It didn't take long for Sol to reach the innermost room of the church.
Even though he came regularly in the church, it was the first time he came to this zone. Along the way, they had met many patrols and inspections, showing just how important this place was.
"We are here."
Sol marveled at the scene carved on the black and white gate. A woman with fourteen girls behind her, all of them wearing golden robes on the white side of the gate, facing them was another woman wearing a bright red robe on the black side of the gate. Every one of them had no face, giving the scene a strange, creepy atmosphere.
"Mother order and the fourteen goddesses against Chaos."
Chloe's voice brought him back from his fascination. It wasn’t the first time he saw such pictures and he also knew what they represented. But he wasn't particularly interested in talking about religion right now.
What bothered him right now was the enormous amount of mana he could feel from the other side. He nearly asked Chloe about it before remembering that people shouldn't know he had awakened. Chloe seemed trustworthy. But it didn't matter.
"Forget it, let's go."
Chloe shook her head at Sol urging as she said, "I can't enter here anymore. The ritual she prepared is already at its last step. Only you can enter."
Sol nodded and began to walk slowly toward the door. But he was about to open it, "Sol…"
"Hum?" He tilted his head at Chloe murmur from behind him.
"I hope that you will take care of her." Her voice sounded low and threatening as she continued, "What aunt Camelia is doing, is a supreme ritual and a form of cheating. What more it seems that she made an even more outrageous demand. Our world is regulated by contract and equivalent price. The price she has to pay for this ritual isn't something you can imagine."
*Thump*
A bad feeling bloomed in his heart. He stopped paying attention to Chloe’s words, instead, he opened the door and rushed in.
The door immediately closed behind him.
Chloe, now alone, looked sadly at the door before turning around and going away. Her presence was currently useless and whatever happened, she knew her aunt was ready for it.
The first thing that caught Sol's attention as he entered the circular room was a strong metallic scent.
'Blood.'
The second thing that caught his attention was the beautiful naked woman standing on a hexagram drawn on the ground with magical circles floating all around her.
'Camelia.'
He couldn't see her face, since she was showing her back to him, but he was sure that it was her.
He wanted to shout her name but he held back since he feared disturbing her ritual. Whatever she was doing, was truly a high level.
An overpowering and crushing pressure-filled the room. Each step was more difficult than the last, and even breathing was difficult. The otherwise short distance that should have been covered in a few seconds, took nearly one minute.
"Hello Sol, I was waiting for you."
The weary voice of Camelia sounded in his ears once he was close to the circle.
"How are you?" It was truly a dumb question and Sol knew it, the chuckle that escaped Camelia told him she also knew it, but he didn't know what else to ask.
"I can't say that I am fine, but soon everything will be alright."
Sol frowned, "Turn and face me." He asked with a rather harsh tone. A hunch filling him with dread.
"*Sigh*" Camelia shoulders slumped a little before she slowly turned to face him. At first view, everything was alright, but–
"Your eyes…" Sol's voice trembled as he said that. One of the usual blue eyes of Camelia, the right one, was now of a simple and common black.
Seeing the wry smile on her face Sol took another deeper look at her. His enhanced senses allowing him to spot other details.
"Y-your h-hair."
This time it wasn't just a hunch anymore, her hair was still her usual golden, but the roots were… Black.
Golden hair and blue eyes.
It was the sign of an innate blessing of the goddesses.
This blessing was the most important criteria to become a Supreme daughter or a king.
Losing this blessing means losing the qualifications.
"Just. What are you? Doing?"
Camelia didn't lose her smile even in face of Sol's anger, she kept looking at him with the same look. One filled with love and longing, "Just what I should do."
"Saint fall. This is the name of the ritual."
"I don't care what the name of that ritual is. Stop it now."
He wanted to rush and extract her out of the hexagram, but he feared making things worse by acting rashly.
Camelia on the other hand completely ignored him as she continued to stand her with a smile. The golden color of her hair slowly vanishing.
