Secret: The undead do not die in the fire

"Adam?"

Roselle frowned slightly. Anyone who could help the Lord of Steam hunt hidden sages must be a true god of Sequence 0. In today's world, there are many beings who can do this, but not many have the motivation to do so.

The only ones Roselle could think of were the Dusk Hermits and Adam.

Before his resurrection, Adam was already a True God of the Visionary Path, and even Eternal Blazing Sun died at his hands. Adam now was most likely a True God of the Dual Paths, and if he had helped, it would not be surprising that the Lord of Steam could obtain the Beyonder characteristics of the Hidden Sage.

But this may not be good news for him.

Indeed, in order to avoid being disturbed, the God of Steam and Machinery asked the Steam Church to compromise and cooperate with him in rebuilding the Intis Empire. But once the God of Steam and Machinery has completed his digestion, as a dual-path true god, it would be difficult for Him to tolerate Roselle sharing authority with him, and conflict between them is almost inevitable.

In other words, Roselle must be promoted to Sequence 0 before this. Only then will he be qualified to fight against the God of Steam and Machinery!
To achieve this, drastic measures must be used.

With the full support of the Church of Steam, this is not difficult. The only problem is...

Roselle looked at Bernadette with a struggling look in his eyes.

Bernadette asked softly:

"You're going to be the Black Emperor again, aren't you?"

"Yes."

Russell was silent for a long time, nodded solemnly, and said in a deep voice:

"I have no choice!"

Bernadette's deep blue eyes moved slightly, as if she was lost in a long memory. Her voice was soft but without a trace of emotion:
"I used to hate you."

In order to be promoted to the 'Black Emperor', you did too many things that went against the trend of the times and hurt innocent people. I cannot accept that my father, who was a hero in my mind, has become a crazy tyrant..."

Russell remained silent, as if he didn't know how to explain.

But Bernadette's expression softened and she said softly:
"But this time, Dad, I will support you, no matter what you want to do!"

Roselle's madness in his later years was visible to the naked eye. He had almost completely lost his mind at that time. This was not because someone slandered him, but because Bernadette saw it with her own eyes. That was why she abandoned him and hated him.

But now, she understood his situation at that time, understood that he was suffering from despair, pain and loneliness, and understood that he was like a drowning man, just struggling instinctively and desperately.

So Bernadette has been regretting for so long.

She regretted that if she had been able to notice the contamination in Russell earlier, if she had been able to realize earlier that his madness was not his true thoughts, if she had been able to stay with Russell instead of leaving... If she had been more rational, perhaps everything would be different now.

She couldn't solve the pollution in Roselle, but at least she could make her father's later years less lonely and desperate.

Roselle's eyes were touched, and he looked at Bernadette with a complicated expression. After a long time, he whispered:
"Bernadette."

“Hmm?” The lady tilted her head in confusion, just like when she was a child.

"You've grown up." Russell's tone was somewhat emotional and full of sighs.

In his memory, Bernadette is still that well-behaved and considerate little girl.

She was beautiful, well-behaved, and smart since she was a child. She knew how to be filial to her old father, love her younger brother, and care for her mother. Sometimes, she was very upright and seemed a little silly. Many times, he secretly cheated to amuse Bernadette when playing chess or games with her, and she didn't even notice it.

Such a temper made it difficult for her to accept the things he did in his later years. Now, all of this can be blamed on the "Fallen Mother Goddess". It's all because of Her pollution. For this, Roselle even has to thank Her.

However, although Bernadette could forgive what he had done in the past, it was because all of it was pushed onto the 'Fallen Mother Goddess' - everything he had done was caused by the pollution of the 'Fallen Mother Goddess', it was all the 'Fallen Mother Goddess' fault!
But this does not mean that Bernadette will support him to become the Black Emperor again, because in Bernadette's eyes this may be equivalent to repeating the same mistakes.

So from the beginning, Roselle didn't expect Bernadette to support him.

Even Bernadette came back, in Roselle's opinion, most likely to dissuade him.

It was not until Bernadette said "I will support you" in person that Roselle suddenly realized that his daughter had really grown up!
Facing her father's pleased praise, Bernadette said nothing but softly:
"But I still don't like war."

