526 The Mystery of the Angel

When Mia spotted the kitty plush toy, her heart lurched. Had that angel killed Lulu and taken the plush toy — a parting gift she had given Lulu — for itself?

Mia instantly considered taking revenge, but she held back. On second thought, it did not make sense for an angel to be that interested in a mortal's unremarkable plush toy. After Mia had calmed down, she looked at the angel again and realized that she looked a lot like Lulu.

However, the difference in their countenance was like night and day. The angel was nothing like Lulu, who was quiet [1], easygoing, and girlish; instead, the angel was imposing and exuded a holy aura, which could make any mortal that gazed at her feel ashamed. Mia stared at the glowing angel, whose eyes were blindfolded, for some time; only then did she realize the angel was actually Lulu, a dear friend she thought the world of.

"Lulu!" Mia cried, unable to contain herself. "What happened to you?!"

Without waiting for a reply, Mia made to fly towards Lulu, but her braid was pulled back hard, causing her to scream. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Owww!"

With tears glistening in her eyes, Mia quickly turned around and saw an ashen-grey suit of armor hovering behind her. It seemed to have been there for a while, and it did not look happy. Although the suit of armor had no face, Mia could sense the fury bubbling beneath its metal plates.

Mia immediately hung her head, unable to make eye contact. "M-Mr. Hope…"

"Hmph!" Baiyi's snorted coldly. "I'm fine with handling this bizarre incident first, as all the feather dusters I would need have already been prepared."

When Mia heard the word 'Feather Dusters' — not 'Feather Duster' — she almost burst into tears. Baiyi flicked her forehead with his finger before she could cry out. "Are you at all concerned about the ruckus your actions will cause?"

Mia blinked back her tears and looked around her. She could feel faint ripples in the air all around her; it was camouflage magic. Mia realized that this magic had prevented others from noticing her, despite her earlier outburst. Mr. Hope had long since covered for her.

"Tsk. This is really troublesome. Do you have any idea how Lulu managed to become an angel? Or, why an angel would choose to take after her in appearance?" Baiyi quietly asked.

Mia shook her head sideways.

"Has she ever acted strange when you two were together?" Baiyi asked. "Did she possess any faith-based belief?"

Mia shook her head again.

"When you two said goodbye to each other, did you notice anything different about her?"

Mia shook her head sideways again.

"Is there anything about Lulu that makes her stand out from everyone else?"

"She's cuter than almost everyone. That's outstanding, right?" Mia replied, turning red in the face.

"Are you pulling my legs?! Damn it; what did the two of you do back then? Do you expect me to believe that a normal village girl just up and transformed into one of the most powerful beings in this universe out of nowhere? If just anyone can turn into an angel easily, I would have screwed over multiple times already!" Baiyi growled. "Also, what did you mean by 'she's cuter than almost everyone'? What scale did you use to measure? Is she supposed to be cuter than Attie or your Big Sister Dale?"

"I didn't mean it that way…" Mia mumbled awkwardly.

Baiyi snorted and turned his gaze to the plush tie strapped to the angel's waist. "Could that thing on her waist be the problem? Is it enchanted?"

"N-no. It's just a run-of-the-mill plushie that I made. The materials I used were all ordinary."

"This doesn't make any sense. Why would the angel hang on to an ordinary plush toy as though it was important to her? C'mon; think harder! There must be something special about it. What is it?" Baiyi urged, pinching Mia's cheeks hard as he did so.

"O-ow! I am thinking, Mr. Hope! S-stop pinching!" Mia whimpered as she tried to concentrate. Suddenly, Mia jumped away from Baiyi's fingers and exclaimed, "I remember now! Laeticia cast some theurgical spells on the toy a long time ago…"

"Why would she do that? Was she completely bored?" Baiyi asked. "Look, if she were that adept at magic, why did she not contribute her spells into that hammerhead shark plushie?"

"Well, she was adept, per se; back then, she just wanted a target on which to practice the spells that Uncle Joel had taught her. Sometimes, she used us for training, too, and other times, she used our belongings. As Sharkie was already filled with Uncle Joel's powerful theurgical spells, Cia could not use her novice spells on the hammerhead shark plushie, so she opted for the kitty plush toy, instead. That was, like, a very long time ago."

