Chapter 1164: Cracks In Loyalty

A corridor mired in darkness yet draped in silk.

Thin veils hung from the ceiling, layering one behind another until the far end of the passage was nothing but a spot of white.

There were small gaps above the silken threads as pale light filtered through. As the light caught onto the silken veils, the finely woven threads soon resembled strands of moonlight drifting down from above.

Even the most gentle of gusts would cause the surface to ripple like a lake as silver light danced across the polished floor.

Beautiful in every way, sacred for the followers of the moon.

*Clack

A woman stepped through the corridor without care for such a sight.

Her heels clashed against the floor, a harsh sound that echoed through this otherwise sacred corridor.

Though the heels were harsh, her steps were composed. Unhurried and devoid of any panic or uncertainty.

A certain sense of grace that couldn’t be faked.

However, despite the lack of uncertainty in her movements...

Her eyes drifted.

She did not want to be here.

Flanking her sides, servants lined up. Not because they had a job to do but simply because the Goddess deemed it necessary. They are here merely as decoration for her amusement.

Every one of them stood with their heads bowed and arms folded in front of their bodies. Their eyes were fixed firmly upon the floor, a slight bow as the woman stepped past them.

Some trembled despite their efforts to remain still, others held their breath until the woman’s footsteps started to fade.

While she was one of their sources of fear, she was not the main source.

Exhaling softly through her nose, the woman turned her gaze towards the distance.

What the servant’s feared was what waited at the end of said corridor.

The distance crash echoed.

Something heavy struck against the floor followed by the sound of broken glass.

A woman’s voice rose as a furious shout echoed. One that almost sounded bestial as one could clearly hear the rage taking over their mind.

The servants flinched while the woman paid them no heed.

She kept walking at the same unhurried pace as before.

She already knew what was waiting for her even before she entered this corridor.

She realised when the summons arrived, when her name was called to appear before the lunar goddess.

She knew the rage behind those doors. If one could choose, they would simply avoid this calamity until it was over.

Like hiding beneath a table while an earthquake occurred, she simply hoped the natural disaster would end.

But it didn’t.

And she had to be here. Simply because she was an Apostle.

Because the one waiting behind those doors was her goddess.

A servant of the divine did not refuse a summon, no matter how reluctant they may be.

*CRASHHH!!!

Another crash, this time the walls trembled as the silken veils shook back and forth.

The closer she got to those doors, the more pronounced this... malice became.

Something was leaking from the other end of the corridor.

Not Abyssal energy nor any other form of energy. This was a simple demonstration of divinity. Of authority.

The pure, unfiltered wrath of a being who stood above laws was projected through her authority, leaving all servants of the moon feeling a sense of dread like no other.

Akin to witnessing the sky collapse and the ground shatter.

Griselda closed her eyes briefly.

She could feel it clearly. The stinging sensation crawling over her skin...

Her god was displeased. No- that was putting it mildly.

She was seething with rage.

Griselda drew a slow breath. Something she found herself doing more often as of late, reciting the lunar prayers over and over in her mind.

Rather than a prayer, it felt more akin to a plea. Not out of hope but out of desperation.

She wanted to convince herself. To make herself believe once more.

’I am an Apostle. I am the instrument of my God. My will... is not my own.’

A moment of hesitation.

Tightening her jaw, Griselda let out another sigh.

Conviction, once splintered, was difficult to repair.

Doubts kept creeping in through the cracks.

Ever since coming back from the Abyss, she had focused on returning to the faithful servant that she was. She had to prove herself as to not lose more of her Goddess’s favour.

She returned to her duties, bowed her head and spoke the words that sounded pleasant to her Goddess’s ears.

She familiarised herself with the divine so that her faith would be reinforced like it had been in the past.

. . .

The cracks widened.

Little by little... slightly wider each time.

*BANG!!!

Something heavy slammed against the door.

The walls trembled once more.

But this time, she wasn’t the only one being concerned by whatever was on the other side of that door.

Just by the entrance, another woman could be seen.

She clutched her arm in pain, her face contorted with discomfort.

