"Hmm, well then, let's do a few tests," said the priest as he suddenly tossed the coin in his hand toward the old woman. With a flipping sound emanating from it, the coin flew through the air towards Calista, and she caught it in her hand.
"Aww, dammit, this inferior body can't even move as I like," Calista felt a bone in her hand crack from her sudden movement, but she showed no expression. She looked at the coin and examined its symbols. Looking at it, her dormant memories awakened again.
"A rising sun, meant to dispel the darkness, huh. So what I remember is correct. The human realm consists of two powers: one is the faithful divine power drawn by worshiping almighty gods, and the other is the ominous dark power driven by worshiping devils in the underworld."
"Hmm, so she can touch that silver coin, huh. But since I already brought this thing here..." The priest suddenly held the lamp in his hand forward and opened one of its closed lids, causing the fire inside to cast a brilliant shine through the old lady's body.
"Ah, what's the matter, you foolish human," Calista cursed inwardly as her eyes were blinded by the light. However, as the light continued to shine over her, her expression changed slightly.
"This... I can sense a bit of a divine power in it," she remarked, feeling the familiar sensation of power emanating from the lamp's shine, Calista enjoyed it a bit.
"But this amount is not even worth a sand to my original power, although..."
The priest closed the lid, and the shine in the room dispersed, allowing others to open their eyes and see Calista perfectly fine upon the bed.
"There's nothing wrong with her. She's probably lucky enough to earn another lifetime. Tch, I can't believe I got fooled this easily," the priest said in a disappointed tone as he walked out of the room.
"Ahem, priest," Calista spoke up, and at that moment, the priest who was walking out of the room suddenly stopped and gazed at her.
"If you wouldn't mind, I would like to discuss something with you privately."
Soon after her words, the others in the room walked out, leaving only the two inside.
"If the priest said there's not any unusual timing within her, does that mean our mother really can live a bit longer?" Clara's mother mutterd as she leaned onto a sofa in the living room. Upon hearing her, some showed happy expressions while a few looked a bit dejected. Clara's father was among the latter.
He, who was tired of the nagging of his mother-in-law, had hoped that the old woman would die so that all the blame would be over. But since she returned, he has to prepare for hear them again.
But as the others showed their happy and sorrowful expressions, only Clara stayed silent, feeling confused.
She sensed and knew that the grandma now was not the grandma she knew before.
"I wonder what you have to talk about privately with this priest," the priest asked Calista in the grandma's room.
"To tell you the truth, priest, I want to ask for your help," replied Calista.
"Oh, what kind of help?" the priest asked, though he showed no interest in his face.
" I think what my sons and mother are worrying about me is right. Ever since I woke up, I've been seeing these strange marks that shine gloriously in the sky, with angelic wings and honey-like songs. It was a wonderful feeling. In that dream, I didn't feel like I was dreaming; it literally felt real to me."
"But even if it felt real, a dream is a dream, and when I wake up, I'm back in this old body of mine. I just want to see what would happen if I carved that symbol in the real world and infused it with divine energy to see if the same thing would happen,"
As Calista spoke, the priest's curiosity instantly piqued. Calista knew that priests in the human world often draw their power of divinity from angels by receiving signs or visions in their dreams. Sometimes these dreams revealed a quest for a treasure, and sometimes the treasures revealed a path to new power. So, when a priest heard something like this, it was not surprising that he would instantly jump in.
"A strange symbol, can you show it to me?" muttered the priest.
"Ah, that's the problem, priest. With this old body of mine, I'm unable to move as I please that much," Calista said, showing her weak and shaking hand. But the priest felt a bit strange. Didn't that woman's hand look more energetic before?
"So how did this symbol look like?" priest asked, taking out an ink brush from his pocket and preparing to draw the symbol.
"I don't think ink is the right substance for this, priest. In my dream, the symbol was first carved by blood and later it shined in divine colors. What if we use blood to draw it and inject your faith power into it..." Calista muttered, but she also left a question at the end of her words.
Priest Listened to her private thoughts for a few seconds, after that, he sighed and put away his ink brush.
"It's necessary to follow strict rules when it comes to this," he said. Saying so, he took out a needle and pricked his finger. Drops of blood began to flow out, and with the guidance of Calista, he began to draw the symbol on the floor.
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But the symbol was larger than the priest had anticipated, and as the drawing progressed, more blood was lost from him, causing his face to grow paler.
After a few minutes, the priest managed to draw the entire circle on the room floor with his blood.
"Now to pour faith power into this," said the priest, standing up. He grabbed the lamp he had brought, opened a lid from it, and let the light from inside cast over the whole symbol on the floor.
The symbols on the floor, which resembled a strange creature, slowly began to glow in a golden color with the aid of the lamp's light.
The brightness of the symbol spread through the room and even into the living room where Clara and the others were.
"Huh!" Clara, who was sitting close to her mother, looked curiously toward her grandmother's room. Similarly, her mother and others also glanced toward it with puzzled expressions. But none moved to barge into the room, fearing their grandmother's potential wrath, which usually manifested as sharp-tongued remarks.
In the golden symbols, the light erupted upward like a wave of water, swirling and coalescing into a single point in the room.
Ugh!
A violent wind accompanied the swirling light, causing the priest to take a step back as the pressure of the wind pressed against his body.
He glanced at the old woman, only to see an eerie smile on her face.
