Chapter 711: High Priestess.
Night, unknown location.
In a temple hidden in a place with dense forests, a giant statue of a man in full armor was seen. The statue was giant, made with pure silver, and built in the image of the God of Blood, Victor Alucard.
Alucard himself was sitting looking at the group of hundreds of women in white clothes whose heads were covered by their hoods.
'They tried too hard, huh...' Victor couldn't help but smile proudly. All these people rallied behind his name, and the ones who made it all possible were his Wives, especially Roxanne, Aline, Vine, Helena, and Lily, who took care of everything while he was 'practicing night battles with his Wives'.
'To think that something that started with Bruna and my Maids would expand so much...' Victor noted in amusement.
In a way, Bruna was his first 'devotee'. By saving the former nun from a bad situation, she transferred all her 'Faith' to Victor. The religion grew because of Bruna's influence on Maria, Eve, Roberta, and later the Noble Vampires of the Clan Fulger and Snow.
It grew so big that Kaguya had to take matters into her own hands to ensure everything went smoothly.
Eventually, Ruby herself, Violet, and Sasha had to step in to manage everything; even the other Wives stepped in to help.
Each remarkable feat that Victor did brought more attention to himself and consequently furthered his reputation, further increasing the number of Faithful thanks to his Wives.
This 'Blood God Religion' encompassing all of Hell, Nightingale, and a large portion of Earth was the fruit of the hard work of his Wives and subordinates. He had no involvement in it.
Because of this, when Roxanne, Aline, and Ruby suddenly appeared, saying they needed Victor's help to 'Bless' the new High Priestess, Victor readily accepted. Even though, at the time, he was spoiling Sasha, Natashia, and Victoria, he was still interested in what the girls were up to.
Another reason to help was that his Wives rarely asked him for anything important like that. They were very independent; after all, they were all amazing women that Victor was fortunate to have for himself.
[This is amazing... How much progress have they made in a year?] Kaguya spoke.
[A lot, as far as I can see. We have to get the report from Roxanne when we get back home.] Bruna commented in a very serious voice.
[Smart...] Eve spoke.
[What's smart, Eve?] Roberta asked.
[The garments of the Acolytes. Initially, I had proposed black because of its efficiency. After all, black doesn't get too dirty, and it's easy to hide if necessary. But now that I see this whole group with the color white, I realize it was better to have suggested it.]
[What are you talking about-...Oh... The first impression phenomenon, huh?] Maria understood what Eve was talking about.
[Yeah, white is a more 'peaceful' color, which is why doctors wear white coats because it helps patients relax and feel safe. Not to mention that white gives off a sense of 'holiness'.]
[By making the Acolytes wear white during outdoor activities, we won't immediately be labeled as something 'bad', huh.] Kaguya understood what Eve was implying.
[Indeed. We aim to secure our group's influence and improve our Master's reputation, so positive first impressions are far better than negative ones.]
[And to think that one color could change things so much...] Roberta spoke.
[That's awesome, right? We need to think more carefully like this in the future.] Eve spoke up.
[Mm... The new rules about discrimination and the comment saying: 'When you are cut, you bleed all the same.' It was a very wise move too.] Roberta pointed. [Roxanne and the girls must have thought about this a lot deeper when the group started to expand on Earth.] Kaguya pointed out.
[They considered our Master's personality as well when making these rules.] Maria spoke.
As he listened to the girls talking to each other, a gentle smile appeared on Victor's face, he missed it.
As soon as Kaguya woke up, the first thing she did was shower, and right after that, she seeped into Victor's shadow; she was very anxious to go back 'home'.
Since then, she had never left there long and only when necessary.
Turning his attention to the temple, he saw that only those most loyal to the Blood God Religion were present.
How did he know this? He could sense the feelings of devotion from everyone present.
When reading about the Blood God Church, he realized that the girls enacted a system similar to what he'd introduced in Hell.
Just like in Hell, the merit system was introduced to the group, and only those who contributed the most and were most devoted would be rewarded.
Hard work was rewarded, no matter if the impact of that work wasn't significant. The reward system was very similar to what worked in Hell, with the only difference being the Archbishops who gave the rewards rather than Victor himself.
In this place, you could have everything, strength, knowledge, resources, heritage, and influence.
The Blood God Religion had several rules, but only four were unbreakable.
These rules were:
1: Do not fight each other. If a conflict arises between you, look for a neutral party, and try to resolve it. Repeated breaking of this rule can lead to expulsion and all memories of the individual from when they were an acolyte erased.
2: We protect each other, we don't attack anyone, but those who attack us will feel our vengeance multiplied by a hundred. Those who don't help comrades in times of need have lost the group's complete trust, and they are subject to subsidiary rules of this clause which are:
2.1: If it is discovered that individual 'A' has fled, leaving individual 'B' to deal with enemies, effectively abandoning individual 'B' to death, the punishment
for individual 'A' will be death after information gathering from enemies.
2.2: In the same sense, if individual 'A' leaves the battlefield in search of companions to help individual 'B' so that both individuals survive, the situation will be judged through a reading of memories or interrogation of both 'A' and 'B' individuals to determine whether individual 'A' was loyal or not.
2.3: The departure of an official member of the Blood God Religion is allowed, but memories of all involvement with the group will be erased.
2.4: The official members of the Blood God Religion may 'retire' and no longer participate in activities for the religion. However, in case of a request or need, the retired member must help other members.
2.4: Traitors have only one fate. Death. A curse on the forehead automatically marks traitors. The curse is said to be given by the Blood God himself so that his Acolytes will always identify a traitor. The curse will also warn the Acolytes if there is a traitor nearby or not.
