"Is this your personal opinion?
Or is it the official opinion of the Church of Holy Light? "
Hearing Zayen's question, High Priest Doan instinctively wanted to answer, but in the next moment, he suddenly shuddered violently and immediately stopped.
Immediately after, he saw Archbishop Doan was like a rooster that was strangled by the throat, unable to speak another word.
Seeing this scene, the people below the stage looked at Archbishop Doan curiously and astonishingly, completely unable to understand why this damn fatty suddenly became silent.
And only Archbishop Doan himself understood how big a hole this young man had dug for himself.
Was magic evil?
This was undisputed at the beginning. All the magic of mages came from Demons, so naturally, it was evil.
But after the previous religious war, the Church of Holy Light had reached an agreement with the mages and removed the doctrine that "using magic is evil."
And with such a foundation, the Holy Church completely banned all discussion of this topic.
This was just like those politicians on Earth. Perhaps they hated a certain race from the bottom of their hearts, and even wished that they could completely disappear from Earth. They might even use harsh conditions such as "inaccurate credit records", "no nationality", "non-compliance with regulations", and so on to deny them entry into their own companies or certain organizations.
But no matter what, in front of the cameras and the public, they must speak righteously and with a serious expression, and say, "We will absolutely not tolerate any racial discrimination, nor will we allow such things to happen in our land of freedom!"
Not to mention, the mages were able to obtain their current status not by relying on those boring non-violent non-cooperation movements, nor by relying on demonstrations and taking the opportunity to smash, rob, and burn to achieve it.
But through real battles and killings, through the sacrifice of tens of millions, even hundreds of millions of lives!!
They destroyed city after city, defeated God's Servant after God's Servant, and in the end, even the entire Main Plane almost fell apart in this war.
And it was under such threats that the mages obtained the respect and awe that they originally didn't have.
Sometimes, war couldn't solve all problems, but it could, after all, solve problems.
It was also because of this that if the mages were to hear that a certain bishop dared to make such a public announcement, one could imagine how furious they would be. When that time came, Archbishop Doan would definitely be in trouble, not to mention anything else.
And now, this was the situation that Archbishop Doan was facing.
Although, deep in his heart, he did think so.
But in public, Archbishop Doan absolutely could not say so, because if he said so, it would be "politically incorrect," and the result would be that his position as the archbishop would definitely be removed. Not only that, but if it was more serious, he might even be sent to the Religious Court of Inquiry to "repent"!
Thinking of this, Archbishop Doan suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. He did not expect things to develop to this point.
What exactly was going on?
Shouldn't I be here to judge Old Peter?
Why now it seems that I am the one who is being judged?
Could it be that he was going to give up his statement? But then … Wouldn't his arrest of Old Peter become a joke?
If that was the case, then what status would he have in Violet City in the future?
Looking at the smiling Zayen in front of him, High Priest Doan only felt extremely aggrieved. At this moment, he had no choice but to secretly give Mason, who was not far behind him, a look.
After receiving Archbishop Doan's signal, Mason immediately drew his weapon, pointed it at Zayen, and roared.
"How dare you speak to Sir Archbishop like this. I think you are simply …"
Swish!
Before Mason finished his sentence, a blade ray flashed. At the next moment, his right hand that was gripping the sword fell to the ground with a loud thud.
Fresh blood sprayed out, staining the pure white altar with large patches of blood.
Mason, on the other hand, stared blankly at his severed right hand. For a moment, he didn't seem to understand what had happened.
After a few moments, he screamed and fell to the ground, hugging his arm and screaming.
"Ahhhhh!"
The excruciating pain made Mason roll on the ground. Blood spurted from his wrist and spread on the altar along with his movements.
Almost everyone in front of them was stunned by this scene. They widened their eyes in surprise and looked at the scene in front of them in disbelief.
They didn't know what to do at all. Who exactly is this young man?
He actually dared to attack on the Harvest Temple's altar. Is he crazy?!
However, Archbishop Doan was even more shocked than the others. He stared blankly at the sword on his neck. The blood stains on it were still clearly visible.
However, Archbishop Doan wasn't paying attention to the sword, but to Jenn's right hand that was gripping the hilt tightly. On his right index finger, there was a silver ring that reflected the gentle rays of the sun.
And Archbishop Doan couldn't be more familiar with the pattern on the ring.
"Teach, teach, Bishop of the diocese …"
At this point, Archbishop Doan's knees almost gave way. He knelt in front of Zayen with an incomparably pale face.
He was also one of the bishops of Eagle Plateau, so he naturally knew about the replacement of the diocese bishop.
However, all this while, Jenn couldn't be bothered to care about the trivial matters of the Holy Church, which was why apart from distributing the money, he basically didn't appear.
