Chapter 458: Patrius

Eiro walked through the inn with a smile on his face. His armor was infused with subtle Holy Energy to make sure he gave off the vibe he was a paladin. And slowly, he approached the man that James and Krog had seen earlier, that priest that had approached them on his own.

"Excuse me?" Eiro said with a smile on his face, "I heard you are a venerable priest."

The middle-aged man looked up at Eiro and nodded his head without a moment's hesitation, "Indeed so! Are you interested in the words of the gods?"

"As I think is rather clear, I am." Eiro replied with a smile on his face. He made sure to mix his charisma-enhancing abilities into the chaos that he manipulated his mana with, so that the holy energy had an especially strong influence on this priest.

"Yes! It is clear you are a man of the gods!" The priest replied. At that point, it was rather easy to subtly manipulate this priest. Eiro made sure to talk to him for as long as possible, until it was time for the priest's evening prayer. At that point, he stood up and excused himself.

"It was wonderful to be able to converse with you, however, now it should be time for both of us to retreat to our chambers to pray." The priest said, "It was an honor to meet you."

"Ah, I have a bit of a better idea." Eiro said in response, turning his head toward the window, "Should we not take any chance that we can to be closer to the gods? Praying here while the cathedral is in view seems like more than just a waste, does it not? One might even call it an insult to one's faith."

The priest raised his brows and looked out of the window as well, before slowly nodding his head, "You are right. It was suggested to me not to walk through town on my own, since my escorts are currently busy, but not only you but you and your lady's escorts seem quite powerful. If you not mind, I would like to come along with you."

"Of course, that would be perfect. However, you must be aware beforehand... While I tried to protect it, I lost my sigil of the order during a battle with a wicked demon, so I am afraid I would not be able to get inside the cathedral on my own. Would you mind using the influence of your sigil to get us into the cathedral together with you?"

"Oh, of course! Do not worry, you are clearly a man of the gods, there is no way I would not take someone like you along with me for our prayers." The priest said with a smile, "However, in that case, we must leave now, or else it will be too late for our prayer."

Eiro slowly nodded his head, and followed the priest as he turned his head toward James, Krog and Jess with a light smile. The three of them were unsure how easy this was going to be, but surprisingly, Eiro had been able to convince this man more than just easily. For now, everything was working out perfectly.

The group of five made their way through the streets, being greeted by the guards and the people living there, and before long, they reached the cathedral.

The guards standing outside quickly checked the priest's sigil, and the priest asked the guards to let Eiro and the others into the cathedral with him. And so, they easily managed to get inside. However, the moment that Eiro stepped into the cathedral, he made unholy energy flow through his body from a small unholy object that he was hiding in his hand to fight off the holy energy that hit him when he entered the church.

Obviously, the holy energy coursing through this building was extraordinarily strong. It was a cathedral in the holy capital, after all. So even if it didn't manage to particularly injure Eiro, it might still end up slightly burning his skin, causing him to give off smoke. And seeing someone's body suddenly start to smoke the moment they stepped into a church was something rather suspicious, so Eiro wanted to stop that from happening by any means.

Eiro followed the priest through the cathedral, since he seemed to have been here before, and they soon found themselves right in front of the altar. Of course, for now, Eiro had to make sure that he went along with it, although the holy energy became stronger and stronger the closer they got to the altar in the front.

Slowly, the priest kneeled down in front of the steps leading to the altar, and Eiro did the same in preparation for the start of the distraction.

He pressed his hands together as he knelt there, slowly removing the gemstone from the ring he was wearing, and prepared to give it to Sarius according to the plan. However, before that was possible, something else happened. Something that Eiro really hadn't taken into account, since it was something that was simply impossible to take into account.

He slowly raised his head, since he sensed something that shouldn't be happening right now. This church was one that prayed to all of the gods that aligned themselves with the good, but there was really only one central being that they focused on. The other deities had smaller shrines set up along the walls of the cathedral, but at the heart of this structure stood the altar to one particular god.

The God of gods, the father of all, Patrius.

That god had a statue standing there right in front of Eiro, on the other side of the altar. And that statue's connection to the wall that was holding it up slowly cracked into pieces. Overall, the whole structure that made up the statue began to crack around its joints, and it became suddenly animated. It took a step forward, crushing most of the altar underneath its heavy feet, as the being that controlled the statue looked down at Eiro.

"Who art thou?" It asked, and Eiro stared back confused. Its very voice burnt in his ears, and when Eiro looked around, the rest of the world really just seemed frozen in a weird way. If he tried looking to the other side of the cathedral, it all just faded away into nothingness, as if Eiro wasn't really there anymore.

"My name... is Eiro Jura Daemonherz." The Demon said, feeling compelled to reply. 

The being glared back and spoke once more, its voice starting to really hurt Eiro's ears, "Why art thou in my halls, Demon?"

"What, is there some kind of rule that says Demons can't be religious?"

"But thou art not."

"...So? Listen, we both know that... whatever you are, you aren't going to kill me. That's not really in the style of you big guys. So what do you want?" Eiro asked, wanting to just get away from whatever was going on here as quickly as he possibly could. The being that controlled the statue looked back at Eiro and stayed quiet for a few more moments, until it finally replied.

"I am not planning on slaying thee, Demon. Thou art a creation of the gods' hands as well. However, thou in particular art the antithesis of our being. Rather than 'Why', my question meant 'How'? What brought thee to this place?" The being asked. And while Eiro wasn't sure if his ability worked on a literal god, it seemed to him that they were telling the truth.

And so... Eiro told his story. He didn't know how long it took to do so exactly, since his mind was simply wandering away as he did so. But soon, he finished, telling every detail of his life to this deity, and they both sat there for a while in silence.

"A demon on the path of righteousness, raising a child that received our blessings, hoping to bring order to this world... Do you understand that what thou art trying to do directly opposes our divine plans?"

"...Yes, I do. But there's a reason why I have these abilities that will allow me to do that. And since the gods don't, can't, and won't step in, there is nothing you can do against it." Eiro replied immediately and in a blunt tone. The god in front of him that was controlling the statue simply chuckled.

"That is under the assumption that we even wish to intervene. Do not worry, Demon... this is a plan established millenia ago. Long before the current state of the world. While we are powerful, we are by now means able to see every detail of the future of this world that thou live in. Even if thou shall choose to rule over this world with the new powers thou will attain, that is what the creatures living in this world have caused through their own actions." The deity explained to Eiro, "This conversation was quite entertaining, however. I thank thee, Demon. Nay... I thank thee, Eiro Jura Daemonherz."

And just like that, the statue turned around and pressed its body back onto the wall, fusing into it again. The world around Eiro turned back to normal as time started flowing again, and Eiro was sitting there trying to suppress the possibility of himself going up in flames with all his power. He felt sick, as if he was going to throw up right here.

The Demon pushed himself off the ground and pressed his hand to the side. He didn't care if anyone saw him do it, there wasn't any need to be subtle about it anyway. Sarius took the gemstone into his hands and absorbed it into himself, taking the power of that tiny holy spark and letting it flow through his being for a bit of a show.

Meanwhile, Eiro just started walking through the cathedral, waving at the others to follow him.

"Huh? Eiro, what's going on?" James asked confused, but Eiro still couldn't speak after all that. He felt simply overwhelmed.

After all, he just spoke to the one divine being that was the most reclusive of all, that even other gods weren't able to freely speak to.

He spoke to the mightiest god of all, and he sanctioned his plan to overthrow the system bringing chaos into this world.