I created the Bureau of Anomaly Control

Chapter 300 298. Raphael and Ivani (4K)

West Federation, St. Cadegren Cathedral.

Raphael was holding a steaming cup of black tea, leisurely flipping through ancient scriptures, slowly repairing the ancient book that was already difficult to read according to his plan, and enjoying the most leisurely afternoon.

But before he could immerse himself in the ancient book, there were a few light knocks with a specific rhythm outside the door. Raphael could only sigh silently, but he had expected this. After all, there was no such thing as personal space in his position.

He raised his voice and asked towards the door:

"Who is it?"

"Vice-President Ivani, Your Excellency," a voice came from outside the door. "She said she has something to report."

"Let her in," Raphael said helplessly.

Half a minute after he spoke, he heard the sound of metal clashing in the corridor, and then a heroic woman in light armor pushed open the exquisite wooden door of his office and walked cleanly to his desk.

"Can't you pick a time other than my working hours to report?" Raphael looked at her helplessly. "Do you know that now is one of my few rest times?"

She said with a serious expression:

"I'm here for serious business."

Raphael really wanted to say that his rest time was also important, but he ultimately didn't say that to Ivani. This handsome woman, who was about the same age as him, was very serious about her faith and work, which was a common problem among the Tribunal members.

At the young age of twenty-nine, Ivani was already the Vice-President of the Tribunal. However, unlike other Vice-Presidents, she was promoted not because of her experience or ability, but because she was being cultivated as the next President.

Her age also made her less fanatical and difficult to communicate with than other senior members of the Tribunal, so after she was promoted, she immediately began to negotiate with Raphael on behalf of the Tribunal, but this was also because she was not so suitable for other jobs at the time.

The reason why Ivani's situation was so special was also very simple: she was the kind of genius destined to become a Rank Ⅴ.

You must know that the Tribunal, which has been passed down for thousands of years, has mastered the means to stably produce a Rank Ⅴ ability user in the same era, but Ivani is the kind of person who can be promoted on her own. In other words, if she can be successfully promoted before the incumbent President retires, then the Tribunal will have two strong people who can shoulder major responsibilities.

Moreover, ability users who are naturally promoted tend to be stronger in the same rank. Even high-rank ability users forcibly cultivated by the Church can only barely reach the normal level. This does not even mention the huge resources that only giant organizations like the Church can barely provide, as well as the associated side effects and restrictions—the need for the assistance of holy artifacts and a lifespan shorter than ordinary people.

Another reason why Raphael was particularly patient with her was that Ivani really didn't have the ability to match her position when she was first promoted, but now she has become the most reliable candidate below Rank Ⅴ in the entire Church, and also has the powerful combat power to dominate ability users of the same rank.

Even when facing those ability users who are also likely to be promoted to Rank Ⅴ according to the Federation's standards, Ivani can mostly win easily. Of course, this is inseparable from the five top-notch Rank Ⅳ abnormal equipment on her body, but who told the Church to be so rich?

So, Raphael was quite patient with this genius who truly belonged to the Church. After all, in another ten or twenty years, she might become one of his most capable subordinates.

"Alright," Raphael finally didn't say anything more. "What do you want to tell me?"

Ivani said with a serious face:

"Your Holiness, I want to say something small first.

"You should know that there are also Living Saints in the East Federation."

Raphael raised his hand to interrupt:

"Don't use 'also', I can't be considered a Living Saint."

Although he did have this title, it was only a religious term. But there was only one true Saint in the entire Federation, and she was hidden among the other three Saints. Only a very few high-level Church members knew her true identity.

Raphael had this honorable title because he had made too many contributions to the Church on the surface, so they had to hold a canonization ceremony for him to meet the expectations and perceptions of the believers.

But they didn't know that the so-called Saints and Saintesses were just special physiques. Although these Saints actually possessed noble morals, it was completely unimportant to the Church.

Ivani ignored him and just continued:

"We recently received news from the East Federation that the Living Saint has encountered some problems.

