Chapter 181: h.e.l.l For Only One
Vincent recognized the mental state of this middle-aged man rather easily. As a former priest from the Church of the Dome, he had seen all types of believers.
The type before him now was clearly a true fanatical believer of the Church of the Dome.
A zealot that would sacrifice everything including his life for the faith.
This sort of person wouldn"t believe anything bad said about the church. Even if a mountain of evidence was placed in front of his face, he would still insist that it was all the work of heretics trying to undermine the church.
Vincent had already taken this into consideration when he pulled people into his dream on a large scale. However, he hadn"t eliminated these people from the process, for there was a different purpose for them.
One, it was to let them report this to the Church of the Dome and eventually draw the snakes out of the cave.
Second, and more importantly, it was to get these naturally rich resources to come on their own accord and add l.u.s.ter to the missionary activities of the Sun Faith.
This fanatical middle-aged man was going to become the perfect example for displaying the sun"s might to would-be true believers.
In fact, Vincent"s expectations weren"t just met, but were even exceeded considerably.
The middle-aged fanatic pulled open his coat to show the roll of explosives strapped to his body.
Everyone in the room was startled and those nearest to him immediately moved away.
Explosives, of course, were a terrifying weapon to ordinary people.
"HAHAHAHAHA... Death to all apostates! Only the Moon is eternal and wise. Only the Church of the Dome can be the savior of us all! All of you can repent in h.e.l.l!"
With a pleased look on his face, the crazed fanatic pressed the detonator.
BOOM!
An ear-splitting sound erupted, quickly followed by a fiery glow as fierce flames filled up his vision.
At the same time, a tremendous heat and intense pain swept over the fanatic’s body. He could clearly feel his skin scorching and how his flesh and blood were being seared.
It hurt the most for him because he was in the center of the blast. This excruciating pain even made him feel a tinge of regret.
But the fanatic was filled with a great sense of joy and satisfaction when he thought about his contribution to the Church of the Dome.
At the same time, his hatred and contempt turned into a sense of triumph—
These apostates actually think they can do harm to the church. What fools they are!
The middle-aged fanatic gave a silent hysterical laugh. These apostates...
With his remaining eye that hadn"t yet melted, he wanted to see the expressions of the others suffering and wanted to see those apostates screaming in the flames.
However, the middle-aged man was dumbfounded, his eyes widening in shock before turning into despair.
These apostates...
Beyond the flames, those people were looking at him with confused and shocked faces. But... it wasn"t from being caught up in the explosion and neither did they seem to be in any pain.
They were just watching plainly.
Why are they just watching?
The middle-aged man was puzzled, but half of his body had already been destroyed in the flames. His brain could no longer support rapid thought and his sluggish mind couldn"t comprehend the meaning of this.
His last look of this world was at the face of the person closest to him. An ordinary man that had been seated at the same table was watching him with surprise, relief... and pity?!
The middle-aged fanatic finally realized that for some reason he was the only one caught in this explosion.
Whatever flames that clouded his vision were the flames on his body.
The scenario he imagined of destroying the apostate stronghold in one fell swoop didn"t exist. All this while, it had only been him consumed by the flames.
Everyone else was simply watching!
This was indeed h.e.l.l, but it was h.e.l.l for only one person... Him.
The fanatical zealot suddenly collapsed, his consciousness fading rapidly as all he felt was pain.
The church he believed in didn"t protect him, nor would it gently guide his dead soul to the dark side of the moon to await a quiet resolution. Everything was false.
"Ahhhhhhhh!!!"
The broken figure in the flames let out a final shrill cry of despair before being reduced to ashes.
Vincent gradually clenched his outstretched hand. At the same time, the invisible force containing the flames gradually shrank, eventually completely extinguishing the fire and disappearing into thin air.
Annie clapped her hand to her move, eyes wide open with shock at witnessing this scene.
Most of the people around her basically had the same reactions.
Only a few seconds had elapsed from the moment this middle-aged man revealed his explosives to blowing himself up and being reduced to ashes.
But everyone had seen the rapidly spreading flames forced inward, burning only the middle-aged man himself, without even so much as a spark escaping.
Those continuous explosions contained within that small area were mind-numbing to watch.
A whole, living person was gone in the blink of an eye.
And the source of this power was naturally Father Vincent who had only just let up.
Vincent looked around and said, "Alright, we can now officially begin this gathering."
"Wait, Father. What... What was that just now?"
Someone picked up the courage to ask this question.
Vincent replied gently, "Just as you saw it."
Soft murmurs went around the bookstore. Father Vincent had healing and exorcism powers, but this was clearly different from before. This intense, forceful power didn"t seem like something the moon possessed.
That meant to say, Father Vincent"s apostasy was true.
And whatever they had just witnessed proved how dangerous it was.
It wouldn"t only be those fanatic zealots, but the Church of the Dome would act as well.
"Please quieten down." Vincent was very patient. "I know that all of you have many questions. I"ll explain.
"First, the dream. I can safely say that it was something that truly happened, I experienced it personally..."
He went on to recount the entire affair of the Church of the Dome"s usage of Holy Moon Essence to control the clergy as well as the attempts to silence him.
At the same time, Claude displayed the evidence to show the veracity of the matter.
Father Vincent had a high level of professional ability and his sincere explanation was sufficient to convince 70% of those present.
Vincent took this opportunity to spread the words about the Sun"s Faith, and with the prior "miracle" and Mu"en"s naturally infectious nature, told them that it wasn"t wrong to believe in the Church of the Dome"s, just that this belief was wrong, arising from a false G.o.d that had stolen power.
The minds of all present started to buzz with the new information.
Annie turned over blankly and saw the excited look on her friend"s face.
"Athena, do you believe this?" she asked with slight hesitation.
"Of course I do!" Athena was intently gazing at Vincent with an odd expression on her face. She rubbed the sun badge on her sleeve and muttered, "I thought there was no longer anyone in this world that still believed in the sun..."
"Huh?" Annie didn"t hear it properly and blinked several times.
"I know that the majority of you here are ordinary folk and I"m very grateful that you all have chosen to believe me. I won"t be forcing you if you choose not to join as well," explained Vincent in his gentle manner.
"Of those willing to stay, I"ll choose ten amongst you to be apostles of the Sun"s Faith. You will each receive a portion of the Sun"s power, which means to say, you will become a transcendent being."
The people in the bookstore exchanged glances and hesitated.
At the same time, outside the book cafe, "Blood Curse Mage" Zuikaku with his corps of 50 magicians floated in the sky. Aetheric power was gathering together, forming individual sigils that converged into an array.
"Sea of Blood - Impurity Descend!"
Zuikaku had a cold glint in his eyes. This was nearly a Supreme-rank attack which would surely kill everyone in the book cafe.
The red-robed magician with a sheep-skull mask held his hands aloft, and a torrent of billowing vicious blood formed a sea of death with glimpses of limbs, eyeb.a.l.l.s, and tentacles whilst a huge shadow swam beneath.
Whoosh!
A huge decaying claw emerged from the b.l.o.o.d.y sea, its front split into two appendages, with sharp claws on either. Countless squirming tentacles grew out from the rotting flesh, followed by a pale arm covered with black fur.
This limb pressed towards the book cafe with an irresistible might.
Wham!
There was a dull crash, but the image that Zuikaku envisaged didn"t appear.
The claw was obstructed right in front of the book cafe.
A silver mechanical arm had grabbed the end of this limb, holding it back with such force that the fur on the limb had been ripped away.
The sea of blood churned furiously and seemed to release a howl of pain.