777 Traitor
Franca was dumbfounded. "Is that even possible?"
This can be recycled?
It's not like it's water!
I've already digested a lot of my Pleasure potion because of Moran Avigny...
"Why not?" Lumian said with a smile. "It's like wanting a powerful target to experience pleasure but needing my help to get close enough.
Pleasure doesn't have to be one-on-one, otherwise Browns Sauron's female orgies wouldn't make sense. What we're doing is like dealing with Moran Avigny while also affecting another target."
"This... but..." Franca had to admit that Lumian had a point, and it was possible, but it felt like exploiting a loophole, like using a bug ina game.
At the same time, Franca complained to herself about Lumian, Have you been reading too many illegal books or watching too many orgies?
How can you talk about one-to-many so naturally... Also, borrowing your help for other things is fine, but when it comes to pleasure, this description is just too strange...
Under the watchful eyes of Anthony and the still somewhat puzzled Jenna, Lumian turned to Franca and asked, "Let's imagine a scenario:
You're experiencing pleasure with someone, and another person passes by and sees the scene, getting strongly aroused and experiencing pleasure themselves. Would that help you digest your Pleasure potion?"
"Yes," Franca answered with some certainty.
Based on her experience, pleasure didn't have to involve direct contact or a fixed method. As long as it met the basic condition of the target experiencing pleasure because of her, it worked. It was even better if it left the target deeply immersed and unable to extricate themselves.
Realizing this, Franca suddenly paused.
If this were my world before I transmigrated over, as long as one could abandon decency, shame, and morality, digesting the Pleasure potion would be incredibly easy. After the preparations, it might only take a few days or even hours to fully digest it.
Lumian responded with a smile, "What's the fundamental difference between the scenario I described and transferring Moran Avigny's fate fragment to a Pirate Admiral, causing a lust outburst?"
"None..." Franca was convinced.
She then sighed and said, "You're really good at exploiting bugs."
"What's a bug here?" Jenna asked, confused.
Lumian, having heard this strange word from his sister Aurore, helped explain, "Exploiting a bug means taking advantage of a loophole."
Franca clicked her tongue and nodded.
"You know, sometimes I think you'd be better suited for the Error pathway."
"Then I'd probably become an Amon by now," Lumian replied with self-awareness, laughing.
Franca, being an individual of actionotherwise, she wouldn't have drunk the Witch potionimmediately asked, "Which Pirate Admiral should we target?
"Isn't it too dangerous? Each Pirate Admiral has their own fleet with many Beyonders and backing from powerful forces."
"We're just giving him pleasure, not doing anything else. What's there to worry about?" Lumian replied casually. "Even if we can't hold back and kill him, so what? We've already offended plenty of powerful forces.
These Pirate Admirals aren't exactly law-abiding citizens."
Seeing Franca still wanting to say something, Lumian added, "This will also be a good test for our team. Trust me, the few of us together are as good as any Pirate Admiral's crew. Plus, we can find opportunities for Jenna to digest her Witch potion and for Anthony to digest his Hypnotist potion."
"Alright." Franca nodded. "Let's gather intelligence on the Pirate Admirals and see who we can locate."
First, they needed to find someone!
Having settled that, Franca once again commented on Lumian's Underworld trip, "That ended so quickly. I couldn't contact 007 last night to give him Jenna's messenger summoning method. I thought I'd return to Trier tonight to complete this task. Who knew the whole mission would end so soon? We don't need to go to the Southern Continent or give 007 the summoning method."
She had expected the mission to last several days, maybe a week or two, but it was done in one morning.
In Saint Vive Cathedral.
Angoulme, wearing a brown wool coat, stood at the door of the room, gazing up the stairs leading to the higher floor.
Yesterday, he and several colleagues were ordered to stay on night duty without being given a reason.
Angoulme could vaguely guess the reason, as he had provided the relevant information to the higher-ups.
As time slowly passed, a middle-aged man in a white robe with golden threads came up the grand staircase.
The man had black hair and brown eyes, an authoritative presence, and neatly trimmed mustache.
Angoulme recognized him. They had interacted a few times while handling some occult cases in the Trier region.
