Corruption in the Hall of Ten Thousand Stars

Buddha Punch!

The next day, Alicia and I stood before a magnificent building.

Twelve spires soaring as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠if to pierce the heavens, arranged in a vast circle that embraced the Holy Capital.

At the very center of that ring stood the grand cathedral.

The All Saints Palace.

The seat of the Pope's direct Holy Radiance Church and the supreme deliberative body of the Holy Radiance Empire, where the twelve cardinals representing the Twelve Zodiac Palaces convened.

The heart of the Holy Capital, Astrum.

It was also the place where, in the game, Alicia—after her fall—had smashed in more skulls than anywhere else, first thing.

She'd wrung submissions out of the surviving cardinals and declared a Great Purification War across the entire continent.

"Are you ready, Angel?"

Alicia, standing beside me, asked as she gently took my hand in hers.

"Yes."

I nodded quietly.

Comparing the mad, fallen Alicia of that time to the woman before me now—it wasn't even a contest.

Rrrrumble—

The golden doors of the All Saints Palace, engraved with constellations, swung open.

"Saintess Alicia and Celestial Zenith Star Manifestation Candidate Nirvana, entering!"

A ceremonial herald announced our arrival.

The interior of the All Saints Palace was as vast as a night sky brought down to earth.

Thousands of stars drifted across the deep-blue ceiling, and the floor bore the emblems of the Twelve Zodiac Palaces drawn in a great circle.

Along the rim of that circle stood twelve seats—the places of the cardinals who represented each celestial palace.

And at the front, atop a high staircase, sat a throne engraved with the Southern Cross.

An old man occupied that throne.

A figure holding a long cross-shaped Southern Cross staff, crowned in a blend of gold and platinum.

The ruler of the Holy Radiance Church and the Holy Radiance Empire—the Pope.

The gazes of the twelve cardinals seated in their stations and of the Pope himself converged upon us.

Let's see here.

I swept my eyes quickly around the room.

The Pope was neutral, for starters.

Thankfully not evil, but not being good either was a bit of a worry.

The twelve cardinals were salted evenly across the board—four good, four neutral, four evil.

Mind you, these were supposed to be the pinnacle of the Holy Radiance Church, where even one rotten apple would be a catastrophe.

Four out of twelve were evil. Worse than I'd expected.

Alicia and I knelt before the Pope.

"Alicia of Virgo, and I myself, present ourselves before His Holiness Nebelius III, Master of the Southern Cross Constellation."

"It has been some time, Alicia. You may rise. As may you, Celestial Zenith Star."

the Pope said in a low, measured voice.

"Your Holiness, Nirvana is still merely a candidate. The judgment of the All Saints Palace has yet to be rendered."

The cardinal of Sagittarius, standing at the throne's right hand, interjected.

Alignment: evil, naturally.

How considerate of him to step right up like a proper purification target.

"The Throne has granted provisional recognition of Nirvana as the manifestation of the Celestial Zenith Star."

The Pope cast his gaze down upon the cardinals to either side.

Of all the neutrals, he seemed the closest to good.

"Yet I do not take the laws of the All Saints Palace lightly. I would borrow your conclave's judgment—let your wills be gathered."

"I—Saintess Alicia—do not doubt for a moment that the Angel is the manifestation of the Celestial Zenith Star."

Alicia declared, bold and unflinching.

"Saintess Alicia. We have received the reports of the Holy Inquisition, yes—but that one attuned to the Celestial Zenith Star, known until now only in scripture, should be this rootless young child... that is difficult to accept. Have you considered the possibility of a temporary error in the crystal orb of the Holy Judgment Rite?"

The cardinal of Scorpio delivered a long-winded oration.

His alignment was evil too, of course.

The moment he finished, the evil-aligned cardinals buzzed in agreement.

"Quite so. It is hard to believe in a precedent that has never once existed in the Church's history."

"One must question whether we have been deceived by some heathen sorcery—"

Alicia's eyes went cold.

"Hmm. My own view differs somewhat, but the authority and reliability of the Holy Inquisition are beyond question. I asked the Grand Inquisitor myself, repeatedly, and the only answer I received was that there is no fault in the crystal orb."

