[Snippet] Making the Church Competent Through the Power of Faith!(Gacha): Chapter 16

Lucian felt a wave of exhaustion overcome him.

In his hand, he held the Sacred Gear, Crown Domination.

He could see its uses, its intended creation. Not all leaders possess martial prowess. Many figures throughout history couldn’t wield a sword, or at the time, a sword wasn’t what was needed for their leader to hold.

The phrase "the pen is mightier than the sword" is often more apt than many people realize.

Yet, just as well, your enemies won’t stop marching upon your kingdom just because you have no talent for fighting.

It was a sacred gear for leaders, for kings, for monarchs.

To empower those loyal to them, for a king to be able to fight alongside his trusted warriors even if he himself couldn’t walk the battlefield as they did.

Obviously, its purpose has been corrupted in the hands of Ivano.

Lucian chalked it up to the failing of Heaven’s system, another side effect of the death of God.

He was fairly sure he hit the nail on the head with their little operation.

Devils, they use contracts to gain power. Contrary to popular belief, these days, they don’t eat souls. But also, that wasn’t entirely wrong either, as technically, that was what they were doing.

When you sign over a contract with a devil, they don’t take soul payment anymore. But, then, where does the miniscule power boost come from after the contract is completed?

Would devils waste time with contracts if it merely earned them mortal currency?

The human soul is much more robust than people realize.

Devils, essentially, take the tiniest piece from your soul when a contract is completed. It wasn’t really dangerous; in fact, it left no lasting consequences to those who had it happen to them.

The human soul was malleable and infinite in potential. It would heal rather quickly and easily without any metaphysical scarring, so to speak.

Perhaps the person in question may feel lethargic for a day or so, but that was the extent of it.

Devils had two origins.

Angel and Human.

Lucifer and Lilith. 

Lilith was the first woman before she was cast out of Eden. Lucifer, the first of the fallen angels that conquered hell.

So it isn’t weird that a human and a fallen angel together were able to accomplish what came easily to devils by virtue of their existence.

Especially with the help of a Sacred Gear that seemed prime for abuse.

Forcibly conscripting ‘loyal’ minions. Enforcing loyalty that became obedience that originated from the depths of their soul. With that same connection, the user could nibble away at bits and pieces of someone’s soul.

The husks around Lucian on the ground told the story fairly well.

And the Fallen Angel still impaled on the wall also lent credence to his theory.

He would bet money that she was only a two-winged fallen angel until recently.

He knew that a four-winged angel wouldn’t be that weak. All she could do was throw light spears like they were going out of style. A four-winged angel would have more experience than that, at a minimum.

He sat down on the steps that led up to the surface.

Death was starting to become a common sight to him.

There was something wrong with the world when the only ones still alive were the ones responsible for so much death.

Ivano was on the ground, unconscious after having his Sacred Gear ripped out.

He was breathing; he was in shock and perhaps in pain.

Lucian wasn’t gentle.

He could have been gentle, but he wasn’t.

It was good practice for the future. For those who aren’t destined for hell, he didn’t have to hurt them. But the process wasn’t exactly pleasant, as he was essentially sticking his hand into their soul.

And the Fallen.

He couldn’t actually tell if she were still alive.

Maybe?

Not that it mattered.

They weren’t going to live much longer.

He opened his Bible again.

[Ding!]

[Quest Complete!]

[Quest Objective: Retrieve One Sacred Gear not in the possession of Heaven or the Church.]

[1/1]

[Reward: 1 Faith]

Just as his system said, he got another Faith for the retrieval of another Sacred Gear.

Though he did have the thought. What if he lost it after the fact? Would it subtract the faith from him? Would he go into the negative if he spent it?

Could he retrieve the same Sacred Gear twice?

His instincts told him that the System wouldn’t let him abuse such an obvious loophole, nor would it punish him for the former.

Most likely, he would just lose the Sacred Gear and not gain any rewards for the retrieval of it a second time.

