He Healed Them All (2)
Luke brought salvation upon the entire city, and all the sick were healed.
Then the sick asked Luke, "Teacher, who are you?"
The Lord replied, "I am the only begotten Son sent by Deus into this world, the Messiah who came to this land to save you."
And all the people looked up in reverence and worshiped.
In this situation, I had a wide array of options at my disposal.
Among them, let's narrow it down to four somewhat realistic approaches…
First. Kill everyone except Simon and Iaco.
Ignis, who exhibits overwhelming power as long as it's not a battle against Chaos. Plus all my other abilities.
Mass slaughter was feasible, and these were just extras, not major characters. I couldn't care less if they lived or died.
Of course, doing so would cost me Simon and Iaco's trust.
Not a choice I particularly wanted to make.
Second. Just grab Simon and Iaco and run.
The masses or Baal's holy knights—they were no match in terms of raw power.
Even without using "Jana's Life," escaping would be no problem.
But this would disappoint Simon and Iaco as well.
And frankly, it pissed me off. These extras dared to make me feel this filthy disgust, and now I was supposed to run away?
Third. Summon Ignis to heal the paralysis victims and prove to everyone I'm no fraud.
My mana was in optimal condition right now. More than enough to summon Ignis and treat paralysis victims like yesterday.
The problem was that the sick people who'd come to me weren't just paralysis cases.
A few paralysis victims were mixed in, but most were here for other reasons.
The blind, the armless, those with various other ailments.
Yesterday, only paralysis victims had shown up after hearing about the first one. Today, word of those healings must have spread, drawing in sufferers of all diseases with hope.
Ignis's power couldn't heal them all.
Or more precisely, I didn't know if it could.
Now that Ignis had acquired divinity akin to a prerequisite for godhood, who knew her limits? But summoning her alone would make everyone realize I'd done something.
If she succeeded in healing every single one, fine—but if I summoned her and failed to heal them, the crowd might think I only called flames as a threat.
That could turn all these spectators against me. Worst case, I'd be forced into option one or two.
And finally, the fourth.
My Gift ability.
An ability I couldn't control at will.
One whose true nature I hadn't fully grasped.
Yet in every crisis, it had resolved the situation—albeit not always as I intended.
Just recently with Saula.
Not my intention, but it completely neutralized the Part 1 final boss, powerful enough to grow into one of the Chaos gods, and hurled her far away.
This current mess wasn't a full-blown crisis—I could handle it—but it was ambiguous, hard to resolve cleanly.
And to grasp my ability more firmly ahead of future events, testing it now wouldn't hurt. A perfect controlled environment for an experiment, since I could cope if it went wrong.
Besides… the Saula incident let me form a hypothesis about my power.
Still just a hypothesis, but if I'm right—if it's tied to the book I wrote—then this ability could perfectly turn the situation around.
Worst case, if it doesn't go as planned, fall back to option two and bolt.
Option one would just complicate things with Simon and Iaco.
"A fraud, huh? Is that how I seem?"
Having sorted my thoughts and steeled my resolve, I opened my mouth.
No matter how logically or reasonably I argued, convincing this mob was impossible.
They'd already fallen for the bishop's incitement once.
Winning them back would be harder than a camel passing through the eye of a needle.
Even if my Gift worked as hoped, fully capturing their hearts might be tough.
So… what if I became a priest greater than that bishop?
No—surpassing mere holy men favored by the gods, what if I became the apostle Deus sent for this world's suffering souls?
…It could backfire badly. But this was just an avatar. If it went south, discard it later. Time to go all in.
"Yet… even if all doubt and scorn you, Mother still loves you."
In this moment, I would become Deus's apostle.
The saint descended to save this world's sinners.
"Mother grants you another chance. You shall be made clean."
With those words, I activated my Gift.
Whoosh!
A brilliant light erupted from me in all directions.
Soon, it enveloped the entire city.
Fwosh!
An eternity passed in an instant, and as the light faded, normal vision returned.
This damn Gift—different activation each time, huh? God, I hope my hypothesis holds.
"Ahh! My arm…! My arm grew back!"
"My eyes! I can see! I can see ahead!"
"Where am I?" "Father! Are you conscious?"
"My arm… the one I lost fighting monsters…!" "The scars are gone… what is this?"
Glancing around, I saw the sick among the spectators fully healed.
Even the holy knights bewildered by vanished permanent disabilities and scars.
Blind men's sight restored, comatose minds awakened—even new arms for the limbless.
Uh… way more… overpowered than expected?
I'd aimed for church pope or saint-level recovery…
This was resurrection—no, a miracle beyond that…?
Ah, no time to gawk.
"I have come to reclaim the faithless."
Why bother with the Gift at all if not to win the crowd completely?
"Believe, and Mother shall cleanse you."
There was a reason I phrased it that way.
If the Gift fired as intended, everyone here would be healed. Never imagined city-wide scale, but…
Anyway, healing even my enemies might seem suspicious.
But what if I wasn't just a cleric—what if I was a savior giving sinners another shot?
Then it made perfect sense.
Reclaiming the faithless.
I was sent by Deus not to punish sinners or unbelievers.
But to bring back Her lost children.
Perfect.
After this, the crowd had no choice but to fall in line.
Ha. How's this, you extra bishop?
Look at that dumbfounded face.
First time seeing something like this, right?
I'm shocked myself—it exceeded my intent—but for him, steeped in knowledge of divine power, the shock must be immense.
As I finished speaking, silence blanketed the streets.
The spectators, noisy with rage against me moments ago.
Loud with awe at the healings post-Gift.
Now hushed at my words on faith.
Hm… too shocking?
Should I say something else?
"Ohhh! Son of the Goddess! I believe in you!"
Then an old man among the crowd burst forward, shouting at me.
…Huh?
Son of the Goddess?
"I believe in you! I won't doubt anymore!"
"Thank you, Savior!"
"Thank you for the salvation!"
"I'll follow you, Son of Deus! Cleanse me!"
Wait, hold on—hold on hold on hold on hold on!
Son of God—what the hell?!
I never said that! Apostle, I said apostle!
Ah, calling Deus "Mother" earlier? Other faiths don't call gods Mother or Father.
I slipped into Christos style without thinking.
Should've considered Deus worship hasn't spread in the Nova Empire.
Plus the insane city-wide AOE heal—that sealed the "son of god" impression…
Uh… correct them now? Say I'm not Her son, just apostle?
No, that'd look weak in this vibe! After all that badass prophet talk!
"Grr… I-I'm leaving!"
"Bishop? Bishop!"
The bishop turned and fled, Baal priests and knights scrambling after.
Makes sense. After all he's built, he can't admit my miracle.
Feels like his world crumbling.
But tough luck.
Your status in this city? Already shattered.
…Ah.
Wrong time to gloat.
What do I do now?
Maybe clarify… nah, too lame… screw it.
Whatever. It's just an avatar.
Fine, Son of God it is. "Believe in Lord Deus, our Mother. Do so, and all shall receive salvation."
Waaaaah!
The crowd erupted in cheers at my words.
If it blows up later, ditch the avatar and run.