Intense Impact

It wasn't just her. The other two members of the Tarot Club recognized the image painted on the floor the moment the double stone doors opened.

This was... blasphemy...

Alger's arm was still outstretched from pushing open the doors when his gaze locked onto the Lord of Storms. He had worshiped him for years, though he had grown somewhat distant from him lately after becoming too close to Mr. Fool. His body trembled uncontrollably.

If it were a devout believer—my superior, Bishop Jogoli of the Wave Church, for instance—he might already have gouged out his own eyes to reject what this painting depicts... The fact that I haven't means I'm no longer quite so devout... Alger's thoughts darkened. With difficulty, he turned away from the image of the Lord of Storms gnawing on the Ancient Sun God's arm and looked at his two teammates instead.

They, too, were stunned. That meant they understood what the painting on the floor depicted... He felt a little better and asked:

"Were these three once Kings of Angel?"

It wasn't hard to guess. According to both the legends of the Forsaken Land of the Gods and discussions at the Tarot Club, the Creator had eight Kings of Angel prostrate before him, awaiting his commands. The oldest church scriptures also described how the three most ancient gods had split off from the Original Creator...

"Perhaps. It could also be slander..."

Klein answered slowly. Similar questions had flashed through his mind, but he had slightly more evidence than the other two. Back in Tingen, he had used the Sealed Artifact "3-0728," the Mutated Sun Holy Emblem, for divination. Along with learning how to make Flaring Sun Charms, he had learned that the Eternal Blazing Sun was the White Angel.

But he couldn't say that outright, so