Isabella was overwhelmed by her emotions when she saw the city again.

Unexpectedly, in only a year, the church, who had been the only hope of humanity to defeat demons, became a barrier to the human race's success in the Battle of Divine Will.

She had lived here for a long time but was not sentimentally attached to the church. The teachings of His Holiness...o...b..ien, kept ringing in her ears and reminded her that the result was always more important than the process. She was certain that if humanity could not defeat the demons, all their efforts would be meaningless.

She followed out O'Brien's instructions all her life. She had chosen to support Zero instead of Archbishop Mayne since the soul swallower had shown more potential in defeating the demons. After Zero had lost to Roland Wimbledon, she had chosen to serve the king. If even now, she could find a leader more powerful than Roland, she would choose the more capable one again without hesitation.

She did this for good reason.

In her view, the continuation of the human race was far more important than any personal interests.

Despite that, she still could not let go of some strange regret deep in her heart. She did not understand why she felt this way until she returned to the old Holy City.

She discovered that she had been feeling sorry for Zero all this time.

Back then, the Pure Witches had believed that the gulf between them and Zero, who had lived for hundreds of years, would have been exceptionally wide and many of them had secretly complained about the soul swallower's sudden change in moods. However, Isabella had gotten along well with Zero. She found that, in comparison to the other Pure Witches, who had planned to follow their personal interests throughout the Battle of Divine Will, Zero was much more straightforward and strong-willed.

She believed that Zero was not very different from herself except that she was more accustomed to being an a.s.sistant while Zero was used to being the leader.

She was afraid that it was not Zero's nature but an inevitable choice for an experienced witch who had lived for more than 200 years.

She guessed that the Holy City would have looked very different if Zero had been able to meet Roland ten years earlier.

Unfortunately, everything had happened too late.

After circling the sky twice, Maggie landed in the camp outside the city.

"We're here. Let's get off," said Agatha, who was behind Isabella.

Isabella nodded and leaped off the beast. Some soldier that was waiting around immediately came over. "Lady Edith is waiting for you in the tent. Please come with me."

Roland had asked Maggie to bring the Ice Witch with Isabella to the old Holy City and had explicitly told Isabella that she had to act under the watch of another witch during her "prison term". She had willingly accepted this condition. For her, this was already unexpected preferential treatment. She did not have to wear any G.o.d's Locket of Retribution or shackles on her hands and feet. Even her clothes were brand new.

After walking into the tent, she saw a woman who stood behind a desk with a smile on her face. "I'm Edith Kant, a member of the Ministry of Defense and temporary commander for the Holy City campaign."

"A great-looking common woman," Isabella thought. "I thought you would control the Hermes Plateau first and then seize the old Holy City."

"That was the original plan, but the army of the Kingdom of Dawn moved faster than we expected." Edith gave a rough explaination of the situation. "His Majesty's order is to ensure the safety of the monastaries, which isn't a problem. The real problematic thing is how to orderly evacuate the orphans from the monastaries. If I remember correctly, they are all nurtured and brought up by the church. I'm afraid it'll hinder our plan if we have to force them out. I think you may have a solution to this problem. After all, His Majesty a.s.signed this task to you before the expedition."

Isabella could not help but frown. "Wait... you said you came here through Cloud Ladder?"

"Yes, is there something wrong?"

"That place is of great importance and is usually heavily guarded. How come there was no one protecting that pa.s.sage?"

"Is that so?" Edith's voice got deep. "But the merchants thought it was just a little-known, secret pa.s.sage and Sylvie didn't find anything special about it."

"The church has been based in this place for the past several hundred years and is meticulous about everything here. It's impossible for the church's people to neglect such an important path into the city, which isn't under the control of the city wall." Isabella shook her head. "They just intentionally let the smugglers pa.s.s freely and planned to use this pa.s.sage against the Coalition of the Four Kingdoms during the Months of Demons. Its sentry posts were hidden in natural limestone caves in the mountain. That was why the merchants didn't see any guards there."

"This pa.s.sage is left unprotected now. Is it because of the breakdown of order in the Holy City?"

