Ch.110Hatred and Fury

Who is this God that Christine refers to?

Like a dagger, those words pierced deep into Christine’s heart, frantically tearing apart her insides.

Her yellow-tinged pupils gradually shrank, while the whites of her eyes slowly expanded.

The slight vitality that remained in her eyes completely lost its light. Within those extinguished eyes, only an abyss deeper than the deepest chasm remained.

“What nonsense did you just spout?”

Christine’s voice trembled faintly. They say that when people experience extreme shock, they can’t even shed tears. That was exactly Christine’s state right now.

Christine couldn’t regain her senses from the shock. What had that thing just babbled? How dare it refer to her God in such a manner?

The thing before her was a black blood demon. An unholy being that her God despised utterly, even commanding her to kill them on sight.

Beasts burdened with original sin who could never reach heaven even if they offered their bodies as sacrifices for atonement.

Yet these creatures dared to speak so freely. Not only questioning who her God was, but doing so in the most blasphemous manner possible.

The responsibility fell squarely on Christine. The wings of holy power that had sprouted behind her grew even larger.

If at first they were about the size of Christine’s upper body, and then slightly longer than her entire body, now they were as massive as several buildings combined.

Christine’s holy power designated everything in this world as heresy except for her God and herself.

So, if that holy power were to be unleashed by anger, it was obvious what would happen to those designated as heretics.

Holy power flowing from Christine spread insidiously, dissolving everything it touched indiscriminately.

All liquid-like substances were transformed into holy water, and even human blood was no exception.

When the blood that had seeped and dried into the soil completely turned into holy water, the earth reacted violently. Normally, holy water should breathe life into the land, but this time was different.

When the dried blood clinging to trees and grass completely transformed into holy water, pale yellow-tinged white flames blossomed from those spots.

“I asked what nonsense you just spouted, did I not?”

Normally, Christine’s holy power wouldn’t act this strongly. It was thanks to the boy who had placed psychological constraints on her.

The boy knew that Christine’s holy power would designate everything in this world except herself and him as heresy, so he repeatedly taught her to be especially careful not to burn the world itself when unleashing her holy power.

Well, he wasn’t completely successful. He could direct the focus of her faith, but couldn’t touch the faith itself.

Man-made artifacts couldn’t escape being branded as heresy by her holy power, but natural objects like plants and lakes were simply ordinary parts of nature.

At least until now, when the light in her eyes had completely gone out.

The holy water created by Christine’s holy power was no longer a blessed liquid that healed nature and breathed divinity into humans.

It was a terrible liquid of destruction that burned and dissolved everything it touched under the pretext of purifying heresy.

“Who is this so-called God you serve? Are you deaf? Or just really stupid? Is this that inverse relationship between power and intelligence? You know, like how some insects have to stop and start repeatedly because their brains can’t process how fast they’re moving? Are you like that? Your brain can’t keep up with how fast your fists move, so you have to punch, pause, punch, pause?”

The black blood demon continued speaking. Christine’s lightless eyes stared at it briefly.

The contaminated zone of black blood, which had been pushing back the holy power and expanding its range, was now being pushed back little by little.

Suddenly, Christine closed her eyes.

“God always watches over the earth and embraces His lambs, so you shall not dare doubt Him.”

A prayer murmured from her lips. Her hands were now clasped together in front of her chest.

“In moments of glorious splendor, in moments of terrible destruction, God is always beside His lambs. Know that the glory is not yours alone, and believe that the destruction is not solely yours to bear.”

Her knees, wrapped in white garter belts and stockings, knelt on the ground.

“Even if you lose your way in a desolate desert, even if you encounter a storm in the vast ocean, know that there is nothing to fear as long as your faith in God sustains you.”

Unable to bear the sight any longer, the black blood demon lunged toward Christine and swung its right arm.

“God holds all that you have done, which tells us that our lives are not our own, but belong to God. Therefore, you shall always come before God, bow your head in reverence, and swear undying faith.”

Christine didn’t move. She simply finished her prayer calmly.

“Pledge not to live for yourself, but to live for God.”

But it wasn’t Christine who was harmed.

The black blood demon alternated between looking at its own body, which was melting at a terrifying rate, and its right arm, which had completely disappeared without a trace, simply from entering the range of the holy power.

It was the one who had charged forward, the one who had swung its fist, the one who had attacked. Yet why was the nun unharmed while it faced a melted right arm?

