Entity

The unfamiliar holy looking priest proceeds to walk over to Phos's table as his gaze is still fixated upon Phos while ignoring everyone else's presence including Israel's. Showing a strong indication of a moment that he was extremely absorbed by Phos' aura and demeanor for some particular reasons. "I see that you're also a fellow priest, but it seems like you're from a different faction…" He glances over at Israel like he hadn't seen him earlier before, "I apologize for my rude intrusion on the both of you, however, would you both care for another person to join your moment of teatime?"

Israel was a bit annoyed and cautious, not only was the priest a stranger but he walked over without minding his presence. "We're about to head off…" Israel's response was interrupted by Phos', "We don't mind, you may sit with us." Israel became quiet and obedient as he examined the situation before understanding Phos' intention.

"I guess you can join us, but since we've run out of tea you should at least order for us a new one." Israel smirks as Phos continues to sip his last cup of tea while paying no attention to Israel's demand from the strange priest.

"No need for that, I've already ordered a teapot just a while ago. They'll bring it over to our table." He carefully held the back of his bottom robe down and took a seat next to Israel.

"Tsk." Israel shows a reaction of dislike as he tries to hide his foul mood from being expressed.

The priest chuckled a bit under his breath before he immediately started his introduction, "My name is Kamui, I'm also a priest but this is my first time being around the city of Baldwin since our Church was only finished being built recently. Judging by the bagua symbols on the back of both of your uniforms, you two are from the Taoist Church faction?"

"You're not wrong, I was a priest of the Taoist Church." Phos replied as he put his empty teacup aside.

"Was?" Israel asked with a bit of confusion.

"Yes, I forgot to tell you beforehand, but I've already resigned as priest from the Taoist Church." Phos showed no signs of any hesitation as he told Israel.

"WHAT?" Israel exclaimed, surprised by the sudden information of Phos' resignation and ended up alerting a few people around him. 

"I've already filed my paper to resign this morning. Which means Skotá is the last person that I was able to recruit for the faction." Phos confirms Israel's thoughts.

"I see, so that's the decision my lord has made, which is reasonable." Israel calms himself down, before coming to terms with Phos' choices showing his respect towards it.

The conversation between the two piques Kamui's interest in Phos' character even further as he makes observations of the two's relationships. His heart was racing a bit giving a bit of an excitement to be more curious, furthermore he was curious as to why a commander in the top rankings of the Taoist Church was calling a person like Phos, who's only a priest, his lord.

"It seems like these two have a pretty interesting relationship outside of their faction's hierarchy, I must keep my eyes on him more from now on. Also…" Kamui's thoughts begin to rationalize the reasons for Phos' extraordinary aura that he has never witnessed or seen in any others' before, thus his expression sharpens, his eyes are relaxed but shows strong observations.

Phos noticed Kamui's gaze, similar to his when he was lost in thoughts, but Kamui's gaze was different since there was a hint of true consciousness still. To Phos, Kamui's eyes did not show any kind of emotion despite his facial expressions. It was like looking straight into the abyss itself, infinitely deep and dark which is filled by an empty void. Something that he has never seen in anyone's eyes even in his previous world, and in that split of a moment Phos has felt a bit of fear in his heart for the very first time since he stepped foot into this world.

However, it did not affect him in any way as he overcomes the feeling with his enthusiastic nature to welcome the unknown. "This man, he's not ordinary. For a moment he did not seem human to me, for a priest his eyes had no light or even glimmer of hope. I don't know why he became a priest but it's definitely not for God's sake." thoughts hovers over Phos's mind as he zones out Israel's voice.

 "Ah… Our tea, they're taking a bit long to bring out." Israel interrupted both of their thoughts to be reminded of their missing order.

"You're right, let's ask the waitress in case they forgot about the order." Phos suggested.

Kamui smiles as he waves to the waitress that bumped into him earlier to come over. The young waitress notices and nods to them, indicating that she will be with them soon. 

"My name is Phos and this is Israel, we both got to know each other from being in the same religious faction." Phos introduces himself and Israel to Kamui, giving him a brief idea of how he knew Israel but nothing more.

"I see, it seems you both are rather close with one another. I'm from the Catholic Church faction, our church is located in the Western side of this city. Since this is my first time being around here, I was thinking of just making some friends along the way and trying to get to know the people here." Kamui speaks enthusiastically.

