Paul remained bent forward, hands clenched around the bracelet as if it were the only thing he cared about. His eyes, bloodshot and feverish, looked at everyone in the room with suspicion.
Anthony managed to pull himself away from the wall he had been thrown against and collapsed heavily to the floor. With a tremendous effort, he got back to his feet, spitting blood. For the first time, his obscene laughter had died out.
"W-what th' bloody 'ell's the meanin' o' this, Paul?!" he shouted furiously.
Guards from the various factions burst into the hall, weapons already drawn, alarmed by the noise. Yet no one dared move first. The Pantheon was not a place to spill blood, and nobody wanted to see what would happen if that rule was broken.
"Now, everyone, calm down!" Alfred's authoritative voice brought a shred of order to the growing chaos.
Under different circumstances, he wouldn't have hesitated to throw more fuel on the fire, but this was not the moment. He and Erik aimed to wear down the other factions and reduce their strength until, once they rose to power, no one could oppose them. They had to wait for others to show all their forces before unleashing the real fight.
"Twas him who attacked me outta nowhere!" Anthony growled.
No one questioned his anger; it was more than understandable.
"True, why did you attack him, Paul?" Jasmine asked, but Paul had gone back to staring at the bracelet.
"I think it's better to stop for today."
"YOU!-"
Anthony was about to explode, upset by the decision, but when he saw Alfred glance at Paul and then turn back to him, he understood.
As if he had only heard those words, Paul stood up and left without saying a single sentence to the others.
A tense silence remained in the hall, finally broken by Erik.
"There's no doubt left, he—"
"Don't make assumptions without certainty." Alfred interrupted him.
"No, let the lad speak," Anthony said, having more or less recovered, though only thanks to his high defence that had reduced the damage.
"I'm sayin' he's made a pact with an evil god," he declared.
At Erik's words, neither Jasmine nor Anthony reacted openly, but the slight furrowing of their brows was enough to reveal that the suspicion already existed within them.
There were three major factions of deities. First were the Greater Gods; second, the Lesser Gods, belonging to the so-called Grey Faction; and finally, the Evil Gods.
These divisions dated back to the dawn of time, when the first forms of intelligent life began to appear. The Greater Gods wanted to guide and protect those new creatures, seeing them as children, so they offered a path to grow in exchange for faith.
The Evil Gods, on the other hand, considered mortals as slaves, demanding blood and lives as sacrifices in their honor.
Many chose them because their gifts guaranteed a far faster growth, and, if one wasn't willing to sacrifice themselves, they could always offer someone else.
Given the huge difference in beliefs between the two factions, it was natural that they clashed, and the same happened among mortals.
The Lesser Gods, too weak to face the two main camps, sided from time to time with whoever seemed stronger. It was not uncommon for them to betray their own allies, and for this, the followers of the Grey Faction had a poor reputation. They were not hated as much as the heretics of the Evil Gods, but they were still discriminated against and looked upon with suspicion.
In the end, the war concluded with the victory of the Greater Gods. Most of the dark deities were killed or sealed, and only a few remained free. The same fate befell the heretics, who, though decimated, still kept a significant core alive, remaining a constant danger to the world.
"Don't you think you're overreacting?" Jasmine finally said.
"Ye might as well admit ye're scared stiff o' th' Inquisition. From wha' I be hearin', looks like someone's dabblin' in th' drug trade, har!" Anthony replied.
"You were better off when you were smashed into that wall," Jasmine said irritably.
"Back to the topic, do you think it's possible?" Alfred asked.
Jasmine and Anthony remained silent before she spoke.
"After today, I won't deny it's possible."
"Possible?! That bloke's gone off 'is rocker completely!" Anthony shouted.
"Yes, but there's still the question of why he did it and what he'd gain by sacrificing those people. Paul is a Grade 3; if he wanted to sacrifice someone, it should be us." Jasmine said.
Hearing Jasmine's questions, Alfred answered.
