Ch.9797. Tolerance, Forgiveness, and Mercy

A pillar of light rose from the building that was once Nevil Pharmaceuticals’ headquarters.

Not an artificial light created by neon signs, but a light that warmed the heart just by looking at it.

It was like the sun, rarely seen in the smog-filled Europe.

The light was so brilliant that even those with shallow faith couldn’t deny it was a miracle.

And the one who created this pillar of light…

‘This is beyond my imagination.’

He was surprised by the miracle he had created.

The faith confession he used was the declaration of holy ground.

Among the magic he knew, it was one whose power was counted from the top.

But it wasn’t supposed to be this powerful.

It was never meant to cover an entire Megacorp and the surrounding buildings.

The Divine Power overflowing from his body was also strange.

True, he had trained using sealing devices, but now it was incomparable to before.

Both his Divine Power and faith had suddenly grown to an incomparable degree.

Just like Sonia.

Yet despite facing this miraculous phenomenon, Amon remained calm.

Because…

‘Finally.’

He knew it, and had simultaneously intended it.

Of course, he hadn’t predicted it would happen at this exact timing, but rather that it would happen someday.

‘Virtuous Awakening.’

Amon recalled a memory from long ago.

Virtuous Awakening was a one-time event in each series that maximized all abilities.

As you progress through the story, you get a chance to awaken in the mid to late game, and depending on your actions so far, you can awaken to a specific virtue.

Tolerance, love, faith, humility, hope, justice, and so on…

The details varied by series, but awakening to specific virtues depended on how you treated NPCs and what virtues you had realized.

‘This is why good-aligned players become much stronger in the late game.’

While evil-aligned players grow overwhelmingly faster in the early game, this awakening system helped balance things out.

Of course, most hardcore players addicted to dopamine chose the evil path, but that’s another story.

Sonia’s power-up must be of the same kind.

However, Amon was somewhat disappointed with his own awakening.

‘My awakening is rather underwhelming.’

Typically, a successful awakening creates a halo and awakens power that no skill can replace.

Sonia realizing forgiveness and gaining the ability to heal companions and subdue demons was an example.

But Amon couldn’t tell any difference except for his increased Divine Power.

The only thing he could guess was…

‘Was it not honesty…’

That he had misidentified the virtue he needed to realize.

Given the timing, he thought honesty would be the virtue and had recited his past deeds, but it seemed he was mistaken.

‘Still, I must have partially awakened, so it wasn’t completely wrong.’

Amon tried to reflect on what he had said.

Just then-

“Amon~”

Sonia tackled him from behind.

Seeing Sonia smiling brightly with her white hair fluttering, his train of thought was interrupted.

“Angel, did you find it?”

Smooch!

Sonia kissed Amon’s lips without context. Then pulling away,

“What are you thinking about so deeply?”

She asked with a bright smile.

Looking at that smile, Amon shook his head.

“Nothing.”

He stopped searching for his virtue.

‘Well, what does it matter.’

There’s no need to rush. He has someone who will smile beside him when he reaches the true ending.

‘I’m different from other protagonists.’

He won’t achieve great deeds only to die alone in loneliness. So now is the time to make thorough preparations.

No rush, take it slow.

***

Bang bang!

Late at night, someone knocked violently on the door of the Cologne Archdiocese.

“Archbishop! It’s an emergency! You must come out and see this!”

The archbishop rose from his bed at the priest’s urgent cry.

As soon as he got up, he saw the window as bright as day and guessed why the priest was acting this way.

The archbishop left his room and demanded an explanation from the priest.

According to the priest, the light descending from the sky appeared suddenly.

Without any warning, a huge pillar of light formed and light clusters fell from the sky like snow.

People were captivated by the dreamlike scenery. But among the priests, some could feel the holiness in that light.

“Archbishop. What kind of phenomenon is this…”

The archbishop placed the falling light on his fingertips like snow and said:

“Harry. Go to your room.”

“What?”

“Tomorrow’s morning mass will be canceled. I’ll be back by noon, so manage the priests until then.”

Sensing something unusual in the archbishop’s demeanor, the priest could only nod.

After sending the priest to his room, the archbishop contacted the Holy Knight Order.

“Captain. I don’t think explanations are necessary.”

Affirmation came from the other end of the phone.

“I’ll go ahead to catch the cause of this situation before it disappears.”

With those words, the captain ended the call.

The scene changes to the front of Nevil Pharmaceuticals.

A car made a sharp tire sound as it parked haphazardly.

The knight captain got out of the car and headed for the building.

When he arrived at his destination, he felt a holiness that one would only feel at a holy site. A true holy ground that no demon, devil, or ghost would dare approach.

Finding such a place outside the Vatican was extremely rare.

The problem was that at the center of this holy land was only the ruins of Nevil Pharmaceuticals, once the lord of this region.

