After fleeing his own fan cult (which should not be a sentence anyone has to say), Kazuki and Team Catastrophe did the sensible thing: immediately walked into another holy city.
This one was called Velharyn, a religious capital built around a giant obsidian cathedral with statues so old even the gods probably forgot who they were supposed to be.
Kaelith: "Let's just lay low. Get supplies. No shrine nonsense."
Kazuki: "That's what I said last time, right before I was offered a crown made of live snakes."
Darin: "I liked those snake guys. Real party energy."
Inside the cathedral, it was... tense.
Dozens of pilgrims. Priests in gold thread. A massive statue of the god Lareth, a deity of prophecy, fate, and not being interrupted during sermons.
Kazuki stayed in the back, hoodie up, trying to look like "just some guy" and not "The Vessel of Apocalyptic Time Collapse."
Then it happened.
The statue turned to face him.
Not metaphorically. Physically rotated.
[System Alert: You are in a place of divine resonance. Your Echo Signature is destabilizing latent miracles.]
Kazuki whispered, "What does that mean?"
Mistral, perched on his shoulder, whispered: "It means this building's about to freak the hell out."
The statue blinked.
Then bled.
From the eyes. From the mouth. From the forehead, which shouldn't even have capillaries.
Screaming ensued.
A priest yelled, "HE HAS TAINTED THE SHRINE!"
Another: "THE VESSEL IS HERE! HE BEARS THE CURSE!"
And one guy, absolutely panicked, threw an entire chair across the room while shouting, "HERESYYYYYY!"
Kazuki, backing away: "It wasn't me! I haven't even touched anything yet!"
Vera pulled out smoke bombs from somewhere. No one questioned it.
Kaelith started firing warning shots. Again: no one questioned it.
Darin was riding a pew like a sled, whooping and yelling "CULT ENERGY!!" while a monk tried to stab him with a candlestick.
Mistral sighed. "This is why we can't have holy things."
[New Trait Acquired: Desecration Field (Passive)]Your presence may trigger divine anomalies. People are going to get very uncomfortable.]
Kazuki yelled, "I AM SO TIRED OF GAINING NEW ABILITIES THROUGH CRIMES!"
They escaped out the back window.
Mostly intact.
Kaelith: "We are now enemies of at least three organized religions."
Darin: "Four, if you count that goat shrine."
Vera: "That goat shrine deserved it."
Kazuki, dragging his bleeding foot: "Can I just once go into a town without breaking theology?"
Mistral: "You're a walking heresy. Accept it."
The system pinged one last time.
[Cycle Shift Detected. The gods are no longer neutral.]
Kazuki blinked. "Wait. They were ever neutral?"