Chapter 1: Strange things
September 12, 1980
Inside a small church in South Philadelphia, a man dressed in full priestly robes, his wrists wrapped in bandages and over the bandages a golden knuckle duster, a faint holy glow emanated as blood oozed between his fingers. In front of him lay a half-decomposed body, and a weary sigh escaped his lips.
"May he find light and salvation, and may the Lord have mercy on his soul, amen. This is the third cultist to invade the church this year. Thankfully, they don't seem to communicate much with each other. Even with the protections installed in the church, these guys have no sense of self-preservation. Haaaa, I feel like I'm aging 10 years every day."
As if waiting for his cue, a small screen lit up.
[Discernment Vision +1]
[Current Progress: Tier 1 (233/1000)]
[Ability: Can see more clearly and vaguely perceive spirits and malevolent energies.]
[Sacred Intonation +1]
[Current progress: Tier 0 (90/100)]
[Ability: Recited scriptures receive a small sacred mark, capable of overcoming and warding off evil.]
[Consecration with Holy Water+1]
[Current progress: 89/100]
[Existing skill: Repel. The holy water you dispense contains a trace of sacred power, capable of warding off evil.]
"Haaa, I've barely entered this world and I'm already tired of it. Can't I return the system?"
Wallace had always been a believer in God, he liked going to church, but he never really believed in the rest, the supernatural, demons appearing and possessing people, he believed that this was more human nature finding ways to try to escape guilt.
When he was finally ordained as a priest at the age of 20, he awakened a "system," or at least that's what he calls it, and everything he believed in was turned upside down. It was as if the world had been waiting for him to receive this unfortunate gift.
Of course he knew that wasn't true, he just couldn't see it before. It was more like a veil had been lifted for him, and unfortunately it wasn't just him who began to notice; those things also began to notice him, and with greater intensity.
At first it was hell, he could barely protect himself, let alone help others, he couldn't even continue with his priestly duties properly, so he did what anyone desperate and haunted by a spirit would do, he sought advice directly from the church.
Very quickly, his letter to the archbishop was answered. A bishop appeared at the church just a few days later, asked him to sit down, and began to explain to him calmly, as if he had done so a thousand times before.
(Flashback)
Next to Wallace sat a man in his fifties with gray hair and kind brown eyes. The man began to speak calmly.
"Son, what you're feeling right now is normal: fear, apprehension, pain, and the desperation to stop seeing, to stop hearing... but it won't go away. Some discuss it as a blessing, others as a punishment. I'm here to teach you the basics of how to protect yourself, not only yourself but others, if you have the courage."
(Back to the present)
Bishop Alexandre taught me everything he could in three months, because he still had a lot to do and his duties never stopped.
He taught me more in practice; the theory was good, but simpler.
According to him, I was lucky not to venture into the spiritual world (beyond, other realms...) because when we are outside the body, the body becomes extremely vulnerable. If we do venture there, a lot of preparation is necessary, especially to keep other entities away from the body.
The soul carries spirituality, spirituality is like fuel or raw energy, and faith is the spark that guides and burns spirituality, converting it, in our case, into sacred energy, which in turn has a wide range of uses, such as fixing itself in holy water or even coating the body, and last but not least, artifacts, the cross, the Bible, are all artifacts, artifacts are intensifiers and mobile generators.
However, he explained to me that people with greater spirituality are not the favorite targets for cults, because as they have more "fuel," they are better sacrifices, allowing the veil to be opened wider for entities to pass over to that side.
The more powerful the artifact and the greater the faith in it, the greater its ability to increase the user's power, of course, there is a certain limit, the user.
Usually, the more powerful the artifact, the greater the restriction.
The simplest and most basic way to create an artifact is to transcribe verses onto the piece. To explain this in simpler terms, if we take two ordinary brass knuckles (mass-produced), which are not artifacts, and transcribe verses from the Bible onto them, pray and consecrate them daily, after a period of 30 days, it will cease to be an ordinary object and will be able to accompany you even in your spiritual form.
Loud knocks on the door snapped me out of my reverie. I got up and looked at where the corpse was. It had already melted into a pool of dark, foul-smelling liquid. Luckily, we were at the back of the church, so hopefully no one would come there. Leaving the room, I closed the door and locked it. I walked to the sink on the side and quickly removed the brass knuckles and bandages. Underneath the bandages were two hands covered in tattoos. I cleaned my hands, grabbed a pair of black gloves, put them on, and quickly headed for the door.
"Calm down, I'm coming."
...
(10 minutes early)
"Jared, are you sure there's really someone here who can exorcise spirits?" asked Judy, looking at the small church from afar.
The boy named Jared, a teenager with blond hair, nodded his head, but with some doubt, but soon stopped.
"It's not like we have a choice, besides, your aunt said there's a nice priest here, I think they're all trained or something for this kind of thing."
The little church was strange, not in an unpleasant way, on the contrary, it exuded an extremely cozy aura, almost giving the feeling of a grandmother's house, which was the strangest part.
The two looked at each other and continued walking. The distance between them and the church was decreasing when they felt a chill run through their bodies. They turned around at the same time, and there was a man with a smile wider than a normal human should have.
Their steps quickened to the point that they were running toward the church with all their might. Look back? Don't even think about it, just run.
In no time, they crossed the gates, arriving at a larger wooden door, and began knocking desperately. The door seemed like it would never open, which felt like hours until they heard a calm voice on the other side.
Jared and Judy heard that there was someone on the other side.
"HEEEEEEEEELP! HEEEE'S AFTER UUS!"
The footsteps behind the door seemed to quicken, as if running towards it, then they heard a small creak and the door burst open with a bang. Standing in front of them was a tall man, very tall.
He immediately pulled them inside the small church, while he himself remained at the door looking around. When the door finally closed, they breathed a sigh of relief.