Chapter 180: Amaranth Monastery (4)

“Sinners don’t fall into hell! We can all be reborn! Sinners who truly wish to become new people! Follow us to the monastery!”

Andre was marching down the street, holding a large placard. Following him, monks dressed in white nodded or chanted slogans as they trailed behind.

“Sins can be washed away!”

“Repent! Repent!”

“Everyone can be reborn!”

People sighed at the familiar slogans or looked away, lighting cigarettes. A housewife out shopping in the market held her child’s hand tightly and said,

“If you don’t behave, I’ll send you to that man?”

The market was filled with the crying of frightened children and the proud faces of satisfied housewives. Thanks to the Amaranth monks confidently cutting through the housewives, the market was transforming into a space where cries and prayers intermingled, resembling a funeral.

A vendor who had set up a stall spat on the ground with a displeased expression, and a fishmonger shouted while sprinkling salt.

“Goddamn bastards! Why do you only show up at this hour to cause this shit when we’re trying to do business! Huh!”

“Ah! Lord! Forgive them for their sins! They do not know what they are doing! They threaten me, a messenger of God! Please forgive these ignorant souls who insult this sublime and holy act!”

The merchants, throwing things, were practically dying of anger. After completing his circuit of the market like this, Andre would head to the guards.

The captain of the guard, who was personally acquainted with Andre, allowed him to take away sinners whose identities were unclear or who couldn’t pay fines. Those taken away were thoroughly brainwashed under Andre’s tutelage and became new individuals who firmly believed in the teachings of the Amaranth Monastery.

Today too, Andre, with a satisfied expression, lowered his placard and was about to walk towards the captain of the guard.

“Director-nim. L-look over there!”

A monk trembled and pointed his finger. The shimmering filling the shade was definitely not heat haze.

From the other end of the street, people clad in shining armor could be seen approaching with grim expressions. The monks cast anxious glances at Andre, and Andre’s expression was also tense.

Andre knew what that armor was. That was the armor worn by the Holy Knights. A knight in heavy armor, helmet off, looked down at Andre.

“It’s been a while, Andre.”

Andre knew who this knight calling his name was. He was the young master of a family that supported Saint Alexander, and a prominent opponent of the rehabilitation program Andre had run at the church. It was no coincidence that the man who had driven Andre out of the church had come to this city.

“What business do you have with me?”

Andre asked the knight with a stiff face. The knight grinned and gestured. He found it amusing that a man once respected in the church had fallen into such charlatanry, and because he clearly sensed fear in Andre’s cautious movements.

“We received a report that you are impersonating the church to commit atrocities. I hear you torture people and force them to recite prayers? You hang innocent children, whose guilt or innocence is unknown, on a cartwheel, and inflict harsh torture until they confess their sins?”

“There seems to be some misunderstanding. I am not such a cruel and wicked person. I merely help people realize their sins through penance. Such acts…”

The knight cut off Andre’s words. As the knight waved his hand, a man with a pale face was dragged out from behind him. He showed signs of anxiety, biting his nails, and trembled violently, but as soon as he saw Andre, he hid behind the knights.

The knight said,

“Witness, speak.”

With a solemn tone, the man stepped forward again. He blinked and twisted his body, trying his best to stand straight. The knights patted his shoulder or nudged his knee with their feet, whispering.

“If you do this right, they’ll let you go. Right?”

“Y-yes, understood!”

With a loud shout that drowned out the whispers, the man snapped to attention. Andre frowned, trying hard to remember the man’s face. It was definitely the man he had tortured. It was definitely the man who had told him he repented and reflected before leaving the monastery.

Andre was shocked by the fact that the man had deceived him without admitting his sins.

He couldn’t believe this man was pointing fingers and accusing him, the one who gave him a chance to repent.

“Th-that guy! He did it! He insisted we confess sins we didn’t commit! And then he beat me with a whip, telling me to repent those sins again! He even gave me electric shocks with magic! And every time I messed up reciting prayers, he’d brace my body!”

Andre’s face turned pale. He couldn’t believe such an accusation had been made against him. The knight looked at Andre with a smirk and asked,

“This won’t do. With a witness like this. Andre. Where did the noble priest you once were go, that you’ve fallen into being a torturer?”

“Wh-why…!”

Andre shook his head and stepped back. The knight ordered his men to surround Andre. Andre looked around, checking the faces of the knights. Most of the knights here were supporters of Alexander.

Pathetic humans who maintained their positions as priests by licking Alexander’s toes. Filthy people who took the priest positions that should have been his, and now tried to tear down the monastery too.

Andre gritted his teeth and shouted.

“Why are you doing this to me! I was not wrong! It was always you guys who were wrong! My rehabilitation policy is not wrong!”

“What are you talking about, Andre. Your rehabilitation program failed. It failed utterly. Don’t you remember how the rich and nobles wormed their way into the program to get indulgences, and were mocked as ‘murder licenses’?”

The knight’s mocking laughter spread through the square like a plague. People cautiously backed away as the knights formed a formation and placed their hands on their hips. The merchants sighed and packed up their stalls, while the monks clung to Andre, watching nervously.

“So what are you guys doing after getting rid of the rehabilitation program! Everyone had the right to wash away their sins! But who are you absolving now! Do you even have the right to absolve sins? You filthy bastards! You are trash that defiles the church! You filthy bastards who turned the church into a pigsty! You will surely face judgment!”

The knight laughed once more upon hearing Andre’s threat. His appearance, shouting until saliva flew, felt like the petulance of a child throwing things because they didn’t get their way. His white beard, and the contrasting bloodshot eyes, the knight found it all hilarious.

“Yes. We will face judgment. But not today. Today, the one facing judgment is you.”

So the knight said, raising his hand. The knights were approaching to subdue the monks.

“Aaaaaaaargh!”

Andre screamed and reached his hands towards the sky. At the same time, a strange wind began to swirl around the entire square. The knight felt a suffocating pressure, as if a giant snake were constricting the square. An indescribable, strange energy was emanating from Andre’s body. It felt similar to divine power, but it was an intangible energy, definitely not divine power.

The knight shouted.

“What are you doing! Seize that crazy old man at once!”

“I am not a crazy old man!”

As Andre spread his arms to the sides, wing-like shapes momentarily appeared, blowing away all the knights. The knights who had charged with ropes and swords rolled on the ground with bewildered expressions. Andre reached his hands towards the sky and began to shout in an even louder voice.

“Ooooh! Lord! Grant strength to this old servant! Give me the chance to take revenge on those wicked sinners and lead them to a new life!”

A magic circle rose up. Within the white light, a snake-like figure appeared and coiled around his body. Andre’s eyes glowed white, and black wings sprouted from his back. The floor was stained with blood from the wings that burst through the skin of his back.

The knight shouted, his face panicked.

“A-a demon! A demon has appeared! Wh-what should we do? Should I, should I call for backup?”

The knight asked, looking around. The other knights were also retreating hesitantly, their faces agitated. Andre cried out, shedding tears of blood.

“I will have my revenge! I will strike you all down! I will open a new world myself! You say today isn’t the day of judgment? No! You’re wrong!”

As Andre swung his arm, the floor collapsed with a heavy sonic boom. It was as if a giant stood behind Andre, striking along with him, leaving a heavy trail of destruction following his trajectory.

“Uwaaaaaaak!”

“Aaaaaaaak!”

The knights who tried to stop Andre were crushed and sent flying by his punches.

Andre’s voice echoed high into the sky.

“The day of judgment has arrived!”