BZZZZZZZZZZZT—!

Lightning crackled around Nevih as he kicked against the ground and shot toward me. His speed was so great that I could barely dodge his attack by pathetically rolling on the ground.

Hurriedly standing up again, I immediately brought my sword up to block his next strike.

"Fool!" He shouted as he met swords with me. "You fell for my trap!"

<[Lightning discharge]>

Pzzzzzzt—!

The red electricity that was revolving Nevih suddenly ran up his sword to try and crawl over to my sword and paralyze me like it did with Reiner mere minutes ago.

As the electricity was half-way to my exposed hand, I hurriedly let go of my sword and distanced myself from him. Seeing that Nevih was still recovering from using his move, I hurriedly shouted.

"Lyra! Come here now!"

But even after a few seconds of waiting, there was no response.

Veins bulged on my forehead as I spoke with utmost irritation. "Dammit! I know you're awake! Stop being lazy and help me already!"

|Fine...|

After muttering a tired sigh in my mind, Lyra appeared in the middle of the training ground. And when she did, she couldn't help but to look around with a confused gaze.

|Huh? You're fighting?|

"Yes! Now help me!" 

|I can't! I've used too much of my power. Do you want me to sleep for a thousand more years or something?|

"No, you don't need to fight. Just say something to the kid there."

Lyra turned around to stare at Nevih, who was staring back at her with a frightened gaze. She then muttered.

|A Hero...?|

Unable to hear Lyra mutter and mistaking it for something far, far worse, Nevih hurriedly knelt down with a pale face.

"Great General Lyra!" He exclaimed. "Forgive me for my insolence!" 

Lyra glanced at me as if to ask what was going on.

I answered her telepathically. ("He claimed to be the Hero of Storms, but that's not important right now. He seems to revere you a little bit too much, so just talk him out of fighting me.")

Nodding, Lyra turned her gaze back toward Nevih and spoke with a dignified voice. 

|O Hero of Storms, cease this farce immediately and sheath your sword, for you are standing before Celestial Great General Lyra Myrsky and her appointed heretic inquisitor - Theo— I mean Aryl Myrsky|

Unlike what I had expected, Nevih didn't cling to my or Lyra's legs to beg for forgiveness. Instead, he stood up again and looked at us with an unmistakable expression of pure rage on his face.

"Blasphemous! Heresy! Unforgivable! Daring to fool a Hero of Storms twice!"

"What—"

"Reports say that you can make anything out of Ash and Illusion magic, so this must be one of your tricks! But unluckily for you, I am the greatest devotee of Celestial Lyra and God Vihar! I know for a fact that our esteemed Great General would never stutter like that!"

|H- Hero of Storms! What are you saying in front of your Goddes—|

Nevih interrupted Lyra again by pointing his sword at me and shouting with utmost righteousness.

"Heathen! I shall display the generosity of a Hero. You will have 10 seconds of preparation before I begin slicing you to pieces and frying your insides!"

Looking at Lyra who was frantically trying to convince the Hero, and Nevih - the Hero in question ignoring her and glaring at me, I sighed and accessed [Alternate storage].

"Fine then!", I shouted as I took out a pistol. "I - the Inquisitor of Ashes and Lightning Aryl I, shall carry out Goddess Lyra's will—"

Bzzzzt—!

"—Through the barrel of a gun!"

<[Railgun]>

BANG—!

A [Railgun] was shot toward Nevih.

Caught off-guard by me attacking him before the 10 seconds was up, Nevih hurriedly dodged the shot and began rushing toward me.

'Tch, and here I thought that would work...'

Stopping my thoughts there, I calmed my breathing and took aim at Nevih once more.

'I don't have enough Mana so... normal shots it is.'

BANG—!

Unaware of the fact that I was shooting normal bullets that would simply bounce off his body with <D-> ranked durability and not [Railgun], Nevih rolled to the side to dodge again.

"Useless!" He shouted. "You can never hit me!"

