Candle-lit lanterns emitted faint glimmers in the darkness. Though their illumination range was small, their sheer numbers stacked together kept the grand hall reasonably bright. The newly appointed Pope, His Holiness Adam, had been awakened by servants late at night and subsequently arrived in this grand hall. "Swish, swish..." A boy in white robes was sweeping the hall's floor even at this late hour. This was The Church's obedience training - no matter the time, you did what you were told until you became completely adapted and numb in execution, which only counted as passing the first test. Unfortunately, this boy in white robes was none other than Carl. Carl had been having an extremely difficult time recently. As someone recommended by a Low Bishop, he wasn't an orphan raised by The Church from childhood, so his obedience training was particularly harsh. Moreover, his career ceiling was capped at the priest position. Fortunately, his age was already beyond the preferred upper limit favored by the Cardinals, so his backside was temporarily safe. Just as Carl was drowsy and pretending to sweep, footsteps echoed from the rear of the grand hall. "Doxia doesn't dare enter The Vatican? Hmph, if he has the courage to return, does he lack the courage to meet with me?" His Holiness Adam's voice carried a hint of confusion. He was both puzzled why Bishop Doxia didn't dare enter The Vatican and why Bishop Doxia had returned at all. "Your Holiness, Bishop Doxia's condition is... complicated to describe. According to him, the Rino City church has been taken over by a completely new type of Vampire. This new-style Vampire seems capable of infecting humans into becoming Vampires themselves. Bishop Doxia has already fallen victim and now cannot directly face God's holiness, forced to survive cautiously outside The Vatican, awaiting Your Holiness's judgment!" His Holiness Adam's new attendant was quite efficient, having immediately gone to understand Bishop Doxia's current situation and only waking Adam after clarifying everything. "New-style Vampire? No... that's impossible!" His Holiness Adam was utterly shocked but immediately denied the attendant's account. How could Adam not know what Vampires were like? One could say Adam understood Vampires better than Vampires themselves! "But Your Holiness, I've already gone out to see. Bishop Doxia now has elongated sharp teeth, crimson eyes, and fears religious artifacts, fearing the glory of God that envelops our Vatican. He survives on blood - aside from being some mutated Vampire, there's no other possibility!" The attendant stood nearby, reporting diligently, then pulled out a simple sketch from his robe. His Holiness Adam looked at the drawing in the attendant's hand, his eyebrows tightly knitted together. The person in the drawing resembled Bishop Doxia, but with crimson eyes, both incisor teeth transformed into fangs, and even his cheeks appearing somewhat gaunt. While this appearance differed slightly from the Vampire image studied by The Church, the differences were minimal. His Holiness Adam grew increasingly astonished looking at Bishop Doxia's depicted form, involuntarily recalling the humanoid Werewolf in the Holy Eye that kept reproducing... First mutated Werewolves appearing in Holy Lord City, now new-style Vampires emerging in Rino City - could these two be connected? Or perhaps the source of these mutations was currently in Rino City... His Holiness Adam reached out to take the drawing, his fingers rubbing over Bishop Doxia's two long canine teeth beside the incisors, his eyes narrowing slightly: "Cultivating mutant Werewolves to gather Werewolf packs to destroy our Holy Church's Holy Inquisition Tribunal, to incite Southern Continent kingdoms to wage war against our Holy Church, then while our Holy Church faces frequent frontline battles, cultivating mutant Vampires in the rear, even silently occupying various churches, attempting to undermine our Holy Church's foundation, even killing two Holy Knights in Rino City... Hmph! It seems the pressure still hasn't fallen heavily enough on certain people, allowing them leisure until now to play petty games, attempting to overthrow the Holy Church! But their methods do possess remarkable aspects..." His Holiness Adam handed the drawing back to his personal attendant, then calmly stated: "In that case, send people to Rino City to investigate. If the enemies exceed ten thousand, mobilize The Church's full strength to besiege Rino City. If the enemies number less than ten thousand..." There