The Court of Sin Punishment's entire square had gone from frenzy to deathly silence, then to its current uproar, all in just a few minutes.
The players the Sword of Sin Punishment had deemed unqualified wore expressions of humiliation and resentment.
"Why?! What are the standards?!"
"Leon barely says a word most of the time. What makes him qualified?"
Martin scrambled to his feet, his face shifting between pale and flushed. He stared at the Holy Spirit suspended in midair, Light Wings surrounding him, his eyes brimming with Envy.
He couldn't understand it. He had acted so devoutly, had even been willing to give up everything. Why hadn't he been given so much as a chance to try?
"Quiet!"
Adams's voice rang out. Looking at the disorderly crowd of subordinates before him, he felt a surge of irritation, but more than that, he understood.
"Don't you get it yet?"
Adams swept his gaze across the crowd, his voice low.
"What the deity offers is a trial, not a handout."
"You proclaim your loyalty, but all you're thinking about is how to take advantage of this as a shortcut to the top. How could such muddled motives ever pass the deity's test?"
Martin stiffened and protested reflexively, "That's not true! I genuinely—"
"You genuinely want immortality and power." Adams cut him off, his gaze sharp. "But you've never thought about what you'd have to give in return."
"Leon did. From the beginning, he never treated this as a transaction. He truly valued his faith more than his life."
"That's why he succeeded."
Adams pointed to the motionless Sword of Sin Punishment.
"Your faith is impure. Of course you're not qualified to become Holy Spirits."
Their faith was impure. They weren't even fit to be his dogs!
No one said those words