What witch? The Deadly Pharmacist!

Moreover, whether Leon attends the speech or not is not that important, and she doesn't want Leon to force her to spend his time on it out of politeness.

"Bishop Vess, it's almost time," a nun reminded her.

“Okay, I’m coming right away.” Bishop Weiss turned her gaze away from the window.

At this moment, an acting officer in charge of setting up the podium made a final check on the podium, and then quickly stepped down from the podium and walked through the tent that had been temporarily set up as a rest and waiting area.

He exchanged a few words of thanks with his colleagues, and then went to a corner to change out of his uniform.

Those currently busy giving speeches and preaching, from bishops to handymen, are all paying close attention to what's happening on the pulpit.

Having found the perfect moment when no one was paying attention to him, he left quietly, glancing around warily as he quickly fled the scene.

Meanwhile, on a tower inside the Cathedral of the Creator, Count Frye stood on the balcony, leaning on his cane, with Diocesan Zevin accompanying him on the visit. Given Count Frye's power in the East, even Cardinal Zevin had to personally receive him.

Most of the local church priests came from noble families in the east, and Zevin himself was no exception. Among the noble families in the east, Earl Frye was the most prestigious. If Zevin wanted to manage this large parish, he had to maintain good relations with noble families like the Earl.

“It’s been at least five years since I last attended Holy Spirit Day,” Earl Frey remarked.

"Then why does Your Excellency have the leisure to grace us with your presence this time?" Zevin asked with a smile.

"After all, it's exactly the 300th anniversary; it would be a real shame not to attend." Count Frye stared intently at the distant podium.

“Are you sure you only want to attend the speeches at the Church of the Creator? The archbishops at the Church of the God of War are eagerly hoping you'll make an appearance,” Zevin said.

Count Frye is a retired knight commander who comes from the Church of War and has the closest relationship with it, where he still has many old friends.

So when Count Frye offered to attend a sermon by the Church of the Creator, Zevin was actually a little surprised.

“There will be plenty of time for socializing at the banquet later, so let me relax for a bit by watching some performances. I actually participated in the martial arts performances of the Church of War when I was young, and they were really tiring. I’ve had my fill of them. I’ve always heard that the performances after the sermons of the Church of the Creator are spectacular, but unfortunately I’ve never had the chance to see one,” Earl Foley said with a smile.

"I hope this performance won't disappoint you." Zevin also shifted his gaze into the distance.

“I’m sure it won’t disappoint me,” Earl Frey said meaningfully.

After all, he had been planning this grand performance for many years.

Their location was quite far from the square, but the view from above offered a panoramic view of the entire square.

From here, you can also see a procession of church knights patrolling the street in a ceremonial formation on the far avenue, slowly making their way to the avenue by the square. The person leading them is Bishop Beckett, who is serving in the Southeast Diocese and went to his post to direct the work after the meeting.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the Holy Maiden of the Creator finally stepped onto the stage, immediately sparking a heated discussion in the square.

She had long, jet-black hair, skin as white as snow, a tall and slender figure, and a cool and aloof appearance.

Weiss was elected a saint last year, but she didn't make it to the previous Holy Spirit Festival. This is the first time she has made a public appearance in front of so many people as a saint.

The Holy Sons and Daughters are carefully selected by the Church, possessing excellent looks, temperament, abilities, and backgrounds. When promoting themselves to the public, beauty can capture hearts, and the influence of appearance on image cannot be ignored. Each Holy Son and Daughter has, to varying degrees, a following among the people.

However, the sons and daughters of saints usually rise to the rank of archbishop quickly, and then the person is replaced. The change of leadership is always a topic of discussion among the people.

Ignoring the public's reaction, Weiss calmly began her speech:

“Dear brothers and sisters, dear fellow travelers, may the blessings of the Creator be with you. Today we gather here with the same devout faith to share the grace bestowed by the God who crafted all things…”

A rune floated above the podium, amplifying Weiss's clear voice and spreading it to every corner of the square.

The people in the front row listened attentively. They had arrived early to secure their spots and were quite devout believers, including many pilgrims who had traveled from afar.

Only one person was different.

In the crowded room, a beautiful woman, dressed in the same monastic robes as the people around her, with her face veiled, smiled as everyone looked up at Weiss on the podium.

The Great Witch, Alexia.

With a slight thought, a bottle cracked open in the sealed compartment of the lectern, and witch's blood mixed with potions seeped out from the crack. It was bright red and viscous, swelling as if boiling, and blood-red bat-like monsters struggled to crawl out of the viscous blood foam.

The basic blessing of a third-tier witch uses blood as a medium to temporarily create and summon monsters by fusing magical power!

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. Weiss paused for a moment, vaguely sensing something.

The pause wasn't particularly abrupt, but a few people, especially those in the front row, noticed the change in Weiss's expression.

Some people heard rustling noises coming from the podium.

Before anyone could react, the mahogany podium suddenly burst open like a blown-up balloon.

Everything happened so suddenly. The burst of blood mist instantly engulfed the unsuspecting Vice. A swarm of blood-sucking mosquitoes surged out of the blood mist and pounced on Vice and the crowd in the square. Screams filled the air in an instant!

