Chapter 109: Deception

The morning sun shone through the stained-glass windows of the Grand Cathedral of Solis, casting multicolored patterns across the white marble floor.

Standing in the center of the vast holy hall were twenty summoned students.

Among the forty students originally pulled across dimensions, these twenty were considered the combat core of the class. They were a mix of S-ranks, high-tier A-ranks, and dependable B-rank vanguards. Most of them wore their standard academy leather gear or lightweight steel breastplates. Some looked excited, others looked sleepy, and a few whispered among themselves, wondering why they had been called away from their morning dungeon drills so suddenly.

At the front of the group stood three familiar figures: Ayanokoji, Miyuki, and Kenji Sato.

Kenji Sato was an S-rank Holy Sword Master. Despite sharing a surname with the deceased Shadow Assassin, the two were entirely different people. Kenji was tall, athletic, and possessed unruly brown hair. He rested one hand casually on the pommel of his ornate longsword, which hung loosely at his hip. His school blazer was worn unbuttoned over a white shirt, and he had an easygoing, arrogant smirk plastered across his face.

To Kenji, this entire isekai situation was essentially a grand adventure game where he was the undisputed main character.

"Man, what’s with the sudden VIP summons?" Kenji chuckled, leaning back slightly and stretching his arms over his head. "I was right in the middle of clearing the fifteenth floor boss with my party. We almost had the drop on that giant minotaur."

Miyuki, who stood a step behind him, gripped her healing staff tightly. Her knuckles were white. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she kept her eyes lowered toward the marble floor. Ever since their confrontation with Goddess Viona yesterday, she had felt a persistent knot of anxiety in her stomach.

"Kenji-kun, please be quiet," Miyuki whispered nervously. "This is the Grand Cathedral. The goddess herself might appear."

"Relax, Miyuki-chan," Kenji scoffed with an easy wave of his hand. "You’re always so uptight. We’re the heroes, remember? S-rank Holy Sword Master right here. The church treats us like royalty because they need us. Besides, word around the academy is that the higher-ups are finally handing out the good stuff—special artifacts from the royal vault to speed up our leveling."

Standing beside them, Ayanokoji remained silent.

His hands were buried in his uniform pockets. His brown eyes swept across the grand cathedral with calm, clinical precision.

The room was grand, but several small details did not line up.

There were no choir acolytes singing morning hymns. The grand arched doors behind them were manned by twice the usual number of fully armored royal paladins, their hands resting firmly on their halberds. The high priests standing along the side colonnades were not holding prayer books; they were holding their silver focuses, their postures stiff and unnatural.

An escort of twenty combatants, Ayanokoji thought to himself. Excluding the non-combatant crafting classes and weaker scouts. Summoned immediately after yesterday’s absolute refusal to join the war.

Ayanokoji did not change his expression, but his mind began calculating the probability of a trap.

Suddenly, a loud chord resonated from the massive pipe organ at the back of the cathedral.

The heavy golden curtains behind the high altar parted. Two lines of silver-armored inquisitors marched forward, followed by Prime Minister Belis in his flowing red velvet robes.

Behind Belis walked Goddess Viona.

She looked radiant. The fury and humiliation that had contorted her face yesterday were completely gone. Her golden hair fell in perfect waves over her shoulders, and her white silk gown glittered with embroidered sun sigils. A gentle, motherly smile graced her lips as she stepped gracefully down the marble steps of the altar.

"Greetings, my brave champions," Viona spoke, her voice carrying a sweet, melodious tone that echoed warmly throughout the hall.

The students bowed their heads respectfully.

Kenji bowed as well, though his bow was shallow and nonchalant, followed immediately by an expectant grin. "Good morning, Lady Viona. Heard you called the top hitters today. What’s the mission?"

Viona’s eyes flickered toward Kenji for a fraction of a second, her divine smile remaining perfectly fixed.

