“Please wait a moment.”

Inside the Holy See, Henry stood before a double door adorned with intricate patterns. After nodding slightly to Ciel behind him, he turned and directly raised his hand to knock on the large door.

Knock knock knock—

Henry waited at the door for only a moment before the large door automatically opened inward. The scene inside was revealed before Ciel.

Unlike the grandeur Ciel had imagined, the space behind the door was like a completely undecorated, “minimalist” bare room. Besides the wooden structure and some simple tables and chairs, there were no other flamboyant decorations in the vast space.

Ciel’s gaze swept across the large space before her. She saw a figure dressed in a deep blue long robe standing in front of a huge stained-glass window.

The figure seemed unaware of Ciel’s arrival. They were just looking at the scenery outside through the colored glass window until Henry stepped into the room and slowly spoke.

“Your Holiness, please allow me to introduce someone to you.”

Hearing Henry’s voice, the figure dressed in the deep blue long robe slowly turned their head and looked in Ciel’s direction.

When she saw their face, Ciel’s vigilance slowly heightened.

What… is this thing?

Beneath the deep blue hood was a horrifying silver metal grotesque face—etched with various distorted triangular symbols, twisted like worms.

If this being just stood there motionless, Ciel would only think it was some terrifying artistic cast iron sculpture. But when this thing moved, it did make one feel… slightly uncomfortable.

It turned out that the reason she had previously felt that the potion erosion of people on the “Crown Guard” path seemed normal was because their mutated armor was relatively cool, not as horrifying as the one before her.

It seemed that this Pope before her should also be a high-level path of “Detective,” at least above “Crown Guard.”

“It has been ringing non-stop since earlier, Henry…”

A metallic buzzing sound came from the horrifying iron mask. “What have you done?”

The voice was neither male nor female, but judging from the tone, it seemed more like that of an older woman—mainly, it gave a sense of déjà vu with Nia.

However, the Pope still ignored Ciel and her group, as if their eyes were only on Henry, who entered first.

Henry seemed long accustomed to the Pope’s way of behaving. He walked in front of the Pope, knelt down halfway, and said, “An important guest has arrived, Your Holiness.”

“It’s ringing, Henry.”

The metallic buzzing sound echoed again. The metal block person referred to as the Pope began to pace restlessly in place. “It won’t stop…”

Suddenly, as the Pope paced, their gaze seemed to unintentionally scan something. Then they froze completely, stopping in place.

They saw Little Left, still perched on Ciel’s shoulder.

“Other Side! Be careful! Henry!”

The Pope quickly bent down, grabbed Henry’s collar directly, and flung him behind them. They raised their right hand. The crimson arm armor began to burn and melt. Boiling molten iron condensed into a huge curved blade in their right hand.

Even from a distance of about fifty meters, Ciel could still feel the heat waves rushing towards her—the stained glass closest to the curved blade already showed signs of melting!

The unconcealed killing intent made Little Left on Ciel’s shoulder rear up abruptly. It arched its back and watched the terrifying iron-skinned person warily. It seemed that as soon as that person made a move, it would grab Ciel and run.

Ciel didn’t make any moves. Any ordinary person could see that the Pope’s mental state was at a precarious point.

With such a mental state, you could say she was completely mad, and it wouldn’t be wrong.

Tara and Percy, who had been standing behind Ciel, immediately stepped forward upon seeing this scene, positioning themselves to the left and right in front of Ciel. Other Divine Advent Church followers also stood by, forming a protective circle around Ciel.

But at this moment, the heat wave that distorted the air slowly receded. The curved blade on the Pope’s arm deformed again, restoring to its original iron arm armor. Even their initial posture of vigilance was gone.

Only the scorched robe sleeve on their right side served as proof of what had just happened.

“Who are they? Henry.”

A normal woman’s voice came from inside the iron armor, completely free of the metallic static from before.

“That person is called Ciel, Your Holiness.”

Henry got up at this point and slowly walked forward, lowering his head and saying, “She is an expert researcher of the Other Side. I thought perhaps we could cooperate with her…”

The word “expert” was not Henry exaggerating Ciel’s abilities. Being able to summon the door to the Other Side so easily, no matter what grand words were used to describe her, it wouldn’t be an overstatement.

“Other Side?”

The Pope looked at the left hand on Ciel’s shoulder.

As their gaze focused on Little Left, the metal on their face seemed to come alive and twist, as if their mental state was once again showing signs of instability.

But the Pope didn’t seem to mind. They just slowly walked towards Ciel, finally stopping less than five meters away from Ciel.

“What kind of cooperation?”

A flat voice sounded from beneath the iron mask, unexpectedly calm.

“Your Excellency Ciel wishes to observe the Other Side node. In exchange, she can delve into the node during her next exploration of the Other Side and bring back some information for us.”

Henry quickly followed up behind the Pope, explaining the proposed cooperation. However, Henry was extremely apprehensive, glancing at Ciel from time to time.

In fact, Ciel hadn’t explicitly agreed to the cooperation. Henry knew this, but Ciel didn’t seem to intend to refute Henry’s words, which relieved Henry somewhat.

“Can I see your right hand?”

The Pope didn’t continue asking about the details of the cooperation. Instead, they looked at Ciel and asked directly.

“You are too rude to Lord Ciel, Pope of the Church of the God of Order…”

Tara slowly spoke.

Ciel slowly raised her hand and placed it on Tara’s shoulder, signaling her not to continue defending her.

Feeling Ciel’s hand, Tara immediately fell silent and didn’t say anything further.

They want to see my right hand?

As soon as the Pope spoke, Ciel basically knew what they wanted to do.

Ciel’s right hand had traces of being eroded by the Other Side—only those who had also been eroded by the Other Side could detect it.

Like Avena and Nia, they could faintly see some illusions.

Ciel stepped forward, walked in front of the Pope, looked up at the iron mask, and raised her right hand.

“Terrifying energy…”

The Pope looked at the tentacles wriggling out of the crack in Ciel’s right hand and muttered in disbelief, “How is her mind maintained? This is too incredible…”

The tense atmosphere from earlier seemed to have directly turned into a patient exchange meeting. The nervous atmosphere had also dissipated considerably at this moment.