The dimly lit chapel now reeked of blood.
The stench of iron mixed with the musty air, completely overwhelming the previous dusty scent.
Kaiser didn't even spare another glance at the priest's corpse.
He had no interest in wasting any more time on a dead man.
Instead, his eyes scanned the room.
At the edges of the sanctuary, several more figures had appeared.
Like the white-haired priest, they wore the robes of clergymen, their hands gripping Light Swords or silver handguns.
They had arrived silently—without a single sound.
And now, without uttering a single word, they raised their weapons simultaneously.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Without hesitation, they opened fire.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The silver handguns fired relentlessly, sending a storm of Light Bullets hurtling toward Kaiser.
The Light Bullets exploded against his body, detonating like a relentless barrage of firecrackers.
Yet—
Kaiser did not move.
Instead, he merely intensified the output of his Aura, causing the white energy surrounding his body to surge and swell. The Touki formed a protective field, blocking every single bullet as if they were mere pebbles being thrown at a fortress.
"Swish!" "Swish!" "Swish!"
Seeing that their Exorcist Bullets were useless, the priests wielding Light Swords immediately charged forward.
They swung down ferociously, unleashing a flurry of slashes aimed to tear Kaiser apart.
But even as dozens of swords rained down upon him—
He did not move.
The sharp Light Blades clashed against his Aura Shield, but instead of slicing through, the swords shook violently, unable to penetrate his defense.
The sheer force of their swings was completely nullified.
Kaiser finally spoke.
"So, this place is livelier than I expected."
His voice was calm—almost bored.
"A whole bunch of Stray Exorcists, all wielding weapons made from Light Power... Looks like the Fallen Angels behind you are pretty damn generous."
The Exorcists who had been expelled from the Church were supposed to lose the blessing of God—which meant they shouldn't have been able to wield Light Weapons anymore.
But there was one other faction that could provide them with such power.
Besides Angels, the only ones capable of granting Light Power—were Fallen Angels.
The fact that these Stray Exorcists were freely using Light Weapons could only mean one thing—
The Fallen Angels had taken over this abandoned church.
Kaiser was in the right place.
"I'm not here for you lot."
Kaiser slowly raised Gravisheath in his hand.
"I need to have a chat with your Fallen Angel superiors—so do yourselves a favor and stay out of my way."
"Boom!"
A surge of purple energy erupted from Gravisheath, spreading throughout the entire chapel.
Instantly—
The air became unbearably heavy.
A tremendous gravitational force crashed down upon the room, crushing every single priest onto the ground.
"——!"
The Stray Exorcists let out strained grunts, their bodies trembling as they tried to resist.
But no matter how much they struggled—
They could not move.
In Kaiser's hands, Gravisheath's gravity field had reached a level so powerful that even someone as strong as Amagiri Ayato would have been pinned to the floor, unable to raise his head.
These low-level outcasts didn't even stand a chance.
Even a High-Class Devil would have been severely hindered by this level of gravity.
For an Ultimate-Class Devil, it would still be a burden.
For these Exorcists, who were barely capable of fighting Mid-Class Devils at best, this was an inescapable death sentence.
Kaiser stood alone in the middle of the room.
Everywhere around him, the Stray Exorcists were groveling on the floor, completely incapacitated by the overwhelming gravity.
It looked as though a congregation of priests were bowing before him in submission.
"You people might want to come out now."
Kaiser spoke casually, as if talking to himself.
"If you don't, I'll just go ahead and tear this place down."
Silence.
No response.
Kaiser smirked.
"Fine, have it your way."
He lifted Gravisheath again.
"Singularity Collapse."
Without hesitation, he poured a massive surge of Aura into the weapon.
The Urm-Manadyte embedded in the scythe flared violently, emitting a blinding light.
"Vrrrm…"
The very air trembled.
And then—
A black sphere of compressed gravity began to form above the altar.
It was a gravitational singularity, a force so intense that it could bend space itself.
Under Kaiser's control, the sphere expanded rapidly, growing larger and larger—
If he let it continue, the entire church would be crushed into oblivion.
The Exorcists freaked out.
Their eyes widened in absolute terror.
They could see it.
They could see the future where this entire church was obliterated under the weight of that singularity.
"Stop!"
A voice finally cried out from above.
"Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!"
From the shadows, several figures descended, gliding down with a flurry of black feathers.
A group of winged beings appeared—hovering in midair, their dark wings spread wide as they looked down upon Kaiser.
They weren't humans.
They weren't Angels.
They were—
Fallen Angels.
"Who are you?"
