"No!" Clark quickly denied Kara's accusation. Such a matter was definitely something he could never admit to, even if it had once crossed his mind as a way to give Robert a memorable adulthood ceremony.
"Fine, then I know. I'll talk to Lana about someone who wants to have a fling, using Robert to test the waters first..." Kara fully utilized her ability to create chaos, inventing faults for Clark since she couldn't find any real ones.
"By heaven and earth! I've never thought of that!" Clark's expression changed as he quickly exclaimed, then froze in place, realizing he had inadvertently said too much. "Uh..." Clark looked awkwardly at Kara and Robert, who was squinting at him from behind her, unsure of what to say next.
"You did what you did, I remember. From now on, don't bully Robert, or I will definitely settle this account with you!" Kara glared at Clark, flew to Robert's side, and took his arm.
"???" Clark looked bewildered as he watched Robert and Kara fly away together, standing dumbfounded in mid-air for a long time.
It was all Robert's fault to begin with; it was Robert who was fickle, and it was Robert who was the scoundrel. How did it end up with him having to face the consequences?
Clark was not pleased but found himself unable to object because both Robert and Kara now held leverage over him.
Clark now understood what it meant to be less valuable than an outdated cousin!
Meanwhile, in outer space, traces of blood and feathers floated aimlessly. Originally, these remnants were headed towards oblivion, but suddenly, a faint holy light shone on a tiny piece of rubble in the Kuiper belt.
Upon closer inspection, it wasn't rubble at all but a fragment of the Holy Grail! When Rachael had fallen, the first to leave his body was the sensitive force of faith, and the Holy Grail, too, had tried to escape but was a moment too slow. Clark, in full assault mode, had smashed Rachael's body along with the Grail.
As Rachael's body was restored by the power of the hell dimension, the Grail wasn't so fortunate. Even as a divine artifact of the Shadow Hunters and heaven, the Grail was, at best, on the archangel level, and possibly even below.
Under Clark's mighty blow, the Grail was 99% destroyed and seemed to have no hope of recovery.
However, due to Clark blasting Rachael's body so many times, too much of Rachael's blood remained scattered throughout the universe. This blood, after Rachael's death, had become ownerless.
Thus, the Grail slowly began to revive, using Rachael's blood and feathers to piece itself back together. Fittingly, the Grail used by Rachael also had an intense will to survive...
Quickly after absorbing the first batch of blood, the Grail began to continuously heal until it regained its autonomy and absorbed all angelic blood and feathers in the solar system.
If Rachael had foreseen this, he might have used it as an opportunity to resurrect himself. However, when he lost the Grail, he had wholly devoted himself to the hell dimension, never suspecting that even under its protection, he could still die.
"Hum!" Finally, the barely recovered Grail emitted a faint holy light. It lacked much consciousness, acting more on instinct, and at this moment, it sent a message to heaven through its instincts.
The Grail wanted to return to heaven because Earth was too dangerous!
"Hmm?" The Pope was the first to sense the surge of holy light, as his location was the closest to heaven—if it hadn't been banished, there would be a path to heaven here.
The Pope was extremely sensitive to the power of holy light and angels because these forces were meant to move from the Vatican to heaven.
"Hum!" As soon as the Pope reacted, a wave of faith surged into his body from the gigantic crucifix, and he intercepted the Grail and the ongoing communication with heaven on the spot.
"The Grail is still around? Hm? Angel's blood? Rachael's? Good that he really died, fell before his death, otherwise he might have found a chance to come back to life!" The Pope grasped the Grail in his hands, murmuring somewhat relievedly.
Honestly, the Pope didn't want Rachael to survive, as his existence could potentially reveal too many secrets.
The Pope was hard to expose, primarily because his position was generally beyond suspicion. But if suspicions arose, it would be easier to confirm his identity than others.
"The Grail!" The Pope looked at the Grail in his hands and shook his head as his power began to surge, exerting pressure on the Grail itself while lamenting, "Perfect, you absorbed the power of the Shadow Hunters, let them return to being ordinary. Now I'll use the Grail and the angel's blood within as a price to restore them!"
"If you ever decide to come to Earth again and succeed, what will you think when you see the Shadow Hunters? Will you be confused about what Rachael went through?"
The Pope didn't mind stirring up the current earthly situation a bit. In his view, as long as the situation on Earth remained unclear to the angels, none would dare to descend broadly, as Rachael's death had already made most angels cautious.
"Crack! Crack!" As the Pope's power grew stronger, the Grail finally couldn't withstand it—it had not fully recovered, and now the Pope was transferring the power within it. The Grail, fragile like porcelain, cracked and finally shattered.
"Poof!" The Grail turned into dust, blending into the mass of holy light formed from the angel's blood and feathers, and then disappeared from the Vatican.
"Thus, this generation of Shadow Hunters has turned misfortune into a blessing? Not only have they regained their power, but they might even surpass the original Shadow Hunters? Quite a windfall!" The Pope watched the power disappear, feeling somewhat emotional.
"However, with power comes a price. You will become bait for heaven's gaze. If heaven really notices you, what you go through will be even tougher than before..."
