Sin

"Hahahahaha!

Our god!

Our faith!

The object of our worship!

It had finally assumed the form it was meant to have!

And you, my child, you would become the Mother of God, just like the Virgin Mary who gave birth to Jesus Christ!

We would kill all heretics!

Use their blood, lives, and souls to remake this filthy, fallen world!

Praise the great God of Darkness!

This city would be the first sacrifice we offered to You!

Kill to your heart's content! Devour to your heart's content!

Let the world know that the Old Gods were dead, and a new god had been born!

Only devout believers would be qualified to survive and multiply upon the land of the new world!"

Amid those nearly hysterical cries, a fifty-year-old white man in a black medieval robe knelt before a massive tree built from corpses. He held a staff whose shaft was made from a human spine and whose top was crowned with a skull, baring his teeth in a chilling grin.

Before him sat a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old girl wearing nothing but a white nightgown stained with blood. She huddled beneath the corpse tree, weeping and trembling without stop.

Less than half a meter away from her stood a shadow shrouded in black mist, constantly emitting sharp, giggling laughter. From time to time, it also whispered something like, "Mommy."

Judging by their highly similar features, the girl clearly shared a close blood relation with this cult leader. They might even have been father and daughter.

There was no doubt that, judging from his mental state, he was a genuine lunatic—not the kind of scum who merely used religion as a pretext to make money and indulge his personal desires.

Suddenly!

The girl curled beneath the corpse tree began vomiting dark red