As soon as they teleported, Aaron felt spacetime lock around them and an enormous fireball flew their way.

It wasn't a weak attack. The flames had been produced by a Master Fire Elementalist, and the fireball moved fast. But it wasn't strong either. Aaron created an Arcane hand in front of him and slapped it away with little effort.

The fireball was merely a statement, a signal of the arrival of the mighty.

It was followed by the mighty indeed. A Master Fire Elementalist and twenty Champions came flying from nearby. They all wore crimson plate armor from head to toe.

"There you are," the female Master said, her skill-enhanced voice reaching them with ease. Aaron felt the source of the spacetime lock with her, inside her armor, at chest height. It was an item, not a skill from one of them. "I was starting to think the Entropomancer had killed you, Arcane Master. That would be a pathetic way to die for someone who thinks so highly of himself."

"Great General," Bymor said with spite. "What did you do to the crusade?"

The armored people finally arrived and made a circle, still floating, around the two. "They should be getting eaten by a beast here or there," she said with disinterest. "Half your Champions were already dead by the time I arrived, and the other half swiftly swore allegiance to me when I gave them the chance. Most of your Five Star cultivators did too, for that matter, though the weaker members were ironically the most faithful. I sent mine away and exiled yours from the empire."

"They live," the guardian sighed in relief.

"I have no interest in killing weaklings," she countered. "I'm a warrior, not a murderer. Speaking of which, I'm not a Priest either, and I'm glad to see Thenor finally free from servitude to the Light. We're entering a new era of prosperity."

He shook his head. "Naïve. The gods will never abide for someone who has earned the Mark of Sin, no matter how he dispelled it. Thenor will be no more by the end of the year."

She snickered. "I am the naïve one? You've been brainwashed by your goddess, Arcane Master. The Complex is at war with the barbarians to the West, the White Marches are still healing from their last crusade, the Barch Archipelago is undergoing a Holy Judgement, and the Yarns Empire is too big; if they attack us, they will get attacked elsewhere.

"Do you think some god from distant lands will leave their territories vulnerable just to come for us? Do you think the nations between us and them, nations at the brink of extinction themselves, will allow foreign troops to move freely through their territory? Or will the distant gods spend precious resources in teleporting their troops from and to our puny empire just to kill a single man?

"Who is coming for us? Tell me, O wise one. Which god will waste enough money to fund a nation to deal with us?"

Bymor shook his head again. "You've never dealt with god politics, Mia. They have their issues, but haven't you studied our history? The last Blessed of Light died during a World War, yet all gods stopped it for a time to deal with the Sinner. Some lines cannot be crossed. Kill Priests if you want, deal with High Priests if that is your will — hells, erase Ministers from existence if you're so inclined — but never touch an Avatar. Dead Avatars expose the gods' weaknesses, and they all fear that it might become common, so they quell the perpetrators swiftly and brutally. The Apostle of Light was one-third of the Goddess of Light's avatar. The emperor won't live past the end of the month."

The Great General laughed. "Oh, Bymor, aren't you cute, looking at the world as if it were black and white? But that is no surprise. If I were your goddess, if I were to make you one of my two strongest warriors, I would also brainwash you into not killing the other one." She raised her fist, and all Champions took crimson swords from their sheaths. "As much as I would like to enlighten you to the error of your ways, there is no point. You'll be dead soon."

They attacked.

It was night. Only seven flying ships were orbiting the fortress, the others long gone to deal with the civil war. As usual, the stupid Sinner had miscalculated, and he had a civil war of enormous proportions in his empire. It was strongest in the cities close to the capital itself, where the Temple of Light had the most influence after they lost their Apostle and half their Ministers in the Sinner's coup.

Not that the Sinner would live to deal with his problems. They had been activated, all five of them. Their god demanded the death of the Sinner, and they would deliver.

The Masters had waited for the Sinner to enter the former Fortress of Light. Paradoxically, it made the man less protected than in the Imperial Palace, for their Blessing of the Ruler passive skill, given to them by the Avatar of Shalar himself, allowed them to bypass any defenses made of or powered by Holy Energy of any level below Sage. The Sinner was already replacing the fortress' defenses, but it would take a while. Until then, he was vulnerable against them in there.

No man or woman spotted them as they flew using stealth skills into the fortress. They landed in a secret hatch that looked like any other wall of metal. Their mere approach made the metal slid, though an illusion made it seem as nothing had happened. They went through the illusion and found themselves inside a long, tight corridor. Soon, they were out of it and inside the fortress itself.

The Sinner had dispelled the visible part of the Mark of Sin, but not even the Atheist who had created the items the Sinner had used could dispel the internal mark. They could feel him, any Devout could. It felt like a painful, disgusting, rotting injury on their souls. His very existence was anathema to any Devout. If they remained a few days by his side, they would die. That made them even more compelled to kill him than they had already been by their orders.

The fortress was barely manned. Most of those in there were Patterners or Smiths working on repurposing and repairing it.