Weiss hurriedly retreated, and seeing the monsters rushing towards her, she subconsciously used her blessing. The surrounding water vapor instantly gathered and turned into a thin ice wall in front of her. Under her blessing, it became extremely solid, and the blood-sucking mosquito bats were frozen firmly on the ice wall as soon as they hit it.

However, the next moment, an intense feeling of suffocation suddenly arose, and the power of the blessing suddenly began to fade rapidly. In its place, another magical force began to surge uncontrollably.

Weiss realized that the blood mist had mixed with something that had seeped into her body. She tried to suppress the magic with her willpower, but to no avail. Her body began to change uncontrollably. Her jet-black hair seemed to fade, rapidly turning silver-white from the roots, and the color of blood quickly disappeared from her skin.

The afternoon sun shone on the earth, and the whole world became dazzling in her eyes. The sunlight shone on her body, bringing waves of burning pain.

Driven to utter chaos by the harassment of the vampire mosquito bats, Alexie mingled with the throng and retreated with the flow of people. At the same time, venomous spiders crawled out from under her skirt and began leaping onto people's legs and feet, biting and injecting deadly venom. Soon, people collapsed in shock, plunging the scene into even greater chaos.

"This potion cost me quite a bit, so let your followers see your true colors." Alexie's lips, hidden beneath her veil, curled into an barely suppressed, sinister smile. "Enjoy it, Your Majesty!"

Weiss could no longer control the blessing, and the ice wall shattered, revealing her current appearance to everyone.

A woman's scream suddenly rang out from the crowd: "It's a witch!!"

Chapter 148 The Plot Against the Saintess

This scream drew many eyes from the chaotic scene to the stage, and more people saw what Weiss looked like now.

The knights on duty were also caught off guard by this inexplicable sudden situation, but after the commotion started, some of them reacted and began to deal with the situation.

The knight in charge of the guard raised his hand and threw a fireball into the air. Usually, flames could drive away these bat-shaped monsters, but this time they had no obvious effect.

These created monsters were firmly controlled by the witch Alexia's will.

The trainee knights tried to maintain order, but to little avail, as thousands of people were gripped by fear and disturbed by the monsters. People were beginning to be poisoned by the spider monsters, and the crowding and trampling exacerbated the problem.

Most people's attention is on the vampire mosquito bats, but they don't know that the real danger is the poisonous spiders scurrying around their feet.

The church staff in the stands couldn't stand idly by and rushed down to help, but the chaos at the scene far exceeded their ability to handle.

"Bishop Weiss!"

Several knights reacted and rushed onto the podium to try to help Bishop Weiss, who was being attacked.

However, they were stunned when they saw Vis's appearance.

With long, silvery-white hair, skin so pale it was almost bloodless, and eyes glowing with an eerie red light, he didn't look like a normal person at all.

"Ugh..." Weiss clutched her chest in pain. Uncontrollable magic forced her to trigger the second-tier witch's blessing, transforming her into a demon, but she was powerless to stop it.

This is the demon form of the vampires. It is said that in ancient times, the oldest Moirai followers were transformed into vampires by the primordial witch, and from then on they obtained true eternal life.

Nowadays, vampires from ancient times are almost extinct. Only a few witches can transform into this form through blessings, and Vice is one of them.

"How could this be!?" Archbishop Kuric in the stands gasped as he looked at Weiss's appearance.

As a fellow scholar of the Rose School, he actually knew that Weiss possessed witch powers, which was a tacitly approved secret research project within the church.

Even if witches are studied as enemies, the information obtained solely from witch interrogations is always secondhand data, which is unreliable and carries the risk of being misled by false information. Therefore, the church proposed long ago that its researchers try to use witches' blessings themselves to conduct research.

However, due to the obstruction of traditional concepts, the Church has only softened its attitude toward this proposal in recent decades. Later, the Rose School, which had always longed to incorporate witch powers into its applications, inherited the proposal and applied to the Cardinals time and time again.

Ultimately, considering the value of their research findings, the Cardinals acquiesced to their actions by a small margin, classifying the matter as a confidential project that could not be disclosed to the public.

The one who willingly dedicated herself to this research institute and became a witch was none other than the current Saintess of the Church of the Creator, Weiss.

But today, Weiss lost control because of an attack. The monster that just jumped out of the podium was clearly premeditated!

The intense light made Vice dizzy. The immortal bodies of vampires actually have some flaws, being extremely sensitive to strong light and easily burned by the sun. If she could use her magic normally, she could resist the sunlight, but now Vice's magic was like a wild horse that had broken free.

What terrifies her even more is that she is not only afraid of light, but also desperately craves blood. Ancient vampires feed on blood, and witches who can transform into vampire forms will also experience certain blood addiction symptoms, which are even more severe now that her magic is out of control.

Under the influence of the potion, a primal instinct was rapidly expanding within her, constantly eroding her consciousness.

That was the instinct of a demon, an instinct that was calling her to kill the humans around her, to kill those who had received blessings from other gods!

When she vaguely saw knights ascending the stage, she could only struggle with her inner turmoil while shouting, "Don't come any closer!!"

