To be honest, the "fib" that Baiyi told the visitors from the Church was far closer to the truth of the Cleric's journey than the legend contained in the Church's doctrine. According to the Church, the Cleric had entered the Abyss alone, armed with nothing but his indomitable faith, and slew demons as he traveled, rescuing humans who had been enslaved by the demonic tribes, and delivering the dead who found themselves locked in the Abyss. These dead were basically souls filled with so much hatred that even the demons refused to eat them, branding them beings as hostile as malicious ghosts.
Yep. It was basically a myth on its own.
The Cleric really did do as the story said, but he was more cunning about it. When he met demons who were weaker than him, he showed off his mighty, god-given powers like the demon-slayer that he was hailed as. However, when he met demons who were his match, he would shift his goal from "demon slaying" to "saving people" and "delivering souls", hiding and sneaking past those demons throughout the journey. Furthermore, if started attracting too much attention, he would return to his, which was outside the Abyss, to wait things out while he recovered. In short, the Cleric wasn't exactly as gallant and cool as the Church had painted him out to be.
He was nothing as awesome as the legend had everyone believe, but it was precisely because of how true the tales of the Cleric's compassionate exploits really were that made those who knew him to respect him. Even the Devil had to respect to the man, albeit grudgingly. Therefore, it was truly a mystery how the man was capable of completely breaking that character in the Void.
Baiyi, in his fib at least, was a self-fulfilling adventurer, who only entered the Abyss to hunt for materials. He met the Cleric there, and they quickly became friends. Before they parted, the Cleric had a vision of his impending demise death, so he taught Baiyi his secret technique, hoping that the latter would pass it on to a worthy heir.
The fib was very believable because it included a lot of parts taken from the actual truth: the Cleric did meet the Explorer while in the Abyss, and the two had teamed up and worked together in order to achieve their own goals.
Frankly, the Church knew the truth of the Cleric's exploits. After all, back then, words detailing the man's activities had reached the Church pretty quickly, attracting many imitators who believed it to be a spectacular path to Ascension. A few had even witnessed the Cleric's final battle with Thaas, and after the Cleric performed his sacrificial self-detonation, the Church began looking for his soul. However, they couldn't find it, so they considered its absence as proof that he had truly Ascended. They did not that know the Cleric had Ascended into the same void that banished souls went.
Well, then. Something this impressive had gotta need a bit more cosmetic just to smooth out the wrinkles, and after a few filters, the legend had become larger and more well-known than the truth. Many who were not of the inner circle had no inkling of the original exploit, which was why Laeticia looked aghast after Baiyi recounted his tale.
It didn't take long for the girl to compose herself, however. "Wow, I didn't know that the Lord's Apostle was also confined to mortality, fatigue and famish like any other man… Nevertheless, knowing that he saved everyone despite being a mere mortal now makes him even more respectable than ever."
Her companion, Grand Paladin Commander Sir Grunewald, was not as surprised as the maiden, which was proof that he really had read the more truthful side of the story since he was part of the inner circle. Comparing mental notes with Baiyi's fib, Grunewald agreed that a lot of its details fit the bill. Coupled with the fact that the Church could not possibly keep an extensive record of everyone who had spoken to the Cleric, the Grand Paladin Commander decided that Baiyi was indeed the Apostle's friend, and that he had indeed learned theurgy from him.
"I am convinced that Master Hope truly is Lord Apostle's companion. Miss Laeticia here is very outstanding; I am sure Lord Apostle would be very pleased."
' How could she not be 'outstanding'? Look at her beautiful face, and her kind heart, and her excellent body—of course he was bloody pleased. He picked her himself! ' Baiyi thought to himself, before he asked the girl, "So, you passed your technique to your superiors, too, eh?"
She nodded, smiling warmly, "I would like more people to wield this incredible power so that even more can be saved. So, I shared the technique."
Tsk. Baiyi pouted his lips. Laeticia's decision and motives were not unexpected at all. This was exactly what a girl like her would do—but, alas, this incredible technique was not easily performed as many would think. Not only must one have the utmost faith in their God, they could only use the technique in the presence of immense evil. Thus, one can only forego any ideas they may have of using it to show off in their daily life!
"Miss Laeticia is now a Minor Saintess, Master Hope. She has been permitted to dress in a manner befitting of a Saintess, and once any of our current Saintess had retired, she may then assume her mantle," Grunewald explained, noticing Baiyi's hesitation. He was being extremely cordial to the Soul Armature because Baiyi not only ended the Demonic attacks, he was also the Apostle's companion; that was the best merit combo to the Church.