"For the first point, it's definitely power. We all know how obsessed he was with it."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"And th' second point then, eh?" Anthony asked.
This time Alfred "seemed in trouble" on how to reply when Erik raised his hand.
"Who says he's not already doin' it?" he said.
Everyone turned to him, even Alfred, feigning confusion.
Now that they had their attention, they needed to plant the seed of fear.
"We've all found symbols on the bodies, I imagine."
"Well, yes?" Anthony said.
"Isn't it something for the sacrifice rite?" Jasmine asked.
Since all elements tied to the heretics were banned, it was natural that there was a certain ignorance on the subject, and that was exactly what Alfred and Erik wanted to exploit.
"Why do something like that, when once you make a pact with an evil god, all the killings would naturally be dedicated to him/her?"
No one could answer, so Erik continued.
"Don't get upset, but in the past, I happened to have a historical book in my hands, with several studies on the heretics."
"You fool!"
Feigning rage, Alfred stood up and grabbed him by the collar.
"Do you realize what danger you put us in with that object?! Tell me where it is!"
"I-I burned it right away, I swear!" Erik said, trying to sound as agitated as possible. "I-I only read a few pages because I couldn't resist the curiosity..."
"So, wot did it say? Don't be leavin' us danglin', matey." Anthony asked with a bad feeling.
Erik took a deep breath before telling the story as seriously as possible.
"From what was written in the book, that symbol belongs to a heretical magic, meant to sacrifice as many people as possible."
Immediately, everyone's expression turned serious.
"The first step is to delimit the affected area with those symbols and use bodies as cores to activate it. The second step is to absorb the essence of innocent people, to have enough strength to activate the magic. Finally... during the full moon, it will be possible to trigger the magic."
"Th' symbols—"
"We've already started seeing them around the island," Alfred said with a sigh.
"Let's say it's true, wouldn't it be enough, like we're doin' now, to remove the bodies or erase the symbols?" Jasmine asked.
Erik shook his head in denial.
"Unfortunately, it's not that simple. The symbol we see is purely symbolic, and even if we erased it, we wouldn't be able to remove the magical mark, at least not without someone who has an affinity with the element of light or the sacred."
"It remains only a supposition, and there is nothing that confirms what you read is real," Alfred said doubtfully.
"But you can't deny that every element matches!" Erik protested.
"I don't know..."
The reason the two were acting like that was that they knew convincing the other two with words was impossible. So they would only install doubt and make the others decide to contact them. At first, they weren't completely sure it would work, but thanks to Paul's unhinged behavior, now they were sure.
"You said it would activate during the full moon, right?" Jasmine asked thoughtfully.
"That's what the book says." Erik nodded.
"So two weeks..." After a moment of thought, she continued. "If that's the case, I'll check for those symbols and see if anyone disappears."
"An' wha' will ye do if it happens, eh?" Anthony asked seriously.
"It's better to say what we'll all do."
With those words, Alfred stood up, and Erik followed him.
"Don't we want to discuss more?" Jasmine said uneasily, and Anthony didn't seem any better.
'It seems the situation affected them more than expected. Good.' Alfred thought to himself with a smile.
As an old sage used to say, if left to their own thoughts, a person ends up thinking the worst, and that was what Alfred wanted.
"As I said, there are no certainties yet, and wasting time on assumptions is useless."
Alfred headed toward the doors, but before leaving, he paused for a moment and said, "At least, I really hope those are just suppositions."
When Alfred left, only Jasmine and Anthony remained, who looked at each other in silence for a long time.
"Ow much d'ye believe their tale?" Anthony asked.
"If you ask how much I trust the Merchants, my answer would be zero. As for this whole matter... I really have no idea." Jasmine rubbed her forehead, stressed.
No one wanted to deal with the heretics, both for what they could unleash and for the risk of being associated with them.
"What a pain. Anyhow, I'll make sure me men check th' isle." Anthony said at last.
Even if neither of them said it, if Erik's words proved true, the only option to bring Paul down would be to join forces. Just as Adel had predicted.