Chapter 685: The Nuns

There were more underground passages beneath the Holy Capital than one might expect.

These were secret tunnels created during the time when the Pater Church was persecuted.

Many in the Holy Capital knew of these underground passages, and even more knew their exact locations and routes.

Armand and Roderick, who entered the tunnels in two groups, were among the latter.

[I made sure to understand them just in case, but I never thought we’d actually use them. What a pity.]

Roderick’s lament could be heard through the Communication Device given by Merlin.

Honestly, Armand felt the same way.

They had invested time and effort to understand the tunnels of the Holy Capital as a contingency, but he never actually wished to use them.

For a high-ranking Dark Priest to use such hidden passageways meant that something catastrophic had happened in the Holy Capital.

It was better if they never had to use them at all.

However, despite their wishes, the situation had come to this.

As evidence, the Holy Knights and servants who had sworn loyalty to the Pater Church blocked the Dark Priest’s path.

“Nonsense! Our loyalty is not to the Church, but to the Father in Heaven, and we shall—”

-Bang!!

A Servant wielding a cross-shaped machine gun had been raising its firepower when Armand shot it down with an iron-clad bullet, causing it to explode.

The overheated machine gun, after being subjected to maximum firepower, exploded, swallowing the Servant’s voice with a massive fireball.

The assaulting flame ceased.

Armand, clad head-to-toe in armor, charged forward.

That was when it happened. A yellow sword light cut through the smoke from the exploding machine gun, aiming directly at Armand.

Clang━!!

Though the ambush was perfect, Armand blocked it by encasing his shotgun with Holy Power.

As sword and shotgun clashed, sparks scattered.

Armand immediately moved his longsword in the opposite hand and stabbed it upward into the attacking Holy Knight’s abdomen.

The blade sunk deep, slicing through as if the hot knife was cutting butter. However—

—Thud!

The Holy Knight grabbed onto Armand’s arm, preventing him from moving.

According to the Holy Knight’s battle doctrine, even if injured, one should not die immediately, but rather hinder the opponent’s movements to assist their allies in securing victory.

That Holy Knight was exceptionally well-trained.

‘In that case, the next move is…’

Armand calmly analyzed the situation as he noticed more Holy Knights and servants empowered by Holy Power charging towards him.

In fights between Holy Knights where life or death is decided in less than 0.1 seconds, the outcome would be determined quickly.

The Holy Knight who had been stabbed in the abdomen would not let go for at least one second.

But it was fine. Armand wasn’t alone.

Slash━!

Bang━━!!

The Holy Knights who had come with Armand quickly joined in, cutting down and smashing the charging Holy Knights with swords and hammers, standing in their way.

Using this opportunity, Armand tossed the impaled Holy Knight forward.

The Holy Knights and servants who received the corpse of their comrade hesitated for a moment.

In that moment, Armand pressed forward, slashing and blasting through the obstructing Holy Knights and servants with his longsword and shotgun.

Many Holy Knights and servants fell.

“Whew…,”

In the center of it all, Armand caught his breath.

His body wasn’t as responsive as he wanted it to be.

The reason wasn’t merely that he had retired from active duty. His body had aged.

Despite his careful maintenance, he couldn’t escape the laws of aging determined by God.

While he didn’t resent serving God despite these difficulties, he was concerned.

At this rate, he couldn’t guarantee he would reach the convent’s core in time.

Though he had set up contingencies, he couldn’t rely on them solely.

“Damn…”

A low curse echoed.

One of the Holy Knights who had come with Armand muttered as he looked down at the fallen Holy Knights and many servants, disillusioned.

Though expressing such disheartenment during a mission, especially when the Holy Emperor’s Palace could be in danger, was inappropriate, Armand couldn’t fully blame him.

After all, even a Holy Knight would feel discomfited having to kill other Holy Knights and their assisting servants.

Moreover, it was worse knowing this wasn’t just a few individuals acting out of turn but was a more systemic problem.

It was a tragedy no matter how you looked at it.

Yet, it was also a testament to just how much rot had permeated the Pater Church internally.

The policies of the Pater Church had forced nuns to sacrifice themselves, and the repercussions were now surfacing.

Saying anything at this point was pointless, but Armand felt it was inevitable.

