After Lucy regained consciousness, she immediately stood up and looked around. But only to find out the boy she talked to not long ago is sitting in front of her, relieved and happy.
Then again, Lucy asked...
"What just happened?"
However, instead of replying in words, the boy hugs Lucy wholeheartedly in relief.
"Thank God, you're alive!"
Bewildered, confused, and startled.
"Eh?"
She stutters as to why this kid suddenly hugs her—no less—and why the boy is crying at her.
"l-l-l-l-Let go of me!"
Lucy shoved the boy away from her, her face embarrassed and flustered.
"A man and woman should only hug once the heavens bestow the blessing of marriage! How dare you hug me like that?! Do you have any idea how infidel it is?!"
Lucy is so flustered that she covers her body with tiny arms and legs, like a cocoon.
"!" The boy jolted before he realized what he had done, and he too got flustered and immediately lowered his head on the ground and apologized to Lucy.
"I am sorry! I didn't mean to do that to you! It's just a reflex of my joy seeing you, okay? I am so sorry, so forgive me!"
"..." Lucy scooted over and laid her back on the tree near her while covering and guarding her body against the boy in front of her.
Until she spoke, she was wary and a bit concerned.
"Umm. Lift your head. I forgive you."
In reply, the boy immediately lifted his face from the ground with a genuine smile on his face.
"Thank you so much!"
Seeing the innocent and happy smile of the boy, Lucy's heart thumped, and she blushed.
"!"
Because of the stern face he had before their first meeting, Lucy couldn't see the boy's nice and beautiful face.
However, now it's different, as her heart couldn't stop thumping as she continued looking at the boy's face.
While captivated by his face, the boy notices that Lucy isn't responding, so he begins to worry.
Lucy's face looks more like she's blanking out but still conscious.
Thus the boy asked.
"Umm... Are you ok?"
His sweet and captivating voice made Lucy snap from spacing out, and she reacted with just agitated and flustered looks.
"Yeah, yes, I am ok."
"Really? You're not feeling discomfort, are you?"
The boy slowly crawls towards Lucy and gently approaches her once again, reaching out with intention to check Lucy's wound.
Lucy responded by averting her eyes as the boy slowly approached her.
"Y-y-yes, I am really o—"
Before Lucy even conveyed her statement, a sudden ache on her forehead made her change her statement immediately.
"—Ouch!" She said as she tried to touch her forehead.
But... Before her hand could even reach and touch her forehead, the boy interrupted by quickly grabbing Lucy's wrist and holding her tightly.
"Stop. Don't touch your head. It's still not fully healed!"
Lucy tried to resist the boy's grip; however, she couldn't, so she asked him instead.
"What do you mean, I can't touch it? Besides, why are you holding me again? Did my words earlier go to your one ear and come out of the other?"
Fretted and embarrassed, Lucy flails as she tries to get away.
But the boy's voice suddenly changed from concerned and genteel to firm and serious.
"Listen and calm down!"
The boy looked at her with stern, serious, yet collected eyes.
"Your wound still has not fully healed. So not only is it reducing the healing process if you keep getting agitated, it also becomes worse for you. So calm down and listen to me. Understand?"
With only 3 inches between her face and his face, Lucy's face has now been totally flattered as her face has become fully red.
She didn't say anything, but she responded shyly by nodding her head.
"Good," the boy said, seeing Lucy respond to him.
"Now then, before things become utterly confusing to you, allow me to introduce myself."
Like a gentleman, the boy stood up, put his right hand on his chest, and then lowered his head in front of Lucy.
"My name is Luca. Pleasure to meet you."
After that, the boy lifted his head, stood still, and glanced at Lucy, making her feel uncomfortable.
"w-w-what is it?"
Lucy asked, anxious and flustered.
The boy replied with a smile before speaking.
"You're really beautiful, aren't you?"
"Eh?" Shocked, stunned, and flattered by the sudden compliment, Lucy was unable to reply or respond back.
"Lucy, right? That's your name, right?"
"y-y-yes!"
