The Finger
Tremble….
“Hoo….”
I gripped my convulsing right arm tightly.
Even on the way to the Academy Cathedral, my right hand began writhing of its own accord, defying my will. Desperately clutching it with my left hand seemed to calm it somewhat.
“Ngh…!”
I gritted my teeth. The pain made my vision swim dizzily.
Ever since I quit that medication, unbearable agony would surge through me from time to time. But it didn't have to hit now, of all times.
“Urgh….”
It was the price for using divine power with my wounded body. This was why I'd been reluctant to wield it.
After injuring my shoulder, using divine power always came with this torment. Back then, strong painkillers prescribed by the doctor had made it tolerable enough….
But now, there were no such drugs. Ordinary painkillers were laughably inadequate.
Still better than nothing, I thought. Discreetly, I slipped my trembling hand into the folds of my priestly robes and pulled out the medicine vial.
As I halted, clutching my arm, the students following me and Professor Esther Garrett looked at me with worried eyes. I quickly hid the vial up my sleeve.
“A-Are you okay, Professor Lucio…?”
“Is something hurting?”
“Ngh…! Hoo…! I'm f-fine…. Let's keep moving.”
“But—”
“I'm fine, so move!”
I bellowed, and the students flinched before resuming their steps. I bit my lip hard. I felt a warm, metallic liquid trickling down my chin.
“Chief Priest…?”
“…I'm f-fine…! Ngh…! Don't worry about me. Just keep going.”
“……”
Deaconess Sophia walked silently beside me for a while, staring, then gently tugged at my right hand hidden in my sleeve.
My hideous, spasming right hand—and the vial concealed within—were exposed. I squeezed my eyes shut and turned away.
…What does Deaconess Sophia think of this?
Probably disgusted, like everyone else.
I roughly shook off her hand. Her grasp flailed into empty air.
“…Chief Priest. What’s that medicine?”
“Deaconess Sophia. I said I'm fine. Let's hurry.”
“What is that medicine?”
“Just… a simple painkiller.”
“……”
Sophia, walking abreast, glanced back at the students whispering tensely among themselves and Professor Esther vigilantly scanning our surroundings.
“Deaconess Sophia. It's really nothing.”
“Got it. I believe you. For now….”
“…Thank you.”
I swiftly popped open the vial and tossed a pill into my mouth. No water made it hard to swallow, but I forced it down my throat somehow.
About five minutes later.
“Hoo….”
The painkiller began to take effect. Feeling somewhat relieved, I slowly flexed my right hand.
“Chief Priest.”
Sophia called to me. I turned to her.
“When this is over, tell me everything.”
“Deaconess Sophia.”
“Where it hurts, why. All of it. As your deaconess, I need to know.”
“…Later. I'll tell you later.”
I couldn't meet her eyes. Pretending nonchalance, I turned away.
I'd expected she'd find out someday. But not like this.
I chewed my lip and kept walking. The stinging, bloodied lip drew focus from the searing pain in my right arm and shoulder—it was a small relief.
“There! We're almost there!”
Following Professor Esther's pointing finger, I glanced left. Through the annex corridor windows, the Academy Cathedral's grand silhouette came into view.
“Once this is done….”
I'd rest thoroughly over the weekend.
So I thought.
As the cathedral's chief priest, I handled its management too—which meant the key to its firmly locked doors was in my possession.
Clunk!
Turning the key, the lock disengaged with a crisp click. We cautiously pushed open the cathedral doors.
Professor Esther's spell had long expired. But we'd already inspected every classroom in the annex on the way here, so she'd done her part.
“Let's check behind the cross.”
“Y-Yes.”
We hurried into the nave.
The nave was silent. Only the steady candle flames and moonlight fading behind the mountains filtered faintly through the windows, lending a reverent air. Soon, with dawn, it would fill with devout believers.
“The cross…. That one?”
“Looks like it.”
“Hold on….”
I stopped the students from touching it rashly and approached carefully.
“…Lord. I repent my sins this day. Forgive this irreverence.”
Deaconess Sophia naturally took position opposite the cross. I nodded and laid my hands on it slowly.
