Chapter 1290: Blitzkrieg Under The Cover Of Darkness [Part 1]
Inside the Palace of Light...
The Pope stood in front of the Four Pseudo-Gods, as well as Belle, inside the conference hall.
None of the members of the Heavenly Virtues were present because she was starting to suspect that there were spies within her inner circle. In order to ensure that this mission would remain top secret, she only intended to mobilize the five strongest warriors under her banner and do a Blitzkrieg attack on the Ainsworth Empire.
They had already gathered specific data on the different abilities of their opponents. Because of this, the Pope was confident that, although Belle and the others were outnumbered, they would easily be able to deal with their enemies one by one.
The plan that the Pope had painstakingly made was fool proof. She had already found out how the Five Pseudo-Gods would be able to deal with the Three Nymphs, who were the greatest obstacle in their plan.
They believed that as long as the long-ranged combat power of the Ainsworth Empire had been dealt with, everything else would fall in place.
"It is of the utmost importance that we kept this operation a secret," the Pope said. "The scrolls in front of you designate the time and place where we would strike the Ainsworth Empire. Please, burn the scroll as soon as you have memorized the information written on it.
The Four Pseudo-Gods as well as Belle picked up the scrolls in front of them and checked their contents. They were curious about what kind of plan the Pope had made for the Blitzkrieg operation that she believed would put an end to William's reign once and for all.
After reading the information inside the scroll, the Pseudo-Gods burned it one by one. Belle was the last one to toss the scroll into the brazier that stood at the center of the conference room, completely turning any trace of their operation to ashes.
"Everyone, please put everything you have into this operation," the Pope stated. "As long as we reach our objective, it doesn't matter if the Dark Princes' forces are stronger. We will be the ones to emerge victorious!"
The Pseudo-Gods who had read the plan nodded their heads in agreement. They didn't expect the Pope to be truly formidable when it came to creating strategies for war. If they could really put her plan into action, they had no doubt that they would indeed have the last laugh in this struggle for hegemony.
Several hours later...
The Four Pseudo-Gods, including Belle, set off on their mission. They were going to attack the Ainsworth Empire just past midnight. There was no moon in the sky, so visibility wasn't that good. Also, storm clouds extended for miles round the Ainsworth Empire, completely blocking out any sources of light.
"Start the Operation!" the Pope ordered as she looked at the Round Mirror that was floating in front of her.
As soon as she gave the order, the Four Pseudo-Gods activated the magic scrolls in their possession which opened a dark portal in front of them.
Belle, charged through it without batting an eye, and the rest of the Pseudo-Gods followed suit. The portal only lasted for ten seconds, preventing anyone from detecting its presence.
After entering the portal, the Elite Squad emerged at the garden of the Royal Palace. Everything around them was dyed in darkness, and they couldn't feel anyone loitering around in their surroundings.
This was only normal because they had timed their mission perfectly. While they fought against William's forces, the Pseudo-God that specialized in long-distance scouting had sneakily placed a waypoint in the gardens of the palace.
The plan was to use this waypoint in order to create a portal that would allow them to get as close to their target as soon as possible. The Pseudo-God had repeatedly checked the security of the palace, making them sure that this was the perfect moment and location to infiltrate the castle, under the cover of darkness.
Using their heightened senses, they immediately reached their destination which was the King's Bedroom.
They had seen Wiliam appear several times over the past few days, but he didn't join the battle against the Pseudo-Gods. The Pope's plan was to capture or kill William in this operation.
Capturing him was the ideal option because it would allow them to negotiate and make his forces submit. Killing him was also a good option because once the head of the spider was gone, its remaining legs would be rendered useless.
When the Pseudo-Gods entered the King's bedroom, they saw William sleeping on the bed and immediately executed their plan.
One of the Pseudo-Gods threw a bell-like artifact towards William. The bell didn't even make a sound until it landed on William's body.
Immediately after that, three ringing sounds reverberated inside the room.
After the three rings were over, William was sucked inside the bell, with no hope of escaping.
"We have captured the target," One of the Pseudo-Gods reported as he held a golden coin in his hand. "Please open the portal to the palace of Light."
The coin remained silent, which made the Pseudo-God frown. However, he didn't worry too much and simply repeated the words he said earlier.
"We have captured the target. I repeat, we have captured the target, Please open the portal to the palace of Light."
A minute passed then two...
The time extended to five minutes then ten minutes.
As more minutes passed by, the Pseudo-Gods were starting to feel that something was off. Even Belle didn't understand what was happening as she held her bow in a guarded stance.
"Pope, can you hear me?" one of the Pseudo-Gods asked. "Open the gate now!"
