Paradigm Parasite

220 "Church"

"Well..."

I descended with the Revenants and was walking towards a place.

I was dressed in the same black dressing gown as Darzain.

My face is hidden by a mask.

I wish I had the mask that blocked my recognition, but when I realised it was gone.

Perhaps he dropped it in the frontier prison. I was so satisfied with having disposed of that rubbish that I forgot about it.

It seems to be a valuable item, and I'll have to apologise to Vertex the next time I see him.

That's why I'm wearing an ordinary carved wooden mask now.

It's a little hard to see, but if it gets in the way, you can take it off and put the hood of your robe over your eyes.

Next to him, a trust wearing the same outfit is walking soundlessly while keeping a wary eye on his surroundings.

Behind them are Yonomori and Aspizal.

At the tail end is Savage.

"Hey. Where are you headed?"

"...What do you guys know about these Cardinal guys who run the Gnosis?"

I don't answer, but return with a question.

In the background, Yonomori and Aspizal look at each other.

"Cardinals? I think they're like the directors of the company that appoints the knights of the cathedral, aren't they? I don't really know what he actually does because he doesn't appear in the public eye much..."

So that's the perception.

Well, it's good that you know.

It's a position that's not well known to the general public to begin with.

...By the looks of it, you don't know anything about angels, do you?

"That's correct, but if you want to know more about them, they are so-called priests and their role is to listen to the voice of God."

"The voice of God?"

"Yeah, that's where they come from, the ones who know about the spirits they worship for the rest of their lives."

Aspizal comes up next to me, increasing his stride.

"Spiritual knowledge, eh? I don't know much about it myself, but it's the Gnostic definition of good knowledge, and the accumulation of it changes one's treatment after death?"

"Something like that. The basic idea is that the essence of a person, called spirit, is sublimated and a better afterlife is possible."

"Hmm. Well, there are things like the afterlife, like a prison, so it's not as ridiculous as you might think."

I agree with you on that.

This is probably why gnosis has not fallen out of date and is still believed in.

In addition, angels are real.

At least the Cardinal and others know about them, so it's enough to carry them up as a portable shrine and use them as a foundation to establish an organisation.

That's why I'm sneaking off to the cathedral with others to fight.

As far as I can remember from the memories of the people involved, there was something like that in the cathedral.

It's the Gnostic symbol with the feathers.

If angels are involved, it could be used as an antenna for possession.

We have to destroy the possibility of them coming out.

We can't afford to fight every time we have to fight against people who are relatives of Grigori.

Besides, Gnosis is on a larger scale than Grigori.

If the conditions are the same, we might be able to call in stronger angels, which is why we have to give them top priority in this operation.

"What does this have to do with going to the archdiocese?"

"I want to put to rest the concerns that we have about attacking here."

"Concerns?"

I don't answer, but go into the cathedral.

Last time I was here as a tourist, I only saw the small cathedral, but this is amazing.

The high ceilings, with a large amount of stained glass above them, softly coloured the thin moonlight coming through the clouds into the interior.

The patterns depicted start with Gnostic symbols, then churches and other buildings, and the most spirited design is a man with wings - an angel, in short.

If I hadn't met Grigori, I would have sent him high art points, but now, to me, angels are just nasty, winged vermin.

I thought it might be empty, as it seems to be used only for events and for worshipping believers, but it seems that there were some visitors ahead of me.

There were a lot of people in monastic clothes - a lot of them. There were roughly more than a hundred people.

They were not holy knights by any stretch of the imagination. Priests, nuns, sisters... in short, non-combatants.

As long as the Gnosis is an organisation, it is not only the Holy Knights who are in combat positions.

There are also those who just do clerical and missionary work like that.

Why were they all stuck in a place like this ...... and evacuated?

Well, this kind of big building is suitable for that kind of use - and then I suddenly remembered.

Come to think of it, the elves also took refuge in these buildings.

...different species, but do the same thing?

"The beauty, the nobility..."

The head of the holy knight who seems to have been following as an escort among the non-combatants is smashed with the left arm of the human centipede.

"What the..."

What, there were others?

Invisible centipedes smash the head of a holy knight's helmet and its head lightly like a fruit.

To the others, it would have looked as if the head had suddenly shattered.