No, deep down it knew.

It couldn’t not know. It was just that, seeing holy power that had become several times stronger than before in that brief moment, it had much to think about.

A new black blood demon created when she had not even recovered a tenth of the power she once possessed had crushed Serena’s gauntlet in one go.

Of course, even now her power was said to be ant-sized compared to her prime, but flipping that expression around meant she was now ten times stronger than when she faced Serena.

And yet, with all that power, the moment it swung its fist at the nun, its body melted instead.

Since it wasn’t like that at first, there were two possibilities: either she had been hiding her power, or she was growing stronger in real-time.

Either way, it wasn’t good news.

“Strange. So strange. Really. Really. Why? What? Why is this happening? Huh? Huh? Huh?”

In that moment, the black blood demon’s appearance began to change.

Its face, which had been monstrous, gradually took on a human form, and something resembling hair grew to shoulder length on its head, which had been covered with smooth leather.

Its skin, which had shone like glossy leather, changed to become indistinguishable from human skin.

The width of its triangular, broad shoulders gradually decreased. The hardness left its muscle-filled chest, replaced by softness that swelled up.

The waist became more slender, and the pelvis more spread out. Now its thighs had curves that could be called shapely rather than muscular.

Since it didn’t create clothes, its body was completely naked, but since the genital cleft and nipple tips weren’t formed, it might not matter much.

The black blood demon, no, whatever had changed from a black blood demon to a human, kicked off the ground and retreated.

“When I see you, anger boils up from deep in my chest. Why? You’re just an unusually strong religious zealot. Eventually, when I regain my power, you’ll abandon your God like other religious people and become the heretic you so despise, begging for your life before dying miserably. Clearly, you should kill such people as casually as stepping on insects on the street. Strange. I keep feeling hatred when I see you. That sword-wielding woman from before, and that magic-using woman recently. This is the third time. It’s really strange. To feel hatred toward women who aren’t even worthy opponents for me. It’s strange, isn’t it? Am I overreacting? Is that it? Or—”

The black blood woman’s frantic babbling suddenly stopped.

“—should I think there’s something between you and that so-called God you believe in?”

Whether it was a signal or just perfect timing, Christine, who had been kneeling on the ground focused on prayer, opened her eyes again.

But those eyes that once again gazed upon the world still contained no vitality.

Christine slowly rose to her feet. The wings of holy power, which had grown to the size of several buildings combined and now designated everything around as heresy to be purified, trembled slightly.

“At first I asked who this God you speak of is, but now I don’t need to know. I believe in myself. I can’t be wrong. I don’t want to hear your answer. I’m not asking about a connection; I’m assuming there is one. Yes, I’m certain. My intuition has never been wrong. You must be killed here. That sword-wielding woman, that magic-using woman. No, just everyone. I’ll kill them all. I’ll definitely kill them all. Even if this body breaks apart, I’ll kill them all.”

Christine stepped forward with her right foot. The sound of her foot on the soil rang loudly, cutting through the black blood woman’s incessant muttering.

There was nothing left in Christine’s mind. Only the extermination of the heretic who had blasphemed against her God remained.

Whatever that heretic was babbling about didn’t matter. She ignored it completely, not even bothering to let it in one ear and out the other.

Because the moment she heard it, her already sinful body would surely be contaminated by the filthy heretic’s blasphemy.

Instead, Christine concentrated.

She focused the holy power that was spreading uncontrollably and purifying heretics into a single point. That point was, of course, her right fist.

The wings on her back gradually reduced in size. But this by no means indicated they were weakening.

Though the wings shrank, the concentration of holy power emanating from them was actually intensifying.

The holy power that filled the surroundings swirled like a storm, being sucked into Christine’s fist.

Holy power so strong that ordinary demons would melt just from seeing it, and even black blood demons would retreat in fear.

It was being concentrated in a single place.

The black blood woman wasn’t one to stand by and watch Christine’s actions. So what if she was getting stronger?

The female form that had been a black blood demon, now a black blood woman, lunged at Christine.

In her right hand was a blade somehow extracted from her skin. As she charged, she sheathed the extracted blade at her left hip and assumed an iaido stance with just her upper body.

Christine stepped forward with her left foot. Now, she just needed to shift her center of gravity and thrust her right hand forward. The concentrated holy power would blow away everything in front of her.

And in the next moment, the black blood woman was standing right behind Christine.