I'll kill you after I finish this game!

"Thanks, but no need... You damn stinking thing, get out of here!!"

After two months of hiking, Skadi arrived in Rome alone, encountering a number of obnoxious or ill-intentioned people along the way.

Mary is not good at dealing with people, and she has some difficulty communicating with others due to her introverted nature.

When Mary couldn't handle the situation, Skadi would appear and take her away. Anyone who was persistent or had ill intentions was punished by her with magnetic field torture.

At this time, in the eyes of countless viewers, Skadi's hair was a beautiful and bright sandy gold, and her eyes had turned into a pure turquoise green.

Today, it is Mary, not Skadi, who sees the world with the naked eye.

Mary witnessed many things during her hiking trip.

Having traveled to this point, Marie has never before felt how vast and complex the world is, except for her time in France and on the beach at dusk.

This reminded Mary of her childhood, where, apart from memories of spending time with her parents, she only had memories of wandering within France.

At that time, she was unable to contact others and did not understand them at all. Every day, all she could see when she encountered other people was beheading.

It's hard to tell whether the head that flew away belonged to someone else or to oneself.

Mary arrived in Rome and the Vatican, a city steeped in religious atmosphere, and was filled with curiosity about everything.

The area is permeated with a strong religious atmosphere, and most people here have faith in God.

Mary was also very curious as to why they were so devoted to God.

After all, Cagliostro and Rezé said that she was a born seeker of truth.

Although the god worshipped in the Vatican is not her, Mary wanted to know why people worship gods.

"[The reason why any religion in the world attracts people is because it exploits the vulnerabilities of people's hearts. It uses the concept of God to make people who have no spiritual anchor believe that religion can solve their spiritual troubles and sins, and relieve them of their spiritual burdens...]"

Listening to Skadi's earnest and detailed explanation in her mind, Mary, using Skadi's beautiful face, frowned and directly indicated that she did not understand these profound words.

Skadi, realizing that her explanation was too difficult to understand, gave a simple and direct answer.

"Simply put, religion is nothing more than a placebo for the weak. Those who believe in illusory gods are just clowns numbing their souls and escaping reality. Powerless beings want to gain something from powerful beings without paying a price."

Upon hearing this, Mary nodded thoughtfully.

The same applies to ordinary people compared to those who are extraordinary from birth.

Mary realized that she was special and different from others, and under Skadi's guidance, she also came to understand that she was different from others.

“Sizzle————”

Suddenly, Mary felt a strange magnetic field fluctuation.

Why is it considered strange? Because within this magnetic field fluctuation, Mary could feel an indescribable...pain.

Skadi also perked up a bit, as the magnetic field power of this era had not yet fully spread, and there were relatively few people who possessed it.

The perceived magnetic field power was at most around 40,000 to 50,000 horsepower. Even if Skadi didn't come out, it posed no threat to Mary, who was controlling her body.

"[If you're curious, go take a look. I'm also quite curious about the owner of this strange magnetic field.]"

Hearing Skadi's words in her mind, Mary nodded and, filled with curiosity, approached the direction from which the magnetic field fluctuations were emanating.

Not long after, at an old church that was about to be rebuilt, Mary and Skadi found a young man huddled in front of a cross, trembling with his hands covering his head.

The other person was surrounded by occasional bursts of magnetic field and electric light. He was curled up in front of the cross, tears streaming down his face, and he kept muttering something.

Mary could sense the emotions emanating from this person.

Guilt, self-blame, pleading, and even self-abandonment.

"Lord, I'm sorry, I'm guilty, I deserve to die..."

The person, dressed in missionary attire, was blaming himself before the cross, and a deep, visceral pain was clearly palpable to outsiders.

Seeing this conflicted and tormented person, Mary couldn't help but take a step forward out of curiosity.

"who--!?"

Sensing someone approaching from behind, the young man was startled and instinctively felt murderous intent at being seen in such an embarrassing state.

But as he stood up and looked behind him, the murderous intent that had ignited within him instantly transformed into boundless self-reproach and guilt.

The young man saw a beautiful blonde girl with blue eyes, and he swore he had never seen such a beautiful girl before.

But this is not the root cause of the young people's self-blame and guilt.

The reason was that when the young man saw Mary's clear, innocent, and childlike eyes, he felt how hateful and wicked it was to have murderous intent towards someone with such eyes.

From those incredibly clean eyes, the young man could only see and perceive his own ugliness and filth.

"What's wrong with you? You're not injured, so why are you in so much pain?"

Mary was curious about what had happened to the young man in front of her, whose emotions and expressions were changing constantly, and why his emotions were fluctuating so complexly and intensely.

"I...I..."

Hearing Mary's innocent curiosity about what had happened to him, and looking at the curious eyes staring at him, the young man, Zu, was speechless.

Why am I in so much pain when I'm not injured?

Zu didn't know how to answer the girl in front of him.

