A chill spread amongst the kids as they subconsciously took a step back from the frail boy in a white robe like theirs.

He stood up, his face holding no emotion despite having taken a life just now.

He walked silently atop the clouds toward Helena, who was squatting and poking at the ground without much care at all.

Amon approached her and bent down to stare her in the eye.

After a short while Helena let out a sigh and stared back at him directly.

"Good job, you figured it out… head on to clear the star gate then…" Helena said without much emotion on her face, causing Amon to fall silent.

"That isn't the way to clear the star gate right?"

Helena kept staring at him as she replied, "What you would have started is an endless circle of death that would lead to our destruction. What if the others realize they can kill us to increase their strength?"

"In that case why didn't you help out?" Amon was slightly annoyed.

"I was just experimenting with something." Helena replied with a smirk.

"What?"

Helena glanced around and muttered slightly, her eyes studying everyone around.

"Let's run." she said suddenly with a calm expression and, without waiting for Amon, she ran toward the edge of the clouds and… jumped off.

Amon stared blankly for a moment before following behind her.

Not knowing what exactly was wrong, he didn't want to risk it.

"Damn they really jumped? Are they mad??" the children stared at Amon and Helena dumbfounded as they leaped off.

Seeing Helena jump left them frozen in disbelief, only for Amon to follow a few seconds later.

"What's suddenly wrong with them?" everyone murmured, still puzzled.

There was a faint ripple as a gigantic hand pierced through the clouds from below before dragging the entire layer down forcefully.

Amon's heart shook as he stared at the massive golden hand that looked like it could pluck the skies themselves apart.

"What… what the hell is that?" he was speechless as the hand pulled the cloud down toward it and the clouds vanished from his sight completely.

Amon shifted his gaze to Helena instantly.

"What exactly is going on?"

Helena stared at him with a deadpan look, her gaze drifting toward his hand where the mark had appeared previously.

"The hand of god. They send divine judgement on… sinners."

Hearing her words, Amon looked down at his hand.

"Sinners?" he was inwardly shocked, disbelief settling heavily in his chest.

"Am I a sinner?" he asked, glancing at Helena.

Helena shrugged, "Perhaps."

She no longer paid attention to Amon and instead shifted her focus to the surrounding bluish scenery.

"We need to find somewhere safe to land or we'll die from the fall."

Amon looked around and couldn't spot any floating clouds in sight.

"There's a place not too far away. Let's keep falling for now."

Helena said this after some thought.

Seeing her relaxed expression as she fell made Amon relax a bit too.

"How do you know all this?"

Helena stared at him and replied blankly.

"I… just do."

He stared suspiciously but couldn't come up with anything else, so he fell silent as they continued falling.

…

Amon found it strange that he wasn't terrified of death.

'Could it be because I died once?'

Normally in the heat of battle he grew more aggressive as time passed, his attacks turning exponentially more ferocious like he was fighting against the fear of dying itself.

But now… faced with the same situation, he felt… eerily calm.

'This… isn't normal.'

"Brace for impact. We should be landing anytime soon." Helena's voice cut into his thoughts.

He glanced at her, then looked back down.

He felt the speed of his fall slow slightly.

Through the corner of his eye he noticed Helena adjusting her posture in a way that made her look like she was simply standing upright.

Surprisingly, despite the stance, her gown stayed calm and didn't reveal her underwear like one would expect from falling like this.

Amon followed suit and the same strange effect played out on him.

Although he didn't know what was happening, he felt they were finally approaching their landing area.

Within a few moments the two landed firmly on the ground, or whatever it actually was.

Bang!

Amon felt his bones vibrate as he collided with a soft surface before bouncing off another surface and then another.

It continued for a bit before Amon steadied himself in mid air, flipped, and landed on the ground… or what seemed like it.

Taking a closer look, he realized it was another cloud.

He stared at the cloud without much emotion and frowned slightly.

He turned to the side and saw Helena land beside him.

Her face held a mix of curiosity as she scanned the surroundings.

"Children of the church…"

Suddenly an old weary voice called out, "What brings you here?"

Out from a thatched hut stepped an old lady holding two cups.

She wore a witch hat atop her head and the wrinkles on her skin gave her the appearance of an 'evil witch' from Amon's past life.

Staring at the two of them, she approached with brisk steps.

"Granny." Helena said softly, all her coldness fading as she displayed an elegant lady's bow.

Not knowing what was happening, Amon didn't dare be rude and also followed suit, bowing respectfully to the lady while calling out "granny" with a confused expression.

The lady looked at Amon and then at Helena before smiling sweetly,

Though to Amon it looked more like the frown of a devil.

She held out the two cups in her hand.

"Here, my children… drink from these cups and follow me in."

She handed each of them a golden cup filled with a strange, yellowish, irritating liquid.

Amon wrinkled his brow in irritation while Helena accepted hers with an excited smile playing on her lips.

"Really?" she sounded like a happy little girl receiving a toy she'd always dreamed of.

The granny's smile widened even further.

"Of course, my children."

For a moment Amon wondered if the two were acting, but having come here with Helena he knew none of this could be faked.

He frowned slightly and glanced at the two of them.

'What's going on? Do I really have to drink something this disgusting?'

He turned to Helena and saw her sipping the liquid without even a twitch of discomfort.

Amon narrowed his eyes a little and finally brought the cup to his lips.

A stench filled his nose and, fighting the urge to vomit, Amon… drank the liquid as well.

Suddenly a burning sensation spread through his body as his mind grew hazy.

'I've been poisoned?' Amon thought, a frown taking shape on his face.

He turned to look at the granny and her not so friendly smile now seemed even more hideous than before.

The granny grinned from ear to ear in a creepy manner as she spoke:

"In one of these cups there's poison, while in the other there's a healing medicine… which one heals and which one kills?"

"Save a life… or take a life… who will make the choice?"

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