Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?-Chapter 513 - 23 This is Fate’s Arrangement

"So it is, so it is."

Facing the angelic figure formed of radiance, Adelaide excitedly operated the instruments, recording a large amount of data.

"Hey! Why did you stop?" When the light suddenly dissipated, revealing a somewhat exhausted blonde knight, Adelaide immediately started complaining.

"I can’t maintain the Holy Sword State for too long," Eleanor replied.

Of course, she could force herself to continue, but she’d definitely collapse afterward. Seeing Adelaide’s excited, out-of-breath expression, Eleanor really didn’t want to collapse in front of this obviously problematic Bishop, God knows what would happen then.

"I see," Adelaide calmed down, resting one hand on her hip and said, "It seems that the maximum duration of the Unyielding Holy Sword is much longer than the legends of Charlemagne and Roland suggest. You truly are..."

She almost said "you truly are my sister" but managed to hold it back, instead taking a spray bottle from her lab coat pocket and tossing it to Eleanor:

"Here, take this."

"What is this?" Eleanor caught the spray.

"It’s a diluted Modafinil," Adelaide shrugged. "Technically, it’s 2-[(diphenylmethyl)sulfinyl]acetamide, a central nervous system stimulant. Just hold it in your mouth and take a breath, and it’ll significantly boost your willpower, prolonging the duration of the Unyielding Holy Sword."

"Thanks," Eleanor silently put it in her bag, planning to give it to Nora later.

Aske had indeed cautioned her before coming here:

If they ask you to perform the Unyielding Holy Sword, just go along with it because the Extraordinary Swordsmanship can’t be deciphered.

But if they offer you something to eat, don’t accept it. Like body modification, drug abuse is a hallmark of Solomon City, and a well-behaved girl shouldn’t dabble in it even a little.

Seeing her put the spray in her pocket, Adelaide didn’t mind and simply mentioned casually:

"The half-life of Modafinil is 10-15 hours, you can take a puff when you feel tired, but don’t use it more than twice a day."

Don’t worry, I won’t even try it once, Eleanor thought to herself.

"By the way," Adelaide continued, looking at the instrument data and after realizing she could derive no useful conclusions from it, she pulled up a chair and started concerning herself with her little sister’s lifetime affair, "Have you confessed to your Squad Leader?"

Eleanor: ???!!!

"Are you misunderstanding something?" the blonde knight forced out a baffled expression and said, "My relationship with our Squad Leader is strictly that of comrades in arms..."

"Oh, really?" Adelaide was not suspicious. "That’s good then."

"What’s good about it?" Eleanor asked.

"Just that," Adelaide leaned back in her chair, casually noting, "Your team’s competition is quite fierce, I wouldn’t recommend you mixing in with those folks."

Eleanor: ......

"These materials..." In the research cabin, Miel flipped through the documents on the table, "I completely don’t understand them."

Mia had run to one of the culture tanks, staring blankly at the human body soaking inside.

"This is simple, we can just pull a priest over and ask," Rasul said with a smile, pulling a priest from the void. The priest steadied himself, seemingly not yet accustomed to the surroundings, and was about to speak when his expression glazed over again.

"What experiments are being conducted in this cabin?" Rasul asked.

"Transcendents’ extraordinary ability replication experiment," the priest replied mechanically, "We clone the genes of Transcendents into multiple samples and attempt to replicate the bloodline ability similar to the original in the cloned human bodies."

"How are the results?" Rasul asked again.

"The genetic material extracted from the original, after cultivating and recreating a human body, can only possess some of the original’s incomplete traits," the priest answered, "So incomplete that they cannot even perform the extraordinary abilities that the original possessed."

"And the original Transcendent from whom you cloned, is it also in this cabin?" Rasul asked.

"The experiment subject was named Francis, hailing from the port city of Siracusa on Sicily, captured by the Temple Knights in April of year 237 of the Sixth Epoch. Subsequently, the experiment progressed into the third phase, and the subject had lost its value for further use. Thus, according to the regulations of the Extraordinary Class IV Project, it was destroyed following the approval of the Scientific Ethics Committee," the priest replied blankly.

