No one knew what was happening in the Church of Flames. Some even thought that this was the work of the Church members who were testing some new kind of spell or protective formation. However, the Church members who were present here knew that it wasn't the case.

The Flames that the Church of Light could control came in two shades... The usual flames that could be controlled by the ordinary mages and the dark blue flames that could be used by the Holy Priest of Flames!

A pitch black flame? None of them could use it! And even if they could, it could only be their Holy Lord. However, the Holy Lord wasn't even in the city! So how could it be him? They all knew that something was wrong!

The flame-covered dome towered over the city, casting an ominous shadow across the entire region.

At first, commoners were too scared to go near it; however, the Mages were different. The members of the Church who weren't at the Church immediately rushed back, without thinking of anything else.

Unfortunately, they couldn't even get closer to the Wall of Flame! Despite being Mages who could control flames, they couldn't see through the black flames. If anything, this flame felt completely foreign. It was much warmer than the flames they could control and stronger as well.

Most of them felt that if they even tried touching it, they could seriously be invited!

The Priests of Flames circled all around the flames, trying to find an opening from where they should pass through. Unfortunately, there was no gap! Even a small ant couldn't pass through these flames, let alone someone like them.

"Who made these flames? We can't even get inside? Could this really be made with a formation?"

"That should be the case! How can a person other than our Holy Lord control this level of strength? This must be a formation! Maybe the Lord himself created this formation to protect the Church?"

"In that case, it might really be a test of this formation! I don't see anyone who could be trying to attack the Church after all. We were worried for nothing..." Another Priest sighed in relief.

"They could've at least told us they would be testing this. They worried us for nothing!" A young priest rolled his eyes.

"Informed us? Do we even have that much importance? I think only someone at the level of Head Priests knew about this. They wouldn't have bothered informing us. If I was in their place, I wouldn't bother either." Another man sighed. "All we can do is work hard to reach that high position where we would be informed of such things in advance!"

"True..."

All the Priests misunderstood the flames. They never thought that the Church was being attacked since even in their wildest dreams, they couldn't have thought that there was a mage who could control this level of flames that could attack the Church. If anything, they gave all the credit to the formation of the Church.

They didn't even think that a stranger or an enemy activated this formation since they believed that this level of formation setup needed months of work on ground level.

"All of you, go back and continue what you were doing! There's no need to stay here! This is the personal matter of our Holy Church!"

After getting into a misunderstanding, all the Priests started dispersing the crowd, sending them back. None of them knew how wrong they were. Unfortunately for them, even if they knew, they couldn't have passed through this wall of flames that even Izen had a hard time breaking!

****

On the other end of the Dark Wall of Flames, Gabriel stood at the entrance of the Church of Flames shrouded in a dark mist. Not too far from him, there stood Raphael.

Only two men... Only two men were here to destroy an entire Church!

Gabriel took a calm breath. From this step, there was no going back. This was the foundation of his future... A foundation where he wanted to make his name synonymous with death, so that the ones who wanted to chase after him would've had to think ten times before even trying!

****

The Church of Flames had a total of thirty Head Priests, amongst whom only three had the peak tier of Spiritual Strength. The rest had an advanced tier of Spiritual Strength which was on the same level as the Head Teachers at the Academy of Elements.

Amongst the three strongest Head Priests, two had left the Church, following the Holy Lord of Flames. They were already in the Royal City of Arecia, also being the ones who cast the Dome of Flames in Arecia's Royal Capital.

At present, only Twelve Head Priests were left in the Holy Church of Flames, of which only one was Peak Tier Mage. With this, the Church was at less than half its usual strength, but even this strength was enough to dominate the world! The number was way more than what the Church of Light currently had.

However, that was also because the Priests of Light had a harder time evolving their strength compared to others. That also meant when they increased their strength, it was stronger than the other Elemental Priests. That was also why the Church of Light enjoyed such a high position in this world, despite such low numbers.

Other than the twelve Head Priests, the Holy Church of Flames over a hundred Priests present inside at the moment.

Most of the Priests were inside their rooms, meditating to increase their strengths. As for the Head Priests, they were in a meeting in the deepest floors of the Church when they sensed a strange kind of suppression. The surroundings were also getting warmer and warmer with each passing second.

"Do you also feel this?" A Head Priest asked, grimacing.

"I do. Something is wrong...." The other Head Priests agreed as he pushed his chairs back, standing up.

"Is the Holy Lord back? No, this isn't like that. It's something else. We will go and check!" Another Head Priest stood up.

The two of them went upstairs to check what was happening. As for the rest, they stayed behind. They still didn't realize the extent of dangers they were inside.

The Priests of the Church who were in their meditation stepped out of their rooms as well, finding it uncomfortable to meditate with such a strange kind of suppression acting on them. Moreover, since they were in higher floors, the suppression was much more here than in the lower floors.

One of the Priests stepped out of his room, hearing footsteps outside. However, as soon as he came out, he found the entire hallway empty.

"Drain Touch," a voice fell in his ears, coming from behind him. He felt a hand on his shoulders.