It had fallen because the Apostle had been too arrogant of her power to stockpile Holy crystals, and so the fortress had lacked the energy to keep going after the Sinner sounded the Bell of Heresy. The Devouts had found themselves incapable of recovering the Holy Energy they spent, and the fortress required an enormous amount of it to function for anything other than flying. That ended up making the damage to the fortress minimal, with only a few forced openings here and there.

There were few signs of battle on the inside too. Most had fallen unconscious after pushing every last drop of Holy Energy within them into the fortress, and most of those who didn't, had switched sides. The betrayers were far and few between though. The Goddess of Light knew how to properly groom her faithful into loyalty.

The Masters followed the feeling the Sinner gave them, walking unimpeded through the metal corridors of the enormous fortress. Their stealth skills made them invisible to the few military men they found. Soon, they arrived at the Most Holy Room, the seat of power of the late Apostle and heart of the fortress. Had any Devout been there to fuel it with even a single particle of Light Holy Energy, the Emperor would have been obliterated from existence as he entered the room. Alas, they were all gone, and none of the five were Devouts of Light.

"...doing my best, Your Majesty," they heard the Celestial Designer say as they approached.

"Do better," the Sinner barked. "I want these paintings gone by tomorrow!"

The five reached the room's big open doors. The large room was the only one in the fortress where the metal had been hidden. It was fully white, had a silver floating globe on the top illuminated it, and paintings of the Goddess of Light in different poses and historical moments hang on the walls. The Sinner was having trouble removing them, for they were part of the fortress itself, and linked to its flying capabilities. An orb of liquid Holy Gold the size of a head floated in the middle of the room. It was the core and command tool of the fortress.

The Sinner was close to the golden orb, his back to the Masters. He was surrounded by shadows as usual. They had always found it strange how the Capital of the Light of the World had been led by a man who hid his appearance from all. Alas, it wasn't their place to judge a goddess' wisdom. The Celestial Designer, a young elf genius less than a hundred years old, was studying a distant painting using skills and magical items. The High Inquisitor, wearing his black and golden armor, stood guard beside the Sinner, looking straight outside.

Their eyes met. He was a Master like the five of them, and his class was specialized in finding the truth. His passive perception skill pierced through their stealth with ease, and he reacted at once.

They also wasted no time in attacking. One of them stepped up to keep the Celestial Designer out of the fight while the other four went for the Sinner and his guard. Four against two should be an easy fight.

It wasn't.

The High Inquisitor was good, too good, much better than the reports. He should be close to leveling up to Grandmaster already, only being prevented from that by lacking approval from a god. The goddess holding back on her people might explain why the Sinner had rebelled against her.

That wasn't the only thing preventing them from claiming swift victory though. The Sinner himself had too many magical items. They protected him, attacked them, and destroyed the flow of battle. One of the five even used a Radiant skill, only to be blocked by the Buckler of Alur itself! How had the Sinner gotten his hands on such a valuable holy item?!

The fight took longer than it should, and the Celestial Designer escaped his assailant's reach for an instant. That was enough for him to activate an item of his, and spacetime was unlocked. The Sinner and the High Inquisitor activated other items and instantly teleported away.

Only the Celestial Designer was left. They killed him, but it was a hollow victory. They had failed their god, and now the Sinner would be extra careful.

On the other hand, they would take the fortress away from the Sinner. The Goddess of Light would claim it as a stolen item, but whether Shalar would give it back to her was his decision to make. They would only deliver it to their god.

Their Blessing of the Ruler not only allowed them to take control of it. As they moved it away, the Sinner activated other items, patterns, and trump cards to prevent them from leaving with the item. However, they were five Masters; they could level the city if they so wished, and only a few powerful people would survive to tell the tale. Resisting the onslaught of attacks was no trouble at all.

They left victorious at their battle but defeated in their purpose.

May Shalar have mercy on them.

The emperor laid on a bed in a tiny, secret room of the palace. The shadows around him were gone, revealing a youth that was aging at a speed visible to the naked eye. The Imperial Physician, wearing healer robes stylized with expensive props of gold and precious gems, sat on a bench beside the patient, his hand touching the man.

"He spent a lot of his Vital Energy to fuel some kind of magic item," he said. "He'll survive, but the next few days will be hard on him. I recommend rest and meditation for a few weeks."

"There's nothing else to be done?" asked the High Inquisitor.

The man shook his hand. "I'm afraid not."

"Thank you, doctor," the High Inquisitor said and beheaded the man. None could know the emperor was in such a weak state, not while they had a civil war in their hands.

The room shook. Aboveground, a Master of the Arcane Circle besieged the palace with two other Masters from allied clans. They had all been kept hidden, thus neither the Great General nor the High Inquisitor had been able to kill them, lock them away, or force them to flee the city. For now, and until the High Inquisitor was sure the emperor was safe, they would have free rein in the capital.

And maybe, just maybe, the enemy Masters would force the emperor's own two hidden Masters to come out. Maybe the enemies would kill them. And maybe that would have the emperor finally giving the High Inquisitor the forbidden item that would allow him to reach the Grandmaster level despite his lack of approval from any god.

That would be the end of all their enemies.