[Vol. 8] Chapter 70: This… This… This Can't Be Right

A voice echoed from the peak of the world, an ancient divine voice. It clearly showed Her unquestionable power as a god, and the noble and pure will She carried.

[I say this, even divine blessings are not given for free. There is cause and effect. What you receive is a return for your devotion, not something given without reason. Every word you’ve spoken, I have heard clearly.]

When these words were spoken, many people who had begun to doubt the meaning of their hard work, after seeing the overwhelming power of the god with their own eyes, suddenly felt alert and ashamed.

They realized their faith still needed to grow stronger. They also noticed that the glowing lights in the sky weren’t randomly falling on everyone. Some received a lot more, while others got only a little. And most non-believers didn’t receive any at all.

Realizing what this meant, realizing the goddess’s power truly matched the legends of all-knowing and all-powerful, the faithful began to look toward those who had received more light with new respect and surprise.

Because many of them weren’t high-ranking members of the Church. And at the same time, not every person with status and power in the Holy Empire received special blessings from the goddess.

All fake appearances vanished in that moment of divine arrival. Many people couldn’t help but feel shocked deep inside.

It wouldn’t be surprising if the Church’s internal structure went through a major shake-up soon. The Goddess was clearly sending a message.

‘Before facing true disaster and crisis, the “insects” inside must be cleaned out. Under the light of the divine, all evil and lies will be swept away.’

How holy!

As the center of the Church, the pope Edwina and the Three Saintesses, along with most of the elite members of the temple, of course received the goddess’s generous blessings.

But they, especially the Pope and the three Saintesses, were born with much higher ability to connect with light elements. Their minds were strong, and they understood the divine better than anyone. So although they received blessings too, they didn’t lose control like the common believers.

Sweeping her thoughtful eyes across the crowd, the Holy Knight drew her sacred sword and placed it tip-down to the ground.

She looked up. The figure of the god, glowing with holy light so strong it was almost too bright to look at, was now fully reflected in her calm golden eyes. Her gaze remained peaceful and full of loyal faith.

“Everyone, silence!!!”

The powerful presence unique to the God’s Knight burst out, instantly calming the chaotic crowd. She softly opened her lips and respectfully spoke to the divine figure high in the sky.

“Welcome, Your Divineness, Goddess. I, Edwina Cecilia, the 14th Pope of the Goddess Church, together with the Three Saintesses of the Holy Empire, the Holy Order, the residents of Angel City, and all faithful across the world, greet you.”

“Following the divine message you gave us earlier, we have, within one month, gathered heroes from all over the world for the Goddess to choose a savior from. Now that everything is prepared, we ask you to guide us, tell us what to do next.”

Like a moment rehearsed a thousand times, all the believers, now fully aware of the god’s true knowledge and power, raised their voices together, so loud it seemed to shake the sky.

“Please guide us, Goddess!!!”

………………………………………

“Guide? Guide what now?! Can someone please guide me instead?! Just what is even going on right now?!”

High above the kneeling crowd below, Violet, floating in the sky, felt like ten thousand alpacas were stampeding through her heart.

Why did everything suddenly turn out like this?!

Let’s calm down and go over the situation again…

First of all, one thing was certain. Right now, Violet was above the Grand Church of Angel City, capital of the Holy Empire. She had been here many times before, so she could be sure of that.

This was definitely the real world, there was absolutely no chance this was some kind of illusion or dream.

That meant... there was only one shot at this, and if she messed it up now, she would be completely embarrassed for real, no take-backs.

Next, it was clear that the people below, who kept chanting about a “Goddess,” were talking about her. Even if she tried to lie to herself, this was a fact she couldn’t deny.

After all, aside from her, the only ones currently flying in the sky were probably those two little girls, Leila and Rene, and even they were now politely bowing their heads in her direction.

What the heck?!?!?!

This was seriously strange. Like, way too strange!

Normally, when someone came out of a Time-Space Rift, they should land in a place where the strength of their faith was the strongest. Miss Priestess originally thought she’d appear somewhere like the main base of the [Light Worshipper Church], or something like that.

But instead, bam! She was thrown straight into Angel City and right in the middle of this ridiculous huge event with everyone watching her like she was the star of the show.

Okay, fine, fine, let’s be real.

At the very last second before the teleport, she did hear some strange sounds. But she didn’t have time to think, she just grabbed on and hoped for the best.

Still, when she got thrown into the Time-Space Rift, Frederica and others had just left the Austre Empire’s borders. They should still be more than ten days away from the holy capital.

So... how in the world did she blink once and end up here?!

No doubt about it now, this was exactly the ritual that Sethlin had been preparing for, the one to choose the so-called “heroes”. And the scene matched exactly what Violet had talked about with the pope earlier.

Which meant... yes, two weeks had really passed.

This was the day of the “Goddess's Arrival.”

And she… was the poor, unlucky “goddess” who had been dragged here to do the job.

No wonder all those prayers she heard earlier kept shouting stuff like “The Holy Moment Has Come!” And that annoying Edwina girl, too…

All kinds of thoughts flashed through Violet’s mind. Then, she started to guess why she had skipped over those two weeks and ended up here on this exact day.

Just like Hen said before, inside the Time-Space Rift, time flows in a weird, random way. Maybe it felt like just a moment had passed in there, but in the real world, a lot more time might have gone by.

Even though she had left a backup plan in that void. The [Anchor of Time] to keep the priestess's time flow steady, there was still one big problem.

Where did the anchor point come from?

The Time-Space Rift had no concept of time, and Violet had used the faith as her “destination” to escape. But that also meant the faith pulling her out didn’t have to come from just one specific time.

The strongest, deepest, and most focused faith became like a lighthouse in the storm.

The [Anchor of Time] tried to bring her to a time close to her current one, but if one moment had way more faith than others, then being pulled toward that moment made sense.

And if we’re talking about the moment when the most faith came together, not just in the past few days, even in the past few years or few hundred years, nothing could compare to this Goddess Descent Ceremony happening right now.

That’s probably why she skipped two whole weeks and landed right on this day, the day the hero selection began, and accidentally took the place of a goddess that wasn’t even supposed to show up.