Angelica woke up within sheets knitted from gilded fabric, breathing in the surprisingly thick divinity within the room. Her mind and body were fuzzy and so were her memories. The chandelier light in the room enveloped Angelica with warmth as she was surrounded by the opulence of the room.

"You are finally awake," a voice sounded from nearby the moment her eyes were open. She tried to sit up only to realise her mind was still too unfocused and that weakness still permeated her limbs and body.

"How long has I been asleep," Angelica said, struggling to recall who the owner of the voice was.

"Over a month," a different voice sounded from just beside her. A calloused hand touched her back and helped her sit up. Seeing the faces of the two men, Angelica managed to recall Anderson beside her as well as Michael sitting on a heavily decorated chair nearby. Together with them, other memories flooded into Angelica's mind, though the debilitating numbness of her exhaustion at least reduced the impact.

"I… still feel so tired," she eventually spoke. Even during her capture, power was just locked away beyond her reach. That was different from the complete lack of it she felt at the moment.

"I understand," Michel said, Angelica now noticed that besides his kind smile there was a single tear running the side of his face, "However, the church of creation cannot rest now. That is why we had to wake you up."

"What happened?" Angelica asked as she tried her best to focus and push away the distracting fatigue.

"War had been declared on us," Michael stood up and stepped aside, revealing a table behind him. And on that table, a pair of dim and bloodied gilded wings lied, "She would come here almost every night, yet in the end, she never had the chance to meet you," Michel said. Although he still maintained his calm smile another golden tear ran down his face.

"Who?!" Angelica felt fury churn within her. An angel of her lord was killed. She couldn't let that go unpunished.

"The Foundation decided to get rid of all opposition in one fell swoop," Michael explained, "And since we were the second-largest organisation standing against them the Church of creation belonged among their targets. Had it not been for what you have gifted me and Anderson, both of us and the pontiff would have been killed."

"Moreover," Anderson continued from the side, "our influence in the underground world took an enormous hit as most of our undercover personnel and secret hideouts had been eliminated."

"How could they manage that?" Angelica felt her wrath multiplying, struggling to keep her calm.

"Something changed in their upper echelons," Anderson replied, "From the information we have gathered, someone using the codename Wisdom had obtained a seat in the overseer council and masterminded this entire operation."

"We need to retaliate!" Angelica yelled, rage fully catching up with her. She wanted to find that person and rip him to shreds. They dared killed the sheep, that must not go unpunished.

"It is not that easy," Gabriel shook his head, "The only thing that is keeping us alive is our public image and importance. Otherwise, we would have been wiped off the map along with the Covenant."

"Covenant used the be the largest opposition to the Foundation," Anderson explained when he detected the slight puzzlement beneath Angelica's rage, "The 'used to' being very important right now."

"They will not be able to stop me," Angelica said as she tried to stand up from her bed only to immediately collapse back down.

"Please don't be hasty, great angel" another voice sounded as an ancient man in crimson regalia entered the room. Angelica immediately noticed the inconceivably large amount of divinity shrouding the man, leaking in every direction. The amount was so great that it rivalled the demigods of old Angelica had known, yet all of them should have been dead.

"What are you?" Angelica asked with apprehension, quelling her rage to feel deeper into the man's power. If he truly were a demigod he could possibly kill Angelica in the weakened state she found herself in. Yet there was something strange about it. The man did not seem in control of that tremendous might. He was like a child with a heavy hammer he could barely drag behind himself, much less actually swing.

"I had been appointed by the two angels to be the leader among the shepherds. The guide for all who seek guidance in the name of our great lord. For the past century, I had served as the pontiff to the Church of creation and thus I have abandoned any other name, great angel," the man introduced himself.

"You are the conduit," Angelica came to realise. Divinity was different in nature than mana and converting it often required the human mind to adapt certain thoughts. That was the original reason why deities governed churches while devils rarely ever created any organisation to worship them. When they had gathered enough sheep and taught then how to harvest their own wool, that power needed to be transferred to the deity which would often travel to the beyond. Rather than each individually sending their minuscule donations, the power was gathered in a conduit. A vessel that would transfer that power in large quantities at far greater efficiency.

