The more they oppose, the more it shows that I am doing the right thing

The Magic Association did not have a tenth layer.

The magic work staircase reached its top at the ninth layer.

An Su followed behind the deacon, first passing through corridor after corridor, and at the end of the corridor, he saw a new staircase, winding its way out, its end unknown.

As if unaffected by the laws of physics.

"You must proceed on your own from here, I can no longer accompany you," the deacon said to An Su.

Walking up the spiral staircase, surrounded by pale blue magic power, stepping over staircases splattered with mercury ripples, An Su felt himself getting further from the mortal world with each level crossed, as starlight laid out on the stairs, slowly circulating.

The starlight seemed familiar.

When An Su finally reached the top of the staircase, he saw the brilliant and sacred giant doorframe, supporting the entire starry sky, with marble columns rich in Holy Light aesthetics lined up along the grand door, and healing, alchemic, radiance, druid, chastity, stardust, order—the seven sacred runes arrayed on the columns.

An Su realized this was the Nether World.

The tenth layer of the Magic Association was an entire world.

The rank of this world was at least of the Seventh Order, a demigod-level world.

An Su had read in the setup, this was the Magic Association's, and even the Septenary Church's, top-tier foundation, the Seventh-Layer Cathedral World 'Heaven's Gate'.

The so-called Nether was the fragments of a world once destroyed; this place was the proof of Heaven's fall.

This world was unimaginably vast.

Gazing outward into the sea-blue sky, beyond the door, one could see the Seven Gods Hall built upon the sea of stars.

The Seven Gods Hall of Farol was just the one established in the mundane world; the truly sacred Seven Gods Hall, however, was established in the world of Heaven.

Ahead was a vast expanse of pure white Cecilia flowers, the sea of flowers stretching to the end of the grand door, with dazzling starlight falling and favoring, and the pale blue glow gently moistening each petal.

"The space ahead is not where your existence may tread."

The ethereal voice seemed to come from above the stars, yet also echoed deep within the soul, quite imposing.

A voice that bespoke authority the moment it was heard.

An Su narrowed his eyes slightly and did not proceed further, so as not to offend this mysterious demigod.

An Su stopped.

What followed was a long silence.

Even in Heaven, time flowed irregularly, and as dusk slowly fell, the flower petals, whitened by starlight, were re-tinted with a blush of yellow. Time passed slowly, and An Su did not budge.

He decided to adopt a stance of "If you don't move, I don't move."

After another extended period of silence,

"Why don't you come over?" asked the ethereal voice.

"Didn't you say that the space ahead is not for me to tread?" An Su honestly replied.

"What I meant was, the field of flowers ahead is my plantation, forbidden to be trampled upon," said the ethereal voice leisurely, "but you can take a detour to come here."

This God of Law was rather caring.

An Su took a detour and arrived in front of the giant doorframe.

He could see a sacred church, cradled among the Cecilia flowers, at the most flourishing part of the flower sea—

A man without a discernible face, clad in a red robe, with that magnificent and sacred Church robe trailing all the way to his ankles, the hem of the robe embroidered with the design of the Cathedral of the Holy Light, facing away from all beings, with the orange sunset falling in front of him and the grand starry sky rising again, starlight and sunlight rotating in exchange.

The faceless one, the rotating guardian of Heaven's Gate, the Pure White Eye, and the 'Staff of Radiance'.

"An Su Moningsta."

The only thing that could be clearly seen were his eyes, pure white as if containing endless light, "Do you know what this door in front of you signifies?"

An Su shook his head, though he actually did know what lay beyond it, he had to pretend not to.

"Beyond this door lies the true Seven Gods Hall, and it is also one of the keys to the path to divinity. However, the Church has always failed the trials of Heaven, thus this place can still be infiltrated by the Evil God. To guard Heaven's Gate is the duty of every Cardinal; do you understand what this entails?"

"Our meeting here, in this space, at this point in time, do you truly understand what it means?"

What does it mean... An Su fell into thought.

Could it be a veiled admonition?

Hitting on myself, the Child of the Curse?

Or is it an expectation I hold for myself, a hint that I should take on the heavy responsibilities of Heaven, or teach me some divine secret... Countless possibilities flashed through An Su's mind, but he dismissed them one by one.

Time and space, this point in time... What profound meaning does this have?

"Your Excellency Merlin, please just tell me directly," An Su said.

"It means..."

Merlin sighed slowly, his ethereal and vast voice carrying the loneliest and coldest desolation, as if it were a sigh from the edge of the universe,

"It means that even though it's time for me to clock off, I have to work overtime because of you!"

What the hell are you talking about?

An Su was expressionless.

"245 is my turn to keep watch, 136 is for that old geezer from the Order Church, but I've been on guard duty for a whole year now."

Merlin sighed, "That damn old bastard."

The rotation for overseeing Heaven's Gate sounds so profound and mysterious, but is it just old men taking turns guarding the door!

Merlin sighed helplessly.

An Su felt that his impression of the God of Law had shifted slightly.

"I've looked over the magic you submitted."

Merlin spoke with an attitude of just getting by in work, "It's designed quite interestingly." Experience tales at empire

"That Illumination Skill is still at the initial stage, and there is a lot of room for improvement." Praised by the God of Law, An Su decided to be modest first.

"What Illumination Skill?" Merlin looked surprised, "I said the 'friendly interaction' is interesting, very enjoyable."

"..." An Su felt there was something seriously wrong with this God of Law's train of thought.

This birth magic has already been listed as a forbidden spell on the outside.

"If X-ray Illumination Skill and friendly torture sharing, and Spatial Distortion were combined, it would be possible to live stream the enemy's feminized nude body in real-time. Wouldn't that also be interesting?"

An Su decided to give it a try.

"Hmm... indeed, that's quite interesting," Merlin nodded thoughtfully, "I didn't see it coming; you're rather knowledgeable about magic."

Being evaluated by the God of Law as 'rather knowledgeable about magic' could cause quite a stir if it got out.

"So the X-ray Illumination Skill is also quite interesting, right?"

"Indeed, let me have a look at the Magic Circuit for your X-ray Illumination Skill."

Merlin's pure white eyes fixed on An Su.

He'd been bored watching the gate for so long; this kid An Su was pretty interesting, so why not reward him a bit.

An Su took out the Magic Circuit.

"Bring it closer, the Holy Light in my eyes is too brilliant to see clearly."

So pure white pupils mean cataracts...

How come this gatekeeping old man has so many problems.

Merlin took a look, made a few slow and deliberate modifications,

"Hmm, this kind of Holy Light is indeed quite unique, really interesting. There's something else inside, other light... I've enhanced it for you, making it even more interesting now."

An Su took a look,

[Radiant Illumination Skill]

[Legendary Intermediate-Stage Magic]

[Magic Power Consumption: 5]

[Effect: High-radiation Holy Light irradiation has a certain chance of causing irregular mutations, with younger subjects being more susceptible to changes]

[Note: Mr. Merlin Andre is a devout Bishop of the Holy Light, his research has shown that radiant light is also a rare branch of the Holy Light]

"..."