Ring of Fate

Chapter 702 Where is the Sin
The smoke and dust brought by the meteorite finally dissipated, and the noise in the street gradually subsided. The injured had basically escaped the dangerous situation because of the effective treatment they received, but some people still died, causing occasional crying.

Inside Saint-Sien Church, Father Cali finished his confession, stood up, and turned to look at Lumian, who was sitting in the first row and watching him quietly.

Lumian laughed and asked casually:
"Is it still useful to confess now?"

Without waiting for Father Carli to respond, he habitually added:
"You should be well aware that your fate is certain and you won't live for more than a few days."

Father Carli's dark brown face turned a little pale, and he answered in a fairly calm voice:
"If confession is useful, it is not confession."

After saying this, he seemed to relax a little:
“I confessed because I wanted to, not to exchange confession for forgiveness or a chance at salvation.

"Looking back on what happened before, I did make a lot of mistakes. I was too eager to gain a higher status and to be recognized by the people of the Northern Continent. As a result, I was blinded by desire and listened to the devil's temptation."

Hearing this, Lumian sneered:

"Is it really?
"Is it really desire that has blinded your mind?"

Seeing Father Kali's slightly confused expression, Lumian leaned back in his chair, looked at the Sun Symbol and said:
"Is it your desire to gain a higher status and be recognized by the people of the Northern Continent that forced you to cooperate with Tewanaco, forced you to become a vengeful spirit as a priest of the Eternal Sun, forced you to accept the devil's temptation, and forced you to play with the little boy?

"No, it's your own choice."

Father Carli moved his lips as if he wanted to refute, but he couldn't form any words for a moment.

Lumian smiled and continued:
“There are still many people in this world who desire a higher status and recognition from certain groups. A large number of them just work hard to make contributions and purify evil. They never communicate with the devil and hope to get what they want through normal means. Even if they fail again and again, they cannot fall into the abyss.

“Obviously having the same desire, why can they control themselves but you can’t?

"It is not desire that blinds your mind, but your mind that chooses to fall."

Father Carli was suddenly speechless.

Lumian sighed and said:

“A relative of mine once told me:

“Strong desire is the driving force of human progress, but it is also the devil that drags humans into the abyss. Whether it is good or bad, light or darkness, depends on ourselves and on a certain thought at that moment.”

Father Carli, whose face turned increasingly pale, lowered his head and said in a hoarse voice:
"I'm guilty……"

Lumian placed his hand on his left chest, his expression solemn.

He looked at Father Carli and said with a self-deprecating smile:

"I also have strong desires, and everyone has strong desires of their own.

"If having strong desires is a sin, then you are a sinner, I am a sinner, and we are all sinners."

Father Kali's expression was dull for a moment, then he slowly turned back.

He knelt in front of the altar again, looked at the huge sun holy emblem, and said in a low voice:

"You are not sinful. Strong desire is not a sin, but I am the real sinner."

He lowered his head, allowing his body to gradually fade away and become transparent.

Just like that, Father Kali revealed his “ghost” form in front of the Holy Emblem of the Sun.

A cold and eerie aura dissipated, touching the holy emblem and the altar.

The entire church began to sway slightly, and the sun-like radiance seeped out from the altar, the holy emblem, the stained glass surface, and the religious murals, quickly moving around and converging on the spherical dome.

A brilliant and magnificent golden light beam descended along with a hymn-like sound and landed on Father Cali.

Father Kali, who had transformed into a resentful spirit, trembled slightly but did not dodge.

In the scorching sun, his body gradually melted and quickly turned into ashes.

Lumian watched this scene with no expression on his face.

He was neither happy nor sad.

When the holy light descending from the dome faded and only candlelight remained in the church, Lumian still sat in the first row, silently looking at the place where Father Cali was purified, and did not leave.

After an unknown amount of time, Camus and Ria, who had completed the disaster relief work, walked into the church.

Camus visibly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Louis Berry sitting in the first row.

He smiled slightly and said:

"We are still not calm enough. We tend to panic when encountering things. We just thought about helping the injured and trapped people. We didn't think that Father Kali, a damned but not dead man, might suddenly go crazy and want to drag more people to be buried with him. Fortunately, you are here."

Ruiya looked around and said:

"Where's Father Carley?"

Lumian looked towards the front of the altar and answered straightforwardly:
"After he confessed, he purified himself with the help of the spirituality accumulated by the church itself and the specialness of the holy emblem."

Riya was silent for a moment.

After a few seconds, she opened her arms slightly and said loudly:
"Praise the sun!"

Then, Riya sat in the first row of seats on the other side of the aisle, clasped her hands, lowered her head, and prayed earnestly.

