Chapter 62: This Is Too Funny
Hearing their leader say this, the bishops all smiled brightly.
Of course they should smile, wasn’t this a good thing?
They had waited five hundred years for this day!
Whether they could rise up and become the Archbishop depended on the result of this “draw.”
The chance of winning was one in six. Each bishop was eager and ready. Most of them held two roles, handling church affairs while also managing students in their own regions.
As the saying goes, luck changes. If a small region happened to get the chosen one,
that place could quickly grow into a major city in the future.
After all, the Church had a huge influence, and this was someone personally chosen by Divine Revelation.
This was something that would go down in history—no, in all of human history.
Defeating the witches was their duty!
“The prophecy is ready. Everyone, begin.”
With the Archbishop’s command, each bishop started to sense the resonance of the silver crosses belonging to the students under their care.
The first three bishops began praying with full confidence.
But no matter how they adjusted themselves, nothing worked.
All they received was a dim and silent response.
“What a pity. Looks like your big cities won’t have the chosen one this time,” one bishop from a small region joked.
She had already been ready to give up, but seeing that the earlier bishops got no response, her chances improved from one in six to one in three.
This is it!
However, when they placed their hands on the prophecy crystals, something terrible happened.
Both crystals went dark at the same time.
They failed too!
Everyone then turned their attention to the last bishop, starting to flatter them with jealous praise.
“You’re so lucky, getting a chosen one that only appears once in a hundred years.”
“Yeah, yeah! Don’t forget to help us when you become successful!”
The bishop being praised tried hard to suppress their smile, but still said,
“What are you saying? I serve the Church wholeheartedly. I follow the Pope’s will above all. Even if I got the chosen one, I wouldn’t dare claim credit. This is the result of everyone’s effort, nothing special!”
Just as the sixth bishop thought victory was certain and was ready to celebrate, the gem in front of them also turned dark.
An awkward expression appeared on their face.
This… this isn’t right.
No, this doesn’t make sense!
How could all six bishops fail?
This situation was extremely rare. They had never seen it before.
According to ancient records, this was how their predecessors summoned the chosen one.
So why didn’t it work now?
Could the information be wrong?
Everyone turned to look at the Archbishop.
She was the highest authority here. If anyone knew the answer, it would be her.
“Your Grace, we’re sorry. We’ve let you down.”
The Archbishop, sitting at the top, shook her head.
“It’s fine. The arrival of Divine Revelation is not something you bishops can easily control. Since all of you failed, it likely means that the chosen one is among the students of our main academy. Good… they are all good children.”
Hearing this, the bishops all let out a sigh of relief.
Finally, the responsibility was no longer on them.
As for the result, it didn’t concern these regional bishops much anymore.
Now they were more like spectators, wondering who the lucky one would be.
The Archbishop nodded to them, then picked up her own prophecy crystal.
She poured her faith power into it and began a deeper level of resonance.
Compared to ordinary bishops, the Archbishop had much stronger faith and mental power.
In this world, almost all abilities were connected to mental strength.
Mental strength directly determined the power and duration of magic.
With her level of power, the Archbishop could easily handle situations like this.
She gently placed her hand on the crystal.
Soon, images began to flow like waves.
The other bishops focused their attention, all thinking about who the chosen one might be.
The prophecy crystal, surrounded by strong power of faith, began to glow with a soft blue light. The light spread out, almost covering the entire table.
The prophecy was going smoothly.
Just as everyone focused and waited for the image to appear, the Archbishop suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. The crystal fell to the ground and shattered.
Even worse, when the Archbishop came back to her senses, she found that most of her faith power had been drained.
There was even a penalty, it directly limited her maximum faith power for three months.
This meant… the Holy Light was angry. It was rejecting the prophecy!
When the others saw even the Archbishop fail like this, they were completely stunned.
Once there was a comparison, their selfish thoughts disappeared.
Those who had just been upset about not receiving Divine Revelation no longer dared to hope for it.
After all, who else could make the Archbishop cough up blood like that?
It had to be Divine Revelation.
From that moment on, everyone silently agreed not to mention the “chosen one” anymore.
Because having your faith power limited was basically like a slow death.
This time it was only temporary. What if next time it became permanent? Who could handle that?
Forget Divine Revelation, whoever wants to deal with it can go ahead.
After a brief exchange, the bishops left the Holy Academy and returned to their own places.
Later, the Academy released an announcement, saying the dimming of the silver crosses might be due to other reasons, and students were not allowed to perform prophecy on their own.
The big “Divine Revelation incident” ended in a rather ridiculous way.
…………………………
Far away, Peiya, who was exploring a secret realm, suddenly sneezed.
Since the afternoon, she had been sneezing nonstop.
Could she really have caught a cold?
“Are you feeling unwell?” Elise handed her a bottle of recovery potion.
Peiya took it, drank a sip, and shook her head.
“I don’t know… I feel like when I sneezed just now, I somehow made someone cough up blood. Maybe it’s because of the Ice Bear King’s roar, or maybe I’m just imagining things.”
“Probably. If you’re catching a cold, put on a coat.” Elise took off her own coat and placed it over Peiya’s shoulders. “Give me your hand. I’ll warm it for you.”
“You don’t have to go through so much trouble, right?”
“Be good. You’re the core of our team. If you get sick, who’s going to help me defeat the Ice Bear King?”
Elise held Peiya’s hand between both of hers, like a sandwich, completely wrapping her small hand in warmth.
Peiya’s face turned red. This was the first time she had gone on a boss fight like this.
In the past, she was always the busiest person in the team.
Her teammates would keep urging her, asking when they would arrive, or when food would be ready. After walking just a short distance, they would already complain and ask to rest.
So back then, Peiya was basically the team’s support, cook, and strategist all at once.
Sometimes she wouldn’t even realize she had a fever. She would only notice after collapsing, realizing she had been poisoned earlier.
And her teammates?
The biggest help they gave during those times… was not causing more trouble.
Though honestly, if they tried to help, they would probably only make things worse.
Thinking about it now, Peiya felt a bit bitter.
It was like swallowing a cup of old, bitter tea.
Fragments of the past pierced her heart, each one sharp and painful, carrying memories she didn’t want to touch.
Now she understood why some memories were gone.
They hurt too much.
It wasn’t physical pain, but the emptiness left deep in her soul after being betrayed. A hole that could never be filled.
Every time, she thought it was because she hadn’t tried hard enough.
After being trapped in that darkness for eighteen years, she slowly became numb.
During those days, she blamed every failure on herself.
As if giving more, sacrificing more, would finally make others care about her.
She had almost forgotten what light truly looked like.
If she had never seen light, she could have endured the darkness.
But those brief moments of warmth were like mirages in the desert, only making the following dryness even harder to bear.
Maybe… she should try holding onto this light.
That thought grew wildly in her heart, like the first sprout breaking through frozen ground, greedily absorbing the nutrients buried deep below.
Peiya’s expression softened. Her body slowly relaxed, letting Elise warm her hands little by little.