Chapter 24 — A City of Masks
Victoria's First Job
Victoria learned quickly.
In this world, holiness meant nothing.
Money did.
After two days of wandering and sleeping in hidden corners of the city, she found herself standing in front of a small café tucked between towering buildings of glass and steel.
The owner, a middle-aged woman with sharp eyes but a gentle voice, looked her up and down.
"You need work?"
Victoria nodded.
"I can clean. Carry things. Learn."
The woman studied her washed but still old-fashioned gown.
"You'll need new clothes."
Victoria bowed instinctively—
then caught herself.
No bowing. Not here.
"…Thank you."
That was how it began.
She washed dishes until her hands blistered.
She wiped tables.
She memorized menus.
She practiced smiling.
And every time someone said, "Thank you," she felt something inside her repair itself.
No one knew she had once been worshipped.
No one cared.
She was just Victoria.
And for the first time—
That was enough.
The City's Secret
But the city was not as ordinary as it appeared.
Victoria began noticing things.
A man who never blinked.
A woman whose shadow moved half a second too late.
A child who looked ten—but whose eyes held centuries.
Once, while taking out the trash late at night, she saw two figures standing in the alley.
They weren't fighting.
Reality around them simply… bent.
Streetlights flickered.
The air warped.
Sound vanished.
Then it snapped back to normal.
The two figures walked away calmly, adjusting their coats as if nothing had happened.
Victoria's blood ran cold.
This world hides monsters.
Not demons.
Not angels.
Something else.
SSS-ranked existences.
And beyond them—
Unranked.
Living as mortals.
Wearing normal faces.
Running corporations.
Teaching in universities.
Sitting in cafés.
Watching.
Waiting.
This world was a cage disguised as freedom.
Max — The Hunter Under a New Sky
Five months.
Five months of breaking his body, his mind, his limits.
When Max stepped out of the red-moon world, he was no longer something that could be measured.
The air around him trembled—
not violently,
but respectfully.
He didn't storm into the modern world.
He walked.
Calm.
Silent.
And began hunting.
The first church cell he found was hidden beneath an abandoned warehouse.
The priests never saw him enter.
One moment they were chanting.
The next—
They were kneeling in blood.
Max stood before the last surviving member, eyes glowing faintly crimson.
"Do you know the whereabouts of Victoria?"
His voice was steady.
Cold.
Controlled.
The man shook violently.
"W-we don't know! The Holy Region was erased! She vanished with it!"
Max tilted his head slightly.
"If you know something," he said softly,
"your life will be spared."
Silence.
Tears.
"No… I swear…"
A pause.
"…Then your life has no value to me."
The room went quiet.
Again and again, it happened.
Different cities.
Different hideouts.
The same question.
"Do you know where Victoria is?"
The same answer.
No.
And so—
The Church began disappearing.
Not destroyed publicly.
Not bombed.
Just… erased.
One by one.
The Gods' Cowardice
In the higher realms, the gods watched.
They felt every priest die.
Every altar fall.
Every prayer cut short.
Did they intervene?
No.
Not this time.
The moment Max absorbed the full body of the Falling God, they understood something terrifying.
If they descended—
They might not return.
So they did what gods rarely admit to doing.
They stayed silent.
The Church, once their proud instrument, was abandoned.
Left to die.
No miracles came.
No angels descended.
Faith began to rot from the inside.
Almost Discovered
Back in the café, Victoria froze one evening as the door opened.
A man stepped inside wearing a simple black coat.
Dark hair.
Calm eyes.
Quiet presence.
The entire room felt heavier.
Not oppressive.
Just… aware.
He scanned the room casually.
Victoria's heart slammed against her ribs.
For one terrifying second—
She thought it was Max.
But it wasn't.
This presence was older.
Sharper.
The man's gaze brushed past her—
Then paused.
Just for a fraction too long.
Victoria lowered her eyes quickly, pretending to wipe a table.
The man smiled faintly.
Not kind.
Not cruel.
Curious.
Then he turned away and ordered coffee.
Unranked.
Her blood whispered the truth.
She wasn't the only anomaly in this city.
And somewhere nearby—
Max was getting closer.
The hunter had entered the same world.
And when predator and prey both move through a city full of hidden gods—
Something is bound to break.