Chapter 102: (Chpt. 83) Lies and deception (3)

Alice.

“I think I am gaining some type of flashbang resistance…” I muttered in suspicion, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I guess I was insane. 

I had been detonating flashbangs in my room for what felt like forever. At this point, night and day felt the same, a state of being. I, knew everything. The white noise of the background, was non-existent, who needed noise? All one needed was a sense of self, I had that… 

BANG! 

[Title unlocked: Simple Sage.]

You know everything that there is to know, for you hold the secrets to life~ 

Wait, what? I came back to reality seeing the stupid text thrown into my head. Sage? Ha, I mean, I knew I was wise, but sage?! Fufufu~ looks like I can truly become the best swindler in the world now! Not like it matters, but there is fun in messing with reality. 

“Well, I did practice a lot, although I don’t remember doing it…” I knew time had passed, but there was a gap in my memory. Did I go into auto-pilot or something? Or was it some kind of trance? Needless to say, it was weird. 

Well one last time. I kept my hand lowered for dramatic effect. I figured staring into the air would be more impressive when I did it. I breathed in and out and mentally prepared myself, last thing I wanted was to become a Grand Sage by error. 

Focus on the particles… gathering them and spreading them, creating a little loop. It was small and efficient. I paid my utmost attention to the process, it started to shine. It was a little sphere with a white light, it was pure. Kind of hard to believe a dragon could use light magic, even if it was the simplest form. 

I sighed and… spread!

FLASH!

I was blinded yet again, this time I was ready so I did not fall to the ground. 

“I will call this a success for now…” Now that I had mastered the arts of light creation, I had to keep practicing, I was pretty sure I made a pretty weird face from focusing too much. It was about being nonchalant about it, that way I could pray at the same time. 

I kept making balls and detonating them shortly after. It started being rather easy, It was relaxing in a way, I kind of wondered what I could do using magic this way? It wasn’t the norm, I did not think it was even a method to begin with, it was ridiculously hard, and yet it removed a lot of my limits. 

* * * 

There is no difference between light and day anymore… WRONG! I spaced out yet again… I do remember what happened this time though, I have to say. I have made a lot of progress, although the process is so monotone that it’s almost entrancing, it did not take much mana either, so it did not help. I could probably do it endlessly… 

“Well, at least I have mastered it!” I justified myself in embarrassment. Imagine spacing out while in the middle of practicing magic, preposterous! Yet again… 

I sighed in relief seeing I had nothing to worry about if things went my way, things going sideways? Well, what’s the worst that could happen?! Although I kind of wonder how did the Sivirud guy learn about the story, or whatever. 

I shrugged. “Well, not like it really matters at this point in time…” I dismissed my thoughts, I seriously did not want to think about it. 

Knock, knock. 

Oh, was he here? I hid away the stolen book of Mr-I-like-to-boost-my-ego, and  stroded towards the door. I opened it cheerfully. 

“Sivirud?” I kind of wanted to talk to him, he was a nice guy.

“Um, no. Here.” A priest looking guy shoved me some clothes. “Be ready and outside on the halls in five minutes. We will be waiting.” He left and closed the door for me.

Ha… “Well that’s a disappointment.” I sighed. I ended up opening the door like a cheerful kid and asking someone’s name. How embarrassing, well… something to think about for later… 

I started to hear a clamour outside. I did not want to be out there, especially with all the pushing and shoving I kept hearing, the constant shoving against the door wasn’t really kind either. If I went outside, it would be a massacre… 

I started to get dressed. Fenri for some reason had been soundlessly sleeping the whole time. It made me wonder how he didn’t get bothered by the constant flashing in the room. It was… odd. Maybe he will share his secrets someday, when he can speak… 

“Heeey…” I started to poke Fenri, he shook for a bit and then clumsily looked up to me. “When will you be able to speak?” 

“Wooof…” He just gave me this lousy bark. 

“Ah I see…” I still couldn’t understand him… “Well, I will be going to do this ritual thing, please don’t go out of the room, okay?” 

“Woof…” He fell asleep. 

