[The Ruined Hall — Ghost Headquarters]

​"You will never have the cup!!" Patricia said with agonizing difficulty. Her face was turning a deep, bruised purple, but her hands still clawed uselessly at Casey’s iron grip. There was no fear in her eyes—only a twisted, triumphant zeal.

​"Oh, you are stubborn." Casey looked over her shoulder at Precious, her expression one of mild annoyance, as if she were dealing with a persistent insect rather than a dying woman.

​"Yeah, the Cup is right there... I can feel the putrid, evil energy emanating from it," Precious said. She stepped over the rubble, her eyes locked onto the monolithic pillar standing atop the altar. The air around it seemed to warp and ripple with a dark, hungry gravity.

​"Ok then, leave it to me." Regina stepped forward, her hand a blur as she drew her sword. She didn’t just swing; she unleashed a concentrated, razor-thin slash of energy that could have bisected a mountain.

​BAM!!!

​The energy blade smashed into the pillar with a deafening gong-like sound. The shockwave blew back the surrounding dust, but as the air cleared, Regina’s eyes widened. The stone didn’t even have a scratch.

​"What?" Regina was dumbfounded. For the "Goddess of Sharpness," a target she couldn’t cut was an existential insult.

​"Hahaha, fools! You think the cup is a normal artifact?!" Executioner yelled at them, his voice ragged but filled with a manic joy. He laughed even as blood pooled beneath his severed arm. "It’s one of the main artifacts of the Devil Ruler! You don’t have the strength to destroy it!!"

​"Devil Ruler? Who is that?" Precious asked in surprise, her brow furrowing. She turned to Regina, who was staring at her blade in utter disbelief, her hands trembling slightly.

​"I can’t believe there is something in this world I can’t cut through," Regina whispered, her pride wounded more than her body.

​"Shut up! We already know where the Cup is. What about we just take it back with us?" Casey suggested. She was the pragmatist of the group, her grip on Patricia’s throat tightening instinctively.

"Yeah, that’s a good idea. Nothing must stop the Master’s plan."

​Regina finally nodded her head, forcing herself to sheathe her sword, though her gaze remained wary.

​"Get rid of these two. We don’t need them anymore. Well, they’re useless to begin with," Precious said, waving her hand dismissively as she walked toward the altar.

​"Ok then."

​Without a moment of hesitation or a flicker of remorse, Casey tightened her hand.

​CRACK!

​The sound of Patricia’s neck breaking echoed through the hollow hall. Casey tossed the woman’s lifeless body to the ground like a piece of discarded trash.

​"No!!!" Executioner screamed in shock, his one remaining hand reaching out toward his fallen comrade. He turned his head to Regina, only to see the cold steel of her blade already in motion.

​BAM!

​The execution was swift. Executioner’s head flew into the air, spinning. For a fleeting second, his dying consciousness watched his own headless body kneeling on the ground.

​’We did it,’ he thought, a final, chilling smile appearing on his face as the darkness claimed him.

​THUD!

​The head fell and rolled, stopping right in front of Precious’s boots. She stood still, staring down at the severed head and the unmistakable, victorious smile etched onto its features.

​"Why is he smiling?" she muttered, a cold knot of dread forming in her stomach.

​CRACK!

​The three ladies froze. They turned their heads in unison to the pillar. The stone that Regina couldn’t cut began to groan. It slowly divided into two, sliding apart to reveal the huge, ancient Cup. It was no longer 80% or 99% full. It was brimming to the very top with a thick, pulsating red liquid that glowed with a sickly green light.

​"No!"

​The three goddesses exclaimed in horror. The Cup didn’t just sit there; it began to ascend, rising into the air as if being pulled by an invisible hand from the heavens.

​"We mustn’t let it!! Get ready!! Use your strongest skill!! We must destroy it!!" Precious yelled. The air around her exploded with Primordial energy as two ornate swords appeared in her hands, glowing with celestial light.

​"Yes!!"

​Regina drew her sword again, her expression turning glacial. A violent red light surrounded her blade, vibrating with enough frequency to tear the air apart. ’I must not fail! My Savior is watching!’

​"On it!!"

​Casey roared. A massive, obsidian Warhammer appeared in her grip. She gripped the handle so tightly her knuckles whitened, and a brilliant blue light cascaded off the weapon like a waterfall.

​"Each of our attacks can wipe out a city!! I don’t believe if we attack together, we won’t be able to destroy this cup!" Precious yelled, crossing her swords in front of her face in a lethal X sign.

​"Together! Now!!!"

​The three infused every ounce of their divine energy into a single point. They unleashed the strike simultaneously, pouring their combined wrath toward the floating artifact.

​BOOOOM!!!!!

​A colossal mushroom explosion erupted from the heart of the fortress. The sheer force vaporized the stone headquarters in a microsecond. The shockwave spread outward with terrifying speed, reducing the ancient Ghost Forest to ash and dust. Trees that had stood for centuries were obliterated. Within seconds, the lush, dark woodland was nothing but a scorched, grey wasteland of smoke and ruin.

​As the grey smoke filled the air, the three girls dropped to their knees, their breathing heavy and ragged.

​"Thank goodness we summoned our armors... This cup actually fought back," Casey said, her voice strained. Her divine armor was scorched, but it had saved her life from the backlash.

​"This is very bad," Precious said, her voice trembling with a rare note of fear. She looked up through the settling ash.

​Hovering in the center of the devastation was the Cup. It was still there. A single, jagged crack could be seen on its surface, and from it, a few drops of the red liquid dripped onto the dead earth, but the vessel remained intact.

​"How come?! Our total attack only left a crack on it!! What sort of thing is this?!" Regina asked, staring at the artifact as if it were a nightmare made manifest.

​BAM!

​The Cup vibrated with a low, bone-shaking hum, and then started spinning clockwise. It gained speed for ten seconds, turning into a blur of red and gold, and then—with a silent pop—it vanished into thin air.

​"Huh?"

​The three forced themselves to their feet, staring at the empty spot where the artifact had been.

​"It can’t be," Casey said in shock, her hammer slipping from her fingers.

​"No way. We actually... We actually failed," Regina muttered, staring at the desolate sky in horror. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

​Precious clenched her fists until her palms bled. "I should have known! That’s why he was smiling... Their deaths were the final sacrifice! Their blood filled the cup!!" She looked up at the sky, watching the vast cloud of smoke spreading in all directions, a shroud over the realm.

​"But the main question is... Who is this Devil Ruler?" she asked, turning to her companions. Her face was grim. "Although we failed this, we must head back to Princess Ellen and let her know what happened here. The world just changed."

​The two exhaled, their spirits dampened but their resolve hardening.

"Ok," Casey nodded.