In thirty seconds, Angelo was expected to make an important decision that could potentially risk his life. Stubbornly, the older man was still hesitant.
“Do you want me to burn this church down? Perhaps doing so would help you settle on a choice.” Xia Lei continued, “Or maybe, I could head back and melt that metal. You’ll never find it again. If you give me the armour, you’ll still have a chance to receive the complete relic. If not… you can forget about it for eternity.”
Thirty seconds was over, but Xia Lei was rather reluctant to fire a third bullet towards Angelo. This wasn’t because he felt empathetic but he did not think Angelo would survive another bullet.
Angelo fell into silence. There was a brief pause before the old man spoke, “Come with me.”
Shakily, he steadied himself up from the floor and started to limp towards the door of his office. Both wounds that Xia Lei had left on him were bleeding profusely.
Trailing behind him, Xia Lei left the study. The man cautiously activated his X-ray vision and did an extensive scan of his surroundings. No secret rooms and trap doors were found. His findings had allowed him to draw a conclusion. The Sacred Palace was not situated within the church.
Angelo led Xia Lei along a corridor.
Statues of the Knight Hospitaller knights were lined along both sides of the corridor. The stone subjects were all equipped with ancient armour, hands armed with swords, shields, hammers and a variety of weapons.
The back door of the church was at the end. With his vision, the heavy wooden door disappeared to reveal a rocky path that stretched towards a stone wall. It was close to a thousand metres long. Knight statues were also lined along the rock path, but now they were mostly depicted to be on their horses.
Xia Lei let his left vision penetrate the wall a distance away. He began to wonder. “These statues along the path shouldn’t just merely be here for aesthetic purposes. Could they bear any unique symbolism? Wait, was the Sacred Palace hidden within the walls?”
As he continued to observe the stone, Angelo sneakily pried away a stone axe from a nearby statue. Quickly, lunging forward in an attempt to chop Xia Lei’s neck.
With a swift motion, Xia Lei took a light step to his side and leaned slightly. The axe missed his Adam’s apple by an inch.
Poof! He fired his gun.
The axe in Angelo’s grip fell with a clang. A hole was formed on the back of his hand.
Menacingly, Xia Lei threatened, “Quit it or I’ll kill you with my next shot.”
“You’re going to hell for this,” seethed Angelo.
“We’ve been stuck in hell for a long time now,” replied Xia Lei.
“Hmph!” The retort effectively silenced Angelo. The old man resumed limping towards the door. He allowed the bloodied hand to dangle beside his form but reached his other hand into his pocket.
Xia Lei focused his vision on Angelo’s moving hand, making past the fabric barrier of his pocket. At that moment, Angelo’s palm was seen around a golden card. Surprisingly, the older man exerted force and folded the card.
The gold was soft, bending at the folding force. The action had even broken the chip embedded inside.
It didn’t take long for Xia Lei to identify it as the Sacred Palace’s access card. The card Angelo had destroyed was the same one Arthur had in his possession.
“Haha…” Angelo cackled maddeningly. He retrieved the broken access card from his pockets and threw it in front of Xia Lei. “I’ve already destroyed the access card. There’s no way you can enter the Sacred Palace now.”
Xia Lei scowled. “Was this really necessary?”
“You’d still kill me even if I brought you into the Sacred Palace. I rather die with honour than to die a traitor!” Angelo had seemed to have made his choice.
Xia Lei questioned, “So you’re telling me that I won’t be able to enter the Sacred Palace without an access card?”
“Yeah. In your dreams, bastard!”
“I really wasn’t expecting you to stoop so low.” Xia Lei threw his hands, flashing him a face of disappointment and helplessness. “Since I can’t enter, I might as well leave now. But allow me to ask you one last question. I’m sure you’re not a believer of the legends of the Red Rider and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, right? It’s quite clear to me that you have no intentions of rebuilding your nation. Why are you so determined and so desperate to locate the broken shards of that particular armour?”
Angelo glared at Xia Lei coldly.
“You were desperate enough to steal the Metal Book from the Vatican. What exactly are you all after? Or more rather, what is your goal?”
There was a pregnant silence before Angelo voiced, “Do you believe in the existence of God?”
Inexplicably, the question had Xia Lei think about Zhu Xuanyue and the mysterious black-robed man. Those two had possessed powers akin to ‘God’, but were they actually ‘Gods’? Xia Lei answered him. “Yes, I do. However, people tend to romanticise and force their narratives upon Gods. Perhaps they weren’t supposed to be our protectors, perhaps we’re just vulnerable prey to them.”
“Blasphemy!” Angelo shouted at Xia Lei, waving his fist around.
“You consider this as doing a favour to God?”
“The armour is God’s armour. We believe in his existence. We need to awaken him and receive his blessings to be bestowed upon potent powers and be blessed with immortality.” There was unmasked excitement glimmering in Angelo’s orbs. His mind had already begun to feed itself delusions of his encounter with God.
“You’re doing all this solely for that?” Xia Lei was rather dissatisfied with the answer.
