"How can I be sure that you are telling the truth?" Sparda asked, his voice low and dangerous. He was still on high alert, his body coiled like a snake ready to strike.
"You can clarify yourself. It's not like we are going to make you stay here in this basement. You can ask other kingdoms as well. That woman even killed the current king of Almeida and his first prince and kidnapped the second prince, Richard, as well," Vladimir said calmly, his voice smooth and persuasive. He could feel the situation slowly turning to his side, the warlords' shock giving him the upper hand.
"She's practically a tyrant. She does whatever she wants," he added, letting a hint of righteous anger color his tone.
"Is she still in her prime after having her battle with a demon king? If not, then we can use this situation to eliminate her once and for all," Xeno asked, her voice turning deadly serious from its previous bored tone.
But Vesilisa shook her head, her expression grim. "No. There were practically no fatal damages to her at all. She even attended a banquet organized by the kingdom of Victoria, still in her top condition."
"No damages? What species is she?" the great thief Ashford asked, his usual smugness replaced by genuine shock and a sliver of fear.
"She proclaims herself as a Dragonoid. We don't know for sure, though," Vladimir answered. He wisely decided not to mention Scarlett also proclaiming herself as a goddess's reincarnation, as that might sound too unbelievable.
"This is some great enemy we are facing," Sparda rubbed his chin, his mind racing, thinking deeply about the implications.
"The strength is not the only problem. Her beauty as well," Arthur finally spoke for the first time in the conversation, his voice deep and serious. "Many humans support her for the sole reason of her beauty. You can look through the thousands of cases of divorce in the six kingdoms, and it just keeps piling up. Meanwhile, many of those who saw her can't get aroused by seeing other women."
He then silently looked at Vladimir, a faint, almost mocking look in his eyes. "You got one patient right here."
"You didn't have to mention that!" Vladimir shouted immediately, his face flushing with embarrassment, but it was too late. The words were out, hanging in the air.
Xeno already had a deeply disappointed face, her brow furrowed in disgust. "What a disappointment for a descendant. Did I really do the right thing by sleeping with a man?" she sighed, the sound filled with regret.
Everyone who had knowledge of history or was from the kingdom of Mystveil knew about Xeno. She was actually a reincarnator from another world. She was the reason why Mystveil was the strongest kingdom of today and was also the founder of the Holy Knights.
In a way, she was actually the senior of Vesilisa, Arthur, and every other Holy Knight.
Being a reincarnator, she realized that just relying on goddesses was not enough. She felt a deep suspicion that the goddesses didn't provide as much support as they claimed to be; it was like they were just acting like they were supporting, but in the end, all the hard work was actually done by the humans.
So, she was the first person to take the initiative and form pacts with other beings other than goddesses or relying on summoned heroes.
She formed a pact with the second strongest fallen angel, Azrael, the Angel of Death. In return, she could use Azrael's mental world, a power that made her the strongest human woman to ever exist.
Of course, she had to pay a sufficient price. She had slaughtered almost half of her kingdom and sold their souls, including the fallen and the noble souls, to Azrael.
But being at the top of humanity, she wiped this massacre from the pages of history and made herself look righteous in the records.
Everything was set. The strongest woman would have the strongest children to continue her legacy.
But there was a catch: she was a lesbian.
She wasn't attracted to males at all. That's why she had a harem of girls, and that even included several demon girls as well. It was also the reason she chose to attack Nirvana, the fourth and only female demon king, hoping to defeat her and add her to her harem.
Knowing that with her mental world, she was unstoppable, she had been confident. But after the battle, she actually received a crushing defeat and somehow made it back alive, broken and humiliated.
That caused her to never attack any demon king again.
But being a human, she was aging. She knew she had to continue her powerful bloodline, her family name. So even though she despised the very idea, she forced herself to sleep with a man, just to produce an heir.
But seeing her descendant, Vladimir, so flustered and weak-willed over a woman's beauty, she was not sure if the sacrifice she made was the right thing to do. A deep sense of regret washed over her.
"It's not my fault, ancestor," Vladimir replied, trying to defend himself. "She first presented herself as a friendly subordinate of humanity. And she still has some good relationships with two kingdoms. This is why it is even more difficult to defeat her. Humanity is currently divided." He said changing the subject.
"Hmph, so what's your plan? Just summoning us and hoping we'll defeat her is not a reliable solution," Xeno asked, her voice dripping with skepticism.
"I know. You are not summoned here to defeat her," Vladimir said, a confident smile returning to his face.
He turned around, pointing at Vesilisa and Arthur. "If it was just about stopping her, these two are more than enough."
"Huh? Really?" Xeno exclaimed, her eyes widening in surprise. She looked at the two Holy Knights, trying to sense their power.
"I think you are underestimating us too much," Vesilisa spoke, her voice cold and clear. "Holy knights are now the leaders of humanity. As the captain, I assure you that I am stronger than everyone present in this room." As she spoke, a brilliant silver aura broke out from her body, making the air thick and heavy with immense power.
Even Sparda could feel the pressure. He gritted his teeth, realizing with a jolt that what Vesilisa was saying was clearly the truth. Her power was immense, far beyond what he had expected.
"Then why are we summoned in the first place?" Ashford asked, his voice filled with confusion.
