Isa. "Remove your hood and look me in the eye."

"What are you doing here?"

The black robes trembled softly. A pair of exquisitely crafted Mechanical Prosthetics extended from within and slowly removed the black hood.

Silver-white hair cascaded down Isa's back, and her delicate, pretty face appeared before the Archbishop.

Isa raised her head tremblingly. The instant she met the gaze of those four red-glowing Mechanical Eyes, every explanation lodged in her throat.

That dark red figure, over three meters tall, brought Isa an overwhelming sense of oppression at that moment!

"Archbishop."

Just as Isa was beginning to struggle beneath that pressure, Wallis Bishop's voice came from the Archbishop's side. "This is Priest Isha. She came today to report the progress of the Divine Descent Ceremony announcements."

"She only recently became a priest and does not understand some of the rules."

The Archbishop did not respond immediately.

He carefully examined Isa before him with his four Mechanical Eyes. "I can tell. She really is still a novice. She has not even accumulated enough contribution to exchange for the gods' blessings."

"The sight of this half-mechanical, half-flesh body is truly hideous."

With that, the Archbishop withdrew his scrutinizing gaze and turned to walk deeper into the side hall.

A few minutes later.

Having finished reporting her task progress, Isa watched the side hall doors slowly close before her. A trace of confusion appeared in her lively right eye.

Chen Fan seemed to be in trouble.

After spending so long in the church, she knew very well that those targeted by Archbishops and Bishops usually met no good end.

No, anyone targeted by the church met no good end.

Even the God Chosen were no exception.

Though she had never witnessed it personally, Carlisle had once told her some of the church's secrets when she was still a deacon.

Once, there had been a God Chosen who had shown disrespect toward the Goddess.

The result was exactly as the Archbishop had said earlier. Not only was he stripped of his status as a God Chosen, he was also sent to the church's Execution Platform—at noon, when the sun was at its fiercest, that God Chosen was bound to the Holy Tower in the central area of the Main Church.

The blazing sunlight converged into flames of light, burning him alive into a heap of charred charcoal!

Isa tightly pressed her thin lips together. Clear conflict showed on the beautiful half of her face that had yet to be replaced by Mechanical Prosthetics.

What should she do?

Should she betray the church and warn Chen Fan, or betray her conscience and watch this falsely accused God Chosen perish in the flames of light?

Gradually, her gaze grew resolute.

Isa turned and headed toward the entrance of the East Main Church.

"Fan Ge, how do you think we can overthrow the church?"

As he spoke, Gao Yuan frowned deeply and softly drew in a breath. "It's hard. This is way too hard."

"Forget the deacons, priests, and Bishops. Just one Archbishop could easily deal with the two of us."

Chen Fan's eyes flickered. "An Archbishop?"

"Is he really that strong?"

Gao Yuan raised a hand and scratched the back of his head. "You have amnesia, so you don't remember what the Archbishop looks like."

"Do you know how tall the Archbishop is?"

Seeing Chen Fan shake his head, Gao Yuan sighed softly and held up two fingers.

"One meter thirty-five?"

"What kind of Mechanical Little Potato is that!"

"Cough, cough, cough!" Gao Yuan choked on Chen Fan's shocking remark. "...It's three meters fifty!!"

"Three meters fifty?"

Chen Fan looked up and estimated the height for a moment before realizing, "Can that even fucking count as human?"

His initial enthusiasm for "starting a business" slowly faded, and a hint of fear appeared in Gao Yuan's eyes. "I don't know if he counts as human, but I do know that the Archbishop received the Goddess's greatest blessing."

Chen Fan said nothing, instead questioning Yi in his heart.

Yi, what do you think?

He should have undergone Human Body Mechanization Modification to the maximum extent.

To the maximum extent?

Simply put, he retained his head and replaced every other organ and tissue in his body with Mechanical Prosthetics.

Can... can he still live like that?

Of course. Artificial blood and blood vessels can deliver all kinds of nutrients to the head, while a neural signal conversion device controls the mechanical body...

In a sense, this could even greatly extend the lifespan of the brain. After all, every nutrient would be formulated in the most scientific proportions.

Chen Fan briefly imagined the scene in his mind, then suddenly shuddered.

Fuck.

That definitely did not count as human!

"Wait, you just said that the Archbishop received the Goddess's greatest blessing."

Only then did Chen Fan realize something. "What about the Pope?"

"The Pope?" Gao Yuan shook his head in confusion. "I've never seen the Pope. Not just me—probably only the Archbishop in the entire church has ever seen the Pope."

Chen Fan suddenly understood. "So that claim excludes the Pope by default, right?"

"Knock, knock, knock."

Just as Chen Fan was about to continue, the tightly shut door was knocked on again.

"Xiao Fan, someone from the church is here."

His mother's voice came from outside the door.