Chapter 2 : Meaning Lies Here, Therefore—A Miracle Descends!
Chapter 2: Meaning Lies Here, Therefore—A Miracle Descends!
She arrived before the great doors.
Liz stopped out of habit.
With her mud-stained hands, she drew a standard cross before her chest.
It was an almost instinctive action—
a ritual even she no longer believed in...
Then.
Liz pushed open the heavy door that creaked in protest.
In an instant, a rush of cold air mixed with dust and mold blew against her face.
Inside, the church was even darker.
The shattered stained-glass windows could no longer block the chill wind and instead wailed with ghostly cries.
The wooden beams above groaned as well, as though they might fall at any moment.
That was one of the reasons Liz forbade everyone from hiding inside the church to escape the cold wind.
The church was too old it could collapse at any time.
Nor did Liz linger on the decayed religious decorations.
Her goal was clear—she walked toward the center of the church.
There stood a broken angel statue.
……
Lynn, who was observing everything, suddenly grew nervous.
This was the first time a woman had entered his body~~
It felt strangely embarrassing~~
He carefully, silently extended his divine sense, gently covering the figure of Liz before him.
He received an incredibly detailed impression.
Beneath the cloak,
Liz’s chainmail was pitted with countless dents and dark brown stains.
At her waist, the leather pouch contained only half a flask of clear water.
But what caught Lynn’s attention most was the silver badge pinned to her left chest.
Its design was an eight-pointed cross, with a small fragment of dull, cracked bone set in its center.
From it, a faint and peculiar aura was emanating.
“Is this the extraordinary power of this world?”
Lynn wondered curiously.
He could not tell whether that power belonged to magic or to battle aura.
After all, judging by appearances, this was a Western fantasy world.
It couldn’t possibly be spiritual energy, right?
……
Liz stopped before the cracked stone base.
She gazed at the angel statue’s broken wings and blurred face.
For a moment, she fell silent.
Then, with slow, hesitant motion, she knelt on one knee.
That action for a knight who had long grown used to standing in battle felt unfamiliar and unnatural.
Yet, strangely, the instant Liz knelt, a quiet peace rose within her heart.
The faint emotion that had drawn her into the church became even clearer in that moment.
Sensing something, Liz finally spoke.
“O Supreme Lord, and the angel who guards this place…”
She forced herself to recall the long-forgotten tone of reverent prayer.
“Your humble servant beseeches You.”
“We ask not for gold or glory, but for a piece of land where we may rest.”
“So that these poor compatriots need not be dragged into the forest by ghouls before dawn…”
……
As he listened to those humble words, a bittersweet ache spread through Lynn’s heart.
Following Liz’s prayer, his divine sense swept over the refugees outside, shivering in the cold wind.
A boy, still tender-faced, clutched a wooden stick as a weapon, blood seeping from his ankles.
A nursing mother loosened her thin garment to feed her starving baby; her lips, purple with cold, were cracked and bleeding.
Under the shadow of a tree, an old woman curled up like a guardian of a precious treasure, secretly pulling from her bosom the last piece of black bread, harder than stone.
With trembling hands, she broke off a crumb the size of a fingernail and forced it into her mouth, then quickly hid the rest away, her clouded eyes full of confusion toward the future…
Compassion.
This once–luxurious emotion in Lynn’s previous world at this moment, struck fiercely against his soul.
Even the cold stone walls could not stop this trembling that rose from the depths of his being.
He, Lynn!
was not a pile of lifeless stones and broken wood!
He was the vessel that held faith—
the sanctuary that sheltered all living beings!
When these desperate souls prayed to him, the meaning of his existence lay precisely in this!
Without hesitation, Lynn activated all 10 points of 【Holy Radiance】.
He focused his divine sense and cast the Divine Art—【Holy Protection Sigil】!
Buzz—
An invisible bell tone suddenly reverberated within the church.
On that ancient angel statue, a single point of purest golden light flared to life, condensing into a complex and profound sigil of gold, inscribed with flowing sacred Latin runes.
In the next instant—
Boom!
Dazzling golden brilliance, like liquid sunlight, burst forth violently through the shattered stained-glass windows!
The once–cold interior of the church was instantly filled with warm and sacred golden radiance!
The light not only illuminated every corner, sweeping away the heavy shadows, but also carried a warmth that seeped into the very bones.
As though— they stood beneath the gentlest noonday sun of spring.
Even the air grew fresh and full of vitality!
As for Liz— before the knight herself, the pure golden light gathered and ascended, finally taking the form of a phantom— a being clad in golden armor, face indistinct, its two western wings unfurled as it radiated boundless majesty and compassion— a Western-winged Angel, quietly suspended in the air.
Its holy brilliance, feathers of flowing light, drifted gently through the air like falling rays.
“！！！！”
Liz raised her head in shock.
Her bloodshot eyes widened completely, pupils contracting sharply from the extremity of her astonishment.
Her kneeling body turned to stone on the spot.
Even her breath came to a complete halt.
A miracle!
A true and undeniable miracle!
In a life where she had long since lost all faith in the Church, the gods, and belief itself— in the very depths of her desolate despair— here, within this abandoned and decayed church— a miracle had descended!
That sacred, gentle radiance completely drove away the chill in Liz’s body— and illuminated the darkest corners of her soul!
An indescribable surge— a mixture of rapture and awe— swept through every cell of Liz’s being like a tidal wave!
The holy Western-winged Angel did not halt because of her shock.
It raised its slender forefinger— and a streak of golden light flew toward the refugees’ bonfire, falling into the copper pot in which they were cooking porridge.
A miracle was born.
That pot of gray-green gruel suddenly shimmered with a milky-white glow.
Amid the rising steam came the aroma of stewed meat!
The children, who first noticed the change, cried out in amazement.
A woman, trembling, scooped up a spoonful and discovered small bits of minced meat and oats floating within the porridge!
“Ah!”
“What a wondrous sight!”
The refugees burst into sobs, overcome with emotion.
One after another, they knelt upon the ground, kissing the soil in the direction of the glowing church.
Tears filled their weathered faces, and joy rekindled their broken faith.
Who would have thought!
Never in their lives had they imagined they would witness a true miracle!
The Holy Light shone upon all!
God loved the people!
They had not been abandoned by the divine!!!
……
At that very moment, the value of Holy Radiance on Lynn’s status panel began to rise rapidly, quickly increasing from 0 to 48 points.
“So that’s how it is…”
Lynn suddenly understood the true meaning of that old saying:
—When you see only the stones of a church, it is but a building.
—When you see people seeking shelter beneath its shadow, it becomes a symbol of fear.
—But when you see faith taking root among its bricks and stones, only then does it truly become a church!
The wind stirred.
The bronze bell upon the cross rang softly.
On this Bromley Continent shrouded by the despair of the Undead Scourge, within one abandoned church, a single human soul had used the Holy Light to rekindle faith in the darkness.