Chapter 684: The Nuns

The outermost edge of the Holy Capital.

There stood a worn and ancient building.

That building was none other than a convent. A convent that trained nuns.

This convent produced around a hundred nuns each year, who then dispersed across the world.

These nuns would assist other convents in need or head to places in need of help: slums, colonies where new faith must be spread, or battlefields requiring relief.

The nuns who left would carry the teachings received at the convent and spread the Father’s love, enhancing the stature of the Pater Church.

This practice had continued steadfastly for centuries.

In short, this convent was a crucial institution from the Holy Capital’s perspective.

Almost as important as the Theology Academy that trained the next generation of priests, and the Holy Knight School that exclusively trained Holy Knights.

However, unlike those two institutions, the convent was situated on the outskirts of the Holy Capital, and it gave off a far more desolate atmosphere.

This wasn’t merely because the building was old. The Theology Academy and the Holy Knight School, both equally historic, were no less impressive.

The reason the convent felt so barren was primarily due to the lack of proper maintenance and repair in contrast to the other two institutions.

Peeling walls, sporadic weeds, leaky walls, creaking wooden floors, moldy blankets, sunken pillows, and subpar meals testified to this condition.

Why, then, was it like this?

Ironically, the reason was due to a lack of funds.

Even those who study and practice divine teachings need to eat and sustain their lives while walking on earthly soil.

It was a rather inadequate reason for a place meant to train those who would spread the teachings of God.

But in truth, even that reason was merely an excuse. The real reason was far more pitiful, lower, and more vulgar.

It was to condition the nuns to become accustomed to such life.

To the scarce budget, the uncomfortable living conditions, and above all, the injustices pervasive in every aspect of life.

Because that was the most effective method.

Humans often don’t listen even when told explicitly.

Thus, the Pater Church spent three long years brainwashing and conditioning the nuns.

To shape them into workers fitting for humility, service, and obedience.

To achieve this, the Pater Church meticulously controlled the lifestyle within the convent, frequently allocating inadequate funds.

As a result, the convent exuded an eerie atmosphere, and those who lived within fell into a dreariness that tainted their very being with a peculiar gloom.

Into obedient workers who would follow the will of God without question. For hundreds of years, it had been this way.

However, today was different.

On the surface, it looked no different from any other day, but unseen beneath the surface… there was a new kind of energy in the underground tomb housing the bodies of nuns who had died mysteriously.

A kind of quiet determination and fervor pursued its purpose.

“Our Holy Father in heaven, your daughters have built an altar…”

The source of this energy stemmed from the wide space at the center of the underground tomb.

In the middle of that space was a massive altar marked with a grave’s headstone bearing a crown emblem, surrounded by large amounts of gold threads, pure white lace, scented oils, and exactly 110 people.

“Please, hear our voices and send your apostle upon us…”

Before the altar, formed from gravestones, glistening gold threads, neatly arranged jugs of scented oil, and pure white lace were carefully laid out. Around these, people gathered in two concentric circles.

“We are prepared for sacrifice. Please, melt us and use us as your tools…”

The people around the altar were divided into two groups.

On the inner circle were 55 girls draped in black velvet, offering prayers. Surrounding them in the outer circle were 55 nuns, also praying.

For reference, the 55 girls in the inner circle were not nuns, nor were they novices training to become nuns.

They were simply pure believers from outside.

Innocent girls who had never committed any sin…

Ordinarily, being external visitors, they wouldn’t have been allowed to set foot in this convent. But they were able to join in prayer here underground thanks to being secretly led through a hidden passage by the nuns.

To create a better world for the nuns who had helped them.

The girls cloaked in velvet continued to chant the prayers spoken by the surrounding nuns.

“Our Father in heaven, use us as tools, renew the world, destroy all evil, and bring forth goodness.”

The girls prayed to their heavenly Father, holding onto the universal human wish to punish evil and raise up goodness. For they knew it was the right thing to do.

Thus, the girls and nuns continued to pray as one.

Waiting for the most important ingredient and the most important figure to arrive…

“The wrath, jealousy, envy, spite, and malice rampant in this world—”

—thud.

As the nuns and girls prayed, their voices suddenly halted in unison as if rehearsed. It was as if the sound of a thread snapping echoed in the air.

Immediately, they all turned their heads in one direction. The atmosphere grew chillingly eerie.

Creak… creak…

They turned toward one of the tunnels, where a group of figures approached.

This group was none other than Sister Delra, Templar Joanna, and a squad of Holy Knights escorting them.

Sister Delra was dragging the unconscious Joanna by her golden hair, the Holy Knights flanking them.

As soon as the nuns and girls recognized them, they attempted to stand.

Until Delra raised her voice.

“Do not rise, everyone!”

The ‘everyone’ referred to the girls draped in velvet. Hearing Delra’s command, they hesitated momentarily like trained dogs before quickly kneeling again and resuming their prayers.

Only the nuns who had been permitted to rise briefly gathered by Delra’s side.

“Sister…”

“We’re glad you made it.”

“We were worried since you were a bit late.”