' But this… Is this a Saintess's armor? Not only is its defensive capabilities piss-poor, but she also has black stockings instead of cuisses for… leg protection?! Perhaps a part of what is required of a Saintess is to look good. '
Afterward, the topic moved from Baiyi's fib to the nitty-gritty of his battle with Thaas. The Church did not conceal their desire to know the details of the battle, but Baiyi's background made them hesitate to try to summon him to their place; thus, they chose to visit him in his home instead.
Naturally, the Church was not the only ones interested in the fight; Little Mia and Tisdale were just as excited to hear the details. They charged into the living room before the story started.
Mia's eyes lit up when she saw Laeticia in her new armor. She jumped at Laeticia and held her hand, "Big Sister Saintess, so glad to see you again!"
"Hey, don't call me 'big sister'!" Laeticia replied good-naturedly. "We're close in age, remember? Just call me Laeticia."
"...Eh?" Mia paused, and her gaze conspicuously landed on the maiden's chest, before eyeing her own. Then, she turned her gaze to Tisdale, and finally threw Baiyi a look of deep sorrow before running to stand on Attie's side.
' The hell are you thinking about now? Must you always worry about that?! Also, what was with that dirty look? Are you… Are you somehow pinning the blame on me?! Finally, do you know how much damage you are doing to Attie's self-esteem, standing by her side like that?' Baiyi's mind was brimming with his own monologue. If it wasn't for the visitors, he would have given the girl a good little lesson.
' Not now .' He chose to ignore the sideshow and narrate his pre-planned story to them.
"Frankly, if we are to be pedantic, then I didn't finish Thaas. He was so strong and powerful that I was not his match at all! All I had was luck. Halfway through the battle, some internal fighting ensued, and I took that chance to strike," Baiyi casually said, steering the entire narrative in a different direction.
In his tale, Haart's consciousness was not displaced completely, so he had surfaced from time to time to wrestle for control over his body with Thaas. Additionally, a few members of the Godsfall cult had challenged the Abyss Lord out of a conflict of interests, so they ended up fighting each other. Baiyi claimed that he landed another strike at this point, scaring away the Godsfall cultists and slaying a weakened Thaas.
Baiyi was careful to make the story sound really gripping and exciting, and the girls' expressions regularly switched between panic, surprise, and excitement, making it evident that they were reveling in the action.
Yes, the story was a bit too far-fetched, but it did not matter. There wasn't any third witness that the Church could extort an account from, and it wasn't like they had the choice not to believe. Even if they didn't believe Baiyi, what could they do? Risk crumbling their faith just to apprehend him? How were they going to explain that the noble Apostle had worked together with a heretical demon? Plus, why would someone who wielded the powers of both fear them?
He would destroy them easily. The Church were not fools; they already knew that.
With great power and credentials, even the laziest lie would have those who believed it. Besides, Baiyi's story wasn't illogical. It made some sense, so it was still believable.
"In short, the man in the black robe was seriously out of my league. He used a power that I have seen before. It was so powerful that he even overpowered Thaas, you know! If it wasn't because they had both weakened each other, I would have stood no chance at all! You must apprehend that man as soon as possible," Baiyi ended his tale with a plea.
"Understood." The Grand Paladin Commander's face was expressionless, and his thoughts were unfathomable. "That power you spoke of may be prohibited. It is inhumanely dangerous, so please be extra vigilant next time, Master Hope."
He did not seem surprised that Godsfall would work together with Thaas; this meant that the Church may have considered that possibility, which signified that they had made some progress in their investigations. Baiyi had anticipated this, so he made sure to add that into his tale; besides, two evil beings teaming up together in a "the enemy of my enemy" fashion was already a classic trope of its own; Also, someone as power hungry as Haart trying to use Thaas for his own plans sounded realistic.
"So… The Godsfall cult...They… ?" Baiyi spoke slowly, trying to hook the man into giving out information.
"—are much stronger than we had expected. Remember the time you informed us about the existence of their large runic complex? To be honest, we didn't really pay much heed to it. That was why the runic spells worked, drawing its barrier around Arfin City and cutting off all communication between it and the Holy City… almost laying lives to waste," Grunewald said as his face donned a pained grimace. "It was so fortunate that Master Hope was around to save them."
"Hmph. That complex was only around Arfin City? Damn, that's more inferior than I initially thought…" Baiyi muttered under his breath. 'This should probably be counted as a good news.'