“This isn't the first time you rascals destroy the property of this temple. Both of you, follow me to the High Priest's office. NOW!”

The shout of the Vice High Priestess was a roar of a mountain tiger in human language. Eithne and Hesata flinched in a same time. They had no choice but to follow the Vice High Priest to the office on the second floor, because she could beat them to pulp if they refused to follow her order.

The War temple was wide and only have two floors. The first floor of the temple was divided into many areas for all priests and guests of the War temple, but only few people were allowed to freely enter the second floor, who were the High Priest, Vice High Priestess and four Faction Chiefs. The High Priest Office on the second floor was a place to hold meeting with prestigious figures, as well as the place to decide the fate of sinners - like Eithne and Hesata.

Eithne observed the doors at the entrance of the High Priest Office. They were three meters high and made of white marble. A large spear head was intricately carved at the doors' center gap, surrounded by four holy beasts which served under the War God. Those white doors were as elegant as the clouds leading to heaven, but also as heavy and majestic as the God's judgement.

Naturally, they emitted immense pressure for viewers.

Eithne already felt butterflies in her stomach just by standing outside of the office. However, that damn culprit who blew a hole on the floor did not seem to worry much, as if he had been visiting this place quite often.

Hesata Ragnar truly had been to this place a few times, whenever he ascended his priest’s rank in the Warrior faction, he came to the High Priest Office to claim some merits. He assumed that Eithne was familiar with this place too. However, the Chaos faction had been inactive in organizing internal event due to its humble number of members, so Eithne Noceur had no reason to ever set foot in this place.

If the Chaos faction had the ranking system similar to the Warrior faction, it was no doubt that the High Priest would be the strongest and Eithne would be the weakest of her faction.

CREEK—

The doors opened. They could see a wide and luxurious office room that took the space of entire second floor, and one man was sitting at the main desk.

Eithne sensed goosebumps on both of her arms. Only one person could sit in that position, the High Priest of the War temple!

He was very handsome in his sixties. His white hair and beard were tidily trimmed, and his robust physique was noticeable in the High Priest’s attire. Waves of abundant Chaos power were crashing each other in his eyes, as if to reflect the bloody past of a thousand battles that he had been through.

He just sat there quietly, but his strong aura made him the absolute dominator of this room. If the Vice High Priestess resembled a mountain tiger, then this man was truly the reincarnation of the War God.

Eithne recalled the scene when the High Priest stabbing his spear through Eithne Noceur’s heart in the comic. Suddenly, she felt weak in her knees.

“High Priest.”

The Vice High Priest called her superior, then two young priests behind her raised their hand in salutation.

The High Priest was not surprised by their presence, even after the Vice High Priestess reported their wrongdoing, he did not show any emotion. Eithne deciphered his reaction as 'utterly unbothered'. The old man quietly observed Hesata Ragnar, who expressed his regret about his misdeed, and his only junior, Eithne Noceur, who was constantly avoiding eye contact.

The room went silent in a few minutes as they were waiting for the High Priest’s decision. Eithne could feel the sharp gaze of the High Priest piercing through her soul, so she subconsciously held her breath.

'Wait... didn't the comic describe strong people like Demir can hear other people's breath?' - Eithne thought in panic. 'Should I breathe normally to show that I didn't cause the mess, or should I act scared?'

“…”

Both Eithne Noceur and Hesata Ragnar had joined this temple from a very young age. They were high-grade priests of the War temple, so their destructiveness simply accorded with their rank. The temple always had a place for fools who wanted to show off their skills, but these wreckers did not utilize it.

“Well, the one who dug the hole should fill it up himself. Let both of them clean the training ground for two weeks, maybe after that, they will remember the purpose of having a training ground.”

The High Priest nonchalantly said. His voice was deep and cold, sending a chill down Eithne's spine.

“Yes, sir.”

Eithne and Hesata had no choice but to accept their punishment. They bowed their head and left the office.

The doors of the office slowly closed themselves after Eithne and Hesata completely stepped out of the room.

“…Thanks God I’m still alive.”

Eithne let out a heavy breath and mumbled. She tried her best to hold her breath in there, so that the High Priest would not suddenly feel annoyed with her breathing sound, and her existence that he might send her to afterlife immediately. Their meeting only lasted for a few minutes, but she thought half of her lifetime was taken away.

On the other hand, the priest of Warrior faction seemed happy. He could not stop smiling, since cleaning the training ground was a child play to him, though there might be a bit of humiliation for a high- grade priest.

Looking at the satisfied Hesata, Eithne wanted to slam his head with a brick. It was his fault that he started the fight, but since she had fought back and many people saw their clash outside the training ground, she must take the responsibility as well.