"If you're interested, do you want to come to our village? As an apology for what my sister has done to you?"
"I want to... but Mom will probably get mad at me if I don't come back before night."
The boy looked at the sky and saw the light of the sun.
"Still high noon. How about this, just a couple of moments, and after that, I'll take you back home?"
Curious and really wanting to go, but concerned and afraid to face Lilith's anger, Lucy decided it was best to obey Lilith's words rather than some random person who was offering her gratitude.
"Sorry, but I can't disobey my mom's words. Maybe next time? Or tomorrow, before the sun rises, I'll be here. I'll wait for you."
Her inner thoughts are both disappointed and troubled, as she really wanted to go explore more, and knowing she found someone else besides them, her curiosity even skyrocketed.
But she can't... Thus, she decided to hold back and come back tomorrow.
She then femininely stood up, reached out her right hand, and showed her pinky with her face smiling at him.
The boy, confused, asked Lucy. "What is that for?"
Lilith replied with a smile. "It's a pinky promise."
"Pinky promise?"
"Yep. It's an oath of two people under heaven's watch."
"An oath under heaven's watch?"
"Yeah! Try it! Come! Put your right finger on my right finger... and then repeat after me what I say."
The boy just perplexedly follows Lucy's words, and then...
[In the name of the Supreme Lord of High Heaven, I promise to meet this person in front of me tomorrow, before the sun rises from the horizon.]
From that moment on, their hands glow, then shine brightly for a moment, slowly disappear as the light recedes on their hands, and completely disappear after.
The boy was shocked and then stunned for a moment by the event he had witnessed.
"With this oath, only the innocent and those who have pure faith could understand the true essence of God. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow morning, Luca. Bye."
Lucy let go of his finger quietly and talked to him politely before turning away from him and leaving.
Leaving Luca alone and stunned for a few moments,
Satan, who was watching everything above, has now started to eat a few fruits.
"Look at this kid. He captivated our young Lady, while he too got captivated by her. But, still, since when did our Lady know how to use a divine oath? Did Lilith teach her that?"
Then, while Satan wonders, Luca snaps and comes to his senses again.
"What happened? Did we really perform God's vow? Did God really watch us? So what the great patriarch Methuselah said was really true. If you believe, God is always with us. I have to tell my father about what just happened!"
Then the kid runs off immediately after, his face covered in excitement and happiness.
However, before he got halfway through getting back to his village, a sudden realization struck him.
Making him stop for a moment.
"Wait... I said she was a demon, and my brothers and sisters thought she was a demon because of me, and if I came back, telling her she's not, and somehow they don't believe me, it would not only jeopardize that girl's situation, but my family—no, the entire village—will think I am crazy and got deceived by a demon."
His excitement didn't last long, as it immediately disappeared as his face became troubled and anxious.
Then he looked at his right hand, remembering the event that just happened to him.
"God, what am I supposed to do now? Should I tell the truth? Or hide it from them?"
Then, all of a sudden, in the midst of thinking, a group of voices were heard.
A voice of a woman, then young girls, then young boys.
"Luca!"
"Luca! If you are here, say something!"
"Elder Brother!"
Although sounds are very hard to hear, the noise that the people make is enough for Luca to notice where the voice is coming from and what it could mean.
Thus, before rushing over to where the voice was coming from, he tightly gripped his fist, breathed slowly, and smiled earnestly.
"I'll hide the truth for now until it's time to tell Mom about everything else."
Or he thought...
But...
As soon as he runs off towards where the voice and noise are coming from and arrives.
The adult woman immediately slaps him.
Shocked and stunned, Luca was unable to comprehend the situation.
Until the woman yelled at him.
"You...! You...! Do you have any idea how worried I was when your brothers and sisters came back to me and told me what you did?!"
"..." unable to reply and respond back due to the shock.
The woman continued to yell at Luca.
"I came to the village chief and asked for help, but even they refused to help me because of that demon you mentioned! Do you have any idea the trouble you cause...?!"