Roselle immediately raised his hands and solemnly promised:
"There will be no war, I promise."

Let's not talk about whether Intis, who had just experienced a war and was defeated, can support him to start another war. Even if Intis has the spare energy to start a war, who can he start a war with?

The Feysac Empire has been completely taken over by the Church of the Night, and the Feynaport Kingdom has also turned against them. Looking around, the Northern Continent is full of their own people. How can they fight? Can they start a war against the natives of the Southern Continent? It's not impossible, but it's unnecessary.

After all, 'war' is the main theme of the 'Red Priest' path, not the 'Black Emperor' path.
Of course, no war does not mean no bloodshed.

After all, what Roselle is doing now is actually a coup d'état to restore the republic, and what coup d'état is without bloodshed?

Bernadette was obviously mentally prepared for this, so she didn't plan to stop Roselle.

Just like Russell said, she has grown up and is no longer as innocent as she once was.

Become more rational and more utilitarian.

Russell felt somewhat relieved and happy about his daughter's understanding, but he was also inexplicably sad as he still missed that caring little girl.

Snapped!
The knife cut through the steak and landed lightly on the porcelain plate, making a crisp sound.

The sound was not loud, but it seemed particularly noisy in the quiet atmosphere, and even seemed to be intentional.

Roselle and Bernadette looked at the source of the sound at the same time, but the culprit himself hadn't noticed it at all and was leisurely bringing a piece of cut steak to his mouth.

Russell glared at him, looking angry. "Didn't you see your dad is trying to get along with your sister? Why are you messing around here?"

Bonois swallowed the juicy steak in his mouth, and faced with Roselle's angry expression, he still looked confused.

You guys just chat about yourselves, what does it have to do with him?
Russell looked at his son's appearance, and his anger suddenly subsided. He sighed deeply:
"never mind."

Why should he bother with someone who doesn't understand human nature?
After all, doesn't Bonois have his reasons for being like this?

Roselle pushed the plate of roasted lamb leg in front of Bonova and said in a gentle tone:
"eat more."

Bonois did not refuse. He picked up the roasted lamb leg, put it to his mouth and took a bite.

The rich gravy then oozed out, washing his mouth with a slightly hot feeling.

Roselle has always had mixed feelings about Bonois.

On the one hand, he was indifferent, disappointed, and hateful, but on the other hand, he would occasionally care about her secretly. He still remembered that when Bonois was a child, he was really cute in the first few years after he was born... If it weren't for the interference of the Lord of Steam, he would have been his good son, not an emotionless angel.

When Russell thought of this, his expression suddenly became gloomy.

The God of Steam and Machinery is seeking to be promoted to a dual-path true god, but He does not need all the extraordinary characteristics of the Hermit Path. He only needs uniqueness and one of the sequence 1 extraordinary characteristics. In other words, there will be two redundant extraordinary characteristics of the sequence 1 Emperor of Knowledge. These two sequence 1 extraordinary characteristics will be given to the two angels of the Church of Steam, Bonova and Kaul, if nothing unexpected happens.

Roselle turned his gaze to Bonova and asked:

"You just said that the Steam Church will fully support me, right?"

"Yes."

Bonois put down the roasted leg of lamb and nodded slightly.

Russell immediately said:

"I want two copies of the Beyonder Characteristics of the 'Knowledge Emperor', and I want them now!"

While the Lord of Steam can still deliver the oracle, he must make his request as soon as possible, otherwise the other party will pretend to be dead!

Bonova was silent for two seconds, then said:

"I will consult my Lord."

Russell said without hesitation:

"Please ask for instructions now. I'll only give you one minute."

He was determined to get this extraordinary characteristic, and the Lord of Steam had to give it to him whether he wanted to or not!

Bonova quickly received the oracle, looked at his father, and asked:
"What price can you pay?"

"What will it cost me?"

Roselle sneered and said, "Tell the Lord of Steam, you don't want to see the Steam Church being wiped out by me, right?"

Bernadette's eyes were a little subtle, but Bonois didn't react at all, he just told her the truth.

And this threat was apparently quite successful.

Since the Lord of Steam has to digest the uniqueness of the 'Hermit' path, he will inevitably be affected by the 'Original' revival, which means that He has to spend more energy to suppress the original will.