Meanwhile, Cardinal Zevin, the diocesan rector, was anxiously lowering his voice, directing his subordinates to handle the situation through his adjutant's teleportation blessing, atop a distant tower:

"You must get to the Church of the Creator immediately and seal off the scene as quickly as possible!"

As a cardinal, he was aware of the research conducted by the Rose School, which the cardinals would tacitly approve of. This matter should have been kept secret and absolutely not known to the public.

Now, the saintess of the Church of the Creator has displayed the form of a witch in the public eye in the parish she is in charge of. This is a very serious problem!

No one expected such an incident to occur. The knights deployed at the scene were severely understaffed, unable to control the public's panic or deal with Vice.

Earl Frey glanced at the bewildered Cardinal Zevin, feigning shock as he asked, "Your Excellency Cardinal, what exactly happened?"

"It's probably a terrorist attack by heretics! Your Excellency, please move to a safe place as soon as possible. I need to investigate!" After saying this, Zevin left a knight to protect Count Foley and gestured for him to take Foley to a safe place. He then turned around and led his men down the tower.

The Earl silently turned around and watched Zevin's figure disappear. From Zevin's perspective, controlling the development of the situation on the spot was definitely the priority.

From the perspective of someone familiar with the church's internal secrets, this was clearly a case of someone publicly framing the church. They had to control the impact and spread of the situation, seal off the scene, and quickly take control of the out-of-control Viss before considering how to explain it to the outside world.

But to lower-ranking members and ordinary people who knew nothing about this situation, what they saw was the church's saintess turning into a witch in public, releasing monsters from the podium and killing people indiscriminately.

As the mastermind behind all of this, the Earl naturally wouldn't allow such a situation to be suppressed.

Once this problem can't be suppressed, the church must find a way to deal with Weiss and quell the problem. It's okay if the sores are on the back and not seen by others, but if they are on the face, they can't be ignored!

The Earl deliberately chose this location to observe; even with Cardinal Zevin's abilities, he was powerless to reach it from this distance.

Cardinal Zevin wanted to control the situation, but there weren't enough people on site. No matter how fast the diocese staff acted, they couldn't outrun those who were prepared in advance!

"Take Bishop Weiss away, quickly!" Archbishop Kuric, standing in the stands, finally reacted and shouted to those around him.

He was not a professional soldier after all, but a scholar, and he realized that the most urgent task at hand was to get Weiss out of the public eye as soon as possible.

He mobilized the bishops around him who also belonged to the Rose School to prepare to rush forward; they had to pretend to grab Weiss and then take her into the church.

But at that moment, a mysterious divine teleportation emblem suddenly appeared behind Vice, but Vice didn't notice it immediately.

"Who is it? Stop it!" Archbishop Kuric gasped.

The first stage of the Divine Teleportation technique can only teleport intangible objects with almost no mass, such as sound and light. However, upon reaching the second stage, it can teleport objects with smaller mass, such as bullets, through a portal created by the Mystic Seal, located precisely within the caster's line of sight!

By making good use of this divine skill, you can accurately snipe within your field of vision!

The shooter ignored Archbishop Kuric's attempts to stop her. Suddenly, Weiss staggered forward as if she had been shoved, and blood bloomed on her back.

Then, the sound of gunfire reached the ears of everyone present.

The crowd looked in alarm and saw a patrol of knights leap over the wall behind the stands and rush into the square. The terrified crowd was surging from the square toward the main road and could not get in by normal means.

The one who fired that sniper shot was Bishop Beckett, who was standing on the wall and was the one who commanded the knights.

"Witch discovered! Eliminate the heretics and save the people!!" Bishop Beckett shouted, putting on an act as if he had just arrived at the scene and witnessed the witch harming the people.

The knights, guns at the ready, swarmed toward the podium, preparing to surround Weiss.

Weiss was shot but did not fall. Vampires have an exceptionally strong vitality. If their heart and head are not severely injured, they can recover by consuming blood. Bishop Beckett deliberately avoided vital organs.

She lifted her face, the intense pain making it difficult for her to think; all she could see were enemies.

"Very well, start killing!"

Bishop Beckett stared coldly at the out-of-control Weiss, muttering to himself.

If Weiss were to kill even one member of the church in public, her crimes would be definitively established and impossible to suppress within the church.

She must ultimately die according to the laws of the church—just like the witch who died in prison twenty years ago!

Chapter 149 The Magic Mirror's SOS Signal

Blood! I need blood!

Kill! Kill them!

Stimulated by pain and blood loss, the thirst for blood and the primal urges of monsters further assaulted Vice's remaining rationality.

When the knights' guns were all pointed at her, a sense of crisis arose, and the last thread of rationality was about to break.

Suddenly, a loud crash was heard, and a stone wall rose from the ground, collapsing the wooden stage and standing right between the knight and Vice.

The knights were startled by the sudden turn of events; one of them had already pulled the trigger, but the shot hit the stone wall instead.

Archbishop Crick blessed and prevented the conflict from escalating, stopping the knights from further attacking and provoking Weiss at this crucial moment.