From that moment on, the woman paused for a moment, until her tears overflowed from her eyes and her knees gave up as she lost her strength, making her body kneel on the ground.
"...Why do you have to go back and fight that demon? Do you have a death wish, you damn brat? Do you wish to go like your father?!"
"!" Luca jolted from her mother's statement.
He didn't speak, but he too felt frustrated and dismayed.
Yes, it's granted that if it was a real demon he encountered, he surely would die, and his family wouldn't be able to see him anymore, but the situation was different from what he imagined. It was an ordinary person, blessed with God's guidance, and with her, he too witnessed a miracle.
Would everything end normally if he told them the truth? Is what Luca is trying to tell himself.
The decisions are making him suffer inside, which makes him bite his lips in frustration.
Thus, he decided, the only way to make this burden less heavy is to tell the truth.
"Mother! It wasn't a demon! The person I met wasn't a demon at all! She's a normal human, like us, guided by God! She too is a believer like us!"
His face is mixed with excitement, fear, trouble, and concern.
"W-w-what are you talking about all of a sudden?"
Her mother was surprised and stunned to see her son's sudden reaction; even his siblings, who were standing around them, were shocked to see their eldest brother react like that all of a sudden.
"I don't know how to explain it to you entirely, but, tomorrow morning, the girl I met will come back. So come with me, Mom! I'll show you that God is always on our side."
"Luca, I don't know what influence that demon has put on you, but I won't turn blind if you're being possessed or not right now! Your attitude is very strange and odd, as if you're being controlled by someone!"
At this point, his mother was both concerned and anxious about what had gotten into her child's mind for him to act like that.
She stood up, grabbed her son's wrist, and pulled him with her as she started walking away.
"Mom! What are you doing?!" Luca asked in shock, yet he was still smiling like an insane person.
His mother didn't stop walking, nor did she look at her son, but instead she replied to him with her arm holding Luca's wrist quivering.
"Son, you might notice, but your face... it's scary. So stop smiling. Your menacing aura is scaring your siblings."
"eh?"
From that moment on, Luca's smile vanished as he looked at himself, oozing a terrifying aura.
And then, concerned, he looked at his siblings, who were looking at him afraid and terrified.
"W-w-what is this?"
Luca emits a light aura, like a flame, but like a liquid that wraps around him.
However, in the eyes of his family, what he is emitting is a purple flame wrapping around him.
He was shocked to see this terrifying power coming. However, somehow he can't control his excitement as he continues smiling.
"This... is the blessing our God has bestowed on me! There's nothing to be afraid of, Mother!"
"!" After saying that, her mother stops, lets go of his wrist, looks at him, then slaps him all once again.
"Do you have any idea how many blasphemies you have already said as of now?!"
Angry yet concerned, the mother yelled at her son furiously.
"What God? Do you know what aura you emit? It's the same as those demons! How dare you say your power is like God?! God is light, while yours is dark, menacing, and terrifying! It's not like God!"
"!"
In realization, Luca immediately understood that her mother couldn't see the true light and purity, and then the voice of Lucy echoed inside his head from the moment before Lucy left him.
"With this oath, only the innocent and those who have pure faith could understand the true essence of God."
These words made Luca realize that his family is neither pure nor innocent. Thus, it made him feel disappointed and dismayed.
"What happened to you all? Why can't you see that God blessed me? What made you all fall into an abyss that you can't see the light? Father was right! You all have been corrupted by the village chief and by everyone else!"
Luca then runs off ahead, mad and frustrated!
leaving his family behind.
"Dammit! Why can't they see the divine blessing?! What's wrong with my family?! I thought it wasn't only me that still read the book of Genesis and followed the word of God. So why is it my family doesn't have faith?"
And then...
as Luca is about to get out of the forest.
An unexpected thing happens.
A peculiar event has been bestowed upon him.
Luca halted as he sensed that everything around him had stopped!
"W-w-what is going on?"
Luca asked himself, as he was shocked to see everything around him have stopped, even the wind, the falling leaves, and the time.
