Another one of the Old Faction Cardinals staggered to his feet. He was even older than the first, and in that moment, he seemed to have aged a decade. His lips trembled, and his gaze fixed on Murphy as if he were looking at a Demon that had crawled up from Hell. "His Holiness the Sword of Divinity! I beg you, take back your words! This… this is no jest! If this proposal were to get out, not only would the Church Court be thrown into utter chaos, but the nations of the Continent and its countless faithful would see it as the complete collapse of their faith! The Church Court's thousand years of authority, the new policies pushed by the Holy Throne—all of it will be brought to ruin! We… even in death, we could never stand by and watch such an act of blasphemy unfold!"
Ambrosius did not rise immediately, but the hand he had resting on the table was clenched into a tight fist, his knuckles white and the veins on the back of his hand bulging.
