Catherine tapped her device and continued walking.
"Call Alice to the university. She can advance there safely. We’ll prepare a proper advancement room for her so she doesn’t destroy it like a certain someone."
Isaac coughed quietly.
He knew she meant him.
He still hadn’t paid for the room he destroyed.
He was sure the invoice would be painful.
Trying to ignore her teasing, he pulled out his device and sent Alice the location.
Then he started walking toward the advancement facility.
By the time he arrived, Alice, Emily, and Celia had already reached the entrance.
They fell in step with him as they walked down the hallway leading to the underground advancement chamber.
"So, you completed the Quest already? How did you finish it so fast?" Isaac asked.
"Trial of Burden was completed while I was wiping out monsters in Sector 2. Trial of Blessing was completed earlier when you allowed me to form a religion for you."
She looked towards him when she said those words.
His expression said he had eaten something bad.
He was not used to the fact people were going to pray to him.
Celia was snickering when she saw his expression, and Emily grabbed his hand, trying to reassure him.
"It’s fine. There is nothing strange about it," Emily said.
Isaac nodded, even though he still felt awkward.
Alice continued.
"Trial of Authority was completed by appointing Archbishops and High Priests. They needed an initiation ceremony that was the same for all Archbishops, and then same for all High Priests, so I chose—"
She suddenly stopped talking.
Isaac frowned. "Chose what?"
Alice didn’t answer.
She simply kept walking.
"Alice," Isaac said. "What did you choose?"
She still didn’t look at him.
Celia quietly covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.
Emily looked confused but stayed silent.
"Just tell me." Isaac spoke again.
"Emily and Celia are Archbishops. Professor Catherine and the Sword Empress are High Priests. You can appoint any of your Subjects as a High Priest later."
Isaac blinked.
From her tone, he could tell she was skipping something important.
"Alice," Isaac said slowly. "What is the process to become an Archbishop?"
Alice fell silent again.
"...Alice."
She still didn’t answer.
"Don’t ignore me."
Alice finally muttered, "It’s... to sleep with you."
Isaac stopped walking.
He stared at her.
"Are you crazy? What are you trying to turn me into? The God of Sex?" he said, stunned.
Celia burst out laughing behind him.
Emily’s face turned bright red.
"Just keep it in your pants and you won’t have many Archbishops," Alice retorted.
"That’s not the point! People will still know talk about the weird initiation ceremony!" Isaac complained.
"We won’t tell anyone about what happens in the initiation ceremony," Alice replied.
"That isn’t helping."
Even though his voice was loud, Isaac wasn’t angry.
He was exaggerating his reactions on purpose to lighten the heavy atmosphere everyone carried today.
And it worked.
Celia was almost falling over from laughing.
Emily looked embarrassed but her shoulders relaxed.
Even Catherine, who followed behind invisibly, looked amused.
Isaac sighed.
Alice clicked her tongue.
"You think I wanted this? Now I have to worry that some woman who would make try to sleep with you with the excuse of becoming the Archbishop."
"...what?"
Isaac blinked again.
He wasn’t expecting that.
"If you didn’t want this, why did you pick that method?" he asked.
Alice pointed her chin toward Celia.
"Because of her."
Isaac slowly turned toward Celia.
She smiled innocently.
That alone made Isaac feel uneasy.
He knew the devil enough to know something was up when she was smiling innocently.
"Alice," Isaac said carefully. "What did she do?"
Alice exhaled.
"I needed one hundred people who would accept you as their God to complete the Trial of Doctrine. The Nagas counted, but after that, it became difficult. I thought I could use the awakeners, but unless they prayed with sincerity, it didn’t count."
Isaac nodded slowly. "So?"
"Celia got the remaining followers." Alice continued walking.
Before Isaac could ask how, Celia proudly raised her hand.
"I posted on my media accounts that anyone who sincerely prays to you every day will get a fifty percent discount on all my concerts," she said. "We got one thousand followers in less than an hour."
Isaac froze.
"One thousand?"
Celia nodded cheerfully.
Isaac dragged his hands down his face.