Ignoring him, I took aim and fired my pistol.

"Hah! You think you can try to defeat a Hero with a mere gun?"

I brushed off his idiotic statement and pulled the trigger.

But of course, he dodged it rather easily. "A gun is a fitting weapon for a disgusting heathen indeed!"

I pulled the trigger again.

Thanks to him still mistaking my normal shots for [Railgun], it took him a few more seconds than it normally would for him to close up on me.

"Haha! This is your end now!" He shouted as he thrusted his sword toward me in a straight line.

Smirking, I dropped my gun and unsheathed my sword which was inside [Distorias].

<The third movement of [V - World splitter]: Contraction>

Instantly, Nevih's sword was crushed under the immense pressure of the expanding and collapsing blue membrane of Space mana.

"Wh- What!?" Nevih stared at the lump of metal that he used to call his 'sword' in disbelief. 

He then gritted his teeth in anger as he pointed his finger at me. "You coward! You said that you was going to use a gun! Why did you pull out a sword!?"

'Seriously? Who would even trust their enemy's words? And why is he doing this in the middle of a battle?'

Nevih had just lost his only weapon, but he didn't try to distance himself from me and instead stood on his spot and cursed at me. This was an extremely stupid thing to do in the middle of a fucking battle.

'...I should do Lyra a favor and teach him a lesson.'

"Hey! Are you even listening to m—"

Before he could finish his sentence, I tightened my grip on my sword and cut off the finger that was pointing at me.

Nevih alternated his gaze between my blood-stained sword and his hand with a blank look. After a while, he widened his eyes as he realized what had just happened and proceeded to fall to the ground and roll in pain.

"AHHHH! MY FINGER! IT HURTSS!!!"

'Are all Heroes except for Arthur pathetic like this?'

If so, then the world was very much doomed. However, I soon convinced myself that this Hero of Storms was just an exception; A very pathetic one, I had to admit.

'Somehow that makes me feel even worse.'

As I was contemplating how I should deal with this pathetic excuse of a Hero, however, I suddenly heard a voice coming from my side.

"That's enough."

Startled, I turned around only to see a middle-aged-looking man donning a gray robe embroidered with silky threads of red running down its length. On top of his head was a crown inlaid with the symbol of sharp gales, stormy waves, and red lightning.

'That symbol... isn't it the Church of Storms' symbol?'

Not just that, I could tell that the man was immensely powerful. He was <A> ranked at the very least.

Noticing my wary gaze, the man gave some sort of signal to Weizer who was sitting right beside him.

Scratching the back of his head, Weizer sighed. "Aryl, this is my good friend - Pontiff Lietas IX of the Church of Storms."

I widened my eyes in surprise. 

'The Pontiff of Storms? What's he doing here?'

I then glanced at Nevih, who were looking at the Pontiff with hopeful eyes.

'Now that I think about it... why would the Hero of Storms be here of all places?'

Seemingly aware of my confusion, the Pontiff gestured for me and Nevih to follow him. "Come with me. We shouldn't have our private discussion in front of these outsiders."

"Oi, am I an outsider?" Weizer suddenly spoke up. 

In response, Pontiff Lietas gave him a stiff smile. "O- Of course not my good friend Weizer haha! You're the one who allowed us to stay at your house after all."

"Great! Then follow me!" Weizer exclaimed as he walked toward the door.

But upon seeing Lietas' hesitance, he stopped in his track and chuckled. "Don't worry. I won't add this to this month's rent."

Hearing this, Lietas sighed and relief and shouted to me and Nevih. "Then let's go!"

I turned to briefly look at Lyra and gestured for her to follow me.

'Gotta have some sort of insurance when dealing with these zealots...'
...

Leaving Reiner, Celi, and the Orc behind in the training room, I went to an expensive-looking meeting room. Upon entering the room, I sat down on a chair with Lyra taking the seat right beside me.

Sitting opposite of me was Pontiff Lietas who was looking at Lyra with reverence in his eyes, and Nevih whose finger had just been reattached using a potion.

