531 Visiting The Prisoner

"What happened after that, Royal Gramps? How did she meet Lulu?" When Mia saw the adults getting sidetracked, she steered them back on course. After all, she was more concerned about the encounter that changed her best friend, Lulu.

"Uh hem!" The Emperor cleared his throat and returned his attention to the report.

Although the angel chose not to inhabit the young cleric's body, she did issue him three orders: first, he had to change his name to Yula. Second, he had to find a host suitable for the angel to inhabit. Third, he had to use only a slingshot for self-defense.

That was all. The angel did not impose any time limit, neither had she commanded him to preach. The young cleric decided to preach on his own. As Cononipolis was where many religions were founded, the young cleric knew many speeches that had been made by missionaries to motivate followers. That and the Holy Power surging out from him in abundance had allowed him to fool many. The money spent on his transportation and food had been donated from the people he had converted.

The angel had said nothing when the young cleric did all these, but the cautious youth decided not to go as low as many degenerate founders had. This was the reason why he did not harm anyone, at all.

"Soon, the boy reached Aegir. He lodged at a local guesthouse, and sometime later, the town was invaded by demons. The angel wanted to destroy the demons, but she first needed to inhabit the body of a beautiful maiden of a pure heart. Thus, the boy went around town, searching for a suitable host, and eventually found Lulu," said the Emperor, who was reading from the report.

When the Emperor mentioned Lulu's name, his expression changed for only a moment, but Baiyi saw it.

"Watching the demons massacre her people and destroy her beloved town compelled Lulu to agree. The angel then descended into Lulu's body, and everything that happened next was what you both have witnessed," the Emperor said. He turned to Baiyi, waiting for his student to corroborate these accounts.

"I checked with the officials in Highland City. Lulu's parents are still there taking care of the injured, and they had sent their daughter home earlier, to tend to the house in their absence. That was why she, uh, was around when the demons invaded," Baiyi sheepishly said. He was embarrassed, for he had said earlier that he was sure that Lulu was in Highland City, and safe, which turned out to be wrong.

"What… what bad things will happen to Lulu now?" Mia's voice was filled with concern, as she tightened her hold on the cat.

Baiyi hesitated for a bit and said, "Her vitals are good, but she is still in a coma. Could this be a side effect of having one's body taken over by an angel?"

What Baiyi did not tell Mia, however, was that her best friend's life span seemed to have reduced by ten years. If he was not mistaken, that was another price Lulu had had to pay for being possessed by a being of such immense power.

"But, why did the Angel need a body? Didn't she have that young cleric at first?" Mia asked.

"Well," the Emperor — who had just tossed aside the report, as there was nothing more to glean from it — said, "I've been decoding the Path of Heaven, and from what I have unearthed so far, that formation alone is not powerful enough to be used to summon an angel to our realm."

"He's right. We haven't gotten finished our investigation, but, at this stage, there are details one can already draw, such as the limit to the formation's effect," Baiyi said. "The Path of Heaven's design might look sophisticated, but it is nothing compared to the trans-realm transporter portals of our time, neither is it powerful enough to connect us to the gods. The Path of Heaven even lacks the materials essential for space magic."

"But then… How did it manage to—"

"Probably the coincidental human sacrifice," the Emperor said. "As you know, live sacrifices provide astronomically potent power to any kind of formation, especially when the sacrificial process involves excruciating torture. When we attacked Concinopolis, many slave workers are caught in the crossfire and died painfully atop the Path to Heaven. This met the live sacrifice requirement and granted the formation enough power for an angel to descend."

"Then, the final step was the wish the young cleric made, when he prayed, atop the super-charged Path of Heaven formation. The angel could not possess his body, as doing so would mean that the purpose of the sacrifice had been fulfilled, and she would be compelled to return from whence she came," Baiyi said. "This is why the Church had done its best to improve the formation it used to summon angels, as the Path of Heaven formation was too simple and inferior. The Church wanted to forgo human sacrifices completely. After all, the descent of an angel should not be preceded by something as savage as human sacrifices, right?

"Nevertheless, there is still a lot we don't know. What is the angel's motive?" Baiyi said. Using his mana, Baiyi drew a simple map of the Empire, after which he marked the spots that he and Mia had been. He linked all marked spots with an arrow, which then pointed directly to the Imperial Capital.