This was Peacock, Senior Deacon of the Purifiers and one of the heads of the Inquisition.
He wasn't Angoulme's direct superior, as he was in charge of the surrounding areas of Trier, essentially the entire Trier district except for Trier itself.
He was not a demigod of the Sun pathway but a Sequence 4 of the Lawyer pathway, a Earl of The Fallen.
Seeing Peacock, Angoulme averted his gaze and retreated further into the room.
He suspected that Peacock was a core member of April Fool's outside the Curly-Haired Baboon Research Society, who had orchestrated the release of the humanoid Sealed Artifact 1-147 from church control.
Angoulme's reasoning was simple: The April Fool's core member within the church had used a Broker's Under the Table transaction to get other Purifiers to release 1-147 for various purposes. The Lawyer pathway was similar to the Broker pathway, adept at twisting terms in deals and agreements to achieve their goals.
This pathway's demigods had been involved in numerous shady transactions, making them most likely to come into contact with or be contacted by a Broker.
Before Overseer Perle was discovered, Peacock wasn't on the Eternal Blazing Sun Church's investigation list because 1-147 wasn't in his jurisdiction, and he hadn't left his Inquisition during that time. Despite knowing the location and information of most Grade 1 Sealed Artifacts as a Senior Deacon, he wasn't suspected.
Today, Peacock was at Saint Vive Cathedral for a meeting.
The official reason was to discuss disrupting the Mirror People's plans and eliminating these hidden rats. The demigods of the Trier district needed to meet face-to-face to finalize their strategy.
After Peacock's figure in the white robe with golden threads disappeared up the stairs, Angoulme slowly exhaled and became more vigilant about what might happen.
A minute or two later, Angoulme felt the whole cathedral gently tremble.
This lasted only a few seconds before stopping. Few noticed except those already on alert for such occurrences.
In a sunlit room near the dome.
Cardinal of the Eternal Blazing Sun Church and Archbishop of Trier, Plessy, with high cheekbones and blond hair turning white, stood beside a woman in a white robe, beautiful yet sacred.
She was Saint Vive, Trier's guardian angel!
Opposite them, near the door, Peacock's body twisted, mostly melted, revealing an interior seemingly filled with white wax.
The Senior Deacon of the Purifiers laughed heartily. "The Overseer informed me immediately that she was compromised. I've been using this wax figure to act for days!"
His real body hid in the shadows, observing without interacting with anyone from the Eternal Blazing Sun Church.
"Just as expected..." Trier Archbishop Plessy sighed.
This had been anticipated. The Overseer's escape made this development inevitable.
Though the church had kept the Overseer's escape secret, they hadn't held much hope.
The wax figure of the Earl of The Fallen Peacock quickly melted. Looking at Saint Vive's impassive face, his voice turned sharp as he laughed again.
"I made the only right choice.
"The Crimson will come. Only by submitting to the great existences can we Survive the apocalypse!
"The Crimson will come!"
After shouting, Peacock's wax figure completely melted into a half-solidified, half-liquid mess.
Saint Vive, dressed in a white robe with golden threads and no other ornaments, watched silently before speaking a few seconds later, "Who made this wax figure for him?"
"Probably acquired through a Broker," Trier Archbishop Plessy replied gravely.
Saint Vive, Her tone unchanged, said, "Few Beyonders can make such a wax figure."
"Yes, that's a lead to follow." Plessy nodded.
A wax figure that could initially fool an Angel's senses wasn't simple.
Finding its maker might lead to uncovering the Broker and the hidden Overseer.
Saint Vive continued, "Inform all bishops, padres, and Purifiers about Peacock's fall, but don't issue a wanted notice."
"Yes." Plessy agreed that a wanted notice for a demigod would be useless and might damage the Church's image among the public.
A few days later, Franca, Anthony, and the others used different channels to gather the latest sightings and rumored whereabouts of the Pirate Admirals.
Looking at the information, Franca patted the top sheet and said to Lumian, "How about this one?"
Lumian glanced at the name and read it silently: Admiral Deep Sea, Howl Constantine.