The young warrior Landon stared with bloodshot eyes at the scene before him, his heart filled with sorrow and despair.

He so desperately wished that Catherine would abandon him and escape alone at this moment, but at the same time, he knew that Catherine was not that kind of person.

Even among the many nuns in the convent, Catherine was the purest of them all. She was always gentle yet resolute—even Luke the priest praised her as a promising candidate, saying she might one day become a noble abbess.

How could someone like her possibly abandon him in such a desperate situation?

“Sigh~” Landon let out a sigh. This time, everyone was going to die here. A look of desperate resolve flashed in his eyes.

“Hahaha~ What a foolish nun. Even at death’s door, you’re still singing hymns.”

The bearded man shoved Landon aside with his gun, looking at the two of them with a mocking, predatory gaze. “Since your God of Light is so great, come on, show us a miracle. That damn God of Light…”

However, he had only gotten halfway through his sentence when he suddenly froze.

Because in that very instant, the silver cross pendant in Catherine’s hand suddenly burst forth with a dazzling white light.

It was blinding.

……

Chapter 3 Divine Grace

……

The light was pure and flawless, holy and noble.

Bathed in this radiance, the crudely made statue of the God of Light seemed to come alive, exuding a sacred and majestic aura that inspired awe in all who beheld it.

It was as if a true deity had descended to the mortal world.

The battle came to an abrupt halt in that instant.

Everyone, including Landon, gaped in astonishment, staring at the silver cross in Catherine’s hand. Even Catherine, who had been singing hymns with her eyes closed, seemed to sense something and suddenly opened her eyes wide.

C-could it really be the God of Light descending?

“I knew it! I knew it—the great Lord of Light would never abandon His people!”

Catherine wept tears of joy, her whole body trembling with excitement, her cheeks flushed with a rosy hue.

She lifted the cross high in her hands, preparing to kneel in rapture to welcome the true God’s arrival.

At that moment, a voice suddenly echoed in her mind: “Little shallow believer, quick, quickly state your wish. This God will definitely grant it for you~”

“Huh?”

Catherine jolted all over, her knees freezing in place just as she was about to kneel.

B-baby? The great God of Light actually called her baby, and in such a playful tone. Could it be that He… He wanted her to serve Him?

Her face instantly burned, turning red as blood.

At this moment, William Clark’s consciousness happened to “descend” into the cross, and he noticed that the young female shallow believer before him was blushing furiously, looking completely stunned. He immediately realized something was wrong.

This was also his first time hearing a believer’s prayer, so he had no idea what to expect. But seeing the girl’s reaction, he knew she must have heard his earlier, rather inappropriate words.

Over the past year, he had carefully studied divinity, along with the scattered knowledge he had inherited. He knew that a god’s abilities were mostly exercised through their divinity. Gods could descend to other planes, and there were several ways to do so.

The first was to descend in person, but a god’s power was so immense that their true form might overwhelm many lower planes.

The second was to descend via an avatar—a god could cultivate several avatars and send them to lower planes when needed. Unfortunately, William Clark couldn’t even support himself right now, let alone cultivate avatars.

The third was to descend as a projection, using divine power to directly form a projected body in a lower plane. Projections were weaker than avatars, but much more convenient and quick. Sadly, William Clark also lacked the divine power to form a projection.

The fourth was to reincarnate, splitting off a wisp of consciousness to be reborn in the current plane.

The fifth was to descend as a consciousness, sending a wisp of consciousness into a saint, a holy artifact, or their own idol.

What he was using now was the fifth method—consciousness descent.

However, consciousness descent usually required a stable channel of faith. Catherine was only a shallow believer, and her channel of faith was extremely fragile and unstable. Under normal circumstances, her prayers shouldn’t have been enough to trigger a response from the divinity.

The reason Catherine was able to trigger the divinity was, first, because in her moment of despair she was willing to risk everything, making her faith firmer than ever and unleashing far more spiritual power than usual; and second, because the cross she used was no ordinary item.

This silver cross had been given to her by the fanatic priest Luke before he left. Because Luke had worn and prayed with it for years, it had absorbed a trace of divine aura and had the potential to become a holy relic. All these factors combined triggered the response from the divinity.

Descending through such an unstable channel of faith was actually very dangerous for William Clark, whose soul and consciousness were already extremely weak, but he had no other choice at the moment and could only take the risk.

Realizing that the girl might have heard his earlier, almost flirtatious words, he immediately felt a bit embarrassed.