“…I'll remove it.”
“C-Can we put it back…?”
“Don't worry. Ready? One, two….”
“Three…!”
The massive cross's weight bore down as something clicked, and it slowly detached. Sophia and I carefully leaned it against the wall.
“O-Oh…!”
“There's really a space!”
A hole about the size of a jewelry box was carved behind the cross. Daniel and Vivian's eyes sparkled as they peered in.
“Then….”
“…Let's retrieve the finger.”
Tension thick, I made the sign of the cross and reached into the hole.
My hand slid in slowly, very slowly, until it hit a hard wall at wrist depth. And there, a bloodied finger….
“…Hm?”
Groping around.
I felt only cold, hard walls in the darkness.
“P-Professor?”
“It's not…. there?”
“Wait a moment.”
No matter how I searched, nothing. After rummaging through the dust for ages, I withdrew my hand with a hollow expression.
“……”
“Wha…. Then what's this hole for? There's nowhere else, right?”
“Maybe it's really behind the annex lights….”
“For real?”
“Searching everywhere would be idiotic, no?”
“Weird…. It seemed so certain.”
Indeed, no one would hollow out a perfect cubic hole—sawed clean as if by a saw—behind the cross for no reason.
And then.
Thud—!
We whipped around toward the sound. What entered our eyes was.
“…What?”
Thud—! Thud—!
The cathedral's antique wooden doors shook violently.
And instinctively, we knew.
“Hah….”
“Ch-Chief Priest Giovanni….”
Chief Priest Giovanni's vengeful spirit had followed us.
I bit my lip and glanced at my right hand.
The spasms had stopped, but it trembled intermittently. Using more divine power in this state….
“Damn it….”
No more divine power. Of all times.
The situation spiraled to the worst.
At least the prayer I'd endured agony for still held, keeping the students from panic.
“What do we do? Fight it?!”
“Ghosts have no form—how?!”
“Magic attacks might work?”
Yes. For now. But time was short.
We'd spent too long sweeping the annex with Professor Esther's spell.
Rumble….
Suddenly, pitch-black something oozed from the door's center, corrupting it like rot.
Deaconess Sophia cried out in horror.
“Wh-What…! The door! Chief Priest! Evil energy from the door!”
“I know!”
I rushed to the door, Bible in hand. Kissing the rosary clutched in my left, I flipped through frantically. Pages rustled wildly. More divine power would wreck me, but no time for caution.
“Deaconess Sophia! The Walls of Tereah! You know it?”
Sophia, now beside me gripping her rosary, answered.
“Y-Yes, I know it!”
“Chapter 4, verse 13! Start!”
“But I can't yet…!”
“I'll supply the divine power! Hurry!”
Confirming the passage, I set the Bible down. Quick sign of the cross, hand wrapped in my pectoral cross around my neck, I touched the blackening door.
Sizzle—!
A burning sound and familiar energy. I startled.
“Demon…?”
This decay was demonic power. As the door rotted further, I chanted swiftly.
"Behold, O children of Tereah. Though I made their grain abound and their lands fertile, they imperil your walls—for they have fallen to the whispers of wicked beasts."
"I covenanted with you aforetime; they shall not breach the walls of Tereah."
"Hearken! By my word, I shall cast their leader into the sulfurous fires of hell—this is the holiness of the Lord!"
⟨ Walls of Tereah ⟩
Whiiiine—!
With Deaconess Sophia's final cry, golden radiance swept the nave like a wave. The rotting door gilded instantly, becoming a solid barrier.
But only for a moment. Sighs escaped as it blackened again from the center.
Tremble…!
My right arm shook violently, white-hot pain blanking my mind. I gritted through it but collapsed.
“Hah…! Heuk…!”
“Ch-Chief Priest!”
Pale-faced Sophia rushed over. This prayer was too much for her. But it required multiple priests, so no choice.
I felt sorry for her. I'd supplied most divine power, yet it burdened her greatly.
Gently brushing her damp hair aside, I said,
“Deaconess Sophia…. It'll hold for now, but not long…!”
“Y-Yes?!”