"She has a younger brother who is not related by blood. The angels and bishops of the East Federation seem to think that her younger brother is a trouble, so they want to use some methods to separate her from her younger brother."

Raphael had already guessed the result:

"They failed, right?"

Ivani nodded.

He sighed:

"I always tell them that they must have absolute certainty before doing such things, but it seems that the bishops of the East Federation didn't really remember what I said. Those angels are all arrogant to death and don't take mortals seriously at all."

Ivani pretended not to hear his last sentence:

"Yes, after all, it's not directly controlled by us there, but there's no way to do anything about it.

"But that's not the point. They had a conflict with the Living Saint's younger brother. The local Tribunal sent out a lot of daggers, but they couldn't immediately suppress their opponent, and eventually attracted three four-winged angels."

Raphael was slightly surprised:

"Sounds like her younger brother is not simple. Did they lose the fight?"

Ivani shook her head:

"No, they didn't fight. The Living Saint's younger brother found reinforcements before they could act, and forced the angels to admit that they had a problem on the spot with overwhelming numbers and strength. In the end, they could only let him stay by his sister's side."

Raphael had an 'I knew it' expression:

"They say they don't interfere in the mortal world at will, but they always do such stupid things, and those idiots in the East Federation are like they don't have their own brains and only blindly follow their orders.

"They'll have to come to me to clean up the mess sooner or later."

Ivani tried her best to pretend not to hear his evaluation of the angels:

"And the identity of this Living Saint's younger brother is also very unusual. What really shocked those angels was not him or his companions who were present at the time, but the special forces they jointly represented. This young man who drove away the angels is the recently famous Ma En."

Raphael looked curious:

"Who?"

Ivani replied:

"Ma En, who led the Salvation Alliance in the South Federation to sign a peace treaty with the Federation and killed a reality warper."

Raphael revealed a look of realization:

"I know, that young man who has been quite famous recently."

Ivani muttered in a low voice:

"You're not much older than him..."

"What did you say?" He showed a look of not hearing clearly.

"No, nothing..." Ivani shook her head repeatedly. "In short, he is a young strong man who has risen recently. According to the Church's speculation, he also has the potential to be promoted to Rank Ⅴ, and he is also a follower of that Divine Firmament, so in the end they could only compromise with him."

Raphael nodded slightly:

"Divine Firmament's vision is still good. Listening to you, Ma En should be more than just a reckless man who can fight. I estimate that he should have similar combat power to you without any holy artifacts, and may be stronger than you in other areas.

"But it's a matter of luck for such a wild ability user to be promoted to Rank Ⅴ. Unlike you who were born in the Church, you can get the joint help of us and Heaven. With the Divine Firmament defeated, I don't think he counts for much, unless Divine Firmament can regain his freedom...

"In that case, I should wash my neck first before thinking about these nonsense."

After all, he had participated in the siege of Divine Firmament some time ago.

Ivani continued:

"I still think he's quite dangerous. I might have to bring one or two holy artifacts to really contend with him, after all, he once defeated a very dangerous reality warper."

Raphael knew that her assessment of threats was particularly cautious and careful, but he didn't say much about it:

"If I remember Chen Yun's age correctly, Ma En should be a few years younger than you.

"So, are you mentioning him because you feel anxious? In that case, I can assure you that age doesn't mean anything. The resources you can get are what determine everything. There aren't many organizations in the world that can ensure the smooth promotion of a genius like you.

"And you also know..."

Ivani's face showed a bit of helplessness. She already knew what Raphael was going to say next.

"You were promoted to Rank Ⅴ at the age of sixteen. I've heard this sentence hundreds of times."

Raphael showed a smile, and then said in a very proud tone:

"It's not as good as you said, and I can only be regarded as the second youngest Rank Ⅴ human ability user of the contemporary era. I can only rank behind the Divine Firmament traveler who was promoted to Rank Ⅴ at the age of twelve."