Weizer, meanwhile, merely stood in a corner with his arms crossed for whatever reasons.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, with Lyra shifting in her seat uncomfortably under the Pontiff's intense stare, and Nevih glaring at me with rage. 

Sensing the awkward atmosphere, Weizer coughed and exited the room. "I'm going to make some snacks. I'll be right back."

With Weizer now out of the room, Nevih shouted. "Pontiff Lietas! Please punish this heathen for heresy!"

Unlike what I had expected, Lietas didn't pull his weapons out and strike me with his <A> ranked power. Instead, he merely sipped his tea and spoke with a calm voice.

"And what exactly did the so-called 'heathen' do that warrants me to personally step in?"

"He nearly destroyed a town and assaulted a noble's estate using our Great General's appearance!"

Nevih then pointed at Lyra. "There it is, my proof! He can use Illusion and Ash magic to create things, and he faked our Great Genera—"

"That's enough, Nevih."

Hearing the Pontiff's imposing voice, Nevih could only shut his mouth and listen.

After a while, a sigh escaped Lietas' mouth. "Haaaah... look, she is not fake. The one who is right before you is our Great General, Lyra Myrsky."

Nevih immediately shouted in denial. "Pontiff! How can you be fooled so easily!? It's clearly an imitat—"

"Nevih, shut up."

After shutting up Nevih, Lietas turned toward Lyra with an apologetic gaze. "I'm sorry, o great Lyra Myrsky. This child has yet to know how to sense the Holy mana radiating from you."

Hearing Leitas' words, Nevih's face became pale. He was about to kneel down to beg for forgiveness when Lyra stopped him.

|Stop. I don't mind your earlier actions.|

("Of course you don't. You're not the one who has to fight that pathetic Hero while having next to no Mana.")

Lyra ignored my telepathic scowl and continued to stare at Nevih and Lietas, who had just revealed his true nature as a zealot.

"O Great Lyra! Your merciness knows no bound! To be able to tolerate the Hero's blasphemous actions, you're really better than Zeus' henchmen!"

"Y- Yes! I'm ashamed of having disrespected you earlier! Forgive me!"

|Yes, my child. I know that I'm merciful. Remember to give prayers to me daily.|

Lyra then continued to sprout more shit that made her sound like the lightbulb.

'Where did my Lyra go!?'

Seeing her acting all high and mighty like that, I had the urge to slap the back of her head to make her original personality come back.

'In fact, I'm going to do it now.'

BAM—!

|Ow! What was that for?|

While Lyra was looking at me with teary eyes, Lietas brought his hands together to pray for me. 

However, Nevih suddenly drew his sword and pointed it at me in rage. 

"HOW DARE YOU SULLY OUR CELESTIAL WITH YOUR DIRTY HAND—"

BAM—!

This time, it was the sound of Lietas slapping the back of Nevih's head.

"Nevih, stop."

Hearing Lietas' cold voice, Nevih's face turned pale.

"If you keep being hot-blooded like this, I'll have no choice but to take the Hero title away from you."

It didn't seem possible for Nevih's face to get any paler. And yet, it did anyways.

'It seems like I have misjudged Pontiff Lietas...', I thought. '...He isn't that much of a zealot—'

"You almost interfered with Goddess Lyra's judgment of a blasphemous heathen there! What would you have done if she had gotten mad at you?"

'Nope. He's a zealot alright.'

|W- Wait wait! No one's getting punished! Especially not the champion chosen by me!| Lyra said while giving me a grateful look. No doubt she was thanking me for hitting her earlier.

'What...? Is she a masochist? Or was Serolris not lying when she said that Lyra was arrogant?'

Whatever the case was, it was true that my perception of Lyra had changed... for better or worse.

Pausing my thoughts there, I focused on the situation again. However, I felt goosebumps all over my body when I finally registered Lietas' revering gaze on me.

