Early morning.
Inside the Nation of the Holy Church’s only small chapel in Norland. A wall in the prayer hall loudly collapsed.
“Restrain her left hand!”
“We can’t! Lady Messai, she’s too strong!”
The three sisters in the chapel were facing their god’s sculpture and praying. Even though they were clasping their hands together, their hands were still violently shivering. The reason for their shivering was because of what was happening on their side, a violent spectacle akin to a battle of strength between humans and beast.
Four fully armed templars were pinning a petite little girl on the ground. The little girl was struggling nonstop and letting out terrifying roars.
The girl’s roars sounded like a roar between wild beasts and demonesses. Her roars instantly covered up the three sisters’ prayers. Her roars were so ear-piercing that one would feel like one’s eardrums were being impaled by the roars.
On the girl’s forehead and arm were ghastly looking scars. The ground was covered in blood.
“Oh the Lord I serve, please listen to my prayers! Please show the way for this lost soul and bring her back to normal!”
Messai was one of the four templars pinning the little girl to the ground.
Normally, the templars would never point their blade at children and women. But, Messai, a veteran templar, was having three nearly 1.9m tall templars pin down a little girl to the ground. What they were doing was most definitely an act that would ruin the reputation the Ecclesiastical Templars had built up through the years.
But, what they were pinning on the ground was no child. She was an inquisitor from the Heresy Tribunal, someone capable of making countless heretrics terror-stricken at the mere mention!
There were a total of four inquisitors that came to Norland days ago. But, before they even began their mission, this inquisitor by the name of Cheryl had to sit out from the assassination of the Chaos Demon due to her body feeling unwell.
But, judging from how Messai was able to see the Chaos Demon in the tavern all these days, their mission had likely failed. Not only that, those three inquisitors were likely killed too.
But, strangely, Messai did not feel any anger like when her comrades were killed by demons on the battlefield. The reason for that was because... she was truly incapable of considering the inquisitors as humans!
The perfect example would be this little girl being pinned down by the three templars...
Messai couldn’t imagine that the person beneath the inquisitor’s black cloak would be such a young girl. Yet, her little body was bursting with power that ordinary people simply cannot match against.
Not even the three templars were able to restrain her.
The little girl was struggling to break free from the three templars’ restraint nonstop. The roars she was letting out from her mouth also far overstepped what a human’s voice should be.
Messai originally thought that the inquisitor was possessed by some sort of malicious spirit. Because of that, she has been using ‘Exorcism,’ a magic from the Holy Light system, on the inquisitor nonstop.
Unfortunately, Exorcism was completely ineffective. The little girl was not being possessed by anything. Both her soul and her body were undergoing some sort of aberration.
When Messai’s Exorcism failed again, the little girl’s petite body once again exploded with non-human strength. She sent two of the templars holding on her arms flying.
“Kent! Kalu!”
Messai watched on helplessly as her subordinates fell unconscious after being smashed into the prayer hall’s walls. Only her and another templar remained. They wouldn’t be able to suppress that monster anymore.
The little girl immediately escaped from Messai’s restraint and stood up.
“Run! Run away now!” Messai shouted at the three non-combatant nuns. The three nuns ran out of the prayer hall in fear. Only Messai and her remaining subordinate remained.
“Lady Messai... this... exactly what is that thing?”
The young templar looked at the little girl with disbelief. No matter what, he was a knight that had followed Messai into the battlefield. On the battlefield, he had beheaded many fierce demons. But, although it might sound unbelievable, he had never encountered any demon with strength comparable to... that little girl.
“I don’t know.”
Messai also wanted to know exactly what was standing before her. Messai’s third eye was telling her that the little girl wasn’t a demon or a malicious spirit. But, it was also telling her that she couldn’t possibly be a human.
However, there was one identity that Messai was certain of. This girl by the name of Cheryl was an inquisitor from the Heresy Tribunal.
“Choir! I’ve seen it before! When those people from the Heresy Tribunal starts losing their heads, only the choir’s singing voice is able to calm them down!”
His armor slightly caved in from the impact, one of the knight templars that was smashed onto the wall by the little girl forced himself up and shouted at Messai.
“Where would you find a choir in a chapel this small?!”
The other knight let out a near hysterical voice. The reason for that was because the little girl was rushing toward him.
Messai had also heard some rumors about the Heresy Tribunal before. This included the rumors that the inquisitors of the Heresy Tribunal needed to be baptised by the Holy City’s choir.
But, the choir and the Saintess Herolia were not people that anyone could meet in the Nation of the Holy Church. Messai only received the fortune to hear the sacred singing of the choir after she did great service in a battle.
While Messai was thinking of all that, the sound of a bell suddenly echoed in the prayer hall. A voice was reciting some sort of ancient litany.
Messai immediately turned around to look at the entrance. Her esteemed teacher Desireless was supporting himself with his crutch and slowly walking into the prayer hall. A great amount of light golden runes were revolving around him.
When the little girl heard the litany being recited by Desireless, she immediately grabbed her head and kneeled on the ground. A large amount of golden shackles formed with magic pierced into the little girl’s body. The shackles did not cause any harm to her body. But, those shackles rendered her unconscious. Just like that, she fell to the ground.
“Lord Archbishop!”
The three templars immediately straightened their bodies and saluted to Desireless after seeing how Desireless subdued that monster in an instant.
“Esteemed teacher...”
Messai also saluted Desireless who she has not seen in a long time like the other three templars. But, soon, a large amount of doubts filled her heart.
“She... why did she become this way?”
From the behavior and strength displayed by the little girl earlier, she seemed to no longer be a human. But, there must be some sort of thing that made her this way...
Could it be that all the inquisitors from the Heresy Tribunal are like her?
When Messai thought of that possibility, she immediately felt a chill all over her body. It was like there was something grabbing at her heart.
That shouldn’t be the power gifted by the Lord she believed in.
“Messai, ask no more. It’s for your good. Of course... that holds true for you all too. Let me bear the fault in this matter.”
Supporting himself with his crutch, Desireless walked over to the unconscious little girl. He extended his hand toward the little girl’s forehead. A golden rune changed into the shape of a blade.
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Translator YangWenli:
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