The chasm between the realms rattled with a great tremor. The hole was still too narrow to let the Demon Lord through, and it let out a terrible noise as it stopped her from invading the Human Realm.
"Ugh!"
The world exerted a greater force of resistance to repel the powerful entities' presence, and the struggle eventually buckled the first-ranked Demon Lord of the Demon Realm. Evixinous fell to her knees, but the handsome man in front of her turned to offer her his hand. Honored, she delicately accepted his hand with the tips of her fingers.
"I am eternally honored," she remarked in gratitude.
Then, Reed's powers brought Evixinous into the human world.
Crack!
The man's powers shattered the plane and made the chasm wider, causing the remaining fragments of the barrier to shower over them like raindrops.
â
The knight division of Elfenheim was humiliated at Feronsa when the master of the holy sword betrayed them and foiled their plans to bring down their former Divine Emissary. Needless to say, the Vatican was shocked to hear their report and responded by holding emergency meetings on a daily basis.
A week after the shocking events, Magram Weriks finally regained consciousness after being hit with Divine Retribution. In fact, the only reason he survived was because Ailette had carefully controlled her power when she struck him.
"Curse those heathens!"
The fanatic could hardly control himself after he rushed out of his hospital bed. He stormed into the council of cardinals and interrupted the meeting by walking up to the witness stand.
"I accuse Tesilid Argente! He joined the heathens when he was supposed to punish them! The master of the holy sword was tricked by the witch to abandon his faith!"
"Sir Magram. You are in the presence of Her Holiness the Pope and the cardinals. Please calm downâ"
"I am calm, Sir Rex! You are merely witnessing the passion of my deep and unwavering faith!"
The cardinal stilled his tongue, allowing Magram to continue his tirade.
"You have to listen to me! They have committed unforgivable acts of betrayal and heresy! The two heathens must be excommunicated and stripped of their rights as humans created by the Strict Order and Goodness! Let them be examples to others! We should allow people of the faith to stone them to death and then burn their bodies at the stake! We must not leave a single trace of those corrupt heathens in the land blessed by the Strict Order and Goodness!"
He thought everyone would agree with him, since he suggested very traditional ways of dealing with heretics. But instead of nodding in agreement, the cardinals looked troubled and remained silent.
Huh? Why aren't they agreeing with me? Only then did Magram collect his senses enough to read the room. He looked around in confusion as Cardinal Dekal clicked his tongue.
"No wonder Sir Magram is clueless. He's been in bed for a week. Can someone enlighten him as to what's going on? He deserves to know what happened."
It was necessary within the Vatican to keep the extreme fanatics of the Holy Prosecution Ministry in check. That's why Dekal seized the opportunity to remind them of the current state of things. As the person seated closest to Magram, Rex took on the task of informing the holy knight of the current state of affairs. To be honest, though, he was happy to do so.
"Sir Magram."
"Yes, Sir Rex?"
"The Order does not have the capacity to do such things at the moment."
"Oh, I understand your concern. I was informed on the way here that Heathfenrir has declared the belief of the heathens as the new state religion. But we always knew punishing Ailette Rodeline could lead to a holy war, and we were ready for it!"
Despite his enthusiasm, Magram's statement only drew more sighs from the council, and Rex had to explain everything once again.
"This isn't about the declaration. It has more to do with the fact that Sir Tesilid Argente, the master of the holy sword, has switched sides to the religion of the Voice that Shapes the World."
"What?"
"Have you forgotten the fact that he was only the reason we could attempt punishing the heathen at all?"
The Vatican had wanted to make use of Tesilid's power and his relationship with the Divine Emissary. In fact, the latter was the more important factor of the two, but to acknowledge as much would be to admit how manipulative their efforts had been.
"But now, the master of the holy sword has switched sides. We cannot win a war against the Duchy of Heathfenrir."
Magram looked genuinely shocked. Anyone could see the logic in Rex's words, however many were still not convinced. Considering how obedient he had always been, members of the religious order could hardly imagine Tesilid rebelling against the faith. The difference in military might was already a good reason not to attack, but it was only one of the reasons.
"But that's not all. Sir Tesilid is Queen Laviosa's son, so Vinchester Kingdom has announced their support for Voiceism two days ago. Persecuting Sir Tesilid could turn both the Duchy and Vinchester Kingdom against us."
