The sound of clashing weapons constantly resounded.
Angel charged straight towards a Red Sun Knight.
There were a lot of creatures within the Sun Shadow church's list of subjugation targets, including evil cultists, blood of evil monsters, serial killers, practitioners of magic rituals, etc.
However, the main target of their subjugations were in fact the Awakened of Evil Souls.
There were always a certain amount of magical factors drifting in this world, which could be absorbed by suitable people, who could then release their own [Origin].
If the [Origin] one released belonged to one of the seven Righteous Gods, the so-called Saint Soul, they'd be immediately received by people of the church and hailed as their Holy Son.
However, if the released [Origin] belonged to any other source, they were considered 'evil souls', the source of sin, natural-born sinners, and were prioritized as a purification target.
This entire world was constantly going after these Awakened of Evil Souls, there would be no negotiations of any kind, as all of them were to be executed on sight, even their family members would be affected and be considered sinners by the church.
After Angel's mother died, her father was in shock, accidentally came into contact with magical factors and happened to release his [Origin].
Her father was nothing but an ordinary man, even if his [Origin] was released, his willpower and consciousness wouldn't have instantly evolved to the same degree, and he was soon discovered by the church.
Her entire family was put into the Sun Shadow church's jail, after which her nightmare began. Her father was summarily executed, while she became a toy to be used until she was finally broken.
She could not understand. Her entire family were believers of the Sun Shadow church, they had never committed any crimes, they had prayed devoutly every day, so why did their family have to suffer through such hardship?
She also could not understand what kind of sin would be rooted from her soul, and why the priests and knights of God who they had revered all their lives would treat them that way.
She probably would never forget that day, the day that she was tossed into the sewers after she stopped breathing.
…
Her body filled with bruises and heavily sullied, had now sunken into the dirty gunk of the sewers, a filthy entity in every meaning of the word.
〖 What a strong will to live 〗
A voice seemed to have resounded in her very soul.
〖 Why haven't you died? 〗that voice questioned with a smile: 〖 You've endured so much hardship and suffering, so why do you still want to live? 〗
"I… don't want to die… BECAUSE I AM INNOCENT!" that weak consciousness had displayed incredibly sturdy soul shackles.
After a normal person was killed, their soul shackles would quickly break and release their [Origin], allowing it to return to its next natural destination. However, there were always those who still wouldn't die, even if all signs of their life had ceased, their soul shackles would still refuse to break, and with appropriate aid, they could survive.
〖 Being weak itself is a sin 〗Negary watched over Angel who was soaked in the sewer waters and smiled as he reached his hand forward. Grabbing her now cold body, a large amount of germs penetrated her skin, surging to life in her body.
When Angel woke up, the first thing she saw was Negary who was sitting at his desk, using the warm lamp light to read a book.
〖 Awake? 〗 Negary closed his book and sat still in his chair with his gaze filled with inquisition.
Angel slowly sat up on the bed with a blank look in her eyes, not at all worried about her naked body and met Negary's gaze.
〖 Seems not yet 〗Negary put his book down on the left, both hands crossed in front of his chest as he naturally leaned back on his chair, still staring at Angel with an intrigued gaze.
〖 If you do not want to die, why do you not want to wake up? 〗Negary questioned, his voice carried a certain level of magnetism, almost like there was soft cotton grazing your ears, directly striking at your soul, and forcing you to be unable to ignore him.
At least, Angel reacted to that voice. Her eyes blankly looked straight at Negary, only to see that his gaze was completely clear. She had seen many gazes looking at her filled with lust and desires. She no longer believed the entity that those people served could be God. If there truly were a God, she believed that this would be him.
Clear and pure, devoid of all unnecessary thoughts, only an entity whose eyes could be so clear could be considered God!
〖 I find your willpower very interesting. So, do you agree to become my experimental subject? 〗Negary stated his purpose without any hesitation. The reason why he was in the sewers in the first place was to further research the power of Impurity, and Angel was simply an experimental subject who delivered itself to him.
〖 You believe yourself to be innocent, but the weak cannot defend themselves. This experiment might fail, or it might succeed 〗Negary lightly continued: 〖 If it does succeed, then perhaps you will be able to question them: Why? 〗
"Why?" something seemed to have returned to life in Angel's blank stare.
〖 Why you were guilty! 〗Negary smiled, then picked up his book once again.
…
"WHY!!!" Angel's slender body exerted unbelievable power. Having been through Negary's experiments, her entire body was now clad in an ominous black aura, the power that belonged to Impurity, perhaps, it was most suitable for an impure person like herself.
The power of Impurity could taint anything it touched, and Negary had even made an anti-Sun Shadow church 'full course' just for her.
Her skin was made of a special kind of germs Negary specifically cultivated, it had an extreme level of heat resistance, the obtainment of which put her through the pain of being skinned alive.
Her eyes had an innate infrared feature, which was made to see creatures that gave off high heat. For this, she would have to replace her eyeballs periodically.
Her mind contained a set of techniques specifically devised for killing knights of the Sun Shadow church, something Negary had compiled according to his observation of the knights' swordsmanship. To grasp this set of killing techniques as soon as possible and become a suitable fighter, she had replaced a main portion of her memories with them.
As the Red Sun Knight swung his sword, he found that his opponent's footwork would always stop right outside his range, causing his swordsmanship to feel clunky and awkward. At the same time, he could not sense her temperature, as if she was a walking corpse, which made it difficult for him to predict her movements.
Furthermore, every slash of her dagger would leave a black mark on his armor.
These black marks caused his divine technique [Seamless Armor] to become uncoordinated and caused this layer of protection to falter at any moment. At the very next slash of her dagger, all the accumulated power of Impurity erupted at once, causing the glimmering gold armor to give off an ear-piercing screech. The previously shining armor instantly became rusted and broken, falling off his body piece by piece.
The Red Sun Knight felt like he was facing his natural predator, as if the other party practically existed to counter them. Glancing at his surroundings, he found the others to also be in tough battles, as well as loud noises resounding from the third gate behind him.
Seems like we've been thoroughly defeated this time.
"The heated heart had never stopped beating, like yesterday, so it is today, and so will it be tomorrow"
"Until death!"
The Red Sun Knight no longer had armor to protect himself, so he chanted the vow of the Red Sun Knight while swinging his superheated sword forward, fully prepared for death.
He was a knight of God, he would never back down even in death, because his soul would only return to God's kingdom.
Angel's daggers parried the knight's sword and sprang her body forward, the daggers imbued with the Impurity power mercilessly cut off his head, the black aura swiftly invading his body.
The knight discovered that his soul that was wrapped in faith was quickly being tainted, then was finally pulled into Angel's dagger.
