Chapter 160: South China

I arrived at the church.

At first, I never mentioned Kanora Church and simply approached the pastor.

“Hello, Pastor.”

“Hm? A face I haven’t seen before. Who are you?”

“I’m a nun who fled from North China. Please take me in.”

“Ohhh. What a rare sight. Even in these chaotic times, such a virtuous nun appears.”

The pastor really finds virtue in the strangest things.

It’s you people who should be called virtuous.

“Hehehe. Is that so.”

“There are many nuns here. You can join them.”

Looking at him, this pastor seems rather dim-witted.

In fact, he was easier to deal with than I thought.

Just looking at my face, he must’ve thought I was trustworthy, as he easily allowed me to meet with the nuns.

Not even suspecting Kanora Church in the slightest—what a fool.

So, I managed to arrange a separate meeting with the nuns at night.

Before that, I gave some tasks to Ttaengchili and Pixie.

“Can you lock down the church tightly?”

“You mean, so I can brainwash them?”

“Yes. Just block them until I’m done brainwashing.”

“I’ll try. I’ll just keep watch.”

That’s good enough.

“Sisters, good evening. My name is Canola.”

“Sister Canola, good evening. But why call us at such a late hour…?”

“What about you, sisters?”

“There’s going to be another war here in China. We were praying to the Lord for peace.”

Praying to the Lord, huh?

I find that so foolish.

No matter how much you pray, wars don’t disappear.

History proves that.

If prayers could end war, there would’ve been no World Wars I and II, or any of the older wars before them.

And what was the result? Hundreds of millions died in those wars.

Of course, you could say the same about our Goddess Kanora.

—It’s different now.

Yes, now it’s different.

Our Goddess can wield power even in this world.

Which means I can turn these nuns into daughters of Kanora Church.

So I boldly declared:

“Hm. Even your Lord cannot make it happen.”

“What do you mean by that?”

The nuns frowned in displeasure.

Sure, that’s the usual reaction.

But that’s all.

They couldn’t overpower me.

Because I was already radiating the wings of an angel.

They were overwhelmed, unable to assert their Lord against my presence.

“Only Kanora Church can do it. Only Goddess Kanora can save the suffering people of China from this brutal war.”

“A-Ah, what are you… Kanora? Isn’t that a cult?”

Hey now.

Calling it a cult—how sad.

Our Goddess is far more powerful than your Lord. Isn’t She the true god?

“Cult? That’s harsh. And look—this ‘cult’ is right next door in Korea, isn’t it?”

“P-Pastor!”

Pastor or not, it didn’t matter here.

Ttaengchili and Pixie had already blocked the place.

With their abilities, no one else would be able to come in.

“We’re guarding this place completely. So, I suggest you don’t try to run.”

“A-Aaaah…”

Slowly.

Very slowly, I approached the nuns.

Leaving them no choice.

Their only correct answer was to join Kanora Church.

“Our Goddess Kanora has grown far stronger. Not enough to brainwash an entire city—that would still require help from the revolutionary leader—but…”

“What are you doing…?”

“For people like you, it’s possible. Like this.”

I grabbed one of the nuns.

In an instant, I reaped her soul with a sickle.

Then I kneaded that soul with my hands, mixing in fragments of souls that our Goddess had devoured.

It was like stirring the contents of a skull—perfect for brainwashing.

Then I shoved the reconstructed soul back inside.

“Aaaah, why didn’t I know this before? Only Goddess Kanora is our true salvation!”

Our Goddess’s will merged with this nameless nun’s soul, turning her into a perfect believer.

I don’t know the exact mechanics of brainwashing, but it works fine.

And so, I would gradually expand our numbers.

“W-What are you doing?!”

One nun collapsed on the spot and wet herself—there was already a puddle on the floor.

Wetting herself at that age?

Tsk.

Her parents would be so ashamed.

“Hehehe. You’ll be next. Now, dear new follower, what’s your name?”

“Yes, Holy Maiden. My name is Mary. I came from England, but now I’m only a daughter of Goddess Kanora—my origin no longer matters.”

So the newly brainwashed nun is Mary, huh?

Nice ring to it.

“Hehehe. Why not create true sisters while we’re at it? Lead the others, and bring them into the embrace of Goddess Kanora.”

“Yes.”

Mary had now become a host, brainwashing others.

Black liquid began pouring from her mouth, pooling on the floor before surging forward and swallowing the other nuns.

“W-Wait! Don’t come any closer! Mmmph! Mmmph!”

“W-What is this? What’s happening?! Is this… a monster?!”

“…Ttaengchili, aren’t you supposed to manage this better?”

I noticed a Hunter dozing off in a corner of the church.

I casually swung my mace at him.

Crack!

