I was in a bit of a panic.
I had no choice but to admit that someone totally unexpected had appeared as the secret weapon prepared by the Cathedral Side, which Michaela could never have imagined.
I was caught off guard, but if I were to ask if that was threatening, I could only let out a derisive snort.
‘Is the only card they brought just a murder suspect?’
It was weak, way too weak.
So, are they planning to prove their innocence or something?
‘The size fits perfectly.’
Looking at the priests walking behind me, their faces all swollen, it was clear that something was up.
They wanted to clear the false charges and give their new saint candidate a chance again.
‘Is that their brilliant plan?’
Even though I could definitely sense their intention to prevent Michaela and the other nuns from becoming saints, even at the cost of their own suffering…
‘It doesn’t matter in the end.’
The important thing wasn’t that the murder suspect was innocent. What mattered was that they were a murder suspect. The citizens were already seeing Lucia through tinted glasses.
‘I have the power to provoke that to the extreme.’
Pink energy began to ooze from Michaela’s mouth. The moment Lucia stepped onto the platform, the citizens under her control would raise their voices in anger.
But then.
The first to stand on the platform was a blonde paladin dressed in yellow. No, to be accurate, it was someone wearing paladin clothing.
‘What is this? There’s a paladin I don’t know about?’
Since the number of paladins was low, there was no way the meticulous Michaela wouldn’t know someone.
He was a very young boy, looking like a student, but it was clear that his appearance must have made many women cry.
However, what caught Michaela’s eye wasn’t just the boy’s looks.
It was the emblem of the god Helios drawn on his hands.
Ares Helias bowed his head slightly towards the screen and continued speaking.
“I will briefly stop the saint election and explain the false charges against candidate Lucia, the incidents, and the real culprit.”
That part was fine.
As I mentioned earlier, just being a murder suspect was enough for me to stir the citizens into a frenzy.
But.
The boy’s hands began to glow.
As the sunlight, which washes away the unclean, began to flow gently…
“Huh?”
“What the heck? What have I been doing until now?”
“Michaela!”
As the power of the imprint that had been on the ignorant nun candidates under her control vanished, they started to regain their senses and confront Michaela.
The bewilderment that struck the back of my head quickly transformed into anger, which, of course, was directed at the boy who was exuding the light of the sun god.
If this continued, even the hypnotized citizens on the other side of the screen would have their imprints released.
Feeling a sense of urgency from Ares’s sudden appearance, pink energy began to flow from Michaela again. It was similar to a magical beast spewing out poison smoke.
“Go and cut off their power!”
She tried to use her power once again to control the people around, but in response, Ares’s blessing from the sun god shone even brighter.
“What the heck is this?”
Helplessness.
An overwhelming sense of powerlessness that felt the gap between gods and mortals, one that she couldn’t do anything about.
Michaela herself had been chosen by the goddess of beauty and love, and in her mind, she was quietly mocking the bishops and paladins who held no power.
There was a clear division that the gods had chosen.
Then what about that man?
What was the difference between herself and that man, who could dissolve all her bindings with just a ray of light?
The bonds of love and beauty were melting away in the brilliant light of the sun god, yet miraculously, her wish came true.
The power supplying line to the broadcasting screen was cut off.
“What the? Why is this happening?”
“It seems the power in the magic supply room underground has been cut off?”
To transmit the screens set up all over Batian, which totaled 17, a massive mana generator was obviously needed, but it seemed that it had stopped working.
“Alright! That’s it!”
If Lucia couldn’t even make a speech, it would be the end. Even if she was registered as a candidate, if she couldn’t show her face even once, the bishops would not forcibly vote for her as a saint.
With a victorious smile, Michaela shoved aside the nuns questioning her.
Crackle, crackle.
A dagger lodged into the generator.
The madame, who sensed something was wrong through the screen, immediately deployed the Chokugen Faction into the underground power supply room of the cathedral to prevent the flow from exceeding.
“Done, I completely smashed it.”
“Listening from outside, it indeed seems the broadcast has stopped.”
Though the saint election had turned into a mess, as long as they managed to halt the flow, Michaela, who had stood out the most and made an impression, had no choice but to become the saint.
The faction members, satisfied with their smiles hidden beneath their white hoods, started to head back, but…
Thwack!
Thwack!
Dagger strikes, precisely hitting the hearts of two individuals. Clutching their hearts, they collapsed on the floor without having time to roll their eyes to find the culprit.
