A few days have passed since the carriages left Strathford Village, During the journey, they had been attacked by some beasts resembling bears however they were taken out by the knights who accompanied the carriages. other than that nothing troublesome had happened, the journey so far could be considered a smooth and successful travel according to Ray. during the journey, Lucifer took his time conversing with Ray enabling him to gather information about the church.

It turns out that the church which they are heading to currently is the church of Light which focuses on worshipping the Goddess of Light Astia, there are various other churches and Gods who govern over different elements. Ray also mentioned Academies of few times which are popular amongst the younger generation, however, if a talented Light Magician is born during the ceremony they will be forced to sign a contract with the church in order to serve them.

"We should be arriving very soon"

A priest stood up as he informed everyone, he looked quite distressed and avoided making any eye contact with Lucifer. since the priest was quite sensitive to magic he could pretty much guess the elements these youngsters were going to pursue, however when he tried to examine Lucifer his extinct started to scream danger at him he was unable to maintain his balance causing him to take a seat and lose his composure. two days went by without any trouble, the carriages eventually stopped as they reached their location.

"Hold!"

A guard in front of the gates stopped the carriages in order to examine the passengers, it didn't take much time before he realized it was the Church he had stopped.

"My Apologies High Priest"

The High priest maintained his composure as he glanced at the guard, although there seemed to be strict laws in place it did not apply to the Church due to their position within the kingdom of Astia. The Church was seen as the messenger of Astia how could a mere guard dare to provoke them.

"Is there a problem?"

"Not at all High Priest, Please go ahead"

The city guards immediately opened the gates signalling the carriages to carry on with great respect, as the gates opened it revealed eye-blinding colours, due to the goddesses blessing the light within the city was slightly brighter than that of the outside world. the buildings contained a sense of elegance due to their design resembling a much more noble and modern city compared to strathford village.

The carriages began to move again after an hour they had arrived at the Church, everyone was asked to leave the carriages and make their way inside. The Church was truly majestic it seemed that some of the structure was made out of gold representing their wealth. there were also statues of the Goddess located at the end of the hall, it emitted light probably because it was blessed by the Goddess of Light.

The students were required to line up within the hall facing the statue of Astia, there was a huge orb located right in front of the statue emitting a slight trace of magic. behind the orb sat a man who seemed to be quite old however he was surrounded by a thin layer of golden light. he sat on a throne stationed higher than the orb as he monitored the room glancing at various different individuals analysing them.

"Silent the Pope will begin the Magic Ceremony, you will be called one by one and must place your hand onto the orb. The colour of the orb will represent your magic whilst the brightness will represent your talent"

The Magic Ceremony began, slowly the villagers made their way to the orb one by one revealing their element and talent. the number of people within the hall had increased by a huge margin, it seemed some of the nobles were also being tested and a few other villages were also brought to the kingdom.

The first person who made his way towards the Orb was clearly a noble, which could be discerned by the way he was dressed and his posture. Nobles in this world were seen as high beings which commoners could not dare to go against.

"Light Element!, The brightness is also quite good"

The Noble smirked as turn around to the pope and bowed, obtaining the light element at such a high affinity set an individual position in stone. he would definitely become a high priest in the future which would bring him great fortune and wealth. a high position in the church allowed Noble families to gain an edge against other Nobles raising the value of their family name.

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"Is Light a rare element?"

Lucifer who was standing next to Ray turned around to question him, judging from the reaction of the crowd it seemed like the element was greatly respected.

"Of course elements such as Light are rare to come by, although there are a variety of elements only a few are born with high elements such as light and darkness. if your affinity with a certain magic is high it is possible to awaken it later on, for example, a high affinity with water might allow the magician to awaken snow, Ice or Gas. however, these circumstances aren't very common and the number of people with High magic within the kingdom of Astia could be counted with two hands."

"Looks like you studied before you came here"

"It's common sense..."

Suddenly the crowd stopped in silence indulged the room, the Pope had signalled everyone with one hand showcasing his authority within the room.  

