327 Chapter 244: Try Something New!!

Cherwood Borough. Rose Street, Harvest Church.

The street where the church was located did not suffer as much from the earthquake, all the buildings were still standing. There were multiple abandoned carriages and it was abnormally empty. But that didn't mean that there wasn't someone outside...

Fush! Clop!

The sound of wind being cut was followed by the sound of flesh being cut. A body fell to the ground with its head severed, a golden glow coming from the cut site as well as steam. The black eyes and frothing mouth quivered for a few seconds before going completely still.

Sasha Strauss didn't waste a second in raising her golden sword and blocking the claws of another monster that tried to attack her from behind.

Snarling, she delivered a powerful kick to the monster's knee, and with a resounding Crack! the monster fell to the ground on one knee and the Pugilist didn't miss the opportunity and cut its head off with her sword.

'Is this a nightmare? If so I want to wake up...' The giant thought heavily while with her free hand, she wiped the blood that splashed her cheek. Her green eyes stared at everything with a complicated look.

Around her were the bodies of 3 of those things. They all looked human in appearance but their skin was red and black veins covered their entire bodies, the large claws and black eyes almost made her think they were actually demons, not humans. 

Looking at the black eyes of the monsters he killed. Sasha could only let out a long, heavy sigh. This was easily the worst disaster she had ever dealt with. Not even the mess with the Demoness Set came close to this. 

She wasn't dumb, she knew that what she killed wasn't always a monster.

Her eyes moved to one wearing the remains of a simple brown dress full of dust and blood, with multiple patches and seams proof that the owner extended the life of the dress as much as possible, she noticed the effort the woman put into these, even the progress in each seam. This woman had a life before, a life that ended at her hands after she became a monster and lost all reason.

'Is this what corruption can do to the human body?' Sasha was no stranger to corruption, her time in the Church of the God of Combat and her own Boss warned her multiple times of the danger of corruption or a Beyonder losing control. So she already thought she had an idea of what she might encounter if she ever came across one...

Her eyes moved to the empty black eyes of the converted human she killed. Even though he was dead she could still feel the gaping chasm in them wanting to devour her.

Seeing that chasm, Sasha closed her eyes for a moment and let out a heavy sigh.

The Boss's words echoed in her heart in a loud rumble that now took on a deeper meaning.

<Prepare for the Apocalypse>

Glancing behind her back, Sasha saw how the giant was covering the sinister broadsword with a robe as he towered to his mountain height.

Around him and surrounding him in a circle of blood, 12 of those monsters lay dead. Unlike her who tried to make the quickest and most humane deaths possible, either by severing the head or piercing the heart, it seemed that the father did not have the same dilemma...

Dismembered bodies, arms, legs, and necks split in inhuman ways, pulps for heads... Father had made a complete butchery and didn't seem to care in the least even though he surely also knew what these things once were. Sasha could hardly believe her eyes. How could such a gentle father be capable of such brutality?

Sasha discreetly moved closer to Charlotte who had just finished off one of the transformed humans by breaking its neck with a skillful kick. Her green eyes never left the father.

'What a beast...' 

A loud sigh sounded behind her followed by somewhat agitated breaths.

"Those were the last ones, weren't they? How many more of those things will come?!" Charlotte grunted as sweat poured from his forehead. His charms were running out fast and he only had 3 Sun charms left! Which so far were by far the most effective against those things aside from Sasha's new sword. Thanks to the Melee Scholar's potion his body became stronger and more adept at hand-to-hand combat but he didn't have any experience!

Just because he has become more adept at combat doesn't mean he knows how to fight! Something that became very clear in his usual sparring with the annoying noblewoman who once again broke his nose.

All the potion had done was make him learn to fight faster!

Utravsky turned around and looked at the Melee Scholar with an emotionless stare, seriously discomforting the young man who took an unconscious step back.

Charlotte tightened the charms in his hands and prepared himself, his spirituality was whispering several warnings so he kept his movements slow, and discreetly moved his foot a few centimeters to the left, closer to his teammate's back.

Sasha for her part looked with serious eyes at the father, her grip on the golden sword strengthened and the holy glow coming from it increased slightly.

A loud sigh sounded and the father closed his eyes for a few moments, breathing in and out several times he opened them again. Emotions returned but you could tell the man was tense.

"Sorry about that young men... Using this broadsword always makes me tense..." The father apologized with a deep bow that looked somewhat bizarre for its size. It was as if a thick oak tree would bend 90 degrees and then return to normal.

Sasha just nodded and loosened her grip a bit, the sword ceasing to glow.

Charlotte took a little longer but he lowered his charms as well and let out a huge sigh of relief.

'If we got into a fight I doubt we would have lasted more than 12 seconds...' He thought as nervous sweat trickled down his neck.