"O champion of Great Lyra! Forgive me for my earlier insol—"

"Stop! You're creeping me out!"

After a few more back and forth, everything returned back to normal. Well... at least until Lyra said something out of the blue.

|By the way, you should stop sending your prayers to God Vihar.|

"Huh? Why?" Lietas looked at her with confused eyes.

Sighing, Lyra continued. |He's... dead. And I will become his replacement in a few years.|

"I see...", Lietas muttered. "...I will make sure to spread this new to our scattered brothers and sisters then, o Goddess Lyra."

|Scattered? Aren't they all in our basilica...? Now that I think about it, why are you and Nevih here in the first place?|

Lietas' face stiffened for a moment, and he tried to change the subject. However, upon seeing Lyra's serious face, he decided to just tell the truth.

"Forgive us, Goddess Lyra. Our main basilica has been lost..."

|Lost...? It's in what you Mortals call duchess Bytros' territory, are you sure that a duchess would sit still if someone waged war on her land, even if it was to capture our basilica?|

Lietas' ears turned red in embarrassment as he said his next words. "I'm ashamed to say this but... there was no war."

|...|

"You see, since our Church wasn't doing anything really profitable, the duchess sold the land that our basilica resided on to Dervit merchant company."

|I understand. If that's the case then we cannot do anything about it.| Lyra sighed.

'Huh? She's being more reasonable than I thought.'

After all, I had expected her to immediately tell me to recapture the basilica or something absurd like that. But who would have guessed that she knew that making her champion mess with a Grand duchess would do no good for everyone involved?

It was then that Lietas spoke up again. However, his voice was now shaking as if he was on the verge of bursting into tears.

"P- Please lead us to salvation, Goddess Lyra! We have nowhere to go but to stay with Weizer. But that greedy Warlock still thinks that he's a mere Necromancer, and he demands 5 Golds each month in return for providing us lodging in his mansion!"

'Isn't that how it works...? And it's cheap too, 5 Golds a month for living in a mansion like this.

However, it seemed that Lyra didn't have any concepts of renting either, as her eyes were wide open in surprise.

|Th- The servants of Storms have to pay money to stay!? Unforgivable!|

"That's right! Please smite him to smitheree—"

"I'm back! Did I miss something?"

As Lietas was about to finish his dangerous sentence, the door behind him suddenly opened, revealing Weizer who was wearing an apron and holding a tray of cookies in his hands.

Gulping a mouthful of saliva, Lietas stuttered. "N- Nothing! We were just having small talk!"

"Kuhahah!" Weizer laughed heartily. "To have a small talk with a Celestial! I admire you, Liet my friend."

'Bowing down to a Warlock like this when you're a fucking Pontiff... is this why the Church of Storms fell into obscurity?'

I was starting to regret having ever made a covenant with Lyra, just a little bit though.

However, it seemed as if Lyra knew what I was thinking about as she suddenly spoke up and tried to convince me otherwise. 

|Th- Theo! I know it doesn't seem like it but our Church wasn't this pathetic before. R- Remember Arthur Vritious the first Hero of Light? The ranger of his party belonged to our Church!|

'Wasn't the ranger the first of his party members to die though?'

But upon seeing Lyra's shaky eyes, I decided not to voice my thought out loud and instead patted her head reassuringly. "Haven't I told you before? There's no way I'm severing our covenant."

'Probably...'

Hearing this, Lyra heaved a sigh of relief. |Sorry... I got a bit too emotional there.|

However, Lyra wasn't the only one who got emotional, as Nevih was already in the middle of rushing out of the room while gripping on his sword. "S- So even the esteemed Great General thinks that I'm pathetic? I knew it! I should have trained more!" 

Seeing that Nevih had gone to the training room again, Lietas sighed and spoke to me respectfully. "Heretic inquisitor..."

"Speak."

"As you can see, that child has yet to learn about the way of the world. I know I'm asking a lot from you but... I'd like him to travel with you for the time being."

'Yea, I kind of expected this.'

