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"Besides these two factions, the attitudes of other smaller factions are generally ambiguous; they haven't openly opposed Azik's return, nor have they shown too much approval."
Medici continued, the 'small factions' he referred to naturally meant those like the Sleep Faction, which generally only had one Saint within them.
The reasons why members of these small factions didn't join the two major factions were either purely different philosophies, a lack of Royal Bloodline making advancement impossible even if they wanted to join, or a belief that the Artificial Death Faction was committing blasphemous acts and thus they were unwilling to join. Of course, some were also rejected due to insufficient ability.
"Hmm, it's pretty much what I expected." Lin Ruo picked up his teacup and took a sip, showing no surprise at Medici's words.
After all, Lin Ruo had long anticipated such an outcome. Considering Azik's identity as Death's direct son, the Artificial Death Faction might not try to win Azik over to their side, but they essentially had no reason to oppose Azik's "return."
For them, Azik's "return" would first directly impact the Royal Faction's current legitimate Pale Empress. The Royal Faction and the Artificial Death Faction's relationship was far from harmonious, and having been suppressed by the Royal Faction for a long time, they naturally enjoyed seeing this unfold.
Secondly, Azik's identity as Death's direct son inherently represented many things. This was not merely about Bloodline and legitimacy. As the person closest to Death in the past, the Death Consul himself was the most likely to know some hidden secrets related to Death.
For example, the possible existence of a revival contingency for the fallen Death.
Another example would be the whereabouts of the missing the the the the the the the the the the the the the Death uniqueness.
Even if such a possibility was small, the Artificial Death Faction couldn't ignore it—they were indeed creating a god, but ultimately, the Artificial Death Project came about on the premise that reviving Death was hopeless. If the former Death could truly be revived, Lin Ruo didn't think the people of the Artificial Death Faction would object.
After all, they truly needed a God, and the completion of the Artificial Death Project was still a long way off.
Furthermore, even without considering the possibility of reviving Death, just considering the potential impact Azik, as Death's direct son, might have on the the the the the the the the the the the the the Death uniqueness—that is, the Artificial Death—due to his unique identity, the Artificial Death Faction could not allow Azik to remain outside.
—Being or not being in the Numinous Episcopate would clearly not affect Azik's ability to establish contact with the Artificial Death. In that case, it would be better to pull Azik into the organization. With him under their watchful eyes, it would be easier to observe him or form an Alliance.
Besides this, the most important point was that Azik joining the Numinous Episcopate actually had no direct beneficial impact on the Artificial Death Faction. They were not as particular about Bloodline, nor were they the leaders within the Numinous Episcopate to begin with, so they would naturally welcome Azik's "return."
But the Royal Faction was different. The Royal Faction of the Numinous Episcopate had always centered around the Bloodline of the Balam Royal Family, valuing Bloodline legitimacy the most, and was also the largest faction within the Numinous Episcopate.
Its faction leader, the Pale Empress Sia Eggers, could be said to be the leader of the Numinous Episcopate in a sense, having basically led the Numinous Episcopate as the legitimate authority for over a hundred years. Under such circumstances, a Death Consul with even more legitimate Bloodline suddenly appeared. To draw a comparison, it's like a reigning emperor suddenly having a retired emperor appear; who would be happy about that?
As for Azik possibly knowing the secret of Death's revival?
This was, after all, just an unconfirmed, even unacknowledged, baseless speculation. The Artificial Death Faction could lean towards allowing Azik's "return" for this tiny possibility, as it wouldn't harm them anyway.
But for the Pale Empress and her close confidants, compared to a vague possibility, the direct impact on their status and legitimacy was clearly more important.
After all, people are selfish.
However, the Royal Faction was ultimately the place that valued Bloodline the most. There would always be people whose relationship with the Pale Empress was not as close, who wanted to seize an opportunity, and there would always be people who simply supported for the sake of Bloodline, and if they could support the Pale Empress, they could also support the more legitimate Death Consul.
These people would naturally choose to support Azik's return, and even if Azik truly joined the Numinous Episcopate, this group would probably be the first to rally to him.
As for those small factions on the fringes of the Numinous Episcopate, when both the Artificial Death Faction and the Royal Faction chose to allow Azik's return, they actually had no power to object. Their ambiguous attitude was also natural—they couldn't actively offend the Pale Empress, nor could they offend Azik, who was very likely to become influential in the Numinous Episcopate in the future. So, they could only act as happy fence-sitters for now.
However, once the conflict begins later, these fence-sitters will inevitably show their respective leanings and become a part that can be won over, though perhaps not very loyal.
Hmm, generally speaking, there should already be fence-sitters in these small factions who have sided with the Pale Empress. Perhaps there will even be a spy-within-a-spy scenario later?
Lin Ruo imagined it, then glanced at the somewhat nonchalant top Conspirer beside him, and immediately mourned for two seconds for these potential fence-sitters, then said: "Anyway, just keep the Numinous Episcopate under your control. I trust your ability."
Lin Ruo didn't think Medici needed him to teach him any schemes or tricks; he himself was the progenitor of such things.
Lin Ruo's positioning for himself in this matter was very clear: he only needed to act as the central hub connecting everyone, allowing these people who originally had no interaction to cooperate with peace of mind, and providing help when they needed it. Although he was an indispensable core person in this plan, other tasks were truly not within his scope.
After a pause, Lin Ruo remembered something and reminded him: "Don't forget that the Artificial Death Faction has already been reserved by Evernight Goddess. Just subtly win them over; you don't need to put too much effort into them."
Lin Ruo naturally wouldn't go back on his word regarding what he promised the Evernight Goddess.
At the same time, he didn't feel any regret. Compared to the remaining parts of the Royal Faction after excluding the Pale Empress and her close confidants, the members of the Artificial Death Faction were inherently harder to win over and more prone to becoming ticking time bombs. Giving them to Evernight Goddess in exchange for her investment was not regrettable in the slightest.
"Evernight Goddess… Heh." Medici curled his lips, not knowing what he thought of, and chuckled, "Her calculations are quite grand. I truly underestimated her before."
"Anyway, it doesn't conflict with us, so what does it matter how grand her ambitions are?" Lin Ruo, of course, understood what Medici was saying and shrugged.
Although Demoness + Hunter and Darkness + Death + Combat could form the Fourth Pillar, that was a Pillar that could bring destruction, and no one with a normal mind would pursue it.
So, Evernight Goddess and Medici truly had no conflict in their paths.
Medici didn't refute. He somewhat lazily picked up the teapot in front of Lin Ruo and poured himself a cup of tea. He didn't drink it; he just looked at it, then mocked Lin Ruo's taste a few times, and then began to flip through the pile of documents.
Seeing this, Lin Ruo pulled out a mysticism book from his luggage and started his daily tutoring session with Klein.
Since he was idle anyway, he might as well catch up on his lessons first!
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