Hah… Eithne sighed. She grabbed her hair.

Could a priestess retire at this age?

--

Eithne picked up a broom and started sweeping.

This was the third day of her two-week cleaning mission. There were debris indicating elemental powers everywhere.

Dried leaves and branches, burnt cloths, puddles and even small sand dunes on the floor. Scattered pieces of broken weapons could also be found in every corners.

This cleaning mission would be less tiring if Eithne and Hesata could lend a helping hand of wind or water magic. However, Hesata Ragnar could only do tricks with fire, while Eithne Noceur used a power related to earth which Eithne known from the original priestess's memory she received. If they used their power, they might cause an even bigger mess.

Therefore, the priests had to use the most primitive method of cleaning: sweep everything.

Eithne kicked a dried tree that abnormally grew on the floor, this must be the work of some priests controlling the wood elemental power. There were noises catching her attention from the other end of the training ground. She motioned her gaze to the crowd out of boredom.

There were cadets in their training course at the temple of War. This scene made her think about the leader of this temple.

The High Priest, Demir Noceur, who was known as the previous Military General serving Lumovas Empire for decades prior to his retirement. In his later years, Demir Noceur had decided to build a grand temple worshipping the War God in his hometown Sandrel. The temple later became the Royal Military Academy, which was a bridge to connect Demir to this empire's foundation.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

A group of cadets noticed Eithne, they bowed their head respectfully.

“Hm…”

Eithne nod her head to greet them back.

High-grade priests were highly respected in the War temple since they had mastered both martial art and war strategies. Additionally, they were usually the main instructors of these cadets. Both Eithne Noceur and Hesata Ragnar had achieved the title of high-grade priests, but they were too young and inexperienced to lead the trainees, so the Vice High Priestess never let them do the job of instructors.

Nonetheless, their talent was recognized by other people because they were the youngest high-grade War priests.

Eithne looked at Hesata, who had been focusing on his duty. Surprisingly, he did not try to provoke any fight during their working hour and honestly completed his tasks, totally out of Eithne’s expectation. It was stereotypical that characters controlling fire in the comics would endlessly looking for troubles with their fiery temper.

Well, she could not complain anything if he was being reasonable.

Eithne came up with the explanation that the temple’s education was too good that such a hot-headed person would be so obedient. Sometimes Hesata offered his help to Eithne, so she had a new perspective about this character, who did not even appear in the comic.

“Hey, can you grab our lunch? I will finish the rest.”

Hesata said.

Eithne could not be happier about this. She wholeheartedly offered all of her work to Hesata without any doubt. What could go wrong when someone ask to help you doing all the work?

The priestess happily skipped through the hall to the kitchen, before she came back and realized what could really go wrong when she left Hesata alone.

“…”

Somehow, a simple stadium was built in a short amount of time in the middle of training area. There were many shock-absorption devices placed around the stadium, which were meant to be used for high-grade priests’ combat.

“Hey you’re back early. I prepared the sparring ground for us, how’s that?”

What do you mean “how’s that” ?

Eithne frowned.

“Aren’t you supposed to clean up? Why did you make another mess?” – She asked.

The young man laughed while he was eating the sandwich brought by Eithne.

“I’m very bored recently. Don’t you feel so too? How about a quick match? Come on -- don’t look at me like that! We can fight in the training ground, and there are shock-absorption devices too. It’s going to be fine this time.”

Ugh! This punk! He still wanted to pick a fight with her. Eithne had been lucky last time to escape his fire spear, she believed that it would not go smooth this time and she could seriously got hurt.

“Sorry. I’m not interested.”

The priestess refused and prepared to leave.

“I will not use fire this time. It will be bothersome if I have to clean up burning mess again.”

He said with a sincere look in his eyes. Eithne stopped and sighed.

This guy was smart. He sure understood what she wanted.

“OK then.”

Eithne also want to know this body's ability.

The priestess stepped in the stadium. She had been trying to adapt with the old memory of Eithne Noceur, as well as familiarize with her fighting skill. The only problem was that she did not know how to manipulate the holy power in her body, but since Hesata did not use his fire, their strength should be on the same level.

Hesata stood on the opposite side of Eithne. He observed his opponent, and his eyes lit up with excitement. Hesata smiled brightly, but he didn’t know that his opponent suddenly felt extremely nervous the moment she saw his smile.

'He sure is confident.' - Eithne thought.

Hesata did not wait any longer. He charged at her at incredible speed and launched a side kick to her shoulder. Eithne was surprised by his sudden move, that she quickly used her arm to stop his leg.