Judging by his gaze that was shifting between me and Nevih when he tried to butter up to me before, I had expected something like this to happen. Thus, I gave him the answer I prepared beforehand.

"Okay."

His face brightened up at my words. However, his good mood was trampled on by my next words.

"But with a price."

"A- And what might that be, heretic inquisitor?"

"You decide", I shrugged my shoulders and stared straight into his eyes. "I know you have a problem with paying rent to sir corpse-devourer here so I assume you don't have any money to give me."

"Yes... that is the case."

"So you decide what you want to give me. If I deem it sufficient, I'll take the Hero under my wing."

Of course, that was just all talks. Having a Hero as an ally would undoubtedly be of great benefit to me regardless of circumstances. Demanding payment was just me wanting to squeeze the most out of this.

'And then there's the Hero's problematic attitude... but it's nothing a bit of beating can't fix!'

As I was busy with my thoughts, Lietas suddenly spoke up.

"I can make you a Saint."

Though I was fairly surprised by the offer, I didn't let it show on my face nor my voice.

"I see... what benefits does being a Saint bring?"

"Well, it's not much different from being a heretic inquisitor, just that you will have much more authority and say in matters concerning creature of Voids."

"Am I expected to act a certain way though?"

"Of course you don't! We're not the pretentious bastards at the Church of Light!"

I nodded my head in understanding. "I see..."

Lietas was telling the truth. A Saint was a Saint regardless of the Church he is affiliated with... even if that Church was something pathetic like the Church of Storms. And the best thing was that I didn't really need to act like a typical Saint in fantasy novels that Marcos had read.

As such, I knew that this was the best I could get out of this spineless old man.

"Then I accept. I will let the Hero of Storms Nevih II travel with me."

"Glad to do business with you." Lietas shook my hands. "So shall we proceed with the ritual now?"

"Like, right now?"

"Yes. I just need to do a short chant."

'That's awfully convenient.'

What was less convenient, however, was that—

"And you just need to tell me your name."

—He demanded me to tell him my name.

My face stiffened for a bit before I answered. "Aryl Myrsky."

"Not that. Tell me your real name."

'WHAT? HOW DID HE KNOW THAT I'M USING A FAKE NAME?'

But upon thinking about it harder, I realized that of course he would know that I was using a false name. After all, 'Aryl' was just 'Lyra' with all its characters reversed. There was no way it was going to fool someone from the Church of Storms.

Stopping my thoughts there, I turned my attention toward Lietas again. "Do I have to?"

"Yes, unless you want some random person who happens to be named 'Aryl Myrsky' to become a Saint instead of you."

I sighed. "Fine... the name's Theodore Gray."

"Theodore Gray?" He raised his eyebrow in confusion. "Isn't that a boy's name?"

At his question, I glanced at Lyra, who immediately knew what to do.

|Pontiff Lietas IX! Promise me, your Goddess, to never utter a word about what you are going to see in this room.|

Hearing Lyra's serious words, Lietas straightened his back. "I swear on my title as the 37th Pontiff of the Church of Storms to never utter a single word about what I am going to bear witness to!"

Seeing that he was dead-serious, I deactivated both [B - Ash veil] and Alicia's Illusion magic at the same time.

Though Lietas was fairly surprised by me not being a woman, he still managed to keep his calm and spoke with a dignified voice.

"Theodore Gray, from hereon you shall be referred to by all Churches as—"

He then paused for a moment to do some strange handsigns.

"—Saint of Storms, Theodore VI"

I waited in silence for a few more seconds after his sentence for fear of accidently interfering in his ritual, but nothing happened aside from his face now becoming considerably paler than before.

"Is that it?"

Catching his breath, Lietas answered. "Haaah... yes. N- Now if you excuse me, I shall go rest for a few days."

Before Lietas exited the room though, he suddenly turned around and threw a Gold into a corner.

'Why he is doing tha—'

My thought was suddenly interrupted by the sight of Weizer catching the gold with one hand.