The frustration in the Pseudo-God's voice was noticeable, but still no reply came to him. This made him wonder if something had happened to the Pope's artifact, or something was preventing him from directly contacting the old lady who was the mastermind of this operation.
—-
Palace of Light...
Loud explosions echoed in the surroundings around the Palace, which stood for thousands of years, as it started to burn in flames.
Shouts of surprise, panic, anger, and frustration spread within its walls as several powerful beings appeared and started to unleash all of their powerful attacks at everything and anything they saw.
"The gate is broken, advance!" Astrape shouted as soon as the barrier protecting the gate, that Triton had smashed his trident against, shattered into hundreds of pieces due to the power behind the Pseudo-God's blow.
The radiance of the Palace of Light dimmed slightly the moment its main line of defense was broken.
Soon, several members of Deus, the Demons, as well as the elite members of Lont, stormed the hallways of the Holy Order of Light's most sacred ground.
"Remember our mission," Jekyll shouted. "Ignore the small fries. Follow me!"
Shawn, the Baker of Lont.
Mr. Bond, the Barber of Lont.
Marcus, Theo's Father, and one of the Senior Shepherds of Lont alongside its Boar, Thunder.
And John, another senior shepherd, who usually flew around with his flying mount, the Giant Black Raven, Thunder, ran after Jekyll as they followed the mission that Nisha had devised.
With the help of the Six-Eared Macaque, who had the power to hear the thoughts of a person's heart, Nisha had made a counter-plan for the Pope's Blitzkrieg attack.
Before William left for the Underworld, he had assigned the Six-Eared Macaque to monitor the Pope 24/7 using the power of his Divinity.
Because of this, every move that the Pope made didn't escape his notice. Allowing it to effectively time its attack for when the hard-hitters of the Holy Order of Light would be busy with their infiltration of the Royal Palace of the Ainsworth Empire.
'That veiled-lady is quite ruthless,' Jekyll thought as he led the elite members of Lont towards their destination. 'She planned to sacrifice the entirety of the Ainsworth Empire just to ensure that we will be the victors of this war. Just where did William find such a formidable person?'
Jekyll had undergone special training under his father's guidance in order to break through the ranks of a Demigod.
Although Pseudo-Gods now dominated the battlefield, the role that Demigods played was more apparent since the Pseudo-Gods were busy dealing with each other, giving them free reign to massacre the lower ranks of the opposing army.
Smashing the doorway of a room, Jekyll immediately headed to the bedroom where one of the Heavenly Virtues stayed.
Nisha had devised a blitzkrieg operation, and each team had been assigned to capture one of the Heavenly Virtues.
The veiled-beauty didn't expect them to be able to get all of the Virtuous Ladies. At most, Nisha wanted to acquire one or two of them.
As long as they were able to get their hands on any of the Virtues, even if the entire Ainsworth Empire were to fall, it would still be the Holy Order of Light's loss.
William's loyal subordinates, who were staying in the Ainsworth Empire, had been moved to the Floor of Asgard.
This included Eve, who was a very important member of the Ainsworth Family. In short, even if the Empire were to fall, it wouldn't matter to them because, with the power they possessed, they would be able to reclaim it again.
However, if one of the Virtues died, the power of the Holy Order of Light would decrease drastically, making them unable to use the full power of the artifacts that required all of the Seven Virtues to activate.
"There's no one here," Mr. Bond reported. "Could she have escaped?"
"I've checked everywhere, and I didn't see anyone," Marcus stated. "Should we look for the nearby rooms just in case?"
Jekyll, who was the leader of this operation, frowned. Just as he was about to give an order, Owen, the old Life Archon of Lont, swaggered inside the room and used the wooden cane in his hand to smack something next to the right side of the wall.
Immediately, a loud thud followed as a little girl, who seemed to be only around eleven-years-old, fell on the ground unconscious.
"Let's go," Owen said as he picked up Cherry, who was the Virtuous Lady of Charity, and placed her over his shoulder like a sack of rice. "Leave the other teams to fulfill their roles. We need to get out of here before the barrier we erected to prevent outside interference disperses."
Jekyll nodded and tapped the emblem on the back of his right hand. Immediately, the Bifrost Bridge shot out a beam of light in their direction, instantly teleporting their group to the Floor of Asgard.
While this was happening, the Pope was busy running through the secret passages of the Palace of Light in order to flee.
She didn't expect that on the same day her Blitzkrieg attack was executed, a similar counterattack would be staged on their own headquarters.
The Pope knew that she couldn't be captured no matter what, so she took everything of import inside her room before she entered the hidden passageway that led to several teleporting gates inside the castle. Each of them would take her to a safe place far away from the Palace of Light, that had stood for thousands of years.