Realization dawned on Baiyi. The effects of theurgical spells — especially highly advanced ones, such as 'Word of God' — on humans was short-lived, but on inanimate objects, the effects lasted for an indefinite amount of time. This was the reason why the Church made blessed talismans for its devotees.

In other words, this angel must have been attracted by traces of advanced theurgical magic on that kitty cat plush toy.

'How ironic. Had Mia not gifted Lulu that toy, her best friend would not have suffered this fate!' Baiyi thought, shaking his head slowly.

He immediately shoved those thoughts aside and beckoned Mia over. "We'll go a little closer and see."

Baiyi wrapped his arms around Mia and began to descend rapidly, intent on inspecting the scene more carefully. Mia nestled her head against Baiyi and looked down at the kowtowing crowd, after which she said something inaudible.

"What are they doing?"Mia asked a moment later.

"Performing a mass."

"But, I've seen Cia do it before, and it did not take this long."

"Masses in the future are a simplified and shortened version of its ancient counterpart. A complete pass begins at dawn and ends when the sun is about to set."

"That's a really long process!"

"Because the Church believed that nothing showed sincerity more than the beginning of a devotee's day. It is, however, plain stupid to waste the most meaningful time of a day on a meaningless activity. Your Uncle Joel used to be such a sucker."

Mia nodded quietly and secretly felt glad that it was not her that transformed into an angel. Mia turned her attention back to the winged being and said, "Mr. Hope, do you really think Lulu had transformed into an Angel?"

"If those Church folks in the Void did not fool me, then it sure seems that way," Baiyi replied. "According to the Church's Scripture, angels radiate light. As the messengers of the One True God, they spread his message like the sun. They are immaculate; they hover so that their feet are not soiled by the sins of the world. They are compassionate, so they blindfold themselves so that they don't despair over the suffering of mortals. Our friend here fits every description."

There was one last detail that Baiyi did not mention. This was something he had learned from the Shadow Walker. Angels usually took over the body of mortals if they wished to appear in the world. They did not descend with their real bodies. This also seemed to have happened to Lulu.

"At least, the angel is a maiden, who is easy on the eyes, not some over-muscular bear of a man with washboard abs and thick body hair," Baiyi murmured.

There were still many questions that remained unanswered. It was still unclear why the angel had chosen Lulu — Baiyi suspected the kitty plush toy to be the reason for this — and why it had chosen this time to appear. After all, in this era, God's Grace faith had not been founded yet! Furthermore, the only place an angel could be summoned from, Coninopolis, was destroyed by the Emperor a few days ago. No one should be able to bounce back from such destruction in just a few days!

Isythre was currently being invaded by demons, and Baiyi was sure that the proud angels would not want to descend into such a corrupted realm.

It was a pity that Baiyi was tossed into the past unwillingly before he could ask Umbra for some intel. Now, he did not know exactly when the first angel descended to the world. According to Rohlserlian history books, angels should have appeared only after the Empire fell.

Unfortunately, this unforeseen appearance could throw a wrench in the plans that Baiyi and the Emperor made. They had planned to annex Coninopolis, taking control of a location that would one day become the base of their future enemy, the Church. By doing this, they could start shaping the Church right from its infancy. The Church would remain a force for good, but behind the scenes, it'll be controlled by the Voidwalkers.

This angel's unannounced arrival put their plan out of action before it could even be enacted.

A thought crossed Baiyi's mind, causing him to come to a sudden stop. "Don't tell me… She knew what I did, so she came?!" He groaned.

Mia did not hear all of that, so she asked, "What's that? She came because of you, Mr. Hope?"

If Baiyi was one to interpret every innocent comment into innuendos, he would have replied, "Of course, she calls me daddy." However, he was not that type, so he lied. "Oh no. I just thought that this mass was missing something..."

A youth wearing a white robe walked towards the center of the square. He looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years of age, but his countenance was one of solemnity as though he was much older than he looked.

The townsfolks did not stand up, but they did turn their heads to look at the youth. They watched him walk to the center of the square and stop beside the hovering angel.

"Well, well, well. How can we have a mass without a bishop?" Baiyi murmured. When he saw where the youth stopped, he sneered, "Boy, if you dare raise your head and look there, I swear I'll dig those eyes out!"