“Still, why can’t I understand Fenri?” Oh well a mystery for another day I suppose, he was a very expressive wolf so that was fine. I sighed and started to put on the outfit, it was well… Pretty much the same thing Dan gave me with golden embroidery going throughout the entire thing. It was a fancy rag. 

Just a bunch of cloth, but I still had to wear it. I sighed as I put it on, it was a bit oversized. Kind of like the robe I took off before going into the bath… Talking about robes, where is that fancy robe I got for being good at magic? Was it royal mage or something? Well, who cares, I have something more fun than to play the mage. 

“But, where is that robe? Hmm…” I thought about the robes I had seen before. “I mean, they either took it away or it’s the bath one.” I went inside the bath and there it was, the all-familiar royal court robe, except it seemed to have suffered a bit.

I picked it up, it was wet. “Maybe.. Later…” I reluctantly took it out of the bathroom and placed it on the table, it was a bit weird seeing water splatter all over the perfectly fine wood and then see it get absorbed, but, I was in a hurry.

I got close to the door to try to listen to the clamour outside, it was fairly quiet. And so I made my choice, well it wasn’t really a choice. I opened the door and walked into the hall, it was bright and kind of empty. There were a few similarly dressed people walking towards the main hall or whatever. 

I got a lot of weird stares. Was I looking weird? I shrugged, it didn’t matter. What was the worst that could possibly happen? Well, it can’t be as bad as I imagined it to be, no such thing as getting killed by the church. At least not for failing to pray in front of an altar. 

I continued absentmindedly walking, the door was open, it was kind of saturated but I still manage to squish through. Bad interior design, although based on what I had heard it wasn’t a common event, so maybe it simply meant that it wasn’t even designed for that in the first place. 

Well, I wonder how long will it be until I can lea⁠— 

My arm got pulled from the crowd. “Wha…” One second I was indulging in my own thoughts, the other I was looking back at Sivirud. He looked at me and sighed.

“I was wondering where you were…” A slight pause. “You were making me worried you know…” He did not stop talking as he tugged my arm to the complete opposite side of where the line of people were going. 

One thing that surprised me is that I seemed to be on the younger end of the spectrum, and also, most people were male. No wonder I had received weird stares, but enough about that…

“Why are you taking me with you, am I not supposed to be over there?” I pointed behind me as Sivirud talked, truthfully I did not know what to make of it. I wasn’t even paying attention to him, it was kind of awkward, thankfully he didn’t notice and instead he paused once again. 

“Oh I forgot to explain, didn’t I? Us priests get to choose a special candidate, one we favor if you  could say. Such candidates get to come with us and watch the ceremony until the very end, and then they get to display their faith in front of all the people that gathered!” Ehhh… 

“I-I see....” I was… fucked… “But, I am still unsure, what happens if I do bad?!” I faked a cry of panic. He stopped in his tracks and leaned towards me. 

“You will be fine, I promise.” That smile and pure eyes of his, made me feel genuinely bad. I was the king of terror, not the saint girl I was pretending to be. Well, I made my choices. Best thing I can do is owe up to them, and hopefully get something out of it. Ha… 

I made my decision. “If I⁠—” 

“If I am in the wrong, then the altar shall decide…” My eyes widened, was he, did he just? “Surprised? I could tell you were going to say that, the look in your eyes says it all.” Eh.

How could he, how… When did he⁠— 

He clapped my cheeks with care. “Now now, let’s get going Aizen. I might have only met you for a small period of time, but I understand you better than anyone here…”

“Okay…” I was… bewildered, flabbergasted, astonished. 

No amount of adjectives could describe the conflicting emotions I was feeling. A part of me wanted to be mad, a part of me was curious, I felt strangely happy and yet mad. It felt like he cared about me, and yet it angered me that he made such assumptions. What a conflict…

I sighed in defeat as he guided me with rush and care. One thing was certain, and that feeling did not go away. I just wanted to get out of this mess when I got the chance, this only solidified it. It seemed fun and yet at the same time I felt like it was something I shouldn’t mess with. 

