Chapter 159 — Haggai Sael
"What kind of mad scientist's offering is this…?"
Gideon stared at the indescribable mass of flesh before him—
a creature so misshapen he spent several seconds trying, and failing, to locate its face.
As if insulted by the scrutiny, the three abominations simultaneously spat jets of viscous dark-green fluid.
"Run! That stuff melts human flesh!" Caroline cried, yanking on his sleeve.
But Gideon continued frowning in deep contemplation.
"They can spit… so that must be a mouth, not a… well…"
The acidic spray splattered toward them at frightening speed.
Caroline squeezed her eyes shut, clutched her talisman to her chest, and braced for impact—
But nothing happened.
She blinked her eyes open.
A shimmering barrier stood between them and the monsters.
"A… ritual array?" Caroline gasped.
Three sacred artifacts lay arranged neatly on the floor—
yet together they formed a miniature exorcism circle strong enough to block the attack.
Only someone of archbishop-level power could sustain such a formation.
Ritual exorcisms demanded enormous amounts of holy power.
Below the rank of archbishop, very few clergymen possessed that kind of spiritual capacity.
"No wonder Archbishop Borha told me to find him…" she muttered, sneaking a glance at Gideon's silhouette.
Meanwhile, after a long internal struggle, Gideon finally decided:
He needed to test something.
"In Your holy name… please let that be the mouth," he prayed while tracing a cross over his chest.
He absolutely did not want to attempt Voice of Redemption on a creature's… other end.
"Hey! You."
He waved at one of the monsters.
BANG!
It charged in response, ramming against the barrier.
"You poor creature. Looking like this isn't your fault…" Gideon said compassionately, sitting cross-legged on the floor as if counseling a troubled parishioner.
Caroline's jaw hit the ground.
"He's… he's trying to redeem a demon beast?!"
Impossible.
These things came from another realm.
They didn't understand human language.
They shouldn't be able to.
No. No no no!
Caroline slapped her own cheeks.
This wasn't the time to question feasibility!
Who in their right mind thought about redeeming monsters?!
But then—
She witnessed the impossible.
The monster, once violent and frenzied, slowly… calmed.
Then it lowered itself onto the ground.
Caroline wasn't sure "sitting" was the right word—
but it definitely assumed a posture of submission.
A faint white glow spread over its body.
The suffocating evil aura began to fade away.
"This…"
Caroline's mind went blank.
She had grown up in the Vatican, had read countless ancient texts—
but never had she seen exorcism performed like this.
Meanwhile, a line of glowing text appeared before Gideon's eyes:
[Voice of Redemption +1]
He let out a relieved sigh.
The other two monsters, seeing their companion change, became enraged.
They turned to attack the redeemed one.
"Hey! Calm down. Aren't you all from the same place?" Gideon scolded them.
"Bruce, hold your brothers down. They also need redemption."
He had already named the first one.
The newly christened Bruce obeyed and restrained the other two.
A few minutes later—
All three had been thoroughly redeemed.
---
Later…
The group set off again.
Three hulking monsters lumbered ahead, clearing the path.
Caroline stared at the scene with a face full of disbelief.
During the next stretch of their journey through City Hall, Gideon continued planting sacred idols—
and recruiting every monster he encountered.
Soon their "squad" had doubled and tripled in size.
---
Meanwhile, elsewhere…
A young man in priest robes sprinted through a hallway—
two grotesque monsters hot on his heels.
"Damn it! I only grabbed two ritual components! Why chase me this hard?!"
He glanced at his map.
"There's an emergency exit up ahead! If I reach it, I can escape!"
Despite exhaustion, he pushed himself faster.
At the corridor's turn—
"This emergency door should be destroyed. In dangerous situations, you must ensure a viable escape route," Gideon lectured calmly as Bruce tore off the steel door.
Caroline nodded thoughtfully.
"So that's how you explain it so people don't think you're afraid of dying…"
Her eyes sparkled.
"I've learned it!"
Gideon twitched.
That wasn't the lesson…
He suddenly narrowed his eyes.
"Something's coming."
The redeemed monsters tensed.
"Almost there!" the young man gasped, spotting the emergency-exit light.
He turned the corner—
And froze.
"WHO—WHO DESTROYED THE DOOR?!"
But then—
He saw what lay beyond the missing door:
A corridor full of monsters.
Compared to this, the two behind him suddenly looked… safer.
His throat bobbed.
Just when he thought he was about to meet the Lord early—
A familiar voice echoed from the "monster crowd."
"Haggai?"
"…So this is the one Archbishop Borha sent you to find?" the young man muttered, staring at Gideon.
Caroline quickly explained everything.
The monsters chasing Haggai were, of course, immediately redeemed and absorbed into Gideon's… holy menagerie.
Thinking back on what he'd witnessed, Haggai felt himself breaking into a cold sweat.
A man capable of persuading abominations through holy speech, purifying them with nothing but words—
He wasn't mistaken.
There was only one ability like that in the church's deepest records:
The Holy Word of the Lord.
Haggai had once read about this very phenomenon in an ancient holy relic.
"Legend says that after the Great Flood, the Lord sent an emissary to help humanity rebuild.
To keep this envoy from being corrupted by evil, the Lord granted him the Sacred Word—a divine ability that could guide even demons toward righteousness…"
Across the past thousand years, scattered records also mentioned a few clergymen who inherited fragments of this gift.
They were prodigious in theology—brilliant minds who led the Church through several of humanity's darkest eras.
"It's said that true Holy Word can persuade even a demon-god to leave Hell for Heaven."
Haggai glanced at the redeemed monsters clustered around Gideon.
"But I've never heard that the Holy Word can grow stronger…
Did I misread something?"
On the opposite side, Gideon was also studying the boy.
Caroline had introduced him earlier:
A "towering talent"—and an utter "failure."
Talent, because Haggai was born with an astonishing reservoir of holy power—vast, pure, oceanic.
Even Gideon, viewing him through the Spiritual Sight, saw that Haggai's spiritual reserves were more than double his own.
Failure, because he couldn't use any of it.
Any sacred artifact placed in his hands instantly became an ordinary object.
He couldn't expend holy power, couldn't cast major rituals—
his divinity acted only as a passive defense when he was in mortal danger.
A relic to be admired, rather than a weapon to wield.
When he was young, the Church had believed he would one day lead an era.
The Pope himself had conducted his baptism.
As he grew, those praises turned into shackles.
Admiration became ridicule.
Respect twisted into sneers.
But Haggai never grew bitter.
Instead, he buried himself in theology.
And in that field, few in the Church could match him.
After exchanging brief greetings, Haggai quickly explained what he had been doing:
He had been searching for the focus of the ritual array beneath the venue.
"If I adjust the ritual correctly, I can completely reverse the array's effect."
Haggai's eyes gleamed as he looked at Gideon.
"My only problem was finding a way to activate the ritual.
Now, I've finally found the solution."
Gideon rubbed his chin.
"You intend to use the holy power inside these monsters?"
Under the effects of Voice of Redemption, Bruce and his fellow creatures had undergone a complete transformation—
their evil essence converted into pure holy power.
Haggai's eyebrows lifted.
"So you do understand your theology. Impressive."
This particular manipulation required deep knowledge of the relationships between opposing spiritual energies.
It wasn't something a novice could grasp.
Gideon nodded.
"It's a clever approach."
For a moment, Haggai brightened.
But then—
Gideon added calmly:
"But we can't do it yet."