Then a man walks in from the forest.
"Your name is Luca, was it?"
a silhouette of a person, but a body of light.
Luca looked behind him, only to witness a being brimming with light.
"W-w-who are you?" Luca said as he stutter.
The being walks slowly towards him in silence until it is standing in front of him.
"In my command, 'I' bestowed on you the power that only the chosen one can have."
Then, as the being's index finger touched Luca's forehead, Luca flinched for a moment, tried to stand still, shut his eyes, and quivered.
"Don't quell, don't doubt, but have faith. As you shall create the celestial beings. With you, you'll be the father, of the greater ones. You'll be the 1st apostle in this generation. as 'I' bestowed the title of [Star Maker], as night sky will brighten through you. With this blessing, no mortal weapon can hurt you; with this power, you'll have a healthy life; with this title bestowed, nothing in this world will dare to hurt you."
Luca gathered his courage to ask the peculiar being, even at such a moment.
"My Lord, who are you?"
"I am who 'I' am. I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares I am your LORD."
"God?" In shock at the statement, Luca spoke unconditionally.
God smiled...
From that moment on, everything brightened up, making Luca's shut eyes unable to block the bright light.
Then God disappeared.
And everything came back to normal, like the way it was.
Luca, who witnessed another miracle—no, see God himself—was stunned and lost his strength as he fell to the ground, weakened.
"Did God personally meet me?" Luca said as he couldn't comprehend what had just happened to him.
And, thus, he lost consciousness, as if all his strength had finally given up.
Meanwhile...
Satan, who was not far from them, was utterly surprised as he saw God descend and walk in the mortal world, where all his failed creations are.
"Father, why is he here?"
Then, from that moment... A sudden atmosphere has changed.
heavy and terrifying, Satan felt someone behind him.
And yes, there he is... It was God!
"Why, hello there, son."
A calm yet cold voice.
"!" Satan, who's terrified, responds as he stutters.
"F-f-father, I bid you welcome."
"Son, what are you doing here?"
"Father, there's a reason why I am here."
"You're going to say: Lucifer made you to monitor Cain? I know that already. What I wanted to know is, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be on the eastern continent, where Cain is."
"!" Surprised about what his father has said, Satan has begun to panic!
"Father, I have a reason for this!"
"No, son. There shouldn't be. Go and monitor Cain, or I'll make you do it instead?" A serious and menacing calm voice
Satan quivered as soon as he heard the abysmal warning from his father.
And so he responds calmly, yet his eyes close even though he hasn't even looked at him the entire time.
"Yes, father. I will. I shall be going now, father."
Then Satan lifted his right hand and was about to snap a finger, but before he snapped, he disappeared.
God has spoken.
"Wait...!"
Satan flinched as soon as he heard his father's voice.
"What is it, Father?" Satan asked awkwardly.
"Satan, don't get yourself hurt."
With the calm and genteel voice of his father, Satan was bewildered, making him look at his father.
However, before he could even see his father's face, God snapped his finger, making Satan disappear.
The moment Satan disappeared, God sighed.
"Haizzzz~ can't these kids just follow their own script?"
Then God shifted his gaze and looked in the direction that led to Lucy's home.
"That kid... her nature as innocent and beautiful never changes, does she? Even with the fruit and all, she doesn't change. Anyways, I am amazed that Lucifer managed to put Soul together; it even had all Soul's traits."
God smiled while observing Lucy from afar.
And then...
In God's vision, he sees Lucy being scolded by Lilith, with Lucy on her knees and both hands up in the air.
"Now... the child Elder Sister Darkness is scolding her. Hehehe. Like creator, like creation. Both of them are strict. They never let Soul at least take a break."
Then God diverted his attention and stared above.
"...Anyway, Soul is getting mature day by day, thanks to her creations and my plans. Now, even though some of the other worlds have already been created, I still have to hurry up and create new worlds for her new environment and new play grounds. As her brother, satisfying my little sister's amusement is my job. But before that, I'd like to meet my innocent little sister."
God smiled and then left.