“W-Wait! What are you planning to do?!” Cherry backed away when she saw Nisha walking towards her with a devilish look on her face.

“What am I planning to do?” Nisha asked back. “Naturally, I am going to make your Pope understand that she can’t just waltz inside our territory and attack us just because she feels like it. The old fool, maybe she thinks that we are a bunch of softies…”

Two men grabbed onto Cherry’s arms and pulled on them, holding the little girl in place.

“S-Stop!” Cherry teared up when she saw the dark blade in Nisha’s hands. “Don’t!”

Nisha sneered as she raised the blade up high. “You are the Virtue of Charity, right? Since you like being charitable, I plan to give the Pope something that belongs to you. If you have someone to blame, blame your Pope for her stupidity!”

Without another word, the veiled beauty brought her sword down on one of Cherry’s arms, severing it completely from her body.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

The Virtue of Charity’s pained cries echoed inside the walls of the room where she had been confined. Blood spurted on the ground as the little girl’s cries grew louder and louder. As someone that had been spoiled by the members of the Holy Order of Light, as well as her sisters, this was the first time she had experienced true pain that made her bawl her eyes out.

“You, send that arm to the Palace of Light,” Nisha ordered the man holding onto Cherry’s severed arm. “Make sure that the Pope receives our gift as fast as you can.”

The man bowed respectfully. “Yes, Your Excellency!”

Nisha glanced at the wailing little girl that had collapsed on the ground and sneered.

‘It’s a good thing that William isn’t here,’ Nisha thought. ‘Even in his corrupted state, he might still not be able to do something like this to one of our enemies.’

The Steward of the Ainsworth Empire and the Demon Continent turned around to walk towards the exit. As soon as she left the room, Audrey gave her a scathing glare before running inside the room to care for Cherry’s injury.

Nisha didn’t even bother to look at the Virtuous Lady of Fortitude, and continued to walk down the hallway. After making a right turn, she came face to face with a beautiful Elf, who had a solemn expression on her face. 

“Was there no other way?” Celeste asked. “Is that the only solution you can come up with?”

Celeste felt extremely sad about what happened to Cherry because she had treated the little girl as her sister. Although the Virtuous Girl of Charity was quite mischievous and liked to play pranks on people, it didn’t change the fact that she was still one of the Seven Virtues, and all of them had a good relationship with each other.

“The original plan was to cut an arm from each of you girls,” Nisha replied. “Do you mind donating your arm to ensure that the Pope’s stupidity doesn’t continue to step out of bounds?” 

“Yes,” Celeste replied. “You should have taken mine, instead of Cherry’s.”

“Well, it’s too late for that. But, I don’t mind sending the Holy Order of Light one more arm if that makes you happy.”

“Do it then.”

Celeste stared straight into Nisha’s eyes to show her how serious she was.

Nisha smirked, but at the next second a black blade appeared in her hand. With one smooth slash, Celeste’s arm was cut off of her body, catching the Virtuous Lady of Chastity by surprise.

“I think you’ve misunderstood something here,” Nisha said before picking the severed arm up off the floor. “I am the leader of Deus. An organization that had stood against the Holy Order of Light from the shadows. Don’t even think that I’ll bat an eye into cutting off an arm, a leg, an ear, a tongue, a nose, or even plucking out one of your eyeballs.

“Many of my subordinates have died because of your organization. Believe me when I say that I hold no love for any of you,” Nisha moved her head closer towards the face of the beautiful Elf, which was contorted in pain. “The only reason why all of you are alive is because William gave me explicit orders not to kill any of you, while he was away.”

“You won’t get away with this,” Celeste replied as she applied pressure on the place where her left arm used to be. 

“Oh, but I can,” Nisha replied. “Just wait, Missy. I don’t care if you are William’s prophesied bride, so remember this, and remember it well… If any of you get in the way of my Prince’s happiness, I will gladly cut off your heads, right here, right now.”

