Inside the Palace of Light…
Lira, Ephemera and Melody were gathered in the grand hall of the palace when a beam of light descended at its center. A moment later, a blue-haired beauty appeared with a smile on her face.
“How are they?” Melody asked.
“Aside from the black bracelets that bind their wrists to prevent them from using their powers, they are not tied up or anything,” Shana replied. “I don’t mind staying to look after them, but since William is not around, it will be a waste of time.
“Also, I doubt that Nisha would restrict them too harshly. She knows that William doesn’t want to hurt our sisters, so she won’t go overboard.”
The three Virtuous Ladies breathed a sigh of relief after hearing Shana’s assurance. Although they had betrayed their organization for William’s sake, they didn’t want anyone to die, much less make their sisters suffer.
“So, what now?” Lira asked. “The Pope has fled and probably teleported outside of the Palace already. What is going to happen next?”
Melody closed her eyes for half a minute before answering Lira’s question.
“The Pope will return soon after Belle and the others come back,” Melody replied. “The Palace of Light is mostly intact and only the gate, a few hallways, and rooms, were destroyed in the infighting. Several of the Guardians were injured, but none of them are dead. Overall, this operation was a success.”
“Do you really think that way?” Ephemera who had remained silent commented. “I doubt that the Pope will just sit still and let things remain the way they were.”
Shana smiled before crossing her arms over her chest. “Even if the Pope were to attempt something, she would have to consider Celeste’s, Cherry’s, and Audrey’s safety. She might be the head of the Holy Order, but the Holy Order only exists because of us. Also, this attack on the palace will work in our favor.”
“How?” Lira inquired.
“We can say that this is the consequence for repeatedly provoking the Ainsworth Empire,” Shana replied. “We can blame the kidnapping of the Heavenly Virtues as well as the destruction of the Palace on her.”
“Will that really work?” Lira understood the logic of Shana’s explanation, but she still had doubts in her mind if they would really be able to sway the entirety of the Holy Order of Light to believe their words.
“It may or may not work,” Shana shrugged. “But, one thing’s for certain. We can definitely blame her for this incident because she kept on provoking someone that he shouldn’t provoke. Also, we can always…”
Before Shana could even finish her explanation, a powerful fluctuation emerged in the sky above the Palace of Light.
Five powerful presences descended from the Heavens, making the Guardians, the Templars, as well as the Inquisitors of the Palace of Light, cheer. They had been completely caught by surprise and some of them received serious injuries from their opponents, but none of them were lethal.
Because of this, although they had suffered a loss, they didn’t feel too bad about it.
They were still not aware that three of the Heavenly Virtues had been kidnapped by their enemies, making the radiance that surrounded the Palace of Light a lot dimmer compared to before.
The four Heavenly Virtues gave each other a knowing glance before going to the main hallway of the Palace to meet with the Pseudo-Gods who had been hoodwinked by William’s subordinates.
Belle and the Pseudo-Gods were shocked at the damage that had occurred in the Palace of Light just half an hour after they left.
“What happened here?” one of the Pseudo-Gods asked. “Who attacked our headquarters?”
“Your Excellency, it was the Prince of Darkness’ forces,” one of the Inquisitors reported. “Those cowards attacked us while you were all away on your mission. We are currently assessing the damages, as well as the casualties we received. But so far, no deaths have been reported, and the seriously injured people have already been tended to.”
The Pseudo-God frowned before nodding his head. “Where is the Pope?”
The Inquisitor glanced at his comrades, and the others only replied by shaking their heads.
“We lost contact with the Pope as soon as the attack started,” the Inquisitor replied “but, we have reason to believe that she was able to escape safely. Now that your Excellencies have returned, it is only a matter of time before the Pope comes back.”
It was at this moment when the four Virtuous Ladies made their appearance.
Belle glanced at them and noticed that three of them were missing.
“Where are the others?” Belle asked. “Are they hurt or injured anywhere?”
Melody shook her head. “They have been kidnapped by those who launched an attack on the Palace of Light.”