He needed a moment to process this.
He knew the city lacked entertainment.
People were starved for anything that let them forget danger for a moment.
Games and movies existed, but their quality was nowhere near his old world.
Everyone lived tense lives.
They needed something to relax.
Celia filled that void.
Her concerts were always full.
Her popularity was absurd.
People treated her like royalty even though she was only Adept rank.
She was more valuable to the city than many Champion-rank fighters.
Even the previous governor tried to recruit her.
Of course she could gather one thousand people with a single post.
Isaac still couldn’t decide which part was more ridiculous:
That people were praying to him just to get cheaper concert tickets...
Or that Celia didn’t even offer free tickets.
Only fifty percent off.
Isaac stared at her.
"You didn’t give them free tickets?"
Celia grinned. "Business is business."
They kept walking down the hallway when Isaac suddenly felt a light tap on his shoulder.
He didn’t see anyone, but he knew it was Professor Catherine. She was still using her stealth skill.
A soft, seductive voice brushed against his ear.
"Check her media account. It’ll be a good surprise."
Isaac blinked.
"...?"
He tilted his head in confusion.
Alice, Emily, and Celia looked at him when he suddenly took out his device.
"What are you doing?" Alice asked.
"I’m checking Celia’s account. I want to see what kind of post she made."
"Oh," Celia said, still smiling.
Isaac scrolled to her latest post.
It was exactly what she said earlier: details about the prayer requirement and the fifty percent discount.
He checked the comments.
That was when he noticed something strange.
There were thousands of comments.
Some said:
"I’ll do it!"
"Celia-sama, I’ll pray every day!"
Others said:
"We only pray to our Goddess Celia!"
"Isn’t that our Lord? Why do we need to pray to him?"
Some were confused:
"I won’t change my religion!"
And then there were the aggressive ones:
"It’s that bastard!"
"I knew he’s sleeping with our Goddess!"
"How dare he touch her!"
Isaac stared at the last few messages, frowning.
"Sleeping with our goddess...?"
He didn’t understand why people thought that. He and Celia had been in a few media headlines before, but most were rumors. Nothing serious. Nothing confirmed.
But judging by the number of likes and reactions... far too many people believed it.
He scrolled down to her next post.
And his eyes widened.
It was a picture of Celia kissing someone’s bare neck and leaving a love bite.
Isaac recognized the background immediately.
It was their bedroom.
And the angle of the photo meant she’d taken it while he was sleeping.
Isaac paused, stunned.
He checked the next picture.
A table with two mugs of coffee.
Two hands.
One belonged to Celia.
The other was a man’s hand.
Isaac recognized that photo too.
She had taken it yesterday morning.
The caption said:
[Morning coffee always feels peaceful when you have someone to share it with.]
He groaned.
He scrolled further.
Celia was wearing a hoodie.
A large, black one. It was clearly a male hoodie.
Of course, it was his.
He turned his head and looked at her.
His expression said: Really?
Celia smiled innocently, as if she had no idea why he was staring.
He wanted to groan.
Before he had to worry about Alice stealing his clothes, but now his house had a new burglar.
He scrolled again.
There were more posts.
Some were only text:
"Even though we’re apart for only a few hours, I miss your smile that fills my heart with warmth."
Isaac kept scrolling.
Each post got worse.
He finally realized something.
Ever since he and Celia became a couple, she had gone wild with posting things online.
Her fans noticed.
They were furious.
Some were crying.
Some were making angry reaction videos.
Some were harassing random male awakeners, trying to find "the mystery boyfriend."
Ruby, the city’s AI, had been secretly controlling the online discussions to keep things from getting out of hand. If not, Isaac would probably be hunted by angry fans right now.
Most awakeners liked Isaac because he constantly helped them, but they were busy preparing for the red rain.
Only normal citizens were active online.
And they were cursing Isaac nonstop.
Celia crossed her arms.
"What? I wanted to brag."
Isaac opened his mouth and closed it a few times.
He couldn’t decide what to say first.
Was she really acting like this because she didn’t know the consequences?