The father looked around him and then up at the black sky. His eyes which had madness dancing in the depths of them finally focused on the massive tree in the distance.

'It's time...' Straightening up, Utravsky turned and walked towards the church.

"I'll be back in a moment."

"Huh?!" Charlotte exclaimed incredulously, his jaw hanging.

At any moment more of those monsters could arrive and their heavyweight wanted to go off to rest leaving them alone?! No sir!

Looking at Sasha, his purple eyes begged for her to say something about it. 

He wouldn't voice his displeasure to the giant, no thanks. That man easily had 3 heads on him. Better that the one that was closest to his size would take over. It was the most logical decision after all!

Sasha already knowing what Charlotte might be thinking could only roll her eyes but she understood the problem. So she was quick to do the logical thing...

She walked behind Father.

Charlotte froze for a few seconds before quickly running after them.

" Are we done?" Sasha asked at Father's side who nodded slightly with his eyes straight ahead.

"We'll be safe for now. Those monsters won't be back for a long while."

"How are you so sure?" The distrust was clear in Charlotte who was looking around worriedly.

Sasha nodded sharing the same doubt as her teammate.

Without looking at them, Father replied," The ones we face could be considered the only monsters in this area. They are not intelligent but they are not stupid either, they will unconsciously target Churches that have a considerable number of people inside or follow the closest smell of blood. That is why so many appeared here. They usually attack in groups so if they didn't show up anymore with the previous ones then they are somewhere else."

"This isn't the first time you've dealt with this?" Sasha was surprised, it was already undeniable that Father did have experience in whatever was going on.

"There was a similar case almost 22 years ago now. Much, much smaller, just taking over a village, it happened during my early days in the Church. There were no survivors." Father's eyes darkened, almost as if he could see that tragic September night again.

"We are doomed." Charlotte's head hung in disgrace. The young man's words earned him a zap from Sasha who gave him an annoyed look.

"Get a grip." 

"...Yes ma'am."

Ignoring the scene behind him and without another word, the strange trio entered the church earning the gaze of all present.

Unlike the usual which would be only one or two believers who couldn't add up to more than 3 at a time, this time the church was almost bursting at the seams.

The benches were moved to give more space in the middle which was where numerous people were lying on blankets, all of them had serious injuries from the earthquake or the monsters that followed, either broken bones or bruises or cuts from claws or broken glass.

Opera was wearing a mask, her hair covered by a simple batana. She had armor on but this was covered by a robe, her crimson eyes focused on her work at hand which was to fit a woman's arm into place. Next to her and wiping the forehead of another wounded man with a wet handkerchief was Jerry who was also wearing a mask and gown.

Sheathing the golden sword on her back and making sure the door to the Church was locked, Sasha went to help Opera followed by Charlotte who didn't want to stay near Father.

"Father Utravsky..." 

A young and extremely familiar voice sounded next to the giant who looked down and smiled gently, "What is it Mantis?"

Mantis, the girl with brown hair and a few freckles on her nose squeezed the multi-patched teddy bear closer to her chest and looked behind her, towards one of the blankets where a woman very similar to her only older was resting, that woman was Bee, her mother.

"Will my mommy be okay?" 

Looking at the sleeping woman who had a bandage covering her head, Utravsky returned his attention to Mantis and gently stroked her head.

"Mother Earth always takes care of her children. As long as our time does not come, no plague or evil can harm us. Your mother still has a lot of growing to do, she will be fine."

The young girl just nodded, her eyes shining, "Thank you Father!" hugging her father's huge leg for a few seconds, she returned to her mother's side and lay down next to her and hugged her, making sure her teddy bear also hugged her so that she would speed up her recovery.

Utravsky watched this with a small smile before he turned his head in the direction of the hallway. No one else interrupted him, all the other people just looked at the giant's back but their faces were grateful.

Passing by Opera and Jerry who didn't even turn to look at him but continued with their work of attending to the wounded that were arriving, the father got lost in the hallway and entered the basement.

Descending the stairs that were barely illuminated by a few torches, the priest arrived at the considerably large basement that, unlike the other churches, barely housed 3 sealed artifacts. That was not only because of the few artifacts the Earth Mother Church had but also because of the agreement that had been made with the other churches to avoid conflict, so no sealed artifacts higher than grade 1 were in any of the churches outside of Feynapotter.

"..." Father passed by the various boxes of food and medicine and came to the gray stone wall. 

He calmly removed the broadsword on his back and placed it on the ground behind him, barely separating his eyes from the wall. That done and with no other artifact in his possession, the father placed his hand on a specific spot on the wall.

The place where he touched his palm glowed for a few seconds before sinking, the stones that made up the wall began to regroup, slowly forming a passage...

