Frank was finally brought back to reality, what had been more than an hour inside of Abraddon's realm were simply a few seconds in the real world… Before he could even glance at his surroundings, the sharp pain on his hand had dissipated, and a few system windows had popped out of thin air alerting him of a few things.
Ding!
[You have been granted the [Abraddon's Divine Protection: Level -] Skill!]
[You have been granted the [Abraddon's Champion Divine Crest: Level -] Skill!]
"Two new Skills… This must be Abraddon's Divine Protection and the crest… I cannot believe I became his friend out of a sudden, perhaps that god just needed someone to talk with… I will make sure to bring him the stuff he wanted, he acted a bit intimidating, but he seemed like a nice guy" thought Frank.
"This… This… To a mere human?! I cannot… I cannot believe it! Not even I… How?! Impossible!"
The priest who had finished doing the ritual began to gasp for air as he felt in disbelief over what he was just seeing. In front of his eyes, a Human, not a Beast-kin, was given the divine protection of Abraddon, the God of Beasts.
The priest was capable of noticing such a gift due to his connection and faith over Abraddon, immediately noticing the divine power of Abraddon engulfing Frank for a few seconds, while the crest that formed on his hand was fairly different than the one that the normal citizens or even the priests had… instead of resembling the head of a lion, it resembled the head of a lizard, a wolf, and a goat glancing at the sun in the sky!
"That is… No! It cannot be! Why on a human, Abraddon-sama?!" asked the Priest as he fell to the ground, he was still in disbelief of what had just happened!
He could not comprehend how his God, Abraddon, had given his divine protection to a Human, who was not his children, instead of a beast-kin like him! And to boot, he even gave him the crest of a Champion!
Gwendolyn and Annabelle that were glancing at the ritual from a distance ran towards Frank and the priest, thinking that something might have gone wrong.
"Frank! Are you okay?" asked Gwendolyn.
"Priest-sama!" said Annabelle, glancing at the priest panting.
"Ah! Yes, I am fine… I got the crest" said Frank, showing it to Gwendolyn.
"That crest, good work- Eh? What is… that?! The Lizard, the Wolf… and the Goat?! That's… Frank! Oh my god! Abraddon-sama! He has chosen you as his champion, Frank!" Gwendolyn cried in surprise and happiness.
"He… He what? Oh, that is why it was named Champion Crest… I also got his Divine Protection by the way," muttered Frank.
"You did?! That… That makes sense! A champion needs divine protection first to acquire the special crest…! Do you know what this means, Frank?" asked Gwendolyn.
"No?" asked Frank.
"That you will become a hero! An important figure in the whole nation! And that means… money! Which also means a comfortable and secure life! …mostly" said Gwendolyn.
"I see… So that's what you're so happy about, huh? Sigh…" muttered Frank.
Annabelle ran towards Frank as she checked his hand to confirm the crest.
"Hey, that's cheating! I also want to be a Champion! Damn it!" said Annabelle with frustration.
"Eh? Calm down, it's just a little thing" said Frank.
"It's not! You're becoming a Hero now, idiot!" said Annabelle.
"A Hero…? That fast?!" asked Frank.
"This is… No! I cannot accept it!" roared the priest, glancing at Frank as he ran towards him with a furious expression on his eyes.
"I have given my faith for dozens of years to Abraddon-sama! I always thought that he would one day bring upon an oracle for me! But you! A damned human from all things gets it?! And not only that but a Divine Protection and… and a Champion Crest?! I will take that crest out of your hand! Show it to me!" he roared, suddenly taking a knife out of his pouch and pointing it towards Frank.
"Kyaaaa!"
Annabelle who was in front of Frank glanced at the priest's mad expression in his eyes as he pointed the knife towards her.
"Get out of the way, you little whore!" he roared.
Frank ran towards Annabelle as Gwendolyn suddenly pointed her hands towards the priest with an angered expression, she had to defend her daughter!
"Get away from my daughter! Fire Ba-"
"That won't be necessary… Stop," said the voice of a young man, resonating within the church. Suddenly, the priest's charge was stopped out of the sudden, as if his entire body was frozen.