Unfortunately I was stuck for now, so might as well just… continue for now. With yet another sigh I focused on actually keeping up the pace with Sivirud. 

He seemed to realize this and started to walk faster, although he did not say anything. I was thankful for that. Maybe he wasn’t as generic as I thought he was… Wait… was I getting attached? Ha… funny how that works. 

I stopped thinking about the matter and just continued to keep the pace, going through the halls, or rather, just walking through the same hall and going in a completely different direction, it had a few turns here and there, but truthfully I was completely lost, the ever-so-elusive path had defeated me. The place was still white and bland, so, unfortunately that did not help at all...

“We are almost there…” He said with slight difficulty, walking so fast wasn’t easy. Although I wasn’t particularly struggling, so I just said “sure thing,” and was done with it.

A few more minutes of walking, some stairs, and at last. We stood before a small door. “Now, let’s not talk too much okay, it’s disrespectful.” 

“Ha, okay.” I wasn’t even surprised, but he was treating me like a child so it was odd. 

The door creaked as it slowly opened, it was totally dramatic, and yet I saw Sivirud try to open it as if it was going to make it more silent. Truthfully, it was going to creak and squeak all it wanted, it really wasn’t that hard to understand, but regardless. I decided to keep my mouth shut. 

As the door finally opened, I managed to see the other side at last. “It’s a balcony…” I muttered. It was a balcony that overlooked some type of big hall. I could see a statue in the middle, it was an armored man with a grandiose atmosphere and cool bespoke armor with spiky ornaments. The statue was under a dome construction in the roof, it was completely golden. 

It was quite impressive, but something else caught my attention, the aura of the statue, it wasn’t like aura aura, but it was more of a feeling it was giving. It felt powerful as if it shielded the the entire cathedral. It was something ethereal. 

As I admired the statue, my hand was grabbed yet again. Sivirud walked into the balcony, it felt like a private area, well, it was a private area, it was an area for spectators with a lot of chairs and small tables to sit on. I saw a lot of people dressed just like Sivirud and a lot of people dressed like me alongside them, almost every priest had an accompanying apprentice, or whatever my current position was called.

Honestly, I had no idea at this point, too many things happening at once, and frankly the fancy-looking statue was the most interesting thing I had seen so far in the cathedral. 

Sivirud kept dragging me along the balcony forever until finally, we arrived at an empty set of chairs and table, he gestured me to sit alongside him, I, of course, had no other choice but to comply. I sat there as I overlooked the great-hall

I quickly noticed something, the colossal statue in front of me was the altar. I was overlooking the altar hall, I made eye contact with some people in the crowd. All of them were townspeople, some of them recognized me, some didn’t. Well, at least that’s all i could assume from them pointing fingers at me. As far as me recognizing someone, well, I can’t remember the king’s name so… 

It was a bit awkward, seeing a room so big from the top. We were basically next to the statue, and then a crowd of people, so many people came to see. I felt nothing. I mean, now that I think about it. Didn’t I use to get excited when seeing crowds of people?! I mean, imagine how much exp one could get with a single fire breath… Well, actually, now that I think about it. The desire went away as soon as I got to max level. Are all monsters the same? 

As I had questions about the world, I heard footsteps approaching, they were heavy and slow, but not quite calm. I kind of wanted to take a wild-guess about who could it be, I mean, the footsteps held some type of grudge, I could tell. Who got into a fight with Sivirud, who could it be?! 

“Sivirud.”

“Hello, Afghastin.” Do all the church people have weird names? “I am sorry about yesterday.” 

Taking the initiative I see.

‘

“No worries, more importantly, who is this girl you have chosen as your candidate, now that I can finally talk to her, I am sure I can get to know a lot about her.” Didn’t I literally meet him at the halls? Ooh, so we playing the “I don’t know you game”.

“Oh hi, Afghastadadin!” I said as I pretended to be a child. “I am Aizen, pleased to meet you.” I said as I extended my left hand, giving him a chance to see my gauntlet would be too risky with this guy. 

