Chapter 672 Blatant Greed and Conviction

"Since I have been instated as the Divine Maiden of the Wisdom Church, it is inevitable for the other religions to know about my status. Since it will be like that, then why should I bother hiding my status? I can just use it to lure my enemies, and then just deal with them all at once!"

This was the exact thought that Alina had once she accepted her role as the new Divine Maiden, and she did not hesitate to tell this plan of hers to the Church of Wisdom.

Fortunately for Alina, her newfound supporter did not reject her proposal. They instead accepted it wholeheartedly, and they also tweaked it in a way that it raised her chances of winning.

All of these actions led to the current situation, with all of the invited religions raring to show their might while also being wary of each other.

True to this point, aside from the Goetic Palace, the other religions invited by the Church of Wisdom has begun cooking their own plans in regards to the Welcoming Ceremony.

Schemes and secret plans were being concocted right at this time, and none of these religions were interested on revealing even a hint on what they are about to do.

"…."

Everyone was anxious to prepare for the impending event, and the religions highly invested on this event are bound to use their resources on all the possibilities, whether if they are needed to kill someone or defend an important person.

This urgency is enough to set off waves in the whole world, but in Alina's opinion, its effects were much more p.r.o.nounced on the religions that she suspects to be allied with the other Travelers….

For instance, there were the Goetic Palace and the Holy Order Church, two religions that can be said to be Alina's greatest possible enemies.

Unlike the Church of Wisdom, whose focus of wors.h.i.+p was an already dead True G.o.d, the beings wors.h.i.+pped in the Goetic Palace and Holy Order Church are still living, and their powers are real.

The existence of this living figures of wors.h.i.+p makes it so that the power of these two religions are said to be the greatest here in this world, and the only ones that can counteract them were the alliance of other religions…

**************

"If my guess is right, the Goetic Palace and the Holy Order Church each have their own Traveler allied with them. That's just how things will turn out, since both religions are powerful enough to rope in their own Travelers…."

Without even using much of her mind, Alina already easily saw through the greatest possibility in her current situation, and it made her tense mind ease a little bit.

She was still worried inwardly however, as she alone knew how difficult it is to face against the might of these two powerful forces.

"Sigh, if we just arrived in this world early, we might have allied ourselves with the Goetic Palace, since one of our friends is the new Demon Lord…. We could even try allying with the Holy Order Church, although they could have tried killing Alex…"

The Goetic Palace alone held a dominion over a continue by itself, which is the same case as the Holy Order Church too. Such amount of territories naturally translates to the might and power of these two powerhouses, and Alina could not help but grudgingly accept their dominance.

But even if she knew how powerful her opponents could be, that does not mean that Alia accepts her defeat already.

Sure, the support provided by the Goetic Palace and the Holy Order Church could turn their allied Travelers into fearsome opponents by themselves, but that did not unsettle Alina one bit.

Such support will be dangerous for Alina and her allies, but with her preparations in place, she's confident that she can weather through the danger even without Alex.

Heck, Alina was even sure that given some time and luck, she could win against these two dominant opponents alone, without even asking help from Alex!

After all, Alina made her plans with the help of Queen Mother, Professor Frances, and the brightest minds in the whole world.

This line-up alone is enough to overturn any obstacles, even the kind that deals with powerful beings!

There was however one thing that makes Alina feel unsure about her plan, and that 'thing' was the person that Alina was both yearning and dreading to see again…

"Sigh, I just hope that Alex and his Abyss Temple would not come and interfere with our plans. But knowing his flair for dramatic plans, I should just expect him to arrive…"

Although Alina was feeling confident about herself at this point, her mere mention of Alex's name had managed to trod her mood again.

"Alex…" The sadness that she was trying to suppress all this time had threatened to spill out, and it reached the point that it made Alina's eyes became misty again.

Alina was able to suppress these emotions of hers, but she was still shaken, as the memories of Alex's downward spiral into corruption did nothing to improve her feelings.

"…." Both love and fear swirled like a maelstrom inside Alina's heart, with her feelings of love barely able to cope with her terror for herself and Alex's future.

Yes, Alina still loves Alex, but she also fears the 'new' him, and on what he could be if he was allowed to stay corrupted.

Will the new Alex be someone who can still accept Alina for who she was, even if she usually berates and teases Alex? Will this new Alex also be a person who can tolerate Asteria, and still see through her façade of rudeness?

There is no knowing what Alex could turn out if Alina let's his corruption consume him, and this is something that Alina was unable to live with.

