The Central Cathedral, officially known as Axiom Church Central Cathedral (公理教会セントラル・カセドラル kōrikyōkai sentoraru kasedoraru) is the ancient and enormous tower of white marble exactly in the center of Centoria and the Human Empire of Underworld. Home to Administrator and her cohort.

Description

The Central Cathedral was built with Quinella's instigation right in the middle of Centoria town, taking a large square plot on a hill. It can be seen from everywhere, but not its top as the top part is always clouded. Tall walls limit access to its yard, and the corners are where the Everlasting Walls begin their 750km-long sprawl to the End Mountains. The entrance gate is to the east, and that is assumedly because it is dedicated to Solus, which rises there. There is a wide road between the gate and the cathedral proper.

The marble used for the cathedral is a highest-grade material, the same the Everlasting Walls feature. It can auto-repair on damage. On the top, there are terraces with gargoyles who will come alive and attack whoever tries to climb the tower on the outside.

Background

Performing "miracles" with the Sacred Arts at the age of 13, Quinella persuaded people she was the prophet of the gods as her first step to power. She said the gods needed a place of worship for more and better miracles, and soon, the three floors of the Cathedral were built. Over the time, as Quinella's tyranny grew and architecture developed, the tower grew with it, reaching a hundred floors.

Quinella let Cardinal into her mind and later failed to give herself a new body, releasing the vengeful, or rather, error-correcting Cardinal. She then began building a personal guard made of the best swordsmen available whose Fluctlights she altered through Synthesis Ritual, making them the Integrity Knights.

As Quinella's memory limit kept her from active life, she only participated in the annual religious events and scheduled management checks as she had instated the monks and priests to manage the affairs of humanity. Only they and the Knights are allowed to the Central Cathedral's premises, and nobody else.

Interior

• An Underground Prison (地下牢 chikarō) was built under the cathedral, built with 8 passages extending out like wheel spokes, with each passage accessing 8 cells, each capable of containing 2 prisoners, amounting up to 128 prisoners at most. The cenral part consiss of the jailer's guardroom, a stone cylinder of about 5 mels (16 ft) in diameter, and a spiral staircase that circles around it connecting it to the surface, looking like an unassuming rectangular hole in the ground to the west.
• A Rose Garden (バラ園 barasono) surrounds the dungeon entrance with a maze of bronze fences covered in creeping rose vines with thousands of roses on them. The western side of the maze connects to an open rectangle with a bench and fountain; the Integrity Knights can land their dragons there. From there, several gates lead to different parts of the rose maze. It is the only place in the Human Empire where people are allowed to grow roses, because these flowers are the best Sacred Arts Catalysts used for the high-ranked rituals.
• An Armory (武具保管庫 bugu hokanko) is a room the size of the Sword Mastery School training arena, situated on the 3rd floor. The doors to it are adorned with embossed carvings depicting two goddesses, Solus and Terraria, and look very menacing and impregnable, but actually open easily. Here, the Axiom Church stores armor and many Divine Instrument-class weapons, so nobody else would take a hold of the gear that could oppose the Church. It is 30 mels (100 ft) away from the staircase.
• A dedicated Dragon Landing (《飛竜》発着場 hiryō hacchakuba) is on the 30th floor.
• The 50th floor is the Great Hall of Ghostly Light (霊光の大回廊 reikō no daikairō) where the staircase ends, leading into a humongous room taking up the entire floor 20-mel high. Its canopy depicts the three goddesses of creation and their worshipers in color; there are many sculptures decorating the support columns, and the large windows let the light of Solus flow freely. The flooring stones have varied hues.
  The wall opposite the staircase has a large door that leads to a square room with a circular indentation in the middle, where the Floating Platform connects floors 50 to 80. The Platform is a disk 2 mel in diameter that levitates with the power of Aerial element.
• The Cloudtop Garden (雲上庭園, Unjō Teien) is on the 80th floor. This floor is covered in a think cozy lawn, and various Sacred flowers grow there. Near the entrance, a water stream passes across the lawn, and a brick path extends out and across the wooden bridge, and then the lawn again. There is a small hill beyond, where the osmanthus tree grows when it is not used in the sword.
• A Big Bath (大浴場 daiyokujō) is located on the 90th floor.
• The Morning Star Lookout (暁星の望楼 gyōsei no bōrō) is on the Central Cathedral floor 95.
• The Senate (元老院 moto rōin) occupies floors 96 to 99.
• The Administrator's living room (アドミニストレータの居室 adominisutorēta no kyoshitsu) is on the 100th floor which is the topmost one.

Trivia

• The 100 floors of the Cathedral are the same number of floors of Aincrad in Sword Art Online.

References

• Central Cathedral - Fan Wiki