The cardinal of Libra shielded me.

Surprisingly, not good but neutral.

Living up to the name, I suppose.

"Angel, it seems words will not be enough. Show them."

I pressed my palms together and lit my halo.

Fwooooom—!

From behind my head, a brilliance so radiant it reached the vast domed ceiling of the All Saints Palace erupted outward.

...It hadn't been this bright originally.

The explosive light swept the surroundings before settling back to a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gentle glow.

"Ah—aahh...!"

The effect of the halo was immediate.

The cardinals whose alignment leaned good wept openly, clutching at their chests.

Even the neutral priests stood frozen, mouths agape.

And most tellingly—

The Pope shot to his feet.

The System's halo effect only distinguished good from evil on paper, but apparently, at the upper echelons of the Holy Radiance Church, even neutrals saw something different in it.

The faces of the evil-aligned cardinals who had been slandering me, meanwhile, contorted at once.

"Sorcery that beguiles the human mind! Your Holiness, that wretched child must be arrested and interrogated this instant!"

shouted another evil-aligned cardinal—the one of Capricorn.

"Do you dare, before the Throne, call the radiance of the Celestial Zenith Star mere sorcery?"

the Pope rebuked him in an icy voice.

"Where is the proof that this is the radiance of the Celestial Zenith Star at all!"

"Capricorn, is it not before your very eyes?"

"Your Holiness has been deceived!"

The Pope's expression hardened to frost.

"You would arrest the Angel?"

Shing— Alicia half-drew her sword.

"Saintess Alicia."

The last evil-aligned one, the cardinal of Aquarius, parted his lips.

"Are we to believe that you have not had your mind enslaved by that heathen?"

"..."

Alicia smiled, the corners of her mouth lifting just slightly.

That expression.

It was the one she wore when she felt a truly vicious killing intent.

I quietly took hold of the hem of Alicia's robe.

"It's all right, Saintess."

And with that, I started walking toward the cardinal of Aquarius.

As I approached with my halo still blazing, his face twisted into something murderous and grotesque.

"That light of yours... truly repulsive."

"Naturally, it would be—to a cardinal like Your Eminence."

I stopped right in front of him and said it flatly.

"What is that supposed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to mean?"

The cardinal of Aquarius's eyebrows twitched.

Instead of answering, I looked at the necklace hanging around his neck.

A bottle-shaped pendant set with a deep-blue jewel.

At a glance, it looked like a sacred relic of the Aquarius Palace, but—

One look and you could tell it belonged to the deep-sea horror family.

And clearly a tier above the Erosion Chalice, at that.

Well, I suppose a cardinal—of whom there are only twelve—couldn't very well carry something inferior to a mere bishop's trinket.

"Is it proper to be walking around carrying something belonging to an evil god?"

I asked, the picture of wide-eyed innocence.

"What nonsense are you—!"

Bam!

I swung my fist without a moment's hesitation.

Buddha Punch connected squarely with the dead center of the necklace.

CRASSSHH—!

The pendant, steeped in the power of a deep-sea horror, shattered to pieces.

Deep-blue fragments scattered in every direction, catching the starlight.

Wham! The cardinal of Aquarius's body went flying backward.

Tch.

I'd struck the necklace alone with surgical precision—did some bonus damage sneak in anyway?

"Aquarius!"

"What is the meaning of this?!"

The All Saints Palace erupted into chaos.

Cardinals surged to their feet, and the royal guard drew their swords in unison.

Shing—

So did Alicia, of course.

"Lower your swords from the Angel. Immediately."

Pointed in the opposite direction, mind you.

In that hair-trigger instant—

"Halt."

The Pope raised a hand and stayed them all.

At his quiet command, every movement in the hall froze.

So this is why they call him the Pope, huh.

His gaze was fixed not on me, but on the cardinal of Aquarius, sprawled on the floor.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Black liquid was falling from around the cardinal.

Instead of bright red blood, the man was spewing out rotten seawater.

"GRAAAAAAAGH!"

His screams warped into an inhuman screech, and his spine arched like a drawn bow.

"All of you, fall back!"

Thud. The Pope brought the Southern Cross staff down upon the floor.

