episode_0052

*

I was standing in a pure white space.

There was no visible horizon, and it was impossible to tell where the ground began and the ceiling ended. Wherever I looked, it shone brightly, as if flooded with an intensely dazzling light.

I was standing alone in the middle of that room, and a large image of the Goddess was standing before me.

Her entire body was bound in rusty iron chains, her beautiful wings were mercilessly torn off, and she was pouring out boiling blood.

It was the same figure I had once seen in a dream.

So, am I still dreaming?

No, that’s too naive a thought.

I definitely threw myself into the sea with the monsters.

Perhaps I died and arrived before the Goddess.

It was too barren to call it Heaven, but somehow an inexplicable peace seemed to overflow in my heart, so I could accept it in my own way.

A guy like me can come to Heaven too.

“…”

I knelt before the seemingly suffering Goddess and asked politely with my head bowed.

“Who dared to do this to you?”

The Goddess did not answer.

Or rather, she seemed unable to answer.

I was greatly shocked.

If the Goddess has become so weak now, with the world being destroyed by monsters and demons trying to make the world their new playground, who will save the world?

I slowly rose from my spot and approached the Goddess.

“May I dare to untie these chains wrapped around your body?”

Still, no answer came.

However, I slowly reached out both hands towards the Goddess’s body.

The doctrinal book said that the body of God cannot be dared by humans, so even touching a fragment of that body would burn the soul.

Perhaps, touching the Goddess’s body to untie these chains might be an impudent act beyond my station.

However, I didn’t care.

I was already a dead man, a soul that had left behind the nuns I had to protect.

I had failed to fulfill my mission, so what could I begrudge my soul if it was to help the Goddess?

Because I became a cleric, I was able to grow up and become an adult without starving, and I was able to become a decent person without shame.

In a world that was already a mess even before the monsters appeared, I was lucky.

No, it wasn’t luck, but the Goddess had taken me in with her grace.

I wouldn’t mind giving ten of my lives as repayment for that grace.

Having made up my mind, I grabbed the chains wrapped around the Goddess’s body.

That’s when it happened.

“Stop it, you foolish one.”

Before the chains touched my fingertips, my body was thrown back violently.

I flew back for a long time and collapsed in the pure white space, sprawling on the floor, but strangely, there was no pain.

Slowly getting up and lifting my head, the Goddess’s figure was far away, and I could see something transparent moving heavily beside the Goddess.

At that moment, the voice I had heard a moment ago began to be heard again.

It was a resounding voice of a heroine that seemed to shake the whole world.

“How dare a mere human soul touch the body of the Goddess?”

I was so surprised by the loud voice that I opened my eyes wide.

Looking closely, what was next to the Goddess was a huge foot.

It wasn’t transparent, it was just that it was hard to see because it was pure white like the room.

Slowly lifting my head, a pure white pillar-like thing soared endlessly upward.

Only then could I realize who this voice belonged to.

Lightning of the Goddess.

A giant angel guarding the Goddess.

The vanguard fighting against Satan and the ultimate teacher of all Exorcist Priests.

Her height was so great that even if a human walked for 500 years, they would not be able to walk it all.

“Sandalphon…”

“Lower your head again, it’s shameful.”

The resounding voice said in a playful tone.

I quickly lowered my head.

That’s because this pure white room itself was her body and clothes.

In other words, I was standing under her skirt.

I lowered my head and bowed my back, saying,

“Glory to the archangel Sandalphon-nim, my sunbae and teacher.”

“Enough with the formalities.”

The world shook greatly, and a woman’s figure appeared beside the Goddess.

A woman in silver-white armor, fluttering pale blonde hair.

Sandalphon’s figure had personally appeared at my eye level.

Even though the size was reduced to fit a human, it was still taller than the combined height of two ordinary men.

As I lowered my head, unable to dare to meet her gaze, she quickly approached me, grabbed my chin with her fingertips, and lightly lifted it.

“I apologize for kicking you, I didn’t want to see your soul burn.”

“Ah… I couldn’t just watch the Goddess suffer. I apologize for my presumptuous behavior.”

“How could I not know your intentions? Don’t take it to heart. However, even I can’t touch those chains, so don’t harm your soul with futile efforts.”

Sandalphon is known to be the strongest among angels.

The reason she is considered the teacher of Exorcist Priests is also because her main role is to defeat demons.

Even she can’t touch it, so what on earth happened to the Goddess?

I slowly asked her.

“What are those chains?”

She replied in a cool tone.

“I don’t know. I don’t even know who harmed her. However, I naturally think it was the work of demons.”

“… Demons.”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

She crossed her arms and continued.

“Who benefited from the destruction of the world? Who could have known and targeted the gap when I advanced into the heart of Hell to subdue the demons? Who could dare to defile the Goddess’s wings?”

“…”

She slowly said in a low voice.

Unlike the cool and gentle tone at first, this time it was a very fierce and aggressive tone.

“Father Theodore.”

“Just say one word, and I will listen.”

“You communicated with the demons of Hell and corrupted the nuns you were supposed to protect into demons.”

“…!”

I lowered my head.

“I cannot make excuses. My lack of virtue and shortcomings led to such a result, so if you give me a punishment, I will gladly accept it.”

“Yes, you must be punished.”

She slowly placed her hand on my shoulder.

At that moment, a burning pain spread from my shoulder to my whole body.

It was like lightning striking inside my body.

I gritted my teeth and endured it, but eventually knelt down on one knee and slumped to the floor.

As she slowly removed her hand from my shoulder, a jet-black burn mark in the shape of her hand remained on my shoulder.

“Ugh,”

“Hmm, it suits you well.”