"WHAT?" I widened my eyes in surprise. I completely forgot that Weizer was ther— no, it was as if my mind refused to acknowledge his existence until now.

Sensing my confusion, Weizer chuckled. "Don't look too surprised. I have a Skill that can hide my existence from all pasts and futures for a few minutes."

He then added. "Oh and don't worry. I won't tell anyone about you liking to cross-dress."

"It's not cross-dressing! It's a disguise!" I retorted, not caring about the weird Skill he had anymore.

Weizer promptly ignored me and turned his attention to Lietas again. "There's only one Gold. Where's the rest of the rent?"

In response, Lietas took out a corpse from his Space pouch and threw it toward Weizer. The corpse then proceeded to disintegrate into dust as soon as it touched him.

"Hmm... the energy's quite decent...", Weizer muttered.

He then spoke to Lietas. "This should cover next month's rent also."

Lietas weakly nodded and left the room.

Weizer turned back to me and chuckled upon feeling my stare on him. "What? Never seen me absorbing the power of the Dead before? Do you seriously think I would eat the corpse like some sort of cannibal?"

"No, but..." I hesitated to voice out my next words. Eventually though, I decided to anyways. "...Are you willing to buy some corpses?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

Hearing his confirmation, I briefly glanced inside [Alternate storage] and spoke up again.

"I just happens to have a lot of corpses that I need to dispose of."

***

"You're here..." Sylvia spoke in a cold tone as she stared at the person right outside her room.

"Yep! And just right on time too! Now what's the reason you called me here for?"

In response, Sylvia merely gestured for the person to enter her room. "Come in. We will discuss it inside, senior Lyn Blitz."

With Lyn now inside her room, Sylvia walked toward her bed and picked Glacia up.

"Who's this?" Lyn asked as soon as she saw Glacia.

"...A distant relative", Sylvia answered.

She then let Glacia walk toward Lyn by herself. "I want you to be her Lightning magic tutor."

"Okay!" Lyn nodded as she patted Glacia's head with a smile.

Although Lyn's immediate answer would have caused the past Sylvia to be wary of her, it wasn't the case now. After all, she knew how absolutely adorable Glacia could be. Furthermore—

'I sure that Glacia is already my and Theodore's daughter in her mind...'

After all, with how obsessed with Theodore Lyn was, Sylvia was sure that she herself was no more than 'Theodore's lover' in her eyes. So Lyn would surely view Glacia as Theodore's daughter regardless of what anyone told her.

'Well, she's right. But it's still annoying!'

If Sylvia could properly use Lightning magic, she would have taught Glacia how to use it herself instead of requesting help from someone she saw as a rival.

'No no, don't let your personal feelings interfere with this matter, Estellare! Glacia needs to know how to wield Lightning mana to be able to use Elektra.'

Since Sylvia had already took it upon herself to teach her daughter how to wield Water mana to be able to properly use Water spirit Undine, the only element left for Glacia to learn was Wind.

'...I think I can ask Marie to teach her.'

Pausing her thoughts there, Sylvia turned her attention to Lyn again.

"Senior Lyn, I want to ask of you another favor."

"Sure! If it's related to Theodore's daughter, I can do anything!"

Sylvia frowned as she was about to correct Lyn. However, she knew that however much she tried, she wouldn't be able to convince her. As such, she decided to just continue with her request.

"I want you to look after Glacia for me 2 days from now."

"Why? Do you have to go somewhere?"

"Yes." Sylvia nodded, "I have to go to a restaurant with some friends."

"Why don't you ask Krista to look after her then? Aren't you afraid that I'll kidnap this adorable little thing right here?" Lyn mischievously spoke as she pinched Glacia's cheeks.

"I trust you enough to leave Glacia in your care. And Krista can't take care of her. She also has to go to the same restaurant as me... along with Amelia, Alicia, Ria, Eleanor, Marie, Lucy, Raun—"

Sylvia then sighed.

"—and Arthur."