Thump!
Thump!
In the incredibly silent corridor, Adam stood in front of a plain wooden door, his heart pounding like a drum.
Suddenly, a slender leg shot out and kicked the door open.
Bang!
The already old and fragile door couldn't withstand the force of the kick. It immediately slammed off its hinges and crashed down the stairs.
The leg belonged to none other than Archbishop Amelia.
Adam was dumbfounded.
'Ma'am, you always appear so graceful and composed, but… damn, you're so fierce. Is this what people mean when they say someone's soft on the outside but tough on the inside?'
"Stick close to me." Archbishop Amelia's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
Adam quickly pulled himself together and stepped closer to her, walking alongside Alya.
As they made their way down the stairs, Adam silently thanked the villa's designer for making the staircase wide enough for two people to walk side by side.
It saved them the trouble of deciding who should take the middle or rear as he and Alya could simply stay next to each other without worry.
After all, walking in the middle would've meant losing sight of Alya, and if she were to be possessed by a Wraith, he'd likely be the first to suffer the consequences. On the other hand, staying at the back of the line poses no less risk.
He had to stay constantly alert for whatever might be lurking behind him. Who knew if a ghost, or something worse, was planning a sneak attack? He'd heard enough stories of fellow Inquisitors who met their end that way, so he felt fully justified in his anxiety.
The walk to the bottom took less than ten seconds. As they reached the final step, Adam couldn't help but glance at Archbishop Amelia.
The basement was pitch dark. There were lamp fixtures along the walls and ceiling, but none of them held bulbs. The entire space was swallowed in shadow.
He was waiting for her to illuminate the place.
It might've looked like he was relying on her too much, but in this situation, it was the smartest choice. A flashlight had limited range and left blind spots. Archbishop Amelia, on the other hand, could light up the entire space effortlessly with her power. It saved time, effort, and left no corners hidden.
Just then, Archbishop Amelia's golden eyes began to glow faintly. A second later, every empty fixture flickered to life, casting a clean white light across the room.
To his surprise, the basement didn't look nearly as sinister as he'd imagined. The walls were looking recently painted white. There were common household items scattered about—kitchenware, a few paintings half-covered by white sheets, a water heater, a furnace, intact furniture, and cabinets lined with bottles and jars filled with liquid.
As the light filled the room, he heard faint, distant cries echoing through the space. But when he looked around, there was nothing there.
"Is that… an infant crying?" Alya, who had been silent for a while, finally spoke up.
Adam was about to respond, but Archbishop Amelia beat him to it. "Yes. Many infants were once living here."
"Once?" Adam caught the word immediately.
The Archbishop nodded. "The cries you just heard came from their Phantoms. They died long ago. Thankfully, we arrived before they could evolve into something more evil, that'd be a total disaster for the people in this neighborhood."
"Who would be twisted enough to kill infants?" Alya said angrily. She couldn't wrap her head around the idea that someone could consciously be killing something as innocent as babies!
"In mysticism, there are those who believe newborns carry a spark of divinity, having just entered the world from the void. They think harvesting enough of that divine essence can make them gods. Others believe that because babies are pure, their hearts, untainted by sin, are suitable ingredients for certain rituals."
As Archbishop Amelia said this, her eyes narrowed slightly, as if something had just clicked into place in her mind.
"That's sick," Alya snapped.
"How could anyone be that cruel?"
Adam gave a small laugh. "If those heretics are willing to burn down an entire village just for the sake of gaining favor from Hell, what's killing a few infants to them?"
"Anyway, it's basically impossible for you to comprehend their actions. It actually worries me if you can understand their reason because it means, you now share the same brainwave as them."
While chatting, Adam and Alya never stopped walking around the place, searching for any clues and anomalies.
But after a full five minutes of searching, they came up empty-handed.
"Doesn't look like there's anything here," Adam muttered.
Alya didn't respond, but the look on her face told him she felt the same.
They both turned their heads at Archbishop Amelia, seeking her opinion.
The latter only response was. "Close your eyes."
Alya and Adam hurriedly closed their eyes.
Archbishop Amelia's eyes turned mirror-like, reflecting the basement around her.
But instead of showing the clean, well-lit room she, Alya, and Adam had seen moments ago, her reflection revealed something else entirely.
This was one of the powers granted by her Blessing of the Angel of Light.
