While Blake was teaching Ryuda on how to be a good butler and disciple back in the Mysterious Forest, a plot of evil and mischief was brewing somewhere else…
Grand Hall of Seven Sins, Church of Tais
"Janet! Janet! Where art thou Janet?!" A husky voice called out from the shadows.
"Janet! This Sin of Envy requests for your presence!" The husky voice called out once more.
Unwilling to let this opportunity go, the husky voiced being stepped out of the shadows and revealed themselves.
It was a hooded person with a hunchback and uneven legs.
The hooded person wandered around the grand hall while he called for the being 'Janet' to appear.
After an hour of nonstop calling out for 'Janet', another hooded person stepped out of the shadows.
This time, this hooded person had an upright posture and exuded a sense of regality whenever he moved.
The upright person appeared before the hunchback person like a ghost, startling the hunchback person into taking a step back due to fright.
"Holy Tais! Sin of Pride?! When did you appear?" The hunchback Sin of Envy exclaimed. He clearly did not sense the regal person's presence till the regal showed up in front of him.
"Just recently, Sin of Envy. Your shouting is polluting the air within the Grand Hall. Janet has ordered me to give you a slap on the head to shut you up." The upright Sin of Pride replied.
"A slap on my head? Oh please, you're too prideful to dare touch my foul smelling head." The Sin of Envy heard this and revealed a smug expression.
He then leaned his head forward towards the Sin of Pride, mocking the upright person with a gleeful smile.
"Come on, slap it. I bet your hand will smell like rotten eggs for weeks after that hahahaha!"
"You annoying piece of–, I am better than this." The Sin of Pride was just about to give in to the Sin of Envy's ragebait when he quickly stopped himself and calmed down.
He then gave the Sin of Envy a look of disdain while he secretly gathered a mysterious energy into his right fist.
"Ooooh, scary~" The Sin of Envy continued to mock his peer. But just as he was about to lean forward a bit more, his danger senses kicked in and warning sirens started sounding in his head.
Alas, it was too late.
"Bam!" Without warning, a large golden palm manifested right above the Sin of Envy. It then slammed into the hunchback man like an anvil, crushing both the Sin of Envy and half of the Grand Hall into smithereens.
When the dust settled, a large palm sized hole had formed in the middle of the Grand Hall.
The Sin of Pride took a peek into the hole and saw that the hunchback Sin of Envy had disappeared. "Stinky old fart, he was still fast enough to teleport out of here…"
The upright Sin of Pride shook his head in dismay at the thought of this.
He proceeded to dust himself off using the same golden energy from before and stepped back into the shadows of the Grand Hall.
As for the Sin of Envy, that slick hunchback old man reappeared over a pile of trash outside of the church, crashing into the trash bags like a racoon.
When he regained his senses, the Sin of Envy took a deep breath then shouted at the top of his lungs, "I'll get you back for this, you shitty fallen noble!"
After shouting and running out of breath, the Sin of Envy made grumbling sounds as he climbed out of the pile of trash.
"I am a dignified archbishop of the Church of Tais…I just want to meet the newly ascended Saintess called Janet that I was thrown into a pile of trash…That shitty Sin of Pride and his dog-like behaviour! Ownerless behaviour!"
The Sin of Envy proceeded to curl his fists and punch towards the sky like a madman.
***
Back in the Grand Hall, the Saintess of Tais, Janet Hailstone emerged from the shadows and proceeded to inspect the palm sized crater caused by the Sin of Pride.
"Sin of Pride o' Sin of Pride, your Golden Bahamut Divine Art is improving~"
"I thank the Saintess for her kind words." The Sin of Pride replied from the shadows.
"Indeed, it is improving at a steady pace. But that is not enough."
"I'm sorry, Saintess. I–"
"Enough, apologizing isn't going to help your case. Quickly raise your power to the point where even the Sin of Envy's Space Manipulation Magic is powerless against you."
"Yes, Saintess!"
"Moving on, both the Sin of Lust and the Sin of Wrath have agreed to help our cause. The end of the Gods is near, very near…"
Hearing this, the Sin of Pride revealed a solemn look and tightened his fists, his nails digging through his white gloves.
"If I may be so bold to ask…"
"You may."
"How will they prove their loyalty to you, Saintess? The Sin of Wrath is famous for not bowing down to anybody but the goddess Tais herself. I fear that the promise he has shown you is only surface level at best. You best be careful if that's the case."
"Thank you for the warning, my loyal Sin of Pride. Afraid not, I've already come up with a solution to this problem. Have you heard of the Mysterious Forest that suddenly appeared to the west of the Yoin Empire?"
The Sin of Pride heard this and thought for a moment. His eyes then widened at the realization of this question.
"You mean you–"
"Yes, I've sent the two Sins to go and conquer the Mysterious Forest."
"But I heard that there have been divine fluctuations within the forest. Could it be?"
"It may be from the Goddess Tais herself, or it could be from a different God that has descended into the mortal realm. Either way, this will prove their loyalty to me."
Saintess Janet's eyes became upside down crescents at the thought of this.