Heaven, the Seventh Heaven. The headquarters of the Angel faction of the Biblical God Faction, the core of the system that governs Sacred Gears and prayers, and the dwelling place of the God of the Bible.
Since the God fell during the Great War of the Three Factions, this place had become a forbidden zone within Heaven. Even Michael, who served as Heaven's Scribe and Chancellor and now carried out the God's duties in His place, would never set foot here lightly unless there was a system malfunction or scheduled maintenance.
And yet now, in this core of Heaven, a restricted area with the highest level of defense that should never allow outsiders in, an "outsider" other than the Four Great Seraphs and the God of the Bible had stepped inside for the first time.
White.
Blindingly white.
A sacred, immaculate white.
That was Cid's first impression.
Endless Holy Light illuminated the Seventh Heaven, and streams of it continuously passed through the ground, flowing down into the lower six heavens to serve as the light source for the entire small world.
As Cid stepped in, it felt as though all the light elements throughout the Seventh Heaven had become more active, brighter.
Of course, he knew it was just an illusion. Even his true body wouldn't cause such a reaction without deliberate intent. Thinking that a mere projection could stir the light elements like this was a bit too self-important.
Following the golden thread connected to Asia's soul, Cid looked ahead and saw its endpoint. It led to a device resembling a celestial globe, with a massive sphere of light at its core.
Whether it was the golden glow within Asia's soul or the light elements filling the entire Seventh Heaven, all of it originated from that giant sphere.
From time to time, slender golden strands, similar in nature to the one within Asia's soul but even finer, flowed into the sphere. At the same time, beams of white light shot out from it, breaking out of this small world and flying toward every corner of the world.
"Interesting."
Cid's projection stood before the great sphere of light, rubbing his chin with his thumb and index finger.
He could sense that those golden strands, which shared the same nature as the light within Asia's soul, carried strong emotional fluctuations. Combined with what Asia had said earlier about prayers...
This sphere was most likely the receiver of believers' prayers. The golden strands merging into it were the voices of the faithful, while the white light it released were blessings granted to them.
"So… case closed?"
At this point, the matter was essentially settled. Asia hadn't lied, nor had she been deceived. She had genuinely prayed and received a response from the God she believed in.
It was just that Asia herself was somewhat special. While others were like using a wireless connection, she had a direct line connected straight to this sphere.
"No, not yet."
Cid shook his head slightly, answering his own question.
Asia's innocence had been proven, but the sphere in front of him had not. How could a mere creation of the God of the Bible track his movements?
Back then, the reason he was able to sense three presences no weaker than his own was mainly because the worlds were merging. All four of them had effectively been forced out by the collision of their respective worlds.
To put it simply, if world fusion was like a hydraulic press acting on the inhabitants of the three worlds, then most people were like a sheet of paper under that press, while the four of them were like diamonds.
Avoiding the pressure was possible. All he had to do was push back, and the world fusion would naturally stop. After all, if the worlds were destroyed, there would be nothing left to fuse.
But then what?
Where would he live? Where would he complete his path as an Eminence in Shadow?
Go to another world?
How long would he have to wander through the dimensional gap before finding one?
In the end, all he could do was console himself by treating the experience of world fusion as inspiration to complete his Magic Power Training Method.
In short, the only reason he could sense others back then was because they had all been forced out by the merging worlds.
But you, a rigid system, even if you were a creation of the God of the Bible, claiming you can track his movements?
That was a bit too absurd.
To get to the bottom of it, Cid decided to personally try out the Biblical God Faction's prayer system.
Of course, actually jumping in without preparation would be foolish. Cid wasn't that reckless. At the very least, he needed to examine the core spellwork first.
"Hm!?
Why does this feel so similar to that Magic Network those witches I tricked came up with?
No… probably just my imagination. It's most likely a coincidence."
After going over it once, he didn't find any major issues. Still, the core structure did remind him somewhat of the Magic Network created by the Netheril witches.
But after thinking it through, he dismissed it as coincidence. After all, they had clearly said the Magic Network was built by modifying a prototype magical system they found in the "Library."
Even if the core parts looked somewhat alike, it was probably just overlap between advanced systems. And honestly, he might just be misremembering. He had long forgotten the core of Netheril's Magic Network, and now he was only going off a vague impression. The credibility of that was about as reliable as mishearing something and accusing others of copying. Calling it slander wouldn't even be an exaggeration.
"Alright, looks fine. Time to try it."
After another round of inspection, he confirmed that the giant sphere would only react violently if touched by Devils, Fallen Angels, Angels, or anyone closely tied to the God of the Bible. For anyone else, as long as they didn't deliberately interfere, it wouldn't cause much of a reaction. And even if it did, he could easily suppress it.
With that, Cid stepped forward.
He walked up to the massive sphere and placed his hand on it.
"Boom… boom… boom…"
A blinding burst of light erupted from the sphere. The entire Seventh Heaven, no, the entirety of Heaven, trembled under the surge of light released by the system.
And the disturbance didn't stop there.
The effects spread into the real world, triggering all kinds of anomalies in churches everywhere.
In Western Europe, now brought under the Biblical God Faction of World One after the world fusion, inside a solemn and majestic cathedral that had once been the headquarters of the Church in World Two, an elderly man in papal robes stood before a cross.
He had been praying with his head lowered, but suddenly stopped. He raised his head and looked at the cross before him. His eyes widened instantly, then he quickly regained himself and looked around.
It wasn't just the cross in front of him. Every cross in the entire cathedral was radiating holy light.
Bathed in that sacred glow, the old man could feel vitality surging through his body.
His whole body trembled. His pupils shook, and his lips quivered as he muttered under his breath, his voice barely audible from reverence.
"A miracle… a divine miracle…"
And it wasn't just World Two.
Churches on Itogami Island, the Vatican, and St. Peter's Basilica were all shining with holy light. Among them, one particular location in the Western world, a place holding the same status as Tiphareth in the three worlds, was experiencing the most intense reaction.