And in this case, He would not be able to send down oracles and look after the Steam Church.

The Sequence 2 Steam Church is obviously no match for the Sequence 1 Roselle. If Roselle is determined to destroy the Steam Church even if both sides suffer losses, then the Lord of Steam will have to face a difficult decision -

Either give up 'digestion' and suppress Roselle with the power of God.

But if that happens, all the efforts will be wasted.

Not only will the 'original' will be further revived, but the digestion of the 'hermit' path will also have to start from scratch.

Alternatively, the Lord of Steam could choose to focus on digesting the Hermit path first, but the consequence would be that the Steam Church would be wiped out by Roselle.

In this case, the Lord of Steam will most likely lack sufficient "anchors" to fight against divinity due to the destruction of the Steam Church. His humanity will be crushed and he will become the "initial" resurrected shell.

Of course, the Lord of Steam could also choose to attack Roselle before he began to digest the Hermit's path and nip the threat in the bud - but this was the best solution at the moment. As long as the person who raised the problem was dealt with, there would be no problem.

But the problem is that a Sequence 1 angel is not so easy to kill, even if He is a Sequence 0 true God.

What's more, Roselle is not alone, he has the support of other true gods.

If the Lord of Steam rashly attacks him, the final result is likely to be a war between gods. But before digesting the Hermit path and becoming a dual-path true god, a war between gods is undoubtedly what the Lord of Steam desperately wants to avoid.

Otherwise, He would not have sent down the oracle and asked the Steam Church to compromise with Roselle.

This oracle seemed to be a gesture of goodwill and even submission. The Lord of Steam obviously did not want to cause any trouble.

And now that we have already found the soft spot of the Lord of Steam, of course we have to strike at the weak spot!
Bonova closed his eyes for a long time, then slowly opened them and said calmly:

"My Lord promised to give you one extraordinary characteristic of the 'Knowledge Emperor', and the other one has been awarded to me. If you want, I can give you this one as well."

"Tsk."

Roselle suddenly felt unhappy. The God of Steam and Machinery was still using the same old tricks and only used his son to threaten him.

"Just one copy."

Roselle extended his hand to Bonois and said calmly, "Give it to me now."

Bonois did not shy away from praying to the god of steam and machinery on the spot.

Soon, an illusory ball of light appeared in the palm of his hand.

Bernadette subconsciously looked at the ball of light. The ball of light seemed to be composed of one illusory symbol after another. Each symbol contained a vast amount of knowledge, which made people inevitably yearn for it and greedily desire this knowledge, even if this knowledge was enough to burst their heads!
Roselle took the ball of light from Bonois and threw it to Bernadette.

Russell said in a deep voice:

"Prepare for the ceremony as soon as possible."

"it is good."

Bernadette nodded silently. She vaguely understood what her father wanted to do.

Roselle looked at Bonova quietly. He had obtained another Beyonder characteristic of the 'Knowledge Emperor' through prayer. The latter handed the Beyonder characteristic to Roselle with an extremely calm expression, and seemed not to be shaken by this Beyonder characteristic of Sequence 1.

Russell stared at his son and didn't answer it.

The extraordinary properties of two Sequence 1s are enough to support the birth of an Angel King.

But even the King of Angels cannot contend against the Two-Path True God.

Therefore, there was no point in asking Bernadette to refine two copies of Sequence 1 Beyonder Characteristics.

In comparison, as long as he can kill the God of Steam and Machinery, the extraordinary characteristics of the 'Perfector' and 'Hermit' paths will fall into his hands. By then, Bernadette can completely become a god through the 'Perfector' path!

Of course, Roselle knew that it would not be easy for him to kill the Lord of Steam. He needed to return to Sequence 0 first, and then use the Judge path to become a dual-path True God. Only in this way could he contend with the Lord of Steam and have a chance to kill him!
Don’t ask why the Lord of Steam must be killed, because Roselle holds a grudge!
He still remembers the grudge that happened more than a hundred years ago vividly!
"Thirty years to the east of the river, thirty years to the west of the river."

"You, the Lord of Steam, can sit on the throne of the God of All Things, but my daughter Roselle can't?"