“Oh Aizen? That’s a wonderful name, although it can carry a lot of weight, be careful who you tell your name to.” Ha, if there is one thing I won’t get rid of is my name. He turned to Sivirud. “I see you have chosen a girl with splendid manners, I was doubting you. My sincerest apologies.” Sivirud nodded.

As far as the fat priest goes, he walked slowly to Sivirud’s ear. “Let’s hope it’s the right choice, there are consequences to be had after all.” Even though he was supposed to be whispering I still managed to hear him loud and clear. 

“We shall wait and see. Shouldn’t you be getting to your set Ghastin?” Waa, Sivirud suddenly turned badass!

All I heard was fat priest click his tongue. Honestly, I had no idea why he kept being so annoying, he was about to expire anyway. That beard of his was no joke, neither were those wrinkles. 

He walked away with the same dramatic heaviness to his footsteps, why did he have to be all flamboyant-like? If he is going to act all mighty and stuff, at least show it to me. There is no greater proof of superiority than power. 

Sivirud’s gaze seemed to be lost somewhere off in the distance. “Anything I should worry about?” I brought him back to reality, he rapidly shook his head.

“Ah… No, no, no… No… Not at all, I was just… thinking…” So a lot of things to worry about. 

“You know, I can tell the both of you are in quite bad terms. “ Sivirud stopped and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. 

“So you noticed.” I nodded. “Sigh, I guess I owe you an explanation for dragging you into this mess… I became a priest through nomination, meaning an ex-priest voted for me, this method is quite rare and often seen as undeserved. Anyway, since Afghastin enjoys power, he felt as if I was intruding, especially because I have more power…” He sighed once again. “I shouldn’t even be telling you this, but after this interaction, it’s a point of no return.” 

“Ha, okay.” 

He stood up and firmly grabbed my shoulders, staring deeply into my eyes. “I might not be your parents, I might just be some strange figure, but please! Become a priest!” Ehh… “Everything will be better for us. I can tell, there is something special about you, so please!” Ehhhhhh… Shameless today aren’t we? 

“Quick question, can I use absolutely any method at my disposal?” 

“What are yo⁠— yes…” He affirmed as he saw my wicked smile. “But what methods will you even use, wait… don’t tell me…” Oh, did he realize something I didn’t? “Your faith is so strong that you can make another wolf miracle happen!” In the end, even if brainwashed, he was still a kind person. 

“Hmm, well… We will see about that.” For now. “What are your thoughts on the kin race?” He had to have some thoughts, there was absolutely no way he didn’t. 

He heard me and blinked for a few seconds with a pensive look on his face. “Good question, I never really thought about them.” Ha…” I suppose that they… exist?” It was too much for my little priest to handle… 

“What happens if I fail?” I nonchalantly asked, his expression changed into an ugly one of pain. Maybe I asked the wrong question, there are certainly things one shouldn’t say. 

“I will die.” He said without emotion. “B-but, since I got you into it… you are in danger! So please, cooperate for me at least for now, for your own sake.” He was truly too kind for me. I guess it was my turn.

I grasped his hands with decisiveness and looked into his eyes. “Trust me, it will be alright.” I smiled, he instantly became at ease for some reason, well, being a swindler wasn’t so bad after all...

He relaxed on the chair. “Well, it’s not like we can keep waiting any longer.” He faced towards the statue, I followed his gaze only for it to end at the statue’s feet. There was a priest will overly-exaggerated clothing. 

“Is he your superior?” I asked Sivirud. 

“Yeah, he is the Arch-priest Salgrud. One of two archpriests and works under the command of the will of the seven lights.” Ha, that’s a mouthful. 

- “Welcome to everyone, as you may know we need a successor, someone to carry the torch of the faith! Further beyond to what Amatsukami ever envisioned!” Ha… His voice was oddly loud and echoed throughout the hall.

The crowd started to cheer, I could see it in their eyes, they were totally brainwashed by now. They eagerly waited for the next words of the announcer ⁠— the arch-priest. 