He called upon his status window.

Name: Lucian Graves

Age: 26

Faith: 5

Class: Paladin [Warcraft](Legendary)

Titles: Burial Agency Director (+1 Faith every week), Archangel’s Disfavored (Inactive) (Note: You’re being watched, closely), Cardinal (One-Time Bonus: +5 Faith)

Alignment: Neutral Good (Note: Failure to remain in grace will incur a daily penalty of faith.)

Factions: Catholic Church (Neutral), Heaven (Neutral), Werewolves (Enemies), Vampires (Enemies)

Talents: Holy Power

Skills: Baptism Rite (Fate), Exorcism (Supernatural), Warding (Supernatural)

Equipment: 

Black Key [Fate](Common) (x10) 

Light Gun (Common) (x2), 

Light Grenade (Uncommon) (x4) 

Light Sword (Common) (Note: Don’t call it a Lightsaber)

Healing Potion (Common) (x1)

Cloudcrack [Diablo](Rare)

Ash Lock [Fate](Rare)

Spiritual Extract Device [Bleach](Rare)

Victory felt pyrrhic.

He couldn’t even put a face on the victory. Who was he saving in this scenario? The faceless masses that might be harmed in the future.

Otherwise, the victims all stared at him, vacantly, unmoving.

Their cold corpses were thrown upon the ground.

Still, he had gained two Sacred Gears now. He was putting that domination crown behind lock and key. As for the others, the Titan’s Quake was fairly straightforward and would be a good tool for one of their members.

He would store it away for now after they make a decent vault, and then when the Eighth gets strong enough, he would find someone worthy of it.

Frankly, he could be considered lucky.

It was rare to randomly run into one Sacred Gear, let alone two.

Luck like that doesn’t come often.

He looked at the faith he had stored, a whole five. Five wasn’t a small number when it came to his rolls. It took him about two years to store up nearly twenty, yet in about a week or so, he gained another five.

“Make a prayer and roll 5 faith.” He spoke out loud, and his system responded.

He originally kept some in reserve from his previous mission in case of an emergency. But at this point, they were lacking too much; it was best to just start rolling at intervals rather than saving and hoping for some inexplicable reason to do so in the future.

The proverbial wheel turned.

He saw the lights of rarities flash by like normal. He even saw a few mythical lights go by, but they were drowned out by common and uncommon with the occasional rare and epic, with the nearly as rare legendary.

Finally, the rolls stopped, and Lucian’s eyebrows rose as five new lights flashed in front of his eyes.

Immediately, he saw a purple, a blue, one white, and two grays.

One epic, one rare, one uncommon, and two common.

He made the right choice, in his mind. He was surprisingly lucky at the moment.

He looked at the uncommons first.

Lucian rolled his eyes, another deposit of Black Keys. At least it was a good chunk this time; an extra 40 were added to his inventory.

The next common was a bracelet.

[Golden Bangle]

[Common Bracelet]

[A golden bracelet that slightly relieves fatigue over time.]

He immediately redeemed it and held it up to one of the lights in this underground cavern. “Is this real gold? And there are jewels on it? I bet I could sell this for a lot." He inspected it closely before putting it away.

Not a bad roll; at the very least, he could sell it.

The other uncommon item was a sword manual.

That piqued his interest.

It was simply called Sturdy Swordsmanship.

A guide to learning proper form to overcome the barrier that separates a complete beginner from a novice.

He flipped through it casually. It wasn’t some esoteric, poetic description of swordsmanship or anything like that. It frankly just explained how to properly plant your feet, shift your weight, sword forms, muscle exercises, how to practice swinging, and a slew of other information that was extremely beneficial.

It would help the Eighth a lot for everyone there to learn to use a sword.

Hell, it was going to be helpful for him.

His swordsmanship wasn’t…horrible, but it mostly came from inherited memories. And he had been trying to mimic what he remembered in those memories to keep training, but having a book that explained it so plainly would help quite a bit.

