Heavenly God Cress’s voice echoed leisurely through the temple.
“This god does not exist.”
Gabrielle looked once more at the statue.
The mocking expression seemed to have turned into anger.
The silence made everyone’s stares become extremely strange.
Even Abyss stopped, wearing a half-smile.
“You say that all humans believe in this god. Yet in reality, this god not only interferes in human development but even personally descends to eliminate enemies.”
Heavenly God Cress’s voice was cold.
However, for some reason, Gabrielle felt that it was far more reassuring than Bishop Abyss’s voice.
“There has been progress. The demon race was not eradicated. This situation has lasted for nine thousand years. However, the magic of this world has come to a standstill. Theology has not…”
Her voice carried a rigid seriousness that made everyone who had turned to look at her freeze.
If anyone else had said these words, Gabrielle would have viewed them as a unique yet shallow opinion.
After all, gods truly existed in this world, along with an unfathomable profundity that was difficult to understand.
However, these words had come from Cress’s mouth.
As a god herself, she stood above the entire world.
Yet she had personally declared that the God of Holy Feathers did not exist.
In an instant, this viewpoint gained real weight.
“Therefore, this world has been abandoned. Your so-called [Holy Feathers] is nothing more than a god fabricated and imagined out of thin air.”
At this point, Cress said no more.
The entire hall once again fell into silence.
Gabrielle strongly agreed with Cress’s words, even though they were like knives stabbing into the hearts of the believers.
She had never interfered with the world, yet she had dispatched Heavenly Envoys to fight.
In other words, Heavenly God Cress had once tried to control humanity, only to be dragged into the quagmire of war.
However, abandoned?
What exactly had Heavenly God Cress been talking about just now?
Bishop Abyss spoke.
“Those who question the existence of God will eventually disappear without a trace in the long river of history. This statement applies to everyone.”
Her words sounded like she was forcibly trying to save face, yet a faint smile still lingered on her face.
Cress was about to speak when Gabrielle stopped her.
“Is that so? Then do you believe in the God Maiden?”
Gabrielle looked at Bishop Abyss’s face as she spoke, her voice carrying a hint of mockery.
Although the purpose of leaving the mansion this time was not to settle accounts with the Church, teasing her a little might still allow them to extract some information.
“Lady Silver-White Sword Emperor, of course I believe in you.”
Bishop Abyss’s face regained its smile, though at first glance it looked slightly different from before.
“Then kneel.”
The moment Gabrielle said this, the already speechless crowd became even more silent.
Bishop Abyss was very suspicious.
Gabrielle once again examined this woman with the dazed expression.
She was a standard King-rank mage.
For a bishop to have reached this level was very normal, or rather, only natural.
It would not make anyone wary or surprised.
However, Gabrielle could not sense any human aura from her at all.
Gabrielle had achieved extremely high accomplishments in both the human and demon races.
Therefore, she had seen countless demons and humans.
She could distinguish the differences between demons and humans, including their auras, the pressure they released, as well as their voices and attitudes in dealing with others.
It was just like the difference between a frugal, diligent, and self-disciplined knight and a free-spirited, wandering swordsman.
Their differences were reflected in every single action and mannerism.
She was very familiar with both humans and demons.
Yet Bishop Abyss gave her a feeling of being neither human nor demon.
“God above… This is blasphemy.”
Several pilgrims who had come from afar and some clergy stood up.
They slowly walked toward Gabrielle’s direction while muttering something.
At the temple entrance, several Royal Guard knights also walked in and quickly positioned themselves behind Gabrielle.
The atmosphere instantly became tense.
Seeing this, Gabrielle slightly displayed her power.
A pair of pure white wings unfolded behind her.
The cross patterns in her pupils emitted a silver-white glow that was even more dazzling than sunlight passing through stained glass.
For a moment, all the candles in the room seemed to have gone out.
Some people froze.
Some continued praying.
Some raised their heads.
There were even some whose bodies trembled.
Bishop Abyss walked straight over.
She knelt on both knees in front of Gabrielle and clasped her hands together.
She actually knelt.
“I will offer you my most sincere faith, Miss God Maiden. This kind of light will surely make the Evil God tremble in fear.”
“You…”
Seeing this, the believers behind her also knelt one after another, as if they were praying to another god statue.
The scene became awkward for a moment.
The Royal Knights behind them were stunned for a second, then also sheathed their swords and knelt.
Then, Olivia also knelt.
“God Maiden.”
“God Maiden.”
At first the voices rose and fell, but later they rang out in unison.
However, what no one knew was that Gabrielle was only pretending to be calm on the surface, her expression indifferent.
She did not know what kind of sound to make right now!!
This was wrong!!
Just now, Gabrielle had not actually meant for Bishop Abyss to kneel.
She had only wanted to extract information from her.
Now it was done.
Although everyone knew about the God Maiden, it had always been kept rather low-key and restrained.
Now she had actually made a bishop kneel to her.
This was equivalent to acknowledging the identity of the God Maiden.
Which side is that idiot Olivia on!!
Gabrielle looked at her idiot mother, who was also kneeling on the ground.
However, she suddenly felt that explaining the past as the Saintess was indeed very difficult, so she stopped thinking about it.
“As expected of you, my Gabrielle.”
While Gabrielle’s brain was racing, Cress spoke.
She had a proud expression as she leaned closer, as if she greatly enjoyed the sight of Gabrielle reigning supreme.
She had no intention of kneeling, as if she was acknowledging her own identity as the Heavenly God.
“You should obtain humanity’s faith instead of wasting it on a non-existent god.”
Cress declared.
Gabrielle was almost angered to the point of laughter.
Suddenly, Cress no longer had any intention of continuing the conversation.
Instead, she turned her head and looked at Miss Isa.
That gaze seemed to be saying, “What are you doing? Why aren’t you kneeling like everyone else?”
The eye contact between the two seemed to spark intense flames.
In just a few seconds, there were several dangerous clashes, as if countless sharp blades were colliding invisibly.
Although Isabella’s eyes were filled with shame, she still knelt like the other humans, pretending to believe in the god.
For the Demon King, this was an enormous humiliation.
She should have felt ashamed because of it.
However, Isabella did not seem to reject this strange “way of playing” very much.