[The Cathedral of Light - The Pope's Private Study]
The stained-glass window shattered, raining multicolored shards onto the pristine marble floor.
Pope Agustin stood by the window, his chest heaving slightly. His golden staff lay on the ground, dented from where he had struck the wall.
"Gone?" Agustin's voice was a whisper, far more terrifying than his shout.
The surviving scout, a mage who had been trailing the convoy from a distance and escaped the teleportation trap, knelt among the glass shards, trembling.
"Y-yes, Your Holiness. One moment the convoy was there... and then the road just... opened. A purple mist swallowed everything. The crystals, the guards, the Captain... all gone in a blink."
Agustin turned slowly. His face was composed, but his eyes burned with a cold, blue fire.
"Fifty crates of High-Grade Mana Crystals," Agustin stated flatly. "The accumulated tithe of three provinces. The fuel for the Holy Barrier. The catalyst for the Hero Awakening."