A gray-colored magic circle showing marks that resembled a clock that had stopped appeared above the priest.
"Ungh…! H-High Priest-sama…!" muttered the priest as he glanced at the figure of a young black cat beast-men, with long and silky black hair, closed eyes as if he were a vixen, and large cat-like ears popping over the top of his head. He was taller than the priest, almost reaching two meters, he wore a set of clothes that seemed of higher prestige and grade than the priest as well.
"Ah… Annabelle…" muttered Gwendolyn, as she walked towards her daughter.
"Mommy! That was very scary!" cried Annabelle as she hugged Gwendolyn.
Frank had intended to charge against the priest and take upon his knife into his arm to defend Annabelle, but the intervention of this mysterious man had brought a stop to this situation faster than he had imagined.
"You're the High Priest…? I hope you're not as nuts as this one" said Frank with a bit of concern in his eyes.
The high priest opened his eyes as he revealed his white irises.
"I apologize on behalf of my apprentice. That is certainly not the way of talking or acting against the one who has received both the divine protection and the crest of the champion from our father, Abraddon-sama" said the high priest.
"I will have to reeducate him… For now, it would be better to bring this ritual to an end and to lay low about this current event until I am done with this little uneducated apprentice… We can chat more about your new future ahead tomorrow as we enjoy some tea…" said the high priest.
"That… sounds good," said Gwendolyn as she accepted the high priest proposal a little too fast for Frank's opinion.
"Wait, can't I get some more explanations in what was going on in the mind of this lunatic to jump towards us with a knife? How rare is getting divine protection? Doesn't everyone get their Abraddon crest in this nation anyways?" asked Frank.
"Ah, such questions will be answered tomorrow, for now, let's lay low. If we spread these rumors around… well, the future of a hero that waits for you might be suddenly ruined in a glimpse, young man… trust in me" said the high priest.
"How can I trust you when your companion there tried to kill me and Annabelle?" asked Frank.
"You'll have to do so, it is not like you have anywhere to go to, right?" asked the high priest.
"That's…"
Frank was in another world, after all, he did not have a family that supported him nor there were Matsuo and a clan of righteous monks willing to help him as a family. He only had Gwendolyn, Annabelle… and perhaps Cathyl, but unlike the monk clan, they were not a great organization protected by a powerful entity as the great ancestor. Abraddon might be the father of the beast-kin, but he did not actively protect them.
Frank had to understand this and decided to simply calm himself and although he couldn't forget it, he tried to think about something else.
"Sigh…"
Gwendolyn walked towards Frank as she glanced at him with her emerald eyes.
"There has never been a human that had become the champion of Abraddon, Frank, this also means a lot of troubles by Abraddon's own believers that will think that you're not worthy of such thing because you're not his descendant. I was surprised as you by this priest, but I am thankful that we didn't end up killing him, although I would have burned him to a crisp if the high priest wouldn't have shown up…" said Gwendolyn.
"Hahaha, Gwendolyn, I know, I know… you're as fierce as ever. Thankfully, my Time Magic is always useful to catch these little freaks that come to the church from time to time. My good friend, you have to know that despite being a human, if he is given divine protection by Abraddon, it means that if you go against him, you are going against the god himself too! And that is blasphemy in our church" said the high priest, glancing at the priest who was still paralyzed in time. The high priest then waved his hand as he carried the paralyzed priest through the air, walking away.
"W-Wait! H-High Priest-sama! P-Please, forgive me! It was only a rush of the moment, I could not… I could not resist the urge… of that… that bastard human…! …I am sorry!"
"You can apologize all you want whenever we reach the purifying chambers down below, my good friend. Very well then, see you all tomorrow," he said, closing the church doors as Frank, Gwendolyn, and Annabelle glanced at the doors close.
They seemed rather tired, even if it was still quite early in the morning… too many things happened in the span of a few minutes. Gwendolyn could not simply catch a break over Frank's strange feats, she hoped for not every day to be like this... if possible.
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