"The God of Time's came to our mortal real to investigate an anomaly, but she did not take action against Mia and Mia. This could only mean that…" Baiyi gazed at the Emperor.

"She's here for me." The Emperor nodded. "The two of you may be from the future, but you will return to your original timeline, sooner or later. But, I am originally from this time, yet I possess memories and knowledge of future events. If she has come here to reset the changes made to the past, then I am, without question, a bigger offender than you two.

"The angel must be working by some sort of principle; otherwise, she would not have asked the young cleric to change his name to Yula, after which she allowed him to mimic the work of the historical Apostle Yula," the Emperor said. "That Apostle's life is an example of an event that is intrinsically integrated into Isythre's history. Compared to him, your actions are negligible."

"Well, I guess I was worried over nothing, then. I should have known I'm just a little butterfly that cannot create any storms," Baiyi said, chuckling.

"Please, I'm pretty sure you do not know of Mr. Lorenz's theory. I bet everything you know of the Butterfly effect came from that movie!" The Emperor sneered. "I always said you needed to read more books, but noooo; you just want to watch anime and play video games all day!"

'Uh! What the hell are you yammering on about this time, old man?' Baiyi groaned [2], after which he said, "Well, we'll need to interroga— I mean, interview Lulu if we want to know more. This makes me wonder…"

Baiyi turned to Emperor and said, "What do you think about Lulu?"

The Emperor instantly understood what his student was getting at. Lulu was the woman who held a firm spot in his hundreds-of-years long life, after all. However, the Emperor shook his head dismissively and said, "An emperor has no time for the luxury of love."

His response brought about silence in the room. After a short while, Mia, unable to hold back any longer, shot to her feet and said, "Well, how about we visit Lulu now? I bet she must be frightened, waking up to see herself trapped in Mr. Hope's horrid cell!"

The three made their way to the underground dungeon. As a place created to cage wild mystical beasts, which would then be experimented on, the dungeon's security was tight. The place was only dimly lit, and the shadows on the wall made the dungeon appear haunted.

This was the reason why Mia was furious that Baiyi had locked her best friend up in this place.

"Fun fact: It is in this same dungeon that past Rohlserlian emperors locked up their siblings, cousins, and other members of the imperial household," the Emperor said to Mia. "You see; to keep your friend here is actually an indirect way of acknowledging her importance, no?"

Mia was a bit amused, but she did not reply. Instead, she cast several Lumos spells to lit up the place.

The light illuminated Lulu's tiny, feeble frame. She was curled up at a corner of her cell. Lulu was surrounded by a ring of black flames, which she could, of course, not touch. It was as though she had been abducted by a demon lord. This was all Baiyi's doing.

Mia stared at Lulu, and she realized that her friend was already awake. Lulu was shivering and had her arms wrapped around her knees. Mia passed the cat to the Emperor and rushed towards Lulu.

"Careful now!" Baiyi issued a loud warning and dispelled some less important defense spells, which allowed Mia to see better. However, Baiyi did not dispell the ring of black flames and the repelling force around it. The repelling force stopped Mia in her tracks, causing her to stumble backward.

The Emperor did not spare Lulu a glance. He was playfully tugging at the cat's whiskers, after which he rubbed its soft paws. "Aww, you're more 'adowrawble' than I expected!"

He did not seem to care about his future wife, whatsoever!

From outside the repelling force, Mia shouted, "Lulu! Lulu! Are you awake? Can you hear me?"

Lulu raised her head and looked at Mia. There were no signs of life in Lulu's eyes; the eyes were glassy and looked like they belonged on a corpse.

Lulu looked away and slipped back into the shadows. She was like a person that had just an international esports championship and was publicly humiliated.

"M-Mr. Hope." Mia's slowly turned to Baiyi, close to tears. "Y-y-you don't think you've b-beaten her up so hard, she has become a vegetable, right?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I ain't taking this blame!" He quickly waved his hands in denial. He walked towards Lulu and began to examine her with his psychic sense. "Her mental state is in chaos. It is as though two personalities are fighting for control. Lulu is fighting the angel for control of her body. This, Mia, is something you will discover if you used your psychic sense on her."

Mia did as Baiyi suggested and that realized he was right. An expression of panic appeared on her face. "Isn't that dangerous? How could a normal girl possibly win against an angel?"

"I wouldn't be so quick to conclude. Look carefully," Baiyi replied, pointing at Lulu's hand.

The girl was gripping a kitty plush toy tightly.