“What?!”
“This can’t be! The Virtuous Ladies are captured by that fiend…”
“This is madness! We must rescue them at once!”
The Inquisitors, Guardians, as well as the Templars immediately made a ruckus and all agreed that they should launch a punitive expedition against the Ainsworth Empire in order to rescue the Heavenly Virtues.
That was how important they were to the Palace of Light and all of the members of the Holy Order of Light treated them as sacred existences.
The Pseudo-Gods didn’t take this news lightly. They had launched an attack on the Ainsworth Empire, but instead of them accomplishing their mission, they didn’t see anyone in William’s room. Their plan to capture him had utterly failed, and their connection to the Palace of Light had been cut.
This was why they were unable to instantly teleport back to it, using the artifacts that the Pope had given them. They had to wait for an hour before the artifact regained its ability to activate.
However, when they returned, what they saw was smoke rising from several places of the Palace of Light, as if it had just suffered from a siege.
They weren’t stupid and instantly understood that at the same time they executed their mission, several foxes had entered the chickencoop and stole several chickens, while they were away.
It was as if they were played by their opponents and treated like babies trying to beat adults in solving a mathematical problem.
In short, they had been one-upped by their enemies and it left them feeling bitter. But, one question popped up inside the Pseudo-God’s heads after they had calmed down and understood the situation.
The only one that knew of their mission was the five of them and the Pope.
Did that mean that one of them was a traitor?
As soon as this thought appeared inside their heads, all of them gave each other a side-long glance, unwilling to say the thought that had been formed inside their minds. If this was true, it only meant one thing and that was…
Who was the traitor among them?
Surprisingly, none of them believed that it was the Pope who had betrayed them. First of all, the Pope wouldn’t gain anything from it. Also, they had long seen her ambition and someone like that wouldn’t do something that would jeopardize her goal for expanding the territories owned by the Holy Order of Light.
“Let’s wait for the Pope to arrive before we decide on things,” One of the Pseudo-Gods commented from the side. “For now, we should focus on treating the injured, assessing the destroyed properties, as well as checking to see if they stole anything of importance to the Palace, aside from the Virtuous Ladies.
“Their goal might not have only be the girls, but the treasures hidden inside this place as well. We can’t rule out that they might have had another agenda during their attack, so make sure that all of you scour every hallway and room along the way and check if there’s anything unusual.”
“It will be done, Your Excellency!”
One of the Guardians bowed respectfully before leaving the hallway. The Inquisitors and the Templars followed suit and did a thorough search of the Palace of Light.
In truth, Nisha did indeed have other agendas after their forces had invaded the Headquarters of the Holy Order. She had sent some of her elite members to ransack the treasury, but all of them failed to unlock the runic protection that barred anyone from being able to enter it without permission.
Because of this, they just settled for taking anything else of importance, practically looting the Palace of anything that seemed expensive and would sell for a high price in the black market.
After a quick search of their headquarters, the Guardians, Inquisitors, as well as the Templars felt that their blood was boiling in anger because of the wanton theft that had transpired.
The invaders had taken everything, including the couches, beds, as well as linens from the Palace of Light, making them seem like unscrupulous bandits who hadn’t seen a bed for years.
After reporting their discovery, the Pseudo-Gods didn’t make any comments because these mundane things weren’t important to them.
The only thing they cared about was whether their enemy had left any clues, or traces about how they were able to infiltrate their headquarters, bypass the barrier that protected the palace, as well as capture the Virtuous Ladies in such a timely manner.
Belle was looking at Lira, Ephemera, Shana, and Melody in a suspicious manner. Her golden pupils glistened for a brief moment before they returned to their clear and calm manner.
She didn’t think that it was the Heavenly Virtues that had passed the information to Wiliam’s subordinates about their special mission.
They weren’t included in their meetings, and the Pope had reminded them over and over again that they shouldn’t mention the details of the mission to anyone, especially to the members of the Heavenly Virtues, whom she was starting to suspect of betrayal.