He put it away for now and moved on to the next, the Rare.

It wasn’t an object; it was a person. He got a summon.

[Baron Rafe Dreuger (Warcraft)]

[Rare Summon]

[A Paladin that was previously trapped within the ghostly halls of Karazhan before put to rest by a group of adventurers. Note: Don’t invite him to any parties in the foreseeable future.]

He didn’t immediately summon the Paladin.

His last summon was Father Anderson, at epic level.

He suspected the Paladin in question was…weaker, in that regard. He wracked his brains about this paladin's name and only vaguely recalled his identity, not knowing nearly any background about him other than he was a ghost and enemy of the Karazhan raid.

But Lucian would be very welcoming to another Paladin.

Regardless, he held off on immediately redeeming the summon for now.

He looked to his last roll, the Epic.

And he couldn’t help but start smiling.

[Seraphic Greatsword (Magic the Gathering)]

[Epic Longsword]

[An angelic sword that allows the wielder to summon forth angelic constructs at the expense of holy power provided. It can summon angel constructs up to the level of six wings, with the quantity dependent on the wielder. Note: Light as a feather. Sharp as an Angel’s Wrath.]

He didn’t need to hold his breath on redeeming this one.

The sword fell into his hands from the System immediately upon acquisition.

Just as the note said, it was light.

The blade itself looked ethereal, glass almost. You can nearly see through the blade portion of the weapon. The guard was of angel wings, and the handle was surprisingly short despite the length of the blade being longer than a standard longsword.

Despite being called a greatsword, it was most certainly only meant to be wielded by one hand.

A soft wave through the air had a holy, ethereal light gathered around the edge.

He could feel that it was a good weapon to channel Holy Power through, a force multiplier even.

Beyond the description of the weapon, it came with more information that entered his mind. The summons, the more you summoned, the more they cost with each successive summons. Not only that, but the cost of each summon multiplied further by the strength, or the number of wings.

It would take awhile for someone to master this sword, but it was no less than many sacred gears out in the world right now.

It was a very good sword, but unfortunately, it wasn’t a sword meant for him.

He needed something a bit heavier for his own style. And…he felt like this would be the perfect weapon for whoever led the Eighth in the field.

The ability to summon a dozen or so angel constructs at a whim would be invaluable for fieldwork.

Of course, it would take years before someone could master the sword up to that level.

Still, it was a very good sword just on its own.

The kind of thing that would be treasured even by the Church without the ability to summon angels.

It was most definitely a holy sword as well, if everything else didn’t make that fact obvious.

A swipe against the ground had a long thing cut open up in the earth. The dense stone under his feet had split open with extreme ease.

There was a strange thought that popped up into his head.

He held his arm out, then with the sword in the other, he pressed the blade against his skin.

It didn't cut.

It seems that you needed the intention to cut something for it to cut with this sword.

There was a reason it was called Seraphic Greatsword. Violence committed with it had to be intentional and clear-minded.

With how sharp it was, that was a relief. He imagined that finding a sheath for it would have been rather annoying.

Without a second thought, he swung the sword again at the ground.

The culprit’s head, the one responsible for all of this, went rolling off to the side, leaving a trail of blood behind it.

“Good sword.” He commented again before stabbing it into the ground and taking his seat back on the steps.

With a sigh, he decided to deal with the last roll.

He redeemed his soul.

His Bible fluttered and cast out a bright light as a silhouette began to appear before him, just as Anderson appeared before.

A man appeared before him in leather boots, trousers that looked familiar to jeans, and a heavy tunic.

Lucian noted the monocle over his right eye and his auburn hair pulled back in a ponytail.

His eyes then fell down to the large hammer at his side.

It was faintly glowing around its silver and bronze appearance.

“Rafe Dreuger, at your service!” The man spoke gruffly, if with a bit of enthusiasm. His mustache twitched as if finally smelling the surroundings. “By the Light, couldn’t you have summoned me somewhere more decent? Like a tavern, or maybe a brothel?”

