<Huh…our lord appears to have made a good point.>

=What's up? =

<We've dealt with zealot factions before. Cults, organized churches, and actual wild deities. And they have always been kind of...weird, right? >

=Yes, and…?=

<Those guys have always been super goal-oriented and super united in their doctrine and creed to the point of being about as united as a hivemind. These guys, all of the sects we've come across so far, do not strike me like that in the slightest. How the fuck has this so-called Theocracy maintained unity for this long despite all of these actively hostile religious sects? Especially during a war. >

=Pathos, you should know better than I that the existence of a common enemy does wonders in bringing people together. Hell, we made that common enemy a couple dozen times in the past. =

<Yeah, but there's always at least one guy who goes traitor. One guy who thinks that they're better than everyone else or feels as if they have been wronged by their superior. Ergo, they go and do something stupid that taints their name forever more. >

=Okay, I'm starting to get your point now… we saw a whole bunch of these guys arguing and fighting each other, and yet none of them seemed to show evidence of wanting to leave the city or wanting to escalate their feud to the point of violence, which surprises you. Is that about right ? =

<Yes.>

=Well, I can think of a few possibilities on how this is possible...but for now, mayhaps we should help our Lord find a place where he and the others can relax and ponder over the reason for all of the religious zealotry? =

<Fair enough.>

…

[Alright, betting pool's open,] Hurricroak declared. [Do we think that the theocracy is actually brainwashing people with the power of the Sacred Flame, which or may not be pure [Chaos], or do you think they're using something like… Indoctriation Law energy or something weird like that?]

[I'm going with actual religious dogma,] Screamira answered. [I got the memories of a couple dozen prisoners in my skull, and a good chunk of them were religious extremists. That, or they found faith while in prison and used it as an escape.]

[Fair enough.]

[I'm going with the Sacred Flame actually being unbound Chaos, again,] Nepherage said next. It's been kind of a running trend lately that most of the opponents our lord face tend to be Chaos adjacent.]

[I mean, did you see how easy Mysticlassic rolled those so-called elites of the Hellhounds?] Blazejudicator asked in a frank tone of voice. [If all of our opponents were standard aether warriors, they would just fold in an instant.]

[Speaking…of…]Frosttusk interjected. [How…did…you…three…create…new…arts? Have…you…made…progress…since?]

[Fucked if we know,] Razorstella answered for hrself and her fellows. [The library has been weirdly cagey and saying things likes, "you have yet to reach the necessary threshold" or some shit like that.]

[Wait, the library is being cagey with us? Us?!] Hurricroak asked in shock.

[Welcome to my reaction,] Springerdermain said with a hint of sardonic joy. [But enough about us complaining, I'm betting that whatever is going on, our Lord is going to be shanghaied into it by tonight.]

[Double that!]

[Agreed.]

[Is it weird that we take bets on the fate of our Caretaker so often?] Porcelain Doll asked her twin.

[Maybe, but it's also supposed to help develop our own Desire cores,] Corpse Doll replied. [So I'm betting on our Caretaker finding even more people to share his heart with!]

[What does that mean?]

...

"Finally, somewhere quiet!" Olstenna practically shouted as he and the others entered an inn that didn't double as a religious temple. "I thought a place like this wouldn't exist in a town like this."

"Huh…did anybody else notice that the sheer amount of bars and taverns seems to have shot up exponentially around here?" Zhen Xing asked as he noticed the sheer amount of alcohol-related signage. "Are we sure this isn't the red light district?"

"That was two streets over and was composed exclusively of sex cults," Zhen Tai answered, while rubbing a kiss mark clean from his cheeks. "Very aggressive sex cults."

After a long day of avoiding missionaries and preachers like they were plague-ridden locusts, Zhen Liu and his friends had managed to meet a fellow visitor to Emberona who was able to direct them to a part of the city where religious preaching wasn't allowed.

To be more precise, this was the "neutral" part of town.

For historical reasons that are too cumbersome to discuss, the various religious sects agreed that this particular portion of the city, known as the Kindling District, would be the one place where no preachers or missionaries were allowed to ply their craft.

Why?

Because, to quote the original holy text that everyone seemed to bastardize, "The act of conversion is akin to the art of making charcoal. It must be given time to rest and age before being set aflame. Otherwise, the resulting fire will be weak and sputtering."

Either way, once Zhen Liu and his friends had found a lovely little inn where the proprietor made it a point to make sure all guests weren't forced to listen to sermons every damn hour of the day, they were finally able to relax.

Well…most of them were able to relax.

...

"Xiao Liu, are you okay?" Jinju Ren asked. "You've been looking kind of constipated since we left behind that aforementioned red district. Did you want to participate in a ritualistic orgy?"

"As ripe as such a place would be for [Desire] cores, I don't think that's safest in the slightest," Zhen Liu answered back. "Especially since Zhen Tai had apparently been marked by three different sex cults?"

"Don't blame me, I'm apparently very charismatic here," Zhen Tai answered back.

"I'm pretty sure that they're just smelling the desperation," Zhen Xing lightly ribbed.

"Better than having a death cult try to sign you up for bloodsports," Lythero added while gesturing at Olstenna.

"Fuck off, I could've won."

"Getting flashbacks to the [Mirror City] fight..." Antonio grumbled. "If I can help it, I'd rather not fight to the death again."

After all of the preaching that had occurred today, Zhen Liu and his friends had opted to simply call it a day.

However, the inn they had chosen was short on rooms so they had to share a room between the eight of them.

As such, they were able to discuss with one another about the fact that they rolled into Emberona with less than good intentions.

Well, they weren't bad intentions though.

"Besides, I would have no idea how to present myself in such a situation."

"I mean...Rianna and I could—"

"But to actually answer your question, I've been a bit more wound than usual because of the fact that these sex cults exist in this city in the first place," Zhen Liu interrupted. "Not that I find sex cults icky, more like I'm confused how they can exist right next to the more conservatively orthodox factions."

"Ah," Jinju Ren nodded.

Back at the Pearl Scale Empire, many local lords had to contend with religious sects vying for power in either shows of force or faith. The scales of these conflict varied, but their end results were always the same: total annihilation.

As such, Jinju Ren, as well as everyone else who decided to chime in on the conversation, understood what Zhen Liu was getting at.

"You think there was something weird mixed into that [Sacred Flame] you took off of Bishop Olmen?" Olstenna asked. "Because I've never seen an aether flame burn the way that damn thing feels."

"Maybe, but I can't fucking tell."

To help illustrate his point, Zhen Liu pulled forth the now burning orb that was originally a gift from the people of Soot Snail Town.

The moment the flaming orb was brought out, everyone in the room involuntarily flinched as the power of the orb lightly pecked at their senses.

Evidently, the flaming orb had become slightly stronger now that it was in its "home town".

"Okay, I can see why you can't make heads or tails of it," Zhen Xing commented as he held up a hand to his eyes to block the oddly bright feeling he was getting from the orb. "It's scrambling my senses just sitting there."

"Well, I can at least tell you that this flame is definitely unlike any aether flame I've dealt with before," Olstenna commented. "It also kind of reminds me of those weird birdmen we fought back in Rainbowden. But also a bit like you, Master Zhen Liu."

"He's been storing that fireball on his person for like a week, of course it's going to feel like him," Antonio pointed out.

"Not like that," Olstenna defended himself. "I mean I can sense tinges of [Chaos] coming off of it. Not in a big obvious way like the kaijin, but it's subtlety there. Like an undercurrent."

"[Law] and [Chaos]...," Rianna mumbled. "Sounds contradictory."

"It does," Zhen Liu sighed. "But I get the feeling it's complicated."