Sol did not know about the adventure Pandora was currently going through. Or is it better to call it misadventures? The answer to this question depended on perspectives.
Though he could imagine her surprise once she realized how much power he held in his hand currently, Sol was busy thinking of more important things. Such as observing the gate in front of him.
The scene carved on the black and white gate was not foreign to him by now. In fact, it was something he had also observed back in the Dragon realm.
On the gate, the scene carved was that of a woman with fourteen girls behind her, all of them wearing golden robes on the white side of the gate, and facing them was another woman wearing a bright red robe on the black side of the gate. All of them had blank faces, giving the scene a strange, creepy atmosphere.
The scene carved on the gate in the Dragon realm was nearly the same with a few differences. The main one beings that the Crimson woman was not alone but accompanied by a few more goddesses he could not discern.
From what Tiamat had said, the goddesses of sin and virtues had placed a kind of seal that made it impossible to observe the ones who were fighting alongside Chaos. Only those who had participated in the war could observe them and they were also unable to give their names.
Sol knew at least Ymir but the others were a pure mystery.
‘I wonder what happened to them? Are they also sealed?’
Goddesses could not die. As long as the concept that they represented continued to exist, then they would never die.
As long as living beings existed. The goddesses of sins would be eternal. In the same way, as long as destruction existed, Ymir could never die.
Then what about the others?
‘I feel like this will be a pain.’
The reason he was worried was because of Lucifer's prophecy that suddenly came to his mind.
<<The End of the world is coming. A new Era is approaching. Doomsday will soon be upon us and at the end of all of this, ‘They’ will finally arrive.>>
Who was <<They>>? Did it represent the goddesses who fought alongside the Mother Goddess of Chaos? Or perhaps it represented some other unknown force? A third group that was not Chaos or Order?
There were so many things to think about but Sol shelved those thoughts back in the depth of his mind.
Now wasn’t the time. What could he do even if the end of the world approached?
The answer was simple. Nothing.
“I am entering.”
He pushed the door open and walked in. Now he had to bring his A game. So he could not be distracted.
—-
When Sol entered the room, Camelia was busy looking at the circle with wonder and bewilderment. She obviously did not change the ritual circle just because of some suggestions.
But she had been redrawing it again and again in her mind and the more she did the more she realized that she was indeed right.
The current circle relied more on quantity than quality to operate. Hence the higher amount of divine blood necessary. The new circle meanwhile needed a higher understanding of the divine spell but in exchange, the cost went down by more than half or perhaps even two third.
‘How did she…?’
To create something like this in the first place, one should have a perfect understanding of divine power as it was a ritual created by the goddesses.
How did a small girl that should have the mind and knowledge of a preteen manage to find the flaws?
“You seem busy.”
Camelia turned around with a surprised expression.
“Sol! I am sorry. I was too focused I guess.”
“So focused you did not even feel my presence?”
He raised an eyebrow at this to which Camelia shook her head, “I will talk about this later.”
“Hum…You do know that if you hide anything from me again I will have to punish you, right?”
He smiled as he approached her and whispered this in her heart. Immediately Camelia felt her heartbeat accelerate greatly as she began to imagine what kind of punishment he would inflict on her.
“Hah~”
She moaned a little when she felt Sol hug her waist but was soon brought to silence as his lips covered hers hungrily. Like a wolf devoured a defenseless sheep, all she could do was surrender in his embrace and let herself be devoured.
When their lips finally separated, all Camelia could do was show a dazed expression, while Sol smirked as he licked his lips,
“I missed you.”
Camelia looked absentmindedly at Sol. He was taller and stronger than she remembered and she could feel this even more so now that she was in his embrace. His body felt like the body of a warrior who went through many battles.
He also showed his dragon features clearly and proudly. Not hidings his horns or his slit eyes.
But for Camelia, none of this mattered. She was simply happy to be close to him again.
“We will have time to catch up later. Are you ready?”
“I am.”
Camelia smiled at his confident answer and was about to cut herself with a knife to start the ritual when a hand stopped her.
“Don’t.”
“This isn’t Saint Fall. I am just requesting a discussion with the goddesses. Normally only the goddesses concerned will intervene.”
This would mean Luxuria and Castitas alongside Invidia and Humanitas.
Indeed, compared to calling fourteen goddesses, this was a much lower burden. But Sol did not care.
“Only two weeks went by for you. Your wound from the holy territory backslash are still not completely healed.”
He did not let Camelia offer more protest as he approached the circle himself and used his divine eye.
He first looked at Camelia. He could see the link between them. Outside of the obvious Pink one, there was a thread that tied her life to him. The curse that the goddess put on them after the events of Saint Fall.
In the past, he had been determined to cut this thread permanently but he decided to study it more deeply and try to change the effect.
Changing it from <<Camelia die if Sol dies>> to <<Camelia will not die as long as Sol lives>>.
He didn’t know if it was possible but if he succeeded, it would be worth it. After all, even if Camelia did not die young, as a mortal the Fate of Death by old age was inevitable.
The same went for his other mortal lovers. He needed to find a way to make them immortal.
After making sure that Camelia was alright, Sol focused on the divine circle before stretching his left arm above it.
The nail of his right hand became sharps-like blades and he swiped down, opened a small wound on his wrist, and focused on squeezing the blood.
Sol had bathed in the Dragon pool and absorbed a great deal of divinity in his own blood.
“Sol!?”
The ritual needed both of their blood to function properly. Both Luxuria and Castitas divinity.
“Shhh. I am focusing.”
His wound was already closing so he needed to focus on keeping it open. Soon, the red blood began to be fused with hue of gold as they scattered on the ground.
“Start the ceremony.”
Camelia was quite anxious but she realized that now it was better to move fast rather than waste time. She did not know what Sol was doing exactly but she believed in him.
She kneeled down and put her hands together in prayer.
<<I am Camelia Castitas, Supreme Daughter of the goddess of Chastity>>
<<I beseech the goddesses, with the divine blood of the Son of Luxuria to answer my call>>
<<May the goddesses answer my prayer.>>
At first, nothing seemed to happen and Camelia was ready to add her own blood to complete the ceremony.
But it was then… to her utter surprise and bewilderment, the hexagram immediately went from a deep scarlet to a deep golden, proof that the ritual had been successful.
A flash of golden light immediately enveloped them.
The very world seemed to fall silent in the wake of the power. 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.
But perhaps the most bewildered were none other than the habitants of the capital. Seeing one divine ritual in one lifetime was already a feat and now here they were, looking at their third ones.
But no matter how surprised or anxious they were, all of them bowed in submission in the face of power that they could never hope to understand while wondering what the hell was happening again.
Meanwhile, Sol could not care about the rollercoaster of emotions the citizens were going through as he stood up once again in face of fourteen thrones.
[We are listening.]
He feel like he was back on that day. But the current him was totally different.
“I salute the goddesses. I am here to bargain.”
