Extra's Perfect Ending

Chapter 156: All in one place

Hearing the familiar voice, Reeva turned his head, momentarily losing focus on climbing the stairs. There, he saw Theia’s face—and then two more familiar ones. One he would never forget: the female lead of the Legend of the Divine Twig. And lastly, Brent—the betrayer. The one who likely shattered his circle.

"Why are you here? I told you not to come if this happened!" Reeva shouted, his frustration clear. The last thing he needed was more baggage, especially Theia. He couldn’t bear the thought of her getting hurt in this chaos.

The priest beside him glanced over.

"You know them?"

Reeva grimaced. "My sister... and two people from the Royal Academy."

The priest raised an eyebrow. "You have rather... peculiar connections. Is she a mystic too?"

"No," Reeva replied, doing his best to sound convincing. But he knew the priest wouldn’t fully believe him.

The priest paused, his eyes narrowing slightly before he decided to drop the subject. "Could they help?"

"Without your domain protecting them, they’d be useless. They wouldn’t last more than a second before succumbing to the pain."

The priest nodded curtly. "Then we’d better hurry with your plan."

There was no time for hesitation. But just as Reeva was about to move forward, the corner of his eye caught more movement at the entrance. His head snapped back, and his heart sank as he saw Theia and her group entering the blood-filled room.

Their faces instantly contorted in pain. But before they could collapse, Onia acted. She summoned her spectral tiger, and in a quick motion, had everyone in her crew mount the beast.

Reeva blinked in surprise. In his initial assessment, he hadn’t thought it would work—but after a second of consideration, it made sense. The spectral tiger, being a spirit-world entity, wouldn’t feel pain like those in the physical realm. Reeva’s own body, when in the spirit world, didn’t feel pain unless imbued with mystic energy.

The tiger, being a summoning from the spirit world, likely had no mystic energy in its body that would interact with the blood’s corruption.

But he still didn’t understand why they had come into this cursed space.

"Penu! Get out of here, before things get worse!" Reeva shouted, using the fake name to protect their cover.

"We can’t!" Theia yelled back, urgency clear in her voice. "There’s a priest chasing us!"

"What!?"

His head snapped toward the entrance just as another group of priests arrived. Their faces were twisted in disgust as one of them pulled out a relic, similar to the one the priest beside Reeva held. They cast their spells before entering, the Sun God’s domain radiating around them.

"What in God’s name happened here!?"

Plutus’s voice boomed through the room as he stepped in. It wasn’t just the foulness of the place that shook him—it was the sight of a priest’s corpse lying nearby. His eyes rose toward the altar, where both Reeva and the priest stood.

"Domiel! What’s going on!? And what is that demon?"

Reeva glanced at the priest again, a middle-aged man with a thick brown beard. Domiel looked back at Plutus, his expression unreadable, clearly struggling with what to say.

"We need to subdue this demon!" Domiel’s reply was brief—there wasn’t time for anything else. The domains were clashing, and Hilda’s domain wasn’t fully formed yet. If it were, they wouldn’t have been able to get this close to her.

"Then we’d better use God’s Judgment."

"What? Can you wait a second!? This mystic here has a better solution!" Panic slipped into Domiel’s voice. Using God’s Judgment would be a death sentence for all of them. His faith wasn’t strong enough to sacrifice himself for the greater good.

"Domiel! It’s my call. Father Theodore entrusted me with God’s command! My word is absolute!"

Plutus was resolute. He had made mistakes before, and hesitated when it mattered most, but now he was a man of conviction. He wouldn’t let himself falter again. This was the only path that would save the church and everyone here. The demon needed to die, and it needed to happen now.

"Ready the artifact!" PLutus order the priest.

"..."

Domiel’s head throbbed. His faith was wavering. He had been recruited by the church for his combat skills, his ability to lead, and yes, because he believed in the Sun God. It had been his faith for as long as he could remember. But he wasn’t ready to die for it—not now, not like this.

"Plutus! Killing a priest of the Sun God is not permitted by the church!"

"If there’s good reason, the Pope will understand!"

Plutus’s resolve was unshakeable now. No words could reach him. Behind him, the other priests began chanting, their faith far stronger than Domiel’s. They were prepared to die for this. Seeing their fallen brother had solidified their purpose. The demon had to be executed.

God’s Judgment usually required hundreds of priests to cast, but with only thirty, it would be weaker. Still, it didn’t need to be as destructive as its full form. The divinations had said this much power was enough.

The priests’ bodies began to burn with holy fire as Plutus led the chant. His skin took on a pale yellow hue as the Sun God’s power poured into him through the divine artifact.

Reeva’s heart raced. This wasn’t part of the plan to save Hilda.

Why are these priests so ready to die!?

He already knew the answer, though: faith. Faith was a dangerous thing when it was unshakable. It could drive people to do anything.

"Peru, help me stop them!"

Reeva’s voice was desperate as he turned to Theia. They needed to stall for time before he could reach Hilda. He wasn’t sure what would happen next, but it would be better than getting smote by divine judgment.

"Yurdle the turtle, the one who rules over what he sees."

Theia nodded, her voice echoing through the room. There was no time to waste. If she didn’t act now, everyone here would be dead.