Chapter 15: The Holy Word
William's eyes narrowed instantly.
He retreated quietly back into the courtyard, observing the situation outside the church.
"No signs of damage nearby. Not some kind of monster."
"There are footprints on the only path. About 26 centimeters long. Should be an adult male."
"The holy artifacts buried in the soil are intact. The intruder isn't a non-human entity."
William calmly analyzed the situation.
Based on various clues, the person should be between 170-175 cm tall, male, slightly overweight.
"Someone like that... I seem to..."
William had a hunch who it was.
But for safety's sake, he still entered the church through Emergency Exit No. 3.
William crept slowly to the reception room, only to see a fat priest leaning back in a chair.
The man was currently asleep, snoring loudly.
Seeing this person's face, William finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He walked over and patted the man on the cheek.
The fat priest jumped in fright, bouncing up from the chair.
"Whoa... it's you."
"How do you have a key to the church?"
"Uh... well... that."
The fat priest's name was Ren Huang. As the name suggested, he was also Asian.
Ren Huang and William had joined the Church around the same time.
As the only two Asian priests in the area, they had always helped each other out, so their relationship was quite good.
Ren was passionate about community service and was familiar with several HR managers in the Church, so he was quickly promoted to Parish Priest, responsible for financial affairs within the jurisdiction.
William's predecessor, on the other hand, was more of a recluse and had stayed at this remote church. William also found this place nice and quiet, so he had stayed here ever since.
The Church's hierarchy was headed by the Vatican—the holy land for all clergy.
Below that were the Dioceses, Parishes, and then local churches.
Power decreased down the line.
The Diocese managed all Parishes under its jurisdiction, and Parishes managed local churches.
Local churches were at the bottom of the ladder, subject to the management of both above.
William was at the very bottom of this hierarchy.
...
Ren hemmed and hawed for a long time before admitting he had secretly kept a copy of the key.
Just in case William wasn't around one day, so he wouldn't have to wait in the yard.
"It's too much trouble coming to your place every time. Crucifixes, holy water... Do you still need to doubt my identity as a human?!"
As Ren was speaking, he saw William serve him a cup of holy water.
Facing the forces of "evil," Ren had no choice but to submit and hand the key back to William.
After that little interlude, Ren stated the purpose of his visit.
"One is, of course, the monthly tribute. The second..."
Ren kept him in suspense.
"There's good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear?"
"If the good news is that you've been kicked out of the Church, I'll hear that first."
Ren was good in many ways, but he had one flaw—he was overly enthusiastic about providing psychological counseling to female residents in the community.
Of course, no one in the Church knew about this, and William wasn't a snitch.
"That's not funny!"
Seeing William bring up his dirty laundry again, Ren stopped beating around the bush.
"The good news is, starting next month, we don't have to pay the monthly tribute anymore."
William was stunned. The Church had a change of heart? Giving up such wealth?
"Hehe, surprised, right?"
Ren smiled mysteriously.
"Don't celebrate too early. The bad news is that from now on, the Church will regularly assign missions, and the appointed priests must complete them!"
Ren said seriously, "Because the Vatican recently received the Holy Word!"
William raised an eyebrow.
The so-called Holy Word meant the Word of God.
A revelation sent down to the mortal world.
William had always thought this stuff was a scam.
But ever since witnessing the horror events, he felt that God might actually exist.
According to Ren, this time the Pope had received a large passage of text.
Holy Word Revelation: Satan and other evil forces are awakening. The world will soon face the Apocalypse.
To save the world, the Lord will select five Saints (Children of God) before Judgment Day arrives, to lead the Church and the people to a new life.
"Isn't this just rewriting the Bible? What kind of Holy Word is this?" William was speechless.
But Ren shook his head. "This time is different."
It was said that the Pope personally brought out the Holy Word and ordered all dioceses to read it.
It stated that the Saints must be individuals recognized for their strength, virtue, and reputation.
In the future, they would become God's agents on earth.
Everyone in the Church must obey their commands, even the Pope himself.
And the candidates for Saints would be selected from all clergy members.
Whether it was a priest, an ordinary nun, or a deacon, as long as they met the requirements, they had a chance.
Hearing this, William was surprised.
The Church had a strict hierarchy. Women like nuns were absolutely forbidden from participating in important rituals.
Let alone the Pope having to obey orders and give up supreme power.
"That's just one part of it!"
Ren said, taking out a black cloth bag. There was the sound of metal clinking inside.
He carefully took out the contents: some crucifixes, chalices, and the like.
"I have these things too." William was confused.
But Ren suddenly put on a sneaky expression.
He ran to the church door to check that no one was around before returning.
"You know about the expo a few days ago, right?" Ren lowered his voice.
William kept a straight face and nodded.
"News came from inside the Church. That expo involved some unknowable existence, and in the end, it was said that a Church member solved the problem. We are looking for him internally. Many people say he is the true Saint."
William raised an eyebrow. Only then did he remember that the unknown voice had also mentioned "Son of God" (Saint).
"The night the expo ended, the Vatican distributed these items."
Ren acted like these things were a big deal.
"These are real exorcism artifacts!"
According to him, the Vatican intended for current clergy to remaster exorcism.
"Real exorcism?"
"Of course!"
Ren whispered:
"What we used to do in the community—scriptures, holy water baptisms—was all for show. No real skill involved."
"That's why the profession of priest has always been criticized as superficial."
Because he knew William well, Ren didn't hide anything.
But the Church did have exorcism methods.
It was just that these methods were held in the hands of a few people, or certain agents.
But after the Holy Word descended, it specifically instructed to pass these methods down.
Ren picked up a crucifix.
"Don't let its appearance fool you. It's very different from what you usually use!
"This thing has been enshrined under a holy statue. It contains a trace of holy power."
William didn't even need to touch it; he knew just by looking that this item was special.
However, to avoid suspicion, he played along and examined it with curiosity.
Hmm... equivalent to one percent of the power of my crucifix, William thought to himself.
Ren went on and on, saying that only with these items could one truly harm evil spirits.
And these holy artifacts were graded by age.
For example, 10-year-old Holy Water was naturally more powerful than 1-year-old Holy Water.
Other artifacts followed the same logic.
"Starting next month, clergy in the diocese will receive commissions. They will take these holy artifacts to deal with various incidents."
"Speaking of exorcism."
Ren took out a book of scriptures. It contained texts written in Latin.
"This is a registry. It records the names of evil spirits successfully exorcised by our predecessors.
"To exorcise a demon, we must first know its Name. Only then can we effectively drive it out. Otherwise, even holding holy artifacts is useless."
"What if we can't get the name?" William raised an eyebrow. He seemingly never used names.
"Then it's dangerous!"
Ren sighed.
"Actually, a long time ago, one only needed to hold the Exorcism Bible, a crucifix, and holy water to destroy evil spirits..."
But this method had a prerequisite: the exorcist must possess pure Holy Power.
And Holy Power could only be accumulated after decades of practice.
So this method was gradually abandoned and replaced by "invoking the Name."
William understood now.
No wonder the Church was so weak in horror movies, and ghosts often ignored crucifixes to kill people.
"But even if you know the name, if you don't have high-quality holy artifacts, it's still useless!"
Ren waved his hand.
"For local churches like ours, having a bottle of 1-year-old Holy Water is already good! The real good stuff is reserved for the core members!"
"Core members?"