The Story Never Ends
Chapter 111 - Church Or A Cult?

The next day, in the Cathedral Hall, thousands of people wearing red robes were gathering. Even though they were downhearted due to the recent incident, they looked quite lively when coming here. They were chit-chatting with each other and thus creating a lot of noise.

"Wow, what a huge crowd," Davion exclaimed as he was also in the crowd. He was wearing the same robes as them but had an additional red-colored hat on his head. With a mask covering his face, he looked like a man filled with mysteries. 

As for Ryland, he had left him with Atticus. It was not that he didn't want to bring him, it was just that the culprits might see him and replace something suspicious about him after seeing a strange beast.

He used his Mind-Eye and observed everyone in this hall keenly. However, he didn't replace anyone who looked suspicious. So, he didn't bother about them for the time being and rather observed the hall properly. He saw large sculptures of beings with wings standing in every corner of the hall. Not only that, they were even engraved on the walls and the pillars.

"Are these the angels they worship? According to Atticus, an evil statue should have been stationed here but I haven't seen it. Did he mean by the statue on the platform?" He looked towards the platform which was in his opposite direction and saw a curtain covering everything inside.

"It seems like the curtain will only open after the Pope comes." He thought and looked above. In the center of the ceiling, an image of a sun with rays coming out of it could be seen. Inside it was a one-eyed symbol with a beautiful chandelier hanging from the pupils.

"What might these symbols represent?" He pondered.

A few minutes later, the hall suddenly went silent. This snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Did something happen?" He muttered and looked ahead. The curtain was slowly raised and he could finally see the Pope. Seeing him, all the people bowed and greeted him, "Holy Father" 

It sounded quite imposing as all the people greeted him at the same time. The Pope was an old man wearing a black cassock and a white zucchetto on his head. The Pope smiled and nodded in acknowledgment. 

"Damn, this old man is really popular." Davion cursed and used his Mind-Eye to scan the Pope from top to bottom. 

"Eh! the late stage of Golden Core Stage? Not only that, his aura looks quite terrifying. Even though he is hiding it deeply, how can it escape from me." Davion found it suspicious. 

Although someone could easily reach the Golden Core Stage by just staying in the Inner Region, their aura would be very weak. However, the aura of the Pope was not something a normal person could have.

"He must have someone backing him." He thought and then also felt the breath of the people surrounding him. They were wearing white-colored cloaks and were hiding their faces. 

"This…"

"Everyone is at least in the Golden Core Stage. Now I finally know why the disciple went missing." He shook his head thinking about it.

"Even the top disciple of the Inner Court Disciple Peak might not be able to escape from here alive." In his opinion, this was not a mission that could be handled by a single person.

"Let's forget about this for now. I should see what happens here and make a move later on." He set his sights on the platform and wanted to see what the Pope would do now. But suddenly his mouth became wide open. Earlier he was focusing on the Pope and his subordinates, so he hadn't noticed it. 

The platform looked like the mouth of a snake. Especially the two pillars that were standing on the side appeared to be the fangs of the snake. Above the platform, on the walls, there were lines carved in a certain pattern which formed the scales of the snake. And but not least, there were two circular purple-colored glasses separated by a certain distance. These were obviously the pupils.

"Damn, this seems really creepy. If you stay near it and see, then you won't replace anything unusual. However, from this distance, an image of a snake can be seen clearly." He had sweat on his forehead. 

"This is clearly a devilish cult. How can people even visit a church when the truth is right infront of their eyes?" He was in disbelief. 

When the Pope was about to say something, suddenly some people climbed up the platform. Seeing this, his subordinates immediately came ahead to protect him. However, the people didn't do what they thought but rather they kowtowed. They hit their heads on the floor and begged. 

"Holy Father, please help us replace our children."

"It's been a month since they have gone missing. We even contacted the officials but there was no response."

"Now you are our only hope."

His subordinates didn't care about them and wanted to take them out from the platform but he stopped them.

He looked at them and said in a calm voice, "Children, I cannot help you with this request."

The people got disappointed and tears fell from their eyes. However, his next words gave them hope.

"There is only one who could save your children from this predicament."

"Who?" They jointly asked at the same time.

The Pope looked above, raised his hands to his ears, and closed his eyes. Then he said, "Only the Almighty, the high above can listen to your prayers now and fulfill your wishes. There is nothing impossible for him." The moment he said this, a white halo formed above his head.

"Yes, the Almighty will guide us and free us from our sufferings." The people felt a soothing and otherworldly aura coming out from the Pope. So, they started praying.

"Pfft-" Davion tried his best to control his laughter when he heard this bullshit. However, he still couldn't completely control it. Thus, some people around him were staring at him with anger.

Davion shook his head and crossed his hands. He acted innocent and said that it was a misunderstanding. The people didn't quite believe it but they also didn't want to cause some trouble with an unknown person. So, they forgave him for the time being.

"Wew, I nearly got kicked out," He sighed in relief. But the next thing made him laugh so hard that his tears came out.

"HAHA, what is this?" He couldn't stop his laughter when he saw what was happening on the platform.

While his attention was focused on the people around him, the Pope had already ordered his subordinates to bring out the statue of the Almighty.

The subordinates entered the door that was hidden behind the hall and steadily pushed out a weird-looking statue. There were wheels attached to it. Thus, they easily brought it infront of everyone.

The reason why Davion laughed so hard was because of this statue. Although this statue was far smaller than the statues of the angels that he had seen before, it looked very abnormal. It was only about 8 feet tall, where a weird creature was sitting on the throne. On the top of the throne, a symbol of a circle with a star inside could be seen.

As for the creature, it had the face of a goat with three devil horns on its head. It also had a long beard and two wings protruding from its back just like the angels. It was only wearing a small cloth to hide its crotch. But a few meters long pole could be seen coming out from the cloth where two snakes were coiling around it.

From this, one would definitely say that it was a male but the disappointing thing was that it had breasts on its chest. Thus, it was neither a male nor a female. It was pointing two of its fingers on the right hand upward while the two of its fingers on the left hand were pointing downwards. 

However, these were not the most surprising things about it but rather there were two children wearing civilian clothes on its right and left. One was a boy while the other was a girl. Just this was enough to indicate that the Pope must be the one responsible for the missing children.

Even though one wouldn't be able to know everything about it from just looking at this statue, one would be able to replace something suspicious about it if they used their brains.

The moment Davion laughed, everyone turned in his direction. The same goes for the Pope and his subordinates.

The Pope became furious when he heard someone laughing but thinking about his image, he controlled himself and calmly asked, "Child, is something wrong?"

All the people were also glancing at him in anger.. If not for the Pope, then they would have surely beaten him to death.