Clearly she had been the unfortunate victim of the Goddess’s rage.

Simply someone who was there in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"What are you looking at? If your visual modules are faulty I don’t mind helping you replace them with something better." Nanna snapped as her glare was sharp enough to kill a man.

But Griselda was no mere man.

She simply shrugged the threat off.

"Don’t burn through too many souls now. Even if it’s in the service of our Goddess, I’m sure she’ll have some things to say if you were to simply burn through your precious resources because you don’t know how to take a step back." She warned.

While most of the followers are... brainwashed into thinking that giving up their souls for the Goddess will lead them to paradise, not everyone was as enthusiastic in throwing their lives away.

So when too many of the devout followers start disappearing and Nanna has to dip into those that still have doubts, questions will no doubt arise.

And if that happens, the usual operations may be disrupted. Once things are disrupted, Nanna may need more than a mere couple of souls to appease the Lunar Goddess’s rage.

While her words may be a ’warning’ for Nanna, she didn’t see it in the same light.

If anything, it felt like mocking words.

Granted, at this point, nothing Griselda said would change things.

Nanna was already furious by the fact that Griselda somehow became stronger despite giving up souls in her theatre. The gap between them kept widening.

Anything Griselda said sounded like provocation to Nanna who was already annoyed.

"Just you f*cking wait. One of these days I will tear that f*cking head from your shoulder." Nanna gnashed her teeth as Griselda raised an eyebrow before glancing down.

"You might want to plug yourself up a bit. You’re leaking." Griselda pointed her finger down.

There was a crack across Nanna’s hip where souls were leaking out slightly.

"My head isn’t that hard to claim but I don’t think a sinking ship as the leisure to think about that when you’re already full of cracks." Griselda chuckled.

Since Nanna didn’t want her warning, she might as well fight back a little.

Just because she was in a bit of slump herself doesn’t mean she’ll just take insults without fighting back.

Her words were like sparks to a barrel of oil. Nanna’s eyes turned bloodshot as she wanted to scream back but eventually held her tongue.

The moment she made any big movements, the Goddess within the room will no doubt notice. And right now, Nanna did not want to be another source of annoyance for Lumiria.

Her eyes were practically oozing with malice as she glared at Griselda while limping away.

Her hand now firmly pressed against her own hip as to stop the souls from leaking out.

Rolling her eyes, Griselda took a deep breath and sighed. Reaching out, she pushed the door open and stepped through.

A candle holder was launched at her as Griselda closed her eyes.

*BANG!!! CRACK!!!

The candle holder snapped against Griselda’s head as cracks formed across her face.

A chunk of her skull was gouged out as her joints creaked from the impact.

"Since when did dodging become impossible for you to do?" Lumiria’s voice was low, a simmering rage that sent a chill down people’s spine.

But not Griselda.

It’s not as if she was without fear, she simply resigned herself to accepting whatever happen will happen.

"Because you require an outlet for your frustrations. Had I dodged, I would simply be adding onto that rage rather than taking it away." Griselda replied despite the gaping wound on her head.

Leaning down, she was about to pick up the candle holder when lunar energy snapped around her arm and crushed her shoulder joint.

*Clatter

As her puppet arm fell limp on the ground, Griselda straightened her back and closed her eyes.

A third attack never arrived as Lumiria shouted in frustration, breaking a table nearby before sitting down on her bed.

"Fix yourself and this room." She clenched her teeth.

Griselda gave a slight nod as she reached for her neck and pulled her head loose. Replacing it with a different head, she summoned several puppet hands that started to repair Lumiria’s room.

Furniture was naturally thrown out and replaced while the room itself had the walls repaired.

Soon, the room was good as new.

Without saying anything else, since she never received permission, Griselda simply stood by the door with a composed expression on her face.

She simply did the task asked of her, nothing more, nothing less.

With nothing worth taking out her rage on, Lumiria simply sat on the bed for a long period of silence before finally opening her mouth.

"Shall we discuss the matter of my dear cardinal?" Lumiria narrowed her eyes, her pupils burning with a hateful light.