*****

Three hours... After three hours, the line before Gabriel finally shortened to the point where there was only one person in line before him.

After the person's identity was verified, he was allowed to enter.

The guards glared at Gabriel, seemingly tired after a day's hard work. "Hurry up."

Gabriel stepped forward. He could see that not too far from him, a Head Priest of Light was sitting comfortably on a chair. He wasn't paying much attention to people in the line. It was clear that he was just here in case of emergencies. The task of checking was left to ordinary Mages.

"Another mage of Light." The Guards noticed the mark on the back of Gabriel's hands. Thanks to the illusion, they couldn't see anything more than an ordinary Mark of Light.

"What is your name?" The guard asked. "And where are you from?"

"I'm Raziel," Gabriel answered, making up a fake identity. "I came from the Empire of Yann after hearing about the decree from the Church."

"Another person who wants to be a Holy Child?" The guards sighed. There were so many people like Gabriel in the city already. They didn't think much about it.

The guard signalled another guard.

The second guard came forward, holding a small white sphere in his hand. He handed over the sphere to the main guard.

The main guard raised the sphere before Gabriel. "Send a little of your elemental strength to this orb."

Gabriel observed the sphere with a frown. He didn't know what that thing did, but he had a feeling it wasn't simple.

"What is that thing?" he asked.

"As a Mage of Light, you need to prove your identity. Only then will you be allowed entry into the city. Last time, a bastard entered the City using an illusion. That's why we have this verification now," Another guard explained a bit. "Once you use your Elemental Strength, no illusion can fool this sphere. Only if your Element of Light is real will this sphere shine."

"I see." Gabriel didn't show any expressions of fear on his face. If what the guard said was true then he didn't feel any need to worry. His Element of Light was real after all. It was a pure uncorrupted element, even though its mark had merged with the Mark of Darkness.

Gabriel didn't place his hand directly on the sphere, leaving merely an inch of gap between his hand and the sphere. At the same time, he used a small spell of light, sending his pure aura of Light to the sphere to prove his identity.

As soon as he sent his pure aura to the sphere, the sphere started shining. Moreover, that shine was even brighter than anything the guards saw before which proved that his element was not only more pure than others, but it was also quite powerful.

The guards looked at Gabriel in surprise. With this kind of purity, they thought of something and stepped aside. "Please enter."

At the moment, the guards were even more respectful for Gabriel as if they didn't want to offend him.

With the decree of the Church, the ordinary guards still believed that the Church was looking for a Holy Child and with what they just saw, they thought that Gabriel had the highest chance of becoming a Holy Child amongst all the ones that entered before him.

Gabriel took another glance at the Head Priest in the distance who still had his eyes closed, seemingly lost in meditation.

He entered the City and waited not too far from the guards for Avilia to enter.

"Name and purpose of entry?" The guards asked Avilia.

"I'm Riva. My purpose in coming here is to accompany my husband," Avilia answered, showing an innocent smile.

"Your husband? Where is he?" The guards inquired. They looked behind the young lady, wondering if the man behind her was her husband. However, when they saw Avilia pointing behind them, they turned around, noticing Gabriel looking in their direction.

"Ah, so you're the wife of that young man. You're quite lucky, young lady. If the young man is lucky enough, he might become the next Holy Child. Then you'll have the honour of being the wife of a Holy Child!" The guard laughed. "Please verify your element and then you can enter as well."

"You're right. I never could've imagined that an ordinary person like me would have the chance of being the wife of someone in such a high position," Avilia smiled as she raised her hand.

She verified her element through another sphere. She was also allowed to enter and catch up with Gabriel.

It was only when Gabriel and Avilia left that the Head Priest at the entrance slowly opened his eyes, glancing at the back of the two young people in the distance.

****

Inside the Church of Light, it was very crowded. One after another, young mages of Light were being invited inside the Church, only to be sent out a few minutes later. All the ones who were being sent out were being told to go back to where they came from.

No one outside knew just what was happening inside the Church of Light. All those who came didn't say anything either, it was as if they were commanded to keep their mouth shut.

Inside one of the rooms in the Church of Light, the Head Priests were sitting around a table. In front of them was a wall that was made entirely of glass which connected to another room.

Through this room, they could see what was happening in the other room. However, in the other room, no one could see through the glass to see what was on the other side.

All the Head Priests in this room had an angry and uncomfortable expression on their face as if they hated the whole thing.

In the middle of the table, a pure white book was lying, unmoving.

The Head Priests were often looking back and forth between the white book on the table and the youngsters on the other side of the glass window who were being called in and sent back one after another.

"I hate it!" One of the Head Priests said with clenched teeth as if he was so angry that he wanted to kill people right now?

"It's the seventeenth time in the last twenty minutes that you've said it," Another Head Priest scoffed. "You think we like it?!"

All the Head Priests in the room were upset yet they couldn't do anything about it.

"We have no choice but to do it."