While the knight captain was surprised that a Megacorp had disappeared overnight, he spotted a group of young men and women from the ruins.

The knight captain immediately became certain they were the protagonists of this whole situation.

Especially the woman at their center must have created this holy ground.

The special Divine Power emanating from her supported this.

There was no need to sense Divine Power. The halo and wings floating above her head were proof.

However, something was strange.

– “Amon! What do I do! It won’t disappear!”

– “What are you talking about!!”

The man called Amon was desperately trying to grab her halo and put it in her head.

Naturally, Amon’s hands just cut through the air futilely.

Only after a commotion did Sonia somehow manage to hide her halo and wings.

But it was already too late.

The knight captain approached her and knelt.

“Have you come, Angel! We’ve been waiting all this time!”

The knight captain suddenly approached and showed his crown.

Amon and Sonia were bewildered.

Amon questioned the knight captain who was kneeling on the ground.

“Angel? What do you mean?”

The captain thought Amon was some kind of servant or subordinate of Sonia.

If he were equal to an angel, he would have recognized him immediately.

The captain spoke with confident eyes:

“Did you not see the miracle?”

The captain politely pointed at Sonia.

Of course it wasn’t true, but Amon remained silent, thinking the captain would spill information on his own.

However, what came out of the knight captain’s mouth wasn’t information.

“Angel. Please give me a revelation…!”

Amon’s expression soured upon hearing this.

‘This bastard… just a nominal clergyman.’

A real clergyman would know that Sonia wasn’t an angel.

He probably just skimmed the Bible and thought she was something like an angel.

This wasn’t his only complaint.

The attitude of demanding as if something had been entrusted to him,

the attitude as if he thought he would be the protagonist of the Bible,

and that mouth discussing revelation were all contemptible.

Even his confident attitude suggesting all this was for his own fame was disgusting.

But setting all this aside, there was a bigger problem.

‘A priest who should serve God… swayed by lust…?’

Sticky desire could be felt in the knight captain’s eyes.

His pupils were scanning Sonia’s body.

To be swayed by lust while thinking oneself chosen…!

‘This is blasphemy.’

One who spreads God’s teachings being swayed by desire. There is no greater insult to God than that.

A Holy Knight chasing fame, swayed by greed, not accumulating knowledge…!

‘Fine, I didn’t like you from the beginning.’

Since hearing about the Vatican, a rage comparable to the flames of hell had been burning in Amon’s heart.

The reason he had remained quiet until now was because he lacked power. But that was now a thing of the past.

Amon’s hand moved toward his sword.

The knight captain, sensing an ominous killing intent from Amon, broke into a cold sweat.

What is this? A trial? Divine punishment?

Unable to think of resisting, the knight captain watched Amon’s movements.

The blade that thirsted for heretic blood shyly showed its face from the scabbard.

Fortunately, the brake in Amon’s conscience barely worked, and the blade disappeared back into the scabbard, which he gripped instead.

‘In lieu of a whip…’

At that moment, the archbishop arrived at the scene.

“Oh… Did you do this?”

The archbishop immediately saw through that Amon’s group were not angels.

At the archbishop’s appearance, Amon briefly used his death sight to check the knight captain’s lifespan.

‘Ah! Not today, I guess.’

Amon withdrew his sword and killing intent.

The knight captain breathed a sigh of relief.

The archbishop looked at them curiously, but when he saw Sonia’s face, his complexion turned pale.

“Y-you…!”

The archbishop, terrified at the sight of Sonia despite never meeting her before.

Ignoring the Divine Power emanating from her or the holiness of the sacred ground, he began looking for something else in her face.

Sonia’s face crumpled as she realized the meaning.

Whatever meaning he took from her crumpled face, the archbishop began casting holy magic in the air.

It was the same holy magic that Orobas had used to restrain her while mocking it as “Astaroth’s leash.”

The archbishop shouted at the knight captain.

“Why didn’t you recognize this? It’s Astaroth!”

The knight captain was also surprised and looked at Sonia’s face.

Then, as if confirming something, he reached for his weapon.

Sonia also reached for her gun in response.

However, Amon’s action was faster than her drawing the gun.

Swish.

With a sound like paper being cut, a silver sword path passed through the archbishop’s wrist.

The sword then cut the archbishop’s ankle.

The knight captain tried to move belatedly, but Kathy, who had foreseen this, had already alerted her companions.

The knight captain was subdued by Amon’s companions before he could even draw his weapon.

All this happened in one second, and belatedly, the archbishop’s wrist fell to the ground as he collapsed forward.

“Aaaah-! Demon…!”

Amon skipped even his usual recitation of verses and aimed for the archbishop’s neck.

But before his sword could behead the archbishop, a familiar voice was heard.

“Amon. Just a moment, please.”

Amon turned his head.

From the direction of the voice, the squinting priest was approaching.

‘Priest… no. Why is father-in-law in Europe?’