After subduing the remaining Chinese hunters, there was no one left to protect the nuns.

Under the influence of the brainwashed nun Mary, their once pure souls were slowly corrupted, like clear water turning into sewage.

With this, our dear nuns had become faithful sisters of the Kanora Church.

Of course, they had also become daughters of our goddess Kanora — that goes without saying.

Now, I had laid the foundation to spread Kanora Church here in Nanjing.

— I’m satisfied.

“Well then, let’s hand over a statue of the goddess to the newly converted nuns and observe them.”

Let’s see how diligently our nuns will work.

***

The pastor of Nanjing’s Central Hunter Church stopped by after his early morning walk.

“With the new nuns, the church will prosper. If only this war would end…”

The newly arrived nun named Canola was strikingly beautiful.

She looked familiar, but nothing specific came to mind — probably just someone he passed by before.

But then, a strange scene unfolded before his eyes.

At the far end of the church stood something bizarre he hadn’t seen before: a strange statue of a woman, unknown until now.

It looked like a goddess, but he had never seen such a statue in his life.

“Huh? What is this goddess statue? Huh?”

“This is the statue of our great Mother.”

As he stood confused, the nuns appeared.

“Mother? What are you talking about? Wait… isn’t this the Kanora goddess statue I saw online? Why is it here?”

“What’s wrong with our Mother’s statue? Why are you speaking like that, Pastor?”

“Yeah, Pastor. Who are you to say such things about our Mother?”

Only then did the pastor realize the situation.

The nun who arrived yesterday — she seemed familiar because he had often seen her on TV and the internet.

No way, he thought.

But… no way.

Could this really be her plan?

“Don’t tell me… that nun from yesterday…”

“Ah, and our angel is great too. She’s our Mother’s first daughter and led us here.”

“What… wait, are you saying that nun is part of a cult?”

He had heard about this Kanora Goddess cult.

But he never imagined it would reach here.

Facing an unthinkable reality, the pastor gulped.

Because the nuns’ eyes looked strange.

They had the gaze of beasts staring at prey.

Or rather, they looked like children glaring at someone who insulted their parent.

Terrified by their expressions, the pastor swallowed nervously.

“Our new Mother is not a cult! Take back those words!”

“You’re wrong! Wake up!”

Though their state was strange, they didn’t back down.

If only the pastor hadn’t said that one word — if only he hadn’t called it wrong — he might have lived.

But the words were already out.

The result was gruesome.

The nuns had no intention of letting the man who insulted their Mother live.

“Unforgivable. Unforgivable. We can’t forgive someone who insulted our Mother!”

“A child who hears their Mother insulted must take revenge!”

“Pastor, please die and be reborn for our Mother!”

The nuns raised their maces high.

And then they brought them down.

CRACK! CRUNCH! CRACK!

“Ah, Mother, we have crushed the head of the one who defiled you.”

“We offer this wretched soul to you.”

The sight of the nuns offering the pastor’s soul was utterly grotesque.

His brutalized corpse began to turn to dust, leaving only his soul behind.

Though it resembled the pastor, the soul seemed bound by something and was dragged into the goddess statue.

— S-save me! Aaaaaaaargh!

As even his soul was devoured, the face of the nun who had followed the pastor twisted in horror.

But sadly, there was no one here on her side.

And finally, our nuns approached the nun who had accompanied the pastor.

“A-ah, ugh, ugh… I… I killed someone… What is this…?”

“Ah, you must be our new daughter.”

“Though this man sinned, you, sister, can still become our true sibling.”

“Kyaaaaaaaah!”

And thus, another nun was added to Kanora’s fold.

Or rather, I should say — another daughter was born.

Watching from afar, I smirked coldly.

Well, of course.

This was incredible.

***

Our new daughters of Kanora were doing excellent work.

“Wow, they’re really doing the job properly.”

“Isn’t this real madness? Isn’t this dangerous?”

At a glance, yes — it’s dangerous.

Very dangerous.

But that’s all it is.

Our goddess Kanora is our Mother.

She’s the one true god of this world, granting buffs to all her children.

“Sometimes, I think people have the right to go mad.”

“This isn’t just madness anymore.”

True.

These girls are madly in love with their Mother — our goddess Kanora.

Our new daughters perfectly brainwashed the nun who followed the pastor and made her one of their own.

One by one, two by two, three and four — soon, the Nanjing Church would completely become Kanora’s church.

“Well, whatever. Let’s just move on. That’s how the world works, after all.”

“Tch. Still, they were innocent people…”

Innocent people?

Them?

No way.

How could someone who insulted our goddess be innocent?

That’s trash.

Scum who dared to disgrace our Mother.

Soon, many more like them will join us — becoming children of our goddess.