"it is not enough"

The Pope spoke with displeasure, obtaining high magic could greatly increase the power of the church allowing them to triumph over the other churches.

"You may join the church, you will be taken care of and treated with utmost respect. we will even take care of the materials needed for you to advance"

One of the Priests grabbed the Noble's attention as he led him out of the room.

A few hours went by since the start of the ceremony, the hall was empty now and only Ray and Lucifer were left. there were a lot of talented individuals this year, however, none of them had a high affinity with Light which disappointed the pope. although there were 6 people with a high-affinity majority of them from Noble houses, there seemed to be no one who had high affinity with Light.

"I'm up next"

Ray clenched his fists as he made his way towards the orb. he stopped right in front of the Orb and looked back at Lucifer who gave him a slight smile. This is my chance, with this opportunity I will be able to protect those who are close to me in the future!

"Place your hand onto the orb"

The Pope looked at Ray with his emotionless eyes, he had expected this year to bring a good harvest. since he has reached an old age it was about time for him to pass away, and passing down the position of Pope could only be done if an appropriate candidate was found. The Pope had also been a genius born with High-affinity light magic, allowing him to rise in position and awaken Plasma.

Ray placed his hand onto the Orb.

"High Affinity!"

The priests took a step back, they had shock written all over their faces. however, the Pope looked down in disappointment. due to the heat caused by the flaming red light, some of the priests were forced to use magic to fend off the heat.

"Fire element, it looks like we have 7 people with a high affinity this year. it is truly a miracle, sadly none of them had an affinity with light"

Ray was smiling with tears running down his cheeks, all he wanted was to awaken his magic and become a decent magician. however, the outcome had even surprised him.

"Congratulations on Awakening a high affinity with fire, please select your academy wisely. You may leave the room"

The Pope remained seated as he set his gaze upon Lucifer who was standing in the middle of the room with a smile on his face.

"You have been observing me for quite a while now kid, I would tell you to come up and place your hand onto the orb but that would be unnecessary"

Lucifer gazed at the Pope, he was initially surprised by the Popes reaction, he hadn't expected the Pope to reveal him at the end of the ceremony.

"You're not afraid?"

The Pope smiled as he gazed down at Lucifer.

"Although I cannot discern your identity I believe you're not here to cause harm to my people"

Lucifer didnt expect the church to be welcoming towards him, however that might be due to the fact that they arent able to reveal Lucifers identitiy.

"I cant say I'm not surprised by your welcoming behaviour, however, I am thankful. I promise I will not cause any harm to his kingdom, as long as you guys do not pester me that is."

The Pope slowly made his way towards Lucifer with a serious expression. 

"I'll have to take your word for it then, now could you please release the High Priest of his suffering"

Ever since Ray had left the room the High priest had been emitting killing intent towards Lucifer causing him to release some of his aura.

"Oh right my Apologies that happens sometimes"

The high priest began to gasp for air as his paled expression recovered some colour.

"Well I cant say I didn't enjoy this conversation, but I must leave now Majestic Pope"

Lucifer Smirked as he made his way out of the hall, the doors slowly shut behind him leaving the high priest in a daze.

"Holy Pope we must capture that evil being and punish him in the name of the Divine Light"

The Pope gazed at the shut door with a solemn expression, he wasn't expecting the events that unrevealed itself before him.

"Edward although I believe in the strength of the church, although I believe in my strength. but there are beings out there which we cannot go against, all we can do is accept them as natural disasters and wait for them to pass by"

There we beings in this worlds which even large Kingdomes such as Astia wouldn't dare to offend, for example, a neighbouring kingdom had offended an elder dragon once costing them hundreds of thousands of knights and thousands of skilled magician, and yet they could still not defeat the elder dragon. although the Pope could not fully analyse Lucifers power he believed it would be best not to offend such a being.

"Heed my warning, anyone who dares to offend that child will have to answer to me"