Ivani sighed slightly, trying to pull him back to the original topic:

"I'm not feeling anxious. Although I'm very clear about what kind of heavy responsibility I'm shouldering and how huge resources the Church has consumed, I'm not anxious about this at all. What should come will come sooner or later, just like he is destined to return."

Raphael asked doubtfully:

"Then what exactly do you want to ask? I don't think it's necessary to come to me to say these things, after all, she's not one of us. Let those angels worry about the problems of these Saints. Anyway, in the end, she will only become a bastard angel."

Hearing this, she finally couldn't help it:

"Your Holiness, please respect our faith."

Ivani regretted it as soon as she finished speaking. This sentence was like accusing this canonized Pope of being unfaithful, and she knew very well that she was completely unqualified to say that to the man in front of her who had given everything.

But she only saw Raphael showing a mischievous smile, and then she immediately realized that Raphael repeatedly expressed disrespect to the angels just for this moment.

He's just like a child.

She sighed again, and then said regardless:

"The focus is on what happened after Ma En drove them away. At that time, Heaven withdrew her guardian angel for some reason, although these guardian angels are not actually our real plan to protect her, but just a smokescreen to make others think she is also a Saint.

"But the sacred shelter that we actually used to protect her was broken for more than ten minutes recently."

Raphael's expression instantly became serious:

"Are you sure?"

Ivani nodded heavily.

He immediately showed a thoughtful expression, and then asked after a few seconds:

"Is Ma En still by her side now?"

Ivani nodded:

"Yes, we don't know when he will leave."

He thought about it again before saying:

"Let the angels solve it. I don't want to get involved in matters related to Divine Firmament. The siege of her can be regarded as official business, but if we continue to deal with her important followers, it may become a personal grudge.

"She's not a generous person."

Ivani nodded:

"I understand.

"I was actually planning to come to you later to talk about this, but they wanted me to tell you something."

Raphael suddenly thought of something:

"They specifically asked you to say it?"

Then the news he was about to hear was probably not very good.

She said seriously:

"The angels talked to the heretical sun false god a few times some time ago, and finally decided to cooperate with him."

Raphael narrowed his eyes slightly for a few seconds, and then forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart as much as possible:

"They dare to act on their own authority?"

Ivani could see that the man in front of her was quite angry, but she didn't feel scared like the others. Raphael also calmed his anger quickly as she expected, and showed his usual gentle expression again.

"What did they do?" he asked.

Ivani's volume also unconsciously lowered a bit:

"The sun god went to Atlantis—the city that we know very little about, but he has a far greater understanding of it than we do, and he is also very clear that they will have a conflict with the Federation, and the sun god has also predicted how they will solve this problem.

"The Federation may resolve their conflict with Atlantis through three duels of different ranks according to ancient agreements. This is much better for them than a possible war, but it is very unfavorable to Atlantis.

"If they agree, they will fall into the Federation's trap, but the sun plans to turn the tables on the Federation.

"So he put forward a suggestion that is beneficial to all three parties. If we cooperate, we can guarantee to win these three duels. What the Church has to do is to send out one of the few Rank Ⅳ ability users who are likely to have the strongest overall single-on-one combat power in the entire world.

"That is, me, who is full of holy artifacts and summons the possession of angels."

Golden streamers had begun to uncontrollably overflow from Raphael's eyes. His tone also became much heavier:

"Is that so? They agreed? Then what can we get?"

Ivani's expression was slightly excited:

"Atlantis promised one of the twenty-seven prophecies.

"A great flood."

Raphael suddenly closed his eyes, sealing the tumbling holy flames behind his eyelids.

This was precisely why they wanted Ivane to deliver the message. Those birdmen were acutely aware that upon hearing this news, he would undoubtedly unleash his tyrannical power in a fit of intense rage and displeasure, and might even use the opportunity to attack them.

But now, he could only forcibly suppress the flames of anger within his heart. Even Raphael understood that this was the wisest course of action, after all...

He was "destined" to return.