The heavy metal door closed silently behind them.
The figures of Fogremia, Angronia, and Sanguinia were completely shut out.
In the vast observation deck, only Leticia, Terrania, and the Grand Abbot of Saints who had just offered her faith, Morwen Val, remained.
This was the bow of the genesis.
Outside the massive curved viewport lay the magnificent and cold galaxy of the Saintess Star system.
The light of stars was refracted by nebulae into dreamlike colors, while distant points of light were countless stars burning or long dead.
The grandeur and silence of the universe were displayed to their fullest at this moment.
Morwen Val did not look at that sea of stars.
Her eyes, sharp as a hawk's, were now fixed intently on Leticia.
After confirming the divine essence of Terrania, all her attention shifted to this mysterious black-haired goddess who had single-handedly created all of this.
She needed an answer.
An answer concerning the Human Empire, the Adepta Sororitas, and the fate of her own future.
"Dismissing the others; I presume the Grand Abbot of Saints has important matters to discuss."
Leticia broke the silence first.
She took Terrania by the hand and walked to the viewport, gazing calmly at the deep darkness.
Terrania, meanwhile, curiously pressed her small face against the cold glass, watching the sparkling "stones" outside.
Morwen Val took a few steps forward and stopped at an absolutely safe distance behind Leticia.
She spoke in a deep voice, every word seeming to be cast in steel, filled with the weight of ten thousand years.
"The Human Empire is terminally ill."
She did not beat around the bush, getting straight to the point.
"The High Lord council is riddled with Decay, infighting for power and long having forgotten their responsibility to humanity."
"The Ecclesiarchy has further degenerated into a tool for them to amass wealth and delude the masses; the glory of the God-Emperor has been tarnished, and His teachings have been wantonly misinterpreted."
There was a bone-deep exhaustion and disgust in Morwen Val's voice.
"I have been searching for a way out. A way that would allow the glory of the Emperor to shine upon this kingdom of Decay once more."
She paused, gazing intently at Leticia's back.
"Today, I witnessed a divine revelation."
"Your Majesty..."
Her gaze turned to Terrania, who was blowing air onto the glass and drawing funny faces, and her eyes instantly became incomparably soft and devout.
"...is our faith."
"And you, you are Her guardian, the executor of Her will."
Morwen Val took a step forward, her aura becoming fierce once again.
"Now, tell me!"
"What exactly is your purpose?"
Her voice rose sharply, carrying the majesty of a judgment, piercing directly into Leticia's soul.
"Do you intend to destroy this old Human Empire, and then... establish a new one?!"
This question hung in the air of the observation deck.
Sharp, and fatal.
This was also a question that Fogremia, Angronia, and the others were equally curious about deep down.
What exactly was Leticia's vision?
Leticia slowly turned around.
She did not answer.
Instead, she looked at Morwen Val and asked an unrelated question.
"Grand Abbot of Saints, how long has it been... since you had a peaceful night's sleep?"
Morwen Val was stunned.
She had not expected the other party to ask such a thing.
A peaceful... sleep?
She could not remember.
Was it a thousand years? Or five thousand?
Since the day she became the Grand Abbot of Saints, every one of her nights had been spent in prayer, asceticism, and vigilance against the conspiracies from the Human Empire and Chaos.
Sleep had long ago become a luxury.
Seeing the fleeting confusion on Morwen Val's face, a faint, slightly pitying smile appeared on Leticia's face.
"My purpose is perhaps something you cannot understand."
She gently stroked Terrania's golden hair, her bottomless black eyes reflecting the endless galaxy outside the window.
"I do not want an Human Empire."
Boom!
These four words left Morwen Val's mind blank.
You don't want the Human Empire?
Then why was she doing all of this?
Just as Morwen Val fell into immense confusion, Leticia spoke the second half of her sentence.
The voice was very soft, yet it shook the heart more than any grand oath.
"I want a home."
"A home... where my Sisters, where all the souls weeping in the darkness, can sleep in peace."
A home?
This word, so simple it was almost insignificant, struck Morwen Val's heart like an invisible giant hammer.
She thought of the young Battle Sisters under her command.
In the prime of their lives, they dedicated their lives and loyalty to the cold God-Emperor and the Human Empire of Decay.
They prayed in blood and fire, sang hymns on desperate battlefields, and then died like consumables.
They... when had they ever had a home where they could sleep in peace?
Morwen Val's iron-hard will was completely pierced at this moment by Leticia's seemingly small, yet immensely grand vision.
She understood.
The goddess before her was not an ambitious careerist pursuing power.
Nor was she an avenger wanting to destroy everything.
She was a true... Creator God.
What she wanted to create was not a cold Human Empire built of laws and steel.
But a warm... home where everyone could find a place to belong.
This was the true, bright future for the Battle Sisters!
This was the most essential... protection and compassion in the Emperor's divinity!
Morwen Val's body, tensed for ten thousand years, completely relaxed at this moment.
The scrutiny and vigilance in her eyes turned into absolute conviction and fanaticism.
She bowed her head, which had always been held high, deeply before Leticia.
"I understand, my Goddess."
Her voice was no longer that of the Grand Abbot of Saints, but that of a follower who had found her direction.
"However, I cannot have the entire Adepta Sororitas openly declare their allegiance to you at this moment."
Morwen Val raised her head, her eyes regaining their calm and sharpness.
"That would only immediately trigger a full-scale civil war within the Human Empire, letting countless innocent Sisters die under the gunfire of their own kind."
She made an astonishing decision, full of political wisdom.
"But I can become your... shadow on Terra."
"I can become the sharpest sword you insert into the heart of the Human Empire!"
Leticia raised her eyebrows slightly, signaling her to continue.
"I will announce to the High Lords of the Human Empire that the 'heretic' here has been purged by my own hand, and the threat has been neutralized."
Morwen Val's voice was kept very low, yet it was full of power.
"I will erase all traces for you and buy you the most precious time."
"Then, under the guise of'secret trials' and'special missions', I will send the Sisters from the entire Adepta Sororitas who have the most devout faith, the firmest will, and the most outstanding talent, batch after batch, secretly under your command!"
"They will receive your most direct divine grace here and become the first sparks of a new era!"
This plan was bold to the extreme!
This was equivalent to this Grand Abbot of Saints of the Human Empire wanting to personally, bit by bit, transfer the most elite armed forces of the Human Empire to Leticia's command!
The secret covenant was silently reached at this moment.
Leticia looked at the saint with amazing decisiveness before her, a satisfied smile appearing on her face.
She knew she had bet correctly.
From this day on, the Genesis Sisterhood would no longer be wanderers in the universe.
Overnight, they had gone from being the galaxy's most wanted criminals to a... secret kingdom with the strongest insider at the center of power in the Human Empire!
"Very well."
Leticia nodded, approving of the plan.
"Then, as the beginning of our covenant..."
A fanatical smile appeared on Morwen Val's face, and she said finally.
"I will send several of my most trusted Battle Saints to your side."
"They are the most powerful warriors in the Adepta Sororitas, as well as the most devout believers. They need to witness miracles with their own eyes and listen to your teachings with their own ears."
"Their faith will become the first... prairie fire that ignites the entire Adepta Sororitas!"
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