- “Today we will be doing the test that has withstood the test of time! The test of…” a pause of a few seconds followed. “Faith… A word that we place so much weight on, yet very few know what it actually means, what it actually is. We need someone that understands the Faith at its core, someone that can bring Faith to an upheaval, someone like… Amatsukami…” 

- “That’s why we are here gathered today!” 

People started cheering, some started to cry, they were exhilarated. I looked back at Sivirud, even though his face was unchanging his eyes were shining with admiration. I was in a circus...I had to make sure and popped my head out to see further, some priests seemed indifferent others had the same look as Sivirud, but none of them seemed to be as annoyed as me. So even if they did not particularly believe in the Faith they did not think it was something stupid. 

I was alone, but I continued staring to the statue’s feet, maybe I would learn a thing or two, based on the little information I have, priests are very important, and there are a lot here. Last thing I wanted was to do a big oopsie in front of so many people. 

- “Now, time to display our Faith!” More crowd cheering. “Time to welcome our long term apprentice!” He did a hand motion, a tall and skinny person approached, wearing the same clothes I was given. 

He knelt in front of the statue. “Amatsukami, god of ours, bless us with fortune, bless us… with power and faith!” Waa, that type of prayer had nothing to do with what I read! 

He continued spouting random nonsense of the egotistical creator of the religion until he finally stood up. 

- “Deep words you speak of, can you show us how deep your words truly are?! Will Amatsukami accept you? Touch god and he will touch you!” Eh. 

The man with confidence extended his hand towards the statue and touched its base, when it happened the light illuminating it grew stronger and then faded back to normal, kind of like some type of response. 

- “Today’s youth does not disappoint! WONDERFUL!” The crowd started cheering and the prayers continued, one by one. 

“Sivirud, I notice that they all have to touch the statue, why is that?” He paused with confusion. 

“We have to prove our faith, the statue can tell our bad deeds and good deeds. The more suitable you are for candidate the more it will glow!” Makes sense. “I can tell, you have a heart of gold, so show me when the time comes.” He patted me on the back.

‘Sure… if you mean aura of royalty and personality of a tyrant, I can do that…’ I thought as I recalled my period of looking down on people, I still did it rather often. Bad habit I suppose. 

I looked back to the base once again, there was yet another person that was about to kneel. 

He readied himself for praying. “Oh, do you hear this servant call? Bless me with your divine words, bless me with your monotony, tell me, uncover the secrets. Amatsukami, what can I do?” Ehh, all of these were different. 

- “Wonderful! Every single contestant has their own way of praying, there is no better way to pray than to speak your heart out!” So that’s how it is. “Let us continue!” 

And as per advertised, it continued. How boring and monotone this was… The golden ceiling with skylights was more interesting. And so, I paid attention to the actually interesting thing ⁠— the ceiling. 

Time passed. 

- “For yet another amazing prayer! A round of applause… 

- “An amazing prayer indeed! …

- “What an spectacular performance…

The voices started to mesh with the background as I blankly stared at the ceiling, the superhuman concentration of looking at a single spot on the ceiling faded everything away, it warped and skewed the passing time. It was all relative. 

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I kind of wondered what I was even doing, I should’ve been having fun instead. Well I was having fun, but I mean actual fun… Like, something great, not this… Haa, being with Kuro suddenly sounded a lot more fun, hmm, or maybe just playing with Fenri would be more entertaining. I kind of wond⁠— 

“Aizen…”

“Uh wha, what?” 

The spot in the ceiling faded and time started flowing again. I was beyond confused, what had happened?  Sivirud was looking at me with slight worry. 

“It’s almost time…” He warned as he pointed to the arch-priest standing at the bottom of the statue.  

- “We have seen some spectacular feats, haven’t we?” The crowd cheered on. “There is some strong contenders, what do you people say?”

“This is the best year!”

“All of them!”

“I am sure Marcus would be proud!” 

“Thi⁠—- “Tha… 

The crowd became unintelligible shortly thereafter. The arch-priest listened for a few seconds as he nodded with contempt, the “I am listening nod” as I would like to refer to it. This went on for as long as the crowd could speak, which was a few minutes. 

