THE 7TH

In a thousand years after the Great Holy War, peace and prosperity held major dominion over the world. The clash between the world's dominant forces was finally thwarted. The divine forces, fronted by the great Holy Alexandrian Republic and its allies, went up against a couple million members of the demonic race ruled by the demon Lords. At the day of reckoning, the Demon Lords' armies retreated from their conquered lands and, even the demon race itself, almost fell to utter extinction.

Due to the years of unrestrained proliferation, 5 different religions around the world emerged, thrived, and eventually became proud nations. One of these was the Holy State of Delos in the Central Continent. A high income country with a vast territory having almost a couple million of denizens under its control.

It had normalized the fundamental belief system that absolute faith on the high spirit Delos was the epitome of all virtues. The denizens were all upright people. It could even be said that the safest place in the continent lied within its fortified walls. Espoused with wide territory and wide fertile land held under its grip, it enjoyed an ever productive economy. Moreover, because of the Utopic environment molded by high devotion, education, and value, the rate of criminality was almost close to zero by annual account. Laws on grave transgressions, especially for felonies, were rarely used to incriminate anybody. In other words, the people were safely far from any sign of potential depravity and malice.

The Delosian faith, under the governance of the Delosian Church, had been considered one of the oldest established congregations in world history spanning for almost half a millennium in existence. Most of the church's policies were publicized to the believers for clean and transparent governance. And they were all anchored to the set of missives that served as their constitution. Insofar as the satisfaction level among the followers was concerned, the perfect term for it would be "off-thecharts." Hence, no major clamor nor any sign of uprising had ever surfaced from the masses and in the bureaucracy, as well.

In the eyes of the public, the holy state was undoubtedly a peace-loving country that had no specific enemies and conflicts with neighboring states. It appeared as though the only purpose of its existence was for peace itself to reach all the rough edges of the continent. Since its early founding, it had never experienced any sign of disturbance and disorder.

Nevertheless, all of these grandiose records of peace were outright dismissed when a peculiar night came. In April 15, 1081 A.E., a commotion shook the highly elevated Holy Ground of Archibesle — the holy cloister lying at the center of the capital — where the church's bigwigs took residence.

To be all specific, the source of the ruckus was at the underground quarter directly beneath the Holy Pope's castle. It was in the forbidden chamber that even the mid-ranking paladins of the state weren't allowed entry. In the eyes of the other government officials, though, it was merely a safekeeping space for the holy treasures that had been passed down by all former holy popes for generations. They were sealed by a top-secret barrier technique that had kept them under heightened protection twenty-four seven.