"Before we begin our ceremony, might I be so rude to ask you where or how you got such a grievous wound?", Micheal asked his new follower.
"Oh, I completely forgot! Brother Micheal, there's a monster rampaging through the slums right now!", the man was so shocked by the rapidly changing situation that it completely slipped his mind. His life was on the line and the sudden feeling of bliss and stress relief, made him forget about the critical situation outside. He was still feeling happy from the physical and mental healing just now, so while he did want to be urgent, he didn't sound very much like a man with an urgent message.
"What? There's a monster in the city?!", Agatha almost yelled which was an accomplishment for her age. Micheal stood up straight before addressing each visitor separately.
"Sir Trion, lady Agatha, please excuse me, but there are people in need of me. Please continue this without me.", to which the elderly couple nodded, placing all their trust in Micheal to fix the apparent mess in the slums. "Don't worry about us, we'll pray for your victory and your well-being!"
"Children, listen up, I need to go and help some others, I won't be playing with you for today, my apologies."
"Yeah, you're going to play a hero right?! That's awesome!", all the children cheered, but Micheal didn't like being called a hero. He was someone to serve the people, the true hero should've been the Goddess watching from above, not a mere servant like him.
"Yes, I'll be playing hero for a while, as my supporters, will you still clean the church for when I come back?", the children didn't mind and cheered him on. To them, Micheal was a savior, they all lived in not-so-great circumstances, yet this brother was kind to all and always wanted the best for them.
Micheal left the church only after saying a quick prayer that would protect the church from any external attacks. It wasn't the strongest, any Rank 1 mage could obliterate it, but it should hold for now.
'If only I could spare some energy to create a shield that will truly protect them from harm.'
While Micheal did say to David that he himself couldn't use magic, he could however invoke it. By praying and pleading to his Goddess can She take his internal energy and transform it into whatever he would be needing at the moment. He could in theory have healed the man without him becoming a follower. But the Goddess could tell when he was treating someone of the same faith or not, making it cost a lot more than necessary. He felt that if everyone could simply believe in the Goddess and pray every day that all hardship could be easily removed, so he wouldn't waste such an opportune chance to convert another man.
'Now, where to go, the slums are a pretty big place. Sir David couldn't have run for long with such a wound.', Micheal didn't have to ponder for very long before a quake in the ground gave him a location to start with. He rushed towards the origin of the explosion, hoping he could be there in time.
The explosion was big enough to alarm most of the city, guards started to gather near the explosion while the normal people returned home to hide until the storm passed. When Micheal arrived at the scene he was met with both his brothers and sisters and a monstrous-looking being.
A giant standing tall at four meters in length, red skin covered in cracks, two black pointy horns protruding the head, and a mouth filled with the scariest looking teeth. A true monster was here, right in the middle of the city, it didn't make sense to anyone. How did this monster sneak inside, were the guards that incompetent?
The monster slammed its fists on the ground, which caused the explosion. Looking to the side, Micheal saw his brothers and sisters, most were fine but one of his sisters was battered up. Thinking she was caught in the explosion, he darted his eyes around.
GHRAAAAH
The scream of the unknown monster terrified all the people in the slums, but they were too afraid to even run, frozen in their tracks. Micheal rushed forward, not towards the monster, but all the people that were in danger. "Please, get up sir, we need to get you to safety!", he said while pulling and dragging the man from the ground. He was so scared he fell on his behind. His companions were fighting against the monster the best they could, so Micheal had the time to rescue as many people as he could.
Running from one place to the next, he pulled the people back to reality before bringing them far enough to not get caught up in the fight. Picking up the lost children and women as best as he could he kept going. He wasn't a fit man, nor did he use magic to enhance his body, he was a man of flesh and blood, trying his damndest to save as many as he could. He started to encourage others to stay behind or follow his example of pulling people back.
The fight against the monster was spectacular for any spectator. The monster was large and brutal in its attacks, but slow on the uptake. It felt more like fighting against an animal than a humanoid monster. The priests were wielding swords made of light, they dodged the monster's basic attacks, but their stamina was starting to run out. Their swords and Arrows of Light didn't do enough damage to the monster to wound it in the slightest.
"Guriel and Duma, distract it for a moment, I'll use a prayer!", the man shouting the orders was the oldest of all the priests and thus the most experienced when it comes to fighting. He was Leo, a man of pride but also respect for others. When he saw Micheal arrive, he thought he would get support from him, but he rather focussed his time on saving the peasants. While he didn't like that behavior, he could understand it.
