The priest put both hands on Gerald’s shoulders.

“You’ve finally made the decision?”

“Yes, yes, I finally see the truth you’ve been telling me about,” Gerald replied. “A corrupted bounty hunter helped me make the choice.”

“Ah, that happens. Quite often do people need tragedy to do good.” The priest pointed at his own hat. “Remember how long it took to sew this from that cloth? It was worth the struggle: I--a descendant of god and the one thou shalt worship--am wearing it. By coming back, you’ve accepted pain, more than you’ve ever faced before, for salvation. You must remember: the pain is always fruitful. Now, sons, take him to the Holy Glow.”

Two men in white cloaks parted, whispering to Gerald.

“No.” The priest looked back into Tenner’s eyes. “All of you escort Gerald.”

The remaining men looked at each other, waiting for someone to ask if it was wise to leave him alone with Tenner. The still silence stretched on until the oldest of the men nodded and left, leading everyone else away.

The entrance to the church, its blank walls and floors cold, faint light flickering in darkness ahead, now held only Tenner and the priest. Tenner’s hands raised the axe a little, ready to strike at any moment. But they didn’t -- something was off.

[Error: inspect blocked]

That was it. There weren’t any visible Extensions on the man’s limbs, or even a CHEK on his face, but the level difference between him and Tenner must’ve been staggering.

Tenner sheathed the axe. He hadn’t dealt with many old people, but those who he’d encountered always hid something nasty behind a humble grandparent persona.

“You won’t get out of my way.”

The priest shook his head.

“Have you heard of Kristus Incorporated?”

Tenner shook his.

“Undoubtedly you haven’t, Tenshot,” the priest spoke. “My son, you don’t look like someone so weak they’d give in to the temptations of the moon.”

Tenner tried inspecting again, to no avail. Who was this priest? How could he be killed? It wouldn’t be easy, considering the overpowering perks he must’ve earned over the years and countless levels, but this contract wasn’t going to end until the prize was his.

“Your efforts in seeing through my soul are futile,” the priest said, “but you needn’t worry. Don’t you think it’s isn’t nice for me to know your name, but for you not to know mine?”

“It’s such disrespect,” Tenner said.

The priest’s gaze blanked for a moment. “You could say so, Tenshot. I’m chairman Kristus and I run this company many call a church, and more -- a home.”

“You don’t have a CHEK and you blocked my inspect.”

Kristus opened his suit revealing his bare chest. There, a necklace hung -- a white CHEK with wires connected to the back of his head. “I freed myself from the moon’s grip, but instead of throwing the device away, I used it to embrace God.”

That did it. The guy and this place were bonkers. Religion wasn’t a big thing back in Realm 349 and definitely not in Tenner’s head. He knew just enough and trusted Gi’s words to not believe the facade the priest threw up.

“Son, you’ve already chosen this path. You’re too late for rejection, yet there is hope for you--

“You won’t talk me into this bullshit. I’m here to kill, nothing else.”

“What a shame.” Kristus waved. “Though I see that you are stubborn, you won’t get through this building’s walls nor will you get through the walls that are my men. You won’t touch a single person inside my company and you won’t steal a single credit from me.”

The building’s walls and the guards, Tenner repeated in his head. He’s confident in that, like the Worker who didn’t let me through the Realm entrance....

Right now, Tenner could chop the priest to pieces and rush through to the target. The priest would put up a fight, and getting through the swarm of guards would be a pain in the ass, but Tenner had no doubt he could do it. In fact, he really wanted to.

But the memory of the Worker kept him from stepping further. The “inspect blocked” message hid nothing good.

Tenner nodded and walked out, the priest’s stare scratching at his back. The unnerving energy remained in the air, even when the priest was gone. The slimy fucker tried to stop the hunt. Every step Tenner made, searching for another way in, his mind brought up another picture of the priest in his arms. Strangled, stabbed, chopped up, burned.

Everything’s fair game if I bump into Valerius. Everything’s fair game when someone intrudes on the hunt.

***

“A night that truly tests our faith,” Buck said, while no one stood beside him. He had to entertain the time, somehow. In truth to Kristus’ words, it was an absolute rapture. God took three lives in the Holy Glow, an unusual commotion echoed from the entrance and the preacher got as heated as the moon. Out of all those things, Buck was relegated to the most boring, silent, inconsequential backside of the whole church. Even though anxiety riled him up like the moon’s temptations tended to, he used the empty hours to think of a plan. A statement. An argument. And a conclusion. Once his brothers would come to take his place, he’d head straight for the priest’s quarters.

Buck had missionary, doctor, guard friends who’d adore a night guard position, free God’s grace and a room, while he didn’t desire anything apart from making an impact.

Just a few more hours…

Yawning, Buck took the white hood off and scratched the top of his head. Solo nights were the worst. He needed to find something to do for these next three hours, else he’d die from utter boredom. He fidgeted with the white CHEK. It zapped him. He grunted, fighting his twitching muscles. The pain lasted longer than usual, digging deep into his nerves. Prayers started circulating around his mind -- with God’s help, he made it through.

That was enough fidgeting . He had to do something else: what did he have on him? A tiny ”The Prayer of the End” he’d reread multiple times, a syringe and a dagger. What if he engraved something in the walls? It wouldn’t be a sin -- Kristus hadn’t said anything about it. And no one would see a few doodles.

Buck made a few steps away from the entrance and the shadowy indent, to a brighter part of the wall.

A dark figure, eyes gleaming with neon colors, scaled the wall like no human, or any other creature of such shape he was aware of, could. Something had possessed it and it was dead set on intruding upon the holy building.

