The Cathedral’s second highest floor was home to only a single individual.

She was hailed as the most important person in the Holy Kingdom and Juliar Theocracy.

Her innate abilities which even outshines the pope and her gift for predicting the future using Destiny Magic set her aside from even geniuses and prodigies.

Her name was Angelica. A commoner-born girl who had no special background other than the fact that she came from a certain church. She worked there as a servant alongside Lancelot Ulterian.

Angelica was the current Oracle who was tasked with relaying the whispers of gods to the mortals.

It had been a few weeks since her last prophecy.

A Hero had been born somewhere in this world.

The goddess didn’t say when the Hero would be born or what their purpose was. All Angelica knew was that it was her duty to tell the people.

And that was what she did.

There was a major uproar all around the continent. People thought that the hero will be born in the Holy Kingdom so there were a lot of tourists flooding the gates daily. She was asked left and right by people who this hero would be.

“Haa…” Angelica unzipped the back of her dress when she came back from the Cathedral’s church.

Her body was drenched in sweat from dancing and singing so much. She was now in her underwear.

Angelica took the small tub of water and picked up the washcloth that was sitting on her bed. She put the cloth inside the lukewarm water. She wiped down her body afterwards. Angelica didn’t have any meetings from what her secretary said so she didn’t have to take a full bath or go through a tedious makeover session.

Today was the last day of the week and that was usually when people would gather to worship the goddess.

Angelica opened the service by singing one of her predecessor’s songs called “Moonlight Brings Hope” and a dance of the same name. She was usually required to sing it whenever there was a special service on the day of worship.

Angelica could remember their expressions when they heard that a Hero would be born once again.

Everyone was crying.

Did the people need moonlight in this day and age when the world was peaceful?

She smiled remembering everyone’s positive reactions. She told them to spread the word so that the rest of the world could also know.

The disappointing thing about the prophecy she received was how they didn’t know who the Hero will be. She couldn’t answer the questions of who this person was. Will there be more than one hero than the last time? Will the hero be a woman unlike Promethius who was a man?

Angelica knew none of these things despite her gift of predicting the future. She couldn’t even see Promethius’ past either.

Did the gods not want her to see anything related to the heroes?

She was upset that the gods restricted her powers so much. She could see everyone else’s futures but not those of heroes.

But she was able to determine who could become a hero by making use of this error to her powers.

If she couldn’t see the individual’s future then they were blessed by the gods. Only blessings could protect an individual against destiny magic. All she had to do was find these individuals. Of course, that was easier said than done.

There were millions of people on this continent. Her mind would break trying to search for just one person.

“….” Angelica opened up her notebook. On the very first page stood a name.

Arnold von Berkley.

Who was this strange individual whose future she could see so vividly unlike others? She could see every moment, every decision, and every action he would take.

That meant that she knew that Arnold was the culprit behind what happened in the empire a week ago.

It wasn’t just that. She could also see another person’s memories within Arnold’s spiritual body.

A transmigrator. She didn’t know what world he was from or what brought him here. What she did know was that he was here for a purpose that she was too small to even fathom.

She didn’t ask herself why he would kill so many people. This is because even the gods weren’t getting involved with this transmigrator.

In this world if the gods don’t interfere then that was a good sign.

Was it because he was doing it for the greater good?

Killing people for the greater good… It had a dark undertone to it but Angelica knew that she would never understand what drove him to such extreme measures.

Why did destiny draw her towards this man whose future she could see so much clearer than her own?

Her future self came to her one day and told Angelica:

“He is a troubled soul who needs guidance. I wish I was there for him when he was still an innocent boy.”

It was only a moment but Angelica was able to see this person(future Arnold) with the help of her older self who used Destiny Magic to distort time-space.

Arnold von Berkley was driven mad due to the powers he possessed and the things he could do. He was cursed from the day he was born. His status as a prodigy led to his downfall.

Would things be different now that this person transmigrated into his body and took it over?

