“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—"
Shortly after the death of Simon Bailey, the public address system was activated once again for another important message to the Church of Enlightenment.
Despite their boiling anger and rage, most of the followers still miraculously paused their conflict to listen attentively to it, hoping to get any positive developments on the situation.
However, the message did not come from the Elder, the man that they had expected to hear. Instead, it came from a girl, someone that a few of the newer followers were not fully familiar with, but one that struck a chord with the older people, the ones who had regularly heard her voice before.
“Dearest followers and friends of the Church of Enlightenment, my name is Renare Akatawa. I was a former member of the Church’s Elite Circle, and I am sending this message out to all of you to give an update on the recent events that took place just now, involving certain people of interest that were mentioned in the previous message that was sent out.”
“…”
In the midst of fighting their persistent aggressors off, with several injured casualties scattered around them, both Dauma and Blake promptly stopped alongside the followers as well, before immediately looking at the loudspeaker that was the closest to them as soon as Renare’s message began.
“First, it is with great regret that I must inform you of the passing of our leader, the one and true Elder. He fought hard for the glory and success of the Church during his tenure, but unfortunately, he eventually succumbed to evil forces himself and has sadly taken his own life. May he rest in peace.”
“Hold on a second… didn’t I—” Blake began to object loudly, but he was quickly shushed by Dauma, who proceeded to point towards the dense crowd that surrounded them.
“This can’t be happening…”
“The Elder… is dead?”
“What… what do we do now?”
As expected from such a revelation, the news had immediately generated strong reactions from every single follower of the Church, with many of them taking and dealing with it in vastly different ways.
For the followers who had not been incredibly attached to the Church in the first place and had only joined the rowdy crowd due to the shared mob mentality, they did not feel particularly upset by the news, but they were still lost and confused as to what they should do next, having been following the Elder’s orders despite not objecting to them at all.
However, for the majority, the ones who swore to serve the Church and the Elder no matter what, they did not take it as well as them. As a result of the distressing development, they had violently adverse reactions to it.
Many of them chose not to believe it at first, believing it to be a trick orchestrated by the enemy forces who opposed the Church, but as more time passed, and they eventually realized that it was true, they could not figure out how to cope with the fact.
Some lashed out at others that they felt somehow contributed to the Elder’s death, with them going as far as to use extreme violence and prejudice in their own judgement, while a few, mostly those from the Elite Circle, simply gave up and left everything behind in their delusional hope of rejoining their deceased leader.
In the days following Renare’s announcement, their dead bodies would be discovered lying on the beds in their private rooms, all dressed up in their official Church robes, looking up towards the ceiling and holding their hands in a prayer position.
Written letters addressed to the Elder would also be found in their rooms, and all their contents would concur with the viewpoints that he had, in a blind insistence that he was the only person who was right.
“That’s our cue, let’s fucking go!”
“Yeah, I know.”
However, at the moment, they were all frozen with shock and grief at the news, which therefore allowed Dauma and Blake to sneak away from them as Renare’s message continued.
“Before he died, he told me to pass on a message to every single one of you, one that he insisted must be heard. He said that, when he had delivered his previous message earlier, he made a mistake in identifying the evil forces that were plaguing the Church. It turned out that… Brother Simon Bailey… was the one who had influenced him and the Church negatively, and that he… was the one who had ordered the execution of Sister Anten and her companions.”
“…”
While the broadcast had several unusual breaks and pauses that threatened to give away the fact that the whole thing might not have been entirely accurate, the followers themselves were not in a mentally stable position to distinguish what was true or false at that point, and they just took it as is without any serious objections.
“Because of… Brother Simon’s… treachery against the Church, he was eventually stopped by the combined efforts of the Elder himself and Sister Anten’s group. The Goddess’ Gift, which he held in his possession, has been deemed to be the source of all the corruption, and has now been handed over to Sister Anten for the time being, such that she can cure its negative influence and return it to us at a later date.”