With a snort of contempt, Nisha left Celeste on the hallway with blood flowing down her left side. Now that the Pope had dared to attack them in William’s absence, it was up to her to ensure that a second attempt wouldn’t happen again in the future.

Celeste gritted her teeth as she sealed her wound with the power of her Divinity. Unlike Cherry and Audrey, who were wearing shackles that bound their powers, Celeste was free to use hers, anytime she pleased.

‘Will… come back soon,’ Celeste prayed that the Half-Elf would return to the Surface World along with her sister, Celine.

That was the only reason why she betrayed the Holy Order of Light, and allowed two of her sisters to be captured by the Pontifex of Deus, whose bottled up hate for them had now risen to the surface. 

Celeste didn’t know if he would take their side when he returned, but one thing was sure. The Half-Elf would not allow the sister of the person she loved to suffer such a cruel fate.

———

Palace of Light…

The Pope, Lira, Ephemera, Shana, and Melody had grim expressions on their faces as they looked at the “gift” that Nisha had sent them, right after the battle in the Ainsworth Empire ended.

In a black box, two arms that were still dripping with blood could be seen. A letter was also included, which all of them had already read. The written message was short, but it contained a threat that could no longer be pushed aside.

“Next time, it will be their heads.”

The message only contained seven words, but it was more than enough to make the four Virtuous Ladies glare at the Pope for her failed attempt to attack the Ainsworth Empire.

“We can’t be sure that these arms belong to your sisters,” the Pope replied after regaining her composure. “There is only one way to confirm. Follow me.”

The Pope held the black box in her hands and headed towards the top of the castle with the Four Virtuous Ladies, and the Pseudo-Gods, including Belle.

Several minutes later, they arrived at the altar where they had performed the summoning ritual which had summoned a hero from another world. The Pope then walked towards the circle of charity and placed the small arm, which they assumed belonged to Cherry, on it.

As soon as the arm was laid on the magic circle, it immediately lit up, confirming that the arm did indeed belong to the Virtuous Lady of Charity.

Ephemera’s knuckles made cracking sounds as she clenched her fists tightly. However, she didn’t say anything and allowed the Pope to place Celeste’s arm on the circle of Fortitude. Naturally, it didn’t light up because this was not the place where it was supposed to be placed.

A minute later, the Pope laid the arm on the right magic circle, and just like what happened with Cherry’s Magic Circle, Celeste’s circle lit up as well.

Melody wasn’t able to take it any longer and immediately picked up the arms of her sisters, and sealed it with the power of her Divinity. As long as they were properly stored, there was still a chance for them to be re-attached when they were able to meet them again.

“There will be no next time. Do you understand?” Shana stated calmly, although her body was trembling with anger. “How dare you take my sisters’ life too lightly? Just who do you think you are?!”

The Pope glared at the Virtuous Lady of Prudence and shouted.

“I am the Pope of the Holy Order of Light!” the Pope shouted. “I was the one that raised half of you! How dare you shout at me?!”

“The Pope?” Ephemera asked back in contempt. “You’re only here in your position because we are here. If we are out of the picture, you are nothing! Just a miserable, and greedy, old woman whose ambition is bigger than your head!”

“Make no mistake, if you do this again, there will be no Holy Order of Light,” Lira said icily. “There will only be you.”

Lira, Ephemera, Shana, and Melody left the Altar of Light one after the other. They were quite disappointed that the Pope had launched an attack at the Ainsworth Empire without even bothering to consult them.

The Pope watched them go while gritting her teeth.

‘You fools, do you really think that you can get away from this place?’ The Pope gave two of the Pseudo-Gods a side-long glance and both of them nodded their heads in understanding. 

Since it had already come to this point, she could only use desperate measures in order to ensure that the influence she held over the biggest organization in the Central Continent would remain, allowing her to fulfill the ambitions that she had held in her twisted heart for a very long time.

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