“Too late.”
A sigh escaped Sen’s lips as she clicked her tongue at the entrance of the power room.
She had been on standby to respond to the Chokugen Faction’s movements, but those movements based on the madame’s Sixth Sense had surpassed her.
“It’s alright, I’ll take a look.”
Rin, who was with Sen, slowly reached towards the generator, and the dark energies emanating from her chest began to suck all the nearby mana into it.
“Seriously…”
Sen muttered, astonished by Rin’s capabilities.
This time in Batian, Rin’s achievements were shining like the opposite of an ominous atmosphere.
Starting from freeing her from prison, Rin had provided information that Ares’s Helios’s imprint could defeat Aphrodite’s imprint.
When Rin absorbed Ares into herself, their imprints collided, allowing Rin to reveal abilities that even their owners were unaware of.
The black energy began to wrap around the generator.
As if to absorb all the mana in Batian, Rin began to greedily gobble it up.
Zzzzzt…
The generator, now fully engulfed in Rin’s powers and turning black, slowly started to operate.
“Done!”
But this wasn’t a situation to celebrate just yet.
As the broadcast began again, it was clear that the footsteps of the approaching Chokugen Faction members, aware of their failure, were becoming louder.
Rin, busy absorbing mana and operating the generator, couldn’t fight.
Moreover, the opponents were once former colleagues, but without any hesitation, she retrieved the daggers she had embedded in them and grasped them in reverse.
“Sen…”
“I heard you escaped.”
“You betrayed the Chokugen Faction and harmed your comrades. You will face immediate execution.”
The members of the Chokugen Faction glared at Sen with fierce intent.
Just moments ago, they had been mere puppets moving for a mission; now, they were beasts ready to tear Sen apart at any moment.
“Withdrawing from the Chokugen Faction, you learn and gain more than you might think.”
Yet, despite that, Sen gave them a faint smile filled with pity. Having suppressed her emotions through drugs, Sen thought she would never make such a natural expression again, leaving the faction members in peaceful shock.
“For example…”
That was when Sen, unleashing the skills of her former assassin self, launched the first strike.
“A super strong big brother or something.”
Now’s not the time to keep quiet!
The madame realized this as she dashed through the cathedral with the remaining faction members.
The most sacred place was being trampled on by the dirtiest of individuals. Just this act alone could be considered blasphemy.
She had sent members to stop the mana supply, but it seemed the generator had started up again, as the screens continued broadcasting in Batian.
The screens showed Ares one by one dismantling the false charges against Sister Lucia while targeting the true mastermind, Michaela; but that wasn’t the main point.
Using the Helios imprint on his palm, the brainwashing caused by Aphrodite over the citizens was being undone.
“If I knew this was going to happen, I would have killed him back then.”
The madame trembled as she hurried towards the chapel, having kidnapped and knocked out Ares.
She realized that breaking the generator wouldn’t resolve the fundamental issues, so she planned to deal with the situation herself.
‘If I kill that boy named Ares and then brainwash the bishops and paladins with Michaela’s imprint, it’d be the end.’
They wouldn’t allow Michaela to have any openings, but she thought she could create an environment to coercively brainwash them through the Chokugen Faction.
As she approached the gigantic door…
The madame suddenly felt a sense she had momentarily forgotten.
The absolute death she felt at the streets of Batian was looming right in front of her.
“Go stay by Lucia’s side. There might be unnecessary variables.”
“Understood. You stay safe too.”
The chestnut-haired girl entered the chapel, and the black-haired boy slowly closed the giant doors behind him.
“That guy!”
“The enemy of our comrades!”
“Madame! Give us orders immediately!”
Having already taken out the Chokugen Faction that had been in Batian once, Daniel McLean was well-known even among the members.
The reinforcements from the Chokugen Faction were eager to avenge their comrades’ deaths, waiting for orders from her, but she couldn’t speak recklessly.
I don’t want to fight.
Her Sixth Sense was issuing a fierce warning once more.
If they fought, they would die without any variables.
For the first time after rising to the position of the second-in-command of the Chokugen Faction, she was feeling a dislike to fight, and her breath became slightly heavy.
On the contrary, the man on the opposing side sat against the door with a nonchalant expression, sword resting on his shoulder.
He had become the gatekeeper of the chapel.
“You can’t pass.”
He uttered a light, yet infinitely heavy statement.
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