Ch.134Faith

For Christine, faith and belief were absolute truths that could transform the impossible into the possible.

When faced with a seemingly impossible situation, it meant that one’s faith was lacking.

It was because of faith that Christine could maintain her youthful appearance just as when she first met God, despite her age approaching three digits.

It was also because of faith that she could live without eating or drinking anything from the moment she found her new religion until now.

And it was because of faith that she could ignore the laws of this world as if they were trivial and follow her own rules in her own world.

Therefore, Christine’s faith would never waver.

God always illuminated her path with bright light while watching over her, so all she had to do was offer prayers within that light. That’s what God meant to Christine.

Her God would never cease to exist. Eternal and immortal. She could assert that there were no words more fitting to describe her God.

As long as that immortality existed, as long as God who descended to this world to embrace her existed, Christine would never be broken.

That’s how it should have been.

“My God?”

Christine, who had been kneeling in prayer beside a mountain of corpses with their heads, spines, arms, and legs all torn out, leaving only torsos piled up, quickly rose to her feet.

Her amber eyes anxiously scanned the surroundings. Anxiety and unease gnawed at her heart. Her fingertips trembled.

“Why is the light…?”

It was because the light—the symbol bestowed by her God and the embodiment of faith deeply rooted in Christine’s heart—was greatly shaken.

In her nearly 100 years of life, she could assert that the light had never wavered before. Christine couldn’t hide her confusion at this unprecedented situation.

Her first thought was self-reproach for lacking faith. Christine hurriedly knelt down again. Whatever she had done wrong, a prayer of repentance was the priority.

But Christine soon realized her thinking was wrong. The light in her heart was slowly being consumed by darkness.

Feeling this scene directly, Christine experienced a shock like an explosion in her head. Her mouth hung open, unable to close, and tears streamed down her face.

As strength left her legs, her knees naturally buckled. Her calves spread apart as her buttocks touched the ground. Her vision was endlessly blurred, perhaps because of the tears.

“Ah, my God. What is it? Was my faith insufficient? Were my offerings inadequate? Is that it?”

Christine, sitting on the ground, soon began to wail loudly. Her sorrowful, choking sobs echoed in all directions.

This was a sign that her God was disappointed in Christine. It clearly meant that if she didn’t repent for her wrongdoings, the light would be taken away.

For Christine, who had lost her faith, there was no meaning in living.

Christine forcibly swallowed her emerging sobs and desperately offered prayers. Hoping that God’s voice would descend, that she would be given just one more chance.

And Christine’s faith was the very source that made the impossible possible.

—Come to me.

“My God?!”

Christine jerked upright even more urgently than when she first rose. It was God’s voice. Christine was certain that God had responded to her prayer.

She offered another prayer. This time, it was a prayer of gratitude overflowing with joy.

“Thank you. I sincerely thank you. I am truly grateful that you have not yet abandoned this humble lamb.”

It was hard to control her tears. Christine was genuinely thankful for being given one more chance. There was still time left to serve her God.

She forcibly straightened her weakened, staggering legs. There was no way she could have misheard God’s voice. She had no intention of making her God repeat the same message twice.

Since her God had told her to come, all she had to do was follow that voice.

“I understand, my God.”

Holy power swirled around her. Where God was located was engraved in Christine’s soul. In a soul that was trying to find its way to where God was to achieve the incomplete union.

“Now, this lamb shall respond to God’s call.”

The figure disappeared. A moment later, the place where traces of holy power had swept through was engulfed in white flames.

The boy whom Christine believed to be God didn’t even have the ability to speak to her directly from a distance.

The fact that the voice of God’s call was actually a kind of auditory hallucination created by Christine’s concentrated faith would never be revealed to the world.

Christine arrived at the kingdom’s capital as if flying. Considering she didn’t use a teleportation gate, it was an absurdly fast speed.

There were a few “minor” accidents along the way, but Christine didn’t mind at all. She needed to reach her God as quickly as possible to bow her head and beg forgiveness for her sins.

The route Christine chose was the shortest distance in a straight line.

Literally, the shortest path toward God.

She completely ignored everything she encountered along the way, considering only distance as she followed a straight path. Objects that collided with her and lost their lives were not Christine’s concern.

The thick walls separating the kingdom’s capital from nature were pierced as if they were wooden boards. Magically processed wooden structures with iron-like strength snapped like taffy.

The capital’s guards, who were the first to detect the commotion, tried to stop Christine by shouting at her to halt, but they paid a very high price.

When Christine arrived at the royal palace after completely demolishing dozens of buildings in a row, she encountered knights standing guard to protect the palace after hearing the news.

