Italy, the Papal City.
Before the magnificent St. Peter's Church, the vast Grand Square was packed with believers who had come on pilgrimage from all over the world. The dense crowd seemed ready to fill the entire city, numbering nearly ten million.
Even more believers gathered outside the city, and no one knew how many others were still converging on Italy.
This was the accumulated might of the thousand-year-old Church!
Under the direction of the Cardinals, the believers, dressed in White Vestments, bowed low before the Bishop Church. The humming of their devout prayers merged into a sacred torrent.
Vast quantities of holy power of faith, invisible to ordinary people, materialized out of thin air and surged into the Bishop Church in great waves.
On a white stone Viewing Platform within the Bishop Church's spire, Edward wore gold-embossed Papal Robes and held a scepter, surveying the believers stretching beyond sight below with a benevolent gaze.
Soya, Awen, and the other two Legendary leaders of the Double Serpent Society stood nearby, silently observing the ceremony. Their gazes, however, were fixed on the incoming power of faith.
Without exception, barely concealed fervor burned in their eyes.
The immense influx of faith poured into a gigantic Silver Cross behind the Viewing Platform, making it radiate a dazzling brilliance.
Like a divine miracle, its halo spread outward in rippling rings, bathing the entire city in holy light.
The worshippers felt refreshed from head to toe, as though their souls had been purified. They grew even more devout, their faith all the firmer.
Yet reality could sometimes be cruel. Behind the sunlight lay the deepest darkness.
Anyone with eyes that could see through solid objects would have seen the tremendous power of faith continue downward behind the cross, passing through the Sealed Passage into the