Going to the Holy See to demand an explanation—this wasn’t just something Lion King said lightly; he was completely serious. After meeting up with Jiang Fei, the two of them went straight to the Holy See together, coming face-to-face with the investigators the Vatican had dispatched this time.
To be fair, this wasn’t really Lion King being overly domineering—killing one of the Holy See’s important experts, a Ascetic, and then pressing on relentlessly to demand answers. This time, the Holy See was clearly in the wrong. An Ascetic had involved himself with assassins, but since the man was dead, his misdeeds died with him, and Lion King didn’t actually want to hold the Holy See accountable.
His main reason for seeking them out was to thoroughly get to the bottom of what happened with Michael.
For instance, Michael was a Holy See Ascetic—by all rights, he should have been compassionate and merciful. Even if he couldn’t achieve perfect benevolence and accumulate good deeds, he should have at least been free of worldly desires, unmoved by money or gain. So why would he stoop to collude with Skynet’s assassins and let himself be hired to go after the Seven Kills Group?
The Seven Kills Group was renowned internationally, and Lion King’s strength in particular was well known. As a Holy See Ascetic, Michael couldn’t have been unaware of this.
Yet despite knowing all that, Michael still agreed to be hired by Skynet to move against the Seven Kills Group. There had to be some major hidden agenda behind this.
Lion King had to get to the bottom of what was really going on.
Only by uncovering the truth behind this could he figure out who the real mastermind behind the Skynet organization was—and who could wield such enormous influence as to recruit three Dan Jin-level experts.
And also, where was this person now? He definitely wasn’t dead!
Unless the true mastermind behind Skynet was eliminated, Lion King’s fury wouldn’t be easily appeased.
And to uncover the secrets hidden within all this, the Holy See was the only breakthrough.
No matter how you looked at it, Michael was an Ascetic of the Holy See. Only the Holy See would know the most about his affairs. If they wanted to investigate Michael, they had to go through the Holy See.
St. Giles’ Church, London.
Although St. Giles’ Church wasn’t as widely known as Westminster Abbey or St. Paul’s Cathedral, in the eyes of true church faithful, its status was far higher than the other two.
Why? Because this was where the most authentic bishops of the Holy See resided—a cardinal from the Vatican had been stationed here for a long time.
So St. Giles’ Church hadn’t degenerated into a tourist attraction like so many others, nor would it be loaned out to wealthy couples for weddings.
This time, after Vatican Ascetic Michael was slain by Jiang Fei, the Holy See immediately dispatched a team to handle the matter the moment they got word. Their base of operations was St. Giles’ Church. This team was packed with experts—the weakest were at the Round Table Knight level, and the leader was actually another Ascetic! And this Ascetic had even more seniority than the deceased Michael, with slightly greater strength to boot.
The Holy See’s intention was naturally to get to the bottom of this matter, leaving no loose ends unaccounted for…
Though their objective was clear—to seek justice for the fallen Michael and uphold the Vatican’s dignity—the core figure in this whole affair, the direct killer of Michael, Jiang Fei, had yet to be approached by anyone. No one had even tried to talk to him or question him.
It had to be said, the Vatican’s way of handling things was pretty absurd.
Unfortunately, they felt Jiang Fei was simply too formidable and too unpredictable. With the strength to kill two Dan Jin-level experts under his belt, he wasn’t someone to be trifled with. But just because they didn’t dare provoke him didn’t mean Jiang Fei wouldn’t come knocking on their door…
“This is going too far!!!”
Inside a conference room at St. Giles’ Church, Jiang Fei and Lion King sat drinking tea, having just stated their purpose—demanding an explanation. The team leader, Ascetic Ovelia; the woman-loving lesbian Christina; and the cardinal permanently stationed at St. Giles’ Church all had faces dark with rage, practically fuming.
You killed a key Ascetic of our Holy See, and we’ve held back from coming after you because we haven’t gotten to the bottom of things yet. And now you have the nerve to come to us demanding answers?!
This wasn’t just going too far—this was treating the Holy See like a pushover they could slap around as they pleased!
Utterly intolerable!
“Going too far? I think this is a perfectly reasonable request. An Ascetic of the Vatican joined a notorious assassin organization, sold his services to kill others, and we’re asking for an explanation—what’s wrong with that? What, would you prefer we didn’t come to you directly, but instead broadcast this to the whole world so everyone finds out?” Lion King showed no trace of guilt; he set down his teacup and smirked coldly at them.
“You…?!” The hot-tempered Christina was left speechless.