Abruptly, Angelo blurted, “Oh chosen God, I shall sacrifice myself for you. Oh chosen God, guide me to heaven!” The older man quickly lunged forwards to a statue and extracted a large sword from it. Without any hints of hesitation, the man gripped his fists around the handle tightly and rushed forwards to Xia Lei’s heart.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
Xia Lei fired three continuous shots. The silenced Viper pistol spewing out fiery bullets that found home in Angelo’s chest.
Clank! Angelo’s grip on the sword loosened. Soon, the older man slumped weightlessly towards the ground.
Xia Lei walked over, gazing down upon Angelo’s pitiful face peacefully.
Crimson red came pouring out of Angelo’s jaw like a fountain. The older man gaped, “You’ll die, God will punish you. You and the people you love will all die!”
“You’re still adamant on cursing me even in this state? Fine, I was honestly planning to have you pass in peace but since you’re so mean, let me show you something.” Xia Lei reached a hand into his pockets hidden under the robe.
Angelo glued his unwavering stare to Xia Lei. Despite his life slowly trickling away, the older man was eager to know what Xia Lei was about to show him. He hoped it would be the sacred relic.
Unfortunately for him, the thing Xia Lei had presented out of his pockets was a golden card.
Angelo’s expression took a great shift.
Xia Lei waved the card in his face. He said, “Do you see that? I’ve got my own access card too. I was trying to tell you but you didn’t let me speak. What’s the point in destroying yours? I’m going to enter the Sacred Palace now and take away what I desire. It’s about time for you to go too, no need to hang on anymore.”
“Mmph...“Angelo gurgled and allowed a large mouthful of blood to escape his mouth. His neck tilted and his breathing ceased. Perhaps the older man could’ve stayed alive for a little longer but the sight of Xia Lei’s access card was the last thing his heart could handle.
When Xia Lei left Angelo’s lifeless body behind, the man had no mind to spare the body one last glance.
Exiting the church, Xia Lei hurriedly strode past the stone path.
He saw four black-robed gunmen bodies on the ground by the wall, evidently, Tsukino Kyoko’s doing.
If entering the Sacred Palace had required the access card and signed permission from Angelo, then the four gunmen were the last obstacle standing between Xia Lei and the palace. Thankfully, Tsukino Kyoko had gotten rid of the issue beforehand. The only thing was that the female ninja was unaware of the secret laying behind the stone wall.
“She’s really efficient this time. I must reward her something when this operation is over.” Xia Lei made a little mental note to himself.
Soon enough, he neared the stone wall. The wall was unbelievably flat and soft, spanning about a good area of about three hundred square meters. There was a horse-riding knight carved into the stone, the horse was red and the knight had on a silver armour. In his hand was a silver longsword, the piece was overall dignified and fierce.
Despite this, the knight was carved with a helmet on. The red rider wasn’t depicted with distinguishable features.
Xia Lei began to ponder to himself. “A red horse, sword-wielding… Isn’t this one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? The one that symbolizes war? Weirdly, Angelo hadn’t made a single mention about the horsemen. But he did mention something about his chosen god. Chosen god…?”
His thoughts suddenly arrived at the prehistoric chosen one, causing him to shudder in shock.
The prehistoric chosen one had lived past the Ice Ages and became the divine figure to the Knight Hospitaller. Was that scenario possible?
“Nevermind, I’ll leave that thought for later. This is not the time for that.” Xia Lei cleared his mind and began to search for where he could slot the access card in.
It didn’t take long for him to detect an opening on one of the hooves that looked like an ATM card reader. He calmed himself down and used his X-ray vision on it. The returned results had surprised him, this stone wall was actually fake. It was actually a large metal door that consisted of intrinsically complicated electronic circuits and mechanisms inside of it.
He could’ve still entered without an access card, but he’d require more firepower than he had on hand now.
Xia Lei inserted the access card into the reader.
Within a few seconds, the metal door began to move slowly. It slid open towards the sides of the wall, revealing an arched tunnel sluggishly.
Thankfully, the tunnel hadn’t extended to great distances. It was only about a few ten metres deep. The walls were cut polished into a smooth surface, there was no air and no light inside. However, this hadn’t hindered from taking a good look into its interior with the help of the dim lights outside. The end of the tunnel seemed like a prayer hall typically seen in churches.
Xia Lei turned on his military-grade torch and entered it bravely.
Similar to the path, the sides of the tunnel was also decorated with large, stern and holy looking knight statues. The sculptor had done an impeccable job. The knights actually looked like they had life breathed into them. Their stance looked intimidating as if they could swing their weapons against intruders whenever.
Reaching the end, Xia Lei found no statue of Jesus nor Mother Teresa around. On the altar where the divine statues were most normally placed, stood a silver armour. The protective equipment looked tattered with cracks all about, there was even a large hole in its helmet. Perhaps someone had driven a sword or spear into it.
The silver armour was motionless, silently existing in its place. Despite that, it seemed rather alive to its spectators. While it had radiated of an ancient and historical presence, it gave off an uncanny feeling of some probably impending doom.
Xia Lei walked towards it. By the moment he reached the side of the display, something on the hollowed wall behind the armour caught his attention.
There was an oil painting drawn on the wall.
A single glimpse of the painting had Xia Lei frozen. As if he was struck by thunder, Xia Lei could only gape at it.