It was a kind of fate for a conservative organization where the hierarchy was strictly defined.

On the surface, it appeared stable, but underneath, layers of discontent built until they erupted suddenly.

It was an inevitable ordeal they had to go through someday.

Though Armand knew this, he had not been able to address it.

Wooong… Wooong…

The Communication Device rang.

It was the device given to him by Merlin from the Archive, and coincidentally, it was Merlin who was contacting him.

As soon as he answered, Merlin’s voice came through.

[Lord Armand…]

“Archive.”

Armand quickly responded as the device was the only link he had to outside information.

“What’s happening outside?”

[Frogs are emerging from the blood-red waters.]

Frogs. The second of the ten signs preceding the descent of a Devil.

Armand quietly swallowed.

According to the documents of the Pater Church, the power and impact of a Devil’s descent would be determined by the signs it manifested.

Even looking at past occurrences in the First Step colonial City on the New Continent, during the second sign, a quarter of the city burned down.

And that was with just the second sign.

What would happen if the third, fourth, or even the fifth signs appeared?

As a Dark Priest of Pater Church and the chancellor of Gallos, Armand had witnessed and decided upon many things. Yet, even he couldn’t easily imagine or dare think about what might happen.

“Has the Devil… descended?”

[…Not yet, I believe.]

Armand didn’t ask unnecessary questions like how Merlin knew.

He didn’t know the exact details, but he understood that the Archive knew more about the end than the Pater Church did.

Because of this, Armand didn’t ask what they intended to do about that being… Dave.

Even Armand wasn’t sure what to do with him, and there was nothing he could do at the moment.

Thinking about what he couldn’t do would be pointless, and Armand didn’t waste time on such thoughts.

He was a Dark Priest.

Corrupt and failed, yes, but a Dark Priest nonetheless. So he focused on what he could do right now.

Namely, stopping the Devil.

Armand steeled the Holy Knights and rushed forward.

If the Devil hadn’t descended yet, perhaps they could still prevent it.

Of course, the fact that a Devil was almost summoned by the hands of nuns within the Holy Capital would make the aftermath a real headache, but that was something to deal with later…

“…This is bad.”

As Armand rushed forward, he instinctively stopped at the sight before him, murmuring to himself.

What blocked his path were shriveled corpses dressed in pitch-black habits and skulls with only hair remaining.

Armand could guess who these corpses and skulls were. They were the nuns buried beneath the convent.

Nuns who had died for unclear reasons.

“Zombies…?”

One of the Holy Knights spoke. Armand corrected him.

“They’re not just zombies.”

The corpses and skulls standing on two legs.

At first glance, they seemed like ordinary zombies, but they were more than that.

The force animating these corpses, the power driving them, was similar yet different from Dark Magic.

It was something higher in nature… Evidence of this was:

[Holy Light.]

Even using the Holy Power, which had an absolute advantage over Dark Magic, the zombies didn’t dissolve and stayed where they were.

Click… Clack.

Screech… Scraaape…

Armand didn’t know what sorcery had brought this about, but he understood two things well.

One, it wouldn’t be easy to move forward, and two, he now had to pin his hopes on Merlin’s disciple, Kevin.

With that thought, Armand charged at the deceased nuns.

***

Joanna shouted at everyone.

She told them to stop praying immediately—that this was a ritual to summon a Devil and endangered everyone, including those performing it.

Why? Because she had seen something similar with her own eyes.

In the abandoned mines of the First Step on the New Continent.

Even now, Joanna vividly recalled that memory:

The sight of at least a hundred Red Ones burning like firewood, drumming and dancing around.

It was as if some force had seized and manipulated their bodies in grotesque movements, a sight so unsettling it made one’s hair stand on end.

A bizarre scene that surpassed disturbance and bordered on blasphemy.

But what stayed with Joanna the most was the girl at the center of the ritual.

A Red One girl whose face and limbs were emaciated, with only her belly abnormally swollen.

The Devil, known as The Burned One, emerged from the girl’s swollen belly and descended upon the world.

With a scream that tore the very fabric of reality.

The girl naturally died, as did all the Red Ones who took part in the ritual. In fact, they might have suffered something worse than death.