"Oh, is that so? Sorry for judging you too quickly earlier, I thought you were just a strange priest wanting something out of us." Israel confesses light heartedly as he scratches his head.

"That's okay, I get that all the time." Kamui and Israel laughed.

The waitress from earlier begins to walk over while carrying a tray with a hot teapot and a new set of teacups on it, "Sorry for being late, your tea is ready now." She started to prepare the new tea sets for them and collected the old ones that they were using before. As she was collecting it, Kamui noticed a bandage around her index finger. "A cut from earlier?" He asks the waitress. 

"Yes, I was picking the remaining pieces of the broken teapot earlier but ended up cutting myself, how clumsy of me." The waitress smiles as she becomes self-conscious of her clumsiness. 

"May I see your hand?" Kamui asks the waitress softly.

"Eh?" The waitress shows him her hand. Kamui takes his Bible and places it under her relaxed palm. She begins to get a tingly sensation in her index finger from the deep wound she has. Not a few seconds passed by, and the tingly feeling faded away. 

Kamui places down the Bible, "It should be okay now, you can take off the bandage."

Israel and Phos looked at each other after witnessing what had happened, both of them seemed to have already come to a conclusion of what Kamui had done. The waitress trusts Kamui and unwraps the blood-stained bandage around her finger and takes a look at her wound. What was a deep cut before is now gone, perfectly healed like it had never been cut to begin with. In fact, the spot where it was cut became even smoother than any other places. "That's incredible!" She couldn't believe her eyes, "You healed it!" 

Kamui chuckles under his breath, "It was not I who healed you, God did, through the Bible the father has given you, his miracle."

Israel was pretty amazed by what had just happened. He had heard about the Catholic Church's possession of healing abilities which is what they're known for as a religious faction, and in fact he had only ever heard of miracles like that once or twice during his time on the battlefield.

However, this is the first time he has witnessed it with his very own eyes, very up close at that.

The Catholic Church became one of the grand assets to the government of this nation through its influences, numbers of followers, and especially the faction's ability to perform miracles such as healing abilities. Meanwhile the Taoist Church was more competent at providing political and military strategies, military power, and their great contribution to winning battles of the great national war itself. As a result, both the Catholic and Taoist factions play a big role in building and amassing territories, land, power, and even influence to protect the very nation as an alliance. Despite their differences, both factions still hold their beliefs in the same God but could not see eye to eye with one another as their approach of ethics to attain enlightenment differs.

Meanwhile both the waitress and Israel showed obvious reactions of being in awe. Kamui switches his attention to Phos, which he was expecting the same kind of reaction of awe from Phos.

However, Phos was unphased, in his previous world such abilities were normal for mortals and humans to possess. There were few out of many martial artists who cultivated martial arts to a degree in which they could even heal their own wounds in pretty much an instant, and it didn't matter if they were burnt or deeply cut by swords. Thus, it intrigues Kamui even further as his healing abilities should be a rare sight to see in this world. 

He could not wrap his head around Phos and what kind of person he is, which brings him to the next conclusion. It's either Phos also has healing abilities and knows it's secret, or if Phos is just like him. "Interesting, you're definitely hiding some good secrets, aren't you?" Kamui's thoughts were written all over his face for Phos to see. But to Phos it's nothing new, there were plenty of people that showed such interest in him as he transmigrated to this world. He had shown a lot of things to grab others' attention and interests without intending to in the first place, furthermore there were moments where he used his previous world's cultivating prowess and abilities assuming that it was normal for people of this world before realizing it truly wasn't.

Although Phos does think it's normal for people to take interest in him, he couldn't help but feel something off and different about Kamui's approach and eagerness. In other words, Phos' intuition was telling him to be exceptionally and highly cautious of this person. For he has already realized that Kamui is not just witty, daring, or even special because he's capable of bestowing holy miracles. 

From the very beginning since Kamui walks into the shop, he's been showing Phos his true nature as if he's radiating off a spiritual aura that no one else can truly sense but only Phos himself can. His spiritual power was telling Phos that he himself was at the center of his palm, and it's also why Phos felt a sense of fear earlier. The only people who Phos ever has encountered to make him intuitively feel this way was a few of his friends and enemies he had back in his previous world, which also rivals him in terms of cultivations and spiritual power. So, throughout this whole conversation Phos has been extremely careful with what he says and does considering Kamui is still largely a mystery of a person to him. 

