(Outside Saint Selena Cathedral)
After entering the cathedral, Klein first saw the towering stone pillars on either side of the foyer, and the Dark Sacred Emblem hanging in the center of the wall, its deep black background surrounding half a crimson moon.
He did not linger there. He simply took in the quiet atmosphere, then followed the passage toward the Great Prayer Hall with Lin Chuan.
Both sides of the passage were lined with narrow, high windows inlaid with intricate blue and red patterns, through which streams of tinted light filtered in.
The refracted light was blue enough to verge on black and red as the moon, making their surroundings unusually dim.
After he entered the cathedral, the prickling sensation of being watched disappeared again. Klein remained unperturbed. He merely glanced at the devout-looking Lin Chuan beside him and quietly adjusted his own expression.
The passage was not particularly long, taking only a minute to walk through. At its end, the open doors of the Great Prayer Hall greeted them.
There were no high windows here. Deep darkness filled every inch of space, but behind the arched altar, on the wall directly opposite the entrance, fifteen or twenty fist-sized circular openings led outside, admitting brilliant, pure sunlight in concentrated shafts of radiance.
It was like a traveler walking through the night suddenly looking up to see the night sky and its dazzling stars.
Even knowing that gods were essentially no more than Sequence 0 Beyonders, Klein could not help lowering his head, awed by this sacred design.
Suddenly curious, he looked at Lin Chuan beside him, wondering how a Sequence One Archangel would behave, only to find that Lin Chuan had lowered his head as well.
*Was he moved by the artistry of the Great Prayer Hall and its sacred