Chapter 446 - 209: Change of Master

And so.

Midnight came.

The day’s events had temporarily concluded, and everyone had fallen asleep.

Gothra Town didn’t have much of a nightlife. There were a few taverns that stayed open late, but they were mostly empty. Every street, shrouded in darkness, seemed quiet and peaceful.

Until the scream of a Nun shattered the night sky.

"AHHHHH, HELP!"

"A Demon! There’s a Demon!"

"Oh, Master, please save us! *Sob sob*!"

Inside the church.

Elise, who had taken the form of a Demon, was wearing a blood-red dress. A pair of bony bat wings condensed from Magic Power sprouted from her back as she chased several Nuns around. The Nuns clutched the Cross Pendants hanging from their necks, crying out as they fled for their lives.

Elise, meanwhile, was cackling maniacally.

"My dear little Nuns, don’t run! I am your Master! Mwahahaha!"

The effect was apparently quite good.

It took less than a minute for the Nuns to flee the massive church.

They wouldn’t have run that fast if they weren’t truly terrified.

Elise didn’t pursue them. She simply stood at the church entrance, watching them disappear into the night before asking with a grin, "So, Mr. Writer, how was my performance?"

Sean appeared beside her as suddenly as a ghost and gave an objective critique. "The acting was fine, but your makeup wasn’t done well."

Elise asked, "Is that so?"

Dubiously, she pulled out a mirror to check her reflection. "I think it looks pretty good, though?"

"Give me a break." Sean rolled his eyes. "That ’bitten lip’ look of yours might as well be no makeup at all."

’What kind of Demon is this?’

Sean glanced at the little tail behind Elise.

’A Succubus, maybe.’

"It’s a good thing those Nuns are so timid. If it were me, you’d be getting ready for maternity leave."

"Is that your way of calling me pretty, Mr. Writer?" Elise’s eyes curved into crescents. "I don’t believe you. Unless you’re offering to let me try taking that maternity leave."

"In your dreams."

As he spoke, Sean vanished again.

He went back inside the church to check it over.

After confirming it was empty, he rejoined Elise and said, "They’re all gone. Let’s go, too."

"Okay."

Sean and Elise then strode brazenly down the street.

At a certain point, Sean raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

SNAP.

BOOM!

The church behind them suddenly exploded. Flames shot into the sky, dyeing it red.

The blast wave washed over them from behind, whipping his clothes and hair.

But Sean didn’t even turn his head. He led Elise away, and they vanished into the night.

’Time to find that Captain of the Forbidden Guard.’

He was confident in the old language runes he had planted. The church was a lost cause. No matter how quickly the clergy sleeping at home reacted, by the time they arrived and extinguished the blaze, the church would have already been burned to a smoldering ruin.

And that was indeed what happened.

The moment they discovered the fire, the old Priest and others rushed to the scene and immediately organized a group to fight the flames.

They acted as quickly as they could, and many people were there to help. After all, it was everyone’s church. Many residents heard the news of the fire and came voluntarily to assist. Even so, it still took the entire night to completely extinguish the open flames.

When the sun peeked over the horizon, casting the first rays of dawn, it illuminated collapsed, charred walls. The air was thick with a suffocating, scorched smell, and embers still drifted through the air.

The old Priest had collapsed on the ground in exhaustion. Tears streamed down his face as he watched the place most sacred to him, now a ruin burned to the ground overnight.

"Oh, Master, where are you...?"

"Someone destroyed our home... *sob sob*..."

—Up to this point, everything was still going according to Sean’s plan.

What he hadn’t expected, however, was that someone would answer the old Priest’s call.

"I am here."

An ethereal figure slowly emerged from the dim morning light.

She was suffused with a faint, holy white glow, like one of the Gods.

Anna had arrived.

This time, she hadn’t altered her appearance; she was using her own face.

"Y-You are the Master...?" The old Priest’s lips trembled. For a moment, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Olivia didn’t answer, merely waving a hand.

The next second,

The ruins of the church, which had collapsed into countless pieces, began to flow upward from the ground. Before the disbelieving eyes of the old Priest and the others, the char faded from each brick and tile, leaving them clean and whole. As if time itself were reversing, a brand-new church was assembled before them.

"A m-miracle!"

"This is a true miracle!"

"Thank you, Master!"

"Thank you for granting us a new home!"

By the time they came to their senses, their eyes filled with emotional tears, Olivia was already gone.

But her image was now deeply etched into the minds of the old Priest and the others.

「Three days later.」

The church reopened.

Everything was the same, except for one thing: the portrait symbolizing the "Master" that hung in the gallery had been replaced.

The man Sean was familiar with was gone, replaced by a woman he would have found even more familiar—

Olivia.

...