Capítulo 256: Chapter 175: Proving 'His' Existence
The temperature in the room immediately dropped and the air became thick making it difficult to breathe.
It was as if they had entered a place they had no right to be...
Using the sleeve of his shirt to wipe the sweat from his forehead, Charlotte could feel his heart beating like a locomotive.
'Why I'm feeling like I heard something I shouldn't have...' he thought heavily while feeling his back wet with cold sweat.
"Teacher... what are you trying to say with that?" Hazel asked awkwardly and confused.
"B-boss what are you talking about? Apocalypse? That's a heavy thing to say." Sasha said stuttering.
The sadness that filled Adryan's eyes had disappeared a while ago, now he only showed seriousness and calm. Any trace of the previous episode only remained in the form of a trail of tears on his cheeks.
"Do you know the myth?" he ignored his teammates' question and asked one of his own.
The trio frowned in doubt and looked with even more confusion at the redhead.
"Who doesn't know the myth, boss?" Hazel pointed.
"So you know about the Apocalypsis that each Church tells in its own way." Adryan said calmly and everyone could feel their skin crawl.
Adryan smiled mysteriously.
He turned his head and focused his attention on Charlotte.
Unconsciously, the younger man straightened his back.
"I told you earlier that the team was looking to get stronger and survive. Do you remember what you asked me?" Adryan said nonchalantly.
Charlotte was silent for a few seconds, he nodded tensely.
"I asked you <survive what?>"
The redhead nodded in agreement with the answer, he then looked at each of the members of his team, from the oldest to the youngest member.
His smile faded and his face turned serious.
"I will tell you a truth of this world, although most church bibles are full of hoaxes to praise their Gods and attract new believers, there is still truth in them."
Charlotte already sensing what was coming, grabbed the corners of his chair for support.
Hazel and Sasha did the same in their way. One bit her cheek and the other clenched her fists tightly while her shoulders trembled.
Then Adryan blew the trumpet.
"The most important truth is that the Apocalypse is real and it is not far away."
His pupils narrowed and his breathing slowed. A slight ringing in his ears. Charlotte could feel a headache coming on and just because he grabbed the chair earlier he didn't fall to the floor from the shock.
Sasha and Hazel also had their reactions to this horrible revelation.
"Hehe..." Sasha laughed in disbelief as the force with which she clenched her fists increased until her nails dug into her flesh and hot red liquid dripped from her hands.
Hazel shot up from her chair, her expression filled with horror.
"That's ridiculous Teacher! Apocalypse?! That's impossible! Everything looks fine outside!" She screamed as she shook her head, refusing to believe what Adryan had said.
Adryan looked at his student, his eyes softening.
"Hazel, just because the outside is fine it doesn't mean the inside is."
Saying that Adryan calmly got up from his chair and walked over to Hazel who didn't back down.
The redhead placed his hands on his student's shoulders and made her look into his eyes.
"The wheels are already turning and if we want to have a chance to survive and protect our loved ones, we have to get stronger."
"This is ridiculous..." she mumbled, a shaky smile on her face.
Then her expression broke into fury and she turned away from her Teacher.
She could forgive him for keeping his real name from her, and even for him believing in an Evil God.
But all this about an apocalypse?
Ridiculous!
Pulling away from her teacher, Hazel exploded.
"I refuse to believe it! If this Apocalypse thing is real then prove it!"
"It's not that simple Hazel. If I told you any more information I would only put you in danger." Adryan said calmly, his eyes still soft.
This only made Hazel angrier.
"Then show me that your God is real and I'll believe anything! Show me that your God isn't your invention and really exists!"
As soon as those words left her mouth, the realization hit Hazel who looked terrified at her boss.
"T-Teacher I-I didn't mean...!" her words died and her skin prickled and she recoiled in terror.
A chill also covered Charlotte who stood up in shock and stepped back and prepared to throw his multiple charms.
Sasha also got up and with great speed moved in front of Hazel and raised her hand to Adryan.
"Calm down boss...Hazel didn't mean it..." The giant tried to de-escalate the situation and show her bravery, but that failed due to how she was trembling.
The softness disappeared completely, being replaced by a coldness only comparable to the coldest of glaciers.
Adryan's scarlet eyes now looked like lava about to burst.
"Never..." His tongue trailed off in barely contained fury and they all took a step back.
"Don't ever say that again..." Small flames flickered around his showing her fury that he barely managed to contain it.
Hazel looked at her teacher with absolute terror, this was the first time she had seen this facet of her teacher. She had never seen him angry.
"Hazel..."
