Amongst the various items left behind by the Six Great Gods, there were items that transcended anything that human or dwarven smiths could craft. But even amongst those, there were three items that stood head and shoulders above the rest. The very objects of the Theocracy's faith in the Six Great Gods that the priest would regularly mention in their sermons as the items that guarded humanity and the final trump cards of the Archbishops, known better as the Three Great Relics. One of which was now donned by Zesshi.
Zesshi's strength had never been disputed, and her full power, if she released all of her restraints, could be matched by only a few beings even in the entire continent. With this item on her it wouldn't be strange if she could take on even a Dragon Lord and come out on top; still against the Sorcerer King who held unfathomable powers it was impossible to predict who would win. Faced with that uncertainty, Archon could no longer afford to hedge all of his bets on Zesshi, no matter how strong she may be.
Even Archon, who was not a warrior and could at best be called a sub-par divine magic caster who relied more on his wits then his prowess to solve problems, could tell that Zesshi was emitting a fearsome pressure that would most likely not lose out to even Ainz Ooal Gown.
Should I consider giving her a shot? She's not the strongest for nothing, but even with that item on her…
Just as he was about to open his mouth and say something, a rumbling sound followed by violent tremors echoed through the sanctum, reaching all the way to where Archon and Zesshi were.
"Impossible, this place is a national secret! It couldn't be! They couldn't have found it so quickly"
As Archon was shouting those words whilst looking emptily towards the direction where the sound came from, Zesshi meanwhile was smiling menacingly behind him.
"Like I said awhile ago, I sensed a strange presence while patrolling the inner sanctum on the same day that I discovered that werewolf. Those guys already knew about the existence of this crypt from the beginning. Us launching our main force into them and fighting them on their terms was probably all part of their plan all along."
Hearing what Zesshi said, Archon turned around, astonishment on his face; if what Zesshi said was true then everything they had done, all of their resolve and convictions, plans and preparations, was just them dancing in the palm of Ainz Ooal Gown's bony hand.
"All guards move out! Seal every part of the sanctum! Activate the inner defenses! Call back every paladin on the surface; we need every man we can get! Delay the intruders for as long as possible!"
Hearing the shouts of the archbishop, the guards frantically started moving and began carrying out the orders, passing on the various messages both verbally and through magic as they ran towards different directions, preparing for battle.
In this moment, the entire sanctum seemed to come to life as mysterious carvings on the ceiling and walls began to glow with a faint magic. At the same time, throughout the underground structure, rumbling could be heard as all of the doors and gates that usually remained open without any possibility of intruders now suddenly simultaneously began closing. The inner defenses on the sanctum had been activated!
The inner sanctum was built more as a monument or sacred ground than as a vault, but over the years various archbishops had invested a large amount of funds into protecting this place as the unlikely scenario of even one of the stored items being stolen could spell a great disaster for the Theocracy.
And so it was that besides the elite paladin guardians, each of whom could match platinum-ranked adventurers, the sanctum was also inscribed with various magic wards and seals along the mysterious markings on the wall that greatly strengthened holy magic and repelled evil creatures to turn this place into an impenetrable fortress that could easily repel any army, be they undead or human, monsters or even demon gods, this place would not fall so lightly.
Even so, Archon knew that Ainz Ooal Gown would likely plow through these defenses in a matter of minutes; to someone who could fight the Black Scripture, these countermeasures were most likely as insignificant as flies buzzing around him.
But that didn't matter, even if he could deal with the defenses, reaching the treasury would not be so easy; the sanctum's greatest defense from invaders was its vastness and secretive nature. The entrance to the treasury itself was concealed behind various hidden paths and doors. Only a handful of guards knew the exact location and path one had to take in order to reach here. Without these, one would have to search quite a while before discovering the entrance to the treasury, which meant that Archon still would have enough time to unleash the power of the last great relic left behind by the Six Gods.
Now that the enemy had appeared practically on their doorstep, all of his doubts had been cleared away; if he did not seize this chance to use their last real hope of victory then his only chance to regret it would be in the afterlife.
"Move, Zesshi, this is no longer something I can leave in your hands! If this place has been discovered then I no longer have any choice!"
Zesshi merely looked vexingly at Archon and softly stepped closer as she calmly spoke, "That is true, but if you won't give me a shot you'll regret it for the rest of your life. For once, just let your brain take a rest from making calculations. Let me break my seal; all I need is a little time to slay that Sorcerer King or whatever."
Archon gulped. Zesshi's power was already very domineering, but if her seal was undone she could take down entire armies by herself, and it was dangerous to all around her so it was intentionally locked away. But it was still a power that ranked in the top five of the entire world.
"So how about it, Ar-chan? You going to unleash my power, or are you going to try to get past me knowing that I'm not going to let you through?"
"… Fine, I will give you exactly ten minutes from the moment that I hear the rumbling get too close, you understand, right? If you can't kill whatever is coming for us in that space of time then I'll activate the holy relic. Deal?"
Zesshi clicked her tongue but didn't refute; without Archon letting her remove her seal completely she could not fight to her full extent and that would make the battle truly dangerous. Even she realized that holding back against someone like Ainz was a deadly mistake.
Looking at Zesshi' eyes, Archon did not see the hidden mischief that Zesshi usually had and understood her decision. Having spent so much time with her he had learned to distinguish when she was hiding something from him and when she wasn't.
"I guess I can take that silence as an agreement. Alright, I'll trust that you won't betray me this once, so I'll break your seal."
As he said these words, Archon took out a small knife from his robe and made a small cut on his thumb, just enough to make blood flow out. Silently chanting incantations, he pressed his thumb onto Zesshi's forehead and watched as it began to glow with a weird green symbol resembling a six sided cross that had appeared on the place where his blood had left a mark. With this, her seal had been undone and it showed as a terrifying aura emerged from her that seemed to swallow up life itself.
"Seems like you're ready to go, remember you have ten minutes once they get too close to this place. I will be in the treasury; if you manage to defeat the enemy than shout your real name and I'll know it's you."
"Wait! Hold on a sec, why do I have to shout something as embarrassing as my real name for you to believe me?"
"You fool! It's precisely because you would never say your own name carelessly that I can know for sure that it's you!"