2.5: The traitor, whether dead or not, will have all their goods acquired during their years of service as Acolytes handed back to the religion of the Blood God.
3: Racial or ethnic discrimination will not be tolerated. Whether you are a Human with skin color black, white, brown, yellow, or even other Races such as Angel, Vampire, Werewolf, Witch, Monster, or Youkai, it doesn't matter. After all, when you are cut, everyone spills the same blood. We are all brothers and sisters devoted to the Blood God. As long as the individual is sapient and can understand the glory of the Blood God, they will be welcomed and accepted as one of us. Breaking this rule can lead the individual to carry the stigma of betrayal or existential death in the worst cases of abuse.
3.1: The moment an individual joins the Church as an official member, they must leave all prejudice, grudge, and hatred towards other ethnicities and Races behind. If the individual fails in this regard and cannot put past grievances behind them, they will be expelled, and all memories of their time as an official member will be erased.
3.2: Those willing to change should volunteer for psychological treatment or share the story of their 'hatred' with the nearest authority figure. If the reason for the official member's hatred is reasonable, a mission of vengeance will be laid out for the Acolytes to help their new member.
3.3: Hate the individual who sinned, not the Race and skin color they have. Their Race or color does not bind the sinner's actions. We shouldn't judge an entire Race because of an individual. Grow beyond the brainless sheep that make up society. Think! Analyze! Think again! And make a decision! The Blood God values intelligent and canny individuals.
4: All these rules are only valid for 'Official Members' who are accepted as 'Acolytes' through the Rite of Passage performed by one of the Archbishops.
Common worshipers need not follow these rules, but they also will not gain any benefits that members can obtain.
4.1: If discovered that a Blood God's Faithful is practicing discrimination or propagating false information regarding the Blood God's religion, they will be hunted down and killed by the Acolytes themselves.
The God of Blood will not tolerate discrimination or lies performed in his name.
The rules described above were valid for ALL members, from the simplest Acolyte to the figurehead leading the Church of the Blood God.
Victor was quite surprised by these rules; they focused on many critical points and left 'leeway' for the Acolytes to act.
As the 'God' of this religion, Victor had the right to change the rules, but he wouldn't do it. Why?
This was a project that his Wives were working on. It was his Wives' responsibility, and if they wanted help in the future, they would ask for it like today.
Of course, this also didn't stop Victor from advising the women if he saw something unnecessary in the laws, although his advice wouldn't be very necessary for this situation. After all, his older Wives were also helping with this project, so they would probably realize these loopholes in the laws and correct them.
...For some reason, Victor just felt like he was a famous musician and that all he had to do was be the public 'figure'; meanwhile, his agents [Wives] would take care of everything behind the scenes.
'Hmm, it's not a bad feeling to be pampered...' Victor laughed internally. He wondered if this was how it felt to have a Sugar Mommy.
[Hmm? Roxanne started her speech.] Bruna pointed.
Hearing that, Victor snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Roxanne.
"Today is a special day for our religion." Roxanne, who was in her disguise, looked at the women present.
"A day that will go down in our history."
"Today is the day when the High Priestess of our religion will be appointed."
All those present opened their eyes wide.
What was a High Priestess? In the Blood God religion, this woman is the figurehead of the Faith, the woman closest to 'God', the woman who directly represents the religion.
Everyone's hearts started to beat rapidly in frenzied excitement, but they quickly forced themselves to calm down. They could not demonstrate such a disgraceful act before the 7 Archbishops.
Roxanne nodded in satisfaction when she saw that everyone could control their emotions. She worked hard to teach women the importance of maintaining a noble and graceful image. The best teachers in etiquette, politics, decorum, economics, art, and martial arts educated everyone here.
A good woman was one who spread her wings and flew alone in search of her own destiny; Roxanne fully embodied these ambitions in the cult.
They were Acolytes, but they were also warriors, economists, politicians, doctors, and architects.
Education was a must for all Acolytes, and everyone was required to take seven electives of their choice and get at least three maximum grades in those seven subjects. Only when they had this would they be able to perform quests in the world at will.
Only those specializing in the Arts of War and Assassination could take the most dangerous jobs.
"Archbishop Roxanne, what will be the method for appointing the High Priestess?"
Roxanne looked at the woman with graceful and noble features. She had chocolate skin, snow-white hair, and azure blue eyes. No one would expect that behind those delicate features, there was a ferocious Werewolf.
"Good question, Archbishop Rena." Roxanne smiled gently and looked at everyone: "Unlike Archbishops, the High Priestess is chosen directly by our God!"
"..." If before they could remain stoic and graceful, now they couldn't do that.
And the women's feelings got even more chaotic when they heard Roxanne say:
"Our God will grace us today with his presence!"
She turned around and looked at the statue of Victor, a sculpture of Victor wearing the Royal Armor he wore to fight, and the armor that was also his attire as the 'King of Demons'.
A golden Staff with a red gem in the center appeared in Roxanne's hand, and with a solemn expression full of conviction, she spoke:
"Ohh~, God of Blood, as you are Divine, benevolent, and kind, please grace your lost lambs with your great wisdom." Roxanne swung the Staff gracefully, as the Staff began to be covered in a red power that conveyed a feeling of Peace and Harmony.
Roxanne slammed the Staff's butt on the ground:
"God of Blood, please answer the call of your humble servant." Soon a gigantic red Magic Circle appeared on the floor.
This sight made everyone open their eyes wide.
'So much Energy..' Even those who weren't sensitive to Energy could feel the absurd amount of Energy. "My beloved Acolytes."
...
Author : Victor_Weismann
Edited By: DaVo 2138, IsUnavailable
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