Chapter 364: The Launch of Cathedral

“Hey. What’s going on?”

Heikin, the German S-class villain, stroked his red Mohican hair and looked at the letter that had been sent to him.

[Invitation to Cathedral]

The paper was pure white with a holy glow.

Inside, it read.

“I have a very important announcement to make at this Cathedral, and I ask that you be present…”

He propped his legs up on the desk and muttered as he read the letter.

…Has this ever been in a Cathedral invitation before? No, it hasn’t. Never before had there been such dire words as ‘this is the time to change destiny’ or ‘the world order will be reorganized’…

It’s been a week since this letter arrived.

He read it, wondering what the hell was going on, but…his brain wasn’t very good, so he slammed his hand on his desk, unable to figure it out.

“I’m so frustrated!”

Just as he was ranting, the door burst open and a fat man walked in.

“Boss!!! What’s going on?”

“Nothing, get out!”

“Okay!”

-BANG.

And just like that, his subordinate is out again.

Sighing, he sat up straight again and placed the letter on his desk, thinking.

Heikin, Germany’s S-class villain and head of the Red Motors, Germany’s only villain alliance.

As such, he was familiar with the heads of the other European Villain Alliances through the Cathedrals, but they didn’t seem to know what Celeste was trying to tell them at this particular Cathedral.

“Do I need to ask Brother Egostic…No. I’ll find out today anyway.”

With that thought, he rose from his seat.

Egostic, an S-class villain in the country of Korea, was someone Heikin personally looked up to as an older brother.

He was always smiling, and despite his seemingly weak appearance, he was an incredible man who knew all the secrets of the world.

He knows the identity of America’s hidden heroes, and he single-handedly prevented the Moonlight Church from destroying the world.

…Egostic was someone Heikin personally admired as a villain who even saved his life.

“Hah… I see. Let’s go.”

No matter what he says, I’ll have to hear it first.

Checking the time, he rose from his seat, dragged on his pants, which clanked with chains, and grabbed his coat from the wall.

And there it was, a leather coat with horns on the shoulders. Behind him, a red cloak.

It was the costume he’d begun wearing when he stood tall in Germany, after destroying every other group of villains in the country.

“Alright… Let’s go.”

With that muttered, he tore the letter in half.

Schwak-.

With a twisting sensation, he found himself standing in a pitch-black, white hallway.

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

He walked down the corridor until he reached the Round Table Room.

In the solemn atmosphere of the table he noticed one thing, something different.

‘…What?’

Egostic was sitting right next to Celeste, instead of sitting with his usual companions.

‘What’s going on…?’

Heikin wondered, as he took his seat and the question only grew stronger as he watched the silent whispers between Egostic and Celeste.

‘…Egostic and Celeste, aren’t they on bad terms?’

For some reason, after being picked on by Celeste, there was a lot of friction between Egostic and Celeste in recent meetings. Celeste tried to chase away Egostic, or she openly glared at him, etc…

Of course, the #1 ranked player in the world had every right to be intimidated by her, but the way she took it all in stride, smiling, made Hiking think that he was pretty amazing.

…Well, he was, anyway.

For some reason, they seemed to be sticking close together now.

“…..”

“…Hmmm.”

As the other villains starred in amusement, finally everyone sat down, every single one of them.

Silence descended upon the round table in the white cathedral.

It was then that Celeste finally spoke.

“…Thank you all for coming. Today, I have something very important to tell you….But first, please look this way.”

Her voice was angelic and beautiful.

She swept her hand over the table and a white, floating ball of light appeared in the center of the table.

As everyone stared at the dazzling ball, Celeste quietly opened it.

“…Sooner or later, something big will happen due to the revelation of the Sun God…He is giving blessings once again to all the powers he gave to this world…This is an opportunity for all of you to take your strength to the next level.”

Her next words were shocking.

Soon, all powers would simply double in strength.

The explanation was that the Sun God’s power had increased, but regardless of the cause, the words alone were shocking.