He showed her his own account.
His inbox had thousands of messages.
Most were insults.
Some were threats.
Some were long paragraphs accusing him of cheating on two girlfriends and "stealing their goddess."
He rubbed his forehead.
Celia leaned over to look.
Her expression instantly darkened.
"Ugh, these annoying people. Who do they think they are to talk to you like that? Give me your device."
She reached for his wrist, but Isaac pulled the device away.
He sighed.
It was obvious she didn’t understand the consequences of her online posts. She was too used to being adored. Too used to people loving everything she did.
Even if she did understand, her head had been in the clouds recently. She thought everyone would be happy if she showed her boyfriend.
Isaac, who had dealt with harassment during the orphanage (where he went after the Three Color orphanage incident), wasn’t affected.
He didn’t even know about all these events, since he didn’t had time to go online.
But that didn’t mean he wasn’t annoyed.
He looked at her for a moment.
Then...
he stepped forward.
"Hey. Come here," he said.
Celia blinked. "Huh? Why?"
"Just come here."
She walked up to him, still confused.
Isaac placed a hand around her waist and pulled her close.
Their bodies pressed together, snug.
Celia gasped softly.
"Wait—what are you—"
Isaac didn’t let her finish.
He leaned in and kissed her.
It wasn’t a polite kiss.
It wasn’t a shy kiss.
It was full, deep, and close.
Her eyes widened for a moment before she wrapped her arms around his neck.
She kissed him back without hesitation, pulling him in even more.
Alice stopped walking.
Emily looked away with red cheeks.
Catherine smiled behind her invisibility skill.
She wasn’t surprised at all.
As they kissed, Isaac raised his device.
Celia’s eyes widened when she heard the click of a photo.
Isaac had taken a selfie.
It showed both of them tightly pressed against each other.
Celia hugging him.
Her lips on his.
Her face flushed.
"Hey—wait!" Celia pulled back immediately. "What are you doing!? Don’t post that!"
She understood how people would react. They would flood Isaac’s personal inbox.
But Isaac already had the app open.
His thumb hovered over the "Post" button.
"Isaac—stop! My fans will lose their minds! Your image—"
"It’s fine." Isaac smiled.
A calm, relaxed, slightly evil smile.
His thoughts were simple.
You guys wanted to complain?
Go ahead.
What can you do but complain while I’m kissing your goddess?
He himself didn’t realize he had a grin on his face as he clicked the send button.
The picture went live instantly.
Isaac slipped the device into his pocket without even checking the reactions.
He grinned like someone who had just tossed the last piece of fuel into a fire.
"Complain now," he muttered.
Then he turned to Alice.
"Let’s go. We need to finish your last trial."
Alice nodded and walked ahead.
As they headed down the hallway, Isaac noticed Celia’s face was bright red.
Her breathing was a little uneven.
He knew why.
It was the kiss.
His saliva had an effect on her because of the Sinbound Physique.
Her hormones were probably going wild.
He didn’t say anything.
It was her punishment for posting his pictures online without telling him.
He was affected too, but since he had been drained thoroughly earlier that day, he was still in better condition than Celia.
They reached the advancement room entrance soon after.
This was where Alice would complete her final requirement—Trial of Sacrifice—and advance to Adept rank.
Alice turned toward everyone.
Emily smiled brightly.
"Good luck, Alice!"
"Good luck," Celia added, though she kept sneaking flustered glances at Isaac every few seconds. She was trying to look pitiful, but Isaac ignored her.
Alice nodded and stepped inside.
Isaac followed her.
The room was quiet and clean.
White tiles covered the floor and walls.
The air felt still, like the room was holding its breath.
Isaac looked around once before turning to Alice.
"So," he said calmly. "What do you have planned for the Trial of Sacrifice? You’re supposed to offer something personally valuable to me. But don’t sacrifice something too important, okay? No giving up your stats or your skills."
Alice didn’t respond.
She just stared at him for a moment.
Then she spoke in a soft, steady tone.
"I’ve already decided what I’m going to sacrifice."