Chapter 8. What?

While the interaction was taking place on the Altar, the crowd became confused. No sooner had they processed the information about Princess Grace's incredible talent than the God of Light himself arrived here. Apollo came down to greet the little girl. Sighs of admiration and envy filled the entire acropolis.

People were actively discussing what had happened, trying to make out the divine outlines of the most beautiful of men. They built theories, tried to predict the impact of such news on their daily lives. Someone was already making plans on how to become related to the royal princess, and someone was handing over to subordinates the task of distributing or selling information about today's ceremony to interested people.

Katherine and Gray stared unblinkingly at the Altar light, which prevented them from seeing anything. Gray was relaxed, but he was watching the scene with interest. Katerina was very nervous. She understood that the god of Light would not harm a little girl, especially at such a public event, because it would greatly undermine faith in him. But the feeling of intense discomfort inside her has become more and more distinct since this light appeared. "I don't like that someone talks to my child without my permission, even if that someone is God himself. Am I really that paranoid of a mother?" Katerina thought to herself.

Right now, Ekaterina was the only woman who tried to see her daughter in the top hat, not the most beautiful man in the world. Although she was always interested in seeing Apollo with her own eyes, the feeling of anxiety did not leave her, leaving no room for curiosity.

The eyes of Fulvius, Eve, Adam and his brothers changed their color to match the glow of the Altar. The holy daughter's breathing faltered. She made every effort to once again contemplate the divine face of her lord god, Apollo.

The light gradually dissipated, revealing the clearly more majestic figure of Eric and little Grace, who was happily tinkering with something. The priest gently took the princess's hand. He nodded to Eva and Fulvius, glancing at his free right hand. The index and middle fingers were visible on it, folded together. Eva and Fulvius were taken aback for a moment, but nodded, informing their subordinates of something.

Eva went up to the king and whispered something to him. Adam's gaze became hard and determined. Eric led Grace to her father, so that she was between him and the First Queen.

Watching all this interaction, Katerina frowned and wanted to say something, but she didn't have a single chance, as the viceroy himself spoke up.

"Citizens of the Roman Empire, citizens of the province of Light! Be proud, today the Lord of Light himself, Apollo, blessed us with his appearance. Please remain calm. We have received instructions from our patron god to continue the event in its original sequence. So keep the order. It's God's will, Phoebe."

"Grey, come down the aisle with me," Eric said, grabbing the boy's arm, not giving him time to collect his thoughts.

Catherine's sense of discomfort and the wrongness of what was happening intensified. She glanced at her husband, who nodded at her with a tight smile, letting her know that everything was fine. Deciding that it was worthwhile to finally finish this ceremony and deal with the problems later, Katerina focused on her son. He was walking down the aisle, holding the cardinal's hand.

"It can't be that Prince Grey also has an S-class rainbow core," the crowd could be heard whispering.

"They're twins, it's clearly possible, just look at how similar they are."

"Oh my God, two legendary-grade S-class cores at the same ceremony, really?"

Gray continued to walk down the aisle, ignoring the comments of the "extras." It's strange, where did he get that word from? Suddenly, Gray heard the excited voice of his older sister.

"GO AHEAD, LITTLE BROTHER!"— a voice that brought a gentle smile to the boy's serious face.

[Seriously, I can't lose to my older little sister. I wonder what kind of core I'll have. And to be honest, it doesn't matter, even if it's an E-class core. Mom will cover for me, so what if I have to fulfill my sister's wishes? As if I wouldn't have done it before. But, of course, I don't want to upset my mom and dad. Wait, what do I care about this old man? That's right, he shows up once a month, looks at me like I'm some kind of leprous thief or something. What did I do to him? Aren't you my father? It doesn't matter who cares about him. But I'm always with my mom and sister.]

Gray's thoughts were interrupted when he came to a floating sphere resembling an incipient galaxy. The priest repeated the procedure and began to monotonously explain the process, which Gray had already learned from his mother's explanations and his sister's example.

Gray placed his small palm on the sphere. Before he could figure out what was happening, the sphere turned completely black. The altar lit up, and a similar cylinder of light appeared, but much less bright. He separated the figures of Gray and Allarik from the audience. However, now their blurry outlines could be seen through the light.

[Wait, I think I feel a little tickle in the solar plexus area. Tilting my head, I see a glowing dot. Trying to figure out what exactly he had done wrong, Gray felt a stab of pain from his back. At the same moment, a sharpened dagger blade shot out from the speck of light on his chest, dripping with a red viscous liquid.

[Was I stabbed? Seriously?]

The boy's thoughts stopped for a moment, then he abruptly turned his head in the direction of the priest. He was standing right behind him with a gentle, fanatical smile on his face and a white dagger in his hand, the tip of which was sticking out of the boy's chest. This instinctive action provoked a surge of pain. Gray's breathing hitched. He could hear some screams in the crowd, but he couldn't make them out. His vision began to blur, and his head began to empty.