Will things be different if she was there to guide him?

Angelica didn’t have an answer to this but she knew one thing:

She had to be there for him and help him every step of the way.

His worth far exceeded her own.

Though she wanted to help him, she couldn’t help but wonder… why did his future sadden her so?

“…?” Angelica wiped the tears that fell from her eyes as she recalled all the things she saw.

Though his actions(now and in the future)were questionable, he did these things to ensure that this world, and the people that lived here, survived.

Angelica recorded everything in her notebook. This was because she wanted to see if things could go differently in this life. Her future self did say that Arnold von Berkley was led down a dark path.

“…A mortal who has achieved godhood… It’s something that breaks common sense.”

Of course, if you break this world’s common sense then you should expect some degree of punishments.

A knock suddenly came from the door.

Angelica hurriedly hid the book.

-“Lady Angelica, you have a guest.”

A familiar voice came from the door. It was a deep and mature male’s voice.

“Send them in, Alitus. Once the door closes I want you to move away from the room.”

Angelica always tells this to all her servants if she had a guest. This is so that they couldn’t hear her conversations with her guests.

-“Understood.”

The door opened.

A familiar woman stepped into the room with a smile on her face.

“It has been a while, hasn’t it Angie?”

“Miss Ceera, it is nice to see you again!” Angelica stood up and ran towards Ceera.

The two hugged for a while before letting go.

“Why are your eyes so red? Were you crying?” Ceera asked in concern.

“…I was reading a novel. One of the scenes made me tear up, ahahaha…” she tried to smooth it over with a laugh before changing the subject, “What brings you here?”

“Our leader is missing so we can’t finish any of our missions.”

“Did Lord Justice say where he was going?”

“Eh, not really. All he did was leave me a letter saying that he was going on a very important mission. What could be more important than our orders from His Holiness?” Ceera sighed, “Your powers can be linked to any person, right? Can you help me track him down?”

“Ah, uhm, I can’t use my magic right now…” Angelica smiled wryly.

“Why?”

“I used all my powers to look for the hero… It took a lot out of me. It will take a while to recover. I hope you understand, miss Ceera.”

“….” Ceera looked at Angelica nonplussed.

Truth be told, Angelica didn’t have a solid grasp on her oracle powers yet. She could see the future of all individuals with her destiny magic but only in bits and pieces. She has to put together the pieces on her own. This makes her predictions unreliable. No one else knew about this. Her powers would work one day then it wouldn’t work the next day. It was like there were restrictions to what she could do and when she could do it.

The person who was her future self could even communicate with her younger self from the past. Angelica could definitely achieve something like that as well.

“…Then forget it. I was hoping to speak to you about something else, Angie.” Ceera walked towards the door and put her hand on it. A five-layered barrier surrounded it.

‘This much protection… What is she planning on telling me?’

Whatever it was, it wasn’t simple girls’ talk.

“…..” Angelica looked at Ceera silently.

“…I want you to leave this nation.” Ceera said something bizarre.

“Eh? Why all of a sudden?”

Angelica hated this nation for their treatment of her but she knew it was her duty to relay the whispers of the gods to the people. For this reason she chose to be obedient to everyone in power.

Ceera looked at the door, the ceiling, behind a potted plant, under Angelica’s bed, in her closet…

“Ceera!” Angelica shouted loudly, noticing Ceera’s behaviour.

“...I’m just checking for bugs.”

“I-Is someone spying on me?”

“No, but everyone in the Testaments have been followed and spied on. I found bugs in my room this morning as well. It makes me think this entire Cathedral is bugged. I hadn’t been called to any important meetings yet. The same goes for the others. It’s like something is going on with the higher ups of the Cathedral.”

Angelica frowned.

‘Who would do this? No, why are they doing this?’

“It seems your room is clean. Phew.”

Ceera was silent for a moment. She paced around the room, with Angelica’s eyes following her. Angelica was eagerly waiting for Ceera’s next words while her throat clogged up. She gulped hard and clenched her fists.

