At this moment, the shock in Otto's heart was simply beyond words.
He had originally intended to sneak in and see how the legendary 'the dark trinity' planned to seize the tablet. He had imagined assassinations, poisonings, or creating chaos.
But he never expected that what he would see would be such a scene.
The entire cathedral, hundreds of people, including the powerful High Paladin, had all lost consciousness in an instant.
There were no signs of a struggle, no smell of blood.
There was only the 'fake Saintess' standing on the high platform, and that black-robed figure standing amidst the pile of bodies with an indifferent expression.
Too strong.
Is this the strength of a top-tier executive of the Cult?
And... Otto's gaze fell upon Cecilia.
That 'Saintess' had actually used mass hypnosis magic just now? Could it be that this Saintess had long been controlled by the Lord? Or even... that she herself was a Puppet weapon created by him?
Turning the enemy's spiritual leader into his own marionette, and then resolving everyone without shedding a drop of blood in front of everyone's eyes—
Terrifyingly formidable!
Otto felt his knees go a bit weak. His wariness of Caesar instantly reached its peak.
"L... Lord."
Otto stepped forward quickly and knelt on one knee, his voice kept extremely low for fear of waking the people on the ground—though he knew the Lord's methods certainly wouldn't allow anyone to wake easily.
"Your subordinate has arrived late, please forgive me, Lord."
Caesar looked at this tool who had delivered himself to his door, retracted his Shadow Claw, placed both 'hands' behind his back, and gave a faint response.
"Mm."
The more you say, the more mistakes you make; the less you say, the cooler you look.
"I didn't expect the Lord to have already completely controlled the situation." Otto looked around, his eyes full of awe, "Such methods are unheard of by your subordinate. It seems those fools in the Church didn't even know how they lost until the end."
Cecilia listened from the side, completely dazed. Control? What control? She had just sung a song!
Just as she was about to speak and explain, she was glared back into silence by an icy look from Caesar.
"This is what you need to learn." Caesar looked at Otto, his tone profound and mysterious, "Violence is merely the lowest level of methods."
Otto trembled all over, as if he had realized some ultimate truth, and buried his head even lower: "Your subordinate has been enlightened!"
"Lead the way." Caesar didn't want to waste words, "Where is the tablet?"
"In the Forbidden Library on the third basement floor." Otto immediately stood up and nimbly ran behind the altar, pressing on an inconspicuous floor tile a few times. "Your subordinate has already cracked the first layer of mechanisms, but the barrier below requires..."
Crack.
Before he could finish, Caesar directly slammed a claw onto a certain groove on the altar.
Brute-force cracking.
To the sound of gears turning, the altar slowly moved aside, revealing a deep stone staircase.
Otto: "..."
Is this what you meant by 'violence is the lowest level of methods'?
Forget it, the Lord must have his profound reasons for doing this.
The three of them (actually only one person) quickly entered the underground passage.
The basement was filled with a stale, musty smell. The space wasn't large, but the collection was rich, mostly consisting of gold and silver vessels and ancient books.
Caesar turned a blind eye to those gold and silver treasures—Cecilia would surely use Payday to take them later anyway—his goal was clear.
In the deepest part of the library, on a stone platform recently wrapped in chains, lay a fragmented tablet.
The tablet was an earthy yellow, its surface covered with the marks of time, emitting a heavy Aura as if it were the earth itself.
Caesar stepped forward.
The System immediately gave a response.
[Special Item Detected: earth plate (Fragmented) (Quality:???)]
[Item Description: An ancient tablet containing the Origin power of the ground element. When equipped, the power of Ground-type skills will be increased.]
[Tablet Inscription (Ancient Script): "Two are matter, three are spirit, from them wishes arise, and the world takes shape."]
Caesar's pupils constricted slightly.
This sentence... this was the core description of the creation legend of the Great Sinnoh (Arceus) from 'pokémon Legends: Arceus'!
The 'two' referred to Dialga and Palkia, who governed time and space.
The 'three' referred to the Lake Trio, who governed the spirit.
The 'blasphemous tablet' of this world was actually Arceus's Plate?
If he collected all eighteen plates... Caesar felt his heart skip a couple of beats.
"Lord?" Seeing Caesar staring blankly at the tablet, Otto called out cautiously, "This is the 'blasphemous tablet' that the Cult has been searching for. Legend has it that it records the power to oppose the gods, which is why it's called a blasphemous object."
Opposing the gods?
Caesar's heart was burning. This wasn't just about opposing gods; this was the power to create gods.
Thinking this, he reached out to take it.
"Lord, please wait a moment!" Otto suddenly stopped him, "Taking it directly will trigger an alarm, and the Church will soon discover the theft."
As he spoke, he pulled a shimmering magic scroll from his robes.
"This is a Replication Scroll. It can create a replica with the exact same appearance and magical fluctuations. Although it has no actual effect, it's enough to pass as the real thing."
Caesar glanced at him.
This guy was quite well-prepared.
Otto placed the scroll against the protective shield above the tablet and chanted an incantation.
The scroll turned into a puddle of silver liquid, slowly seeping in and completely enveloping the earth plate. A few seconds later, with a flash of silver light, an identical tablet appeared in Otto's hand.
Caesar wasn't polite either. He took the replica directly and then, with lightning speed, swapped the genuine item inside the shield with the replica—the entire process was seamless and incredibly fast.
Otto's eyelids twitched as he watched.
So fast!
He hadn't even clearly seen the other's movements!
"Done, let's go."
Caesar stowed away the real earth plate and then retreated to the surface to regroup with Cecilia.
At this time, the people in the cathedral were still sound asleep, their snoring thundering.
Caesar glanced at Cecilia: "Can you still use Transform?"
"N-No more, ow..." Cecilia had a bitter face, "My energy is all used up. If I transform again, my tail will show."
"Then we leave directly."
Now that they had the item, it didn't matter whether she remained the Saintess or not.
However.
Just as they stepped out of the cathedral doors.
The world changed color.
The originally clear sky suddenly darkened. It wasn't clouds blocking the sun, but some unimaginably massive shadow enveloping the entire Osterburg Cathedral.
A terrifying pressure descended from the heavens.
Thump!
Otto's knees gave way beside him, and he fell directly to the ground, his face pale as paper, his body trembling uncontrollably.
"This... this is..."
The pigeons in the plaza outside the cathedral fell like rain, knocked unconscious directly by this Aura.
Caesar snapped his head up.
He possessed Dragon Might: Rebel I, so this pressure was ineffective against him, but that didn't mean he couldn't feel it.
Without a doubt... that was the scent of a Dragon.
A true giant dragon had arrived at Osterburg!