A Holy See Ascetic degenerating into a pawn for an assassin organization—of course that couldn’t be made public. If word got out, the Vatican’s prestige would take a massive hit.
It was the more steady Ascetic Ovelia who kept his composure. Though clearly angry, he was far more restrained than Christina. His eyes narrowed as he said coldly, “Lion King, I think you’re mistaken. Michael joining Skynet and killing for them—that’s all based on your word. There’s no proof! You say Michael did this, so it’s true? I could just as easily say the Seven Kills Group set a trap specifically to murder our Ascetic! We haven’t had the chance to demand an explanation from you, and now you dare come here asking us for one!”
Lion King remained unfazed, replying calmly, “Oh, so you want to play dirty and deny it? That won’t be so easy. Sure, Skynet has been destroyed, so there’s no way to prove Michael colluded with them. But Michael and the Demon Augustus joined forces to kill members of my Seven Kills Group—you can’t deny that. Plenty of people saw what happened at the hotel that day, and there’s surveillance footage too! The story of a Holy See Ascetic teaming up with a former Demon-level assassin—I think that’s newsworthy enough, don’t you?”
That shut Ovelia up. He had no rebuttal, only staring at Jiang Fei and Lion King with murderous eyes.
Michael colluding with Augustus, the two fighting side by side as allies—that was ironclad fact. No amount of denial or weaseling out would change it.
Lion King shot the man a contemptuous look. Like Jiang Fei, he had never been fond of these Vatican zealots, and after what happened with Skynet, his opinion of the Holy See had hit rock bottom.
Thank goodness Jiang Fei had exploded with power this time and somehow gained the ability to kill two Dan Jin-level experts.
If Jiang Fei hadn’t pulled through, if he’d failed to counter-kill Augustus and Michael and instead let them take out members of the Seven Kills Group and his disciple Jingzhe—Lion King would have truly gone mad!
He’d have retaliated at any cost, ignoring all rules and conventions. Even if it meant going against the Holy See, he’d make their lives a living hell and leave them in perpetual fear!
“Why are you glaring at us like that? What, Ovelia, are you thinking about doing something today—trying to finish us off permanently, kill Jiang Fei and me to silence us?” Lion King didn’t appreciate Ovelia’s death glare. Looking around the room, he sneered, “With just the few of you here, I’m afraid you’re a bit short-handed, aren’t you?”
Ovelia’s face was dark, and he said nothing.
If it were possible, he’d love nothing more than to kill Jiang Fei and Lion King on the spot. If they died, there’d be no one left to threaten him.
But he knew full well he was no match for them.
Even if every Holy See member in St. Giles’ Church joined forces, it still wouldn’t be enough to make these two break a sweat. Hell, even just Jiang Fei alone would be too much for them.
After all, Jiang Fei was someone who could effortlessly slaughter two Dan Jin-level powerhouses.
Among their current team, Ovelia was the only true Dan Jin-level expert. Christina might have something special within her, but she couldn’t be counted as a true Dan Jin—compared to a genuine Dan Jin master, she was still far behind. As for the other Round Table Knights, they weren’t even worth mentioning.
And then there was Lion King himself, whose strength was equally unfathomable—the man who had killed Shiva, one of the three great gods of India…
If they wanted to silence these two, they’d have to do it at their home base in the Vatican.
Ovelia took a deep breath, stopping Christina from leaping up to start a fight. His gaze was dark and meaningful as he fixed it on Lion King. “Stop beating around the bush. What’s your real purpose today? What are you after? Just say it. I don’t believe for a second that you came here only for a so-called explanation.”
Lion King looked vaguely interested and asked, “Oh? Why’s that?”
“If you truly came just to demand an explanation, you’d have sat there drinking tea quietly and then left,” Ovelia said coldly.
“Pretty sharp.” Lion King nodded, then after a long pause said lazily, “You’re right. I couldn’t care less about your so-called explanation. I don’t give a damn what shady stuff you do behind closed doors, as long as it doesn’t cross my path. But this time, you must investigate Michael thoroughly and tell me everything about his ties to Skynet. Why exactly did he agree to work for them!”
Lion King half-expected Ovelia to look shocked, but instead the man stared at him with a hint of surprise and asked, “So you suspect there’s a mastermind behind Skynet too—someone who hasn’t been dealt with?”
“Looks like your Holy See suspects something’s off as well.” Lion King’s eyes narrowed. “Good. Then I’ll leave this to you. You must dig out this hidden mastermind. Otherwise, don’t blame me for showing your Holy See no respect.”
“……”
Ovelia swore—he really, really wanted to kill these two and silence them right now.
