Anomaly

Chapter 400 – Worship of the true gods [46]

Emily was seriously fighting the urge to just lose it. Her eyes flickered for a moment. Her lips parted slightly, ready to unleash a flood of questions, accusations, maybe, but no words came out. She had so much to say.

So much to question. And yet... at the same time, it felt like she had absolutely nothing. A contradictory, uncomfortable feeling, like trying to hold water in your hands. In the end, Emily just swallowed hard. None of that mattered. Not right now.

But one sentence kept echoing, persistent, like an irritating buzz in the back of her mind: “Considerably lethal to humans” What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Her brow furrowed, her gaze hardening slightly, filled with disbelief. How was that any different from... well, everything she’d faced so far? “Considerably lethal” situations weren’t exactly new. She had already seen the world on the brink of collapse.

She had dealt with failures in the very structure of reality, dimensional ruptures that seemed to tear through the fabric of what was “normal” like wet paper. Events that, by any reasonable definition, could be classified as the end of everything.

And yet... they had been treated as incidents. Isolated. Contained. Filed away. Simple, at least on paper. A breath escaped through her nose, almost a laugh, but devoid of any humor. “Manageable apocalypses” The idea was so absurd it was almost offensive.

So... what exactly came next? Because if this was only “considerably lethal” Emily wasn’t sure she wanted to find out what, in this world, would be considered truly lethal.

Beside her, Laura seemed to share the same whirlwind of thoughts. Her eyes were slightly widened, fixed on the anomalies as if trying, pointlessly, to make sense of it all, while her mouth remained slightly open, caught in a raw expression of disbelief.

“S-So... that’s it?” Laura’s voice wavered as she broke the silence. She swallowed hard, the tense motion betraying the knot forming in her throat: “Humanity is just... going to be wiped out... and there’s nothing we can do?”

Each word came out weaker than the last. For a moment, she stood frozen, then, as if something inside her finally snapped, she grabbed her head with both hands, fingers tangling in her hair as she tugged lightly, pure desperation. Her breathing turned uneven.

“No, no, no... this doesn’t make sense...” she started, her words stumbling over each other, losing all coherence as panic took over: “I was planning to live until I was forty! I had plans... I was gonna have a family, a dog, one of those really messy ones that wreck the couch, you know? And we were gonna adopt the [Angel of Death]!”

Her voice took on an almost feverish tone, her eyes gleaming with a dreamy light: “I’d already thought about decorating her room! The walls would be light-colored, with drawings... maybe stars? Or clouds... something pretty!” she gestured without noticing: “I’d take her to school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, even if she complained about waking up early... and on Sundays...”

Her voice softened for a moment, almost nostalgic: “...on Sundays we’d spend the whole day out. Eating ice cream, having a picnic in an open field...”

Her eyes trembled: “...with colorful butterflies flying all around...” she murmured, the image slipping from her lips like a last breath of normalcy: “And the [Angel of Death] would be wearing a cat costume... the one with little ears... all happy...”

The place fell into absolute silence as Laura’s words echoed through the air. Even Emily, who moments ago had been on the verge of snapping, froze completely. Her gaze, once unstable, wavered... then locked in place.

For a moment, she simply forgot. Forgot the colossal pillar of apocalyptic light tearing through the sky above them, forgot the chaos around them, as if all of it had been pushed to the back of her mind. Because somehow, Laura’s words were even more disturbing.

And that... was the most frightening part. Emily had known Laura for years. She knew her habits, her quirks, even her instability at times. Still, this... this was different. There was a depth to her words, a distortion, as if they revealed something that should have never come to light.

And worst of all, Emily had no idea those thoughts even existed inside her. Her body reacted before her mind could form a response. Her fingers twitched slightly at her sides, and her breathing faltered for a brief second.

“I honestly...” her voice faltered at first, low and uncertain: “Sorry... I really don’t know what I’m supposed to say here”

She paused. Her brow lifted slowly, forming a thoughtful, detached expression, as if she were still trying to process what she had just heard. Her eyes, however, remained fixed on Laura.

Then, in a more restrained tone, she continued: “To be honest... your thoughts are...” Emily hesitated for a fraction of a second, as if choosing the wrong word might make things even worse: “...pretty disturbing”

That said, Laura ended up receiving unexpected support, from an ally... well, maybe not so unexpected, considering who it was: “Oh! What a magnificent vision! My dear sister... dressed in a kitty outfit!” The voice echoed with exaggerated, theatrical enthusiasm.

The one responsible, the angelic anomaly, paused briefly, as if needing to catch her breath. Her face was strangely flushed, a vivid blush that contrasted with her nature, while her breathing came short and uneven, betraying an excitement that was hard to hide.