"Th-Thank you for performing such a miracle on me, how could I repay you for this?" The waitress starts seeing Kamui in a much more holy light like he was truly the Messiah of God that possesses great benevolence. She held her healed finger close to her heart, showing her genuine satisfaction for what Kamui did for her.

"You don't owe me anything, as a priest it is only my duty to help in any way I can with God's gift and his miracles. So just leave it at that and take it as an appreciation for bringing my tea over for us." Kamui responds in kind words. Almost too kind in fact, which made Phos even more suspicious of Kamui's purpose in being a priest of the Catholic Church to begin with. Normally a priest's or priestess' job is to spread the faction's influence further by recruiting people to its factions through the faction's ethical means, or they would help those who are in need in order to build the faction's reputation at least. 

In other words, Phos has already deduced that Kamui had shown no sign of interest in carrying out his duty as a Catholic Priest, nor did he heal the waitress's injury out of his own personal "goodwill". Phos knows that this is all a show that Kamui is putting on to observe his reaction, going so far as using the faction's healing abilities to do so. Certainly, this was not Phos' overthinking, he himself understands deeply about the human's nature more than anyone else's in his previous world, even attaining God's recognition to make use of his wisdom here.

Another thing that Phos realized and made him full of suspicion upon meeting this Catholic priest was that he did not sense a single genuine aspect from his character. Even Phos' enemies and allies show at least a couple of flaws, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses no matter how much they fabricate an armor around it or try to hide it through concealments. But this priest… He has not shown a single flaw or vulnerability let alone a weakness. 

Kamui was still a mystery to Phos just as he is still a mystery to Kamui, but with this sudden realization Phos knew that he could not stay here any longer considering it was getting a bit uncomfortable for Phos. He did not expect to meet a person of this caliber in a room like this, he was observing Kamui as much as Kamui was observing him. He knew that if he spent more time here, Kamui would be on his trail eventually which was too risky of a gamble. Israel was someone who he could trust or be truthful with, but Kamui seems to hold too many secrets that's too questionable for even Phos' deep insights. So, he decided that it was time to take their immediate leave, considering it as a tactical retreat, in order to avoid this awkward position he's playing in. 

"I didn't realize this earlier, but it seems like the sun is already setting. We must make haste to your Taoist Church before the sun sets, Israel." Phos gave Israel an urgent signal by placing his feather fan close to his face like he normally does, but only this time the fan was in his right hand instead of his left which is rather unusual. They didn't have time to talk and discuss secret signals or secret languages, so this method was the only way for Phos to make use of Israel's keen perceptive nature and abilities to sense something was off, and it apparently was enough to as Israel catches on quickly. 

"Oh, you're right, things do get pretty dangerous nowadays at night. Our inn that we stayed at last night got targeted this morning. Luckily, we didn't get caught in the explosion." Israel tries adding in more good points for the sudden excuse for them to leave.

"Was it the South Star Inn?" The waitress asked.

"Yes, that's the one." Israel replied. 

"We got news that the terrorists of a certain Satanist group did, judging by the clues and evidence that the C.I.D discovered this morning from the incident. They post it all over the media, but there are some people who are still reluctant to believe it, claiming it could be an insider's job." The waitress continues to tell them what she was informed about and all of what she knows as she feels fond of them. "That's all I really know."

"Yeah, it could be the C.I.D who planted the bomb themselves, considering how quickly they claim to find the evidence…" Israel says some of his thoughts out loud but suddenly stops pondering as he notices his lord, Phos, still hasn't changed his hand holding his fan yet. 

"Anyways, it's getting pretty late, me and Phos will need to reach the Eastern side of the city. I hope we'll be able to meet each other again, thank you for the information you provide us, and thank you for drinking tea with us, Mr. Kamui." 

"It was my pleasure; I really enjoyed our teatime together. Hopefully we will meet again in the future." Kamui gave a gentle smile to Phos and Israel as he held his bible close to him.