The people around gasped, then screams went up everywhere.

Shut up.

"Trust, Savage, shut the noisy one up."

"Yes, sir."

Trust replied in a small voice, and Savage responded with an action.

They take a full bite out of the top half of a noisy screaming Sister, and the Trust goes around chopping off heads in turn, starting with the one who screamed.

Now, let's leave the detail work to them and finish what we have to do over here.

"Aspizal, Yonomori-san. I'm sorry, but could you help us?"

"Yes?"

"I want to destroy all their symbols by the wall and at the back... in short, all the pillars with wings. I'll take the two from the back, and you two take the ones lined up by the wall."

According to my memory, the pillars are here, so it should be all of them. There was one more in the small cathedral, so we'll destroy it later.

If we destroy them all, we'll be safe for now.

Well, if you refer to Grigori's case, there was also the case of Rikhard, who possessed a man without pillars, so I wouldn't be too optimistic.

"Okay."

"...Yeah."

Aspizal nodded pleasantly, while Yonomori nodded somewhat dissatisfied, then parted and began to destroy the pillars.

I ignore the others around me and look at the pillar at the far end, which is dedicated to what looks like an altar.

I knew it, but looking at it again, it is a magnificent thing.

Twelve wings on a beautifully polished and shiny column.

It has a presence that could be described as overwhelming in this place.

"You! To the deity--"

The guy who tried to shout at me was eaten by Savage before he could finish, but I ignored him.

I held out my hand and activated the magic. Directional heat and impact hit the pillar.

...It's sturdy.

The pillar had a few feathers destroyed and a fine crack, but it retained its original shape.

If it doesn't break with a single blow, just feed it until it breaks.

Fire additional shots. Explosion. The wings blow off more and the cracks deepen.

"What the hell?"

It seems that someone noticed something was wrong and jumped in, but when his voice trailed off, it sounded as if he had been decapitated by the Trust.

He and Savage have finished hunting the noisy ones and now seem to be taking up positions at the exits, preferentially hunting those who have tried to escape.

Keep on reducing them. I'm going to kill them all, and if you let them get away badly, it's going to be troublesome.

The third shot started to collapse, and the fourth shattered the pillar halfway through.

When I look back, I see that two of them are also going around destroying the pillars in turn.

...Good. It looks like it's going well, and as soon as we're done, we'll help the guys outside...

Suddenly, the stained glass behind the pillar I broke shatters and something flies in.

I scowl and take a half-step out of the way to avoid it.

The flying something bounces off the floor and rolls a few metres before coming to a stop.

I look back to see what it is, and it is a green, flaming armour - a Revenant.

Moreover, it's the Marslan I've even modified.

One arm is cut off halfway through, and its entire body is covered with large cracks that are different from the cracks that were there originally.

It looks like he has been severely beaten.

Marslan was trying to stand up using the spear he was holding as a walking stick, but he was not doing so well as his body kept shaking, as if he could not get enough strength.

...Hey, hey, hey, hey. What are you doing?

I gave you some leverage, and now you're doing this?

Before we went out, you were blustering about how you're going to take out the Cristela with no time to spare, but what was that all about?

Well, when I think about the job I've entrusted him with, the guy I've done this much to is...

A cathedral knight with shining armour and sword descends from the shattered stained glass.

A beautiful woman. Most men would look back if they saw her.

Her whitish hair shines thinly in the faint moonlight, and her strong-willed eyes shoot straight through me.

The cathedral knight Cristela was there.

She did not appear to be wounded at first sight. Unharmed?

I glance at Marslan. Looking at the extent of the damage, it's clearly a disastrous defeat.

After all, all you could do was stall them.

I'd heard he was a cathedral knight of the same rank, so I had high hopes, but not that high?

Inwardly, I return my gaze to Kristella, greatly downgrading Marslan's reputation.

She does not move her gaze from me.

"Are you the ringleader of those who caused this catastrophe?"

"What if it was ......?"

"There is no mercy to be shown. Let my sword cleanse you of your sins."

Oh, yes.

Mercy? That's fine, just go to hell.

Before Cristela can get into an attacking position, she flashes her left arm.

The multiple centipedes in her arm roar and attack.

The fangs of the centipedes try to bite the clear-faced woman.

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