"Cloud Ladder is guarded by forces outside the city wall. Theoretically, its sentry posts won't be affected by the situation inside the city. If it's okay with you, I think it's a better idea for me to go to Hermes to have a look." With that being said, Isabella was quite stunned by this situation in her heart. She thought to herself, "Does this look like a breakdown of order? No, it's more like giving up the city and escaping."

"Let's address the issue of the monastaries first," Agatha said. "Is it possible for us to investigate the situation inside them from the sky?"

"Yes, Miss Lightning has examined all three of the main monastaries and found a big issue. It seems that the orphans are organized by someone and are determined to defend their homes to death. That's one of the reasons for us to delay this action." "All my soldiers were unharmed during the battle against the army of the Kingdom of Dawn. I don't want to see any casualties inside the city." Edith said with her hands laid out.

"Somebody organized the orphans?" Isabella pondered for a moment. "Let me go in and talk to them."

"By yourself?"

She was about to say yes but soon realized something was wrong and swallowed her words. Instead, she said, "No, Agatha will go with me."

"LLady Isabella!" Seeing Isabella, Margie suddenly stood upright and put her right hand on her chest unconsciously.

"I've told you countless times. You're not required to use the courtesy t.i.tle anymore. Just call me by my name," she said with a straight face. "We're no longer Pure Witches."

"Yes, my lady!" Margie hurriedly nodded.

Isabella secretly sighed. His Majesty had only limited her movement but did not restrict Margie or Vanilla. These former Pure Witches still kept to their old habits from the monastery and occasionally came to the Foreign Affairs Building to talk with her about the interesting things they discovered in the Witch Union. Fortunately, Agatha did not mind it.

"Take us into the city." She pointed to the city that was not far away.

Margie summoned the Magic Ark and turned back to look at Edith, who came to see them off. "The First Army isn't going with us?"

"They won't go into the old Holy City until you make sure that it's safe."

The ark quickly sank into the ground and the soil above their heads turned into a transparent ceiling. Through it, they could see Lightning who flew in the sky and showed them the way.

There were four monasteries inside the old Holy City, but they could be thought of as a unified inst.i.tution. They were built around the Reflection Church, linked together by underground tunnels and connected to Secret Temple inside the mountain through a secret path. New witches could be easily sent to the incarnation ceremonies through these underground pa.s.sages, but they were sealed since a newly awakened Extraordinary had burnt down one of the monasteries.

The Magic Ark quietly sneaked into the outermost monastery, the Western Zone Monastery. Just like Lightning had said, no one was in the huge courtyard except for two skinny girls. They stood at the lobby entrance with spears in their hands, which were much taller than themselves.

"Here we are. Go up now," said Isabella.

"Don't you need to slip in to check first?" Margie asked in surprise.

"No, there are too many hidden G.o.d's Stones inside. We don't have to take the risk." Isabella was certain that in important sites such as the monasteries, the church usually placed giant G.o.d's Stones, whose power could reach up to 100 steps away and she was unable to eliminate their effects.

The ark swiftly popped out of the ground, causing panic among the guards. In their eyes, these two women seemed to appear out of nothing.

A shrill whistle immediately rang out. All the closed windows were opened one after another and a dozen of nuns that leading a group of orphans swarmed into the courtyard, holding swords, wooden s.h.i.+elds, short bows, and hand crossbows. Agatha summoned her Ice in her hand and planned to cover Isabella with it if they began to shoot arrows.

"Wai-Wait! Stop!" Suddenly, the leading nun shouted loudly.

"Are you... the Pure Witch beside the Supreme Pontiff... Lady Isabella?" Another nun asked with a shaky voice.

Hearing this, all the people stopped.

"Yes, it's me." Isabella nodded calmly.

Seeing that these nuns still remembered her, she thought that the task given by His Majesty could be completed smoothly.

However, the next moment she was caught off guard by the abrupt change in their att.i.tudes.

"You really are Lady Isabella! That's great. We're saved!"

"Lady, no, Your Holiness Isabella! Your Holiness, please help us!"

"Supreme Pontiff! Please don't leave us!"

More and more people dropped their weapons, knelt down, and chanted loudly, "Your Holiness."