"Thank you for drinking tea here! Come again next time!" The waitress waves them goodbye as both Phos and Israel leave the shop. "This is why you can't trust words from the streets so easily. They keep saying Taoist Church members are murderers, mercenaries, and whatnot, but they turn out to be really nice people, don't you think so mister?" She took a moment to look over at Kamui, the holy priest, but what she saw made her instantly choke as her entire being was completely paralyzed. Her body could not move, she couldn't speak, nor could she even swallow her saliva. For every single part of her fiber was telling her she could not move due to extreme fear. Her body had already shut down and was now experiencing the true nature of "death" for the very first time. Her heart and every organ inside were scorching as she felt suffocated from lack of oxygen, and her breathing also stopped for a brief moment in time. She fell to the floor causing most workers and customers in the shop to look over to her. In front of her there stands an entity staring straight back at her.

The priest who once was standing next to her was gone. As she's on the ground paralyzed by her own fear, she begins to show signs of hopelessness and despair in her eyes. She starts shuddering from the piercing cold sensation that continues to seep into her body and soul, her thoughts becoming scattered as her eyes widened uncontrollably. No one else was able to see what she was seeing right in front of her, as it stared deep into her soul. Its pitch-black eyes were dark as the empty void as it reflects nothing, not even a glimpse of light can be found, and not a single soul can be found in such an abyss. The darkness devours any soul that is entrapped and pulled from. After crouching down the entity places its index finger on her quivering lips as it smiles at her, "Shhh."

The girl tries mustering up all the air from her lungs to scream, but all she could do was sit there with her eyes wide open as if she was on the verge of losing her mind. A puddle started to form under her skirt, giving off a stench of urine.

She finally lets out a scream with all of her might put into it, but the only thing that managed to come out of her was a small squeal. The people around were confused as to what was happening, to them it only looked like the priest was crouching down handing out his hand to her to help her up.

This entity has no particular form as it is able to manipulate and corrupt the minds of people and their perceptions to reality, but it can also penetrate the essence of souls and form a spiritual realm, through warping the fabric of reality itself. 

"Are you okay?" The young priest asks as he gets closer to her. But to the waitress, the entity began pointing his index finger to the shop's front entrance. The young girl was able to move, breathe and speak again, however instead of screaming she repeatedly laughed and made shushing noises. "ShShShShSh, HAHAHA! SHSHSHSH!" She got up staggeringly with urine dripping down to her knees as she stumbled her way to the shop's exit. Looking at her one could tell that she had already lost her mind, completely insane and broken.

"What's gotten into you?" Another waitress tried stopping her but was pushed and fell roughly to the ground by her.

Customers' chattering and gossip began as the now insane and broken waitress walked out the shop soulless and lifeless.

"What happened to that girl?"

"Who knows."

"Is she okay?"

"Best not to get involved."

"She looks tired."

"Eew did she peed herself?"

"Are you alright?" A customer helped the waitress who was pushed earlier.

 Kamui chuckles and smiles gently as he watches the scene.

Dawn began to set over the horizon behind the mountain tops, the silhouette of the mountains remained darkened, almost fully covering the bright red sun.

"What did you think about that catholic priest, Israel?" Phos asked Israel as they both walked together on the roadside by side.

"Hmmm… Honestly what stands out the most to me about him was his hands." 

"Hands?"

"Yes, his hands were much like yours… I guess it's just a coincidence, but it's rare to see hands like yours in this continent." Israel has always been a perceptive individual, but what he's most perceptive in others were their hands. Because hands tell a lot about an individual's occupations, experiences, and even hobbies. People who do labor work are more likely to develop thick or rough skin on their hands, like farmers who do heavy lifting and plowing. Meanwhile scholars, artists, writers, etc; usually have delicate and softer hands. However, they can still develop calluses on their middle finger from holding their pen or brush too much.

"Like mine?" Phos asked Israel for further clarification.

"Ah, I'm not sure if it looks exactly the same though since I was only taking a glimpse at it, but his hands look really soft, and it may perhaps be softer than yours. It's the first time I've seen anyone with such soft hands, especially for a guy." Israel clarified a bit more before asking Phos a similar question. "Anyways, what did you think about him?"

Without any hesitation Phos answered, "It wasn't human." Phos and Israel immediately stopped in their tracks; the cold breeze became even windier as they both stood there while the back of Phos' uniform was being carried by the wind.

Israel gulped, "Wh-what do you mean?"

"Israel…" Phos paused for a moment before he continued on, "That thing does not have any sense of morality..."