Eyes Of Truth.
This ability allows her to see through lies, illusions, concealment, tricks, deception, and anything meant to hide the so-called truth.
Through her Eyes Of Truth, she saw some parts of the white walls were now stained with dark red liquid, like dried blood. Others were scorched with deep, black burn marks.
She looked down. The floor was gone, replaced by dark, murky water. She couldn't see through it, but countless wrinkled hands reached up from below, clawing toward them. Strangely, the hands passed right through their limbs, as though they existed in different forms of reality. Despite their closeness, they are unable to make contact with each other. Even so, prolonged exposure and contact might trigger abnormal changes.
Things that were originally impossible will become possible.
Thus, it's better to finish off the hidden danger as soon as possible rather than leaving it just as it is.
Archbishop Amelia narrowed her eyes. After a moment, she brought her hands together in a prayer gesture. A pair of large white wings spread from her back.
She wrapped the wings around Adam and Alya, pulling and shielding them as they kept their eyes tightly shut.
Angel Embrace.
Without pause, she summoned a spear of pure light, glowing with holiness and radiation.
Sacred Spear.
This time, she didn't throw it like before when she'd killed a Wraith. Instead, she drove the spear straight down, just outside her wings, into the floor, or rather, into the dark, murky water below.
The spear pierced the surface, striking the strange river that was both liquid and solid at the same time.
Plop!
Then, the Sacred Spear erupted in a burst of brilliant light.
Boom!
For the second time that night, the sun appeared.
Even though Archbishop Amelia did everything she could to contain the explosion, the building still vibrated violently. The walls quaked under the pressure, and the rusted, fragile parts of the structure gave way, collapsing under the force.
Even though she was deep in the basement, where no light should have reached the floors above, the light from the sun penetrated through the ground, flooding the entire villa with light of holiness.
Outside, the people in the neighborhood—still restless from the earlier flash of light—were once again stunned by the sudden, radiant glow.
And across their minds, the same thought echoed:
"What in heaven's name is exactly going on?"
Back in the basement, the light and explosion caused by the Sacred Spear wiped out the murky, dark water in an instant. The wrinkled hands vanished too, following the absence of the murky, dark water as if they'd lost their anchor to this world.
Across from her, the charred white wall at the far end of the room began to dissolve, slowly revealing something hidden behind it: a pair of smooth, silver doors with no handles, standing silently in the center.
"You can open your eyes now,"
Alya felt as if she'd been hypnotized, and Archbishop Amelia's voice was the snap that jolted her awake from the nightmare.
She hadn't seen what happened—her eyes had been shut the entire time. Unfortunately, that only sharpened her other senses.
The deep vibration beneath her feet, the blinding light bleeding through her closed eyelids, the acrid, sulfur-like scent that stung her nose, and the chill that crawled across her skin like phantom fingers—all of it told her something terrifying had just occurred under that one stressful minute.
She forced herself to breathe evenly and opened her eyes slowly. Instinctively, her gaze shifted to her side. Adam was there, eyes open too, but his expression was unreadable.
Alya looked away and turned to Archbishop Amelia, who stood before them, looking pristine and holy in her white robe.
'How is she still so clean and unharmed after everything that just happened?' Alya wondered, a mix of awe and envy stirring in her chest.
She's truly powerful...
At that moment, Alya genuinely wished she could be like her, even a quarter of her strength would be enough.
"Let's head inside,"
'Head inside? Where to?'
Alya didn't have time to dwell on the question. Archbishop Amelia was already leading the team toward the far side of the basement, where a pair of silver doors now stood.
'I swear there were no doors here when I checked this area. So how are they here now?'
Alya frowned, puzzled.
As if sensing her thoughts, Archbishop Amelia spoke calmly. "There are many kinds of deception in this world. The moment you think you've seen it all... that's when you're most blind."
Alya felt like she understood the phrase, and didn't, at the same time.
"Is it an illusion?" she asked, uncertain.
"You can think of it that way,"
Alya nodded and didn't ask anything further.
She waited for Archbishop Amelia to open the door, but after a moment, she realized the archbishop looked stunned.
Glancing at the archbishop's side profile, Alya saw her staring intently at the silver doors.
'What's she looking at?'
Curiously, she drew her eyes over at the silver doors, and her eyes immediately widened in surprise and astonishment.