Meanwhile, Katerina, who saw what happened through the blurred screen of light, almost lost consciousness. Rage, pure and insane rage, swept through her entire being. Her magic core pulsed with energy, and her aura exploded with killing intent. She rushed straight to the altar, intending to blow up the entire altar, and then skin alive the cardinal who dared to harm her son.

Suddenly, her path was blocked by none other than Adam and Fulvius, with ten novices of the religion of light standing in a row behind them. At the same time, Eve was dragging Grace away, who didn't have time to figure out what was going on.

Katerina, in her mad rage, decided to attack first and then ask. In her hand, a thin sword appeared from nowhere. Abruptly and quickly, she swung it in Fulvius' direction. The movement was so fast, deadly and powerful that the cardinal, despite all his preparation, was critically wounded in the chest and flew into the frozen crowd. On the way, he blew up three spectators who didn't understand anything, just like little Grace.

With her other hand, Katerina directed a highly compressed fire spell at her husband. There was less intent to kill, but rather to injure badly. Having cast a spell and successfully detained the viceroy for a couple of seconds, Katerina rushed to the altar, shouting:

"Adam, what the fuck is going on here?!"

"I'm sorry, dear, it's God's will. Phoebe," Adam replied in a desperate attempt to block Katerina's spell and prevent her from reaching the altar. "Is she already at the soul awakening level? No, no, she's almost a Celestial. So fast. How is this possible?!" he thought furiously, trying to restrain his "wife."

Katerina had never felt that 10 meters could be so far away. With her speed, it would normally take her a moment to reach her son. But now that moment stretched into a few seconds, the longest seconds of her life. She didn't really want to hear anything from Adam. The question was asked rather on an exhale to disperse the collected magical energy. More than anything, she wanted to be in front of her son a second earlier than possible.

Allarik, with a neutral face and a serious look, held onto the hilt of his dagger and recited his prayer. He did not pay attention to the fact that his hand was stained red with the blood of an unsuspecting child. He did not pay attention to the screams of the crowd and the battle taking place in the immediate vicinity. He initially knew that he would only have a few seconds to complete the job and save his life.

"God, may your name be glorious, lend the power of light to your servant in order to cast out the sin of the human race. Breaking the vicious circle with the blood of an innocent, may your Light free us from sin. Yes, free us from the hands of fate "SEAL". In the name of the god of Light, "SEAL". Grant the innocent redemption, and the future sinner punishment. "THE SEAL." Phoebe." – after finishing his prayer, the priest saw that the dagger of light energy dimmed slightly and began to disappear. He pulled the weapon out of the boy's back and looked at him, ready to end the ceremony with a decisive action.

After taking one last look at the child, he was dumbfounded. What he saw was not a scared childish face. But with an uncomprehending look. The look of innocent blue eyes. The black pupil in those eyes pulsed faintly, trying to expand and engulf the cornea. The pupil somewhat resembled an ancient beast that was trying to escape from its cage.

At that moment, the priest forgot about everything. There was only him and those pulsating dark pupils in the whole world. He could have sworn that he heard death whispering sweet words to him, encouraging him to act. He could feel the grim reaper's scythe pressing against his neck. He knew that his fantasy was playing tricks on him. But his instincts screamed at him not to move, otherwise the beast would devour him whole, and the reaper would take his soul into eternal darkness. This moment of hesitation caused the hand to be delayed for only a couple of seconds. A fatal delay.

Eric heard a crack like glass breaking. The cylinder of light could not withstand Katerina's furious onslaught. Then he felt a burning sensation in his side. The pain was unbearable. He felt like he was about to be skewered like a pig. Barely managing to spread the energy of light, he flew off the altar, crashing indestructibly into the marble column of the temple. Cracks appeared in the "indestructible" column from this collision.

"GREY!!!!! GREY!!! DON'T DIE, SON, MOM'S HERE. MOM IS NEARBY. sorry. I'm SORRY," Katerina desperately screamed, taking her son in her arms.

Cassia jumped out of her mistress' shadow and stood guard, ready to act at any moment. An action that caused the 10 minions standing behind Adam to fall limply to the floor.

"WHY, ADAM, WHY?! TELL ME THE REASON!!!!!" – Katerina screamed through tears. With one hand, she tried to close the boy's wound, desperately using all the healing spells she knew. The other hand trembled and continuously poured potions on Gray, which appeared from nowhere.

With a long sigh and scattering the remnants of the ruthless attack, Adam spoke: "There is a prophecy of Matthew for a period of 5,000 years. This is one of the three great prophecies. The other two have already been executed. It says: "When day and night lose their rhythm, it will be born, marking the decline of humanity." This prophecy is a secret known only to Roman senators and upper—class pontiffs... As you now understand, Grey is the harbinger of the night. Sealing his core during his awakening is the safest option for all of humanity. We must eliminate such a threat. We had no choice from the very beginning." Adam said in a sincere and apologetic tone, while Katerina was trying to heal the wound of a child who had lost consciousness long ago, and the guards of the entire palace were converging on the ceremony site.