"Come out, come out, whoever you are!" Clara exclaimed excitedly as she stared at the glowing light.
Quick!
A sweet voice emerged from within the brilliant light swirling above, and suddenly the light dispersed into wisps that floated into the air.
The priest and Clara looked at the space above the symbol with disbelief, witnessing the strange creature that materialized there.
It was a tiny creature, only the size of the priest's hand, with delicate wings on her back that shimmered like those of a bee. Her appearance was humanoid, with long ears and a dress that resembled petals of a flower. Her body emitted a bright and gentle light.
"What... What kind of creature is this?" The priest, who had never encountered anything like this in his travels, felt a mixture of awe and confusion as he beheld the creature. But at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration.
"Whoever she is, she had a strong divining sense."
In comparison to Priest, Calista's thoughts were utter disappointment.
"uh, Neverland pixie. Tch, as expected, this lowly human can't even muster up enough divinity to summon at least a mid Rank spirit. Why does it have to be one of the weakest among my followers?"
The pixie, surrounded by divine energy, looked around curiously.
"The first person it saw was Priest. Seeing him, the divine and pure aura that the pixie had suddenly changed into that of a fierce creature, emitting a fiery aura that channeled a murderous intent.
"Ugh. Why is it hostile to me?" priest muttered as he backed away, closer to the wall of the room.
"Stop it, pixie," Calaista spoke, her voice firm. When the pixie looked towards her, its expression didn't change much.
"I didn't care about the weaker, and I didn't even name her properly, so 'Pixie' is the only name I could call her. But seeing how her face didn't change, I think she didn't recognize me properly."
"Pixie, try to sense my soul," exclaimed Calista.
The pixie didn't initially heed her properly, but feeling curious, it followed Calista's instructions. Suddenly, the vision it saw changed to something only a soul could perceive. When it looked at Calista, what it saw was a huge divine figure surrounded by floating feathers.
"Eeek, Master!" Upon seeing it, the pixie shivered and knelt to the floor. "Forgive me for not recognizing you properly," she said in a shaking voice.
As the most attractive archangel in the Heavenly Realm, Calista's power mainly came from the strong followers who willingly swore themselves to her. The Neverland pixie was one such follower who pledged herself to Calista, though compared to the other followers of Calista, the pixie was considered a lower-ranked familiar. This meant the pixie rarely had the opportunity to meet Calista; in fact, "rarely" didn't even begin to describe it—it was as if she had never been summoned after their initial contract. However, the pixie never forgot how her master's soul looked, and she remained faithfully devoted to Calista throughout the ages.
And suddenly seeing her like this made the pixie extremely happy, excited, and also a bit fearful.
"Master, I felt your presence in Heaven suddenly disappear. What happened to you?" the pixie asked.
"I'm not the priority now. First, I want you to do something for me," muttered Calista as she looked towards Priest.
"What the devil is happening? Why is this creature calling you Master?" Priest exclaimed in confusion. When he first heard the term "Master" being addressed to the old woman, he almost lost consciousness. He could feel tremendous energy and power emanating from this little creature, but why was she addressing this old, seemingly insignificant woman as Master?
"My, my, a lowly being dares to question me," muttered Calista, her tone completely changed. Priest felt as if the old woman was now looking down on him.
He felt ominous and quickly thrust the lamp in his hand towards the old woman and the creature, opening its lid.
"Now, Pixie, make him forget everything." Calista Exclaimed and the pixie hurriedly rushed toward the priest. She avede the light from the lamp and swiftly moved toward the priest's head, entering it like light passing through him.
Thud!
The lamp in his hand fell to the ground, and the priest stared into empty space, spacing out.
After a minute, the pixie flew out from his head, returning to Calista. "I did as you asked, Master," she said.
"Good, now hide behind this bed," Calista commanded.
After a second, Priest blinked his eyes again and looked towards the old woman. "What... What happened? What am I still doing here?" he murmured.
"That's also what I'm asking. You said you were going to leave, but suddenly you stopped. Is something wrong?" Calista asked, appearing clueless.
"Oh, I'm sorry for the disturbance, maybe I'm not feeling well," said the priest as he walked out of the room. Watching him leave, Calista had a sly smile on her face.
"Memory manipulation, an ability that's completely useless in the Heavenly Realm, might come in handy here," she thought to herself, reminiscing about the ability the Neverland pixie possessed.
With the priest leaving, Clara and others walked into the room, surrounding Calista's bed. "I'm sorry, Mother, for doubting you," said Clara's mother. But after that, a deep silence spread through the room.
Calista glanced at each of them and noticed their gazes still full of suspicion, especially from young Clara, who was hiding behind her mother.
"I dislike those gazes, Pixie," Calista commanded, and with her words, the pixie, who had been hiding behind the bed, rushed out.
"Argh, what is that?" screamed someone in confusion as the pixie flew around the room causing a pixie dust to fall upon everyone's head. Those who were exposed to the sparkling dust look into the air as if mindless, and within a minute, all of them stood still in the same manner.
While the pixie carried out her task, Calista glanced out from the window.
"Since I have Pixie with me, I don't need to remain cautious for long. But this is not enough. To regain my former dignity and power, I must do something... Still, I wonder what happened to Ezekiel."
In the dark night, she saw the stars glistening in the sky. As she looked at them, thoughts of future possibilities passed through her mind.