Extermination III

Sculpture Church, chapel.

Entering the courtyard, passing through the path and flower beds, then beyond the central church, there stood an unremarkable low worship hall at the very back.

At this moment.

Two bald, burly men in plain-colored robes were striding down the hallway.

They made no small talk, their expressions grave.

After entering the low building, the two went straight up to the second floor and raised their hands to knock on the chapel's carved wooden door.

Knock, knock.

Soon, a woman's voice came from inside:

"Come in."

Creak—

The wooden door was pushed open, and the two bald men walked in.

A short-haired woman dressed in robes like theirs was sitting cross-legged on the floor with her sleeves rolled up and bare feet exposed, her back to them. She held a file in one hand and a hammer in the other, carefully carving a half-human-height stone statue blank before her.

The clinking sounds echoed through the chapel.

Sculptures of all sizes filled the surroundings—men and women, young and old, along with strange malformed creatures that did not exist in this world.

The largest and most exquisite sculpture was that of a lady in a long dress seated in a high-backed chair at the center. Her hair was pinned up, one leg crossed over the other, her chin resting on her hand. She looked elegant and regal.

Yet the statue's face had not been carved at all; it was smooth and pristine... as though the sculptor felt incapable of recreating her beauty, or unwilling to profane the statue's original subject.

Behind the lady statue's high-backed chair was carved a symmetrical, inverted circle with a long-tailed arc, along with the Ancient Romei numeral "6."

It was a stone sculpture for worshipping Lady Ya, the Hour-God of June.

Clearly, it had