Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 465 Sent to God's Side

At dusk, a village is on fire.

The cavalry, carrying torches, drove the villagers away, shouting as they were driven from the village corrupted by the devil's plague.

On the edge of the village, a bonfire was piled up beside a main road, with a cross standing on top.

Seven or eight knights stood around the fire, and two corpses lay on the ground.

A moment later, two horses galloped down the road. A young, bald priest jumped off the first horse. He was dressed in a simple gray robe and wore only a cross pendant on his chest.

"Why set it on fire?" the young priest asked the knight leader, frowning as he looked at the burning village.

"This is the devil's village; it has corrupted this place. Only fire can purify it," the knight captain said coldly.

The priest knew the man was just a vandal, but his faith had given him an excuse to act recklessly. Now that things had come to this, condemning him was pointless. He looked at the two corpses on the ground. "Who are they?"

"The parents of the 'devil' were the ones who summoned Father Clement and caused his death. They even tried to defend the 'devil,' and I suspect they were also possessed by the devil."

"Doubt? You killed them just because you doubted them?" The priest was somewhat angry. It was because of these brutes who used the name of the Vatican to create panic everywhere that the Vatican became more and more twisted and brutal, and faith supported by fear would never last long.

"Are you questioning my loyalty?!" the knight captain retorted sharply. "A priest died here, killed by the devil, and you expect me to have mercy on these heretics?"

The priest was furious, but he did not continue arguing. Colluding with heretics was an extremely serious crime, and sympathizing with them was the beginning of betrayal.

"Where is the possessed person?"

The "devil" has been brought.

It was a girl who looked only four or five years old. Her hands were tied behind her back, and judging from the way her arms were bent, they might have been broken.

The child's face was streaked with tears, and his eyes were wide open but unfocused—it was a result of mental instability caused by extreme fright.

The priest immediately realized that the child was not possessed by any demon, and the cross on his chest was vibrating slightly, reminding him of this—the other party was probably just a witch.

Although the Vatican's propaganda makes no difference between the two, internal discussions reveal clear distinctions between them.

Those fanatical believers controlled by pagan gods are the so-called "devil possessors." They worship pagan gods, are corrupt and beyond redemption, and their special abilities or magic often come from external evil gods.

Wizards, however, are a special group; their power seems to come from within themselves and has nothing to do with their souls.

These beasts inflicted such cruelty on an innocent child. God's enemies must be eliminated, but insults and abuse are absolutely contrary to God's teachings.

He walked up, pushed aside a knight who tried to stop him, came to the girl, and placed his hand on the top of her head.

The cross on his chest vibrated slightly, confirming the other person's identity.

Witch.

He sighed. "May God forgive your sins, child. Don't be afraid, it will all be over soon."

After saying this, he stood up and had the knights tie the girl to the cross over the bonfire.

Both wizards and demon-possessed individuals are enemies of the Vatican.

Even more dangerous are wizards.

It is said that they are the ones helping the pagan gods expand their territory, and they are ranked higher than the pagans on the list of those the Vatican must eliminate, not to mention that a priest died here.

This girl must die.

The thought of killing an innocent child with his own hands made the young priest feel heavy breathing and his heart ache as if it were being squeezed.

But this pain turned into a self-torturing kind of perseverance.

Everything is for God's great work!

If this is a sin, I will bear it alone. Even if it prevents me from going to heaven, it is all worthwhile as long as God's grace can benefit more people.

As if confirming his thoughts, the cross on his chest radiated a gentle warmth.

Then an enlightening thought appeared in his mind: "The pain of the flames is only temporary. As long as her soul is purified, she can return to God's side."

The priest felt a sudden sense of relief and was almost moved to tears.

This must be a divine revelation. He is so tolerant that He is unwilling to abandon even wizards who might affect His own great cause, and has reserved a place for them by His side.

He is so loving that He sees even the smallest anxieties of His believers.

The priest rallied, his soul purified once more through this small trial.

The girl was tied to a cross. She seemed to understand her fate and struggled desperately. Her mouth was gagged, so she could only make muffled sounds. She kept twisting her body, and snot and tears streamed down her face.

The priest took a deep breath and gave a gentle smile.

He did not remove the gag from the girl's mouth, fearing that she might blaspheme in her terror and add to his sins.

Do not be afraid, my child. The sins of the world have not yet tainted you. You will return to the Father in the purest form and enjoy eternal peace and joy.

With that thought in mind, he no longer hesitated, took the torch handed to him by a knight, and threw it onto the oil-soaked fire.

"Waaah..." the girl let out a pitiful wail.

Amidst the billowing smoke, the girl's struggling body was like a manifestation of fear itself. Even though the priest had prepared himself mentally, a trace of fear still arose from the bottom of his heart.

"Great Heavenly Father," the priest cried out, trying to suppress his fear, "I am sending this girl back to You. Please have mercy on her soul, forgive her sins, and grant her wisdom and eternity..."

However, before he could finish speaking, he suddenly felt the cross on his chest vibrate violently.

This cross was a sacred object given to him when he became a papal priest. It is said to have been blessed by angels and could help believers convey their prayers to the Father. In the hands of some devout believers, it could even evoke a resonance, thus bringing about miracles.

However, the young priest was still immature, and in his hands, the power of the cross was only to detect the presence of evil nearby.

When heretics or other evil beings appear nearby, the cross will begin to shake; the stronger the evil, the more violently the cross shakes.

As with the witch child just now, her power was very weak, so the cross only trembled slightly. However, if it were a believer in an evil god—that is, a so-called demon possessor—whose power far surpasses that of an ordinary little wizard, the vibration of the cross would be much more obvious.

But even when the cross was fighting the real devil with the church, it never trembled so violently.

To the priest's astonishment, it floated up, its force so great that it even snapped the necklace around his neck.

It hovered half a meter in front of the priest, like a hunting dog that had encountered its natural enemy, vigilantly guarding his front.

But at that moment, the priest saw a figure in the distance.

Under the setting sun at dusk, a tall, slender human figure strolled over.

With each step he took, the cross trembled more violently, and cracks appeared on it, radiating boundless, unparalleled white light.

However, this light could not conceal the darkness that lingered behind the newcomer.

As the sun began to set, a cold wind blew by, and the priest was shocked to find that the flames in the village had been extinguished at some point. Several knights not far away seemed to have been petrified, their bodies pale and covered in frost—they had been frozen solid in the wind.

"God, Heavenly Father..."

The priest realized he was facing an unprecedented and powerful threat, and instinctively began to pray.

But he heard a soft chuckle.

"Your God is too far away; He cannot hear your prayers."

"You should go and talk to him directly."

Before he finished speaking, the cross seemed to be twisted forcefully, and with a tooth-grinding metallic scraping sound, it was twisted into a pretzel, instantly losing all its luster, and fell to the ground like a piece of scrap metal.

Without the protection of the cross, the priest immediately felt a chilling cold.

In an instant, his limbs and even his internal organs were frozen.

As his vision was enveloped in a blanket of white, he saw the appearance of the person who had approached.

With short black hair and golden eyes, he was an extremely handsome young man.

However, in his brief, near-death experience, he saw the other person's true face beneath their outward appearance.

Covered in scales, standing on goat hooves, with six wings on its back and four horns on its head...

Satan...

"God's...enemy..."

He uttered the last word and then fell into eternal silence.

Murphy didn't even glance at him. He went straight to the fire, which had been extinguished by the cold air, and with a wave of his hand, he caught the girl who had fainted from suffocation due to the smoke in his arms.

He glanced at the other person's short silver hair, clicked his tongue as if he had expected it, and then disappeared on the spot.

(End of this chapter)