Sasha's voice woke her from her terror and
Hazel looked at her teammate.
A nervous smile was on Sasha's face.
"It would be a good idea to apologize..."
"Apologize?" she muttered, the word feeling strange on her tongue.
"Yes! Apologize!" Sasha shot her a hard look that made Hazel tense.
The noblewoman nodded vigorously and looked at her teacher fearfully.
She took two slow steps and stood next to Sasha.
She gave a deep curtsy to the point that her body was in a 7 shape.
"Please forgive me Teacher Adryan! I didn't mean to insult your God in such a rude way! I beg you to forgive me!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
An awkward silence completely covered the entire room.
'What kind of fucking apology is that?! ' Charlotte thought dumbfounded as he looked at Hazel.
He had seen drunken husbands apologize better!
'Even a psycho apologizes better. Hazel, baby, don't tell me this is your first time apologizing?' Adrian thought internally as he looked at Hazel.
He knew that Hazel's parents had coddled her a lot but he didn't expect that it was to the point that the young woman didn't even know how to apologize properly.
'Maybe I should pay them a visit on how to raise their daughter...'
After a long and tense silence, the redhead sighed and the flames that were flickering around him stopped.
"You need to improve how you apologize. Besides, it's not me you have to apologize to." While saying that, Adryan started taking out red candles from his jacket.
Hazel bit her cheek uncomfortably as she looked to Sasha for help.
But the giantess shook her head and returned her attention to what Adryan was doing.
'Traitor!' Hazel thought hurt but she too focused her attention on what Adryan was doing.
Charlotte, feeling that the atmosphere had relaxed quite a bit, lowered her hand and hid his charms again.
He saw how Adryan was placing the red bells in specific places and was confused.
'What are you doing boss? I feel like I should know but I don't understand...' the purple-eyed sighed internally disappointed.
His knowledge of mysticism was extremely poor and the only thing he knew on the subject was the knowledge brought by the potion.
But this ignorance and the strangeness of what Adryan was doing, piqued Charlotte's curiosity.
Unable to contain it and trying to forget the previous episode, he decided to express his doubt.
"Boss, what are you doing?"
Adryan, finishing lighting the candles, turned to look at the young man and then looked at Hazel who tensed.
"You asked me to prove to you that my Lord exists and I will do that."
Everyone present tensed and looked uncomfortably at the man.
No one was more tense than Sasha who had to restrain herself from jumping and stopping her boss.
Controlling her actions, Sasha spoke tensely.
"And how do you plan to do it, boss?"
"Simple. I will make an altar to 'Him' and pray for an answer, there you will see the greatness of my Lord." Adryan said confidently as he pulled some red poppies out of his jacket.
Sasha nodded slightly at this and after thinking for a few moments she decided to watch.
'An altar? Is that an altar?' Charlotte thought dumbfounded as he watched Adryan finish arranging the red candles and flowers.
This is the first time he had seen something like this!
At his lack of knowledge, Charlotte could only lament.
Finishing putting everything in place, Adryan took the symbol from another pocket and put it in place.
He formed a small ball of fire that quickly lit the candles.
He knelt down but before praying he turned to look at his team.
"If you are uncomfortable or afraid, you can stand at the exit door if you want and watch everything from a safe distance."
Sasha only thought about it for 3 seconds and accepted this offer.
She took Hazel with her and they were followed by Charlotte. Now the trio watched from the exit what Adryan was going to do.
The redhead was not offended that his team took that option but rather he was very happy.
"Being careful is the most important thing." Flora commented and Adryan nodded in agreement.
Putting those things aside, Adryan lowered his head and clasped his hands.
He closed his eyes and began to pray aloud so his team would be able to hear what he was saying.
"The Scarlet Monarch that burns depravity;
You are The Calamity of the Old Days;
You are the Closest to the Oldest One..."
Your devoted servant prays for your attention;
Your devoted servant prays for a sign of your magnificence."
Adryan didn't even wait for the whispers as he already started drawing the sphere of light in his mind.
...
'For an altar to a God, it's quite rare that there isn't any type of oil...' Sasha thought confused as she looked at her boss's back.
She didn't waste much time on the subject, rituals and altars were never her specialty so she wouldn't think about it anymore.
'As soon as something looks weird I will get them out of here...' Sasha thought seriously as she moved to Hazel's side and prepared to shoulder carry her out of the room.
Hazel for her part, ignorant of her teammate's thoughts, focused her attention on her boss and looked at him worriedly.
Charlotte for his part kept his distance from the duo and focused part of his attention on Adryan.