Her yellow pupils scanned the knights blocking her way. The armor looked familiar somehow. Christine immediately recalled where she had seen that armor before.

That woman.

It was the same armor worn by the blonde heretic who clung to Christine’s God and used her filthy tongue to utter all sorts of disgusting terms of endearment.

Displeasure surged within her. She wanted to spread holy power and purify them all, but doing so might damage the royal palace.

Since her God was in the palace, she couldn’t risk destroying the castle, so Christine chose, uncharacteristically, to request that they step aside.

“My God is inside. I must see God as soon as possible. Please step aside.”

“Silence. You dare to enter the royal palace after committing crimes by destroying walls, demolishing houses, and causing chaos in the city? I’ll arrest you by the authority of the Second Knight Commander of the Royal Knights. His Majesty King Gargantua will personally interrogate you, so come quietly. Be grateful that I’m not executing you on the spot.”

As soon as those words ended, the knights gathered around drew their weapons in unison and formed a formation. Their coordination was perfect.

The knights’ actions didn’t even register in Christine’s eyes. The word “Gargantua” had firmly lodged itself in her mind.

“Did you just say Gargantua?”

Her clenched fist tightened with force. The stone tiles she stood on cracked under the pressure.

Christine was not unfamiliar with the name Gargantua. She couldn’t be. It was the name of the woman she had vowed to tear limb from limb while still alive and offer as a burnt offering to her God.

“Are you saying that evil heretic is by my God’s side?”

Such people who followed that heretic deserved to die.

Holy light descended upon Christine’s body. A bright halo enveloped her simple nun’s habit. Seeing this, the Royal Knights tensed up and infused their bodies with mana.

Of course, it was futile.

“Wh-what’s happening! The mana…!”

“Knight Commander, my mana won’t come out!”

“Mine too!”

“I can’t use mana!”

The power of mana nullification was absolute.

If Christine’s ability could reduce even that Charlotte to an ordinary person, there was no way the mere Royal Knights could draw out mana.

If the knights had tried to draw mana with the purpose of fleeing far from Christine, they might have avoided the effects of mana nullification.

But that wasn’t the Royal Knights’ purpose, so this outcome was inevitable.

“My God is waiting.”

A dangerous gleam appeared in Christine’s eyes. It was an incredibly murderous gaze. The knights faltered when they met that gaze head-on.

They instinctively realized that if they fought the woman before them, they would certainly be defeated.

But they weren’t afraid.

If Charlotte ordered them to attack, the Royal Knights would gladly charge in without mana and fulfill their orders even at the cost of their lives.

Starting a fight they were bound to lose and meeting a pointless death without such orders would be the true disloyalty to Charlotte.

It was a brief hesitation, but more than enough time for Christine to make her decision. The holy power gathered in Christine’s body was about to explode outward.

“…Ah?”

Christine let out a bewildered sound. The holy power enveloping her body dispersed like sugar dissolving in water.

Her amber eyes turned toward the top floor of the royal palace. Her body, which had been radiating killing intent as if about to pounce, completely froze.

The Royal Knights, who had been prepared to die, were equally dumbfounded. The opponent who had been emanating killing intent just moments ago was now wearing an inexplicably empty expression.

“My… God…?”

Whether this situation was due to temporarily enhanced holy power or something else at work was unknown.

But one thing was certain: Christine had intuitively sensed what had just happened on the top floor of the royal palace.

Her God was rolling on the floor with all four limbs severed. Because of whom? Because of those heretics beside him.

Only Christine should have been able to hurt God. The actions of squeezing his heart, biting off his fingers, and inhaling the scent of his blood should have been Christine’s alone.

The darkness gnawing at her heart deepened.

Christine completely changed her mind. She had no time to waste on these insignificant beings. She concentrated all the holy power she had gathered for throwing punches into her legs.

Then she accelerated her body and rammed into the castle gate.

The gate that collided head-on with Christine’s body shattered with a thunderous sound. It was a pathetically anticlimactic end for such a massive door reinforced with multiple layers of high-grade defensive magic.

After entering the castle, Christine leaped vertically from where she stood, destroying the ceiling and reaching the floor above. Shattered fragments rained down.

She repeated the same action on the next floor, and the floor after that. It didn’t take long to reach her destination.

As soon as Christine arrived at the top floor, the defensive magic arrays densely layered around the area completely disappeared. They must have been defensive magic arrays designed to directly attack intruders.

Right in front of her was a thick door made of adamantium. This was the room. Behind this door, which was more like a wall, she could sense her God.

“This lamb dares to approach before God.”

Without hesitation, Christine threw her fist forward.