He was reluctant to say it because of the shame.

But seeing Mary's innocent and bright eyes, which Zu could only see in young children, Zu felt a sense of relief in his heart.

"I killed someone, I'm guilty..."

Looking at the beautiful blonde, blue-eyed girl in front of him, Zu remained silent for a moment, then, as if confessing his sins to God, he told the girl the root of his suffering.

Upon hearing this, Mary simply tilted her head slightly, not understanding why murder had to be associated with sin.

She had been beheading people since she was a child, and she had never experienced any emotional distress, so she could not understand the suffering of the person with faith in front of her.

When Zu confessed to the murder, he was also staring intently into the girl's eyes.

Seeing that those pure eyes only showed confusion, without fear or apprehension, Zu felt relieved.

“Titi said that killing is wrong, but sometimes you have to kill because of all sorts of reasons.”

Mary was not good at comforting others, and when Zu in front of her said that he was in pain because of killing someone, she only said the words she had learned from Skadi.

Zu was somewhat surprised to hear the girl say such words, but then a sense of self-reproach and bitterness welled up in his heart.

Faced with the pure gaze of the girl before him, Zu couldn't help but lower his head, and even more so, he knelt down in shame, burying his face in his hands, and then said in a deep voice:

“What you say makes a lot of sense. There are too many things we can’t control, but… when I kill, I feel a deep sense of joy… I have a devil inside me, the power of a devil.”

As he finished speaking, Zu's voice became filled with shame and remorse.

He believed in the Lord and observed the rules and regulations.

He killed someone yesterday to protect an innocent person who had been harmed by a heinous criminal.

This was originally a righteous act of bravery, and the innocent person he saved was very grateful to him.

However... Zu, while using his superpower of magnetic field rotation to kill people, felt a deep sense of joy!

Instead of finding joy in saving others, he actually finds pleasure in killing.

That kind of pleasure made him want to indulge himself and let the devil called desire control him.

A kind person who serves God and follows His will, yet possesses the power of the devil.

Zu felt conflicted and pained by this, feeling that he was extremely sinful and deeply guilty, and so he hoped to receive the peaceful comfort from God as usual.

One's faith should teach one to be kind, but one's power should lead one to indulge in evil.

The source of Zu's suffering lies in his inner turmoil, caught between conflicting desires and his true self.

"The power of the devil?"

Mary felt she understood the young man in front of her less and less, but she could sense his intense self-blame and pain.

She slightly raised her hand and activated the magnetic field power within Skadi's body. This was the same power as the young man's, only the level and purity were different.

Mary seemed thoughtful as she looked at the young man before her, who was bowing his head in self-reproach and anguish.

She looked at her hands, blinked, and then jogged over to the young man kneeling on the ground in pain. She touched his head with her hands, which were shimmering with a faint golden magnetic field.

Then, just like Skadi comforting her younger sister Hitomi, she stroked her head.

"------!"

Kneeling on the ground in shame, trembling and radiating pain, Zu felt himself being forcibly calmed down, as if entering a state of enlightenment.

Moreover, this tranquility was even more intense than that before God.

Not only did my emotions calm down, but even the pain was soothed by something soft.

"Pat your head, and all the pain will fly away..."

Seeing that her method of comforting Xiaotong when she cried had worked, Mary chuckled softly.

I felt like I had accomplished something very ordinary and simple, and all my doubts and confusion disappeared.

What's wrong with you? Just like a little kid, you need to be comforted.

Mary didn't understand Zu's pain, but she remembered how Skadi and Oga comforted Mizuki Hitomi, so when she saw the young man in front of her holding back his tears, she directly imitated him.

Skadi herself felt a little embarrassed, as she was quite aware of the root of the suffering of the ancestor who believed in God.

Faith requires one to do good, but the power of the magnetic field can only be unleashed to the fullest extent when one indulges in it.

The conflict between self and faith caused the patriarch pain; it was a mental illness that required a very complicated solution.

But as Mary comforted a young man with a childish pat on the head, the grandfather lowered his head, widened his eyes, and fell completely silent.

Listening to Mary's childlike words of comfort, Zu felt as if he had become a carefree child again.

If you make a mistake, you will be scolded by your father, but you will also be comforted by your mother.

Well, in a sense, Skadi, as the will of Earth, could indeed be the mother of all life in this world.

"Blood, blood, blood! I want to drink blood! Let this drink be poured onto the guillotine..."

Seeing that Zu was completely calm and no longer in pain as he knelt on the ground, Mary, who had told Skadi that she was very powerful, hummed a hateful and bloody song and turned to skip away.

The ancestor, snapping out of the abhorrent murderous intent contained in the bloody ballad, involuntarily looked up blankly at the carefree girl's cheerful departing figure.

The bright sunshine belonged to midday, but when it shone on Mary, it seemed to transform into a soft and beautiful twilight glow.