The room was large, like a concourse, and flooded with light.

There was a statue of the god Solar, not as large as the one in the prayer hall, but still quite large.

“Wow, this is like an emperor’s throne.”

The old lady’s words were true, and I wondered if this was what the emperor’s throne looked like in real life.

An ornate chair at the foot of the statue. A staircase underneath the chair.

It was a structure that would force anyone to look up.

“What’s going on?”

The High Priest sat stiffly in his chair, reading a book.

He doesn’t even look up when we enter.

“I asked what’s going on…….”

When we reached the stairs below the podium.

The High Priest finally turned his gaze from his book to us.

“Old lady, how about this? Are you going to be okay?”

“Of course, I’ll be fine.”

She replied confidently.

I stepped forward from hiding behind the priest.

It was at that moment that I made eye contact with the high priest, who was opening his narrow eyes.

“……, Lionel, I think you owe me an explanation for this situation.”

So the priest’s name was Lionel.

The high priest raises an eyebrow, then narrows it.

I can tell he’s wary of me.

“Well. I don’t know what to do now, child.”

The old woman turns and whispers to me.

“Wait. I’ll talk to him.”

I moved slowly to the front of the stairs.

“Come down, High Priest.”

“……ha?”

“I can’t be bothered to go up, so come down.”

I lifted my chin and gave him my best arrogant look.

Behind me, I heard the old lady click her tongue as she said, ‘Oh, damn it……..’

The High Priest pushed himself up from his chair, closing his thick book.

“Your Excellency, it is unseemly for you to appear like this. Have you forgotten the oracle wherein you destroy the Empire?”

He slowly stepped down from the dais.

Leaving two steps behind him, he crossed his arms in front of me, a smirk on his face.

“What trick did you play on Lionel?”

With that, the High Priest turned his attention to the priest standing behind me.

“Are you curious? I wonder if you’ve heard anything about me after making all this mess up, High Priest.”

“…….”

“Why do you have that look on your face like you know nothing?”

“…….”

“I came here knowing everything.”

There was a sharp exchange of words between me and the High Priest.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Are you a follower of Eden?”

The High Priest’s pupils flickered slightly.

Of course.

A follower of Omen and the Queen.

He’s not the High Priest of Solar.

“You shouldn’t be so surprised. I told you, I knew everything.”

“You…… who are you?”

“Everyone must be clueless about my identity like dead spirits clinging to me.”

This guy, that guy, why are they asking me who I am?

I swept my gaze across the hall with a relaxed expression.

“You can tell me right now that I’m wrong, and I’ll leave you alone.”

A stunned silence descended on the room.

The High Priest was busy racking his brain.

I whispered quietly so he couldn’t hear me.

“Old lady, can you read his mind?

[……She’s asking for everything, anything.]

She grumbles but uses her power.

It’s powerful enough that I can feel her energy swirling inside me.

[Hmm, it’s coming.]

Coming? What is coming?

[…….]

Old lady, what’s coming?

She closed her mouth, saying only that it was coming.

When I turned my head to look at her, she was smiling with the priest’s face.

‘Old lady, you’re not leaving, are you? Answer me.’

[Don’t talk nonsense, child, avoid it].

Avoid it?

“What can I say, I don’t think I can grant Your Excellency’s request.”

The High Priest resumed his easy smile.

“If you come out like this, I’m in trouble.”

The High Priest’s eyes turned from their normal brown color to red.

‘This is…….’

The same color as Omen’s.

An unpleasantly foul blood color.

The High Priest’s narrowed eyes widen, and a tremendous energy squeezes the air out of my lungs.

“Ack……! If you’re going to tell me, tell me properly!”

Trusting in the old lady, I let my guard down and narrowly avoid the red mass.

Smoke, shaped like a snake, slithers around me.

“If I hadn’t held the bell, I would have died!”

“Child, is that all it would take to kill you?”

The old woman spoke with the voice of a priest.

The high priest’s eyes widened.

“What have you done to Lionel?”

His words were spoken with some interest, curiosity, and wariness.

“You don’t have to know, do you?”

This is how it goes.

I let the energy I’d been holding back flow.

Apparently, the old lady was right when she said she’d come back with more energy.

I could feel a more powerful energy stirring in my body.

“He said you were a strange person, and he was right.”

The High Priest bared his white teeth and smiled.

