toybunovel Chapter 266: Understanding The Nature Of Power
Chapter 266: Understanding The Nature Of Power
By the time Patrick returned, the massive clock mounted high within the parish had already crossed midnight.
The atmosphere inside had changed completely from earlier. Nobody spoke loudly anymore, even breathing felt restrained.
Every single person present sat quietly beneath the violet flames while watching Damian seated atop the altar throne with Rin resting across his lap like a creature guarding a divine court.
Then the parish doors opened again and Patrick rushed in first.
Sweat covered his forehead despite the cold night outside and his breathing remained uneven from the frantic drive back. Behind him came several men carefully pulling a stretcher into the parish while struggling not to move too roughly.
Instantly, everyone’s attention shifted. The moment the stretcher fully entered the room, silence deepened.
On it laid a girl far too small for a nine year old. Her body beneath the blanket looked unnaturally thin to the point where even the shape of her bones could be seen faintly beneath her skin. Her arms looked delicate enough to snap if held too tightly and her chest rose with weak shallow breaths.
Yet despite her condition, someone had dressed her carefully in a flower patterned garment covered her fragile frame neatly.
Her hair had been brushed and face cleaned. It was obvious someone cared deeply for her appearance despite her suffering.
The contrast made the sight hurt more.
Several people lowered their eyes unconsciously while others stared longer. Now they finally understood why Patrick had hidden her existence from the world.
Snap!
Damian snapped his fingers casually. The men pushing the stretcher suddenly froze as the wheels lifted from the ground.
Gasps spread through the parish as the entire stretcher rose gently into the air. The men stumbled backward immediately while staring upward in terror.
The stretcher moved smoothly through the air toward the altar as if carried by invisible hands.
Patrick himself looked close to losing his sanity.
His face alternated between shock and excitement so rapidly that he no longer resembled the composed man everyone knew. At this point, if any police officer stopped him during the drive over, they would have undoubtedly assumed he was under the influence of narcotics.
Thud.
The stretcher landed softly before the altar and Damian’s gaze settled on the girl.
Quietly he observed her with dull eyes. Before, he would have relied on the system completely to analyze the gains and demerits behind every dark miracle attempt.
Now, he understood instinctively. Knowledge flowed naturally through his mind the moment he looked at her.
’Healing her directly with dark miracle will be temporary,’ Damian concluded almost instantly. ’The illness will return stronger after a few years. And when it returns, it will kill her.’
’Three years at most,’ Rin agreed calmly.
Damian’s gaze narrowed slightly.
’That means there is only one option left...’
Dark Miracle gave him two choices.
Heal her temporarily or transfer the burden elsewhere.
Both solutions came with a price. If he healed her directly, the illness would merely disappear temporarily before returning stronger.
If he transferred it someone else would carry the burden for ten years. They would suffer, decay slowly and eventually die within ten years. Then after ten years, the girl would relapse and the process would begin again.
Sitting upon the throne, Damian quietly realized something deeper.
Now that he understood his abilities better, the distinction between miracle and dark miracle became obvious. A true miracle erased consequences entirely. It healed completely, but doing so created imbalance within the laws governing existence itself because everything required compensation.
In that situation, the deity paid the price personally through its own accumulated power.
Yet that loss was not entirely wasteful, people who received true miracles developed unwavering faith over time.
Faith created devotees and Devotees generated more power. Meaning the deity eventually regained even more than it lost.
Long term growth for long term loyalty.
But dark miracles functioned differently.
Dark miracles demanded a price from others so the caster could benefit immediately as well. One path focused on sacrifice and the other focused on transaction.
Yet strangely the two no longer felt entirely different to Damian. In fact, they felt frighteningly similar. So similar that he suddenly realized something.
Perhaps, he could perform miracles too.
’You are beginning to understand how this works,’ Rin spoke calmly within his mind. ’Light and darkness are simply two different sides of a coin. For evil to exist there must be a standard for good. Likewise, for good to exist there must be a standard for evil. Both cannot exist without the other.’
Damian lowered his gaze toward his palm thoughtfully.
’Can I perform a miracle?’
Rin nodded inwardly.
’As long as you willingly choose to pay the price yourself, it can be considered a miracle.’
Before Damian could think further Patrick rushed toward the stretcher. He knelt beside his daughter briefly before raising his head toward the throne.
"Can you heal her?"
His voice shook harder this time because now she was here, this was real.
"Yes." Damian answered instantly.
The speed of the response stunned everyone again. Patrick’s heart nearly exploded from excitement but Damian continue, cutting it short.
"Before we begin, I need to know that you understand nothing in this life comes free. The universe gives and takes."
His voice deepened unnaturally at the final sentence while the violet flames around the parish flickered violently.
Patrick nodded eagerly.
How could he not understand?
Men like him had spent their entire lives benefiting from that exact law. One person’s loss is another person’s gain.
Nothing free.
"Of course." His response came out almost like a scream.
Damian smiled faintly beneath the fox mask.
"Good."
Buzz!
One of the men who helped drag the stretcher inside suddenly screamed as an invisible force seized him violently.
His body jerked upward into the air and shot toward the altar at terrifying speed.
Bam!
He froze directly before Damian, unable to move or scream properly. Pure terror flooded his face as everyone else held their breath instinctively.
Then Damian glanced toward Patrick.
"Is this man of any importance?"
The question stunned everyone but Patrick Beaumont was a sharp man. He understood immediately.
His eyes briefly landed on the struggling man.
"No."
The answer came without hesitation.
Rin’s eyes narrowed slightly in approval, he liked decisive men.
"Good." Damian nodded once.
Then he stretched one hand calmly toward the girl while remaining seated comfortably upon the throne.
Buzz!
The girl’s body suddenly convulsed violently. Her veins bulged beneath her skin and turned pitch black.
Gasps filled the parish as people watched the blackness spread rapidly through her tiny body before reaching her eyes.
A second later, black liquid began leaking from her eyes, then her nose, ears and finally mouth.
The sight horrified everyone present. The liquid flowed unnaturally through the air toward Damian like living ink.
He watched calmly while extracting every trace completely. The moment the process finished, Damian flicked his fingers lightly.
The floating black liquid split apart into countless thin strands before shooting directly into the restrained man’s body through every available opening.
The man’s scream shook the parish.
Black veins instantly exploded across his body and the girl’s suffering became his suffering while her cries became his cries.
Meanwhile, the blackness rapidly receded from the girl’s tiny frame and color slowly returned to her pale skin.
Her breathing stabilized visibly and even the tension in her fragile muscles eased slightly.
Casually, Damian waved his hand and the screaming man was tossed aside like trash. His body rolled violently across the floor beneath the altar.
[Dark Miracle Successful]
Damian ignored the notification as his attention shifted downward.
Patrick had collapsed beside the stretcher, tears streamed down his face while whispering frantically to his daughter.
The girl’s eyes looked clearer now and her complexion healthier.
She still looked weak but undeniably improved.
"That man now carries the disease in her place. Keep him inside a secure facility where he will be treated properly and kept alive because the moment he dies, the disease will return to your daughter and then we will have to repeat this process all over again." Damian finally spoke again.
But after everything they had witnessed tonight, even his calmness sounded like thunder inside their minds.