What was certain was that all who sought revenge through the Devil’s power met a gruesome end at the hands of that same Devil.

Joanna shouted this to the group.

She told them that what they were doing was not prayer but a blasphemous act, and that they would all become sacrifices.

Some of the girls who were praying hesitated.

This was a natural reaction. After all, these girls just wanted to help the nuns punish sin and make the world a better place.

They weren’t trying to summon a Devil that defied God.

Finally, one girl couldn’t hold back and asked, was what Joanna said true?

The nuns tried to stop the girl, but Sister Delra nodded silently.

“Yes, it’s a Demon Summoning. It’s true.”

Upon hearing such an unexpected answer, the underground sanctum of the convent, which had been filled only with chanting, fell into a brief silence, and murmuring spread like cracks.

This reaction was just as natural.

A nun who served God was summoning a Devil, after all.

Then, Sister Delra spoke again.

“But why is that a problem?”

“What…?”

“I asked why summoning a Devil is a problem.”

The sheer absurdity of the statement left the girls so stunned that they didn’t know how to react.

It was so outlandish that their minds couldn’t keep up.

Sister Delra spoke again.

“Let me ask you a question. Is God omniscient and omnipotent?”

“What? Yes, of course…”

Despite their confusion, the girls nodded out of habit.

After all, it was what they had been taught their entire lives.

“Then isn’t it strange? How can Devils exist under such a God?”

“What?”

“It’s a simple question. If God is omnipotent and omniscient, why do Devils that oppose God exist? Isn’t it strange?”

It was indeed odd. It was a question they had never thought of because they hadn’t been allowed to.

But when Sister Delra pointed it out, it really was strange.

A benevolent, all-knowing, omnipotent God… Why would such a being have a rival, or allow evil to exist? It didn’t make sense.

These girls, uneducated as they were, knew enough to recognize the contradiction.

The simultaneous existence of a benevolent, omnipotent God and a malevolent, God-opposing Devil was a paradox.

It was a confusion and doubt they had never experienced before.

Sister Delra, who had caused this confusion and doubt, resolved it for them.

“The reason is simple. Devils are also agents of God.”

“…!!”

An eerie shiver passed through the girls.

Devils were agents of God? The thought was as shocking as if the heavens and earth had been flipped.

Yet, at the same time, it was a thought that quelled their newfound confusion.

If Devils were also God’s agents, it explained why they existed despite God’s omnipotence.

“I-Is that true?”

One of the girls asked hesitantly, the information in stark contrast to everything she had ever been taught.

Sister Delra responded confidently, her tone reassuring.

“Yes, I heard it directly from Him… Devils are also His agents, just like angels. It’s just that Devils do not save good people; they punish sinful people instead.”

The girls fell silent, starting to believe.

Sister Delra drove the point home.

“In other words, Devils are not the evil ones. It is humanity’s sins that are evil. We’re just trying to correct the world by punishing those sins.”

“Don’t listen to her!”

Joanna screamed as she interrupted.

Sister Delra countered.

“Are you denying my words?”

Joanna didn’t refute it.

Not because Sister Delra was pulling at her hair.

But because Joanna herself knew it was true. She had learned it from her conversation with The Burned One.

That Devils also followed God’s will.

Though it had come from a Devil, Joanna somehow instinctively knew the words were true.

But even so…

“Don’t pray! Devils are still Devils!! If this ritual succeeds, everyone here will be in danger…”

Joanna’s fervent cry made both the girls and nuns look at Sister Delra.

They were silently asking if what Joanna said was true.

“Don’t worry. While the knight isn’t lying, her situation isn’t the same as ours.”

Sister Delra gazed at everyone with gentle eyes.

“We’re only summoning Him based on His request so He can judge sinners and correct the world.”

“How can you be so arrogant to believe you’ll be spared from His judgment?!!”

Joanna screamed even more desperately.

“Can any of you truly say you’ve never committed a single sin in your life?! Do you honestly believe Devils will see things from our perspective?!!”

Joanna shouted, knowing she was a sinner who had once turned away from a small, emaciated lamb. She had also briefly conversed with a Devil.

While she sympathized with the nuns who had endured unjust treatment for centuries, this was not the solution.

