Annabelle reported swiftly, her account clear and concise.

Murphy nodded slightly. "Well done. Raise the alert level and repair the Barrier. As for what happened tonight, the official story is that a large number of Wizard Apprentices infiltrated and were killed. The identity of that Wizard and the specific details of the event are to be classified as top secret, known only to the core personnel present. If any word of this leaks..."

He paused, not finishing his sentence, but the pressure of his calm gaze as it swept over Annabelle and the several Stewards was enough to send a chill down their spines.

"We understand! We will guard the secret and handle the matter with utmost care!" Annabelle and the Stewards replied in unison, their tone grave.

"Take me to see the most heavily damaged part of the Barrier," Murphy ordered, striding forward. "And afterward, prepare my spoils of war and have them sent to my room..."

With Eleanor sleeping soundly, he needed to personally inspect the defensive vulnerabilities, redeploy his forces, and restore calm, ensuring the palace would not face a similar threat again anytime soon.

"Understood!"

Annabelle immediately stepped aside to lead the way. She didn’t ask why Murphy, who was clearly a Great Knight, knew how to repair the Barrier. It was as if, being Duke Temeris’s lover, such an ability was only to be expected.

The other staff followed closely behind.

Murphy’s figure once again melted into the light and shadows of the palace corridor.

...

The next morning, after a day and a night of tension and repairs, Taymer Palace had outwardly returned to its usual tranquility.

The damaged Barrier had been reinforced overnight, and all bloodstains and traces of the battle were meticulously scrubbed away. Only the faint, lingering smell of residual Energy in the air and the doubled number of guards on patrol served as a subtle reminder of the previous morning’s events.

Murphy stood by the window of the antechamber outside Eleanor’s bedchamber, his gaze serene.

Eleanor was still fast asleep. With Leia and reinforced guards by her side, she was safe for the time being.

The sound of steady yet slightly hurried footsteps approached from the corridor, stopping outside the door. A light knock came three times.

"Come in." Murphy did not turn around.

The door opened, and Annabelle walked in.

Today, she wore a more formal, dark gray robe befitting a Lady Chief, her hair arranged in a meticulous bun. Aside from the faint dark circles under her eyes from a lack of sleep, there was almost no sign of the injuries she had sustained the day before.

This Lady Chief, a woman in her fifties who had weathered many storms, now wore an expression of rare gravity.

She held a letter fastened with a special wax seal, and her pace was a few degrees quicker than usual.

"Good morning, Governor." Annabelle bowed, her voice a little deeper than usual. "Extremely urgent and unusual news has arrived from several independent channels, all at nearly the same time. It concerns the Holy City, and I believe it must be reported to you immediately."

Murphy turned, his gaze falling on the letter in her hand. "Speak."

Annabelle took two steps forward but did not immediately present the letter. Instead, she began her report, choosing her words with clarity and caution.

"Sir, late last night, we received a vague warning through the Ashen Words intelligence network. Almost simultaneously, one of our long-term collaborators in the Holy City sent a similar, though more cryptic, tip using the Church Court’s internal emergency communication runes. Then, just an hour ago, the chairman of the Far Sail Commerce Association at the Southern Border Port used a single-use Communication Sea Shell to deliver a more detailed version of the story that’s circulating overseas."

She paused for a moment, as if absorbing the weight of the information, then continued, her voice dropping lower.

"Putting these reports together, the gist is this: the night before last, an unprecedented invasion took place in the Sanctuary, located deep beneath the Cathedral of Truth in the heart of the Holy City. The intruders were not acting alone; it was a group of Official Wizards."

Murphy’s eyes narrowed. "A group?"

"Yes, sir," Annabelle confirmed, her tone heavy with certainty. "The intelligence clearly indicates that while the exact number of intruders is unknown, it was far more than just a few. They acted in coordination, using some kind of... extremely ancient and clandestine spatial technology, possibly originating from before the Dark Ages. With it, they successfully located and briefly opened an entrance to a Half-Plane that is deeply intertwined with the Sanctuary. That Half-Plane... has always been one of the Church Court’s most highly classified secrets, rumored to seal away forbidden knowledge or relics from before the Dawn War, or even earlier. The Wizards’ target was something inside it."

She took a deep breath, a flicker of unconcealable shock in her eyes. "The several Archbishops guarding the Sanctuary at the time, as well as at least two Cardinals who were in the Holy City, immediately charged in after them the moment they discovered the intrusion and the opening to the Half-Plane! There are even strong signs that the Holy Throne was alerted. The intensity of the holy fluctuations that erupted from the Holy Seat Palace suggests that the Pope himself, or one of his avatars, has also joined the pursuit!"

"The Pope and the Cardinals... chasing a group of Official Wizards into a Half-Plane?" Murphy repeated slowly. The weight of that information was enough to make anyone aware of the Church Court’s power feel a profound sense of dread.

"Precisely so, sir." Annabelle’s speech quickened, though she couldn’t fully hide the deep unease in her eyes. "What we can confirm is that a targeted invasion, launched by numerous Official Wizards, has directly dragged the Church Court’s most elite forces into an unknown and extremely unstable Half-Plane! Both sides are likely in a standoff, a chase, or even a full-blown conflict within that sealed and perilous space. To this day... there has been no definitive word from either party. The Holy City has been placed under an unprecedented lockdown, with the official claim being that they are ’conducting closed-door prayers and sacred protection rituals of the highest order.’"