The Oracle's mission

Palenque Tasibu stood up upon hearing this, raised his hand, made the sign of the Inverted Cross on his Your Excellency, and said respectfully and devoutly, "Your Oracle, I apologize for my impiety just now, and please forgive my offense."

Neph stared at him, wanting to say something, but seemingly having nothing to say, so she could only say, "It's alright."

"No matter when, sincere admission of wrongdoing and repentance are always worthy of praise and forgiveness."

As she said this, Neph was vaguely reminded of herself when she first arrived in Moon City. She was also Oracle back then, but she was much more unfamiliar with the role and not at all used to it. Now, she could accept this identity and all the privileges that came with it with a clear conscience.

He could even recite a couple of lines I'd memorized.

Neph sighed softly, a slight ripple appearing in her eyes before returning to calm and transforming into a dignified smile.

Palenque Tasibu was unaware of Neph's psychological changes. He only noticed a fleeting glint in Neph's eyes, but the light vanished so quickly that he thought he had misread it. He lowered his head as if he had a sudden realization and said, "A sincere admission of wrongdoing and repentance—yes, I should repent for my previous offense."

"Oracle Your Excellency, please allow me to reintroduce the Numinous Episcopate to you."

Neph nodded slightly in agreement. Palenque Tasibu, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, spoke up, "The most powerful branch within the Numinous Episcopate is the Royalist Faction. They have created multiple organizations centered around the descendants of God—"

"Their leader is currently a lesser God-Blooded named Sia Palenque Eggers. She once wielded a relic of Death God and has now become Angel, calling herself the Pale Empress."

"Besides her, the Royalist Faction has five other Saint, some of whom are true Demigod, and some who rely on Sealed Artifact— "

"Aside from the Royalist Faction and us, the other branches are relatively weak, mainly the Sleeping Faction and the Underworld Faction —combined, they only have three members whose strength is equivalent to that of Saint— "

He gave a general overview of the different factions within the Numinous Episcopate, and then said, "Please allow me to compile detailed information about the Saint and Angel within each faction, as well as the Sealed Artifact, into written documents and give them to you later."

"Okay." Neph nodded.

Palenque Tasibu breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "I will compile information on the key members under my management, their contact points, and codes, and then provide them to you so that you can easily deploy them."

"Hmm," Neph responded.

"Do you have any instructions for our next steps?" Palenque Tasibu asked tentatively.

Neph's face showed obvious hesitation.

She had only recently learned that she had once again played the role of a Oracle; it was all done on a whim. Now that Palenque Tasibu had asked for instructions, she actually had two choices.

One option is to delegate her own affairs to the Numinous Episcopate – this doesn't even require seeking their opinion. As Oracle, she is already able to secure some convenience for herself without interfering with the main mission. The contact point information that Palenque Tasibu is about to provide is already part of that.

Secondly, she tried to decipher the intentions of the "True Creator," but this was quite a challenge for Neph. Apart from the part about fighting against Adam, she found that the Uniqueness reference point she could draw upon was the "Aurora Order"!

The problem is that the "Aurora Order" has been using various methods to summon the "True Creator," and the summoning Ritual have a rather independent feel to them.

So, from this perspective, perhaps I should tell him, "Just go ahead and welcome the Lord's coming freely, using every method you can think of!"

In that case, I might be able to create a second "Aurora Order," but that would make my previous "Ten Commandments" seem like a joke.

Neph shook her head and replied, "You'll have to wait a while; I need to ask the Lord his intentions."

She did not intend to pray to the "True Creator." Although Palenque Tasibu had some guesses about her origins, he obviously did not know which God Neph believed in, and exposing the "True Creator" to Palenque Tasibu might not be a good thing.

Therefore, she said, "I didn't bring the necessary Ritual materials; I assume the base should have them prepared?"

wt. poo asked for more details within the content.

Palenque Tasibu responded and quickly fetched candles, Essential Oil, Magic other necessities. Neph was about to light the candles as Ritual, but suddenly stopped, turned, and asked, "How do you draw the Symbol of Death God?"

