From This Day On, There Were Gods

Rhine, Rhine City.

Pope Lan Ge of the Rhine, dressed in a magnificent robe, was sitting at a huge round table, resting with his eyes closed.

Besides the high-backed chair he was sitting in, there were four empty seats at the round table. In the center of the round table was a two-meter-tall Magic Power crystal, with lightning-like arcs of light leaping within the translucent crystal.

Several Priest were inspecting the crystal. After a while, they all left, leaving one to report to Lan Ge, "Your Pope, the communication crystal is ready and can be used to contact the Four Great Churches at any time."

Lan Ge didn't open his eyes, but simply nodded. "Then let's begin."

"Yes, ma'am."

The crystal was activated, and the arcs of light leaping within it grew increasingly dazzling, as if it would explode at any moment. This continued for five minutes before the arcs of light converged at the top of the crystal and then shot towards the four empty seats. Soon after, four illusory figures slowly appeared in the seats. Three of them wore identical robes, symbolizing their status and rank, while the fourth figure wore a much simpler robe, naturally attracting the attention of the other three immediately.

But instead of asking questions immediately, they first touched the chest of the person in the main seat, Lan Ge.

"Your Majesty."

After receiving a nod of approval from Lan Ge, the remaining three turned their attention to the most unusual person.

"He Li?" the Eastern Bishop asked first, "Why you?"

"Where's the one-eyed man?" the Northern Bishop chimed in. "It's been years since I've seen him flaunt his eye in front of me."

The Southern Bishop did not speak, but his gaze toward He Li was filled with curiosity.

"This..." He Li hesitated and looked at Lan Ge was in the first seat.

Lan Ge said calmly, "Let's just say it. Isn't this the very reason we gathered them together?"

Upon hearing this, the three bishops immediately realized that something was wrong with Ke Li, and their expressions gradually became serious.

"Yes, Your Majesty." After receiving Rango's permission, Heri said to the three archbishops, "Your Excellencies, I bring you some regrettable news: Bishop Corey Obote of the West passed away last night."

The three bishops did not speak immediately. They frowned. Although they had guessed this from He Li's previous reaction, they were still shocked when He Li said it himself.

"This is truly...surprising news," the Northern Bishop broke the silence first.

The Southern Bishop, who had been silent until now, spoke up, "I guess it wasn't a natural death."

"...Yes." He Li nodded, then said with some difficulty, "Bishop Keli has passed away, and that eye...is also lost."

Another silence followed.

The Eastern Bishop gently rubbed his temples. "I suggest you make things clear at once, otherwise I might not be able to resist killing you."

He Li trembled. He knew the Eastern Bishop's style very well, so he quickly explained the whole story in the shortest amount of time.

Upon learning that it was highly likely another person who possessed the body part had killed Ke Li and taken the eye, the three Archbishop couldn't help but exchange glances, understanding why His Pope had been in such a hurry to convene this meeting.

If all of this is true.

So that guy named Ulu already has two pieces of his body.

"I won't bother asking you any nonsense about whether you've caught that guy named Ulu or found any clues about him." The Eastern Bishop's tone had turned somber. "I'll just ask one question: Ulu has returned to Somu City, and you and Ke Li both knew that, so why didn't you report it? Did Ke Li want to keep both parts of the body for himself?"

Faced with the Eastern Bishop's questioning, He Li dared not refute it at all, and cold sweat poured down his body.

At this moment, Lan Ge, who had kept his eyes closed, finally opened his gray-white eyes and said in a voice that sounded hollow as if it did not belong to this world, "Arguing about those things is meaningless. The point now is that we have lost that eye, and we may have gained an enemy with two pieces of the body."

He paused.

"The key next step is to find and dispose of him, and recover those two pieces of body parts."

Seeing that the Pope had set the tone for the matter, the Eastern Bishop could no longer press the issue. After the four of them bowed to Lan Ge once more, the Northern Bishop couldn't help but ask, "But I still don't understand. That Father named Ulu only had one finger, right? In the ranking of the Forbidden Book, no finger can compare to that eye, let alone the one-eyed dragon... I mean, Bishop Keli and him should have been even more different in strength, so how exactly did he kill Ke Li?"

"This is the more crucial point." Lan Ge looked at the Northern Bishop with his greyish-white eyes. "Currently, all our knowledge of the corpse parts comes from the records in the Forbidden Book, but the question is, is what's in the Forbidden Book necessarily correct?"

