God-chosen Knight, do not get involved in the conflicts among the Churches!
Here, "the Churches" specifically refers to the Life Alliance and the Five Churches of Darkness and Death.
The Life Alliance is not closely knit, and there is no need to fight to the death with Darkness and Death, according to Dreyne’s years of experience in skiving.
"It’s not entirely like that; the relationship with Death has become quite distant," Dreyne added.
In the Mortal World, the Life Alliance and the Churches of Darkness and Death are adversaries, but in Dreyne’s eyes, the Goddesses of Nature, Sun, and Moonlight have always maintained a connection with the Dark Goddess.
There was also the Goddess of Death, who eventually had a complete fallout, leading to the loss of contact. Even the Dark Goddess, who had been a close confidante of the Goddess of Death, grew distant due to this conflict.
The specific reasons were unclear, Dreyne didn’t know, as these were not matters a God-chosen Knight could access; one would have to be a Subsidiary God to be privy to such knowledge.
"So, at the very beginning, apart from taking turns guarding the seals, the rest of the time we five God-chosen Knights were protecting the Church from the threats of Heavenly Father’s Court."
Dreyne was very certain of this; the five God-chosen Knights were not each other’s deterrents, but rather banded together to deter Heavenly Father’s Court.
Wayne was exhilarated to hear this, feeling his horizons broaden and his understanding deepen. According to Dreyne, the prestige associated with the title of a Reincarnated Angel was still on the rise.
Unfortunately, the identity of a Reincarnated Angel was ultimately a sham.
But so was the identity of the successor of the Moonlight Knight!
Thinking this, Wayne asked absentmindedly, "Dreyne, has our Goddess ever mentioned me?"
"Yes, the Goddess is very pleased with you. She praised you as an excellent successor and told me not to worry about a triple selection. In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures are warranted. You are the God-chosen Knight appointed by the Goddess, before and after," Dreyne honestly said.
A twinge in Wayne’s heart, because he knew full well he could not be the Knight appointed by the Moonlight Goddess; he was able to wield the sword White Night Purity Words because of The Book of Greed.
Why had the Moonlight Goddess not exposed the lie?
Did the Goddesses of Nature and Sun also know, and was their choice the same as the Moonlight Goddess’s?
If so, what was the reason?
Wayne then thought about the complex composition of the Life Alliance and his own path of evolution, suspecting that he might be being used as a guinea pig, with three Goddesses already taking interest in him.
What about Darkness and Death? Were they also joining the ranks of onlookers?
Suddenly, the image of Anastasia flashed through Wayne’s mind—had the Holy Maiden of the Dark Church ever been in contact with the Dark Goddess?
Whom was Anastasia working for now?
Question after question flickered through Wayne’s mind. He was too far from the Goddess to obtain any answers. Dreyne knew very little, so asking would be futile; starting with Anastasia seemed to be the only option.
"What’s up? Why suddenly bring her up? Tell me, are you lusting after her body?" Dreyne scoffed repeatedly, "Don’t overthink it; she’s the Holy Maiden of the Dark Church and must remain pure. If you really like her, you should keep your distance or else she’ll be the one to suffer."
"Dreyne, although what you’re saying makes sense, is it really your place to say it?" Wayne retorted, slightly annoyed by the meddling.
"I’m speaking on behalf of Philomena and Chris. They’re too gentle on you; I wouldn’t be!" Dreyne replied haughtily.
Do you even hear what you’re saying?
Thoughts like that are dangerous; they could get someone killed. You’d better calm down.
Deciding it was best to change the subject, Wayne kept quiet, fearing he might accidentally trigger Dreyne’s progress, and instead said, "Is Heavenly Father’s Court really that fearsome? The Papal State seems pretty docile to me!"
Dreyne responded disdainfully, "If it weren’t for each of the Five Churches having a God-chosen Knight, Heavenly Father’s Court would have re-unified the faith long ago. The Papal State’s docility wouldn’t have allowed for the idea of divine right of kings in the past."
"Since Heavenly Father’s Court is so powerful, how did they fall from grace?"
Seizing the opportunity, Wayne inquired, "I’ve searched through a lot of records, but the specific reason has been blurred. The Holy See is reluctant to elaborate; neither the Moonlight Church nor the Life Alliance have records. Do you know why?"
"It seems there was a period in history known as the Twilight of Gods when all Mages lost their Magic Power, Faith Magic included..."
Dreyne didn’t disappoint Wayne with her insider knowledge, "I don’t know the exact time. I became the Moonlight Knight toward the end of the 17th century, around 1680..."
As she spoke, Dreyne expressionlessly looked at Wayne, who clasped his hands over the steering wheel, staring fixedly at the road ahead, appearing fully focused on driving.
"Wayne, pretend you didn’t hear what I just said, otherwise, I’ll have to physically induce amnesia," Dreyne patted Wayne’s shoulder, frustrated that she had accidentally revealed her approximate age.
The threat was palpable!
Perplexed, Wayne responded, "Dreyne, what did you just say? Something about 1920... so you are only eighteen this year!"
"Heh, you’re better off not having heard."
Dreyne was quite annoyed and stopped talking, not wanting to continue the conversation.
Wayne, left hanging mid-conversation, was incredibly curious. Targeting Dreyne’s weak point, he struck a series of mortifying deals through card games, which finally persuaded her to go on.
"I forgot to mention, my predecessor as the Moonlight Knight of the late 17th century was both a mentor and friend to me—let’s say a friend," Dreyne patched up her previous statement.
Out of nowhere, she had a ’friend’; it was this ’friend’ who told her everything, as she herself was not that old.