Chapter 787 – Tournament of Oddities 22 – Going to Confession

Chapter 787 – Tournament of Oddities 22 – Going to Confession

“We’re not going to the hall today?” John asked, when Wendy led them towards the front exit. It was the second to last day of the challenges, and he was rather thankful about that fact. He almost missed the paperwork at this point. Spending every day wondering what insanity would await him wasn’t exactly de-stressing, despite the beautiful environment.

Especially this morning. He had spent the time from waking up until now wondering if he should use the Vision of Calamity again. Since the Quest had already given him a warning that there was something nasty coming his way today, knowing what it would be could have been advantageous. That he would have to sacrifice accuracy in his sight to gain that knowledge, however, made it a trade-off he wasn’t willing to take. Whatever he would be facing, he would face it whether he knew what it was or not. If he had to survive five minutes around it, a short vision of what it looked like and how it could harm him would do relatively little good.

Much better to keep his eyesight at superhuman levels.

“Nah,” Wendy answered.

“...Well, where are we going then?” John asked. “I’d appreciate it if you would at least tell me where you’re going to put me into life-threatening danger.”

“Wat?” Wendy responded in a memey way. “Today is going to be chill, dude, no need to be so paranoid.”

John raised an eyebrow and used Observe to verify that she was saying the truth. Nothing about her emotions indicated that she was lying, but otherwise the window was pretty nondescript. In other words, the Gamer didn’t get a confirmation either way. ‘Slightly frustrating, but Observe has never been the most reliant tool,’ he thought as they left the building.

Outside waited Vita, Moira and Lorelei. The presence of the seer served to somewhat calm John. If something incredibly dangerous would have happened today, she shouldn’t have been present. Unless, of course, that threatening thing was specifically tailored to him. John weighed his options again. If this was some sort of third-party involvement that threatened him, then using Vision of Calamity made perfect sense again.

‘But why would it be part of my Quest then?’ he wondered and decided to walk over to the two members of the Order of the Golden Rose. Before he expended any of his own resources, it was best to request some information from the person with actual foresight around. Alternatively, he could have asked Vita, but he didn’t expect to get anything more than a non-answer and a headache when he tried to confirm things with Observe. “Hey, ladies,” he greeted and got himself a surprisingly warm welcome by Moira.

Which only meant that, rather than stare at him like someone she considered changing the side of the road for, she gave him a patient nod. “A good morning to you too, John,” she said and then looked over to his entourage, “Rave, Aclysia, Beatrice, my greetings.” The maids were actually positively surprised, Aclysia much more so than Beatrice, that Moira had taken the time to learn their names and actually greeted them as well. In unison, they bowed.

“’Sup?” Rave asked in greeting and grabbed her boyfriend’s arm. “I notice ya aren’t keeping to some corner today.”

“We were assured that there would be no cameras,” the Shield Warden answered, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. Like usual, she wore her hair open and some practical summer clothes hid as much of her body as she could compromise with the heat. “Thus, there is no reason for us to hide ourselves.”

‘Wonder if that extends to our little seer here as well,’ John thought, devouring Lorelei with his eyes. The usual, ritualistic clothes were gone and replaced with a white summer dress with a pencil skirt. She had way more in the hips and backside department than he would have originally guessed. This type of dress was already cut to sit rather tight and her butt stretched that to the limits of what could have been comfortable for her to wear. He also got to see a bit more of her face, although that extra bit, her forehead, wasn’t exactly something he would call enticing. Her eyes were hidden between large, pitch black sunglasses and her braided hair was covered by an illusion, masking the white as platinum blonde instead.

Like almost always when John’s attention focused on her, Lorelei started to blush. Cutely, she folded her hands in front of herself, pulling her shoulders together and lowering her head. What was meant to make her look as small as possible made her breasts stand out tremendously, as they were framed and partly squished between her arms. There was no escaping from the Gamer’s lecherous gaze.

John opened his mouth to continue the conversation, but was interrupted by Wendy. “You can chat on the way. If you could follow us out of the barrier, then I would believe you have the very basic abilities of an Abyssal and half a brain.”

“Alright then.” The Gamer obeyed, and all of them left the barrier. Wendy and Vita marched ahead, one looking like a cosplayer and the other completely invisible to the public. “Where is Jeff, by the way? Did you tell him the wrong time again?”

“No, he said he didn’t want to bother tagging along for something he couldn’t commentate on. Can’t blame him, he was busy having a threesome with Nashara and some other slut,” responded Wendy swiftly, causing Moira to cross her arms.

“Fornicating with demons is tasteless,” the Warden declared.

“She’s just a bitch in permanent heat, that girl won’t hurt anybody.” The goddess of fast food stretched, clearly bored by that discussion. “No need to get your panties in a bunch and apply hammer diplomacy. I know, I know, that’s really hard for someone who is the exact opposite of delicate like a golden rose, but some things actually look better if you don’t flatten them with a weapon.”

“I didn’t say she was in need of purging,” Moira returned. “If you were allowing demons of clear malevolence to live with you, I wouldn’t be so courteous. I said it was tasteless.”

“Whatever.” Wendy waved off, leaving the Warden to pay attention to John again.

“To speak of tasteless things, I must say I was rather put off by the trial I first witnessed in person. Seeing you so eagerly have sex with a woman you barely know in front of your already considerable harem is not exactly behaviour I condone.” John could have interrupted her with a quip there, but he felt that there was a follow-up incoming. “However, your conduct during the last two challenges I, personally, found rather admirable.”