As Lan Ge spoke, he lightly raised a finger, and everyone in the room except for Lan Ge and the projections of the Four Great Churches left, leaving only one person and the four shadows.

The bishops knew that His Pope was about to say something that could not be recorded.

"A long time ago, the high-ranking members of the Four Great Orthodox Churches conducted a deduction, adding together all the rules about corpse parts recorded in the Forbidden Book to determine Visas's true strength," Lan Ge slowly began. "And in that deduction, we came to the conclusion that, based solely on the abilities recorded in the rules, Visas was merely a powerful contaminant of those rules. He was still stronger than all of us, but even at that level, he was not worthy of being called Gods."

The three Archbishop exchanged glances.

"Do you believe that those body parts still contain abilities and rules that are not recorded in the Forbidden Book?" the Northern Bishop said after a moment of thought. "I remember that the one-eyed dragon... Ke Li also expressed this view. According to him, his eye can see more and farther than mine."

The Eastern Bishop said, "But that's still just speculation, isn't it?"

He Li was reluctant to respond to the Eastern Bishop at this time, but he knew it was his turn.

"No... now, the guess is about to be confirmed."

He Li glanced at Lan Ge, and after Lan Ge nodded, he performed some operations, and then a new projection appeared on the Magic Power crystal.

That was Ke Li ... or more precisely, the dead Ke Li.

The pitiful sight made even the three well-informed Archbishop widen their eyes in disbelief.

The Southern Bishop couldn't help but mutter, "He really did die... not very naturally."

The Northern Bishop looked at He Li and asked, "Is there a problem? As far as I know, there are no fewer than ten spells or divine arts that can cause this kind of damage."

"The problem is..." He Li said softly, "this is already a body that we have repaired using the [Divine Art: Miracle of Life]."

The three bishops' eyes widened immediately.

They certainly knew what kind of divine magic the "Miracle of Life" was. It was the most powerful life-related divine magic in the world. No matter how severe the injury, as long as one received this magic, it could be healed. Even a shattered corpse could be reset. Although it couldn't bring the dead back to life, it could guarantee that the deceased would have a complete body for burial. Every bishop and every Pope in the Rhine underwent this divine magic baptism after death.

It never failed.

Until today.

"What exactly happened?" the Eastern Bishop immediately asked. "Where did the missing part go? No, that's not right. Even if it really is missing, the Miracle of Life can make it grow back."

"That's the problem," He Li said. "We've tried everything, but we can't find where Bishop Keli's missing flesh is. The Miracle of Life can't make him grow new flesh. It's as if the missing flesh no longer exists in this world, and at the same time, this world... won't allow it to grow back."

The spacious conference room fell into a deathly silence once again.

Everyone understood He Li's description.

Without a doubt, this is a rule, and a rule that has never been recorded in the Forbidden Book.

"Why is this happening?" the Eastern Bishop asked again. "Is it from that finger? Shouldn't it be [Termination] or [Disturbance]?"

Lan Ge said calmly, "That's why I said that what is recorded in the Forbidden Book is not necessarily everything."

At this moment, the Northern Bishop, who had been silent for a long time, looked up at Lan Ge and then slowly spoke, "Your Pope, I would like to ask a question. Although I do not know if this question is offensive or inappropriate, since things have become so serious, I still want to know the answer."

Lan Ge looked at the Northern Bishop with his greyish-white eyes. He seemed to guess what the Northern Bishop wanted to say, but still nodded slightly. "Ask away."

"Visas ... what exactly is he, and what has he done?" The Northern Bishop voiced the question that had lingered in everyone's hearts for years. "We only know that he is an enemy of the Gods, a being similar to an evil god, but he is different from the true evil gods of the Esoteric Sect, so..."

Lan Ge raised his hand, interrupting the Northern Bishop's question.

Then he closed his eyes again, as if recalling something.

Those present dared not disturb the projector and waited quietly.

It's unclear how much time passed before Lan Ge slowly opened his eyes, his hollow voice still sounding unlike anything from this world.

"I don't know what Visas is either. I only know that he did one thing."

"Long ago, there were God Race in this world."

"But after he appeared."

"Only the Gods remain."

Phew, it's finally available! Please subscribe on the first day!

Chapter Two should be released in about two hours or late at night, so you don't need to wait any longer (I didn't sleep a wink last night, just managed a short nap, and I'm ready to get back to work).