Book 3: Chapter 18: Real Appearance
That was certainly no ordinary lightning for it to be able to penetrate the Popeâs domain and strike his body.
Lilith smelled an extremely familiar aura on it. It was the same aura that had caused her to experience countless sufferings. The pain it caused Lilith was second only to the changes in her physical body.
The lightning contained the laws of the gods, and it definitely came from those two b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲y goddesses.
At the same time, Lilith was giving the Pope a strange look. She could tell that he was a high-ranking figure from the church at first glance. Yet, he got turned into charcoal by his own goddessâ lightning. Just what did he do?
The Pope also wanted to ask the same question.
Ever since he became the Pope, he had been prudent in every action and diligent in his work. Even if his work had no merit, it was still hard work. So why did he get struck by lightning?
Why did he get struck by lightning?
A thought suddenly flashed across the Popeâs mind and he remembered the oath he just swore a few minutes ago: âOâ Goddess in heaven, the 132nd Pope of the Luminous Theocracy swears that he shall never do anything bad against Theaâs friends, Lilith and Sae. Otherwise, I shall be struck by lightning.â
Could it be thatâ¦
The Pope snapped his head back and saw Thea staring at the two blasphemous villains with her eyes wide in disbelief.
âTheaâ¦theyâ¦â
After a moment of silence, Thea nodded with reddened eyes. âThey are Lilith and Sae.â
The Pope felt a burst of anger stuck in his chest as he struggled to breathe.
âB-But how could they do this kind of thing? They rescued me before and werenât even bothered by my constitution. Not only that, they treated me⦠like a friendâ¦â
Thea fiddled with the hem of her skirt as her voice grew softer in volume. After all, seeing was believing. The two friends she had just made destroyed the Goddess statue, which was a symbol of her and many other believersâ beliefs.
The more she thought about it, the sadder she got. She then started to sob quietly.
Lilith leaned closer to Sae and whispered, âHey Sae, I think we made Thea cry.â
âDonât get me involved in this. Lady Lilith, Thou were the one who did all this alone.â
âEhhhh, donât sweat about the details. I feel bad to actually make Thea cry.â
âThis is my first time hearing that Lady Lilith would feel bad about something. But I think this isnât the time to talk about this. We should seize the opportunity and escape now. Even if this old man canât do anything to us, I am sensing many other powerful presences approaching quickly.â
Sae looked up at the sky and continued, âI donât think any good will happen when that thing above our head falls.â
It was a huge meteorite falling down from the sky with a bright tail of light.
âWhy do Theaâs mood swings always invite disasters like a falling meteorite? This is getting old.â Lilith exclaimed with the red flame in the sky reflected in her eyes.
âMaybe itâs because there is no other commensurate disaster to happen on the ground. Wait a minute. How can Lady Lilith still calmly talk about boring things like this here?!â
âItâs not a boring thing. Isnât life like this? When you put together countless seemingly boring things, you end up finding it rather interesting as a big picture. This is why Iâll never miss any things that are seemingly boring but are actually not.â
âRegardless if theyâre boring or not, we wonât be able to continue living without them.â
âRest assured, I just took out the demigod ranked spatial scroll, [Origin Annihilation], that mother gave me. If they dare to force us any further, we will bring them down along with us.â
âThat doesnât assure me at all! It just means that weâll still die!!â Sae exclaimed in distress.
A light flashed across Lilithâs eyes. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly picked up the now severed head of the Goddess statue and walked toward Thea.
The Pope seemed to be on alert, but didnât do anything. He was just putting his guard up in case Lilith tried to do something against Thea.
Lilith handed the Goddessâ head to Thea. âBelieve it or not, this was only an accident.â
Thea stared blankly at Lilith with her reddened eyes.
âSince this statue was made by the Goddess herself, then it should be restored if you put this back in place right?â
Thea nodded to her.
Lilith smiled at her. âThatâs a relief. Iâm sorry to have caused trouble and even made you cry.â
While saying that, Lilith bowed to Thea deeply as Sae looked at them like she had just come home one day and discovered her entire family dead. âIâm sorry.â
âEh⦠Y-You donât need to be sorry. Since it was an accident, Iâm sure the Goddess will definitely forgive you.â
âIâm relieved to hear that. But since Iâve made a mistake like this, I am too ashamed to stay here any longer.â Lilith patted Thea on her shoulder. âYou should stop crying too, for the sake of those that have to stop the falling meteorite for you.â
âYeah.â Thea responded while forcibly squeezing back the tears that were going to fall.
âWell then, Iâm leaving now.â Lilith waved, then turned around to leave without any reluctance.
âUmmâ¦â Thea suddenly called out to Lilith. âAre we⦠still friends?ân/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
âOf courseâ¦â Lilith turned her head slightly then smiled gently at her. âWe will be friends forever.â
âAlright, friends forever!â Thea finally couldnât hold back her tears that came out like streams of waterfalls. The sky turned brighter and brighter. The experts from church who just arrived on the scene had no choice but to soar into the sky to stop more falling meteorites.
Lilith left without looking back, under the sky full of falling meteorites. She went back to Sae and woke her up with a slap on her back. âWhat are you zoning out for? Letâs leave quickly.â
Sae shuddered all over, then closed her gaping mouth. âOh.â
Seeing Lady Lilith apologizing was probably the most frightening thing sheâd ever seen ever since she awakened.
A ripple in space opened up and a spatial door appeared out of thin air.
Since it was a random spatial scroll, no one knew where the door would lead to.
The Pope hesitated for a long time, and finally gave up the idea of stopping them from leaving. After all, they were Theaâs friends.
âAlright, you go first.â
âHuh?!â Saeâs hair was suddenly standing on its end. Every time Lady Lilith was running away, she was always the one bringing up the rear. So why was she asking her to go first this time?
She glanced at the Goddess statue next to the spatial gate. Could it beâ¦
Before Sae could ask, Lilith had kicked her into the door.
âDonât dawdle!â
Lilith dusted her hands as the smile on her face grew twisted.
She already had the broken sword in her hands.
How naive of you to think that Iâd leave without accomplishing anything! I, Lilith, am someone who doesnât give up until I reach my goal!
Before anyone at the scene could even react, Lilithâs hands turned into two afterimages as she swiped the Goddess statue across her chest.
She stored the two chunks of items that she just sliced off into her Storage Ring, then turned around. The corner of her lips curled into a smile as she gave the tens of thousands of believers in the Luminous Theocracy, the Pope and the saintess a middle finger.
âTake a good look at the real appearance of your Goddess.â