"Sir, divine envoy sir, our people are at sea... Actually, we still need a few more days before we can land at the imperial capital's port."
Imperial capital port!
David's heart stirred. This arm's location was even closer than he'd imagined...
"But..." Efnathis's tone shifted, his voice becoming worried. "With our identities, it's very difficult to enter the imperial capital. The Church and law enforcement are very vigilant about the Shattered Church..."
David narrowed his eyes. He didn't care about any Shattered Church. As long as he got the Hand of Divine Corpse and related intelligence, he guaranteed he'd turn right around and bring Order people to wipe them out...
But he didn't dare show such intent beneath the Shattered Twin Gods' thrones.
Deceiving their believers was one thing. Actually wiping out their believers was another thing entirely...
The Shattered God's tolerance for him must be limited. He didn't dare actively provoke them again.
As for why the god would tolerate him?
David couldn't figure it out. The will of gods—how could mortals fathom it...
But for now, inexplicably receiving the Shattered Twin Gods' attention might not be a bad thing.
At least he already knew the Hand of Divine Corpse's existence had a big relationship with the Shattered Church.
"To land in the imperial capital, we need a disguised channel..."
Efnathis was still rambling about the Shattered Church's plan to infiltrate the imperial capital's interior, completely unaware that standing in front of him was an Order hunter.
"...Our advance team has already found a hidden warehouse at the docks, but our real target is the imperial capital's common district. Unfortunately, that's already been occupied by cultists of some dark gods. To gain a foothold in the imperial capital's underworld, we must clear out some cultists..."
David quietly listened to Efnathis's entire plan, sighing inwardly that this old guy was quite talented. And he also discovered a detail.
The Shattered God didn't seem to be one of the dark gods. The Shattered Church was hostile to all cults.
Then why would they be classified as a cult by the Church?
David wasn't clear yet.
But after thinking carefully, David had another idea.
Maybe he didn't need to rush to kill off these guys...
Long-term cooperation would help him find more Hands of Divine Corpse. Plus they currently took him for a divine envoy, which was a very convenient identity.
As long as his true identity wasn't discovered...
Just as David was thinking about how to make contact with these heretics, another figure walked out of the gray fog.
Now both Efnathis and David looked at the newcomer together, then both widened their eyes in surprise.
The person wore black robes, but not Efnathis's kind of Shattered Church robes. Instead, they bore the Church of Light's golden sun emblem!
Someone from the Church of Light?
The person walked out of the fog, then dropped to their knees with a thud, even more decisive than Efnathis's earlier motion.
"...Never thought... that arm was actually real..."
The kneeling person muttered to themselves, seeming to smile bitterly. "God... Never thought you'd actually hear my unintentional prayer. Can you save me? Let me leave that sunless darkness..."
Efnathis stared blankly at the person and asked: "Who are you?"
He'd originally been full of wariness toward this figure wearing Church of Light robes, but after seeing how decisively they knelt, he immediately reacted.
So this guy was an apostate?
A lost lamb who'd abandoned the Light faith and voluntarily embraced their lord?
"I... I'm the Church's gatekeeper..." The person turned to look at Efnathis and David.
When they saw the Hand of Divine Corpse behind David, their pupils immediately contracted.
"An apostate who guards the Church's gate?" Efnathis was stunned.
The gatekeeper sighed. "Idiot... Not 'guards the gate,' gatekeeper... Guardian of the Forbidden Gate..."
The gatekeeper's identity surprised David even more. He discovered this seemed to be another guy who'd had contact with the Hand of Divine Corpse!
He knew about the "Forbidden Gate"—that was the mysterious institution the Church used to seal all forbidden objects. He didn't know exactly where it was and wasn't qualified to access it.
But this person just mentioned the arm...
"The arm you mentioned—is it this one?" David coldly asked him.
The gatekeeper silently nodded. "That's a severed red arm, same as yours... Who are you?"
"Insolent! This is our lord's messenger! Show some respect!" Efnathis barked.
David ignored him, secretly nodding to himself.
Sure enough, this self-proclaimed "gatekeeper" had contacted the arm. This meant another Hand of Divine Corpse was sealed behind the Church's Forbidden Gate!
...
Behind the curtain, the twins sitting on the thrones had been listening intently to David and the others' conversation. Gradually, they picked up on some clues.
Those people they'd accidentally summoned into the gray fog all seemed to have contacted that red arm...
The twins didn't know what that arm was. They only knew young master David needed it.
But this didn't seem to have much to do with them...
Why would they appear in this Shattered Temple after completing their advancement ritual?
Where was the real Shattered God?
What did the god want them to do?
They currently had no answers, but this was most likely related to their origins. That knowledge entering their minds told them—they must step deeper into the path of the supernatural...
Now they already knew their supernatural path actually came from the Shattered Church's sacred canon.
As long as they obtained the subsequent advancement rituals from the Shattered Canon, they could unveil more of the fog, including their origins.
Yui had once told her sister she wanted to offer their past to the young master, but she didn't know at the time that they'd already offered their "past" to the Shattered God.
Zoe grabbed her sister's hand and said to her softly in as calm a voice as possible: "Yui, what are you thinking?"
Yui's face was complicated. "I'm thinking whether the young master will kill us..."
Zoe looked at the three people below and gently shook her head. "If only the young master really were that god's divine envoy."
"Then what should we do?"
"I don't know... Maybe we can explain?"
"But, but... what if the young master gets angry..." Yui thought of David's cold gaze and felt timid.
"Don't be scared, Yui..." Zoe gripped her sister's hand tighter and took a deep breath. "We haven't done anything. The young master won't kill us..."
Zoe's mind was also a complete mess.
But this Shattered Temple let her see a path she couldn't have imagined before.
If they could make good use of those heretics, they might be able to get the subsequent advancement rituals, which coincided with what the young master was doing.
Those red dots flickering on that light projection before them all seemed to be people who'd contacted the mysterious red arm...
The only problem was that god had used fog to separate them from the young master.
Why was it like this?
...
The fog slowly dispersed. The Shattered Temple disappeared into the void.
David inexplicably woke up from the lounge chair. That strange dream had ended just that abruptly.
A ray of morning light shot through the window. His thoughts still lingered in the Shattered Temple, his eyes somewhat dazed.
The twins who also woke up secretly exchanged glances, somewhat frantically lowering their gazes, not daring to make eye contact with David.
"How do you feel... Your memories, did they recover?" David suddenly stood up, smiling as he asked the two maids.
"We... we're fine..." Yui's tone trembled a bit.
Zoe wanted to say something, but the words were on her lips when she felt something strange. What she wanted to say became blurry.
"Young master, we don't feel anything special. We just don't know why, but we suddenly fainted last night..."
"Mm, did you remember anything?" David rubbed his temples and walked in front of the two.
"No... nothing..."
Zoe seemed a bit nervous.
Strange... Why is it like this...
Why can't I tell the young master what happened last night?
Is it that god?
Is he stopping us?
"I mean, we don't seem to remember any memories. That seal..."
The maid stammered for a while, finally only able to tell David her "guess."
"The seal loosened? Maybe it needs a higher-tier advancement ritual to break?" David raised an eyebrow and looked again at the two maids with trembling eyes.
They... were lying...