'If what he said is real and his Lord responds, I'll ask if 'He' can help me make charms... I use my spirituality to make them, it's very slow and therefore there is a risk that the creation of the charm will fail, but if a God helps...'
He was already thinking about the many ideas that he could finally try being that he would no longer have to rely so much on his spirituality.
While everyone was thinking about what to do, something incredible happened.
Around the kneeling Adryan, the fire from the candles began to pulsate and change colors.
Red, pink, purple, fuxia, and burgundy.
Suddenly the fire from all the candles rose several meters and came together at the same point, in front of Adryan.
These threads of fire were woven together until they formed a door of orange flames that began to expel yellowish smoke.
Slowly a magnificent city began to form in the distance.
This city, covered in yellowish smoke, was patrolled by humanoid beings of fire that were wearing red rusty armor
At the moment of being observed, they stopped and turned to see them.
They made a military salute to the sky.
Above the city, sitting in the yellow clouds, there was a mysterious figure covered in yellowish smoke.
This figure appeared male and was covered by a dark red papal robe that created a shadow that covered his face leaving only his chin and mouth to be seen, the figure was wearing an armor of black and bloody rusty metal.
Despite not being able to see the face, everyone could feel the enormous weight of his gaze.
Instinctively, Sasha and Hazel knelt with their foreheads kissing the ground, not daring to raise their heads. The two of them were trembling in terror and did not dare to even breathe.
Everyone was kneeling, everyone except Charlotte who stared at the door in a daze.
A whirlpool began to form deep within his purple eyes that were focused on the door…
Before his vision changed and without him noticing, the yellowish smoke that came out of the door had moved up to him and like a snake, it crawled up his body until it focused on his eyes.
Before he could react, the smoke cleared but now he was wearing circular glasses.
At that moment, Charlotte regained control of himself and looked in shock at the figure sitting on the clouds
On the uncovered part of the figure's face was an amused smile.
This figure raised a finger and waved it from side to side as if reproaching a naughty child.
Charlotte fell to his knees and tears began to fall from his eyes.
The figure lowered his hand and let it rest on the cloud 'He' was sitting on, 'He' turned his attention to the kneeling Adryan and looked at him for a few moments...
Slowly the image shown by the door of flames disappeared, the yellowish smoke that covered the room vanished as well as the glasses that Charlotte had.
The room returned to normal as if nothing had happened.
But despite that, no one dared to move, Sasha and Hazel were still kneeling and Charlotte had his gaze lost where the door had been before.
After about 15 seconds which seemed like forever, Adryan got up from his position.
The redhead wiped the dust from his knees and began to collect his materials calmly and without any rush.
At no time did the trio move.
Only when Adryan finished cleaning up he walk up to the trio and look at them with a raised eyebrow.
"Now do you believe in the existence of my Lord?"
Hazel shakily raised her head and looked at her teacher with eyes filled with fear and tears.
"Forgive me..." she said in a voice so weak it was barely above a whisper.
At the state of his student, Adryan's gaze showed a bit of regret.
'I definitely overdid it.'
He knelt in front of her and with his thumbs wiped the tears from his student's face.
"Everything is forgiven Hazel, everything is fine now. It's over" His voice was soft and comforting as he used his thumbs to wipe away the tears that kept falling from Hazel's eyes.
"Forgive me, Teacher..." Hazel said with a tearful moan, louder this time.
"Is fine." Adryan repeated with the same soft smile.
This only made Hazel cry harder.
Even though she had questioned the existence of his God and had offended him, he forgave her so easily.
Who does that?
While crying, Hazel just move to her Teacher and burying her head on his chest, she cried as she hugged him.
"Forgive me, teacher! I won't do it again!" she screamed through tears and Adryan felt even more horrible about himself.
'I am the worst.' He thought heavily as he returned the hug and let Hazel cry while at the same time, he tried to comfort her as best he could.
Flora observed this with a serene gaze.
What Hazel had gone through would undoubtedly be the biggest scare of her life but she should be grateful.
'What you did was insult a God, brat. It was only the mercy of that God that you were not punished for that blasphemy.' she thought as she watched the tearful Hazel continue to hug Adryan.
Flora didn't care that the brat was touching what was hers, she was just a brat...
Besides, at least she deserved some comfort.
Sasha slowly stood up shakily as well, her eyes vacant as she looked around her.
'I didn't even have time to do anything…'
Sasha then noticed the frozen Charlotte who kept staring at an empty spot.
"Umm boss..." she said a bit stunned but when she looked at what was happening she decided to remain silent.
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