“Hurry the fuck up!” Blake hissed at Dauma as they quickly made their way out of the crowd and towards the wall of the compound that led back to the outside wasteland.
“I’m surprised that you aren’t going to fight the Church anymore,” Dauma raised his eyebrow and responded with mild sarcasm and surprise at his urgency.
“Well… I don’t want to waste my strength on some nobodies, that’s for damn sure. I have better things to do.”
“Sure…”
“As the Gift is now currently no longer in our hands,” Renare kept on speaking, “that means that we cannot receive its power at the moment, and therefore I urge everyone to be careful and not be reckless. However, while I am aware that this sounds bad, we must still believe in the future of the Church. The last thing the Elder would have wanted is for his followers to lose their faith.
He told me that this incident may have affected our Church in ways that may be unfixable, but that it also highlighted everyone’s resolve and dedication, and for that, he is eternally grateful.
The most important thing from this is that we cannot let this tarnish our reputation as a sanctuary for the lost and a place of hope. We must continually strive to be better and learn from the mistakes that have been made, that is what he wants from all of us.
So please, let us follow in his wisdom, and make sure the Church survives even without his presence to guide us. Therefore, I say this to everyone, I urge you all to believe in faith!”
“…”
As the message finally ended, leaving the followers hopelessly confused and yet making some of them slightly hopeful at the same time, Dauma and Blake swiftly and quietly scaled the wall at the same time, leaving the Church behind them as they headed back, towards the meeting place that they were originally supposed to wait at in the first place.
“Wait, what about the angel and the spirit?” Blake asked as he ran along the sand, aiming to get as far away from the compound as fast as possible.
“They’re fine. I just received word from them that they’ll be coming out to join us soon. Until then, we keep moving,” Dauma gave him a quick reply in response, and he grunted in acknowledgment.
“Hm, I see. They better come soon then.”
**********************
“Click.”
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Once she had finished her message, Renare switched off the microphone before turning her head back to face Anten and Yuu, “I think that just about covers everything. Is that good enough for you guys?”
“Yes, I think it is. Thank you, Sister Renare,” Anten stepped forward and kindly replied. Slowly, she gave her a comforting smile, the best she could muster up, before her face grew solemn again.
“I’m sorry that I forced you to do this, and I’m sorry about Brother Simon, I really am. If there’s anything I could do—”
“You’ve done enough already, Sister Anten,” Renare assured her, “I don’t think anyone could have done a better job than you at stopping him, and I greatly appreciate that you at least made him go peacefully. So, for that, I am grateful to you.”
“But… are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be? I didn’t get to say goodbye to him, but if he was happy in the end, I am also happy. And also, there’s no reason for me to keep dwelling on the past. What’s done is done, and no matter what happens now, I will always remember him forever.”
“…”
Despite the outward confidence she seemed to exude, Anten was still not convinced by her words, but before she could express her doubts out loud, Yuu cut in with her small voice, having reverted back to her normal form once again.
“… angel lady… I think we need to go…”
“Sister Yuu is right,” Renare quickly nodded in agreement, “I don’t think my message has fully convinced everyone that you are not a threat yet. It might take a long while for them to trust and get used to you again, so it’s probably a better idea that you two leave as soon as possible.”
“… I guess so,” Anten reluctantly replied as she looked down at the Belief Particle, the orb that she had obtained from Simon and that was now being safely carried in her hands.
As she silently gazed at the soft white glow of the orb, the thing that had caused all of them so much trouble, she carefully raised it up to her left breast, where it promptly tied itself into a neat silver bow before automatically attaching to her clothes. Once that was taken care of, she sighed gloomily before talking to Renare again.
“Sister Renare…”
“Yes, Sister Anten?”
“…”
Without saying anything else, she tentatively began to approach her before bringing her hands outwards to encompass her entire body. In response, Renare, who understood the gesture, quickly did the same action, and the two of them hugged each other tightly.