"Oh Goddess above, I seek your aid! Rid this land of this monstrosity and purge the evil within!", a simple prayer to most, but for any priest of the Order of Light it was a powerful incantation. Most priests didn't know a single thing about runes or how magic worked, they didn't need to after all. The Goddess hears, and the Goddess provides.
Leo held his hands out, letting the Goddess know what he wanted to create. All the energy he could muster started to flow from his core to his palms before churning together to create a small but powerful ball of compressed light. "Monster! Taste the glory of the heavens!"
Leo shot his ball of pure energy, the monster had basic instincts and confidence in its own hide that was thick enough to handle the Swords and Arrows of Light.
BOOOM
An explosion of light and fire blinded everyone present, no one was safe from the light. Even Micheal had to stop for a moment to shield his eyes from the blinding light.
GRAAAAAH
The monster wasn't dead, but it did have a hole in the center-right of his chest. The explosion did its work. The priests started to have faith that they could handle this monstrosity, but Leo was different. He had just used most of his energy to create one of the strongest attacks he had, but all it did was create a hole. The monster wasn't even struggling. But the next moment just made it a lot worse, the wound started to wriggle, slowly closing in on itself. The wound was fixed without any external magic.
"What blasphemy is this!", Leo couldn't help but shout it aloud. The monster before him was not in a single book he read about all creatures and the healing ability was so rare that it shouldn't be possible to have it. With Leo's frustration and disbelief, the other priests started to see that their situation wasn't so comfortable. Still, they were obliged to keep the fighting up, always serving the people the best they could. If they couldn't kill it, then they needed to hold it back long enough.
'If only the city mayor would come and solve this mess, we could be saved! Damn bastard!'
"HAHAHA, did you really think that would be enough to kill me!"
"It can talk!", not once did the monster show any form of intelligence. It seemed that coming into contact with the explosive ball of light somehow gave it intelligence. Leo couldn't think of any other way to get out of the situation, without the mayor or any powerful mage in the area, who didn't want to help in the first place, he would be doomed. He only had a single card left, "Miceal! Start fighting this monster instead of helping them!"
The order was crudely made, making it seem like Leo didn't care for the people even if he did. He was just too busy to think about his words. The people who were saved by Micheal felt offended by his statement but could understand that all the help would be necessary in order to escape from this monster.
Micheal looked at Leo and then at the monster. Even with all the knowledge he had about monsters and the magical beasts around the world, he had never seen something like this. Especially since it had intelligence, it felt human. Micheal felt that it was human nature twisted into a dark version of itself. He kneeled down on his knees, putting his hands together before closing his eyes and facing the sky.
"Oh Goddess, we are in need of your help! Please forgive this ignorant one and help us cleanse this being from all evil, let them become one with the Light!"
Every priest had his or her own prayer, some were more powerful than others, but no one really knew how the system worked, perhaps only the Goddess knows.
"HAHAHA call all the help you want! Your Goddess won't ever be capable of saving you! Now! Give me your souls!"
BOOOOOOM
A pillar of Light slammed down from the Heavens, completely enveloping the monster. The Light was forcing everything to become destroyed, nothing could escape it. The pillar was a perfect circle with the monster in the center.
AAAARGHH
The Light was relentless, it kept pouring down on the monster until it started to slowly disintegrate. The monster kept screaming while Micheal stayed in his position. He was still praying to his beloved Goddess.
At a certain point, only the head and part of the spine were left before the pillar of Light started to shrink and disappear. All that was left was a crater of a meter deep with the dried-up head and upper part of the spine of the monster. Everything else was gone, taken away with the light. Everyone was stunned in disbelief, the one who was avoiding the fight the most was the strongest when it came to a strong offensive. Micheal stood up, all the people around were in awe of his strength. He wasn't only strong but his personality was so precious, every child, man, or woman was attracted to and enveloped in his aura.
Micheal entered the pit where the infamous and monstrous being once stood. Approaching the head he wanted to see if the regeneration was still possible. Luckily, it had taken too much damage to even recover in the slightest.
"Why did you have to do this? I can tell you were once a human, yet you've become what everyone fears, why?"
"...F...r...an.....ka"
"I see. Rest now, my child, return to the light and bathe in heaven's glow."
Once more a bright shone from the crater, nobody could look inside, but once the light was gone, so was the corpse. It was gone from this world, eradicated. The only thing that was left was a single white flower, a Magnolia.