A long time ago, Luo Shu had realised that in the realm of Classes, there were several key junctures.
The first juncture was the Demigod Rank.
This rank was where life completely transcended the mundane, surpassing the functional limits of a biological individual and truly displaying extraordinary power.
Therefore, at the Demigod Rank, even the most common Demigod could easily suppress any existence below the Demigod Rank. Only a very small number of special individuals could escape such a restriction.
But even for those special individuals, defeating a Demigod who had advanced through a Common Class was a difficult task.
At the Demigod Rank, the gap between mortals and the extraordinary began to show clearly.
The second juncture, Luo Shu believed, was the Angel Rank.
The Apostle Rank, which was above the Demigod Rank, could easily suppress a Demigod on a conceptual level. Even a Demigod of a Top Tier Class could not match an Apostle. However, this suppression was not insurmountable.
To put it simply, as long as a Demigod carried some powerful Abyss Artefacts and had a way to deal with an Apostle's conceptual suppression, even if they couldn't kill them in return, it was still possible for them to hold one off in a one-on-one fight.
Therefore, although Apostles were above Demigods, they could no longer achieve the same kind of crushing dominance that Demigods had over those below them.
Such a situation would only be completely overturned after an Apostle ascended to become an Angel.
Although Luo Shu had never personally witnessed an Angel unleash their full might, judging from the few times he had used his authority, it was clear.
The authority's inherent auto-response, auto-locking, the near-omnipotence within its domain, and its special ability to highly suppress abilities below its conceptual level all undoubtedly proved the gap between an Angel and those below.
This was similar to the way a Demigod's Concept Entanglement crushed those below them—an absolute suppression of rank.
In other words, to an Angel, no matter how many beings existed below them, it was merely a question of whether they wanted to act or not.
And this difference in rank was particularly evident at the level of authority.
Nak, a veteran Night Apostle, was crushed by the Thunder Authority with almost no ability to fight back, and even her main body was killed.
The True Dragon, originally of the Angel Rank, prepared almost all its power to escape the moment it realised Luo Shu controlled an authority.
And when Evangeline acted to control the Prime Minister, she was instantly locked onto by the Scales of Order, only noticing the anomaly after she became a member of the Familia.
Considering this, Luo Shu had uttered the words, "Only authority can fight authority!"
Because from his few experiences, the Angel Rank was indeed a massive transformation.
"I've suppressed the backlash from the Scales of Order with my authority. For now, continue to maintain control over the puppet from the outside. If anything unexpected happens, trigger the return device at any time and come back to the Hidden Management Zone."
After conveying these words to Evangeline across the distance, Luo Shu exited the state of Possession and refocused his consciousness on his main body.
...
Inside the Hidden Management Zone.
On the sea-and-sky viewing platform.
Luo Shu picked up the cup of black tea in his hand, took a sip, swallowed, and then exhaled a breath of turbid air.
"It's more or less confirmed."
Hearing this, Meer, who had been boredly pushing her empty teacup back and forth across the table, immediately looked up and pressed, "What do you mean?"
"What's the situation?"
"It's basically confirmed. The ability base of the Scales of Order should also be an authority. Let's tentatively call it the Order Authority for now."
As Luo Shu said this, he narrowed his eyes, a thoughtful look on his face. "Its function should be to mete out varying degrees of punishment to those who trigger a detailed set of rules."
"The specific severity of the punishment is unclear for now, but it seems that because the Scales of Order has no one controlling it, there's a problem with the execution of these punitive rules."
"Logically, the moment a rule is triggered, the auto-responsive power of an authority should have immediately punished Evangeline for triggering the rule."
"But in reality, the scales manifested by that power of authority only accumulated in Evangeline's mind and didn't issue a warning about her current actions."
"If it were a true authority, controlled by someone, it would have responded the instant it was triggered."
After hearing Luo Shu's explanation, Lacus frowned in thought for a moment before saying tentatively, "In other words, the Five Great Powers likely understand the function of the Scales of Order and have used it to list a series of rules. But because the Scales of Order are ownerless, not all of these rules are fully effective. It only responds to relatively important rules."
"To put it simply, it doesn't punish minor offences like petty theft, it just accumulates power. It will only impose sanctions when a death-penalty-level judgement is triggered?"
"...That should be about right." Luo Shu nodded, acknowledging Lacus's statement, but at the same time, he turned his head towards Nia Honjo, who was waiting at the side.
"I've intercepted a portion of the Scales of Order's power. I'll give it to you later to divine and confirm what we've learned. But remember, the divination must be done within the Hidden Management Zone. Otherwise, I'm worried it might trigger a counter-attack from the Scales of Order."
"I feel like I've been given a really troublesome job." Nia Honjo sighed, her face a picture of dismay, before saying to Luo Shu, "But speaking of which, if the Scales of Order only have an effect at the Angel Rank, doesn't that mean..."
"That's right." Luo Shu nodded and then said, "Judging by the fact that the abilities of Abyss Artefacts are generally a bit lower than their current rank, the rank of the Scales of Order is probably higher than that of a typical Angel."
"A Seraph Rank Abyss Artefact..."
Sitting on the bench and leaning against the tea table, Nia Honjo rested her face in her hands, full of emotion, and muttered, "I really don't know how the Union managed to get their hands on something this good."
Luo Shu didn't know what to say to that. Should he say the Five Great Powers were lucky? But the size of the population they controlled was there, and the scale of their military forces was also on display.
With Abyss Artefacts appearing randomly all over the world, it didn't seem strange that the Five Great Powers—with the largest population, the largest area, and the ability to steamroll the rest of the world's countries when united—would acquire the most Abyss Artefacts.
Thinking of this, Luo Shu gave a slight shake of his head, then turned to Meer and said, "Meer, regarding the abilities of the Scales of Order, please edit it into a general knowledge notice for the Familia to prevent anyone from making a mistake."
"OK, OK~ I'll get it done." Meer chuckled and made an OK gesture.
Seeing this, Luo Shu nodded slightly and turned to look at Lacus.
"Let's stop probing the Scales of Order here for now. If we try any further, we'll probably have to make Evangeline trigger the death penalty clause. We don't need to take that kind of gamble."
"Then let's stop. We can just have Nia probe it with her divination."
Lacus agreed with this. For both her and Luo Shu, every member of the Familia was an extremely valuable talent.
After all, any organisation would treat talents like these—who could be completely trusted, with no fear of betrayal, and who possessed a wide variety of abilities—like treasures.
Risking the sacrifice of such a talent for a mere test was clearly not worth it.
With the matter of the Scales of Order temporarily concluded, Luo Shu paused and asked Lacus, "About Shizuka Hio, she should have told you already, right?"
Hearing this, Lacus couldn't help but glance at Luo Shu, her eyes seeming to hold a hint of resentment.
But the feeling was fleeting, so much so that Luo Shu wondered if he had imagined it.
"If you're referring to the matter of the Bloodline Dominator Class, then I do know a little about it."
Luo Shu nodded. Just as he was about to comment on the abnormality of this Class's appearance, Evangeline suddenly sent him a message through the Divine Pantheon.
[Evangeline: Um, I don't know if this is serious or not, but... it seems the Prime Minister has received an urgent report.]
[Evangeline: It seems one of this country's princes was just assassinated.]
Luo Shu: "???"