Emily stiffened instantly at her side. An uneasy chill ran down her spine, and her shoulders tensed slightly, as if she could pull away just by shifting her posture.

“A truly magnificent sight!” the anomaly added, now wearing a smile of pure ecstasy, too wide, too intense.

For a brief second, Emily could have sworn she saw a faint, wet glimmer on the entity’s lips... maybe even a trace of drool. She blinked. Then looked away, rigid. For the sake of her own sanity, she decided that simply hadn’t happened.

Parting her lips, Emily drew a short breath, ready to snap back, or at least question, the absurd things Laura had said and everything surrounding that ridiculous “angelic anomaly” The words were already forming on the tip of her tongue when something interrupted her. Footsteps.

The sound echoed from outside the church. They came straight from the direction of the massive hole torn into the structure, the scar left behind by the [Angel of Death], still marked by debris, dust, and the cold scent of broken stone. The footsteps didn’t hesitate.

Then, two silhouettes appeared in the opening. A woman... and a man. Emily narrowed her eyes slightly, her mind racing. The woman... she had seen her before. Of that, she was certain. But her name just wouldn’t come. It was like trying to grab smoke. The man, on the other hand... completely unfamiliar.

“Well, damn...” the man remarked, letting out a low whistle as his eyes swept over the ruined interior of the church. He had a solid build, broad shoulders, and the relaxed posture of someone who clearly didn’t feel threatened. His face, however, carried a striking kind of beauty, well-defined, symmetrical... almost too perfect at a glance: “Looks like someone’s got a serious grudge against churches”

The smile that followed was smooth, polished, almost refined. There was charm there... but also something else Emily couldn’t quite place. Something that didn’t fully fit. And that was what made her hesitate, just for a moment.

The woman, whom Emily finally recognized as Eve after mentally cross-referencing old organization reports, remained silent, completely ignoring the man beside her. A member of a previously unknown group devoted to the worship of the [Angel of Death] and her sisters. Her eyes moved calmly across the church’s interior, almost reverent.

The old walls, worn by time and dampness, were cut through by intense beams of light streaming in through shattered stained glass, casting distorted colors across the dust-covered floor. Even so, Eve walked as if she were returning home.

Her gaze passed over every detail... until it finally settled on the dark-looking anomaly, a presence that seemed to swallow the light around it, the complete opposite of the angelic entity dominating the space with its near-divine radiance.

Without hesitation, Eve ran. Her footsteps echoed across the church floor, quick, light, eager, until she reached the dark entity and dropped to her knees before it, the impact softened by the accumulated dust.

“My lady!” she exclaimed, her voice brimming with vibrant joy.

A colossal beam of light tore through the sky above the church, visible through the shattered structure like an apocalyptic omen. And yet, none of that seemed to matter to Eve: “I’m so happy to see you again!”

Her voice trembled slightly, not from fear, but from emotion. She lifted her gaze for a moment, as if trying to take in every detail of the dark anomaly’s presence, then turned her head, observing the other anomalies scattered through the adjacent rooms.

Her lips curled into a strange smile, both warm and intense at the same time. For a brief moment, Emily could have sworn Eve was on the verge of tears.

“And more than that...” Eve continued, her voice softening, almost like a devout whisper: “I see you’ve gathered nearly all the members of the family...” Her fingers tightened slightly against her own knee, as if holding back her excitement: “That makes me... incredibly happy, my lady”

Emily was genuinely stunned by everything unfolding. Even someone who had seen it all, and when it came to chaos: “all” really meant a lot, couldn’t find any logic in the current situation. None of it made sense. Not a single part of it. What the hell were those two lunatics trying to do?

For a brief moment, Emily’s mind drifted toward the easiest conclusion: blaming both of them for what was happening. It was tempting, almost automatic. But she frowned slightly and pushed the thought away before it could take root.

Not even she was that irrational. There was something bigger at play... something clearly beyond their control. With a quiet sigh, Emily decided that, for now, she would give them the benefit of the doubt. That said, there was a far more urgent problem demanding attention. Laura seemed to have reached the same conclusion.

Her voice echoed through the space, breaking the tension hanging in the air, laced with poorly concealed nervousness: “Umm... not to interrupt, but I think we should focus on the giant apocalyptic pillar of light right now...”

She paused briefly, then added in a lower tone, almost like a thought slipping out uninvited: “Honestly, I’d rather not die before forty... or before getting a dog... or before seeing an [Angel of Death] in a cat outfit...” The last words came out as a murmur, but still loud enough to carry an oddly specific weight.