"Sigh, I wonder what Alex is doing now. Is he already scheming against my plan, or is he busy with his new supporter? I guess I will just know the answer to that in my Welcoming Ceremony…"

The fact that Alex will be trying to aim for her has been accepted by Alina already, as such, all that she can just do is prepare against his actions.

Alex can do all that he wants in order to get Alina and her allies, but Alina will not back down.

She will resist Alex's will, and she will do everything that she can in order to bring the original Alex back! Even if her life will be at jeopardy because of her desires, Alina will move forward for Alex's sake!

This is the best that Alina can do to repay all of Alex's affections to her, and this is also her repentance against her indifferent and sometimes malicious treatment of him…

"Alex told me before that the reason why I sometimes treat him badly was because he was afflicted by a Chaos Curse. That can be true, but that does not excuse me from what I did. So what if he had a Chaos Curse? I still did not give him the love that he deserves, and that is something that I cannot accept!"

"I might not know Alex's past yet, but from what I see, Alex is someone who is craving for love and affection. With that kind of behavior, Alex clearly deserves a lot better from us!"

"He did not get what he wanted from us, and what he obtained instead were more headaches for him. But even though we made his life a little rocky, Alex did not reject or even kick us out. He welcomed us with his open arms, and he also opened his heart to me!"

"We do not deserve this kind of kindness, but Alex gave it to us!"

"Maybe Alex was treating us this way because of the Chaos Curse too, but I don't care about that anymore. All I know is that Alex deserves all the kindness from his allies, so I should give it to him!"

"So who cares if I could die in my Welcoming Ceremony 3 days later? As long as it will help us in our Main Mission and with Alex, all of it will be worth it!"

"So just you wait, Alex. We're coming to help you, whether you like it or not!"

All traces of hesitation from Alina's heart disappeared like a fog at this time, as the words that she just uttered had increased her conviction.

These words might sound like nonsense, but for Alina, these words were her support for the days that will come.

And this support was something that Alina needs, as her opponents will not just be the other religions and Alex.

There is also the enemy from the inside, which Alina had no choice but to begrudgingly face too...

"Pope of Knowledge… although you place yourself as an honorable figure in the Church of Wisdom, I can see that you covet my All-Seeing Eyes. You can't even wait to have me dead, and the only thing that is stopping you from killing me was my status!"

Just as Alina expected, there is indeed someone from the Church of Wisdom who had a nefarious intention upon her.

And that someone turned out to be the Pope of the Church of Wisdom(Pope of Knowledge), an old man who looked like an amicable grandpa.

This Pope acted as if he was a paragon of virtue and kindness, but with her own eyes, Alina could see the darkness in his heart and his greed for Alina's eyes and body.

Such kind of maliciousness should not exist in any person at all, but here it was inside the Pope of Knowledge, and it has turned him into another threat against Alina.

This alone was enough to make Alina run away, but with her situation, she can only begrudgingly accept the Pope's insidious stares…

"Tsk, I really hate that Pope, and that sleazy stare of his makes me want to gut him alive. He's lucky that I am not attacking him yet, since I have to act as an obedient Divine Maiden. But my patience has its limits too, so I will really gut him if he crosses through my boundaries!"

"Hmph, I just hope he won't try anything against me during my Welcoming Ceremony, as I will be forced to fight him…"

"But if we indeed fight, could I win against him? Even when I used my eyes on him, I was not able to see through his true mastery…"

"Argh, now I am becoming uncertain again! Tsk, I really hate this old man! If he could just stay on his geezer seat on my Welcoming Ceremony, it will be for the best!"

At this point, Alina still had time to think about more variables in her plans, but the thought of Alex and the Pope of Knowledge made her lose interest on thinking about them.

She focused her attention on other thoughts instead, which only managed to improve her mood by a little.

"By using my All-Seeing Eyes in combination with my Time Magic, I saw some possible futures of my plan. Most of them are failures due to Alex or the Pope of Wisdom, while some are because of the other Travelers…"

"It is only through a few futures that we succeed, and even in those, we had to sacrifice something in order to win…"

"Sigh, seeing these futures are helpful to me, but right now, I can't bear to see them already. I'm just too tired, and all these stress are piling up on my body…"

"Should I really rest now, like what Professor Frances told me?"

"Yes, I think I should sleep. Just one session of a shut-eye would do."

"Yes, just one. Just…o…n….e…"

"O….n….e…."