Naimes' face darkened. Clearly, his "past self" had undergone an abnormal mutation.

This wasn't just being eccentric anymore—this was outright insanity.

Naimes had always been one body with two souls.

He was a womb-transmigrator. When he crossed over, his original soul hid itself, and a new soul developed.

His True Spirit lurked within that soul.

Due to the Petitioning Angel's modifications, that soul became solidified into an energy body.

So when he fell into demonhood, Naimes could only enter the Abyss with his True Spirit, leaving this newborn soul and body behind in the astral plane.

The astral plane is a transitional interface detached from the material plane and other planes.

It's an open space largely devoid of solid matter.

Most planar travel must pass through it, and some summoning spell communications also need to traverse that realm.

The astral plane is basically unaffected by time, so although Anin had been floating there for three years, because the place was too vast and timeless, Anin hadn't died from it.

"What happened to you in the astral plane?" Naimes couldn't help but ask Anin.

That Anin still possessed thought patterns was something Naimes had anticipated, but he never expected himself to be this... "unhinged."

"So many things!" Anin immediately perked up with interest, about to start from when some astral wind blew him far away.

"Stop. What I want to know is, what made your soul so... active?" Naimes cut off Anin's rambling and went straight to the key question.

"I never knew you could be so boring before?!" Anin said with genuine regret.

"Bro, you know, after you left, my soul felt like it lost some kind of pillar and began to... expand in the astral environment."

"It was during this expansion that some past memories became my crucial support, and then I became like this."

"Though it might be madness, since then, I've genuinely felt much more... spirited."

"The name Anin is too conspicuous. From now on, your codename will be A—Angel A." After some thought, Naimes decided he couldn't argue with his mentally ill self.

Fortunately, because he possessed a Divine Spark, the other's solidified "divine servant" commandment still worked. Plus, they were originally one person, so his True Spirit could still resonate with it. Combined with the Self-Agreement, his commands would be obeyed.

The name Anin itself belonged to nobility, and since he had been hailed as a so-called genius holy knight, many people knew it.

Continuing to use this name would only bring significant trouble.

"Got it, role-playing right? I'm Angela, and this little girl is the baby, right?" Angel A's behavior made Op, the village guard, and others begin to feel their sacred image of Petitioning Angels shatter.

Thankfully, although they roughly understood that Naimes and he were the same person, they were now separate entities, so this disillusionment didn't extend to Naimes.

"I wanted to ask you—what's her situation?" Naimes then saw Angel A innocently spread his hands. Angel A truly didn't know why a little girl had come to cling to him right after he woke up.

"Perhaps the Floating Whale holds many secrets we're unaware of." Now Naimes became interested too.

In the early stages of Whale Transformation Disease, it could still be counteracted through various methods, but by the late stages, there were basically no cases of recovery.

And once the whale transformation completed, even Gold Seed-level priests wouldn't want to deal with it—they'd just kill them outright.

"So why... did she regain her sanity?" Naimes couldn't help but look at Lia with interest.

"That look of yours—in TV dramas, you'd be the creepy pervert type, you know?" Angel A's atmosphere-breaking comment made Naimes shoot him a glance.

Angel A immediately made a zipping motion across his mouth and gave an OK sign. Though he had no eyes, he could still "see" many things.

But then Naimes examined both their bodies and learned the general situation.

Angel A's body was severely damaged, having lost much of his Petitioning Angel's numerical value.

His controlled numerical value had dropped from one thousand to ninety-nine.

Various traits had consequently developed problems—in terms of combat power, he could only be considered a relatively strong Steel Seed.

As for Lia, although she had regained some rationality, she still struggled to fully express her feelings.

Beyond recognizing her father, she just wanted to cling to Angel A.

So far, she had only spoken three words—"Daddy," "Lia," and "Hug."

For now, they couldn't get anything out of Lia.

They didn't even know when she had recovered from her Whale Man state.

Another key point was that Lia had now reached the Steel Seed level, with a numerical value of 11—in other words, she had actually completed the whale transformation.

But for some reason, instead of turning into a whale, she had returned to human form.

There might be other changes too, but they couldn't be tested immediately.

Even so, their previous plans needed some adjustment.

As long as she didn't cause disturbances and given her attachment to Angel A, she had temporarily become controllable.

Seeing that his daughter had recovery potential, the village guard seemed more trustworthy now.

As thoughts continuously shifted in his mind, Naimes then had Op and others take Jacques away first.

The entire village only needed Naimes himself remaining.

As people gradually left, Naimes began taking charge.

He gathered the surviving villagers and started maintaining order until Isabella woke up.

When Isabella woke with a splitting headache, she remained dazed for a long time before remembering what had happened.

She had considered various possibilities but never expected Naimes to actually win.

"The urgent task is seeking support. Most villagers have physical injuries—without timely treatment, they probably won't survive long."

After Naimes finished speaking, Isabella disregarded her own condition and forcefully connected to the grid, reporting the situation here.

Faced with this situation, the church responded with remarkable speed.

Traveling from here to Wavetail Town took three days, and reaching Breathspring City was even farther.

Yet that very afternoon, they met personnel from the church headquarters in Breathspring City.

A Gold Seed holy knight.

His slightly whitening blond hair fluttered, and his somewhat weathered stubble gave him a special sense of reassurance.

He was accompanied by numerous priests, including various Steel Seeds.

After their arrival, they immediately took control of the situation. Before nightfall, Naimes—suppressing unexpected emotions—sat in a temporarily arranged small wooden hut, waiting for that Gold Seed holy knight to come for questioning. Get full chapters from novel⁂fire.net

"He actually appeared here. How interesting."

Indeed, Naimes knew that Gold Seed holy knight.