were still over five hundred Holy Knights in the Vatican's rear mountains, but His Holiness Adam didn't wish to deploy them. If anything happened to the Divine Corpse, Adam would bear unforgivable responsibility. But The Church absolutely could not fall during his reign. "Let's first see Bishop Doxia!" His Holiness Adam rose from the holy throne. The nearby attendant immediately shouted: "The Holy See tours!!!" Before the words faded, the grand hall's massive doors were slowly pushed open by ten Church Knights working together. Then ten Holy Knights wearing golden sacred armor appeared behind His Holiness the Pope as if materializing from nowhere. Dozens of Nuns filed in from outside, lining up all the way to before the holy throne, each Nun carrying a Flower Basket filled with petals. As His Holiness the Pope stepped forward, a shower of flower petals scattered through the air, drifting down to form a noble path symbolizing purity and prestige for him. Huddled in the grand hall's corner shadows while clutching a broom, Carl stared wide-eyed at the scene before him, his entire body trembling slightly. He stared blankly at His Holiness the Pope's pure and noble retreating figure, his eyes shining with an unusual brilliance! Outside The Vatican, in a farmer's wooden hut near the holy grounds. This wooden hut had been requisitioned by The Church, with dozens of Church Knights guarding the perimeter, blocking all entry and exit routes. Bishop Doxia, who had fled from Rino City, was inside. The interior was dim, with no lamps lit. But two pairs of crimson eyes could still clearly see everything around them. Intense power coursed through his limbs, but Bishop Doxia showed no joy, instead his face filled with worry. Doxia had indeed contacted Boar Empire spies and indeed wanted to overthrow The Vatican's rule, but the main reason was his differing philosophy from the Pope's. Everything he did was still for The Church. And now, Vampires had appeared in Rino City, silently overthrowing the entire Rino City church. The relative importance was clear. So Bishop Doxia felt no joy about gaining eternal life - he only wanted to expose the new-style Vampires in Rino City to The Church, then completely eradicate them to preserve The Church's holiness! Therefore, Bishop Doxia immediately fled Rino City and journeyed to The Vatican. This journey had been extremely difficult. Sunlight from the sky caused burning damage, prolonged exposure potentially life-threatening. The Church's holiness was even more dangerous to approach, causing burning pain even at moderate distances. After much hardship and wandering, he finally reached outside The Vatican. But The Vatican itself was absolutely impossible to enter. Bishop Doxia stood by the wooden hut's window, his crimson eyes fixed intently on The Vatican's outline in the distance, his mood somewhat gloomy. In his perception, an extremely dense and magnificent terrifying pressure grew stronger the closer he got to The Vatican, reaching its limit where he currently stood. Any closer, and he felt this intangible yet real terrifying power could directly disintegrate his limbs. This feeling differed from experiencing God's Holy Light when approaching churches during his journey. He found it difficult to articulate the difference, but he clearly knew they were indeed different. And this made Bishop Doxia feel a trace of panic. "Such scale of magnificent power cannot be our Church's holiness. Moreover, holiness only exists in Images of God and religious artifacts, while here there's only farmland and forests, devoid of religious elements. It seems our Church holds many secrets... Ah, such perceptions only became possible after I became a Vampire - what a great regret indeed!" Just as Bishop Doxia finished speaking, His Holiness the Pope's procession approached from the distance. Beautiful Nuns in pure white habits formed two columns walking before the carriage, scattering petals from their baskets to pave a flower path. The flower shower arrived before the people did. A luxurious carriage plated with gold was pulled by eight majestic white horses, meticulously following the flower-paved path at a slow pace, gradually approaching Bishop Doxia's location. One hundred Church Knights divided into two columns marched alongside the carriage. Before and behind the carriage, five Holy Knights each cleared the way and brought up the rear. Even in the deep night, the Steel Armor still gleamed under moonlight! Undeniably, the spectacle was magnificently grand!