The news of the defeat at the frontlines and of Chopin's retreat had already reached the central sanctuary of the Sacred City.
There was a suffocating atmosphere in the huge meeting hall.
The red-robed cardinals were arguing without rest about what to do next.
"We must severely punish Chopin for his desertion! We've already shown him leniency for his heresies, and this is how he repays us? When the Sacred City needs him most he encourages others to flee with him!"
"Forget about handling Chopin for now, the production of new Saints' inheritances must be sped up!"
"We'll have to be cautious about our next step. We don't have many more of the catastrophe cores that we stored up! And the horn that can temporarily manipulate the Eight Phenomena is completely destroyed, one could even say that the Eight Phenomena no longer exist. We need a new deterrent to deal with the Commonwealth of Caucasian's expansion."