"To buy time," Arthur added, adjusting his glasses smoothly with one hand, his expression calm and serious.
"Buy time?" Xeno repeated, not understanding.
"Yes. Actually, stopping her is easy, but it'll only be for a limited time. We have no way of killing her permanently nod we know her hidden trump cards. That's why once time passes, Vesilisa and Arthur are doomed to lose," he said, his words heavy with a grim finality.
"That's why we are organizing a ritual, a big, grand ritual to summon the Goddess of Time into an avatar body," Vladimir explained.
"Goddess of Time? Never heard of her. Can I know her name?" Sparda asked, his curiosity piqued.
But Vesilisa shook her head, her expression stern. "No, you are not worthy. She is far above any goddess you know," she says, her voice filled with absolute reverence.
"I have made the pact already. She has agreed to help. We also have prepared the necessary souls to sacrifice. Everything is set. The only part left is to do the ritual to make her descend into this lower realm," she explained, her eyes shining with fanatical devotion.
"What will happen once she is summoned?" Xeno asks, a sense of dread creeping into her heart.
"Salvation, of course. Humanity will be saved," Vesilisa replies with her holy voice, as if she were preaching for her goddess, her face filled with a beautiful, zealous light.
"But this is where the main problem is. The ritual will be too grand. She and her subordinates will use their full power to disturb the ritual. That's why we need to do everything in our power to stop them," Vladimir said, finally explaining the full situation.
"Now I kind of understand it. So we have to do everything in our power to stop her and her subordinates from destroying the ritual," Xeno muttered to herself, understanding the real reason for their summon. It wasn't to win a war, but to hold a line.
"Yep. Defeating her is the same as conquering all six kingdoms. That's why once we'll win, I will grant any wish you all have," Vladimir added with a satisfied laugh.
Ashford also laughed alongside him, his greed and ambition reawakened. "Now I'm kinda motivated as well," he said, coming forward and patting Vladimir's back a little too hard.
"Well then, let's go to the palace and have some luxury. You great figures must've been getting bored here in the basement," Vladimir said, bending down and showing his palm towards the exit of the basement in a gentlemanly way, his charm turned back on.
Arthur and Vesilisa left first, their followed by Sparda and Ashford.
As Xeno was about to leave, she noticed a look of confusion and quiet thought on Beatrix's face. The elf woman stood still, her brow furrowed, as if trying to remember something important.
"Is something bothering you?" Xeno asked, her voice softer than it had been before.
Beatrix shook her head slowly, while rubbing her chin with her delicate fingers. "An incredibly strong and beautiful woman... It does ring some bell to me," she said, her voice distant and thoughtful.
"Huh? Really? Did you meet her in your past summonings?" Xeno asked, her curiosity piqued.
But Beatrix shook her head again, more firmly this time. "Forget it, I'm not sure," she said, dismissing the thought with a wave of her hand. She then took the lead and walked out of the basement, her footsteps echoing on the stone stairs.
Xeno followed her with a sigh.
Meanwhile, looking at their backs as they went out of the basement, Vladimir couldn't help but smirk. A triumphant, cunning look spread across his face.
"Never knew that fooling warlords would turn out to be quite easy. I initially thought we'd have to make them work for us without their consent," he chuckled to himself lightly, the sound quiet and smug in the now-empty room.
"Saving humanity? What a joke. It was a good decision to make Scarlett the main villain here," he muttered to himself, his voice filled with self-satisfaction.
He turns around, having one last glance at Vesilisa's expressionless face. He couldn't read her, which bothered him a little, but he didn't dwell on it. He then quietly leaves the basement as well, his mind already racing with his next steps.
Vesilisa looks at his back as he goes, her silver eyes unreadable. With a soft sigh that seemed to carry the weight of the world, she sits down on the cold stone floor, still thinking about the current situation.
"I can see that they still have some suspicion," she thought to herself. "They wonder why an unknown goddess is helping us this much. They have questions, like how many souls were to be sacrificed, or will she defeat only Scarlett, or every demon king along with her?"
"Even Vladimir has his suspicion that if the goddess will actually provide what 'we' want or not," she continued, her mind a whirlwind of doubts and plans.
She looked at the empty room, the silenced atmosphere pressing in on her. "But I wonder what their reaction would be if I told them that the goddess actually first told me that she wants to kill Scarlett Nova with her own hands, and in return, she'll grant our wishes."
She exhaled deeply, rubbing her temples with her fingers. The complicated situation was making her have a slight headache, a dull throb behind her eyes.
"She must have some great beef with her, that she herself took the initiative to kill her, How unlucky Scarlett Nova," she sighs.
But this was also the reason Vesilisa was so wary. Since the Goddess of Time, whom Vesilisa had absolute faith in, wants to kill someone personally, that only meant one thing: Scarlett couldn't be killed by any of them. She was on a level beyond their reach.
Or else she would have just given task to eliminate Scarlett, That's all.
Thus, she was making sure, with Vladimir and the other Holy Knights, to take every single step necessary to stop Scarlett before her goddess was summoned onto this realm.
"Well Scarlett is our enemy anyway, Eliminating her and having our wishes granted, It's the same as killing two birds with one stone",