Fear, which hadn’t visited Buck since the nights of reading “The Prayer of the End” in the dark slums as shanty huts all around him collapsed and dwellers were taken by God, returned. His brows furrowed and his hands pointed the dagger. This was tremendously awful. Could it be the moon Kristus spoke of? Buck backed off, his gaze switching from the backdoor to the thing climbing the wall

Such a grave matter couldn’t be handled by him -- he had to tell others, Kristus himself. But was Buck the same person from years passed? Did he run from everything and accept whatever fate? No. He followed the prayers of strength.

This would be the final proof why he should take upon an important role in the church! Buck pulled his gaze away from the door, stepped up and held his dagger firmly, placed his unsteady legs wide.

***

The church--considering the importance of Tenner’s contract it interfered with--guarded its back poorly. Climbing its uneven walls and sticking out bricks, Tenner reached the massive window. A metal plate with neon outlines covered it. Not using bars? Don’t want to make their followers feel like they’re in a prison? Tenner balanced atop it and searched for a way up.

The last part of the climb was the hard part. The throbbing pipes wrapped around the building would be a guaranteed pain in the ass. First, there wasn’t an obvious way to even approach them. Second, their scolding heat reached Tenner’s face from a whole morono away.

Scanning the stretch of wall above him, Tenner moved his left foot over to another brick.

The brick chipped and fell, taking his foot with itself.

He searched for anything to grab, sliding down the wall. Climbing even one meter--simple as it was--had taken a while. And he’d have to scale it all again if he didn’t stop right now.

He did.

Tenner’s eyes closed for a moment. The vertigo passed. He looked down at the thing that saved him: his feet had crashed into the top of the massive window, cracking the metal plate which covered it.

He’d reset a third of his progress. A third. Grunts left his mouth. His fists smashed the bricks and the whole building collapsed, burying the lunarists inside, finishing his bounty just like that.

Can’t help but wish. His eyes rose, seeing something white blur for a split second, then found the path he’d taken up to the pipes-- That’s not good, Tenner thought. Focused on, that white thing appeared as one of Kristus’s guards, legs shivering, measly knife pointed at Tenner. Where did he even come from?

Kristus had said his men were unpassable like the church’s walls. Well, Tenner was scaling one. Though he didn’t want to kill the guard. He couldn’t get to Tenner and messing with him would be a waste of climbing effort. Then the greater good circled back to Tenner’s mind. He was hunting. Cleansing evil. And these guys tried stopping him. That made them no better than the bounty. And the only thing the bounty deserved was death.

Tenner jumped to the ground, rolled to break his fall and, standing up, unsheathed his axe. The guard’s legs’ shivers moved up to his arms, and he backed a few feet off. A murmur, repeating the same line Tenner couldn’t make out left the guard’s lips. A prayer, he thought, inspecting. Pray all you want Buck. Your god’s no match for me. He left this mess and I’ll clean it! Tenner swung once then stabbed with the handle.

The guard hopped to the left, crouched under the stab, hopped right and knifed Tenner’s shoulder.

The tiny dagger barely ripped through his jacket and grazed his skin.

[Warning! Damage: -1 to health]

Ouch. A whole one damage. What would Tenner do?

Well, he tossed the axe into his left, and grabbed the guard’s throat. Their eyes met. Then Tenner threw him at the wall on the right. And the guard went straight through the wall.

What? Was this what Kristus had been talking about? His men were… ghosts?

Tenner shook his head and extended a hand. It went through the wall as well. His arm was a ghost?! Grinning, Tenner walked forth -- this wasn’t a wall, but a shadow. Inside it hid a narrow indent leading to a back entrance, in front of which the guard laid, reaching for a red button. It stuck out of the wall next to the door, a few wires going from it to the door hinges.

Buck must’ve realized his mistake when Tenner landed in front of him. Now, on his haunches, that mistake, the collapsing walls of a cave, crashed on him. Certainly, he’d die. Until then, he tried closing the door. He had to, no matter what. The tip of his finger touched the button, but couldn’t press down on it -- Tenner hand grabbed his wrist and cracked it in half.

Buck wailed. Tenner dropped the guard’s arm and tossed the axe back into his right then chopped.

The guard rolled out of the way.

“God, Lord, Kristus!” he screamed, his voice cracking. The pleas were meaningless -- those names wouldn’t help him. Tenshot had already decided his fate.

Tenner hacked twice. The blade went centimeters from the man, tearing his white clothes. The axe was a little slow. A target could move by the time it struck. Tenner had to stop the target -- he stepped on the guard’s leg and chopped. The guard still didn’t give up. With the broken arm, he grabbed the axe handle, holding it back for just a second. With the other hand, he stabbed Tenner’s chest once, then went on a frenzy, relentlessly jabbing his gut.

[Warning! Damage: -3 to health] [6x]

[Being’s HP: ++ ]

Tenner let go of Buck’s leg and grabbed his own wound. The entire front of his body blazed, memories of getting shot by a laserpistol returning. Breathing hurt. He groaned and sunk the foot, which had held the guard down, into the guard’s face.

The guard’s nose crushed and his consciousness wavered. He slid a meter and his back hit the wall, right below the button. He slammed his head into the wall a few times, shooting adrenaline through his body. The little boost jerked his hand which smacked the button.

The door started sliding shut.

Tenner dashed, aiming for Buck’s neck. As his arm lifted the guard up, his muscles burned. His arm threw the guard in the doorway. Right before the door closed. The guard’s ribs cracked and his organs crushed other organs while blood started streaming out of his nose. In the end, his corpse left a gap, just wide enough for Tenner to get inside.

Tenner didn’t even need to climb the wall again. Great.