“I think someone is suspecting us of rebelling against the high priests and His Holiness.”

“Rebelling? Why would you do that?”

"His Holiness—No, that man is thinking of going to war with the Demihumans’ entire kingdom. It’s something we vehemently refused on participating in. By ‘we’, I mean every single member of the Testaments. Justice even explained why it will be a bad idea to initiate a war with a nation that’s allies with two major military powers. The Republican President and the Emperor won’t let this war slide.”

‘A war…?’

“I don’t know how but he managed to get so many people to agree with this decision. All the holy knights and priests will be assembled for a full scale war.”

Angelica gulped hard.

“…When will they go to war?”

“Preparation may take up to a year or more given the scale of the war and the nation that they have to take down. The Theocracy—not the Holy Kingdom as a whole—is a much smaller nation than the Demihuman Kingdom. They have more armies than the Theocracy. I have zero expectations that they will win.”

“They? Miss Ceera, what do you mean by ‘they’?”

“I won’t be a part of this. I’m leaving this nation just like you. Find somewhere where they won’t even think of looking.”

“Can’t I go with you…?”

Ceera shook her head, “They will think of going after me and the others first. The Testaments will be betraying this nation so their decision will be to eliminate us first.”

“Eliminate you…? But all of you are this nation’s strongest fighters… How…”

“I’m sure the pope has many means to deal with us if even one of us gets out of line. That spell Lancelot and I used wasn’t known to anyone besides the High Priests and us until recently. I investigated further by heading to the Republic’s Magic Tower. An acquaintance of mine helped me do some research. That spell was apparently from a relic tomb that had been sealed away and never found again. How did he get it? That’s what I’m wondering. If he can get access to a relic tomb—which no one had been able to discover until now—then that means he’s hiding much more from his people. I'm sure he has contingency plans for all ten of us."

Angelica heard about that spell Ceera mentioned. It was so complex that not just anyone could learn it. Since it wasn’t a secret anymore, the spell was made public. It was a spell that allowed the caster to bend the reality of a desired space that the caster chooses. Spatial magic(like teleportation) was difficult to master on its own. But to think there was a spell that allowed one to choose what you want to teleport was an amazing thing to have. One example is that you can teleport a chair to another room.

Where did the Pope get it?

“I-I’m unsure of what to do about this…”

“The pope could also tell the people that we kidnapped you. Just think about it, all the people who love and respect you will be going after us while believing that bastard’s words.”

“Miss Ceera…”

“I can’t believe the people follow that man.” Ceera gritted her teeth, “I knew he was a menace but I didn’t expect him to sacrifice his own nation just because he wants to kill the demihumans this much.”

“What will the Holy King do…?”

“The Holy King is probably dead in his bed by now, Angie.”

Angelica gasped, “D-Did His Holiness…”

“Yeah, he sent assassins to kill the Holy King and his family.”

“But how…? The walls are heavily guarded in every direction.”

“No one is safe from this continent’s most ruthless assassin family.”

Angelica tilted her head.

‘Who is she talking about?’

“You don’t need to leave immediately since the war won’t start anytime soon. But beware when you hear rumours of villages near the Great Ridge being destroyed. It means they’re getting ready to march with all their troops. The villages will only be in the way.”

“Wait, there are villages near the Great Ridge?”

“Of course you wouldn’t know…. The demihumans built their own villages at the border in protest of the pope’s absurd laws. They did a good job hiding their settlements all this time. If the pope found out any sooner then he would’ve executed them all immediately. Luckily that hasn't happened of else a war would've started already. I'll have to try and convince all of them to leave their villages. They won't be spared if the pope finds out about them."

“So how long have you known about it?”

“I’ve known for a long time. I found one village when I was out scouting one day. We normally don't patrol the Ridge since it's virtually impossible for anyone to cross it without using the bridge further east."