Lucian snorted. “Baron Rafe Dreuger, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Ah shucks, lad. I appreciate the courtesy, but I'm no baron any longer.” He still puffed up his chest. “You need land and a people to be nobility. I haven't had any for a very long time.”

“Then Paladin Rafe Dreuger?” Lucian offered.

“Aye, but that just doesn’t roll off the tongue and sounds too pretentious.” He waved it off. “Call me by my name, lad. I barely got through basic training and wasn’t talented enough to be anything more than a fair hand at wielding my hammer.”

Lucian stood up and held his hand out. “Lucian Graves, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Rafe Dreuger.”

The man grinned. “Aye, it’s a pleasure.” He gripped it firmly with the strength you would expect of someone with his stature.

He was a hardy man, and you could see the muscles pressing against his clothing.

“Nice sword, may I?” The Paladin peeked around Lucian.

The cardinal gestured for him to go ahead.

He let go of his hammer and pulled the sword out of the ground and swung it a few times. “Good sword!”

“Something you’d be interested in?” Lucian questioned.

The other man hummed, swinging it a few more times. “Can’t beat a hammer though. My ol’ lady over there has seen me through every fight. Blessed silver and bronze, can’t beat it.”

He pushed the sword back into the ground before returning to his hammer and swinging it up over his shoulder.

“Is this the part where you tell me what you want from me?” He looked at Lucian. “Had some bits put into my mind when I came here, so I understand what’s happening.”

Lucian paused due to the directness of the question but continued all the same. “I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

Rafe evaluated Lucian with a keen eye. “Lad, I’ll level with you.” The broad shoulders of his slumped. “I’m a broken man. The fact that I can call on the Light is a miracle because my will has been ground into dust. I spent years, I don’t know how long, as a ghost, as a spirit that played the same games day after day.”

Lucian knew about his identity, of course.

Cursed as a spirit in the magical tower of Karazhan. The never-ending party where all the guests turned into ghosts.

They were bound there, forced to act out their roles according to the magics woven into the tower itself.

“I’m tired, lad. I don’t know if I can lift my hammer for a cause or run off into battle if you’re expecting that of me.” He spoke honestly.

Lucian had the feeling if he still told the man to pick up his hammer and follow him into battle, he would.

Perhaps from a sense of pride, the need to repay a supposed debt?

Going from a ghost to fully flesh and blood again…he seemed like the type of man to see that was a debt that was now owed.

Instead, Lucian put a hand on his shoulder. “How much do you remember of your Paladin days? Because I have a bunch of fresh beginners that could use an experienced hand to teach them.”

“Recruits?” He perked up.

“That’s right. Fresh from commoners, never wielded a weapon in their lives."

His expression changed as he rubbed his chin. “I do remember everything I was taught. I wasn’t talented or stupid. I learned what I needed to, the basics, and some other things I picked up along the way. A few tricks here or there.” He looked up to Lucian. “If that’s what you want, I think I could manage. But I have…hmm, let’s call it a request.”

“Request? By all means.”

“I want coin.” He breathed out. “I got no money here, and I want to be able to enjoy having my life again.”

“Of course, every member gets paid for their job.” Lucian wouldn’t deny him even if that wasn’t the case. “I will make sure you’re properly compensated for your work."

He grinned.

“Anything else?” Lucian asked.

“One more thing.” The man nodded. “When I got here, I got a bunch of knowledge stuffed in my noggin. I haven't eaten anything in a very long time; I don’t know what a taco is, but by the light, I want one.”

@***@

A/N

Lucian gets his rolls, some good stuff, and a new summon.

A man perfect to act as a teacher for the upcoming Paladins in the Eighth.

I updated his status and retconned a couple things, like Holy guns being common now to fit more in line with other stuff. Just minor things that don’t have a big impact on the story.