The royal guard withdrew, shielding the other cardinals behind them.

Chains wrought of starlight coiled around the cardinal of Aquarius's limbs.

"Hrrgh... hhrrgh..."

The chains of light pulled taut.

PABABABAK—! A bundle of tentacles burst from the cardinal's back and snapped the chains apart.

The suckers lining the tentacles yawned open, and hundreds of eyeballs swiveled about, surveying the room.

That is one brutal visual.

KWAAANG—!

A single tentacle slammed into the floor.

A long gouge tore through the hall, and a swath of the Twelve Zodiac emblems blew apart.

"How dare he, within the All Saints Palace!"

The cardinal of Leo spread both hands wide.

A golden lion manifested and roared.

The highest sacred art—Leo's Star Roar.

One of the more powerful holy arts, to be sure, but...

The crushing wall of sound struck the cardinal of Aquarius, and the black tentacles were pushed back—barely.

"Hrrk."

It did next to nothing to him.

So corruption has ranks too, apparently.

Even with the necklace destroyed as his medium, this man was pulling off things that made Casimir look like small change.

And this was the heart of the Holy Radiance Empire—the All Saints Palace itself.

Unless we wanted to raze the Holy Capital to the ground, we couldn't exactly carpet-bomb the place with sacred arts the way I had with Bishop Casimir.

"Angel, get behind me."

Alicia moved to block my path.

"No."

"Angel?"

"Could you hold that thing in place for just a moment?"

While Alicia hesitated, unable to answer—

"It can be done."

the Pope said first.

"Please, Your Holiness."

I bowed with all courtesy.

"Limited Astral Realm Manifestation."

Thud. The Pope intoned the words as he brought his staff down.

Four colossal stars took their places in the four directions of the All Saints Palace.

"Southern Cross Heaven."

KUUUNG—!

North, south, east, and west.

Starlight crossed in a cruciform seal and bore down upon the cardinal of Aquarius's body.

"GRAAAAAH!"

His knees slammed into the floor, and the black tentacles whipped wildly in every direction.

"Saintess, may I leave the tentacles to you?"

I said it evenly, and dashed toward the cardinal of Aquarius.

Swaak—!

Alicia cut down every tentacle that lunged at me, one after another.

And so, at last—

I reached the cardinal of Aquarius.

Only then did every eye on every tentacle turn to look at me.

Too late.

I pressed my fist against the man's head.

Pak—!

Golden cracks spiderwebbed outward from the point of impact.

Chest. Abdomen. Limbs.

Every last tentacle sprouting from his back.

The whole body split apart like cracked glass.

"Wh... what?"

The cardinal of Aquarius wore an expression of sheer disbelief.

"Mm. Rest in peace."

I offered the blessing calmly, and—

PAKAAAAAK—!

The grotesquely bloated body of the cardinal scattered into ash.

A hush fell ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠over the All Saints Palace.

Done.

I brushed off my fists and turned around.

Everyone was staring at me, mouths hanging open.

Thud.

The Pope brought the Southern Cross staff down upon the floor once more.

"The Master of Aquarius gave his soul to an evil god."

His eyes swept across the remaining cardinals.

"Had it not been for the radiance of the Celestial Zenith Star, not I nor any soul in this hall would ever have learned the truth of it."

Three of the evil-aligned cardinals flinched.

I'd have to deal with those, too, eventually.

"Furthermore, the Celestial Zenith Star defended the All Saints Palace and annihilated the avatar of an evil god."

The Pope descended fully from the throne and stood before me.

"Your divinity can no longer be doubted."

The Southern Cross staff came gently to rest above my head.

"And so, in the name of Nebelius III, Sovereign Pontiff, I declare—"

The myriad stars streaming across the ceiling began to move, and at their center, a platinum-white Celestial Zenith Star rose into brilliance.

"The Throne recognizes Nirvana as the manifestation of the Celestial Zenith Star."

Dong—

A bell tolled from the highest point of the All Saints Palace.

Dong—

Dong—!

One by one, the bells of the entire Holy Capital answered the call.

I quietly checked my status window.

Just as I expected.

There it was—enough Votive Power banked to spin the enhancement gacha yet again.