The nuns revealed the anxiety they had been concealing.

And rightly so.

They had already crossed a point of no return, yet the one leading the charge had been missing.

But now their worries were over. Sister Delra had arrived.

“I’m sorry to have worried you. There was a very minor issue on the way, nothing serious.”

The nuns did not inquire about what that minor issue was.

Seeing the state Joanna was in, they could already guess.

“What about this woman…? Is she alright?”

“She’s lost her Holy Power and reverted to a normal woman, but she’ll be fine. It doesn’t matter anyway; what’s important is the contents.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, it’s not her status as a Holy Knight that matters, but the fact that she was favored by Him… the proof being that the Duchess’s blessing didn’t work on her.”

Sister Delra spoke while looking down at Joanna.

Though she claimed Him to be just a man, ironically, that very statement was proof he was the ‘Prince.’

This wasn’t merely about the unfathomable power He exhibited. A Prince isn’t just about sheer strength.

The evidence that He is a Prince of Hell laid within Joanna herself.

For despite conversing with Delra extensively, she had not been swayed in the slightest.

This meant that the ‘Blessing of a Lady’s Love’ imparted by the Duchess had not affected her.

If her claim were true that He was just a man, this should not have been possible.

No matter how strong her will, Joanna would’ve fallen for Delra during their conversation and ultimately done as she said.

Just like the nuns and girls present in this room.

But instead, she resisted. Even after losing her Holy Power, which was the source of a Holy Knight’s strength and reverting to a normal woman.

There was only one conclusion that could possibly be drawn.

That Joanna had already been blessed by someone else.

And not just by any lower being, but by one so exalted that the blessings bestowed by the 72 demons of Hell wouldn’t work.

In all the knowledge Delra had received, only three such beings existed in this world.

God the Father who created the world.

The Shining Son who rebelled against Him.

And the Shining Son’s son. The one destined to judge the world.

The three highest beings in the world.

This was an unchanging law.

Recalling this knowledge, Delra once again felt the emotions she had experienced when she was expelled from the Holy Knights, demoted to the convent.

It was disappointment, jealousy, envy, and anger.

The ruthless and unacceptable reality of not being chosen herself, while someone else had been.

Was it not so?

Despite her own desires, she hadn’t been chosen, while a completely different person had. How could she not feel anger?

If that were the case, she would rather the desire had never been given in the first place.

“…Sigh.”

But now, she was fine.

Despite the anguish, it was nothing more than another trial.

Ultimately, this led to her being chosen by the Duchess and granted the opportunity to stand before Him.

To stand before the most radiant being in the world.

To become a chosen and special being.

Not merely a nameless slave who would die in obscurity but an eternal, special being. Forever.

“So this… is your true intention…?”

As Sister Delra pondered, she heard a voice.

Joanna had regained consciousness and was speaking despite her disheveled appearance.

Delra looked down at her and said.

“Oh my, you’ve already awakened? You could have slept a bit longer.”

Delra sneered.

The kind of arrogance only the victors could exhibit.

It was the humiliation the nuns had suffered countless times.

Gazing at the once-proud Holy Knight, now returning the humiliation, Joanna rolled her eyes, assessing her surroundings.

An underground crypt, dimly lit by torches.

The altar crafted from gravestones at its center.

Large quantities of gold thread, pure white lace, and jugs of scented oils placed before the altar.

And the 55 girls draped in black velvet surrounding the area.

While Joanna tried to grasp the situation, Sister Delra and her followers conversed.

“Now that we’re all here, the numbers add up. Exactly 56 and 56.”

56 and 56. In the middle of the convent’s underground crypt, a total of 112 people had gathered.

The nuns were overjoyed. Then, one asked.

“But is it really alright, Sister? I heard that the Dark Priests had caught wind of what’s happening here…”

“Don’t worry. The Holy Knights who support us are holding them off for now. Plus, He promised to offer us some help as well.”

“So…?”

“So, we have more than enough time to summon Him to this land.”

“Ah…”

All 56 nuns, including Delra, smiled brightly.

According to the Apostle who communicated through Delra, if their Prince willingly descended to this land when called, He promised to share with them the glory of spreading divine will—and to allow them to stand before him in radiant splendor.

We nuns who were treated as the lowest and most insignificant beings by the Pater Church.

And now that moment of promise was just upon them.

How could they not be overjoyed?

“Run away!”

But just as everyone was rejoicing, a voice shouted, breaking the moment.

That voice belonged to Templar Joanna—no, now she was no longer a Templar, having lost her Holy Power.

She was now just an ordinary woman named Joanna.

“Please, run away quickly!!”

Ignoring the beating she received from Delra, she desperately screamed at the velvet-clad girls.

And perhaps her desperate cry reached them because one by one, the young girls in velvet began to turn their heads towards her.

It wasn’t right.

“Everyone—”

“—stop that prayer immediately! Whatever you think it is, it’s not! It’s a ritual to summon a demon…! You’re being used as sacrifices to summon a demon…!!!”

Drawing upon her memories of what she had seen on the New Continent, Joanna shouted with all her might.