The stench of mildew was overwhelming. No one knew how long this abandoned church had been left to rot. The damp, moldy wooden floorboards let out shrill creaks beneath their steps.
"Arnold, are you sure it's fine for you to be up front?" asked Ren.
"Don't worry, senpai! In this kind of situation, of course, a guy should take the lead—to protect the senpai I respect the most, Aisha-senpai!"
"Then good luck with that." Miles had, of course, chosen the safest position.
In horror stories, the two most dangerous spots were always the very front and the very back of the group. The front risked door kills, corner ambushes, and other in-your-face jumpscares. The rear risked being struck from behind or even vanishing mysteriously without a trace.
So, naturally, the one covering the rear was the reliable third-year senpai, Irena.
"Demons, begone Demons, begone"
Muttering some strange incantation while waving her wand, Irena barely managed to conjure a dim light in the darkness of the church.
The interior of the abandoned church was vast but barren. Apart from decayed, broken pews, only the massive crucifix at the center stood out. Through the cracked and hollowed roof, starlight fell upon the giant cross, giving it a strangely eerie yet sacred glow.
"Astar, are you sure that nauseating malice is really in this church?"
"Ugh—!"
He was already vomiting. So a soul really could throw up.
"My sense is never wrong. That filthy, ugly malice… it's practically carved into this place, nailed onto that cross."
"Nailed onto the cross? I've only ever heard of Jesus being nailed to one."
Instinctively, Miles fixed his gaze on the starlit crucifix. For an instant, his vision blurred, and he saw the illusion of a blood-drenched corpse nailed upon the holy cross.
"Driven by the nails of fate."
Suddenly, a voice chanting scripture echoed through the hollowed church.
"Until from our breast, from pole to pole—"
"The tricolored rainbow encircles the snail, awakening the world."
The solemn, noble voice recited like a hymn, as though narrating the god nailed to the cross who still spread infinite love for mankind even in death.
"Who's there!" Arnold, at the front, shouted toward the source of the voice—behind the crucifix.
"Such rare guests. To visit my long-abandoned church… surely you too will become the Church of the Old Dominators' most faithful believers."
From behind the cross walked out a man in priestly robes. His features were handsome, his bearing composed.
"You're… an Old Dominator?" Miles asked in surprise.
He had thought zealots of cults like this would all be hideous and deranged lunatics, shouting about burning heretics or how their brains were trembling.
Yet, this man, eyes half-lidded with a calm smile, looked confident, elegant, divine.
Clutching a thick Bible, a silver crucifix hung from his chest. His pale, clean face, almost delicate like a woman's, was accented by a golden monocle—a symbol of intellect.
If not for hearing the words "Church of the Old Dominators," Miles might really have mistaken him for a diligent priest who had stayed behind in the ruins of a forsaken chapel.
Closing the scripture he had just been chanting, the man introduced himself.
"Allow me to present myself. I am a cardinal of the Church of the Old Dominators, Yog-Tos. I have come from afar, offering this body to guide lost souls. And you… are my first guests."
"A cardinal!" Irena gasped. "No way! How could a cardinal be this young? I thought people in that position were always old men."
"Senpai, is a cardinal really that amazing?" Ren asked curiously.
"Put it this way: in the church hierarchy, cardinals are second only to the pope himself, equal in rank to high priests."
"Then this guy's basically the Old Dominators' number two?" Even Arnold, who lived in the Western Kingdom and knew a bit about them, had never seen one of their cardinals before.
"Don't be fooled by his looks, Miles!" warned Astar's voice in his mind.
"This man is the very source of the malice. I've never seen a soul so filthy and foul… it's like the abyss itself, evil wrapped in human skin."
"Got it."
Of course, he wouldn't be swayed by appearances. No matter how handsome someone was, no way they could fool him. And even a beautiful onee-san wouldn't trick him either. To deceive Miles by looks alone, you'd at least have to be a 3000-Attack Dragon or Xyz Machine.
Besides, the first thing Miles had noticed was the Spirit Eyes wrapped around the man's arm.
Cardinal or not, divine or not—on the Spirit Continent, dueling reigned supreme.
"Have the lost souls grown restless to tread the path of salvation pointed by God?"
Perhaps sensing Miles' fighting spirit, Yog-Tos opened the thick scripture again. As he rapidly flipped the pages, cards tucked between them slipped forth one by one like magic.
Seeing this, Arnold steeled himself and activated his Spirit Eyes.
"Let me take him on, Aisha-senpai!"
But Yog-Tos ignored his challenge.
"Stand down, Tower Warden who has yet to master divine power. Your restless soul still has far to go before redemption."
He slowly raised his arm, pointing directly at the Millennium Puzzle on Aisha's chest.
"The intricate Key of Souls lies closest to the Old Dominators' salvation. You must also hold it, don't you—the power of God, Aisha Carlos!"
"So you really are after the God Cards?"
Just like Camille had said, no matter how calm and composed this cultist looked, his ultimate goal was still the Egyptian God Cards.
"Seize them? No. The task of the clergy is ever and only salvation. To free you from faith in a false god, I will show you the deity truly worthy of your devotion."
As he drew out his deck, the thick scripture in Yog-Tos's hand shattered into fragments, scattering like snow. Amid the fluttering pages appeared a single card—
Just like The Winged Dragon of Ra, it bore the divine attribute.
[The Wicked Eraser]
...
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