Meanwhile, within the sanctified light of heaven, a message suddenly emerged, causing Gabriel and the other alert angels to look at each other in disbelief, struggling to accept the news.
"Gabriel! Did Rachael die? What exactly did you send him to do?" An angel directly called out Gabriel's name, glaring at him.
"It's not necessarily death. According to the consciousness left by the Lord, Rachael had fallen before losing contact, right?" Another angel spoke coldly, "A fallen angel, is he still an angel?"
"Perhaps he didn't die but entered the hell dimension, cutting off his connection with our heaven!" Another angel's eyes flickered coldly, "He, like Lucifer, is a traitor!"
"Whether Rachael is dead or not, his fall is real..." Gabriel waved his hand, addressing the other angels, "So, why would Rachael, who was fine when he left heaven, suddenly fall? Even if Earth had become a purgatory, Rachael shouldn't have fallen so quickly!"
"What exactly did you send Rachael to investigate?" Raphael stared into Gabriel's eyes and asked sternly, "What happened
on Earth to warrant an angel's descent? Even if you're in charge of heaven for now, with such a major incident, you must explain clearly!"
"Previously, there was a surge of faith on Earth, and I discovered the Loom of Fate was destroyed, so I sent Rachael to investigate and quickly absorb that batch of insurgent faith, after all, too many angels are asleep..." Gabriel sighed softly.
"And if there weren't many obstacles on Earth, perhaps Rachael could have performed miracles to recruit a new flock to sustain heaven's operations..."
"Absurd! You... wait, did you all know this?" Raphael yelled at Gabriel, but he noticed some angels didn't react at all, clearly already aware of Gabriel's plan, leaving Raphael stunned.
"That's not important. What we need to understand is what exactly Rachael experienced..." Gabriel avoided Raphael's gaze and continued, "Previously, there were two surges of holy light from the lower realms, but no information was transmitted. We know nothing about the current situation on Earth; perhaps we should send someone to look again."
"Heaven's resources on Earth aren't meant to be used this way!" Raphael countered immediately, "If you want to clearly investigate what happened on Earth, use your own resources, or go yourself!"
"For now, heaven is under my command! So, I decide to expend faith power to activate the Sound of Heaven and contact the Pope on Earth, as he might have clues about this situation!" Gabriel shook her head; her personal reserves were not something she was willing to use lightly, especially now that she was in power, using heaven's communal assets instead.
"Hmph! You better pray that your time in charge of heaven lasts!" Raphael scoffed deeply, watching as Gabriel disappeared.
Now that heaven was indeed under Gabriel's command, and the mistakes Gabriel had made were not enough for Raphael to overthrow her directly. But no matter, Gabriel was so eager to change the structure of heaven, she would inevitably slip up. Raphael could afford to wait.
"Of course, I pray. When I'm awake, I pray every day to the Father, praying for his return to heaven, to lead us to regain our former glory and even grow stronger!" Watching Raphael disappear, Gabriel's voice was firm.
"Hum!" As the dissenting Raphael vanished, Gabriel unapologetically used heaven's reserves, activating an artifact called the Sound of Heaven, which was said to be able to cross countless dimensions and directly communicate with the Pope in the Vatican.
The cost was much less than sending an angel to descend, but for heaven at this time, it was still a drain, just showing how tragic the state of this world's heaven was.
Heaven had made hell its outright enemy upon its creation, unlike other mythologies which often had some notion of an underworld or hell, but seldom as direct enemies.
But it was precisely because of heaven's audacity that they had managed to develop so smoothly on Earth, becoming one of the top divine systems on the planet.
However, the subsequent events of fallen angels and being expelled by the gods had a significant impact on heaven, so much so that after leaving the Earth dimension, heaven became the farthest divine system from Earth. Jehovah himself was no longer staying in heaven, having disappeared with a few angels and not returned since, leaving Gabriel and other angels to take turns managing heaven.
If it weren't for the occasional manifestation of Jehovah's will in heaven, some angels would even doubt whether Jehovah had met with some misfortune.
Of course, such doubting angels eventually fell completely and became members of the hell dimension...
All these circumstances made heaven's current situation quite tragic, perhaps even more so than Asgard, which at least had an old god-king Odin to support it.
"Hum!" As Gabriel activated the Sound of Heaven, a ray of holy light emerged from the enormous crucifix in the Vatican, startling the Pope, who had just schemed against heaven several times. Now that heaven was suddenly sending messages, not jumping up and changing his expression was already a sign of the Pope's high cultivation.
The next moment, the Pope's demeanor returned to normal, kneeling reverently under the crucifix, his demeanor very devout, continuously praying.
"Apostle, regarding the angel's descent, have you witnessed anything?" The Sound of Heaven echoed in the Pope's ears.
"I have indeed heard, but the angel did not descend to the Vatican but disappeared elsewhere. Afterward, the holy light surged, seemingly trying to convey a message, but my power is too low to extract effective information from the holy light..." The Pope's voice was puzzled yet excited, "After that, the holy light completely vanished, and I was very puzzled, only able to pray to the Lord. I never imagined the Lord would actually respond to me, I am tremendously honored..."
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