CHAPTER 22 - WHO WANTS TO GET BEATEN UP INSIDE A CHURCH?

Luckily for us both, the next day is a holiday so we don’t have summer classes or cat-maid jobs. Yufa’s schedule is also free from anything, so she put up a schedule for us to meet in the park. Then, at nine in the morning, we decided to walk towards the uphill part of the suburbs.

I just realized that whenever I meet Yufa, she wears a completely different outfit that suits her. Right now, Yufa is wearing a green checkered shirt, brown jumper shorts, sneakers, and a mountaineer’s hat. I’ll be taking note of her Outfit Of The Day (OOTD) inside my brain from now on.

Ten minutes of walking have passed when we started to hike on the mountain trail. I noticed that the air is getting a little more chill than all the places we have been to. It’s cold maybe because there’s a lot of pine trees around us or the atmosphere is getting thinner because of higher altitude. Or maybe there’s some kind of divine force involved. We’re going to visit a church on top of this small mountain after all. It’s giving me the creeps.

Good thing Yufa’s humming made the atmosphere lighter. On the other hand, Lizzy is not even bothered about the air.

Fifteen minutes, and we finally arrived at the top. There is an arc that has “Cathedral Exa” on its name. After passing through that arc, there is a wide flat ground that has a large oval that is similar to those sprinting fields that are used in the Olympics. At the center of the oval is a mini garden full of colorful flowers. At the center of that garden, is a statue of a woman riding a dragon.

We walked around the oval and saw three establishments at the back. The first building on the left looks like a normal one-story office room, or maybe a laboratory. There’s air conditioning installed and I can see machine lights from the inside. 

The building on the distant right is a two-story establishment that looks like a dormitory mansion. I can see tables, seats, and blackboards on the first floor of that building, which might be used as a classroom. Among all the buildings, this one is the widest. I think there’s also a big royal hall inside that mansion.

The building at the center is a huge church that has a bell tower. The church looked old as if it was made in the medieval period. The foundation bricks have already been infested by moss. Out of all the three buildings, this looked out of place, as if it was neglected and abandoned.

“Welcome to Cathedral Exa~” Yufa Haruna cheerfully said as she approached the old church. “We’re here.”

Yufa slowly opened the gigantic wooden doors of the church. Lizzy and I were astounded when we saw the insides. It’s clean, unlike the outside. In fact, it looks like a regular church. The white tiles reflect anything above. There are expensive-looking chandeliers that light the surroundings. The colorful church windows give way for the sunlight to pass through. The red carpet welcomes our entrance.

At the far edge of the church is an altar. There, a middle-aged man with white hair flowing through the nape of his neck was waiting. He’s wearing a standard black priest robe and has these small round eyeglasses.

“Father, I have brought you the Archon and the Princess of Agartha.” Yufa Haruna briefly genuflected.

The priest stepped down the altar and started to approach us. The weird chill in the air got colder as the priest went closer. He turned to me with a smile on his face.

“Archon? Are you sure this isn’t your boyfriend?” The priest asked Yufa with a smirk.

“Geez, Father! Stop linking everybody with me!” Yufa pouted.

The priest chuckled for a moment and then turned to Lizzy. He immediately bowed afterward.

“It’s an honor to meet the Princess of Agartha here in the Cathedral Exa. My name is Father Hector Corsola, the overseer of this church.”

“Likewise.” Lizzy bowed a little. “I was surprised that there is a Cathedral Exa branch here in Ophir.”

“We have to expand and establish our branches. There is an incoming great battle after all, and the Oracle has seen it. Necross is coming.” The priest said.

“Worry not, your holiness. We are here to help. We will see to it that justice will be done.” Lizzy said. 

The priest turned to me once again with the same smile. I don’t feel any hostile aura from him, but there is this passive fear I’m getting from my gut. Maybe his appearance is so holy that a not-so-religious soul of mine is starting to burn.

“So this man is the successor of your Archonlight? Yufa is right. You have a peculiar situation in your hands. I have never encountered a person without royal blood that inherited the system that is bound to reprogram the universe.” The priest said.

“Let’s cut to the chase, your holiness.” Lizzy started to sound rude. “We agreed on joining the Cathedral Exa for one reason.”

“Ah yes. Yufa had told me. You want to have access to the Time-Space Warping Device. Unfortunately, I can’t let you use it.”

“What?” Lizzy exclaimed.

“I can’t have a fugitive like you teleporting around the continents and cosmos, can I?” The priest is still smiling, but his words contain threats. “I know that you are wanted for killing your father, the King of Agartha. The Cathedral Exa is mostly neutral, but we can’t have murderers doing whatever they like.”

“So the news has reached here, huh?” Lizzy bit her lip. “I didn’t do it. I did not kill my father.”

“I don’t think I can just believe in that.” The priest said as he turned his back and walked several steps away from us. “But, rules and morals can be bent with good justification. What about a story where the fugitive princess used force to break in and used the Time-Space Warping Device? What if the overseer of the Cathedral has been ‘defeated’ and was held hostage to do the fugitive’s bidding?”

There was a smile on Lizzy’s face.

“John, ready the Archonlight System.” She whispered to me. “The priest wanted to test our strength.”

I nodded in response. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. My right arm glowed blue circuits followed by a voice inside my head.

[Archonlight System Online]

[Battle Control Online]

Lizzy materialized her magical sword. The middle-aged priest just stood there, with arms on his back as if he’s not threatened. There’s even a smile on his face.

“Show me that you are capable, Princess and Archon!” The priest said.

My eyes went wide when I saw the priest’s statistics. So far, I haven’t seen anything that could top Lizzy’s parameters until I looked at the priest’s status. He’s on a whole new level!

[Enemy: Father Hector Corsola]

[Rank: S+++]

[Strength: S+++]

[Agility: S+++]

[Intelligence: S+++]

“Lizzy, be careful! His Rank is S+++!” I shouted out loud.

“W-What!? That can’t be! The highest Rank should be S+ only!” Lizzy cried. “Are you sure the Archonlight System is not glitching?”

I tapped my glowing right arm like how you tap a broken microwave, but nothing happened. The stats of the priest stayed the same.

“It’s not a glitch! I can even hear the boss battle music!” I cried.

All of a sudden, the priest assumed a bajiquan stance. He drew a semi-circle with his right foot, and then charged towards the princess with breakneck speed!