“Really?” John asked with a raised eyebrow. “I collapsed in one and spent like ten minutes inspecting a simple door in the other.”

“If you break it down to such simplicity, your actions seem pretty mundane or downright paranoid.” Shaking her head, Moira made it clear that she did not see it that way. “However, given what you collapsed in front of, I begrudgingly admire your resolve. The blessing the Lady has seen fit to give you has clearly made standing up to one of these void catssss-“ She reached up to her head and sharply exhaled. “One of those things even more challenging than for the average person. By the Lady, it’s like someone is distributing glass shards inside my brain.”

‘Okay, so Wendy seemed honestly surprised at the suggestion that there could be danger today, Observe was extremely neutral, Lorelei hasn’t seen anything for herself or me, but the Quest makes it pretty clear that there is something that I need to survive. The only connecting element here is Gaia... wait a second, could it be...’ He had spent so much time talking and pondering that he only now noticed that Wendy and Vita were already on the steps of a small church. “Is this where we’re supposed to go?” he asked, having an extremely bad feeling about all of this.

“Yeah, we’re going to make you do a confession,” Wendy grinned. “Can’t imagine you’re going to like that very much.”

“I wouldn’t, but I think something else entirely is going o-“ he started, only to be interrupted by a sudden change in the air, coinciding with Vita perking up and a window appearing in front of him.



The entire group was gripped by an irresistible force that not even Vita could neutralize. They were pulled into the church, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that space was warped around them so they suddenly found themselves inside the church. Whatever it was, they all landed at the end of the aisle inside the small hall.

It was barely big enough for 40 people, the benches lined up between a small number of columns that gave the hall that Christian faith charm in decoration and placement. A stained-glass window behind the altar cast light down onto the hallway.

“You always figure things out, don’t you?” Gaia asked, manifesting out of a momentary tear in space, directly in front of the large, wooden cross. The supernatural grip on the group faded and left them stand on their own two feet. “A tad too late today, however.”

The supreme deity hadn’t changed since John had last seen her on the morning after his birthday. A Mediterranean tan gave colour to the smooth skin of the relatively small woman. Her black dress was covered in ever-shifting lines of ever-shifting colours, three of the four strands of its skirt hovering aimlessly around her, just like the illogically curly, wild torrent of green hair. It was like her very own tornado followed the movements of her head.

The last strand that covered her modesty was pressed between her crossed legs, specifically her beautifully meaty thighs. Part of that truly divine ass of hers was visible through the slits of her dress, even more of it was visible thanks to the angle. It was the only ass in existence that John felt rivalled the one of his girlfriend. When it came to the chest department, she had more moderate equipment, which was a charm on its own. Her face was drop dead gorgeous, mostly southern European with slight Asian undertones. The green eyes with the two black circles, crossed by seven lines each, stared at him, waiting for a response.

“To be fair, I don’t usually make you a suspect in the things going on around me,” John said and pulled his shirt back into position.

“My Lady,” Lorelei’s voice was filled to the brim with veneration. “I-I... your radiance overwhelms even the snippets of your vastness that I perceived in my dreams.” Next to her, Moira didn’t even have words, simply falling to her knees like a knight before a king.

“Yeah, yeah, I get that a lot,” Gaia answered and smiled benevolently. “Not as much as I should, though, you’re a good girl, Lorelei.”

“Thank you, my divine Lady!”

“This next part isn’t for you though, so I’d ask you to stay put elsewhere. You can ask me that question burning under your nails over there.” It wasn’t exactly a request, as Gaia just snapped her fingers and Lorelei was gone as if she had never been there.

“I’m just going to assume you split yourself into two entities, given that you’re still here?” John asked the supreme deity.

“I’m omnipresent, I can be wherever I want at different or the same time,” Gaia confirmed the Gamer’s theory on the matter. Not that it had been up for debate. “Anyway, I decided to weigh in on this insanity you call a series of challenges.”

“Sounds like a bother,” John sighed.

“A giant bother!” Wendy echoed.

“You should be honoured to be tested by the Lady herself!” Moira reprimanded more intensely than she had ever before. “With what arrogance do you dare to dismiss her like that, you he-“

“Calm down, Moira,” Gaia interrupted, and the Shield Warden immediately fell silent. “This guy has never been much for respect towards me, he’s a lost cause in that way. Luckily, he’s also entertaining, so it’s alright. Not that I can say the same for grease queen over there.” Wendy would have possibly responded with something, but Gaia made a casual pinching gesture and the fast food goddess’ mouth was glued shut. “There is a misconception you have, however, Shield Warden. This isn’t just a test for the Gamer – I decided that you’re all due for a reality check.”

Golden light filled the entire church for a moment, then quickly began to coalesce into a shape. One that John had never managed to get a clear view on, but was now granted a lasting presence in the material world.

The angel was a woman, that much was clear. Although her body missed most details, the form of it was clearly feminine, a balanced hourglass figure with nothing about her immediately standing out too much. She clearly wasn’t completely present, her skin was of a metallic gold, radiated softly and overall reminded John more of a mannequin than a flesh and blood human. Her hair was a white streak between fire and water, less a bundle of strands than energy attached to her scalp. Only her eyes seemed human, verdant orbs, the same colour as Gaia’s and of life itself.

“Now then, Lucifrena, I have a task for you,” the supreme deity stated and exchanged a long glance with the angel. “It would be unbecoming for you to disobey, wouldn’t it?”



In answer, the angel sprouted six wings.