They didn't try to cuff me, why would they, beside I also curious about this world called Firania and decide to go with them.
Cathedral agents just opened the armored carrier door and stepped aside like they were clearing space for a natural disaster that could walk.
I climbed in on my own.
Halden followed last. He sat across from me—posture straight, his jaw tighten and gaze flicking between my face, my halo, and then away again like each glance carried a little too much heat.
Silence hummed between us as the carrier rolled.
After a minute, he said:
"You didn't command the Seraph to kneel."
"Nope."
"It reacted instinctively."
"Happens "
He swallowed.
"Then Firania's situation is… significantly worse than we understood."
I tapped my staff lightly on the floor.
"Not to be worried. You got lucky. I showed up."
He didn't laugh. I bet he tought I'm a bitch ass lol.
The Cathedral Directorate wasn't a religious building.
It was a warning dressed like one.
White stone armor wrapped around an enormous core of scripture-tech. Halo-rings rotated above the tallest spires like golden satellites watching every angle.
As we crossed the inner gate, agents stiffened—
not at Halden.
At me.
Some bowed without meaning to.
Some backed away two steps.
One dropped her weapon and pretended she meant to inspect it.
The atrium was a cathedral only in shape.
Everything else was war, the ceiling are
Holo-scripture drifted overhead like floating constellations.
Ancient breach footage looped on translucent screens.
Angelic silhouettes flickered in spinning rings—glitches of forms Firania hadn't seen in eight years.
A mural dominated the far wall:
THE FIRST BREACH — YEAR ZERO
Angels descending not as saviors—
but as cold geometry, dropping like verdicts from the sky.
Halden walked beside me, voice low.
"We thought angels were myths. Then the sky opened. Monsters poured out. Celestial constructs emerged. Neutral. Hostile. Sometimes protective. Never predictable."
He lifted his chin.
"And never obeying anyone."
"Until yesterday," I corrected.
His jaw twitched.
"Yes. Until you."
He led me down a spiraling lift into colder, quieter levels.
The air thinned.
Lights dimmed.
Walls shifted from stone to alloy to mirrored panels reflecting glyph-light.
We stepped into the central sanctum:
a circular chamber filled with floating diagrams, shifting code spirals, and fragments of celestial armor suspended in containment fields.
Halden gestured toward the hovering display in the center.
"This is what your 'monsters' truly are."
The code folded itself into a beast shape:
four arms, blade-like limbs, skull crown—
the same B-class creature I erased earlier.
"These entities aren't biological," Halden said.
"They're compiled. Written. Glitched. Corrupted dimensional law forced into physical form."
He zoomed in.
The symbols spasmed violently—lines twisting into impossible shapes.
"That corruption leaks into our world," he continued.
"It warps matter. Alters physics. Breaks causality. Every breach pushes Firania closer to collapse, Choirs suddenly missing or hiding "
I scanned the glowing code.
"How long until the world gives out?"
"Three years," Halden said. "Five if we get lucky."
I raised an eyebrow.
"the Choirs?"
His voice tightened.
"They are the entites who stablize breach point, ensure dimensional law doesn't colapse,deploy contracts as " patches " and remove corrupted anomaly."
"Silent. Eight years now. No contact. No descent. Only corrupted entities left." he continue to explain.
He didn't add:
Until a Throne-class knelt before you.
A siren shrieked—sharp, fast, escalating.
Halden spun.
"What now?"
A researcher called out from the upper deck:
"Director! Sector 12—micro-breach detected! Six entity signatures emerging!"
Halden cursed softly.
He turned to me.
"Benedict—"
I smirked.
"You want help?"
"…Yes. Immediately."
We reached the scene via Cathedral skimmer.
The breach flickered like a glitch—
a crack the size of a doorframe, pulsing with red-black flickers.
Six small entities crawled through.
Wolf-sized. Skeletal.
Bodies wrapped in burning corrupted glyphs. Their movements were too smooth, too wrong, like broken code learning how to behave like animals.
Responders had formed a barricade—shaking, sweating, aiming weapons that weren't strong enough.
I stepped forward.
[ Assesing Dimensional Breach Level Threat ]
[ Minor Dimensional Unit, Class E ]
[ Synchronizing Minor Sacrament ]
[ Lux Class Available, Synchronizing]
[ Lux Class Liturgy, Ready to Deploy ]
Halden reached for my sleeve—not out of bravery, but instinct.
"Benedict! These things can still perform dimensional hooks—"
I gently moved his hand aside.
"No worries. I'm not using a Sacrament for this."
He froze.
"…Then what will you use?"
"A spark."
I planted my staff lightly into the ground.
My halo dimmed for a moment—just a pulse.
A small red-gold glyph formed beneath my feet:
soft, slow, controlled.
LUX.
Light-class invocation, a Liturgy.
The entities lunged.
I whispered
"Lux Ignis."
A line of white flame-light climbed my staff like a living thread.
The air vibrated.
The creatures hesitated mid-lunge—
some primal part of their code recognizing the danger.
I continued softly:
"Sanct Igintia Salve."
The glyph under me expanded—
a crimson-gold ring blooming outward like a sun with quiet breath.
Responders staggered back.
Halden stared like he was watching someone reload a star.
I spoke the final word like a verdict:
"…Incendo."
White-gold flame burst forward in a thin wave—
clean, sharp, beautiful.
Just purification.
Each entity ignited from within.
Glyphs charred into dust.
Bodies collapsed inward and dissolved into glowing ash that drifted upward like dying fireflies.
Six kills.
Zero splash, and zero collateral damage.
The glyph faded.
My halo steadied.
Silence washed over the street.
A responder whispered:
"…that was your small spell?"
Halden exhaled shakily.
"What level of being," he whispered, "treats that as… maintenance?"
I wiped ash from my coat.
"Me"
Before Halden could speak again—
Something hit the district.
A pulse.
Low. And deep. Enough to rattle window frames and make dust drift from rooftops.
The breach flickered.
A second pulse followed—
cleaner, sharper, too structured to be corruption.
Researchers screamed through the comms:
"Director—new signature—unknown class—moving fast—hostile behavior detected!"
Halden stiffened.
"What—where—"
[ Dimensional Distortion Detected ]
[ Class: D+ ]
[ Threat Level: Manageable ]
[ Advisory: Engage at will. ]
Shadows shifted at the far end of the street.
Something larger stepped through.
I raised my staff.
"Well," I murmured.
"Warm-up round's not done."