"My dear ones, I have been by your side for years, loving and serving you as my own family. Will you really believe baseless rumors spread by the Evil one?"
"Give me some time, and I promise that once the investigation into Priest Morvain’s death is complete, I will give you a full explanation worthy of you," he said in a loud, calm, and resonant voice.
After hearing his words, the people calmed down a little. After all, this man had been the Grand Priest for a long time and truly held a special place in their hearts.
They slowly lowered their weapons, and many of them turned away and left the area. The Grand Priest had given them his word, so there was no need to make things harder, for now.
If, by the promised time, they still didn’t receive a proper answer, then these deceivers would face their wrath.
While chaos had engulfed the entire city, everyone was either angry or terrified, worried about what would soon happen. Meanwhile, the one responsible for all of it was calmly sitting in his room, drinking tea.
"Your plan went perfectly," Drael said with a grin as he replayed the events of the past few days in his mind.
He had expected that the man’s plan might run into some problems. After all, the faith in people’s hearts seemed far too strong to be broken that easily.
But who could have imagined that the plan would actually make the people so furious with the Temple that they’d come armed to its gates demanding answers?
"You underestimated me?" Daniel replied with a confident smirk, taking a slow sip of his tea.
In truth, his plan wasn’t flawless, and under normal conditions, the chance of success would only be moderate, too many unpredictable variables could appear.
After all, human minds are complex. The people might not have cared as much about Morvain as he assumed, or something else could have gone wrong.
However, Daniel never left anything to chance. He had used his emotional manipulation skills to steer people exactly where he wanted them to go.
That meant the result of his plan had been determined from the start, no one could disrupt it.
"Now we just have to wait for their faith to weaken enough before we destroy the Temple," Drael muttered while nodding.
"It shouldn’t take too long. We just need to fan the flames a little more. If everything goes right, we should be able to attack the Temple tomorrow night, or the night after," Daniel agreed, nodding back.
He didn’t intend to completely erase the people’s faith. That wasn’t necessary, and honestly, destroying it entirely would be almost impossible, even for him.
He only needed to weaken their faith enough to shatter the Temple’s protective layer, burn it down, and erase it from existence.
From what he had learned about divine power and faith, just a little more reduction in their belief would be enough for him to act.
"Good, I’m starting to get sick of this place," Drael groaned, crossing his legs.
He had been stuck inside the third floor for too many days and was truly growing tired of it.
Fortunately, if everything went well, they could finally conquer the third floor soon and escape this hellish place.
"Don’t forget the final phase. We still don’t know what we’ll need to do for that," Daniel reminded him not to get too relaxed.
They were only at phase two, and there might be two more phases left, or maybe just one. Nothing was certain yet.
Besides all that, even Daniel himself was starting to feel exhausted. The only good news lately was that his skills had finally reactivated.
The restrictions placed on them were lifted, and now he could finally use them again,
meaning he could fight with his full strength once more.
He no longer had the slightest concern about the Grand Priest. Even if that old man was at his peak, he wouldn’t stand a chance against him.
"Ugh, don’t remind me," Drael grumbled.
Daniel just shrugged in response.
"What do you think that old man’s planning?" Drael asked, trying to change the topic.
"I don’t know. Probably some desperate attempt to save himself from this mess? Maybe he’ll just try to blame someone else," Drael said lazily.
"I hope so," Daniel nodded. He recalled the confident words of the Grand Priest that morning when he spoke to the people.
For some reason, those words and that calm, certain face gave him a bad feeling, as if something unexpected might happen to his plan.
Still, the thought that he could now use his skills again calmed him down. Whatever surprises might come, he could crush them with absolute power.
They talked a little more, then went to the Temple. The priests had gathered all the temple followers to order them to investigate Priest Morvain’s death and the source of the spreading rumors.
It was the only thing they could do. They had no choice but to do everything possible to find the traitor who was trying to destroy them.
Only then could they hope to save themselves from the people’s wrath.
Time passed slowly, and night eventually came. Unfortunately, no progress had been made in their investigations, and the priests had to halt their operations for the night.
It was already late, and for some reason, the Grand Priest also ordered everyone to stop their work until morning.
They had no choice but to obey. The servants were told to return home and rest for the night.
Daniel and Drael both felt something strange about this, but they didn’t say anything and went back to their rooms as well. They had expected the priests to keep them busy all night, but oddly, the Grand Priest had told everyone to rest instead.
"Maybe he realized that investigating like this is pointless?" Drael muttered. He couldn’t think of a better explanation.
Before Daniel could respond, both of them suddenly heard the sound of explosions and fighting. Confused, they immediately used their spiritual senses to see what was happening.
What they saw shocked them, priests were fighting against a group of people with covered faces who looked slightly monstrous.
"Who the fuck are they?" Drael said in disbelief.