Emily glared up at the grand cathedral built from stone taken from the riverbed. Such cut stone was expensive and time consuming, especially if the laborers weren’t cultivators. Priests didn’t have to pay for the construction of their own holy houses; that bill was forced upon the lords. Without grand structures to offer prayers to the Prophet, priests often proclaimed their lords greedy. Some truly believed they were seeing to the people and used their great structures to shelter the poor. This eyesore was not a place for the poor.

Before the troubles, this town was the jewel of Gemini County. Water qi elixers flowed from the many distilleries dotting the coast approved by the Count’s standard.

This place was once a bastion of water cultivators everywhere. But that was in the past.

She approached the double doors of the cathedral, finely carved with sea dragons facing each other. There was no symbol of devotion to the Prophet in sight. Already this place put her on edge. Finally, the door to the cathedral opened to a charming black-haired youth.

His sea-green eyes, tanned skin, and flowing white and brown robe gave him a fierce look. Emily checked her spirit sense and was shocked.

He was easily high coalescence realm. The boy smiled warmly, and again she noticed an absence of triad symbology. Only the two sea dragons facing each other in red and blue stood out on his Geneva band.

Strangely the blue reminded her of something holy while the red filled her with disgust. Or was that just annoyance?

Emily snorted; they had already put too many resources into Red to just kill him now. Logan would probably start teaching him the ways of the inquisition. She should have seen it from the beginning. That man loved to pick up strays; she was a prime example.

“Is there something I can do for you, miss? Unfortunately, we aren’t accepting visitors, and all cathedral-sponsored events have been canceled until further notice.” The boy said.

“I’m Interrogator Ramael here with a rite to search and seize all contraband, and the execution anyone guilty of heresy, and kill anyone who stands in my way,” Emily said.

The boy smirked. “High priest Raphael said you’d come. Did you know he’s the cousin of a King a province over?” The priest said as if she cared who his cousin was.

“Did you know my master high inquisitor Amon once shot a king who spoke out of turn? What’s your name, priest?” Emily asked.

If this guy wanted a my master is more important than your master contest, then she was game.

“Cedric Carlson, right now, it's just me and my fellow priest Carl Richardson.” The boy smiled. “No relation, of course. Please come in; we have nothing to hide.” Cedric said. She thought about getting the two of them in a room together to see if she could kill them both with one bullet.

Something about the boy didn’t feel right. He looked too healthy and a little greasy or slimy.

The second she crossed the threshold of the cathedral; she felt a massive upheaval of water qi. All around the walls and pews, droplets of crystalized water qi had formed. She glanced back at the door to see it had vanished. The presence of the boy also disappeared, blending in with the vast water qi filling the cathedral.

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Hundreds of men filled the pews reading from books with words practically jumping off the pages. She raised her hand and tried to form a ball of fire only for the water qi in the air to snuff it out. Well, she knew who was behind this mess. By the three archdemons, she’d walked right into the trap.

On the dais wobbling in a nest of flayed skin was a massive spirit egg. Within it, a spirit was being born from the emotions of the men in the pews. Each of them was possessed and prayed, feeding their emotions into the greater spirit egg. She looked up to see many floors with more men. Some had been drained dry of qi to the point this place stole their life as well. Hundreds of rotting carcasses filled the pews bloated like they were waterlogged.

She fired a shot at the egg, only for the bullet to ricochet.

By her measurement, the egg already had the qi of a greater spirit. That just wasn’t something she could compete with. Her own spirit was only a higher fire elemental. Red had two medium spirits. While her master also had a higher spirit, he was also in the majority realm. This creature was a precision-crafted entity for the sole purpose of empowering its master. But it should have hatched already. Instead, its spiritual power continued to climb. Was the high priest attempting to create a fourth archdemon?

The idea was ludicrous, but the possibility was there. With one designed for a single purpose, it would be possible to bond with it. Such an entity would become the ultimate demon a true devil.

Just being here had already weakened her considerably. With enough time, this place would douse even her fire qi. A memory of black flames swept through her, but she wasn’t quite that tempted.

Sure, this thing was pretty powerful, but it was still an egg. It also takes time to step into the coalescence realm with a new spirit. Her master could still kill the high priest with ease.

Emily dodged out of the way of a flying ax kick. She raised her gun and fired only for Ula to bat the round away. “Wow, you’re pretty weak here. Are you out of your element, Lil sis?” Ula asked.

“What are you doing here?” Emily growled. Her mind raced as she struggled to dodge a tentacle strike from Ula. It quickly severed the heads of a dozen people in the pews.

“Oops! It looks like it will take a little longer for the egg to hatch now. But, no worries, there is plenty more where that came from.” Ula said, then raised her hand. “Dodge this.” Emily’s eyes widened as she reinforced her legs and shot herself out of the way of a black laser. Whole pews vanished, and sections of the wall exploded while Emily forced herself to the ground and covered her head.

When the laser finally stopped firing, dozens of pews were gone disintegrated by Ula’s dark power. Bursts of dark-shaded purple electricity shot across the floor where the beam traveled.

Two large scaley creatures wielding clubs leaped down from another floor. “Interrogator Amon, we must insist that you stop slaying our worshippers. They’re needed to complete the plan.” Then, a part of the wall fell, and Emily could sense an opening where water qi rushed out of the cathedral.

“Hurry, we must plug the hole, or the sacred spirit will hatch before it's ready.” The fish-scaled man yelled with the voice of Cedric. Emily threw herself towards the opening, blasting forward with all her might.

A tentacle wrapped around her waist at the edge of freedom. “Where do you think you’re going? You made me destroy some of our resources. So, you’ll take their place.” Ula said.

The demon picked up one of the blasphemous tomes and opened it. Strange words leaped from the pages twisting in ways that hurt her eyes. “Once there were six arch demons before the Prophet, and his seraphs killed them. But with their deaths, new spots have opened up.” Ula said.

“Be silent, demon; she doesn’t need to know anything.” Cedric shrieked.

Ula looked up from her book and decked the fish man. Teeth exploded from the impact, and the chimera’s body smashed into a section of pews. “Abel should train his pets better.”

Emily filed the name under potential ringleader and began to freak out. Ula just had a moment of clarity. That meant she was closing in on the Nascent realm. If she grew any stronger soon, the Seraphs would have to be called to deal with them.

Her head snapped towards the egg as it shook again. It had just increased to a lord class spirit. How could an artificial spirit be so powerful? Even if this cathedral held thousands of people, it shouldn’t be enough to raise a lord class spirit in a few months. Then it clicked for her. It wasn’t just the cathedral. Every parish around Gemini town had been subverted. A population of 800,000 isn’t cut in half overnight.

Ula had been leading them away from this county on purpose. With a censured high inquisitor nearby, the high council may not have seen the need to send any inquisitors to investigate. The triad provinces were huge, and the manpower wasn’t there to send an inquisitor to such a far-off county. Emily could think of a worse option.

She had heard rumors of a proposed great wall plan. No Count would tolerate a wall bisecting their realm. So, they let things get bad here to make building a wall across this land easier. The sudden emergence of an archdemon would allow the inquisition to take emergency action.

The tentacles that bound her forced her into a sitting position while the book was presented to her. She tried to close her eyes, but Ula only laughed. Emily could feel the words crawl through her skin like maggots and wind themselves inside.

She tried to scream, but no words came out, only a feeling of duty. This egg had to be hatched for the good of the world. All thoughts not devoted to the birth of this new god were a waste of time. Her mouth opened, and impossible words crawled out of her throat too low to hear. The egg must be hatched.