With one of the torches he grabbed earlier, the father walked down the new passageway with calm steps and a serene attitude.

What was down here in the Harvest Church was something that violated every agreement and promise between the Churches not to have a single sealed artifact above grade 1 in these lands. If this were to come to light, Father did not doubt that it could cause a war.

Even more so considering that this artifact should be deep within the Holy Church in the Feynapotter Kingdom, not in a small church in Backlund.

With each step, he took and with each step he descended, the information of the artifact deep within the Harvest Church flashed through Utravsky's mind...

Name: Classified

Number: 9

Danger Rating: 0. Extremely dangerous. 

Security Clearance: Matriarch

Sealing Method: As long as it is near ???, 0-9 will remain in an inactive state and do nothing. As long as there is no intention to disturb Them, it will be like another piece of furniture and will not attack.

Description: This is not an object. This is a Living Angel.

She has the appearance of a very beautiful woman wearing a very ancient dress. No study has been carried out to determine the exact age of it because that would mean interacting in a certain way with ????

???? is the strange metal box that 0-9 keeps near Her at all times. It measures 80 centimeters wide and 120 centimeters high, and its entire body is covered with strange symbols that to date have been impossible to decipher, the very metal it is made of seems to be ordinary iron, but no study has been carried out to confirm this. Since it has been with us the box has never shown signs of being sentient, at first glance, it looks like a normal metal box.

Only once an attempt was made to separate the two, a group of 8 medium and high sequence Beyonders - the lowest being 7 and the highest being sequence 4 - the entire team of researchers disappeared before they even got within 10 meters of the box. No further attempt has ever been made since.

Any researcher who has tried to interact with or divine ??? has died, each death happened so fast that it was impossible to know what happened to them, the only thing that is known is that there is nothing left of them. Through divination and other methods, it is known that they are all dead. So far, 139 researchers have lost their lives for it, all attempts to divine Her origin and that of ??? have been abandoned.

The only thing that has been discovered through observations and cross-referencing is that the clothes She wears are very similar to the dresses worn by the Ancient Sisters in the Fourth Epoch. But Her appearance does not match any of the known Ancient Sisters.

She does not possess the ability to think and does not possess sentience.

Warning: DO NOT INTERACT IN ANY WAY WITH ???

Data 1: This artifact was given to us by the Earth Mother at the end of the Pale Era.

Exact Year: Unknown

Exact Date: Unknown 

Exact location: Feynapotter Kingdom 

Data 2: The language of the incantation to activate 0-9 is unknown, any attempt to decipher it has been null and void. The only thing known is its correct pronunciation which only the Matriarch knows and only She can teach.

Fact 3: She has never been awakened.

Data 4: Originally ??? had its own denomination but after 400 years it was finally discarded. Both the Grounded Angel and ??? share the denomination 0-9, They are considered one being. In addition, ??? has a name but only the Matriarch knows what it is, by Her recommendation it has been decided to use ??? to refer to the box because according to Her own words, 'It is the most appropriate'.

Data 5: Only the Matriarch can move to 0-9 without being eliminated, it is not known if it is because She is an Angel or because She is a blessed of Mother Earth. 

No experiment with Beyonders of Sequence greater than 3 has been performed.

...

Standing in front of the woman who was still in the same position he last saw Her, Utravsky closed his eyes and took a slow breath through his nose.

Opening his eyes, he opened his mouth and recited the incantation that would activate the Sealed Artifact. An incantation whose language he did not know but which 0-9 seemed to know perfectly.

"The Herald has Incarnate."

As soon as the giant said that, an enormous pressure fell on his shoulders that made him stagger and cold sweat began to cover his body. 

Slowly and as if waking up from a nap of millennia, 0-9 opened Her eyes to the world.

Eyes that were a beautiful crimson that glowed with emotion, enormous emotion. Utravsky was unable to find a word to describe what he was seeing but all his thoughts froze the next second.

Purple-blue lips lifted into a sweet smile that made Father's experienced heart pound and a small blush adorned his slightly wrinkled face, even the usual madness in his eyes as well as the respect he commanded disappeared completely leaving only an embarrassed grandfather who could barely make eye contact and could only stare at the ground like a child talking to his sweetheart for the first time. All sense of struggle within him died and he almost began to play with his fingers.

It was as if Father had become a child again.

Blissfully unaware of his state, Utravsky would never admit it due to his vow of silence regarding the existence of 0-9, but she was by far the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Even though he saw the Matriarch, who is considered the most beautiful woman in existence.

Before Father could do anything else, a flash of crimson light blinded him for a few seconds and caused him to cover his face with his hands.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw how the woman along with the mysterious box had disappeared from the basement leaving him alone.

Inwardly, Father never thought he would feel so disappointed that something would end.