No matter how hard and painful it was, the answer had to be found within the world itself. They couldn’t just throw everything into the abyss out of spite.

That wasn’t a solution. It was merely giving in to primal urges to destroy everything out of frustration and hatred.

Knowing this, Joanna tried her utmost to stop the girls and nuns by screaming.

Because she knew exactly what would happen to them. And at the same time, she thought of her brother and Oliver, who were also in this city.

“Please—Mmm! Mmrrmm!!”

As Joanna desperately protested and tried to stop them, something covered her mouth.

It was black velvet.

A nun who was a follower of Sister Delra skillfully bound Joanna’s mouth with the velvet.

That same nun tied up Joanna’s entire body, wrapping her with care like a present.

“Mmm… Mmmm…!!”

With Joanna forcibly silenced, the uneasy atmosphere settled down, and the girls returned to their places, as did the nuns.

The two concentric circles surrounding the altar.

Sister Delra, just as when she had first brought Joanna, grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to the front of the altar.

Joanna tried to resist, but it was futile since she could no longer use Holy Power.

Upon reaching the altar, Sister Delra lifted Joanna and placed her on the tombstone-made altar, and in that moment, their eyes met.

In that fleeting instant, Joanna silently asked with her eyes.

Are you really willing to do this for your own desires?

To which Sister Delra answered with her eyes.

Of course.

Once Sister Delra placed Joanna on the altar, an invisible force grasped the velvet, completely binding her.

Joanna tried to struggle, but the pressure from the velvet was overwhelming, rendering any resistance futile.

Once Joanna was completely restrained, Sister Delra returned to her spot.

She stood on the outermost ring facing the front of the altar and spoke.

“Let us pray.”

At her words, the disordered atmosphere calmed as the girls and nuns knelt at their designated places and resumed their prayers.

“Our Holy Father in Heaven…”

Fifty-five girls and fifty-six nuns opened their mouths simultaneously in the underground tomb beneath the convent.

“Thine daughters have prepared this altar…”

As the collective voice of 111 people resounded, it echoed throughout the subterranean tomb.

“Please, heed our voices…”

With each chant uttered, the voices seemed to multiply.

“Send Thy agent unto us…”

As the voices grew, the volume increased.

“We are prepared to sacrifice ourselves…”

In response to the rising volume, the air quivered, and the torches illuminating the area began to flicker.

“Please, melt us and use us as tools…”

As the flames of the torches quivered, darkness surged, oscillating between light and shadow repeatedly.

“Our Father in Heaven. As Your tools…”

The darkness that brightened and dimmed seemed like a living creature, producing offspring.

Shadows in the shape of men.

“Renew the world. Eradicate all malice and enact righteousness…”

Whatever these shadows that seemed human were, only Joanna could see them. No one else appeared to notice.

The men-shaped shadows began to approach the praying girls and knelt beside them, as though they, too, were praying.

Realizing this, Joanna instinctively knew.

It was too late. At least, there was no way to stop it by herself.

The prayer continued as voices multiplied and the volume increased.

As the volume increased, the air inside the underground chamber trembled, causing the torches to sway violently.

The shadows swayed in sync with the torches.

Despite this, the girls and nuns continued chanting their prayers.

“Eradicate the anger, jealousy, envy, and malice that pervades the world…”

The shadows kept multiplying, each in the shape of a person, and they approached the girls. By the time they reached the 55th girl…

One shadow took form and approached Joanna, passing by the others.

Slowly. Very slowly.

“And fill the void with true repentance…”

Thud.

The shadow in human form had now approached almost to Joanna’s face.

It slowly reached out a hand toward her.

Thud, thud, thud…

“To our omnipotent Father in Heaven…”

Thud, thud, thud, thud…

Just as the shadow’s hand was about to touch her—

-Bang!!

The vibration from the ground grew stronger until something burst through, causing a cloud of dust and overturning the altar.

Golden threads and dirt stained the pure white lace, and scented oil spilled onto the floor.

The sudden event cut off the prayer as everyone turned to the center of the altar, all wearing blank expressions.

A man stood there.

A man with black hair and red skin.

It was Kevin, the Red One Sorcerer.

“Just in time.”

Kevin untied Joanna, who was bound in black velvet, and spoke.