If it was simply a case of a player who could summon a single thunderbolt being able to summon two, they wouldn’t really care.

If it’s “all” powers, it means that powers that are already terrifyingly strong will become even stronger.

For example, if the powers that can destroy a mountain with a wave of their hand become even stronger than they are now… What the hell is going to happen?

Everyone could see that the world would be even more chaotic than it is now, even if no one said so but of course.

“…Hoh.”

That meant that not only others, but also they and their subordinates would become stronger.

…Celeste waited for a moment for everyone to fall silent.

Finally, in a cold voice.

“Everyone.”

For a moment, the air around the table turned freezing cold.

All eyes were focused on Celeste, whose unspoken charisma was somehow overwhelming.

Celeste, the one who always kept her eyes closed.

“…!”

Silently, for the first time in Cathedral’s history she opened her eyes and looked at everyone with her golden pupils.

“I know that you will be confused…Of course, if it happens, the world will be confused but you…we…are the ones who see opportunity in that chaos. The world will be more chaotic in the future, perhaps more than ever before…So what are we going to do about it?”

With those words, she rose from her seat.

Looking down at them all, her eyes filled with ambition, she spoke coldly but firmly, in a whisper, but loud enough for all to hear.

“At this moment, I speak as the head of the Cathedral.

From this moment forward, all of Cathedral must unite as one, working toward a single goal: to rid ourselves of the weak and those who would seek to lord over us, so that we may all be aligned before a new order of power. I will lead you.

May the blessings of the Sun God fall upon all and way we take the world in our hands.

From now on, I call upon all of Cathedral to unite together before the Crusade.

I hereby declare Cathedral, the Global Alliance of Villains.

The goal is to bring the world under our control.”

A moment of silence descended and suddenly, the sound of applause was heard.

At the center of all the attention, a man in a white half-mask, Egostic, was clapping silently and then, starting with him, the round table began to fill with noise.

-Thump, thump, thump.

“That’s right! Yes, you should be born a villain and rule the world.”

“Hmm… That’s a funny story, it should have happened a long time ago.”

“Hahahaha! Great, I’m in. Celeste, shouldn’t we have done this a long time ago?”

And just like that, in a room full of nods of approval, unknowingly clapping along with the others, Heikin suddenly realized.

‘…From the beginning, the speech was pointless.’

Celeste could have just said, ‘Hey, gather,’ and the other villains would have followed suit.

Why? Because everyone would have been thinking the same thing.

‘…If the day comes when the powers of the powerful explode…’

‘…Celeste, how strong is she going to get?’

Right now, no villain could stand against her…At least, not without a few. Atlas, maybe but even then.

‘…I’m sure Egostic has them all in his pocket.’

In other words, it all pointed in one direction.

All the villains would be united under Celeste at this time, and they would all be in one place, a villain alliance on a scale never seen before.

Can the International Association stop this?

‘…I don’t know what it is, but I’m going with it.’

Well, the details didn’t matter.

No matter what, there was something about Celeste’s speech that set his heart on fire.

On this day it was decided that the Global Alliance of Villains, Cathedral, would be officially launched.

***

After the announcement was made.

“Hah….Anyway, this is the important part, okay, Egostic?”

“Yes, Ms. Celeste.”

I sat alone in her room, drinking coffee, wondering where the charismatic Celeste from earlier had gone, and what had happened to her.

…How does it feel to be Cathedral’s number two, anyway? It wasn’t bad.

I was pretty much writing the book, anyway…Celeste’s speech confirmed one thing.

Her goal, Cathedral’s goal, is world domination.

“Ha… She’s doing what the gods want, right?”

Not world destruction, but world domination.

She just didn’t know yet that the Sun God’s goal was destruction, not conquest.

“…Of course.”

I said, and took a sip of my coffee.

Now, the world-conquering Cathedral has officially been launched.

How do I turn this into a world defense headquarters?