“Thank you… for being so understanding, Sister Renare,” Anten whispered in her ear, her voice choking a little with her pent-up emotions, “I will miss you.”
“Hey, at least you’ll always know where to find me,” Renare replied in her usual neutral tone, though she could not fully hide the slight teasing inside it, “I’m not going anywhere else anymore. And who knows, maybe when you come back, I can recommend you more books, and you can tell me about any new dreams you have.”
“Heh, I’ll hold you to it then.”
“…”
Yuu watched in silence as the two of them continued to hug each other for a few more moments before separating, with Anten proceeding to firmly pat Renare on the shoulder with a warm smile.
“See you around.”
“You too, both of you.”
With that, Anten and Yuu left Sister Renare and subsequently the Church of Enlightenment behind as they moved on, with another one of the eight Particles finally in their possession.
While they had not parted on good terms with most of the followers, and they had a lot of regrets that were left over, they still left with the slight hope that, perhaps without the strong influence of both the Elder and the Particle, things over there might change for the better.
After all, even if strong beliefs and faith could not be easily changed, a simple change in perspective and understanding could still go a long way in shifting them for the benefit of all.
**********************
Before the message had ended, another group, one much more sinister than the Apocalypse Cleaners, had also taken it upon themselves to quickly vacate the Church compound as well.
Determining that they had no more purpose by staying in a leaderless, chaotic and most importantly Particle-less place, the Paradise Enforcers had rather unexpectedly called it quits and ran at the first opportunity, completely ignoring the needs of the desperate and panicking followers.
After they had considered the fact that they had already lost a couple valued members of their platoon over the past two days, and that their original purpose of overseeing the handover of the Belief Particle was already complete, they saw no further logical reason to keep doing their job in managing the rowdy crowd.
And so, the soldiers swiftly marched out of the compound in separate groups before they all subsequently reassembled on another spot in the wasteland for the comprehensive debrief.
“Hoo… that’s better…”
Once the head count was done, and no one was left unaccounted for, the commander of the platoon quickly removed her helmet, nonchalantly revealing her face to every person present, though since they had already known her before, her action was not surprising to them, even if her action was unwarranted for a soldier of her position.
The commander, a tall and toned beauty with facial features that appeared to be come from Asian descent and her body marred with numerous battle scars, exhaled sharply once she was finally free of the suffocating helmet before she turned and glared at her soldiers with a deathly gaze.
Under her withering look, the entire platoon quickly stood at attention, unwilling to move a muscle or even speak out of respect but also fear as they waited for her to swiftly punish them.
“My soldiers,” she finally spoke commandingly as she began walking back and forth along the platoon line, “my soldiers…”
“Yes, Commander Li?” the platoon all shouted together at once, doing their best to highlight their unison and loyalty to her as a unit despite their concealed collective shame.
“I have to say, I am very disappointed with you all after what happened at the Church. Not only did everyone neglect what they had learnt, but none of you even worked together to overwhelm the enemies! That is truly unacceptable!”
“…”
“Of course, I understand that we had been given orders to observe the angel and devil and see how they respond to threats, but that is still no excuse to slack off on your duties! Otherwise, why would three of our beloved comrades have fallen to them? You have let them down, you have let me down, and as a result we have all let the Supreme Commander down!”
“…”
“Hey, you! What do you think you should do in this case now? Huh?!”
Singling out a soldier at the front, she stopped before him and barked her question directly into his face, causing him to involuntarily flinch before focusing all the dedication he could muster to her.
“T-to plan a solid and decisive counterattack before hitting them back, Ma’am! I mean, Commander!”
“Hm. That is a good plan… but that is not what we have to do!” she pursed her lips and slowly nodded, speaking thoughtfully before violently smacking his head and raising her volume again.
“…?”
“Listen up!!” she ordered, “this is important, so everyone here better pay attention to what I’m about to say! While we may have failed in looking out for each other, we did not fail in our main objective! Therefore, we will not be going after the angel’s group and launching a counterattack, but instead, we will return to Paradise and deliver the update to the Supreme Commander! After that, we will strategize our next moves accordingly! Do you all understand?”
