The girl's focus seemed to be on this so-called "Kingdoms of Night" and not letting the Sun Gods reach into their lands.

She continued to emphasize that, saying something about how the Moon mother would be disappointed if they didn't handle this properly.

A low snort resounded through the room, cutting her short as she spoke.

She looked up, then smiled genially. "It would seem someone has fault with my words?"

A young, previously quiet champion became the subject of attention. The Holy Son, and even the man sitting at the other end of the table turned to hear what he had to say.

The young man cleared his throat and spoke:

"Erm. I mean no offense, Holy Incarnate… But the Shadow God is not subordinated to Luna, nor the Moon mother." He looked around the table — a table that clearly shared his sentiment but chose to remain silent. "To my knowledge, we are allies, are we not?"

Luna's incarnate smiled, then replied in her usual soft and regal tone. "You are simply proving my point. It would seem your lack of understanding of what happens when your God has been severely weakened runs deeper than I expected."

She leaned forward in her seat, moonlight eyes fixing on the young Champion with uncomfortable directness. "You stand at the brink of extinction. Who is subordinate and who is ally matters little at this juncture. Perhaps when the Gods of Light come knocking at your borders, the distinction will become clearer?" Her expression hardened fractionally. "The Shadow God is practically dea—"

She barely finished the word when the collective might of eight Champions around the table erupted.

Divine auras flooded the chamber with a pressure so intense it made the stone walls groan. The temperature plummeted. Shadows deepened to pitch black until they seemed almost solid. Each Champion stared at Luna's incarnate with eyes gone icy cold and hard.

"You are in the bowels of a Shadow temple." The Head Champion saud dangerously, each word precisely enunciated. "Incarnate or not, mind your words more carefully."

The Holy Son sighed and waved one hand in a gesture of dismissal. "Cut it out."

Most of the Champions withdrew their auras immediately at his command. But not all.

The Head Champion remained unmoved, as did three of his staunchest supporters — the young Champion who'd spoken, and two older men whose faces bore the weathered look of decades serving the Shadow God. These were traditionalists, believers in the old ways, in proper respect and hierarchy.

"If anything," the Holy Son continued, tone carrying mild reproach, "you're simply proving her right with your pitiful divine auras right now. Your might is no longer as it was."

The words bit deeper than the girl's near-blasphemy. Several Champions flinched visibly.

The Holy Son let silence stretch for a long moment before continuing.

"I guess I should explain what I found at the border." His expression grew distant, as if recalling something unpleasant.

"Before that, let it be known that just like you, I received no divine revelation, no guidance, no communication of any kind, as to the happenings at the borders." He paused, letting that sink in. "Whatever happened at that site, the Shadow God wanted no soul to know about it. Not even those who served Him most faithfully."

He looked toward the Head Champion. "At the site, you also found bodies, yes? Paladins who had been dead in the line of duty, or so the reports claimed over the years."

The Head Champion clenched his jaw, but nodded regardless.

Confused murmurs rippled around the table. The Head champion hadn't revealed any of this to his subordinate champions, if only out of discretion.

But the Holy Son had no such worries. He directly revealed that Priests and Paladins who should have been dead for years were found freshly dead among the casualties at the devastation site.

"They'd been living at the border," the Holy Son said flatly. "For years. Doing... something. Something secret enough that even their deaths were fabricated to maintain the deception."

The Head Champion's brow furrowed deeply. Now that the secret was out, he had questions of his own too.

His gaze shifted to Luna's incarnate, directing his question mostly at her. "Is such a thing even possible? Could the Shadow God truly conduct an operation of that scale for years and no other God would notice?"

He leaned forward in his seat, staring at her pointedly. "While I understand my Lord could evade the Goddess Luna's notice, surely not the Moon Mother's? The azure light of the moon has shone upon those borders countless times. Night has fallen again and again. How could She not have seen?"

Luna's incarnate didn't answer immediately. When she finally spoke, her words came carefully, as if navigating treacherous ground.

"I cannot speak to what the Great Moon Mother knows or doesn't know. I am merely Luna's incarnate, one small aspect of Her divine will made manifest." She paused. "Even the Goddess Luna herself might not know. The relationship between the daughter-goddesses and the Mother is... complex."

She seemed reluctant to continue, as if aware of potential blasphemy in speaking too freely about a God who ruled over her own divine patron.

The Holy Son took over smoothly, sparing her the difficulty. "There's more to the matter. Whatever the Shadow God was doing through Nocturne ran far deeper than any simple operation."

He paused, and his expression became harder, more certain.

"The Storm Goddess was the second party involved. She and the Shadow God were working together."

The Head Champion shook his head immediately. "I still refuse to buy that narrative. My investigation found no traces of the Storm Goddess. Not a single thing connected her kingdom to that site at all."

"Which is precisely why the matter runs so deep," the Holy Son replied. "Someone… some entity… tampered with the devastation site. Concealed certain traces while leaving others visible." His eyes swept the table.

"As Holy Son, my connection to our Lord goes further than yours," he continued quietly. "Deep enough that I could sense traces of the Storm Goddess as well. Faint, but unmistakable." His expression darkened. "And something else. A shroud of divinity. The touch of secrets, so small, so carefully hidden that I nearly missed it entirely."

The Head Champion's eyes widened as understanding dawned. "No. That's impossible."

"It's not only possible," the Holy Son said. "It's fact."

Silence reigned immediately.

One of the older traditionalist Champions spoke after a few seconds, his voice rough with age and disbelief. "You are suggesting that the God of Secrets… The Keeper of What Should Not Be Known… The Silent Observer… was there?"

The other Champions looked equally flabbergasted. The God of Secrets was perhaps the most enigmatic deity in the entire pantheon. Never seen. Never heard. Always silent. Even His believers, if He had any, remained unknown. No temples bore His name. No kingdom claimed His protection. No priests openly served Him.

Yet somehow His divinity persisted for ages. Sustained by... what? Mystery itself?

"If the God of Secrets was involved," the Head Champion said slowly, calculating, "then how is it you found anything at all? If He wanted something hidden, it would stay hidden." His eyes narrowed. "Unless..."

"Unless He allowed me to find it," the Holy Son finished.

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