The Goddess of Darkness had many tricks up Her sleeves. Facing irreversible corruption and Wayne’s obvious ill intention, She sealed Her thoughts and put on a turtle-shell-like defense.

Wayne had invested most of his power into prying the shell open. If he succeeded, that part of the goddess’s thoughts would be his to mold. He might even gain knowledge and learn about the hidden history through Her thoughts.

The profit margin was so high that he could not give up.

Moreover, he had learned an open secret from Anastasia—gods could not enter the Chosen Land directly.

Be it the Goddess of Darkness, the other goddesses, or the goddesses’ subordinate gods, all of them could only descend through their thoughts rather than entering the Chosen Land directly. There were numerous ways for them to descend: through the Holy Maidens of the churches or those with a holy spirit constitution.

It was a foregone conclusion that the goddesses had once walked the Chosen Land freely and waged a war of faiths, sealing Thoggua, an ancient god’s vassal, in the Frozen Land while they were at it. For some unknown reason, though, they could not enter the world now.

Anastasia didn’t know the reason. She speculated that the Heavenly Father was involved since He had once unified the faiths of the Chosen Land.

It was only a speculation because angels of Heaven could not descend directly, either; instead, they had to enter the human world through reincarnation or with their thoughts.

Driven by curiosity, Wayne attacked the Goddess of Darkness’s thoughts with more fervor. He was curious about the past and wanted to learn the whole truth. He estimated that he would pry open the turtle shell in a month, thus making the Goddess of Darkness talk.

Back to the present, Wayne now brought Mona everywhere and refrained from getting his hands dirty as much as possible. Mona had her cross and the Sacred Lance of Heaven, and with her new evolution leading to rapid growth, she made for an excellent enforcer.

Wayne concluded that she would be able to take out the Lord of the Void if he were still alive, so as long as Lord Sanctuary was around that level of power, she would certainly win.

Seeing Wayne stroll over like he was here to enjoy the show, Harrington found him incredibly unreliable. He was about to say something when he realized that he didn’t even know these two’s names.

They were being all cryptic. Something had to be wrong.

Boom!!

A pillar of white light shot into the dark sky, the blinding radiance illuminating everything in the area as if it were daytime. Harrington gaped up at the angel who had two wings and wielded a sacred lance. The overwhelming holy power left him unable to string together a sentence.

“Angel...”

Gold-ranked clergy could usually forge a pair of small wings for themselves, starting down the path of angelic evolution. The wings were wings of pure energy. Only descending angels could create almost tangible wings with their pure, powerful Holy Light.

Just like the wings on Mona’s back.

Harrington remembered her impassive face, convinced that she was an angel who had descended to the human world. He had witnessed such a scene in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral—holding a sacred tome, the Archbishop had summoned an angel to descend through a vessel with the holy spirit constitution. The angel then had been aloof and expressionless, too, caring about nothing but demons.

“If she’s an angel, you...” Harrington came to a realization. “Your Excellency, you must be Archbishop Gunther from Saint Paul’s Cathedral. Forgive any offense I might have caused. I didn’t recognize you.”

“I’m not Gunther.”

“Are you truly investigators sent by His Holiness the Pope, from the Papal State?”

Harrington’s eyes lit up. Because he appeared to be from the Papal State, Wayne’s fickle behavior now seemed like a manifestation of his easygoing personality. The laziness now seemed exalted, marking Wayne as a savior of the world.

“Why don’t you make a bolder guess? Something greater than that.”

“But that would mean angels...”

“Why, do I not look like one?”

“...”

It’s not about looks. You’re just too expressive.

Harrington smiled awkwardly and didn’t go into the topic. He looked back up at Mona as she took down cultists with every thrust of her lance, taking down all enemies without meeting any worthy opponents.

Rumble!

From the makeshift chicken coop in the back of the Sanctuary Sect’s base, a massive tentacle rose from the ground. The spectacular and fearsome development would leave most people gaping in awe and shock.

It stood upright in the dark, thrusting toward the dark clouds as if it were going to reach outer space. Its sheer size would allow it to level the entire Ford in the blink of an eye.

Black, viscous grease covered the tentacle, exuding an indescribably repulsive odor that was vomit-inducing. The tentacle writhed and twisted, making low, rumbling noises.