“… yes, Commander…”
“I SAID, DO YOU ALL UNDERSTAND?!”
“YES, COMMANDER!”
“Excellent.”
Surveying the platoon to ensure that no one was acting out disobediently or had any other ulterior motives highlighted by their idle behavior, she gave them a satisfied smirk before putting her helmet back on, hiding her scarred appearance away from sight once again.
“Now, MOVE OUT!” she sucked in her breath before yelling, purposefully amplifying her voice to ensure it could be carried out of her helmet and to all her soldiers and that they could all hear it.
“YES, COMMANDER!!!”
As the platoon split into smaller and more manageable squads to ensure speedier movement as a group, they began moving off, fully determined to head back to the promised land of Paradise, with her understandably at the front and leading the whole way.
“On the other hand,” Li mused to herself with light amusement in her tone as she briskly marched along the sand, “I’m sure Supreme Commander Borra would be very pleased to find out that his pet project has grown stronger than before. Maybe, just maybe, he’ll actually pose a threat to us…”
While the Paradise Enforcers had not achieved the most ideal result this time around, they certainly had gained some unexpected but valuable information about their known enemies, information that they could definitely exploit for the future to come.
**********************
“There you are.”
After trekking in the wasteland for a short while, Anten and Yuu finally reunited with the guys, and the Apocalypse Cleaners convened once again, in the first moment of calm they had after the hecticness and crises that had plagued them over the last few days.
“Took you long enough,” Blake remarked impatiently as he immediately stood up upon seeing them, “did you get what you needed? Is everything good?”
“… yes.”
“You don’t sound so sure.”
“… she needs a while…” Yuu quickly covered for Anten, who was quietly looking away, still finding it hard to respond to him and the others with the same confidence that she had before.
“Join the fucking club, then. None of us had it easy either. Did you know how hard it was for me and the devil the past few hours, trying to avoid attention before the shitshow that happened with Brother… Brother… whatever the fuck his name was?”
“Although we did—”
“Zip it, devil. The important thing is whether or not we can move on from that infernal Church now. The winter storm is coming, and based on what happened, I’m guessing we can’t stay there either, am I right? So, we better find a place to hide out, right fucking now.”
“… it’s always nice talking to you, Mister Blake. You sure know how to cheer someone up,” Anten replied, her dejectedness quickly vanishing as she turned her head back towards him with an expression of visible irritation.
“Ah, don’t sweat it, angel. It’s what I do best.”
“… never mind, let’s go then,” she sighed before slumping her shoulders down again, motioning for the group to start walking before slowly bringing up the rear, dragging her feet along the sand.
“…”
Noticing her telltale silent disposition and quickly figuring it out, Dauma slowed down until he was right beside her. Taking a deep breath, he attempted to reach out to her in an effort to improve her mood.
“Is this still about Simon?”
“…”
“Look, what me and Blake did, it was the best thing we could do, considering that you didn’t respond to me for so long. I mean, it was almost a week! How could we not step in at that point?”
“…”
“But…” he paused for a moment before continuing, “I admit, what we did was still too rash. I should have trusted you. Who knows what would have happened if we hadn’t stepped in.”
“… no, it was right for you to step in, I think. We would have been in trouble either way,” Anten morosely replied to him as she looked up at the sky, taking in the view of the endless darkening canvas, “but in the end, I wasn’t the one who saved the day. It was Brother Simon and Sister Renare who did.”
“Huh.”
“Yup… I guess I can’t compete with them. They had a special bond, one that could have lasted forever… no one can change that. No matter what happens to us, I still want to protect these bonds as much as I can. We have to finish our mission.”
And so, despite still having weighted regrets in her heart, Anten kept moving forward, inspired and emboldened by the renewed belief she had gained from the Church of Enlightenment.