This was a church.
But it was no ordinary church.
Towering stone pillars, immaculate walls, brightly colored patterns and exquisite sculptures everywhere, and gleaming marble beneath one's feet.
Every detail proclaimed how special this place was.
That's right. This was the headquarters of the Church in the world of High School DxD.
This church was also the only one within the headquarters, so naturally, it was decorated far more lavishly than an ordinary church.
Every day, the believers at the Church's headquarters came to this church to pray devoutly.
They did so in hopes that the Lord would hear their voices.
What they did not know, however, was that the Lord had long since become unable to hear them.
Of course, there were exceptions. Not every believer was completely unaware of the truth.
For example, the old man seated inside the church understood the circumstances quite clearly.
He was none other than the current pope of the Church!
"Sigh, there really have been far too many problems lately..."
As one of the major powers subordinate to Heaven, the Church had far more matters to handle than one might imagine.
For example, the number of devils appearing in the human world had begun to increase sharply in recent days.
Originally, the Church's warriors only deployed once every so often, ensuring that they received sufficient rest between missions. But now... they were practically never seen at headquarters. Everyone was so overwhelmed with exorcisms that they barely had time to breathe.
Yet even after the Church took such measures, the situation showed no sign of improving. No one knew what had gotten into those devils, but they had begun emerging from every corner of the world.
Worse still, each new devil that appeared was stronger than the last. On one occasion, even a high-class devil had emerged...
At that point, why not simply summon a Satan?
Every Church warrior dispatched on that occasion had been killed, without even a corpse left behind.
Although the loss was deeply painful, the pope continued assigning new warriors to fill the vacant positions.
He had no choice. Otherwise, the human world would be overrun by devils!
Although the sudden proliferation of devils had caused tremendous trouble for the Church, the elderly pope had still noticed something suspicious about the situation.
Why were the devils swarming into the human world like this?
There seemed to be something in the human world attracting their attention...
Could it be some newly emerged Sacred Gear?
That made no sense. If so, why had he, the pope, still received no information after so much time?
Could the devils have already obtained it?
That did not seem very likely either. If that were the case, Heaven should have shown some kind of reaction.
After thinking it over repeatedly, the pope still could not determine the truth and could only set the matter aside for the time being.
"Future exorcism operations may become even more difficult."
Since the devils had obtained whatever they wanted, their overall strength would inevitably rise significantly. When that happened, even the lowest-ranking stray devil might be capable of defeating the Church's elite warriors.
If there truly was no other option, they would ultimately have to rely on the angels. But was that really possible?
Although Heaven had always maintained contact with subordinate powers such as the Church, mere contact was far from enough. A divide had ultimately formed between Heaven and the Church.
Miracles had steadily dwindled over the years. This was a problem severe enough to threaten the very foundation of their faith!
Especially in recent years, the Church had seen more and more people fall from grace. Cruel experiments, betrayals, and a whole series of ruthless acts had become increasingly common. Anyone who still carried justice in their heart would find such things intolerable.
Some intelligent people had already guessed what these events implied, and the pope naturally understood a thing or two as well.
Pray to the Lord, and the Lord shall answer...
The pope could only scoff at that. He was no fool. How could such words possibly deceive him?
Over countless years, God's responses had declined sharply, and now they had almost vanished entirely. What did that suggest?
The pope felt he might as well make a bold conjecture. What if...
God had already passed away?
He had no way to verify this theory, but perhaps verification was unnecessary, because only under such circumstances could everything that had happened over the years be explained.
Even if I pray to God now, I probably won't receive anything in return, will I?
"O Lord...?!"
The pope had been about to test his theory while also completing his small daily goal of praying to the Lord. Yet the instant he spoke, a strange sensation surged directly into his heart.
Could that just now have been...?
The pope, who had long since abandoned all hope, abruptly rose from his chair.
The development was practically a resounding slap in the face, yet the pope was now incomparably excited.
After what he had just experienced, a new possibility had occurred to him.
They had been deeply troubled over the crisis of faith, yet now it had been resolved so easily. Who would not be excited?
"O Lord, I apologize for my previous thoughts. I should never have... Huh?"
He had just begun apologizing for his earlier transgression, but the instant those words left his mouth, the sensation of receiving a response vanished again.
Just as he prepared to say something else, the sensation returned, only to disappear again less than two seconds later.
The feeling was utterly unbearable!
Still, there should be nothing wrong with complaining about it a little.
Lord, what exactly are You trying to do?
Could You truly be hopping back and forth across the boundary between life and death?
The pope was not the only one. Some of the clergy praying within the Church also noticed the problem. Just like the pope, they were left completely bewildered.
However, there were also some who became thoroughly ecstatic.
God's responses had vanished for many years. Although the current signs were still faint, they nevertheless indicated a revival!
That's right. Some believers even thought that all of this had been part of the Lord's plan! Surely the Lord had done this to completely exterminate the devils and fallen angels, right?
Our Lord must have Their reasons for doing this. Such matters are beyond the comprehension of mere mortals like us.
In any case, as long as he fulfilled his own duties, no one would have grounds to criticize him. Had he not survived all these years as pope by doing exactly that?
However, the Lord's responses remained intermittent, offering no clear message at all. Sometimes they worked, and sometimes they did not...
But as the pope, he understood what this signified. Although it was merely conjecture, he was almost certainly correct.
Before long, the forces of Heaven would return in overwhelming glory! The Church had to seize this opportunity!