“But will they even move to another nation…? I hear their people are quite stubborn. They aren’t ostracised by the other nations so I don't see why they choose to stay and risk their lives."

From what Angelica knew, only the Theocracy banned any demihumans from crossing their side of the border. The Empire and its surrounding kingdoms, the Republic, large cities, the principality, and most of the other independent cities allowed demihumans into their territories.

“It isn’t because of the laws that are in place, Angie. The demihumans believe that this nation and its lands belonged to their ancestors long before us humans took it over by force; we drove their kind over the border. All the evidence I’ve gathered makes me believe what they’re saying but I can’t really expect the pope to agree that it’s the truth.” Ceera continued, “If the other nations find out that the Theocracy is thinking of destroying the Demihuman Kingdom then the other nations will invade us. That’s why I said you should leave.”

It was the most likely thing to happen. They would invade the nation in an attempt to stop the war. The Demihuman Kingdom had diplomatic relations with the Eulia Empire, the Fairy Province and Republic of Zrek(the three major powers).

These were the strongest military powers on the continent. The Theocracy wouldn’t survive. In addition, the Testaments—this nation’s strongest military force—won’t be getting involved in the war. If they did then the nation would only prolong its destruction.

Things might get even more chaotic if the dragon lord currently guarding the Republic decides to help fight the Theocracy.

Anyone could see that the war was a double-edged sword.

“Why kill them just because he hates them…”

“…I read a story once from his childhood. He was born in a small farming village near our nation. The priests often went there during their expeditions to gather new disciples. Did you know that his mother was part of the inquisition?”

“She was? I never really looked into his past that much…”

To be honest, Angelica wasn’t interested in his past. He was an strange and deranged man. That was all she needed to know.

“His mother was called to take out a guerrilla group that had been attacking the surrounding villages. They were thought to be demihumans.”

“….”

“Long story short she lost against them. The inquisition never sends out more than two of their members just like today. Her comrade was brutally killed while she watched…”

“W-What happened to her…?” Angelica gulped.

“She was eaten from the bottom up… while she was alive.”

“!” Angelica put her hand over her mouth as the urge to vomit arose.

“They hanged her fleshless skeleton with her head still intact in front of that man’s village. From that day forward he decided to destroy every last one of those beasts.”

“….H-How do you know this?”

“I read his biography when I snuck into his room one time. My intention was to destroy the planning he’s done for the war. I was unsuccessful, though.”

Ceera then muttered: “Why even write something like that in his biography… I guess we want to remind ourselves of even the bad days in our diaries..."

Angelica looked out the window. No, she looked at the nation down below.

Such a beautiful nation, she thought, why must it be trampled by those evil men and women in power.

Angelica suddenly felt Ceera touch her shoulder.

“When the time comes I want you to either look for me or Lancelot. Don’t trust Alitus, okay? He’s a henchman of the pope so he’s only going to be trouble. He’ll try and make you a prisoner until the pope orders otherwise.”

“O-Okay.” Angelica nodded obediently.

Ceera took out two transmitters and placed it on the table.

“If you decide to call me then I’ll tell you my coordinates and take you to where you want to go. Same goes for Lancelot. I’ll let you decide on where you’ll run off to because it’s not my decision or his,” Ceera turned around and snapped her fingers; the multiple barriers vanished, “…Just make sure it’s a safe place.”

Then she vanished with teleportation.

Angelica looked out the window once more.

‘Should I go to Arnold von Berkley?’

If fate and destiny allowed her to see his entire life until his dying days then that meant the connection between them was special. It transcended physical intimacy or romantic relations. It was the intimacy between two individuals destined to change the world.

No matter the cost.

A whisper suddenly entered Angelica’s ear.

It sounded distant but close by.

It said: “The Holy War is coming…”

Angelica looked to her right and left side but couldn’t see the person who said that.

Was she hallucinating?

No, if she had to guess who that was…

‘My future self…?’