For a moment Camus did not know whether he should sit down or continue standing.

Lumian glanced at him sideways.
"Have you collected Reyaza's extraordinary characteristics?"

Camus was silent for a while before he said:
"Put it away."

“Where’s Mesiluo’s?” Lumian retracted his gaze and looked back at the Holy Emblem of the Sun.

"I don't know where," Camus replied.

Lumian said calmly:

"It should be in the area where the meteorite hit directly."

Camus was stunned for a moment and said:

“The purpose of that meteorite is to take away most of the dead?

"Is the power of the Dream Festival so strong?"

"Stronger than you think." Lumian said in a tone of discussing tomorrow's weather. "Reyaza and Masiluo are both members of the Royal Faction of the Spiritual Cult. General Queralil knows their identities and knows that Reyaza came to Tizamo Town to complete the mission given by the high-ranking members of the Royal Faction."

Camus's expression changed several times, and he sighed slowly and deeply:
“Even if you didn’t say these things, I wouldn’t resent or hate Captain Reyaza. He really saved me several times, and this time he didn’t openly betray me, but betrayed the patrol team. I don’t have such a strong sense of belonging to the patrol team.

"Now, I am relieved that he is not a traitor."

Lumian smiled and said in a provocative tone:

"It's a good thing for you too. There's a vacant deputy captain position in the Paros Port Patrol Team, and your competitor is dead."

Camus was not provoked and smiled bitterly:

“I am planning to leave Matanibong.

"Thank you for your generosity. I have almost saved up enough money to advance to Sequence 6. It is safer and easier to return to the family and contact the main branch than to search for it in the outside world.

"After all, the patrol team is not a large organization. Sequence 6 is the limit. If you want to advance to Sequence 5, you must establish close ties with the Spiritual Cult, the Rose School, the Intis Eighth Bureau, the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun, or one of the Mother Goddess Churches, or become General Queralil's confidant. I have the last name of Castilla, so why should I choose?"

If you were really accepted by the Castilian royal family, your ceiling would be much higher... Lumian laughed and said:

"I thought your secret love was shattered and you chose to stay away from the sad place."

Camus was suddenly choked by his saliva and coughed several times.

After Ria finished praying, she left Saint-Sion Church with Camus.

Lumian still sat in the front row, as if enjoying the empty environment.

After a while, Amandine appeared at the door of the church in a black hunting suit.

"Why are you the only one here?" the girl muttered.

She looked around, as if searching for something.

"Why are you here?" Lumian asked casually.

Amandine sat down beside him and said with a chuckle:

"I wanted to secretly see if Robert would come to see Father Carley who was about to die, but I only saw you."

"Father Cali purified himself, so Robert should not have been here." Lumian said truthfully.

"Is that so..." Amandine said with a little regret and disappointment, "If he really comes to beat up Father Carli, it means he is still a man..."

Lumian did not respond to the girl.

Amandine faced the altar and the holy symbol and said a simple prayer.

After completing this task, she turned her eyes slightly and asked with hidden expectation:
“Will there be a ‘Dream Festival’ next year?”

“Yes.” Lumian did not hide it.

Amandine's joy immediately appeared between her brows and at the corners of her mouth:
"Is that black tomb still there? Can I still gain supernatural powers by touching it?"

"Okay." Lumian tilted his head and looked at Amandine with a smile, "But the outsiders participating in the Dream Festival next year will be more powerful and more terrifying, surpassing the evil dolls, crystal skulls and men in human skin that you have seen."

Amandine's expression suddenly fell:
"Is that so? Then I will find an excuse to stay in Paros Port during the Dream Festival next year, and bring my father and mother along."

"Have you been back to Palm Manor?" Lumian asked.

Amandine said with a sigh, smiling:

"I went back to check, but didn't want to disturb their pretend love, so I came out again."

She paused, and asked with sparkling eyes:
"Besides touching the Black Tomb, is there any other way for me to improve my Sequence?"

"Buy the formula, drink the potion, and you can choose one of the three paths: 'Sleeping Man', 'Corpse Collector', and 'Warrior'." Lumian did not hide his knowledge of the occult, and said while thinking, "Also, it is not the Black Tomb that grants you extraordinary power, but that figure..."

At this point, Lumian suddenly froze.

What is the relationship between Amandine, Robert and the underworld man?
Normally, gifts are bestowed upon believers by gods or angels, but Amandine and Robert do not believe in the underworld people at all, and they do not even know of each other's existence.

Applying the situation of various secret organizations, according to the customs that Franca occasionally mentioned, Amandine should call the underworld man "teacher"!
(End of this chapter)