“Father Gregory! Please save me! These vicious demons!”

The filthy voice from the ground brought Amon out of his thoughts.

Amon turned his gaze from the archbishop and met the priest’s eyes.

“Why are you here?”

If by any chance he was following Vatican orders, cutting off his left arm might be acceptable.

Amon’s hand moved toward his sword again.

Seeing this, the priest spoke to Amon without even glancing at the archbishop.

“I came to Europe with Kathy from the beginning.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I’m not helpful in direct fights against demons. I might have been a burden, so I had to keep it secret.”

Amon nodded.

The archbishop, who vaguely sensed their relationship from the conversation, shouted at the top of his lungs.

About a priest who conspired with demons, about hell doing something.

After lightly kicking the noisy archbishop’s mouth, Amon focused on the priest again.

The priest’s atmosphere was a bit darker than usual.

He looked at Sonia with fearful eyes and then…

“Are you alright, Sonia?”

The priest worried about her with a slightly trembling voice.

Sonia turned her gaze away embarrassedly and answered in a small voice.

“I’m fine, Dad.”

“…!!!”

The priest’s mouth fell open.

He looked at Sonia as if he couldn’t believe it.

Sonia spoke in a slightly louder voice than before.

“I’m fine, so tell us why you’re here… Dad.”

The priest took off his glasses, wiped them, and looked at her again. I’m not sure why he wiped his glasses, but he did.

‘Wow, so his eyes can open.’

“Mmph-!”

Amon thought as he looked at the priest’s face.

While blocking the archbishop’s mouth with his shoe in case he ruined the atmosphere.

The priest, somehow pretending to be calm, answered Sonia’s question.

“There are several reasons. I was worried about your condition, and I came to exorcise the demon in the left arm after seeing this pillar of light…”

The priest glanced at the archbishop who was biting Amon’s shoe on the ground.

“And now that I’ve seen this person, I’d like to discuss his disposal.”

The priest spoke to Amon without noticing his crooked glasses.

“Amon. Beheading this person isn’t a good idea.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ah, there might be room for misunderstanding. I’m not saying you shouldn’t kill him. I’m saying beheading isn’t good.”

The priest’s voice lowered.

“You have things you want to do in the future, don’t you? This isn’t the end with just one person, so standing out already isn’t good.”

“Then what should we do with these guys?”

Amon pointed at the holy knight and priest sprawled on the ground.

The priest smiled slightly and rolled up his left sleeve.

“Today, one of the most vicious demons in the world came here. Fortunately, thanks to the sacrifice of the holy knight and archbishop, this demon is now sleeping here.”

“Ah. Then sadly, since the holy knight has been martyred, may I ask you to perform a funeral mass?”

The priest, suppressing his rising corners of his mouth, answered with a solemn expression.

“Gladly.”

*

After the funeral mass, the priest came out of the building, rotating his left arm free of bandages.

The priest took the wheel, and Amon sat in the passenger seat. On the way to the airport, Amon expressed his doubt.

“You’re more flexible than I thought?”

“I’ve told you many times. I don’t like the Vatican either. Why do you think I’m refusing even when they offer me the position of senior exorcist priest?”

“For someone who says that, you follow Vatican orders pretty well.”

The priest looked at Sonia sleeping in the back seat for a moment, then said with a sad smile:

“I couldn’t wander forever. It was my belated atonement.”

Amon nodded.

Suddenly, the priest returned to his usual demeanor and said:

“Ah, right. Just because all this is resolved doesn’t mean I want to leave the Vatican.”

“What?”

“From my experience when I was young… working as an exorcist individually sucks!”

“What???”

“You have to buy or prepare exorcism supplies yourself! You have to survive alone from ghosts or demons seeking revenge! You have to eat alone!”

“Isn’t the last one irrelevant?”

“And clients often try to skip payment after the job if you’re an individual!”

“Uh… Father Gregory?”

“So I tried working in a team at the Vatican. But even then, office politics made it suck!”

“Haha…”

“I’ve tried everything, but the exorcist world is full of crappy things. But this is my aptitude and I’ve invested my whole life in it, so there’s no other choice. So if it’s going to suck anyway, I chose to be a wandering priest who gets paid well and doesn’t have to deal with office politics.”

The priest’s sudden complaint.

Amon listened to his father-in-law’s grievances, though embarrassed.

“Amon. So I urge you, don’t become an exorcist.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t do it if I tell you not to.”

He had no intention to anyway.

When Amon nodded, the priest also nodded with satisfaction.

An awkward silence fell.

The silence continued until the priest spoke again.

“Amon.”

“Yes.”

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I could become a responsible adult.”

“You’ll have more responsibilities from now on.”

“Indeed.”

The priest’s hands gripped the steering wheel tightly.

The car headed to the airport in a pleasant silence.

A few minutes later, as all of Europe was buzzing about the Nevil Group incident, a plane leisurely headed for America.