Destroyed.

Miel’s pupils slightly constricted, and Mia pressed her hand against the short knife on her forearm, her expression grave.

The two young girls were not new to the battlefield, and they had personally ended many enemies’ lives; they were not of a compassionate nature. Yet, upon hearing the word "destroyed" and considering its underlying implications, they couldn’t help but shiver intensely.

It meant that the Transcendent in this experiment... had been thoroughly stripped of even their attribute as a "human" by the Church Court.

Mia suddenly drew her short knife, but the priest’s figure had already vanished into thin air—Rasul had ceased maintaining the priest’s presence.

"Why wouldn’t you let me kill him?" Mia asked.

"It’s meaningless," Rasul replied. "Around our world, there are infinitely many world lines."

"In almost every world, there are Church Courts conducting witch hunts against Transcendents, and every Church Court has numerous priests; can you kill them all?"

"I cannot," Mia answered assertively, "but it would be satisfying and clear my mind!"

Rasul: ???

"Fine, then go ahead and kill," Rasul said, extending his hand and pulling another priest into view.

Mia: ......

"It’s not necessary anymore," she said bitterly, sheathing her short knife. "Who knows if this priest is the same one from before."

"So, as you’ve seen," Rasul summed up, "the Church Court’s dominance over the entire world is built on the exploitation of the common folk at the bottom rung, as well as on the suppression and slaughter of Transcendents."

"Common people, as long as they are willing to endure oppression, may still manage to survive. But Transcendents that don’t have the power to counter the Church Court will immediately face tragically inevitable fates."

"Whether you accept this or not, you are already Transcendents, naturally standing in opposition to the Church Court. One day the Magic Tide will descend again, your spirituality will be suppressed, and the Church Court’s power will no longer face intermittent weakening."

"When that time comes, and the Church Court strikes at you, what will you do? Without the Anti-Christ’s power, if they choose to target Aske, what can you do?"

Mia listened with furrowed brows, feeling that Rasul made a lot of sense. Knowing that Transcendents have an extremely long lifespan, and the Magic Tide couldn’t possibly stay at its peak forever, wouldn’t everyone’s abilities be suppressed once it receded?

And the Church Court’s stance towards Transcendents was clear, what would they do once the Magic Tide receded... what else could they do? Were those horrific witch hunts across the continents mere child’s play when there was no Magic Tide?

"I understand what you mean," Miel said with a frown. "But all we have seen now is what you wanted us to see."

"After all, the quickest way to promote an alliance is to establish a common enemy. Yet, up to now, I don’t even know what the Revolutionary Army is, so how could I possibly join you?"

"You would not be joining us; you would be leading us," Rasul said. "It is the arrangement of Fate."

"That’s why I really can’t trust such arrangements," Miel said helplessly. "Lord Rasul, if one day Fate decides you should die, would you willingly accept it?"

"If my death would be of sufficient value," Rasul smiled meaningfully, "I would accept it."

Miel sighed, "But I certainly wouldn’t."

"Let’s leave it at that; I wasn’t expecting to convince you in just one or two attempts," Rasul said lightly. "Let’s leave this place for now."

The three left Ratlan Palace and returned to the original clothing store. Rasul rummaged behind the counter and pulled out the prepared rewards.

The formula for Shadow IV, the corresponding Spiritual Material, and the personal dagger of Lancelot, the Chief Round Table Knight and the only Transcendent in history to have mastered the Ripple Sword.

"Here you go, little Mia." Rasul tossed the items to Mia, who swiftly caught them.

"As for you, Miel. The opportunity to change your fate is always waiting for you, just whenever you are ready to accept it," Rasul said, smiling as he spoke to Miel. "How about tomorrow at 14:00 in the basement of Lysine Hall? I’ll take you to understand the Revolutionary Army, how does that sound?"

"Alright," Miel hesitated for a moment but decided to agree.

But before that, she needed to talk to Aske.