Rebirth: The Shadow Of Greed

... "Justice for the church!"

The katana Swang down as it passed through Ghostface's ethereal body, an arm quickly flying off to the side onto the ground. 

"Ahhhhhhhhhh! How is it possible! My arm!"

Ghostface wailed in pain, clutching the stump bleeding out onto the ground. 

"What did you do! You monster!"

"Me? A monster? You heretics have condemned yourselves the minute you desecrated the church, a holy place. You have condemned yourselves taking the property of the church. You have condemned yourselves by allowing a plague to find you. 

The blade of justice cannot be avoided, my justice is absolute."

He drew back his katana again this time aiming towards Ghostface's body. 

"Absolute Justice, Spatial Slash."

The blade passed through Ghostface's body once again, cleaving him directly in half. 

The cut was clean as if what had cut through Ghostface was not the katana itself, but something else. It felt as if space itself had been cleaved open. 

The appearance of the inquisitor had let everyone breathe a sigh of relief, they felt like they had been saved by the church. 

But the one person that was there felt his heart tightened. Z didn't know if the inquisitor would turn on them or if they would get into any form of trouble. This uncertainty made Z feel as if he had butterflies in his stomach. 

Cautiously, Daymas approached the inquisitor. 

"Sir inquisitor, thank you for the assistance, without you we would have let that sc.u.m run away."

Turning his head, the inquisitor let a slight smile slip. 

"Lord Daymas, it is rare for a Lord of your stature to care about trivial matters like this. It is indeed as everyone says, Lord Daymas truly cares about his people. It was the church that was attacked and the church's property that had been stolen. It is only natural that I as part of the church would take action. Oh and please call me Kazuki."

Daymas nodded politely and started to talk again, 

"For these bastards to do things like this, kidnapping the children and destroying the church, it is truly unforgivable. How did you manage to find us out here in the middle of nowhere?"

"I found the church in ruins, so I had to rescue the people inside, after that I had searched around blindly trying to find the people who did it. Eventually, I ended up at their hideout. Unfortunately, I was a step too late, but since they were involved, I had to justice them.

I found a kind soul who was kind enough to tell me where the children were headed off to before he died and so here we are."

Daymas nodded, hearing the story. He felt that it was quite inconceivable that someone could appear in so many places at once. But in this world of manifests, he believed that there were people that could do such things. 

Inquisitor Kazuki walked over to Z, who was on the floor beside Sandra and helped him up. 

"Young man, you are a strong one, your determination is commendable, how about joining the church as one of our acolytes, in the future you might even get to be a templar. Tell me your name boy."

Z ran through the scenarios in his head, trying to simulate a perfect answer without putting himself at a disadvantage and replied briskly. 

"Sir inquisitor, my name is Zero Cromwell, although my faith in the god of light is strong, my heart belongs with the military. My wish is to protect the citizens with my own strength. In the future, when I have accomplished my goals, I will seek out the church for salvation."

"A very good young man, I look forward to seeing your appearance in the army. Alas, it's time for me to leave."

The inquisitor took a step back as he snapped his fingers, teleporting all the kids to his back, including little Sandra. 

"Big brother!" 

Sandra screamed, attempting to rush out towards Z but was blocked by an invisible force. 

"You are all part of the church, we will take care of you from now on. In the future, you will definitely see this big brother again."

Sandra was still sobbing, bawling her eyes out while being held back by inquisitor Kazuki. 

"Zero Cromwell, my offer still stands, anytime you enter the Holy capital you can look for me, I will host you to the best of my abilities."

Opening a spatial gate, inquisitor Kazuki smiled as he turned around and disappeared as quickly as he came with the children in tow. The disruptions and fluctuations from the gate disappeared gradually as the space around regained its peacefulness. 

"Boss… Are all the inquisitors this strong? How did he manage to cut Ghostface? What's with the zipping around?"

Odrunn asked Z excitedly, his question perking the interest of Soli and Arel beside them. 

"Honestly, I don't have a concrete answer, but I think his manifest is a void manifest, that deals with space. That slash of his doesn't cut through any physical object, but rather it cuts through space itself, so anything within the area would get cut either way. Honestly, he could do the same without a katana or any weapon for that matter." 

"So he's just showing off?" 

Odrunn asked, Z just shrugged his shoulders. 

Arel turned to Daymas as he started to speak. 

"Boss, I have reports from our scout that there was a disturbance from the Snake Fang Gang's headquarters! They've checked the premise and found that everyone has been wiped out, the state of the place is in really bad condition."

"We have to publicise this, a single inquisitor was enough to wipe out the entire Snake Fang Gang. I've dealt with inquisitors before in the past but his power level is insane. Let's head back, we'll need to inform the sister about the kids. Let's fund the rebuild of the church, closer to the city centre. We have to build better relations with the church."

"But boss, would the other families approve of this?" 

Arel asked in concern. 

"Who cares about their approval, build it on my private property. If that's the case they have nothing to complain about right?"