"Sol, the most fundamental law of this world is the principle of contract and every contract has a price. The most direct example is how witch who gets power from a contract with Asmodeus with their fertility and much more as the price."
"Please, you can explain all that later. Now stop this."
Camelia nodded to herself and continued to ignore him. "Nuns can obtain power from the goddess they serve. This is also a form of contract. We do not need to have high capacity like normal people. We just need to be devout. In exchange, we can only obtain as much power as the goddess is willing to give."
Sol knew all that, but he didn't know where she was going.
"The ritual I did, Saint fall, allows the supreme daughter to make a wish to the goddesses. One wish that break all rules of this world. In exchange-"
"-You must lose your blessings."
Sol finished for her, fists clenched. It didn't take a genius to guess where this was going.
"Exact. Ding Ding Ding. Sol is as smart as always."
"Why? You know that the king automatically gets one wish once he takes the throne. You could have waited for it."
"No," Camelia's smile turned wry, "The divine wish of the king cannot exceed the rules. The divine wish bestowed by Saint's fall, on the other hand, can do it."
Sol closed his eyes as he breathed deeply in and out to control himself. It was useless to keep trying to stop her. Since this was so, he swept his hair with his hand as he asked,
"I guess the divine wish of the king cannot help you get back your blessings."
Camelia didn't bother answering. The loss of the divine blessing was the price for breaking the rules. So, how could a wish that was contained within the rules give it back?
A deep golden aura began to emanate from Sol as he once again did his best to control his anger. Today was supposed to be perfect. He had finally broken the wall of Edea's heart, he had become closer to Lilith and even found Milia secret. Finally, he had awakened. So why?
Camelia on the other hand showed an expression of surprise before elation showed on it, "Incredible! You awakened! This will make things so much easier."
She finally walked out of the hexagram and took Sol in a hug. Sol on the other hand simply closed his eyes, a feeling of powerlessness filling him.
"You will lose your blessings."
"I know."
"You will lose your powers."
"I know."
"You will lose your titles."
"I know."
"You will lose everything."
"No, I will not lose everything. After all," she looked up to him and gave him a light kiss on the lips, "I still have you. Or, " A mischievous smile formed on her face, "Would you discard me once I become useless?"
A bittersweet feeling his heart as he hugged her back, "Of course not."
'What did I do to be worthy of such women?'
"Hey, Sol…" A light blush covered her cheeks as she said, "The ritual still lack one last component. At the end of the day. We are both under Castitas and Luxuria. So…"
"Oh!" Light of understanding flashed in his eyes.
He wasn't really in the mood initially, but now that he was less upset, he remembered that he was holding a beautiful and voluptuous naked woman in his arms. This realization was immediately followed by a stiffening of a certain part of his body.
"Hehe! Seems like little Sol is finally happy to see me. But we will have to wait."
She took his hand and slowly began to pull him toward the hexagram.
The very moment Sol took a step on it, the scarlet hexagram went alight.
Camelia infused her remaining mana in her voice as she murmured,
"We need your blood for the final touch."
A ceremonial dagger inlaid with gold and jewels appeared in her hand and she looked at Sol with a questioning glance. Understanding what she meant, sol took the dagger from her hand and slit the palm of his right hand before clenching his fist.
Blood slowly, very slowly began to dribble from his palm. The wound, to the surprise of Sol already showing signs of closing. Finally
*Drip*
With a splash, one drop of his blood touched the hexagram.
"I, Camelia Castitas. Suprême daughter of Castitas, beseech the goddesses to accept my request on the behalf of Sol Luxuria, crown prince and future king of Lustburg."
The hexagram immediately went from a deep scarlet to a deep golden.
A flash of light immediately enveloped them.
The very world seemed to fall silent in the wake of the power. As an aura of authority enveloped not only the ritual room but the totality of the capital.
No matter where they were, people could see a pillar of light coming from the church and reaching the sky.
No matter who they were, all bowed in submission in the face of power that they could never hope to understand.
Back at the ritual room, one sweet voice sounded in Sol and Camelia's ear.
[We are listening.]