“Couldn't infuse enough divine power. The prayer's incomplete!”
“Wh-What do we…?! What now…?!”
The prayer's effect would fade soon. We had to find the finger or repel Giovanni outside before then.
“Repel….”
A lightning thought flashed.
I checked my watch.
6:10 a.m. In twenty minutes, dawn breaks. I yelled at Daniel with all my strength.
“Student Daniel! The ghost story says Chief Priest Giovanni's spirit vanishes at dawn! Is that true?!”
“Uh, well…!”
“Is it?! Or not?!”
“Y-Yes! True! The notebook said so! But at dawn…!”
The finger vanishes too. Who knows when we'd get another shot at this otherworldly thing.
I'd hoped it wouldn't harm the students. Wrong.
Look—pounding the door furiously. Crimson eyes glint through cracks. Why the frenzy?
“…The finger.”
I checked the hole behind the cross. Empty. But….
“The finger's somewhere here…!”
“Chief Priest! Wh-What do I do?! What can I do…!”
Sophia tearfully shook my shoulder. Grateful, but finger first.
“Deaconess Sophia! Search with the students!”
“B-But the finger….”
“Now!”
Thud—!
Meanwhile, cracks spiderwebbed the golden barrier. Suddenly, Daniel stepped forward.
“I'll reinforce the door with shamanism!”
Daniel pulled something from his robes and placed it on the floor.
“…Wooden idol?”
A bizarre carving—human face? Beast?—clearly a shamanic catalyst used by eastern nomads and descendants.
“Everyone, back up!”
Students retreated at his shout. Daniel dipped his finger in red ink from a vial.
“Chicken blood.”
Blood soaked in; the doll floated, swelling rapidly.
It ballooned to door-size, embracing it—merging seamlessly.
“That buys some time!”
“Well done, Student Daniel!”
Time gained—good. But the problem….
Crack—!
“Wha…?”
The idol shattered instantly. One-use only. Only the prayer barrier remained.
“Find the finger! Hurry!”
“Y-Yes! Got it!”
Daniel joined the search. Laura, biting nails, paced frantically.
“Where is the damn finger…!”
I forced my limp legs up to help. Right arm felt severed.
“Ngh….”
Watch: 6:25 a.m. No time.
Through cathedral windows, the sky peeked blue—dawn stirring.
“Professor Lucio! Nowhere!”
“Professor! Not here either!”
Professor Esther and Laura approached, dejected.
“Damn…. Where the hell…!”
Think. Think.
In the shadow of the brightest place. Shadows need light.
I eyed the hole where the cross stood. Still pitch black.
“Brightest….”
Not the cross? Mind chaos—then.
A faint sunbeam glinted through the nave's high window.
And I saw.
“……!”
The thin ray pierced exactly into the hole.
For that split second it illuminated—a fragment of finger.
“…The brightest place. The brightest light is heaven's grace.”
The sun: heaven's grace. Ripens grain, bestows life.
The brightest light revealed.
“Ch-Chief Priest?!”
Staggering, I approached the hole. Checked watch.
6:30 a.m. Dawn.
“Wha…!”
“There! The finger!”
“My god…!”
And it was.
Magic? Or miracle?
In that fleeting instant, early dawn ray pierced the hole.
A withered, blood-crusted finger appeared. I snatched it.
“Got it…!”
And simultaneously.
Boom—!
One final quake, then pounding ceased. Door's rot halted.
I walked slowly to the door. Opened it to reveal.
“…Gone.”
Only the sun rising, painting the sky.
I knelt. Sophia rushed, shaking my left arm, tears flowing.
“Chief Priest! We did it! We beat that demon…!”
“You did well, Deaconess Sophia.”
“Ch-Chief Priest! More importantly! Your body! Are you okay?!”
“…Deaconess Sophia.”
She looked at me, face etched with worry. I smiled weakly.
“Take care… of me, please.”
“…Huh?”
With her baffled expression, my body tilted toward her.
Before vision blacked out, last sights:
“Professor! Pro…!”
“Professor Lucio—!”
Rushing Esther and students.
And Sophia's clear, pure tears.