This statement was undisguised; she didn't even recall calling Death God "Lord." Palenque Tasibu glanced at her but didn't correct her. Instead, he showed Neph a Symbol resembling a skull wearing a crown and explained, "In Mysticism, this Symbol represents the Concealment concepts of 'death' and 'humanity,' symbolizing the identity of the Lord of the Dead."

"The Lord's Honorific Name has three parts: the nature of death; the Lord of the Dead; and the final destination of all living beings."

"When praying to the Lord, in addition to specific candles and essential Essential Oil, we also prepare some items containing the power of death as a bridge to communicate with the Lord. The Crow Feather in your hand is such an item. It comes from the Death-Omen Crow Gravedigger, whose eyeballs are the main ingredient of the Sequence 8 Potion."

"This Essential Oil is called Corpse-Scent Essential Oil, made from Black Lily, Cemetery Rose, Pharaoh Resin, and Corpse-Wax Essential Oil. Its scent evokes the process of a corpse decomposing—"

Neph was so startled she nearly dropped the bottle of Essential Oil. Her hand trembled violently before she steadied herself, her face filled with horror. "You mean this stuff smells like a corpse?"

"No, that's not the case," Palenque Tasibu replied calmly. "It should smell like a mixture of damp moss and blood."

Neph subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, but then caught it halfway through. She carefully chose her words, "I've heard of Black Lily, and I know a little about Cemetery Rose, um----"

What are Pharaoh Resin and Corpse-Wax Essential Oil?

Palenque Tasibu explained, "Pharaoh Resin is a dark red oil extracted from Mummy shrouds soaked in palm wine, while Corpse-Wax Essential Oil is a translucent crystal formed from the body's fat in a low-temperature tomb."

Neph began to regret not having decisively tossed the bottle of Essential Oil Essential Oil aside. She gritted her teeth, shoved it at Palenque Tasibu, and made the decision for the "True Creator": "The Lord doesn't like this scented Essential Oil."

": He inquired respectfully, regained his composure, and then quickly recovered. His face twitched slightly, but he finally managed to suppress the urge. Busita Klenpa..."

So what scent of Essential Oil does the master like?

"First of all," Neph said seriously, "There shouldn't be any corpse oil or adipocere inside!"

Coming from a Sequence 9 Pathway called "Ghoul," Neph shouldn't be so averse to such substances, but in fact, having grown up to this point, she hasn't tasted many real corpses, at most taking hair from corpses and adding some Mummy Powder.

Oh, and we also need to add the bones of the "True Creator".

Leaving the latter aside, God cannot be equated with mortals. Neph's main psychological pressure regarding the bones comes from the special way of communicating through the body parts of the Eater, which easily reminds her of that infamous Betrayal Banquet, especially after she learns that she was supposed to be a part of that banquet.

The former is actually quite far removed from the truly repulsive aspects of corpses. Mummy Powder was even regarded as an aphrodisiac by nobles. Although Neph didn't understand the origin of this saying, she didn't feel much psychological pressure.

But Neph felt she simply couldn't accept corpse oil and adipocere.

Palenque Tasibu was unaware of these things, but he clearly saw Oracle Your Excellency's concern, and thus he spoke up to remind him, "After all, the Lord is God who governs death and the Underworld— "

With the Oracle's words as a backdrop, Palenque Tasibu didn't mind modifying some of the Ritual content. The problem was, he couldn't come up with a convincing Essential Oil formula on his own. Of course, he could attribute everything to the oracle, but doing so would only cause some doubt among future believers after they learned about this part of the content.

Neph knew roughly what Palenque Tasibu wanted to say. After tossing away the annoying bottle of Essential Oil, she finally regained some composure and could think things through. She said, "No changes are needed for now—just give me a different bottle of Essential Oil."

Palenque Tasibu thoughtfully sent someone to purchase the essential oils. As one of the essential materials for Mysticism, buying Essential Oil was not difficult at all. However, most of the time, these Essential Oil were just used to fool ordinary people. As for Beyonder, although there were occasional lucky breaks, they were extremely rare.

