The records talk about the effects of Gaia’s return. It speaks of unity between all races, with seemingly no differences between either one of them. No grievances, no bad blood.

And from what they saw right now, it looked exactly like that! The different species of the world were all worshipping the Iron Maiden under one roof, becoming comrades among each other, unified by their love of the Iron Maiden.

They couldn’t believe it. Could this truly be the religion that was stated in the texts? It sure looked like it.

Lilith and Fudge continued to take them all over the ’Cathedral’.

"Who is that?" Arthrax asked them as they looked at another statue that was beside the Iron Maiden.

It was the image of a young man, bright smile, and an overall aura of warmth around him. The people weren’t worshipping this statue, instead, they were all treating him as if he was an integral part of their lives. Whenever they finished one of their tasks, they nodded to the statue in gratefulness.

"That is the Chosen One," said Lilith. "He is the one that made all of this possible. Through his guidance and through his leadership, we are all able to worship the Iron Maiden without having to worry about anything."

The Royalblood Vampires finally noticed that the living situation here seemed to be even better than the living situation on the surface.

Here, the entire room was brightly lit through those strange glass bulbs, which didn’t seem to have any need for any magic at all.

And they could also see people gathering water for their daily needs through a simple twist of a lever. Even magicians wouldn’t be able to summon magic so easily.

It was also the perfect temperature. Not too hot, not too cold, even though they must have been about hundreds of meters away from the surface of New Sparta.

They couldn’t believe it. This... utopia was made by that small human child?

"I never knew such a paradise existed just under our very feet. If I had known, then I would have loved to visit this a few months ago," Arthrax said.

Lilith shook her head. "This didn’t exist a few months ago. It’s only been about... a week, I think?"

Fudge nodded. "Yes, I’m keeping this Cathedral as a secret from Master, so we need to move slowly."

The Royalblood Vampires were understandably full of doubt. How could this entire civilization have been built within a few weeks? This dome wasn’t even the end. On the walls of the dome, they saw multiple other tunnels seemingly leading to other rooms like an ant’s nest.

"Why build it underground?" Arthrax asked. "If you wanted to spread the influence of... the Iron Maiden... then you should have built it up on the surface."

"Red tape, that’s why!" Fudge complained, huffing.

"It’s because there’s a lot of bureaucratic process in New Sparta. We’d have to go through so many hoops and so many political machinations that this Cathedral would have never been built at all.

That’s why our Prophet Fudge decided to build the Cathedral underground. That way, we wouldn’t have any limits as to how big we can make our territory."

The more Arthrax and the others were introduced to the religion of the Iron Maiden, the more they were impressed.

From the rumors they heard about it, they thought that this religion was simply a budding cult, one that was full of weirdos who worshipped automobiles.

But seeing their capabilities in person, they couldn’t help but admit that they were probably as strong as a mid-sized organization in the Upper Echelons!

"We’ll be building you your own quarters here under one of those tunnels," Lilith said.

Arthrax raised his hand. "I’m sorry, Miss Lilith. We’re not so sure about that yet.

It’s not that we doubt your words, but the matter of our one true religion is simply too important. I believe that we would better serve the religion if we go out there and search for more clues.

Once we find the clues left behind by our Progenitor, then we can be more sure that the Iron Maiden religion was truly the one we’d been looking for—"

It was at this point that Arthrax felt a tugging from the ends of his coat.

He turned around, noticing that a blonde-haired woman was sitting on her knees, looking up at him with curiosity.

At first, he thought that he was looking at Lilith! The two bore a close resemblance, though this new girl looked a little bit younger.

"Anyway, like I was saying—"

He felt a tug again. Arthrax, at this point, was starting to get annoyed. He quickly turned around, finally noticing that the woman looked weird.

Not in a physical way... but in some other unexplainable characteristic.

She looked like a Vampire. But, her physical characteristics were distinctly unvampire-like.

And something about her was also weird.

Somehow, when Arthrax looked at her, felt something in his chest. A tugging. A beat in his heart that felt as if he was seeing an old friend.

He felt... comfortable when he looked at her. It felt as if he had returned back to his home and embraced his mother.

Then, a bolt of light came from the ceiling.

Arthrax’s entire body glowed with ethereal power. He was being bathed in this sacred feeling that came straight from his heart.

It was only at that point did he realize the truth.

Instinctually, he knew. This woman was none other than the Progenitor that had brought the Vampires into the world. There was no doubt about it.

He was staring at the Original one.

The other Royalblood Vampires also felt that familiar tug. And immediately, they bowed to the ground in prostration. Their blood told them the truth.

"PROGENITOR!" they screamed out.

Kuno tilted her head at their strange behavior. "Fudge... what are they doing?"

Fudge jumped into Kuno’s arms. "They’re finally ready. Ready to become my servants, HAHAHAHA!"