Thump—
Damian's frantic shouting came to an abrupt halt. He stiffly turned his head, looking at the blue chess piece that had smashed next to him, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty.
"Let me reiterate," Cerydra slowly lowered her scepter, her icy gaze pressing down on Damian like a physical weight. "I am not a god. Put away that form of address."
Her gaze swept over the slightly trembling Bishop on the ground, her disgust undisguised:
"Furthermore, I despise those who lie and put on acts in front of me."
"I can perceive that in your heart, there is absolutely no reverence for the so-called 'god'. Then, who are you putting on this fanatic posture for?"
As Cerydra's words fell, the air instantly solidified.
Damian buried his head deeply, completely not daring to meet those ice-blue eyes, because Cerydra had seen through his inner thoughts in a single sentence.
In his mind, the existence before him was incredibly powerful. Even if she wasn't a true god, flattering her as a god was a disguised way of praising her strength. This way, he should be able to gain her favor no matter what.
But he never expected that just because of his cleverness, he would directly step on a landmine...
"Your Highness Imperator, please quell your anger!" At this time, Sylens hurriedly threw himself to his knees at the foot of the throne's steps to plead for Damian. "Lord Bishop has absolutely no malicious intent. He was merely deeply shocked by your mighty power and tried to express... a reverence akin to looking up to a god!"
"Hmph." Cerydra gave a cold snort. The scepter in her hand turned into specks of light and dissipated, along with the chess piece beside Damian. "I doubt he would dare."
After she finished speaking, she turned to Sylens, commanding with an unquestionable tone:
"Now, explain clearly what exactly your so-called 'summoning ritual' and the 'god' it involves are all about."
Seeing the chess piece disappear, Sylens breathed a sigh of relief and hastily explained:
"It's like this. The summoning ritual originated from a group of Evil Cultists in the Pit Bottom District. They somehow obtained a ritual claiming to be able to summon a god. So, about seven or eight days ago, they completed the ritual setup and began to attempt the summoning..."
Speaking of this, his speaking speed increased a bit: "But halfway through the ritual, a squad of mercenaries from the Pit Bottom District suddenly broke in, wanting to drive them out of there."
"And in order for the ritual to proceed normally, these Evil Cultists desperately tried to block that mercenary squad. However, those mercenaries had some strength, so they couldn't hold them back."
"But thanks to their stalling, the ritual was carried out successfully, yet it failed to summon anything."
"The Evil Cultist leading the ritual thought he had been deceived, and seeing the mercenaries about to arrive, he fled out the back door in a panic."
"But at the moment he rushed out the door, that Evil Cultist instinctively glanced back at the altar... and saw a girl with cat ears and a cat tail appearing out of thin air on the altar."
"But at that time, the mercenaries outside were about to break in, so how could he dare to linger? Thus, after only a hasty glance, he fled for his life without looking back."
Listening to Sylens's description, although Cerydra's face remained expressionless, she was incredibly surprised in her heart.
Evil Cultists, mercenary squad, altar, a girl with cat ears and a cat tail... wasn't this describing the situation when she first arrived in this world as Cipher?!
So, her appearing here as Cerydra was also brought about by this summoning ritual?
This thought left a strong question in her heart.
"As for the specific meaning of 'god'... I really don't know about this."
After Sylens finished speaking, he respectfully closed his mouth.
Seeing this, Cerydra's sharp gaze landed on Damian once again.
"You, as the Bishop controlling this church, should be very clear about this matter."
Hearing her asking him, Damian shuddered all over, and then hastily replied:
"Yes! I am clear! Your Highness Imperator, the talk of a god... was fake from beginning to end! I myself have never truly believed in any god!"
"Oh?" Cerydra raised her eyebrows. "Since that's the case, why did you establish this church?"
"To deceive others!" Damian immediately took out his Terminal, and after operating it rapidly a few times, brought up an encrypted interface to display it. "My true identity is a member of the AMA... You can understand it as an organization created personally by the highest authority in your era."
"But the current AMA's lifeline is controlled by the four major corporations... You can understand those four major corporations as..."
"Enough." Cerydra's icy voice interrupted him. "There is no need to explain these shallow concepts to me. I can understand them myself."
She could now be certain that in this world, figures like Imperator must have existed in the past, and they were now substituting her, this "Imperator", into the ancient "Imperator", which was why they kept explaining non-stop, fearing she wouldn't understand.
"O-okay." Damian hastily agreed. Then he swallowed his saliva and continued, "After having its lifeline controlled, the AMA has essentially been semi-hollowed out by the four major corporations. But since the AMA is still the government in name, the four major corporations don't dare to make a move against the AMA for the time being. Therefore, the AMA is currently planning to secretly develop other factions, to ensure that when the four major corporations really turn hostile later on, they will have enough power to resist..."
Then, he pointed at the surrounding church.
"Here is one of the strongholds we have secretly developed."
"And to avoid arousing the suspicion of the four major corporations, I had to play the role of a devout leader of believers."
"As for that summoning ritual..."
Speaking of this, Damian revealed a bitter expression:
"This was offered by that fleeing Evil Cultist in exchange for our protection. At the time, in order to maintain my persona, I accepted it and set it up properly according to the descriptions on it, because I absolutely didn't believe it could summon anything..."
After he finished speaking, he lowered his head again, his heart a jumble of mixed feelings.
He felt from the very beginning that this ritual couldn't possibly be real, but who knew it would actually summon such a terrifyingly powerful powerhouse.
But it was precisely because this powerhouse was summoned that the destruction of this main church by Arasaka Heavy Industries was avoided.
"Alright." After listening to Damian's words, Cerydra replied indifferently, "I have understood the current situation."
"Now, prepare a room for me. I will temporarily stay here."
Saying this, her gaze swept over the scattered armored wreckage on the ground, her voice carrying unquestionable majesty.
"As for that company named Arasaka Heavy Industries, if they dare to make any moves, I will wipe them out as well."
"Consider this the payment for my temporary stay here."