Chapter 5 - Section 5: Reconciliation?

Enough time has passed and the capital must be at its breaking point, no food supplies have gotten into the city save for the ones we've smuggled in ourselves to feed the Hellenic believers whom we are here to save.

Since the blockade has progressed smoothly up until this point it's about time to end this charade and have a face-to-face with the power in charge of this city to accept their terms of surrender to allow the exfiltration of the Hellenic believers from the city and an end to the persecution of their believers within the nation.

As night fell having been equipped in his stealth gear he'd not honestly worn in a long while now, Satou and Kurama dressed all in black as a ninja snuck into the city, summoning slimes from cards to clear a path through the sewer until they could climb up into Heracles tavern.

Once their Heracles greeted the pair, before having those of his faithful taking the pair place deep in the sewers as they started the evacuation of the city, the tavern itself only housed just more than half of the remaining believers, the other half would be scattered in safehouse around the capital.

As the tavern populace filtered out Satou took his leave and started wandering around the capital's deserted streets, refuse and waste being tossed into the streets as the sewer system itself had long since failed to fulfill its role due to Satou's over-ambitious hunting of the sewer slimes in his quest to acquire cards, but if it brought the citizens morale even lower it could give him an additional card to use against the pope in freeing their people.

Once their demands had been fulfilled he could re-release the slimes back into the sewers and harmony could once again be brought to the lives of the capital denizens.

The streets were bare only illuminated by the moonlight coming from both of Terra's moons beaming down from up on high in the sky.

Occasionally there was a guard or knight patrol but even then they just languidly moved around not exactly patrolling but more moving from one place to another, probably in a hunt for a chance at a second helping of their meager rations.

[The cities spirits certainly are close the crumbling, theres no way they'd want to continue on like this, especially since if they draw this out any longer people are going to start getting really desperate, or just dying from starvation]

The pair dodge in and out of alleyways, snaking their ways through the city streets, often needing to take detours as the trash build-up had actually blocked passage through the streets.

Finally, as the deepness of night was at its height the pair arrived at their destination, the single illuminated building in all the capital, the Cathedral of the Goddess faith, powerbase and home to this country's pope, though it was illuminated it wasn't done so as grandly as it once was, now only a scattering a candlelight could be seen in the windows from the monks, priests, cardinals and staff who were still up an about working at this time of night.

[Shadow Meld]

Casting his dark magic silently on their own forms they disappeared even more so into the darkness of the night as they entered the hallowed halls of this great bastion of faith.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The intruder's entrance into the cathedral did not go un-noticed as a lone figure awoke with a start from his deep slumber wrapped in the finest bedding the mortal plane could hope to obtain, with a scowl on his face he begrudgingly left his bedside and the one he'd deigned to share his bed with on this night behind, having dressed rather rushed into a simple but still elegant robe before gripping his staff and making his way down to the main audience chamber where he could sense the intruders were milling about.

[Who dares to invade this sacred ground! Just what are those knights doing, I give them food from our own pantries to slake their gluttony and still they fail to earn their keep by doing the jobs I ask of them! It's in times like this that I wish we had started a militant order recruiting children from the many orphanages and moulding them into fine warriors of the gods totally obedient to the church and unassailable by any kings, or men who try to lower the god's placement within our world.]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the audience chamber which was a vast great hall with walls filled with magnificent artwork if one didn't know this was a church one could easily mistake it for having been the throne room of the king himself.

A man wearing robes as if they were spun from golden silk walked into this hall from the side as the solid gold staff he carried thumped along the polished floor as he made his way further forward grumbling obscenities that belonged in the slums or a bar not in this holiest of places.

As he entered this room and stood in the center at first his eyes were gazing up first landing on the figure of a great 30ft tall statue of the Chief goddess whose figure was illuminated by the moon's light brought into this room from a moonroof high up in the ceiling.

The goddess's figure was this cathedral's greatest treasure, even in other nations none had such a splendid representation of the highest of the gods one responsible for everything they had.

At the foot of this majestic stature was a resplendent throne one designed for the god's voice on earth, and who spoke with the authority of the very gods themselves.

It was this man's throne, something he'd worked his whole life to gain the seat, committing acts that if discovered would've resulted in him being cast out or worse by the very church he now sat as the pope.

But as his eyes descended the reverent look on his face once more returned to a scowl as his eyes lay upon a boys figure seated slovenly on his throne.

"Just what the hell do you think you are doing?" <Pope >