"I have summoned you because I have reflected deeply upon the words spoken in my throne room yesterday," Viona said softly, her golden gaze sweeping across the twenty teenagers before lingering briefly on Ayanokoji and Miyuki. "Hero Ayanokoji and Hero Miyuki reminded me of the sacred mandate that binds us. Your true destiny is not to fight petty coastal skirmishes. Your destiny is to march to the northern citadel and slay the ancient Demon Lord."

A murmur of agreement ran through the ranks of students behind them.

"Awesome," Kenji muttered under his breath, smirking at his classmates. "Told you. The war stuff is for the NPC guards. We stick to the main quest."

"However," Viona continued, raising her delicate hands to quiet the room, "the deep floors of the royal labyrinth are perilous. Calamity-class beasts dwell within the lower depths. If you are to conquer them without imperial knight escorts, your standard academy equipment is simply insufficient."

She gestured toward Belis.

The Prime Minister stepped forward, carrying a large silver platter covered by a thick cloth of dark red velvet. He lowered the platter onto an elevated stone pedestal directly in front of the assembled heroes.

"From the deepest treasury of the royal vault, I have retrieved ancient sacred relics," Viona announced proudly. "Forged during the First Holy War, these armbands are imbued with divine vitality and absolute mana stabilization. They enhance physical parameters, grant resistance against mental interference, and accelerate skill progression."

Belis grasped the edge of the velvet cloth and pulled it away.

Resting on the silver platter were twenty dark metal armbands.

They were made of a strange, dull black alloy that seemed unnaturally dark beneath the bright cathedral sun. Sharp, thorn-like patterns were intricately carved into the metal rims. At the center of each band sat a small, blood-red gemstone that pulsed faintly with a sluggish, rhythmic light.

The students leaned forward, murmuring in curiosity.

"Whoa, look at those," one of the A-rank vanguards said in awe. "They look like cursed gear from a dark fantasy game, but the mana coming off them is intense."

"Black metal with red gems... pretty edgy for holy relics," Kenji remarked, his smirk widening as he took a confident step toward the pedestal. "Well, if it gives a major stat boost, I’m not complaining. Does the strongest get first pick?"

Viona’s smile turned slightly warmer, though her golden eyes remained cold as ice beneath the surface.

"Of course, Hero Kenji," Viona said smoothly. "The strongest must lead by example. There is one for each of the twenty chosen champions here today. Put them on your dominant forearms. Allow the sacred blessings within them to link with your mana pathways."

Kenji reached his hand out toward the platter, completely relaxed.

Beside him, Miyuki felt a sudden, violent chill run down her spine. The faint, rhythmic pulse of the red gems did not feel like holy healing mana. As an S-rank healer, her mana sensitivity was higher than most, and the energy radiating from those black thorns felt cold, restrictive, and suffocating.

She instinctively reached out, her fingers catching the sleeve of Kenji’s blazer. "Wait, Kenji-kun... don’t touch them yet."

Kenji stopped, glancing back over his shoulder with an amused, patronizing look. "Huh? What is it now, Miyuki? Don’t tell me you’re scared of high-tier gear?"

"They... they don’t feel right," Miyuki stammered, her voice shaking as she stared at the pulsing red gems. "The mana feels wrong. It doesn’t feel like a blessing."

"You’re just being paranoid," Kenji laughed, shaking off her grip casually. "It’s a gift from the goddess herself. What, you think she’s handing out cursed items to her own summoned heroes?"

While Kenji laughed, Ayanokoji looked directly at Goddess Viona.

The goddess was watching Kenji’s hand with intense, predatory focus. Her fingers were curled tightly against the silk of her dress, and her breath was shallow, waiting for the metal to make contact with flesh.

Beside her, Prime Minister Belis had taken half a step back, his eyes darting toward the royal paladins guarding the exits.

A goddess who flew into a violent rage yesterday suddenly offering high-tier relics to the very people who defied her, Ayanokoji analyzed instantly. An unusual design. Thorns facing inward toward the skin. A rhythmic mana pulse resembling a parasitic binding array rather than an enhancement buff.

Ayanokoji took a step forward, his voice cutting through the cathedral air, flat and decisive.

"Kenji," Ayanokoji said plainly. "Don’t put it on."