Felix put down the document, his brow slightly furrowed, and his gaze coldly fixed on the middle-aged nun in front of him, a hint of doubt in his eyes.
"Could it be that Notre Dame Cathedral has established a new adjudication department?" The possibility wasn't zero, but the odds were certainly not high! If the likelihood of Notre Dame Cathedral accepting the middle-aged nun and her peers was over 80%, the chance of forming a new adjudication department for this purpose was less than 10%.
If the head of this new department wasn't the middle-aged nun before him, but rather himself, Felix believed the odds would be no higher than winning the lottery!
Whether in terms of strength, identity, experience, organizational ability, or other aspects, the middle-aged nun, who had once served as a White Robed High Priest, was far stronger than him in every regard. She was undoubtedly a more excellent and suitable candidate than himself.
But the problem was!
The head of the new department — the Black Robed Governor — was himself?
Anyone who didn't think the world revolved around them, possessing sound directional thinking and logical abilities, could guess there was something fishy about this situation!
The middle-aged nun's gaze remained icy cold. Felix couldn't discern even a hint of her inner thoughts from her facial expression and eyes. She looked like a puppet creature, or perhaps more aptly, a sculpture of ice!
"The Notre Dame Cathedral council has decided to establish a new adjudication department, subordinate to the Religious Tribunal, under the jurisdiction of the Sacred Affairs Department. The Dark Judgment Division will have absolute independent authority, accountable only to the Notre Dame Cathedral council.
After deliberation, the council has decided to appoint the former Grey Robed Arbitrator, Felix-Fairmuth, as the Black Robed Governor, fully responsible for the affairs of the Dark Judgment Division!"
The middle-aged nun spoke as if reciting a textbook, her words devoid of any emotion, seemingly indifferent to Felix usurping her position as the Black Robed Governor!
"A new adjudication department!?" Felix picked up the document again, scanning the fine print at the bottom once more before closing his eyes in contemplation.
Following the split of "God's Glory," disputes within the church never ceased. The Papal Chamber, the Ecumenical Patriarch, and the New Creed overlapped in everything. Apart from Notre Dame Cathedral, which had less intense power desires due to its composition of female nuns, the other three factions were constantly at loggerheads over believers!
The Papal Chamber, with its control over the Knights Templar, held a slight edge over the Ecumenical Patriarch and the New Creed. As the orthodox lineage of the church, the Papal Chamber's recognition was evidently higher than that of the Ecumenical Patriarch.
The Ecumenical Patriarch's advantage lay in its popular prestige. Discontent with the church's internal corruption, pious priests, under the leadership of a White Robed Priest, who was also a Saint, formed a new organization - the Ecumenical Patriarch!
Absolute dictatorship meant absolute corruption!
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The Ecumenical Patriarch and the New Creed, allied against the Papal Chamber, were embroiled in endless strife and bloody, secret battles well-known to the world. Had it not been for the failure of the Third Crusade, which dealt an unprecedented blow to the Knights Templar in the Eastern Orthodox Diocese, the Papal Chamber would never have recognized the Ecumenical Patriarch and the New Creed as legitimate church organizations!
Compared to the Papal Chamber, the Ecumenical Patriarch, and the New Creed, Notre Dame Cathedral was more like an organization aloof from the center of power. Their existence was solely due to faith, a devotion uncorrupted by power.
The Papal Chamber's strongest combat force was the Sacred Affairs Department, whose Holy Sons, created through unspeakable means, were their most powerful weapon. Meanwhile, the strength of the Ecumenical Patriarch came from the devoutly pious ascetics!
Since the Ecumenical Patriarch gained the support of those absolutely devout ascetics from the "Sanctuary," its adjudicative power in the shadows could be said to have suddenly surpassed the Sacred Affairs Department!
This adjudication department, founded on the devotion of ascetics, was the Religious Tribunal!
The New Creed has always been the most high-profile organization, active among the new nobility, striving to curry favor with secular powers for more influence. Such an organization should have had the weakest foundation, yet what baffles people is that no one knows the extent of the adjudicative power that the New Creed has amassed in secret!
Felix is now concerned about why Notre Dame Cathedral established the Dark Judgment Division. Could it be that the Notre Dame Cathedral council intends to meddle between the two bloody giants, the Sacred Affairs Department and the Religious Tribunal, in pursuit of greater power? But if so, why grant the new department absolute independent authority?
It doesn't make sense!
Shouldn't the strongest force in Notre Dame Cathedral be those nuns uneroded by so-called 'love'? What's the use of establishing an adjudication department with only eighteen members?
Cannon fodder?
Clearly impossible!
Wait a minute! Eighteen people?
Felix looked at the four women before him. They were the four Grey Robed Judges appointed by Notre Dame Cathedral to assist him in forming the Dark Judgment Division. Adding the original twelve nuns from the Saint Erde Cathedral, that made sixteen. Including himself, seventeen?
But why did the document state the original team had eighteen members?
Who was the missing person?
And who could it be?
Suddenly, a realization dawned in Felix's mind! He understood why Notre Dame Cathedral appointed him as the head of the Dark Judgment Division! Why he, rather than the more suitable middle-aged nun before him, had been chosen as the Black Robed Governor!
"Lady Ireland!"
"Lady Ireland has returned? Where is she?" Felix couldn't help but feel excited as he grabbed the middle-aged nun's shoulders, asking eagerly. Lady Ireland's return to the main material plane was the only logical explanation!
Only under the influence of this vampire, who could look a deity in the eye, could he surpass the middle-aged nun and become the governor of the Dark Judgment Division! Only with her support could Notre Dame Cathedral converse as equals with the Papal Chamber and the Ecumenical Patriarch!
She is Saint Elouan! The Watcher of God!
"Crack!"
A bone-chilling cold startled Felix from his excitement. He suddenly realized his hands grasping the middle-aged nun were covered in frost, a layer of white frost enveloping his arms and rapidly spreading over his body!
"Crash!"
Felix quickly released his hands, shaking off the frost with a jolt of energy and stepping back, his eyes wide with astonishment at the terrifying middle-aged nun with her icy gaze.
"Indeed, a clever little fellow! The Watcher's verdict is not complete; she needs to find a new target. Until the adjudication ritual is perfectly completed, she can only stay in hell!" The middle-aged nun coldly stared at Felix, her pale blue eyes finally showing a hint of human emotion – hatred!
She looked at Felix, who had fallen silent, and a mocking smile crept onto her face – a look of contempt and disdain. She looked down at Felix and coldly uttered a sentence that hammered into Felix's heart, sending shivers through his body.
"Just a toy after all! Can you only learn to walk under your master's protection? What use is all your wisdom? Without the courage to face the future alone, you'll always be nothing but worthless!!!"