Since the Holy Kingdom of Elfenheim broke off all diplomatic ties with Ragneif Republic of Magic a long time ago, raising tensions against Heathfenrir and Vinchester could easily isolate them within the continent.
"Lastly, we've lost much of our support from the people."
"The people?"
"Yes. The master of the holy sword had a symbolic significance in the hearts of people because the duality of his sword judged his actions."
"What does that have anything to do with this? At the end of the day, he's still nothing more than a heathen..."
Even Rex had to sigh out aloud at this point. "The sword didn't corrupt Sir Tesilid even after he converted in faith. It should have turned him into the master of the demonic sword, but he still holds the holy sword. Many of our believers are shaken by that fact."
Magram finally understood what it meant. People held negative sentiments about the Vatican after its leaders gave up thirty percent of their population on Walpurgis Night by using the Sacred Place Establishment artifact for siege defense. The persecution of the Divine Emissary and the conversion of the master of the holy sword only aggravated those sentiments further. As a result, many subjects of the Holy Kingdom applied for asylum in the Duchy, leading to a mass migration of people who used to follow Order and Goodness.
Bianca did play a part in swaying people's sentiments, but Tesilid's conversion significantly accelerated the process and secured a bright future for Voiceism. In that regard, the Divine Emissary and the master of the holy sword perfectly complemented each other.
"Y-you are right... The sword should have corrupted him for being a heathen... W-why hasn't it corrupted him?"
Magram was completely bewildered. It was the third reason that had truly shocked him, as it had so many others. Abandoning the Strict Order and Goodness failed to corrupt Tesilid Argente and his sword. In truth, the Holy Demon Sword never judged one by their allegiance to a particular god. But this was beyond the comprehension of monotheists, fanatics and average followers alike.
Some of the cardinals voiced their concerns.
"At this rate, they might start calling us heathens."
"We shouldn't have sent the master of the holy sword to Feronsa."
"I agree. We should have brainwashed... I mean, baptized Sir Tesilid once again so he would stay on our side."
"Who came up with the idea of sending the master of the holy sword to bring down the Divine Emissary?"
"Actually, it was Saintess Muriel who insisted on the idea..."
"Ahem, ahem."
"This is ridiculous..."
Many annoyed sighs and grunts were heard from the cardinals as they thought about Muriel, who had left her post for prayers when they needed her the most.
"We must accept the fact that we do not have the capacity to punish the heathens at the moment."
A deep voice resounded over the sighs. It was Cardinal Vegalius, who seemed to have aged a decade since losing his son a month ago.
"Are you suggesting that we let those heathens go unpunished?!" Magram shouted in outrage.
But Cardinal Vegalius paid no heed to his insolence and continued, "No. The threats to our faith must be dealt with, however, doing so will require a more realistic solution than the one you are suggesting."
"A realistic solution, you say?" Cardinal Dekal repeated his colleague's words.
Interestingly enough, the cardinals often found themselves in agreement on issues involving the Divine Emissary and the master of the holy sword.
Cardinal Dekal raised his monocle and commented on the matter. "After all is said and done, the two did betray the Order."
Cardinal Vegalius then nodded. "Yes. In particular, the Divine Emissary of the heathens mocked our faith by hiding her true identity. That dishonesty must be thoroughly condemned."
The cardinals continued to mutter words of agreement amongst themselves. Their stance was rather ironic, given that they would have executed Ailette for heresy had she been honest with them. Regardless, the two cardinals found their justification in condemning Ailette and Tesilid.
"Let us release an official statement denouncing their switch in allegiance."
"Yes, we must!"
"That is a brilliant idea!"
The cardinals of the Vatican immediately became lively once they found a way to sabotage the reputation of the traitors and decry the malpractices of Voiceism. They were all eager to carry it out.
But their celebration was abruptly interrupted.
Thud!
"What was that?"
They felt a powerful tremor over their heads.
"I-is it the ceiling?!"
"N-no! It's up in the sky!"
Despite their foolishness, everyone in the council was capable of using either divine power or aura. They immediately identified where the tremor was coming from.
Rumble.
The sky shook and roared. The magic circle in the sky sent forth waves and made the creatures on land tremble in fear. Going through Walpurgis Night and Doomsday taught everyone what this meant.
"I-it's a dungeon burst!"
"L-look how massive it is this time!"