Chapter 35

The Grand Cathedral of the Three Heroes stood in the exact center of the capital, a towering monument of white marble and stained glass. To the common folk, it was a beacon of holy light.
But deep beneath the altar, in a windowless sanctum lit only by flickering, scented candles, the air was thick with the stench of political rot.
Pope Balmus, the absolute leader of the Church of the Three Heroes, sat behind a massive desk carved from ancient ironwood. He wore his opulent, gold-trimmed papal robes, his hands folded beneath his chin. His expression was not one of pious grace, but of cold, calculating fury.
Before him stood High Inquisitor Kaelen, the head of the Church’s covert intelligence network. Kaelen’s hands were trembling slightly as he held a thick stack of parchment reports.
“Start from the beginning, Inquisitor,” Balmus commanded, his voice a smooth, dangerous baritone. “Tell me exactly how a kingdom that was entirely within my grasp just slipped through our fingers.”
Kaelen swallowed hard, unrolling the first scroll.
“It began on the day of the Summoning, Your Holiness. King Aultcray initiated the ritual without the Queen’s consent, as we planned. We were prepared to isolate and break the Shield Demon. But the ritual yielded an anomaly. The Fifth Hero. The Gauntlet.”
Balmus’s eyes narrowed. “I remember. We assumed she was a variable we could easily control.”
“So did we all, Your Holiness,” Kaelen read from the report. “When Princess Malty initiated the false accusation to ruin the Shield, the Gauntlet intervened. At the time, she played the part of a naive, rule-bound foreigner. She demanded a Slave Crest of Truth be used to ‘protect the honor’ of all involved. It was a flawless political trap. If the King refused, he looked guilty; if he accepted, Malty’s lie was exposed. The Shield was exiled, but he was spared the dungeon.”
Kaelen unrolled a second scroll, the parchment crinkling in the quiet room.
“For the first three weeks, our spies embedded within the castle staff reported that Princess Malty had the Gauntlet completely leashed. She was treating the Fifth Hero like a pack mule and a bodyguard. The Gauntlet seemed blindly devoted, even drinking a cup of ‘Siren’s Whisper’ without hesitation to prove her loyalty to the Princess.”
“A perfect puppet,” Balmus murmured, tapping his golden ring against the desk. “Or so it appeared.”
“Exactly,” Kaelen said, his voice dropping. “Because while Malty was bragging about her new pet, our Black Market informants sent disturbing news. Someone had flooded the underground markets with untraceable gold. They purchased highly restricted monster drops, Meteoric Iron, and even a premium monster egg. And shortly after, the Shield Demon suddenly acquired a Wyvern-scale shield and top-tier chainmail, completely bypassing our embargo.”
Balmus leaned forward, the candlelight casting deep shadows across his face. “The Crown thought the Gauntlet was a fool. The Church thought she was a brute. But she was funding the Devil right under our noses.”
Kaelen nodded grimly, pulling out a third, heavily stained scroll.
“Then came the ‘Pilgrimage,'” the Inquisitor continued. “We thought it was just the Princess flaunting her status. But wherever they went, our regional extortion operations were dismantled. The breaking point was Oakhaven.”
Kaelen reached into his cloak and pulled out a heavy object, dropping it onto the Pope’s desk. It was the ruined iron collar Maya had left on the Mayor’s desk, bearing the Church’s crest.
“The Manticore we placed in the eastern pass to squeeze the mining towns for silver,” Kaelen explained. “It was slaughtered. The Princess claimed she burned it, but our scouts found the corpse. Its jaw was shattered by blunt force trauma. And this collar was delivered anonymously to the Mayor’s study. The town rioted. They dragged our High Priest through the streets. The entire eastern tithe is gone.”
Pope Balmus stared at the iron collar. The sheer audacity of the Gauntlet Hero was breathtaking. She hadn’t just defeated their monster; she had meticulously gathered the evidence of their treason and weaponized the King’s own citizens against the Church, all while standing obediently behind the King’s daughter.
“And finally,” Kaelen whispered, pulling out the last report. “The Second Wave in Riyuza Valley.”
“I was in the war room,” Balmus stated coldly. “She pointed out a ‘clumsy tactical flaw’ in my Paladins’ formation.”
“It wasn’t a clumsy observation, Your Holiness,” Kaelen said. “She knew our Paladins were positioned to assassinate the Sword and the Bow in the chaos. By feigning innocent concern about ‘friendly fire,’ she triggered the other Heroes’ paranoia. They banished our knights to the ridges. She single-handedly neutralized our strike force with a smile.”
Kaelen rolled up the scrolls, looking at the Pope with genuine fear. “The Gauntlet Hero is not a brainwashed knight, Your Holiness. She is a master manipulator. She is playing the Princess, she is secretly allied with the Shield, and she is systematically dismantling our holy authority.”
Silence reigned in the underground sanctum.
Pope Balmus stood up, his towering frame casting a massive shadow across the stone walls. He walked over to a gilded chest resting on a pedestal behind his desk. He opened it, revealing a massive, incredibly ornate weapon that pulsed with a terrifying, golden light.
It was a replica of the Cardinal Weapons, forged from a massive crystal and centuries of stolen holy magic.
“The King is a blinded fool who cannot see the viper in his own court,” Pope Balmus declared, his voice echoing with fanatical zeal. “The Sword, Spear, and Bow are weak children playing a game. The Shield is the Devil incarnate. And this Gauntlet… she is a heretic mastermind who threatens the very foundation of this world’s faith.”
Balmus gripped the golden weapon.
“Our spies in Faubrey confirm that Queen Mirellia has crossed the border. She marches for the capital to reclaim her throne. If she arrives, she will ally with the Gauntlet and the Shield, and the Church will be purged.”
The Pope turned to his High Inquisitor, his eyes burning with absolute, terrifying conviction.
“We are out of time,” Balmus commanded. “Recall all Paladins from the outer provinces. Empty the secret vaults. Prepare the Holy Weapon. We will not wait for the Queen to return, and we will not wait for the Third Wave.”
“Your Holiness?” Kaelen gasped. “You mean to…”
“We launch a holy crusade,” Pope Balmus stated, raising the glowing weapon. “We will march on the Crown, execute the false Heroes, and cleanse Melromarc in divine fire. God wills it.”

**Would you like me to proceed with one of these options to begin the Church’s coup?**