(This is a bonus chapter.)
Dillis City, Mosel District, beneath St. Charles Cathedral.
Archbishop Maffei Delien of the diocese wore a grim expression as he watched several Purifying Light deacons conduct various rituals, among them quite a few Masked Ones.
As the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun's representative in Dillis City, Saint Maffei was in an exceptionally foul mood.
No one had expected that less than half a year after the Republic's Chief Executive was assassinated, a High-ranking Deacon of the Church would be murdered in the street—and they had not even seen who the killer was.
Already implicated by the Delien Family's summoning of the Abyss and transferred from the capital to Dillis City, Maffei felt that his luck had been abysmal these past two years. Perhaps he had lost the Lord's protection.
Very soon, several internal "researchers" and Masked Ones skilled in Spirit Channeling and Divination reported in succession:
"Your Excellency Archbishop, examination has determined that Deacon Horace died from Loss of Control after directly witnessing a Mythical Creature. He also suffered several penetrating wounds from spells, but none of them were fatal.
"The Spirit Channeling results indicate that Deacon Horace fought a female Demigod on the streets of Dillis for two minutes before being defeated and dying... Yet the other Masked Ones have no related memories, and there are no traces of a Demigod battle on Lower Street. Our preliminary guess is that she may have pulled him into a dream or illusion.
"Regarding that suddenly appearing 'vagrant,' our investigation found no such person... Either he came from elsewhere, or he was using a false appearance... His ability to vanish suddenly may have been an illusion, Teleportation, or perhaps merely a Historical Projection."
Maffei Delien shook his head after hearing this. "A dream or illusion cannot