Baal looked at the letter that had been sent to the Virgin Mary and guessed, “What do you think the Holy War Bishop wants to see me for?”
The Virgin Mary did not answer him. Instead, she continued to frown and read the letter repeatedly.
Thus, Baal asked again, “Even you can’t guess?”
“I think it might have something to do with the powerlessness of the smart mechas in the battle outside New York Base City not long ago.”
The Virgin Mary sighed deeply. “I received a message from a secret agent. It said that the Holy War Bishop sent out a smart mecha army. However, they were attacked by an unknown power outside New York Base City and suffered heavy losses. Furthermore, what surprised me the most was that the message was very clear. Less than half of the smart mecha army returned to the Holy City. And…”
Baal looked at the Virgin Mary and asked anxiously, “What?”
The Virgin Mary looked at Baal.
“The secret agent said that the smart mechas that returned to the Holy City seemed to be controlled by some power. At that time, the Bishop did not allow these smart mechas to enter the Holy City. However, what happened after that was not something that the secret agent could detect.”
“If that’s the case, why hasn’t the Holy War Bishop sent out a high-level smart mecha?” Baal asked the Virgin Mary, puzzled.
“I think that maybe the Holy War Bishop doesn’t want to lose the strength of this elite army. The Mechanical Holy City has always wanted to replace our Holy City. Thus, the Bishop wants to preserve some of his power. Only then can he tide through this crisis safely.”
Baal pondered over the Virgin Mary’s words and asked, “If that’s the case, then this time, did the Holy War Bishop summon me to the Holy City Capital in order to obtain your secret?”
The Virgin Mary knew what secret Baal was talking about. After all, although she had moved the mecha factory to a hidden place, the factory on the east of Washington had not been abandoned. Furthermore, the new mecha prototype was stored there.
At this moment, Baal continued to probe, “If that’s really the reason why the Holy War Bishop summoned me, how should I hide your secret so that he won’t suspect me?”
“The Holy War Bishop has summoned you to go to the Holy City alone at this time. Clearly, he already has many doubts about me. At this time, we can’t let the Holy War Bishop doubt your loyalty.”
“So what should I do?” Baal asked.
“Tell him the truth, including how I stockpiled tungsten cores in San Francisco and developed mutated mecha beasts.”
“But…” Baal looked at the Virgin Mary and guessed at her current thoughts. He wanted to know if what she said was true or if she was just testing him.
The Holy Mother knew exactly what she was thinking.
“No one can lie to the Holy War Bishop. You can only lie to the Holy War Bishop with a lie that contains the truth.”
“You mean…” Baal found it harder and harder to guess the Virgin Mary’s thoughts.
“Since I’m still a hidden danger in the eyes of the Holy War Bishop, he will definitely attack me sooner or later. Instead of trying to hide it, it’s better to exaggerate and let him know that I have enough tungsten cores to launch a new world war. I also have new mechas to arm my army. However, how to say this to the Holy War Bishop will depend on you.”
“I understand. I will let the Holy War Bishop hear what you want him to hear. Furthermore, I will find a suitable reason for this.”
“I believe you. After all, our fates are connected. If I lose everything, you will also lose your value to the Holy War Bishop.”
“At that time, both David and Oria will definitely fight for my territory. At that time, your fate will be reduced to dust.”
A few days later, Baal led a team of smart mechas to the Imperial Capital Steel City of the Mechanical Holy City. The entire city was built on the mountain. Three city walls were built along the path of the mountain, with each city wall surrounded by towering steel gates. The city walls were also filled with sharp spikes that were separated by arrow towers.
In the city, both sides of the stone-lined streets were closely connected buildings. There were pointed towers between the slanted roofs. Almost all the buildings were made of metal. Even under the cover of the clouds, when looked at from afar, the city was like a towering silver tower.
After Baal entered the city, his guards settled down in the outer city. Then, he followed the guide sent by the Bishop alone through the city gates and walked to the Mechanical Temple.
At the end of the road, the golden woven carpet passed through an open space. After passing through the open space, Baal continued to walk upwards. They walked past four city gates and a golden palace appeared in front of them. The pagodas and high walls making up the palace formed a circle. Meanwhile, in the middle of these pagodas stood a huge black pagoda that reached into the clouds. It was exceptionally eye-catching in the golden palace.
When the last door of the hall opened, the figure of the Holy War Bishop appeared on the throne at the end of the hall. Under the bright lights reflected from the four walls of the golden hall, the Holy War Bishop’s black armor, which was covered in fire patterns, seemed like a cluster of burning flames.
Baal knelt in the center of the hall with his left hand on his right chest. He looked down and said sincerely, “Great Bishop!”
“Get up and show me your loyalty.”
Baal understood and stood up. “Great Bishop, please punish me.”
“Why do you say so?”
“I think the Virgin Mary has discovered my identity. She’s deliberately avoiding me so that I can’t gather more information to show my loyalty to you.”
“It seems like…” The Bishop looked at Baal and pretended to be deep in thought.
“Have you already given your loyalty to the Virgin Mary?”
“No.” Baal pretended to be terrified and denied it.
“My loyalty to you is eternal.”
“But you didn’t bring me what I wanted.”
At this moment, Baal changed the topic and said, “The Virgin Mary is too cunning. Even though I’ve sent people to monitor her, I only know that she created a large number of tungsten cores in the San Francisco area. The amount of tungsten cores she has now is enough to equip an army of tens of thousands of people.”
“You’ve already reported this to me. No matter how many tungsten cores the Virgin Mary has, she will still have to rely on the smart mecha manufacturing technology in the Holy City. Without enough smart mechas, no amount of tungsten cores will help.”
“However, according to the information I recently received, the Virgin Mary has secretly gathered Engineering Mecha Masters to break down the existing mechas. They have even created new mechas.”
Baal actively revealed the hidden power of the Virgin Mary to test the Bishop’s reaction. In reality, he knew very well that the Bishop in front of him had long known about the Virgin Mary’s power.