After reading the book, Zeke closed it and sighed.

"The most near one is Sylph, at the Forest of the Spirits. The next one will be Gnome at the desert of Safina, then Undine at Undine's Spring, and for last Salamander at a volcano in Gold Region."

He opened his map again and looked at Natalia region. "We should be able to go there in 3 days."

Alice closed her eyes and closed her arms. "Elves live separated from other monsters in the Forest of the Spirits. As the Monster Lord, I don't really want humans to go into that forest…"

"Jokes on you, I'm not human." Zeke chuckled, before he calmed down. "Anyway, I will just attack in self-defense. Even if I get a quest that is about attacking monsters, I will lay down my hands."

Alice smiled and replied. "Good. Since I can trust you, I'll allow you to enter the forest."

"Neat…" As soon as Zeke got on his feet again, he noticed something weird…

"...Alice? Where is Pumpkin?" He couldn't feel the usual weight on his back, so he turned to Alice and asked that question.

However, Alice just frowned a bit and shook her head. "I couldn't find it anywhere. The only thing I can think about is that the Angel you told me about took it somewhere else."

Zeke froze in surprise, before something clicked in and his fists tightened. "That motherfucker…"

Anger swelled up inside him as he raised his hand and struck down. The attack caused the plain where he was to split in two parts, with a large crack under his arm covered in red aura. "GODDAMMIT!"

Alice laid an hand over his shoulder, to stop him from raising his arm again. "Hey, calm down! I know that it is something bad for Pumpkin to be stolen from you, but you don't need to destroy the entire landscape!"

She looked his face, and was surprised to see Zeke barely controlling himself, gritting his teeth. "You don't understand…"

"Understand what?"

"...Not yet." Zeke stood up and took deep breaths. Little by little, the wrathful Mantra that was covering his body disappeared. "...Let's just head to the Forest of the Spirits. The faster we accomplish this thing, the better it is."

Alice couldn't understand why Zeke was getting so worked up for a stolen item. It might be strong, but at this moment Zeke's full power exceeds Pumpkin's power.

And that is how Zeke is 6 days earlier than the plot by skipping 3 days of going back and forth from Port Natalia, which was about a mermaid's request before the school exploded.

[Meanwhile]

While Zeke and Alice were heading towards the Forest of the Spirits, Luka just reached San Ilia. As he walked towards the cathedral, he noticed the state of the city.

It was a big mess, buildings were taken down, the ground was dug up from something, and there was a city-wide fissure splitting in two San Ilia. The destruction around the city amazed Luka, leaving him speechless.

He found a villager standing in front of the fissure, scratching his head with a frown on his face, so he approached him and asked. "Sir! What happened here?!"

The villager turned towards Luka and replied. "Two people fought, causing this mess… I know that one of the fighters was the Heavenly Knight Granberia, but the other person was someone I never seen. He had 6 arms and blonde hair. I only saw Granberia flying across many buildings, destroying them, before I closed myself in my home."

"What?! Granberia was here?!" Luka was shocked, did she attempt to attack San Ilia too?!

"Yeah. I don't know why she was here, but the one who fought her is really strong. He was the one who created this fissure." The villager said, looking down at the fissure.

Luka also did the same, and curiously asked. "You said this person had 6 arms?"

"Yes. Surprisingly, he was a boy so it couldn't be a Monster Girl, but he also didn't looked anything like a human…"

"Woah…"

After a bit, Luka started to go on his way to the cathedral. Soon, he reached the place, and found some people rebuilding the doors and parts of the building. He approached a soldier and asked the same question.

"Sir, what caused this?" He asked while pointing at the cathedral. The soldier turned around and sighed. "Granberia and the Sinner fought, before taking things in the city."

"Sinner?" Was he talking about the 6 armed guy?

"Yeah, I heard that the Pope received a revelation from the Goddess Ilias herself, saying that someone wanted to harm her. She also sent a couple of her angels down to aid the Pope on killing the sinner."

"And what happened to this person?!" Luka was caught in the story and wanted to know more about it. Someone dared to defy Ilias? Who could it be?

"Well, the guy managed to kill the angel guarding him and then he fought against Granberia, before both of them got in different ways. I actually don't know who won, since I had my power drained from the sinner…"

...Power drained?

"...Excuse me? Who is the name of this person?" A bad feeling surged on his guts, and asked that important question.

"Zeke Conquest, you seen him somewhere?"

"Ah… No, I didn't see him." Luka shook his head, hiding a shocked look on his face. What did Zeke do to be called Sinner? He didn't even know about Ilias some weeks ago, and he is now called Sinner?

Was it because he had intercourse with Alma Elma?

Was it because he didn't pray to her?

Was it because he mistakenly pointed Angel Halo to a figure that represented her?

Was it because he was a Demigod?

The only things that could really make him consider as a sinner are the last two, but could it have just been a misunderstanding?

...He will ask Zeke the next time he sees him.

"...Can I still have an audience with the King, though?" Luka asked for the main reason he came at San Ilia. He wanted to know what path he should take to be a hero, even if he didn't expect this mess.

The soldier sighed and took out a paper and a quill. "Sign up your name, since there aren't many people here now, it might take 1 day or less before you can go to speak to the King."

"I see…" Luka took the quill and paper before he registered his name and birthplace. Fortunately it didn't say anything about being baptized or not because he wasn't baptized from Ilias.

[Meanwhile]

A certain red haired woman wearing glasses and a lab coat was filled with joy. She was standing inside a laboratory, sitting in front of a desk with a dismantled Pumpkin over her desk.

"Haha! Whoever made this weapon is a genius!" Promestein commented, looking at the dismantled weapon. An Angel Soldier brought her the weapon under the order of Ilias to analyze it and see if it could be useful to her.

At the beginning, Promestein just thought of it as a mere rifle. But as she observed it inside, she started to get surprised from how it was made.

First of all, it worked with spiritual energy, not normal bullets.

There is also some sort of scouter inside it, and it looked like there are additional parts to the gun. But when she asked Ilias about those parts, she just replied that the gun came from the "Wildcard", Zeke Conquest, so he should have the extra parts.

However, the thing that amazed her the most was the core of the weapon. The more the user of the weapon was in danger, the stronger is the spiritual energy coming from the barrel of the gun.

If this was something she could replicate, then her projects, the Next Dolls, will turn out to be almost invincible, and able to fight Ilias without any external help. However, it was done with an unknown material that she couldn't find anywhere in this world.

But she also found something much more interesting than the core of the weapon.

Residual spiritual energy belonging to the Wildcard… If she could analyze that residual energy, how many otherworldly things can she find? She might even create the definite Next Doll, someone capable of killing Ilias by itself.

After all Zeke was able to get this strong in less than 2 weeks.

What is this Evil God's Forbidden Arts that Ilias told her about?

What is this Mantra of Wrath that she heard from her? The Commandment of Piety? The Omni Gacha?

What is all of this? Why did she never heard of it?

Just the thought about what the Wildcard is hiding made her almost wet, only her self-control stopped her from such stupid actions.

She, Promestein, an angel of the lowest rank and the leader of the Seekers of Truth, craved for what Zeke Conquest knew that she didn't.