"Because of this, Lady Babalon is extremely difficult to kill. The church has several recorded sieges, but in the end, she escaped each time by sacrificing to the Divine in exchange for powerful divine grace."

Upon hearing Shabelle say this, Perfikot put down the document in her hand and asked a question that puzzled her greatly: "Do the Divine still exist in this world?"

If others were to ask this question, Shabelle would definitely make them take a round trip to the church's Judgement Court to pay the price for their blasphemous words.

But Perfikot's inquiry made Shabelle respond tactfully: "If you mean the gods of the mythological era, they no longer walk this world and may even have fallen, but that doesn't mean the sects that believe in these Divine cannot receive divine grace."

"Hmm? The Divine have fallen, yet they can still receive divine grace?" Perfikot was greatly surprised, as her knowledge of the Divine was indeed lacking.

After all, for an Alchemist, understanding the world is more about analyzing its reality and rules.

As for gods? Perfikot only adheres to one principle, which is to not multiply entities without necessity.

If gods could be objectively observed, she would observe and summarize relevant experiences.

But if it's just about forcibly setting up a concept that a god created everything and using this concept to explain all unknowns, then Perfikot would only say it's a bit far-fetched.

This is why Perfikot never cared about the church and god's issues before.

However, as a Judge for the church's heresy trials, Shabelle understands issues about the Divine quite well, since they are experts specialized in dealing with these things.

"The existence of the Divine is something difficult for mortals to describe specifically, and cannot be simply defined as alive or dead." Shabelle offered Perfikot a simple explanation: "If one were to describe it, the existence of the Divine is like a bonfire. When the wood burns out, the flames extinguish and the bonfire gradually cools, but a warmth remains in the ashes.

At such a time, if one can add wood and reignite the embers, the bonfire can burn once more.

The Divine are similar. Although since the end of the mythological era, the gods no longer walk the world, and the sects serving the Divine gradually disappeared due to church sieges and interruption of divine grace, some powerful sects remain like those smoldering ember ashes, maintaining some warmth.

Even the church finds it difficult to determine whether these Divine have truly fallen, are still present but in slumber, or have fallen yet still have the possibility of returning."

"I see, so those still active heretical sects maintain these Divine's remaining vitality by continually sacrificing to them, awaiting their return someday?" Perfikot compared Shabelle's explanation with the data she had collected, easily deriving an answer that gave her a headache.

Shabelle nodded affirmatively at this answer: "In a sense, yes."

"Then it seems I need to reevaluate the activities of the heretical sects discovered in the outer city." Although feeling troubled by the situation, Perfikot quickly adjusted her arrangements: "Based on your church's experience, what kind of power is needed to counteract the divine grace those heretical sects might summon, or even a potentially descending Divine?"

Perfikot prided herself on being strategically conservative. Even if using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, she would go all out. If the heretical sect in the outer city could truly summon divine grace, or even a Divine descends, she must have a trump card to ensure stability and prevent chaos.

However, Perfikot has never dealt with the Divine, and she is not certain if she can effectively defeat and expel a Divine.

Perhaps in the distant past, whether the Empire or the church, there should have been the means to suppress the divine grace or Divine summoned by heretical sects, but with the decline of the supernatural, the Extraordinary power of this world has severely weakened.

Without Perfikot's intervention, perhaps in the future, beings like the Extraordinary Knight would be phased out by time.

But since they retain power from the mythological era, Perfikot would not take them lightly, viewing these heretical sects with the greatest malice and vigilance.

So, in the face of potential mythological era power, Perfikot felt she needed to consult with professionals.

Facing Perfikot's inquiry, Shabelle helplessly shook her head: "In the past, even the church itself had powerful Extraordinary stationed, who, blessed by the All-Father, could use his power to confront the power of heretical sects.

Moreover, those heretical sects the church completely eradicated usually belonged to those who had already lost Divine protection or whose Divine power had waned. As for a true Divine descending, within church records, such occurrences are only noted at the church's inception or the mythological era's end.

In the thousands of years since, records of Divine descents have been scarce, and each occurrence was a complete disaster at the time."

Upon hearing this, Perfikot felt disappointed. She hadn't expected even the church to lack the power to handle the current situation.

This realization brought her an urgent pressure to somehow acquire high-end forces sufficient to keep the present situation in check in a short time. After all, she couldn't truly throw Einstein's slip-on shoes at it, could she?

Regarding overpowering high-end forces, Perfikot's first thought was naturally her own creation—the Steam Knight armor.

This equipment can effectively enhance the power of the Extraordinary. If it can be further improved and enhanced, perhaps it could oppress the Divine?

Even if not suppressing, just tying them down would be good!

Perfikot had learned from Shabelle that even if a Divine were truly summoned, given the current state of mystery dissipation in the world, their existence could not be maintained for long, only needing to outlast them momentarily until they naturally dissipate.

Typically, due to the limited number of prepared sacrifices, even a Divine descent can only be sustained for a few hours, with many weaker sects only able to maintain the descent for minutes. So, stalling is indeed a feasible tactic.

Even accounting for the full potential, the Death Sect's stockpiling and prepared sacrifices are ample, allowing a Divine to maintain its existence for an extended period, estimated by Perfikot to last no more than a few days.

She made this judgment based on the information provided by Shabelle.

According to church records, even in the mythological era, Divine descents were difficult events, generally not lasting long. Anything measurable in days was extraordinarily fearsome.

Furthermore, what Perfikot considered more was how to eradicate a descended Divine.

After all, while stalling is one strategy, the Divine's power is clearly recorded in church annals; every minute a Divine exists can cause enormous damage.

Even if relying on the Extraordinary to hold them off, the aftershocks from the confrontation would still cause tremendous destruction to the city.

Perfikot did not wish to face a Divine descent each time with half the city destroyed, or paying the cost of a sentry regiment just to wait for them to dissipate on their own.

"It seems necessary to urgently improve the Steam Knight armor, and I also need to turn to the sixth page." Perfikot thought she might need the Jade Record to provide further assistance.

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