"Yes," the man nodded his head, "Many of us met their demise in the past few days. Their agony overwhelms me and their belief surpasses what I can withstand," he stepped forward feebly and outstretched his hand, "So please, great angel, take as much as you need to recover and then as much as you can to perhaps save me the burden I cannot bear for much longer."

"I will," Angelica nodded and also weakly stepped towards the pontiff, eventually touching his hand. As a conduit, the overwhelming power did not harm the pontiff, even if he couldn't begin to control it. The process was swift as Angelica took the offered power for her own. That was her speciality after all. Quickly she felt her fatigue vanish as golden light enveloped her form. She lavished in that might that once again coursed through her veins. In moments she recovered and then she reached her former peak. The divine tonic brought back what she had lost under Galileo's capture.

"Thank you," she said as she felt her power filled to the brim.

"There is no need for thanks," the pontiff stumbled and fell to the bed, "What I do is always for our mutual cause," and then he fell unconscious, even more tired than Angelica had been previously. His body was of flesh, so he could survive even after every bit of his divinity had been syphoned. He would merely be exhausted by the loss of so much power for the next months, possibly years.

"I am going to destroy the Foundation," Angelica looked at Anderson and Michael, her previous fury reignited as those bloodied wings entered her sight.

"You perhaps could," Anderson nodded, "but at the price of the rest of us."

"They are basically holding us hostage without knowing it," Michael continued Anderson's expansion, "They have weapons that can destroy this entire city in an instant. I cannot even slow them down despite the great power you have granted me."

"Impossible," Angelica bluntly stated. Now that his power had settled Michael touched upon the bottom of ascendancy. That was technically just a single leap away from a demigod like Angelica herself and miles above anyone she had met in the new world.

"Yet it is still true. Mortals had claimed tremendous power in the past centuries. Such that they fear it themselves," Michael shook his head, "Only thanks to that weapon were they able to obliterate the Covenant overnight, and though they refrained from doing the same to us, it is only because they fear the consequences brought onto society.”

“What do you suggest then?” Angelica asked, looking at Anderson. She was never much of a leader, just a protector. Although she felt the impulse to uproot the entire foundation she would do as she was told. It was her duty to shepherd the sheep to safety, not to choose the correct path. Her very nature as an angel was unwilling to truly lead others.

“I and the pontiff have come up with a plan,” Anderson said, “We need to retaliate in a way that will intimidate the Foundation, yet not bring them to despair. Slaughter will not achieve that. Instead, we need to rip from their grasp something that they consider completely secure, and I have just the thing in mind.”

“And what is that thing,” Angelica nodded, submitting to the plan laid out by Anderson. Her angelica nature was whispering that it was the best course of action.

“We are not completely certain, however, we know it is something important. The Foundation deals with so-called Objects, ‘O’s for short,” Anderson explained, “Most of them are artefacts of old with various potency and they keep them contained within large secret facilities. 20 years ago a new artefact appeared in the world, releasing divinity unlike anything in the past 600 years before your appearance, its appearance accompanied by a flash of light which lit the night sky as though it was the middle of the day. Although we were never able to see the object as the Foundation had arrived far too quickly, we did manage to consequently track the item thanks to the thick divinity constantly emanating from it. Yet we never dared break directly into one of their highly guarded facilities. Until now, that is.”

“Where can I find it?” Angelica understood her mission easily.

“I will give you the directions,” Michael said, “I have been the one responsible for tracking any changes in its whereabout while I guard the holy city.”

"Then I will deal with the fallout of recent events," Anderson said, helping the pontiff to lie more comfortably on the bed, "Though I had hoped to never return to my past position," he whispered as Angelica and Michael were about to leave the room, "One more thing Angelica," he said, making Angelica look back at him, "May the Lord be with you."

"Thank you," Angelica smiled, "You too," she added before she turned around and left the room, side by side with Michael.