Wait wait! This was so sudden, she had not mentally prepared. Where was the start signal? Fuck!

Could she withdraw now?

However, Hesata - the pride of Warrior faction did not leave a second for Eithne’s hesitation. She could only defend herself under his fast attacks.

Meanwhile, people started gathering around the stadium to witness the thrilling combat between two high-grade priests, but both Eithne and Hesata were too caught up in their fight so they did not notice. The cadets were overly excited, they even made a bet on it.

“Isn’t the priestess going to lose if she keeps defending?” – A cadet asked.

Another cadet who seemed to be the senior student, shook his head.

“I have seen them fighting many times. They usually end up draw, there is no guarantee that the priest would win even if he seemed on the advantageous side.” – He explained, showing his many years’ experience before the admiring gazes of his juniors.

Eithne was truly in the disadvantageous position. She could not escape from the perfect chains of attacks from Hesata. As Eithne quietly observed Hesata’s attack patterns, he also kept a safe distance from her.

Hesata remembered her vicious grab on his arm from the last time they fought in the hall. He did not want to be caught again.

Although his attacks might seem fast, they were not really that strong. He was saving his stamina.

Of course, the stamina of a high-grade priest was superior to a normal person. Hesata Ragnar actually could maintain his attack speed for few more days, but Eithne Noceur should be able to do the same. Hesata even thought that Eithne Noceur could last longer than him, because her physical strength was better than him due to her Earth attribute power.

As a high-grade priest, Hesata’s standard defined “not really strong” as destroying a boulder with a simple poke. Therefore, Eithne was having a hard time defending. Luckily, the people around them have shock-absorption devices, or else they would be collapsed from the immense pressure from the stadium.

Since Hesata did not use his fire, Eithne also did not use her Earth power for fairness. The more she fought, the more she realized how amazing this War priestess was. Using this body's flexibility, Eithne decided to move forward and target Hesata’s abdomen.

Hesata noticed her movement, he swiftly dodged the thrust from her hand then raised his knee aiming for Eithne’s stomach instead. The priestess flexibly turned her body around and swing her arm to his side head. Hesata lowered his body to dodge and escaped the close contact. Eithne chased after him, but Hesata had been cautious of her grabbing from the start, making it hard to capture him.

Tsk. Eithne clicked her tongue.

Her fighting instinct was triggered. She stopped defending a while ago and only focused on striking the weak points on Hesata’s body. Sweats appeared on both priests' faces, while they continued to clash against each other nonstop. The people around could not follow their speed anymore.

Hesata fixed his gaze on Eithne. He could not let her grab on him, because she was a vicious snake that bit its prey and never let go. After fifteen minutes, Hesata started to feel uneasy. Eithne did not budge an inch on his attacks, but she could not reach him either. Things would have different if he could use his fire magic.

The priest kicked to Eithne’s hip making her staggered a little. Hesata grasped the chance, he quickly launched another crescent kick to his opponent’s head. However, Eithne successfully grabbed his leg this time.

Shit! He had been tricked. Hesata was cursing in his head, but then he froze a bit when Eithne’s eyes looked at him.

“You…”

Eithne Noceur’s irises usually had a shining golden color, but oddly, they were dull now as if she was fighting in the dark.

High-grade War priests had strong sense of predicting their opponent’s movement and were trained to recognize the intention of other people by the movement of their eyes. The only subject that they could not tell through the eyes were blind people, or monsters without eyes which adapted with dark environment. Eithne Noceur was definitely not blind, her eyes were lively just a moment ago. Hesata furrowed his eyebrows since he had not seen her like this before.

The moment Hesata was hesitant, Eithne struck his face. The priest flinched, he quickly came back to his sense and barely dodged, so her attack went to his shoulder instead. Hesata escaped her grab and stepped back, holding his throbbing left shoulder.

“Ha… Not bad.”

Hesata smiled. It felt like she hammered a needle into his shoulder. Her physical strength was not a joke. However, he did not care much about his shoulder. Hesata was observing the abnormal eyes of Eithne Noceur and quickly connected the previous fight in his head…

Eithne did not know about the scary dullness of her eyes. Her thought became blurry at some time, now only her instinct drove her to strike him again.

This guy was disgustingly sharp. She thought.

“Bravo!”

Suddenly, a cheering voice of a kid came from the people gathering around the stadium.

Hm?

Both Eithne and Hesata stopped. They looked at the young boy who was walking between the line of people.

“His Highness the Imperial Prince has arrived!”

What?

Two priests surprised. Eithne noticed Demir Noceur came along the Imperial Prince.

"High Priest..."