The one who spoke was a woman.
She had long, flowing black hair, an exquisite figure, and was dressed in an outfit that was both revealing and alluring.
Behind her, three other Fallen Angels hovered silently.
They didn't speak.
They simply stood behind the woman, their stances suggesting that she was the one in charge.
Her eyes burned with both anger and caution as she glared at Kaiser.
Kaiser slowly lifted his gaze.
Looking at the four Fallen Angels floating in midair, his expression remained calm and unreadable.
He recognized them.
All four of them had appeared in the original story.
But out of the four—
The only one who truly mattered was the woman leading them.
The others?
He barely remembered their names.
So he didn't even bother acknowledging them.
Instead, he locked eyes with the raven-haired woman.
And in a tone of absolute certainty, he addressed her directly:
"You must be Raynare."
The Fallen Angel's expression froze.
For a split second, she seemed genuinely caught off guard.
"…You know me?"
Raynare's brows furrowed as suspicion flashed across her face.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Are you a warrior from the Church?"
Raynare could tell from a glance that Kaiser wasn't a Devil—he was human.
A human wielding a Sacred Gear. That meant he was either from the Church or had been recruited by the Fallen Angels. If he were aligned with the Devils, he would have already been reincarnated as one.
Among the three great factions, only the Devils possessed the ability to reincarnate other beings into their own kind. The other two factions lacked such a technique.
Thus, most human Sacred Gear users either came from the Church or were recruited by the Fallen Angels. The most likely scenario? He was from the Church.
With this assumption, Raynare mistook the blood-red scythe in Kaiser's hand, Gravisheath, for his Sacred Gear. She had no idea that, despite being a Sacred Gear wielder, Kaiser hadn't even used his own artifact yet.
Kaiser saw no need to correct her misunderstanding. Nor did he bother answering her question.
Instead, he simply said, "Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is that I have business with you."
Raynare's expression darkened.
"You barge into our base, beat down my subordinates, and now you say none of that is important?" She let out a laugh laced with anger. "Are you looking down on me? Looking down on Raynare the Fallen Angel?"
"You think just because you're a human with a Sacred Gear, you can stand against Fallen Angels?"
"You must have a death wish!"
Despite her words, Raynare didn't immediately attack.
Arrogant as she was, she wasn't stupid.
Her subordinates had been utterly outclassed—including that white-haired warrior from the Church's experimental facility. They hadn't even touched their opponent before being defeated. That alone told her this human's strength wasn't below that of a High-Class Devil.
Even if she couldn't fully grasp his power, the massive gravity sphere hovering near the ceiling was enough to convince her—if that thing dropped, she wouldn't be walking away unscathed.
So, she decided to back down. Just a little.
"If you leave now, I can pretend this never happened."
To Raynare, that was already a concession.
Of course, whether she realized it or not, the mocking smirk on her face and the condescending gleam in her eyes told a different story.
To Kaiser, it just sounded like she was mocking him.
So, he responded bluntly.
"Are you stupid?"
Kaiser stared at her like she was an idiot.
"You think you can just pretend nothing happened?"
"You want to? Well, I don't."
"You can't even grasp the situation in front of you. No wonder you're hiding in some godforsaken corner of the world. This is as far as you'll ever go."
His scathing words made Raynare's anger surge.
Naturally, the three Fallen Angels behind her were also enraged.
"How dare you insult Lady Raynare?"
"You're just a mere human—"
"Kill him!"
Blinded by rage, the three Fallen Angels sprang into action.
A low hum resonated in the air.
Light converged in their hands, flickering violently before stabilizing into long spears.
These spears, composed entirely of condensed light, differed from the ones used by Exorcists. Unlike the Church's brilliant holy blades, the Fallen Angels' weapons carried a dim, ominous glow.
With swift and deadly precision, the three hurled their spears at Kaiser. The sound of the projectiles breaking the sound barrier sliced through the air, each one piercing toward him with lethal force.
Kaiser barely spared them a glance.
Lifting Gravisheath, he swung.
Boom!
A crimson arc flashed.
The light spears shattered midair, as if striking an invisible glass barrier, their fragmented remains scattering like dust.
Raynare's eyes widened in shock.
Before she could react, Kaiser brought Gravisheath down.
The massive gravity sphere hovering in the air plummeted.
BOOOOM—!
A thunderous explosion rocked the deserted countryside.
The abandoned church, nestled within the forest, collapsed in an instant.
The ground beneath it caved in, crumbling like a shattered foundation.
Dust and debris filled the air, swallowing the entire structure in a suffocating cloud of destruction.
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