The arch-priest did a stern nod, one last time. 

- “I see all of you spoke your hearts out.” They cheered again, it was getting annoying. “But now into the great-apprentices! The ones that will hold the torch!” 

Instead of cheering the entire hall roared in excitement, my ears started to hurt. I started to hold the sides of my head simply because it was too loud. ‘Seriously, what’s so special about the greater-apprentices!’ how annoying! 

- “First off, let’s start with Ghrungar’s apprentice!” The crowd cheered. I heard something from slightly far away, someone that was dressed like Sivirud stood up along with an apprentice, was that it? 

I peeked once again to see how many spaces were left for my turn, I was the last one. I made eye contact with the old-fat man once again, he smirked but I didn’t really care. In fact, I continued looking at him with emotionless eyes. Just focus a bit more… yes… I saw sweat start to go down his forehead. That was it... I am going to kill him!

I did a rapid slight movement. “Eek!” He squirmed like a worm. 

“Perfect…” I muttered in satisfaction and re-directed my attention to the priest and his apprentice, it was a girl. She was taller than me and had short green hair, first time I saw such a hair color. Perhaps our hair colors weren’t that odd? 

They started walking away until they started to go down into the horizon of the room. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that those were some stairs. I heard the calm walking of the pair as they made their way to the legendary-altar. The altar of the so-called god, although to me he just seemed like an eccentric person. Nothing to say, I mean… really… 

- “Wow, I can already feel it from here! That aura of hers! You’ve done well raising her Ghrungar!” 

“But of course!” He instantly replied with an aura of confidentiality. “I worked real hard you know?! To teach her the ways… I am so proud of her…” Waa… he was getting teary.

“Ghrungar…” She muttered with quivering lips. 

- “Well, let us see what your apprentice can do!” 

“W-wait!” The apprentice cried. 

“You can do it, I have my faith in you!” Ghrungar cheered her on. 

All of the attention was now on her, she was sweating and trembling. In spite of that she knelt like every other apprentice and clasped her hands together. 

“I-I… I-I…” She was silent. “... I h-have… faith…” Her voice was shaky and kind of cute, as I eagerly waited to hear more she stood up.

- “What a short prayer! Will it be enough?!” Was he a priest or an announcer? 

The girl stood up and clumsily approached the statue, touching it without problem. It started to shine brightly, better than the other times I saw. The statue almost looked like a true divine altar! 

- “My, what splendour! This is what makes a great-apprentice!” The crowd roared once again. 

The accompanying priest approached the girl and gave her a pat on the head. 

“You’ve done well…”

“I am so happy!” She glued herself to the priest. 

The ceremony continued, I noticed it was getting late. But it was whatever. I was starting to get hungry, how long would this last? I mean, it was pretty close to ending. 

- “The future is bright! Next priest, Afghastin! One of our long time veterans!” The crowd started chanting his name. I saw him get up along with a man, he smirked at Sivirud, although avoided eye-contact with me. 

No words were said, the apprentice did a silent prayer and touched the statue. It shone brightly, brighter than the other times. 

- “Amazing, I guess actions speak for themselves!” People cheered, it was already annoying… 

They went back to their seat and the fat man looked back at me, he smirked once again. Before I could get into predator mode I heard Sivirud sigh. 

“I guess it’s time.” We were next in line, right…

- “Last but not least! Sivirud! We all know him, he is a kind man that travels across the world! But we never knew he had an apprentice!” The crowd was silent. “A girl with a heart of gold as he described it, someone that is willing to do anything for anyone, she was the chosen one!” The crowd started cheering.

“Sivirud!”

“Sivirud!!” 

“Sivirud!”

People started chanting his name as well, this time it was more powerful than the last one. Just who was Sivirud, he seemed to be the most widely known priest present… The man looked at us with a face of disgust. I was a bit confused as I stood up. I mean, how would someone so important die because of it. 

I felt a pat on my back. “It’s okay, I know you can do it.” He said with confidence, I awkwardly smiled at him, should somebody tell him? Well, it wasn’t on me. 

