EFB Chapter 28: Pointing at you, give me a good laugh!
Chapter 28: Pointing at you, give me a good laugh!
The plaza deep inside the mine fell silent.
The stalls that were originally scattered in various places had all been packed up, and the white-robed believers gathered in front of the rough church, facing the huge cross carved into the rock wall, and knelt down one by one.
They held various crosses in their hands: bone-carved, wooden-carved, cast in metal, and some pieced together from dried tendons. All eyes were on Bishop Avery Bush, who stood at the very front.
The bishop himself was kneeling.
His body trembled slightly beneath his large white robes, and he coughed up mouthfuls of dark red blood every now and then, spitting it onto the stone ground in front of him.
But that face, half stiff and half vibrant, radiated a sickly glow, its eyes fixed on the cross, its pupils reflecting the bottomless darkness of the well above.
Three Gundams lay on the ground in front of the cross.
Young female pure Gundam.
His skin was so pale it was almost transparent in the torchlight, his hands and feet were bound with thick hemp rope, and his mouth was stuffed with a rag.
His eyes were wide open, but there were no tears in them, only a hollow, blank stare.
Blood was blooming all over his chest.
Nobody thought there was anything wrong with it.
A low chanting rose from the crowd, initially sparse, gradually coalescing into a monotonous wave of sound. Bishop Avery's voice was the first to rise, hoarse and lisping, but each word was enunciated clearly:
"...Please cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; please wash me, and I will be whiter than snow..."
Bishop Luke knelt in the second row, reciting along, his knuckles white from gripping the bone cross in his hands.
More people joined.
The sound echoed through the cave, striking the rock walls and creating a murky harmony.
The darkness in the direction of the wellhead began to change.
A sliver of light falls from a great height, touches the first reflector, deflects, strikes the second, and deflects again.
The light leaps, splits, and recombines within the complex array of mirrors, eventually converging into a single, pale beam that slowly descends along the vertical shaft.
The edge of the beam of light touched the church spire.
Then it continued to descend, illuminating the huge cross on the rock face.
Just as the beam of light was about to completely envelop the base of the cross!
The cross fell down.
No, it didn't spill it itself.
It was a person who, at some point, stood before the cross, with his back to the crowd and facing the rock face.
He raised his leg and kicked the supporting structure at the base of the cross.
The crisp sound of breaking wood was not noticeable during the chanting.
But the sound of the cross collapsing could not be ignored.
The nearly three-meter-high wooden structure leaned backward, crashed against the rock wall, bounced back to the ground, and kicked up a cloud of dust.
Splinters of wood and flying bone ornaments scattered everywhere.
The beam of light fell completely at that moment.
It did not illuminate the cross.
It shone on that person.
He stood with his back to the crowd, his arms outstretched to the sides, forming a cross shape, and there was a cross scar on his vest.
Pale light poured down from above his head, outlining his slender but upright profile, his light golden hair almost transparent in the light.
He turned around.
Lucien Alden.
Her bare upper body appeared exceptionally clean in the beam of light, her face expressionless, only her eyes were frighteningly bright.
Bishop Avery's chanting stopped.
He stared at Lucien, the normal muscles on one side of his sallow face began to twitch, while the other side remained stiff.
He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to shout something—
Lucien pointed his index finger at him.
[Threshold Breaker], activate!
"Oh my gosh~"
Bishop Avery's body suddenly stiffened.
Almost simultaneously, he himself let out a short, distorted groan, as if forced out of his lungs:
"Uh... Oh my god!"
The two voices overlapped.
Bishop Avery's pupils dilated instantly, then contracted rapidly.
His whole body began to tremble violently, not from painful spasms, but from an extreme, uncontrolled excitement.
Saliva dripped uncontrollably from the corners of his mouth, yet he was laughing, his half-paralyzed face contorted into a grotesque smile.
Bishop Luke stood up and tried to go forward.
Lucien moved his finger and pointed at him.
"Oh ho."
Luke stopped moving.
His eyes widened, his breath caught for a second, then he shuddered as if electrocuted, and a series of suppressed, ecstatic growls rolled from deep within his throat:
"Oh ho ho... ho ho..."
He couldn't kneel down anymore; his body swayed, and he eventually collapsed to the ground, but his face also showed that flush of pain and ecstasy.
The crowd stirred.
Several white-robed believers who were nearby tried to rush forward, but were frozen in place by Lucien's gaze.
Bishop Avery's personal physician, a middle-aged man in a black robe who had been standing silently in the corner, strode forward.
He knelt beside the bishop, skillfully checking his pulse, examining his pupils, and pressing on his carotid artery with his fingers.
He moved very quickly.
Then it stopped.
His face first showed confusion, then disbelief.
He raised his head to look at Lucien, then looked down at the bishop who was still trembling, drooling, yet smiling broadly.
"impossible……"
The doctor murmured,
"The heart rate... is actually more stable. The lung murmurs have decreased... the nerve reflexes... this..."
After all, as Avery's personal physician, he knew all too well that Avery was in a state where a bunch of bugs were still working.
But now it's as if these bugs are actually more suitable for operation!
Bishop Avery suddenly raised a hand and grabbed the doctor's wrist.
He has incredible strength.
He struggled, using his other hand to support himself on the ground, trying to straighten his knees.
After several failures, they finally succeeded.
He knelt at the edge of the pillar of light, raised his eerie face to look at Lucien, and then slammed his forehead against the stone ground.
"miracle……"
His voice was still hoarse, but it pierced the silence.
"This is the coming of the Lord... the Lord manifested through this man's body!"
Bishop Luke also got up.
His expression was calmer than Avery's, but the fervor in his eyes was no less intense.
He turned to face the agitated crowd and raised the bone cross in his hand:
"I felt... the grace of the Lord... flowing through this man's fingers... into my soul!"
His voice was loud and clear, echoing through the cave:
"This is a miracle! Without a doubt!"
A few believers still looked on with suspicion, exchanged glances, and hesitated in their steps.
Lucien's gaze fell on them.
He casually tapped the water with his index finger.
"Oh ho."
"Oh ho."
"Oh ho."
Each person pointed at froze, then trembled, groaned, and finally knelt down, their faces displaying a similar intoxication of pain and ecstasy.
Complete silence descended.
There were only heavy breathing sounds and the occasional, suppressed, short snoring sounds.
Hmm, it has a very ethereal feel to it~
Lucien lowered his hand.
The beam of light still enveloped him, separating him from the surrounding kneeling darkness.
He stood in the light and spoke slowly, his voice not loud, yet clearly reaching everyone's ears:
"The Lord is with me, the Lord is with us."
Bishop Avery immediately kowtowed, shouting in unison, "The Lord is with me!"
Bishop Luke raised a cross: "The Lord is with me!"
The third person followed.
the fourth.
the fifth.
The sounds, initially scattered, coalesced into a unified chorus, eventually transforming into a single, synchronized roar that echoed and reverberated throughout the vast underground cavern.
"The Lord is with me!"
"The Lord is with me!"
"The Lord is with me!"
Lucien, his face flushed, stood in the center of the pillar of light, listening to the frenzied roar, his expression remaining unchanged.
The beam of light began to slowly move upwards.
The natural light coming from the wellhead is shifting.
But he remained standing there, his arms slightly outstretched, like a pale statue that had just been completed and was being worshipped.