And because of this, most of the bishops were like Archbishop Doan — they weren't very clear about Jenn's situation.
They only knew that the diocese bishop above them had been replaced by a young, decorated noble. Of course, the Holy Church naturally sent out this information through documents and orders back then.
It was just that because Jenn had never made his presence known in front of the people, all the diocese affairs were still passed on through Archbishop Howard like before.
So it didn't take long for local bishops like Archbishop Doan to forget that their immediate superior had been replaced.
And now, when he saw the ring on Jenn's finger, Archbishop Doan was immediately stunned.
He actually dared to spout nonsense in front of the diocese bishop. He's crazy!!
The so-called diocese bishop was the highest leader of a diocese in the Holy Church, and not everyone could be such a person.
One must know that the Holy Church was made up of nine saints. Therefore, in a diocese, there were often shrines and believers of various gods.
And the diocese bishop was responsible for ensuring that these people wouldn't cause a commotion, let alone cause any chaos.
This wasn't an easy task, and in fact, the diocese bishop would usually be chosen from those highly respected archbishops.
Because only these archbishops who came directly from the central council had enough prestige to intimidate the local believers below.
Howard used to have such an identity, which was why he was able to be the diocese bishop of Eagle Plateau.
The diocese bishop usually didn't have anything special to do. At most, he would deal with the affairs reported by the various regional shrines — of course, these matters didn't need him to worry about, because these shrines would definitely seek instructions from the superior shrines that they believed in. Therefore, these reports were at most considered backup reports to the diocese bishop.
Then, the next thing was to deal with the donations collected every year.
And as a diocese bishop, other than being able to keep a portion of the donations, they would also truthfully record the amount of donations from the various shrines every year. From this point of view, the diocese bishop's position was somewhat similar to a third-party neutral review agency.
If there was a conflict between certain shrines, then they would need to provide more objective information and proof as evidence, and at the same time, make a ruling.
In this way, the diocese bishop was actually more like the "Board of Education" of the Holy Church. Usually, he didn't have any sense of existence, and was even transparent to the point that people couldn't notice him.
But if there was any dispute or any proof needed, they would have to go through him to solve it. Unless the diocese bishop couldn't solve the problem, only then would it be reported to the central council of bishops.
And other than that, the diocese bishop also held a power that made all the other bishops tremble in fear — the power to dismiss.
This right of dismissal was quite simple to explain. When a parish bishop found out that a believer of the Order of Holy Church in his parish, no matter what God that believer believed in, as long as that believer's actions went against the rules of the Order of Holy Church, the parish bishop would have sufficient authority to dismiss that believer's identity as a believer. It didn't matter if the believer's position was high or low.
And because of this, Archbishop Doan was so terrified. He didn't expect that the rumored diocese bishop that he had never seen before would actually appear in Violet City at this time!!
"Alright, now you can answer my question, Archbishop Doan."
Jenn raised his sword and lightly patted Archbishop Doan's oily face.
Then, he wiped the blood stains on his sword on Doan's face before speaking calmly.
"What you said before, was it on your own behalf?
Or on behalf of the Holy Church?
Or perhaps the Holy Church? "
"Yes, it was on my own behalf …"
Facing Jenn's question, Archbishop Doan replied helplessly with a sullen face.
Since the other party had revealed his identity as the diocese bishop, he wouldn't dare to spout nonsense even if he had eight more guts.
Therefore, he could only lower his head helplessly and bear the blame that he gave himself.
"Very well, as a believer, you should understand that your actions have violated the law of the Holy Church.
Now, I am going to strip you of your identity as the Archbishop of the Harvest Temple. Immediately hand over your bishop's ring and obediently stay in the little dark room.
You know what the procedure should be, I don't want to waste my saliva explaining it again. "
"Yes, Sir …"
After hearing the words "hand over your bishop's ring" from Jenn's mouth, Archbishop Doan was like a deflated balloon as he lowered his head helplessly.
Then, he stood up, bent his body, and reached out his hand to remove the ring on his finger.
But before he could do anything, the tip of Jenn's sword swayed and stopped him.
"Oh, by the way, everything must have a beginning and an end.
Since this trial was started by you, you shall be the one to put an end to it. Now, you should make the final judgment. "
"Yes, yes … Sir."
High Priest Doan trembled as he listened to Zayen's words, then nodded. Then, he looked at the old man, who had yet to realize what had happened, and bowed his head deeply as he spoke with great difficulty.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Peter Dutan. The facts have proven that all the charges against you are groundless and fabricated … Now, you are acquitted and released."
Having said that, Archbishop Doan lowered his head completely and sighed helplessly.
Everything is over.