Yet the fact that this headquarter of this Cult had such a portal was mind blowing to him. Weeks ago, he had never heard about such a Cult before. And now he realised this Cult wasn't as simple as it might look.
They got a way to connect themselves with the outer world. That meant they knew lots of things about the outer world, and the unique methods of that world were used here by the Cult folks.
What made William more shocked was the fact that this Cult was unknown to him, to his master, to all the masters he met before in his past life. Such a special force was kept hidden deeply, away from the eyes of everyone. And that made him realise this Cult got more secrets he didn't yet know about.
The one who spoke was someone who got some sort of a golden metallic ring over his head. He wore a red cloak and held a weird sword in his right hand.
The sword looked like a broadsword, with curved three sharp edges at the end. In the middle, there was a small ball that looked like nothing much. He wasn't alone, was followed by a large group of masters who wore yellow cloaks, armed with swords with scabbards crossing their backs, walking all around him.
Yet in the middle of such hundreds of fierce looking masters, that red cloaked man was the centre of attention. William knew his identity without the need to ask, one of the Cardinals of the Cult.
As the man came from the far end of this grand place, Jeremy and others got time to stand up, bowed deeply to that man, while greeting him in unison: "We salute the Grand Cardinal."
William didn't know if this man was the leader of the entire Cult and the Cardinal council, or if this grand word was just a title added to the name of any cardinal. He didn't bow, and simply cupped his hands in greeting. He wasn't part of the Cult and wasn't limited by their weird regulations.
The Cardinal walked slowly, yet he arrived fast with his people. He glared at the bowing legion members, stopped for a long moment over Leo, then he landed his eyes over William.
William could feel the pressure coming from this man. He wasn't old, but he wasn't young either. He got some kind of aura that made his face hard to grasp. 'Dark gold master, one at the pinnacle as well,' William muttered to himself as he guessed the true power of this Cardinal.
"So… You are William," the Cardinal paused, as if he was waiting for William to respond, to identify or perhaps prostrate himself or something. Yet nothing like that happened. And William kept his calm, looking towards that Cardinal as if he didn't care at all by his presence.
"Interesting," the Cardinal didn't show any sign of getting enraged or something by William's attitude, "follow me. As for you, just bring Leo over and the rest is going to get debriefed by the Judges."
"J…"
"Sir Great Cardinal…"
"We didn't do anything wrong!"
The legion members exploded in shock and fear, as if the Judges that Cardinal mentioned was some sort of disciplinary action or a trial of some sort.
"Silence," one of the masters following the Cardinal shouted, and his shout silenced them all, "you aren't accused of anything, it's just a standard procedure. Follow us and don't make a ruckus out of nothing."
Even William didn't believe him, and he also was sure this wasn't related to the old crimes the legion committed. It seemed the Cardinals wanted to learn everything that happened back at the Blue Hills, and perhaps hold them accountable for not finding a trace of the one who caused all this.
William didn't say anything, and simply watched everyone getting dragged except for Jeremy and two others who stayed behind to carry Leo.
"Let's go," the Cardinal said, turned around and started walking.
The entire place was giant enough to make the group of hundreds walking in the middle of it look like they were nothing. William didn't miss the chance to examine the interworld portal when they passed closer to it.
From his experience, he could tell this portal was constructed thousands of years ago with knowledge coming from the outer world. The writings on its rail were filled with words and symbols that were only known to the outer world.
He didn't know how or why the masters at the outer world built this portal, didn't know if they just did this one here or built more in the entire world. But he knew whoever built this portal here did it when they established the branch of the Cult in this world.
In his eyes, the Cult was like a giant spider web, and he felt like a den of ferocious spiders were waiting at him in the heart of all this.
After getting out from this special place, it went all normal again. The place looked exactly like the branch William just came from, filled with corridors, rooms, and halls carved in the heart of a grand mountain.
William didn't know where this place was, but he was sure the size of this mountain was huge enough to make it stand out in the entire world.
He decided to study the world map later on and try to locate this place. As for now, he simply followed the grand entourage led by the Cardinal, until they reached another gigantic hall.
This one didn't have any portal, only a huge table made out of stone, with lots of seats, and people dressed up like the Cardinal led him here.
"Leave him here, and take them back to the Judges," the Cardinal who led them here said to his men, "empty the room next, and leave us alone."
"Yes, Grand Cardinal," William watched Jeremy leave Leo's body on the ground and left in a dejected way.
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