After receiving the purchased Essential Oil, Neph resumed preparing for the Ritual. As she picked up the candles, she suddenly remembered something and turned to look at Palenque Tasibu. Palenque Tasibu immediately promised, "This does not contain any substances such as corpse oil or abeline."

Neph sighed, skillfully lit the candle, dripped Essential Oil, drew the Symbol she had just learned on the Parchment, and then, in the rising mist, slid off the Black Square Ring from her finger and pressed it onto the paper.

Then, she placed the Crow Feather into the Silver Bowl where herbal powder was burning, stepped back, and whispered in Hermes, "You are the essence of death;

You are the Lord of the Dead;

You are the final destination for all living beings.

"I beg for your help, I beg you to guide me on the path ahead----"

Her voice abruptly stopped, and the three candle flames in front of her suddenly swelled, appearing much brighter, their color turning a sinister green, and the surroundings instantly became eerie.

Neph instinctively raised her hand and drew an Inverted Cross. She knew exactly what it meant, so she stood up, picked up the Essential Oil she had just bought, and opened it. A rich fragrance wafted out. Neph suppressed the urge to sneeze, put a drop of oil on each of the three candles.

After doing this, she took back the Black Square Ring, grabbed the Parchment, brought it to the candle flame symbolizing "me," lit it, and threw it into the Silver Bowl.

With a whoosh, pale flames erupted from the black Crow Feather, completely engulfing the Silver Bowl and obscuring Neph's vision.

Two or three seconds later, the flames completely subsided, leaving only a pile of powder inside the Silver Bowl.

The powder moved without wind, forming words. "Gather the Numinous Episcopate."

Neph blinked, turned to Palenque Tasibu, and asked, "Do you understand?"

Palenque Tasibu nodded hesitantly.

Neph took a deep breath, ending the Ritual, and her expression gradually became strange.

"Your leader, Haiter, is an Angel, isn't he?" she asked.

Palenque Tasibu nodded and added, "Haiter is the most devout among us. He was once the high priest of the Church and later received the Lord's grace to become Angel. In the past years, he has been dedicated to the Artificial God of Death project and has presided over many Ritual."

"This madness only stopped during a certain Ritual when the erosion was so severe that it could not leave its own Mausoleum. However, it still did not give up its ideas."

He paused, then added, "Lord Haiter is not a leader who is good at listening to advice."

Neph blinked; she understood what Palenque Tasibu meant—this Demigod who had switched allegiance was using his former leader as a pledge of allegiance!

Neph didn't object to the suggestion. This Angel's resume was closely related to both the former Death God Salinger and the current Artificial God of Death. Even if He dared to surrender, Neph wouldn't dare to keep Him unless the "True Creator" intervened personally.

But the bad news is----

"I can't defeat Him," Neph calmly pointed out a fact. "Even Angel in its worst condition is still Angel, and I have a long way to go before I can take control of my mother's Authority."

"Mother----?" Palenque Tasibu paused, taken aback.

Neph smiled slightly and told him, "The God of Winter in that Honorific Name is actually my mother."

"However, I have never seen my mother, because when I woke up, she was already dead, and I was trapped inside her body. If the Lord hadn't taken me out, I might have just disappeared."

Palenque Tasibu's legs buckled, and he immediately knelt down.

--The Uniqueness Child of God the Numinous Episcopate has both knowledge of and contact with is the former "Death Archon" of the Balam Empire!

Neph hesitated, standing still. She neither moved away nor reached out to help, but asked in an uncertain tone, "Were you so frightened that you lost your balance, or did you kneel down on your own?"

"Perhaps both," Palenque Tasibu replied.

"But even if you kneel down, it won't change the fact that I can't defeat your leader," Neph shrugged. "So you'll have to continue being your Pale Hand."

She paused, then added, "Oh, right—let's try a different Essential Oil next time, one with a less strong scent—"