Intangible disturbances spread, compressing the air until it was dense and heavy, heralding an irresistible catastrophe. Harrington was seized by an intense anxiety and fear.

Whoosh!

With a flash of white light, Mona threw the Sacred Lance of Heaven. The blazing sacred flames crackled and burned the tentacle to nothing almost in an instant, preventing it from emerging fully from underground.

That thing was incredibly weak to fire.

The underground section quieted after a piercing cry. The tentacle had died just as suddenly as it had emerged. While Harrington was still reeling from the fear, the tentacle was already burned down.

Intense shock and joy followed intense panic, stripping him of the ability to keep his expression under control. He stared at Wayne and made a series of strange gestures.

Those probably meant exclamations like ‘holy father of god’.

Mona summoned the lance back with a wave. Golden light poured out of her eyes as her thoughts infused her gaze, allowing her to see through the ground into the hastily constructed underground palace. Raising a hand, she cast a sword of judgment she had conjured with energy.

The moment the energy sword left her grip, the phantom of an angel emerged. With six faint wings of light, the angel held the sword of judgment with noble and dignified presence. Even a part of their energy left Harrington gulping.

So powerful!

Wayne agreed. Saint George lived up to his name as a dragonslayer and the Heavenly Father’s knight. An evolution guided by only a small volume of his blood had pushed Mona’s power to a new height. Fortunately, Wayne had a contract over her, or she would be on top of him instead.

Deep in the underground palace was a twisted divine statue that resembled the Lord of the Void. The moment the sword of judgment came down, the statue came alive all of a sudden.

Once it got a clear look at the angel wielding the sword, though, its awakening halted, allowing the sacred flames to burn it to nothing. Lord Sanctuary of the Sanctuary Sect had not chosen to preach to Mona, but instead opted for an escape under her threat, abandoning home.

The last time Wayne saw such a decisive evil god was the last time he saw one. He concluded that the evil god wasn’t a Gold-ranked mage. Only a legendary mage would act like this.

“That would mean that the other sects followed fallen legendary mages, too...”

“The fact that so many have gathered at once...”

He frowned, striding toward the headquarters of the Sanctuary Sect.

Mona descended from the sky, tucking her wings and following him, the pendant of the sacred lance resting on her chest. Since Wayne acquired the Oath Sword, the lance had been her weapon.

“Where are you going? Wait for me.” Harrington ran after them. When he reached the street, Mona was already starting the black sedan. He leaned toward the window and asked, “The Sanctuary Sect has been destroyed. What do I do now?”

“We’re in a hurry. This isn’t the time to speak.”

“But where are you going?”

“We’re in a hurry. This isn’t the time to speak.”

“At least tell me your names.”

“Seriously, we’re in a hurry. We’ll talk if we get a chance, for sure.”

“...”

The black sedan drove away, the headlights leaving neon trails in its wake, abandoning a speechless Harrington. If they could repeat the same nonsense excuse so many times, couldn’t Wayne have said two names?

Harrington shook his head. The way the Papal State did things was too advanced for him. After some consideration, he decided to return to the church to check who had remained unaffected by the evil god.

After taking two steps, he found himself surrounded by spectators. He broke into goosebumps, gulping at the curious eyes looking his way.

Finally, he understood why those two had been in a hurry.

“They’re too used to this...”

***

Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Downtown Dulin.

Archbishop Hodgson, the head of the cathedral and the top leader of the Church of Heavenly Father in the Republic of Erland, stood before the cross with an expressionless face. He was surrounded by a group of evil gods’ chattering voices, demanding to know why an angel had descended.

“Why has an angel descended? How should I know?”

Hodgson scowled, his eyes glinting with vicious light. The look was in stark contrast with his appearance as a kind, white-bearded old man. He was a war hawk among the church members and a warmonger who had personally brought about the division of the Republic of Erland. It made sense for there to be a ferocious heart under his kind appearance.

He was just a little too ferocious.

After the argument, Hodgson hurriedly cut off his connection with the Astral Plane with a look of shock. He produced a Sacred Tome of Golden Law with a wave and chanted the scripture of Golden Law to summon an angel.

The noises of combat and shouts resounded outside the church. Unfazed, Hodgson chanted in a low voice, summoning the angel contracted to him one second before the front door of the church was kicked down.

He got this!

“Hey, old man. Are you the Archbishop?”

“The Papal State sent us. You’re in trouble!”