We started walking towards the end of the balcony, as we strolled through the fat-man’s table, he opened his mouth.

“Aizen, I know your secrets, you won’t get away with it. Amatsukami knows it all.” 

“I see. Well, cya…” I waved away from him, the old-fart was up to something. I saw him deeply frown as I walked away, was that the wrong reply? 

“It’s okay Aizen.” He patted me as we walked. It felt kind of nice. 

I didn’t reply and instead focused on descending the marble stairs that were in front of me. It kind of felt like how I imagined descending the stairs of a colosseum would be like. A huge crowd cheering for me and a priest awaiting my arrival. 

I was still accompanied by Sivirud but it was great to imagine he had absolutely nothing to do with it. A few steps and I was blinded by the sheer light that was entering the room, I didn’t realize it before, but the dome seemed rather special and not golden. Some type of light was accumulated at the dome. Windows running throughout all the walls to illuminate the room. As soon as I finished descending the stairs all eyes were on me. 

I continued walking towards the statue until I stood in front of it, instantly I was struck by a heavy aura, almost like wind. I could tell, it didn’t want me there. The arch-priest approached me as I checked out the egotistical founder’s statue. 

“Tell me, is there something you’d like to say?” I turned to him. “Ehh, you are?!” His voice was normal this time for some reason. 

“I am Sivirud’s apprentice! Witness me!” I claimed with a royal aura, people ooh’d at me, like they should. The arch-priest seemed oddly sweaty, well, he wasn’t of my concern. Now that I had gotten a closer look at him, he seemed incredibly old. 

- “It’s time for the prayer! Will Aizen, be able to do it?!” Did I ever tell him my name? And looks like he was back to normal.

“Ah, well, no time to worry about it. Here goes nothing…” I knelt in front of the statue, as I was doing so I noticed something. The statue had something odd, it wasn’t divine. It had something else. I inspected it and…

[Marble] 

How useful. The grandiose part of it wasn’t the statue, it was something within it. 

“I guess I will worry about it later…” I muttered to myself as I gathered breath for my prayer.

“Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem,

Quoniqm cum probates fuerit accipient coronam vitae”

I started butchering the prayer in a different language from what I remembered at the top of my head, the entire hall was silent. 

- “When did you… learn that…” I wasn’t going to stop just because he was curious.

“Kyrie, fons bonitatis.

Kyrie, ignis divine, eleison… 

Lord be gracious…” 

I finished my completely unintelligible prayed, the audience gasped. The arch-priest was sweating, Sivirud had his mouth wide open. Did I say something I shouldn’t. 

- “T-The language of God!” The arch-priest exclaimed at the top of his lungs with excitement, the entire hall burst into cheers and roars of praise. I was confused.

“I truly knew you could do it.” Sivirud spontaneously hugged me out of nowhere. 

“I DEMAND PROOF!” Someone shouted from the balcony atop of me. Looking up it was no one but⁠— 

“Afghastin!” Sivirud shouted back at me.

“If she is truly the chosen one she should touch the statue! It’s a code!” 

Sivirud looked at me with a troubled face. “The statue judges your past, and present, it judges your entire being.”

“I figured…” I shrugged. “Yeah I can do it.” 

Before the arch-priest could say anything I approached the statue, I could tell. It really didn’t want me. But I was Aizen, some lowsy statue couldn’t decide if I could touch it or not!

I extended my hand, and as I was about to touch it a flash of lightning flew out of the statue and repelled my hand. Kind of like some type of shield, it was painful. My entire hand felt a burning sensation.

“See, she is the devil herself!” The entire crowd gasped, the arch-priest however⁠— he awkwardly approached me and leaned into my ear with difficulty.

“You can do it mister legendary dragon, I’ve seen your wrath. I’ve witnessed you.”

I became stiff. “What are you.” He smiled at me, I noticed he was that person, the only one I left alive. 

“I believe in forgiveness, prove it to me.” For some reason, I was dumbstruck, I had shattered his entire kingdom, his entire life. And yet those eyes of his seemed to hold nothing but praise for me, even if it wasn’t the right type of praise. 