“What… do you mean…”

She crossed her arms again and grinned.

“The Lightning of the Goddess personally strikes you with lightning, so receive it and become an iron hammer that strikes down demons.”

“Does that mean…”

“I must protect the Goddess. While waiting for the Goddess to recover, to prevent evil things from attacking again.”

“…”

“I give you a mission, you must fight against demons for the rest of your life, and even after you lose your body. That is your punishment.”

She helped me up and slapped my back, saying.

“Are you going to leave the nuns who have become demons as they are?”

“…!”

I shook my head.

“No.”

“That’s my junior.”

She slowly raised her arm and pointed to the right.

“After walking for a while and getting out of my skirt, you will return to your body on Earth.”

“… Am I not dead?”

“A demon has restored your body in a wicked way.”

“… Kunat did?”

“At the same time, he also engraved a wicked spell on your body to make you obey the demon’s orders.”

“… That bastard?”

“But such a spell has been burned away by my lightning just now, so there is nothing to worry about.”

“Thank you.”

“Now, go. As you can see, the Goddess is not able to take care of the Earth right now. That’s why you and the remaining priests must drive out the demons from this Earth and maintain it.”

“If we fail… what will happen?”

She laughed heartily.

“The Goddess will recover later. Instead, you will all be punished directly by me.”

“… I will keep that in mind.”

“Okay, then, go now, and help the nuns who have become demons not to fall further.”

“…”

“…? What are you doing without going?”

I felt something was off.

It was as if I had heard something important, but I hadn’t noticed it yet.

After thinking for a while, I finally realized the identity of that discomfort.

“Just, wait a moment… May I ask you just one thing?”

“What is it?”

“The nuns who have become demons, you said ‘nuns’?”

*

As Kunat said, the demons’ attack had begun.

Just as he said that the attack would begin at night, various strange phenomena began to occur in the Monastery at the same time as the sun set.

Worms that I had never seen before crawled out on the floor, and a smell like rotting meat vibrated everywhere.

Chilling laughter and sharp flapping sounds filled the air, and everything that met the eye began to twist bizarrely.

Sola was holed up deep inside the prayer room, praying with her hands clasped together.

Sola, who was just an ordinary girl with no power, had no choice but to hide in the prayer room, which was full of the most sacred energy in the Monastery, and wait for morning to come.

However, Sola’s prayer, who was an unfaithful delinquent Nun in the first place, was unlikely to reach Heaven.

The demonic touch that was engulfing the Monastery finally began to reach the prayer room.

“…!”

Sola, who was kneeling on the floor of the prayer room with her head bowed as if burying it in the ground, was startled and closed her mouth at the sound of knocking on the door of the prayer room.

As the trembling voice of prayer stopped, the prayer room began to be filled with uneasy silence.

Sola recognized the ominous presence emanating from the entrance of the prayer room and began to sweat cold.

Although she didn’t have the courage to turn around, she could clearly feel that something unknown was definitely watching her.

After a while, as a sharp, knife-like laughter was heard, Sola’s back was soaked with cold sweat.

Sola began to recite the prayer again, almost whispering.

It was a prayer that the Father usually recited, but because it was boring, she always listened to it carelessly and didn’t remember it properly.

As if mocking Sola’s feeble prayer, which was progressing intermittently, the chilling laughter grew louder and more bizarre.

Sola was terrified and desperately recited the prayer.

If I had known this would happen, I would have listened to the Father’s prayers more diligently.

But it was no use regretting it now.

Sola almost created a new prayer and blurted out anything.

Now, the prayer coming out of Sola’s mouth was nothing more than a desperate plea for life, punctuated by half an apology and the other half a plea.

The laughter only grew louder as Sola’s prayer became corrupted.

She squeezed her eyes so tightly that she almost had cramps in the muscles on both sides of her eyes.

At that moment, the laughter that had been constantly heard suddenly stopped.

An unnatural silence filled the prayer room, as if an orchestra that had been performing had stopped playing before the song was over.

Sola’s small murmur also gradually subsided, perhaps because of that sense of incongruity.

Sola felt her breathing quicken with suffocating tension.

If you’re going to hurt me, just hurry up and do it, why are you making me suffer like this?

Maybe the prayer was really effective and the demon finally gave up and went away.

Sola slowly opened her tightly closed eyes.

The cold wooden floor looked ordinary as usual.

Sola very carefully raised her head.

Perhaps because she had been lying down for so long, her waist was stiff as if it had hardened.

When she raised her head, a large statue of the Goddess was placed in front of her.

A statue of a beautiful Goddess carved out of pure white marble with her wings spread wide.

It was a statue of the Goddess that even Sola, who had only lived on the island her whole life, had never seen before.

In the first place, such an expensive-looking thing couldn’t have been in the Monastery.

Sola murmured in a trembling voice.

“… Goddess… nim?”

Did the Goddess hear my prayer?

Just as Sola was about to sigh in relief.

The statue of the Goddess moved with a great roar.

“… Heok,”

Sola was so surprised that she couldn’t move and froze in place.

The statue of the Goddess slowly turned her body and lowered her head towards Sola.

Then, she raised the corners of her mouth bizarrely and began to laugh.

It was the chilling laughter that had been heard continuously while her eyes were closed.

“Ah… ah ah,”

A demon in the form of a Goddess.

It was a blasphemy that was shocking even to Sola, who had no faith whatsoever.

The eyes of the statue of the Goddess widened greatly and slowly began to shed jet-black tears like mud.

The wings opened strangely and swelled up greatly.

Between the cracking marble, it could be seen that dark red flesh was writhing.

“Uh… ah ah,”

The wings swallowed Sola’s body as if enveloping her. .