He looks just like Omen.

“You don’t have to tell me who ‘he’ is for me to know.”

What a resemblance.

“If you’re following him, I can see your choice.”

I lifted my silver eyes to meet the High Priest’s.

His red eyes meet mine in the air.

He started first.

The High Priest bathed the room in a red glow, exuding a tremendous sense of authority.

“At this point, I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to deal with you nicely.”

“……F*ck.”

The man spat out a gout of energy that took the shape of a pointed arrow and flew at me.

It also flew at the old woman in Lionel’s shell.

[Do I really have to chit-chat with such a low-life here!]

“Who’s having a chit-chat with you?!”

I yelled back at the old lady.

The bell jingled once, and the flying arrow turned to red smoke and scattered.

“You dare to use Eden’s power…….”

The High Priest’s mouth twisted abnormally.

As the attack faded into nothingness, he looked like a man who was terribly thrilled.

“I will kill you, as per our agreement, and send the Grand Duke with you so you won’t be lonely on your way.”

The High Priest’s eyes now showed more whites than pupils.

It was a good thing I couldn’t see much of his red eyes.

‘Because that’s really offensive to me.’

The red smoke that had scattered earlier gathered again.

This time it turned into several arrows, flying at once.

‘No!’

Faster, louder, more.

Can it be stopped or not? I don’t have time to gauge that.

I raise my arms straight up and squeeze my eyes shut.

Kwang!

The energy from a moment ago collides with the bell, sending it bouncing in all directions.

“Argh!”

Unable to overcome the recoil, I fell backward.

“Hey, won’t you do it right?”

“Aw, it hurts…….”

The arrow didn’t wound me.

It just bounced off and came flying at me once again.

“You run like a rat!”

The High Priest spread his arms wide in an even more exaggerated gesture.

The red arrows doubled, then quadrupled, then raised eightfold.

Their number increased rapidly until they filled the air.

‘Isn’t this…too many?’

All those arrows fly toward me,

I stayed down and squeezed my eyes shut.

The last thing I saw was an acrobatic shower of red arrows.

“Damn it, can I stop them?’

My body was already feeling this much strain from the attack earlier.

I hear the sound of red arrows cutting through the wind.

Swish!

The sound is getting closer very quickly.

Kwang!

The sound of something hitting something, popping.

And the pain I can’t feel.

I opened my eyes, barely able to breathe under the pressure.

Standing in front of me is none other than Lionel— no, the old lady.

Pure white priestly robes fluttered and swished.

“You must look up, or you’ll look ridiculous.”

“Old lady, are you all right?”

The red arrow didn’t disappear.

It just stood still in front of her.

“What’s not alright about this?”

With that, she raised her right hand.

The arrow reacted to her hand and changed direction.

“O, old lady!”

“Watch this, little one. You’ll have to learn to use it.”

The flow of air changes.

A blue glow slowly surrounds the red arrow.

Eventually, the arrow turned completely around.

To the High Priest.

“Lionel, have you become a traitor?”

“You still don’t understand the situation.”

I saw bewilderment flicker in the High Priest’s eyes.

“What kind of power is this!”

The High Priest shouted.

The arrow flew toward him at high speed.

Kwang!

There was a loud boom that was incomparably louder than before.

The force of the arrow sent him flying and his body crashed into the statue.

The impact caused the beautiful statue to crumble.

“I, is he dead?”

I picked myself up off the ground.

I went to the old lady’s side, who was standing upright.

“Old lady, are you okay?”

She doesn’t answer.

“Old lady, are you okay!”

“……What’s there to be not okay with!”

“Why are you screaming and fussing!”

The old woman screamed.

Of course, it was a priest’s voice, so it was thick and low.

“Ha…… thank God.”

The high priest hid his aura so well.

I couldn’t even feel the snake’s aura, but his attack was powerful.

She didn’t say anything, but I could tell.

Her right hand was shaking.

“Old lady, are you sure you’re okay? If you’re hurt, where can we get treatment……,”

Kurr.

Be it movies, novels, or whatever. You shouldn’t raise the flag.

The moment you let your guard down, assuming he’s dead, you’ll be attacked again.

The remains of the fallen statue shifted.

“Lionel, how dare you betray Eden with impunity.”

The High Priest stood up, like a lie.

Through the acrid dust and heavy stone.