I started laughing.

“What’s so funny?!” The old-fart asked in annoyance.

“Just witness me!” 

I forcefully started to push my hand against the statue, it was painful. My entire hand received shocks of pain. The great-hall started to shake and tremble, I knew what was going to happen. 

“I am Aizen! Bow before me!” I spoke to the statue as I placed my utmost force towards it. I heard glass shatter, I could tell what was going to happen next. I poured mana into my hand and started to focus on the surrounding ambient mana and its disturbances. 

“There is only one of me, and a lot of you…” I said as I spoke to the statue, it was just an inanimate object of the founder, it couldn’t dictate me, it was just something manufactured. I was unique! 

Flash!

My vision was covered white as an ear-splitting sound rang across the hall. And yet I kept pushing, it hit something, but it was small. It was tube shaped, I held it out of instinct. It felt warm. As soon as I got a firm grasp on it the light faded. 

It was a katana, in a black and white faded scabbard, thunder patterns ran across it. It was ornamented with a golden rear-guard and black-laced handle. The katana had a rather unusual aura to it, it exhibited loyalty and power, it was the first time I saw an object like that. It also had an even stronger feeling of divinity than the statue itself.

As I looked around the entire hall was silent. The fat-man was staring at the katana with wide-open eyes. Sivirud was looking at me with worry, or rather at my arm.

I looked one more time, my hand holding the katana was covered in blood.

“I guess… I overdid it… heh…” I muttered. I silently raised the katana as a triumph, even while bathed in blood, it was still an achievement. 

The arch-priest smiled at me and faced the audience.

- “A heart of gold, an insurmountable force to exist. A humble yet strong girl! She has it all! Through unwavering will she has obtained one of Amatsukami’s gift for us, said to exist in legends! This girl is a legend!” 

[Title unlocked: Legend]

Your feats speak for themselves, generations of church members shall speak about the priest of blood & thunder as if it was yesterday.

“Did I just become Kuro, well no ma⁠— 

“Wooo!” 

“The prophecy has been fulfilled!” 

“She is the one!” 

The crowd as thrilled for me, I was smirking with an ear-to-ear smile. It was truly fun! 

“Preposterous! A demon-like you shouldn’t be able to do that! The statue is completely gone!” I turned around to the priest in denial. The statue was indeed completely gone, not even dust was left. 

“Then, touch the sword.” I held it out to him. I knew what was going to happen. But he didn’t. 

The man approached the sword and extended his hand with confidence, as soon as he touched it the expected happened. 

“Ha, see, it’s rig⁠—” He started to uncontrollably tremble until foam came out of it’s mouth. 

This was truly a disgustingly good sword, too good in fact. 

[Zetsuma bone-splitter ⁠— Divine++ ⁠— Named by its owner who gave it a lot of affection and polished by hundreds of years of prayers. Can reproduce status effects on-touch that the owner has suffered from during their lifetime.] The elf had come in useful. 

As I smiled to myself, the crowd cheered for me once again. 

[Title unlocked: Head-priest,]

Be it through lies, be it through truths, your status speaks for itself. 

I continued to proudly smile, it was a fun day! 

As I internally praised myself I saw the crowd start to shuffle around and mutter among themselves. Something seemed to be making a commotion.

“A necromancer!” Desperate echoes went throughout the hall. “We have discovered a necromancer!” it was an adventurer. 

The crowd started to get more and more uneasy. I had no idea, so I looked towards the person that probably knew what they meant. The arch-priest. 

“How do you want to deal with it, head-priest of the capital?” He kindly asked me. Oh, so it was like that.

As I thought he held out his hand to me in front of my mouth. 

- “What are you⁠— oh…” It amplified my voice. Well, I mean, if it was going to be me doing things, and I was now part of the church then… Might as well commit… Haa… this is truly going to be fun.

- “I will be facing this necromancer head to head! I will eradicate the darkness once in for all!” The hall for the last time exploded with happiness.

Alice.

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