New Gods of North America

"You seemed to have attracted His attention just now... but fortunately, it might just be some residual influence of His will that prevented the situation from spiraling completely out of control."

In the storage room, Wayne and Ineisha were each leaning against a table laden with items, panting for breath, while Lina felt around her steel wool as she stood guard at the entrance.

The great spider Peter was currently lying on Wayne's lap, poking him repeatedly.

Not very hard, not breaking the skin, but still poking him with a bit of pain.

Earlier, the spiritual power within Wayne had been nearly exhausted. Lina had dragged the great spider over like pulling a puppy by its hind legs, then twisted off one of its long legs and squeezed out some juices.

To be fair, it tasted pretty good, similar to the ghost of 'Gray Wolf' Fred.

However, the great spider was clearly not happy about this, and after reattaching its long leg, it had become like this.

Wayne's condition gradually returned to normal. He patted Peter's head lightly, soothing its emotions.

At the same time, he was still a bit shaken, "Are these 'He's' all so unreasonable...?"

"This is the norm in the extraordinary world. Sometimes it's as simple as survival or death. The higher the rank, the more special the state, the more likely you are to attract the attention of higher beings. That's why you see Lina avoiding even some unfamiliar small churches."

Ineisha first answered the question, then asked, "What did you do just now to cause the change?"

Um... I don't think I did anything...

Wayne shook his head innocently, unable to resist continuing to ask, "Is it safe for us to stay here?"

"I'm not sure either."

Ineisha also shook her head slightly, "Usually, even formal altars rarely attract the attention of higher beings, let alone such small altars. But since it hasn't caused a chain reaction, we should still try to remain calm, recover our initial state, and then consider evacuating as soon as possible, to avoid being unable to resist any sudden accidents."

Cannonballs usually don't hit the same crater twice, right...?

Then Ineisha briefly explained the relevant knowledge, "For some altars that may attract higher beings, you have to imagine them as rigged explosive devices. The reasonable way to deal with them is to try not to trigger them. What needs to be done on-site is to eliminate the 'person' who can detonate it as soon as possible.

"As for 'dismantling' itself, that's something the orthodox churches or exorcist priests are better at. Hunters are more crude; they usually maintain a safe distance and then try to 'destroy' it. Although the two sometimes look pretty much the same."

Wayne thought about the destroyed sacrificial site in Black Stone Town and nodded silently.

His condition initially recovered, Wayne felt that his spiritual power was only about 10% remaining. He didn't even dare to secretly look into that small room with his naked eyes, and couldn't help but look at the great spider Peter beside him.

As we all know, spiders have eight legs...

And 'eight minus one' is simply equal to seven in mathematics.

Peter seemed to sense Wayne's thoughts, poked Wayne's hand hard, and then quickly slipped away.

Okay...

A spider's life is also a life.

...

More cautiously retracing their steps, they confirmed it was temporarily safe. Wayne threw the Cohen Pharmaceutical business card out the window and quickly left the haunted main house.

Lina didn't breathe a sigh of relief until she returned to the carriage:

"According to the practices of the Holy Church, just enshrining a heretical deity in an altar or magic circle with extraordinary power is enough to be convicted. I don't know what the Holy Spirit Church does, but they shouldn't let this kind of thing go unpunished, right?"

Ineisha then confirmed, "According to the Exorcist Association's regulations, worshiping the gods of the Light Church is also a serious crime."

"That's good."

The carriage started moving under Liam's driving.

Lina had just changed into a comfortable semi-reclined position when she quickly 'bounced' up again:

"Right, it's best to tell someone you trust and who has high authority about matters related to the Light Church. There are many similar cases in the Old Continent where some whistleblowers often disappear inexplicably, or are dealt with for other reasons."

Wayne was relatively vigilant in this regard. Hearing this, he nodded, intending to return to the detective agency first, and then go to the cathedral in Richmond.

After getting some distance from the manor, Ineisha began to talk about the statue.

The deity represented by that statue was indeed the supreme deity of the Light Church, the so-called 'Light of Dawn'.

However, His more popularly known image today comes from two versions of the Holy Church.

The relatively 'bright' version is an angel bound by chains, with a bitten 'fruit of wisdom' and a broken scepter placed at his feet, symbolizing that He induced humanity to commit the original sin and that He suffered divine punishment for betraying the Holy Spirit.

The other version of the image is not so fixed, it may be a black-winged or bat-winged angel, or it may be a purely ugly demon image. A relatively common feature is the implication of 'fall' or 'corruption'.

In the Holy Spirit's faith, there is also a saying that He was actually the first 'fallen one'.

What Wayne and the others saw tonight was closer to the 'original version' worshiped during the Light Church period.

But the closer it is to the 'original version', the more 'pure' the worshiper is, and the more serious the crime.

It is said that in the Middle Ages, even in the absence of any extraordinary power, just discovering the existence of a statue with a similar image was enough to send the relevant personnel to the stake.

...

"Puh—cough cough cough cough..."

In a residential building in the city, Pastor Pasiel, who was asleep, suddenly had veins popping out all over his body, and he even spat out a large pool of black blood, then coughed violently.

He felt the sharp pain coming from his chest. A fleshy mysterious symbol above it had now turned pitch black.

It seemed as if he could smell the pungent odor of hot iron branding skin.

"Sir Pasiel, are you alright?" The personal servant on duty outside the door heard the noise and knocked gently, asking.

"Don't come in!"

"Yes!"

The room was silent for a while, with some faint rustling sounds in between.

Then the personal servant heard Pastor Pasiel speak again from outside the door:

"Have Anton prepare the carriage. I need to return to the academy immediately. The bedroom does not need to be cleaned for the time being. Arrange for the cleaning lady to clean it tomorrow."

"Yes, I will go now."

Pastor Pasiel cleaned the blood stains on his body nimbly in the washroom and changed into a clean set of clothes.

He took out a candlestick from the cabinet, lit it and laid it down, and poured grease from the bottom of the candlestick all the way to the bed and wardrobe.

Returning to his old and frail state, he walked out of the bedroom tremblingly.

Then he pushed the metal piece he had prepared earlier into the keyhole.

Unexpectedly, the accident came first.

He took a deep breath. There would probably be many things to do tonight.

He was just afraid there wouldn't be enough time...