Chapter 10

'Ha...'

As a chill spread from his brow to his entire body, Herbert slowly opened his eyes and raised his hand to grasp at the air.

'Is this what it feels like to be a covenant-bearer of Miss Xie Shen? Hm?'

Then Herbert raised an eyebrow and gripped the air again, uncertain.

Grasp.

Grasp!

Unyielding Grasp!

'...'

He furrowed his brow slightly, muttering in confusion: 'Why does it feel like nothing changed?'

That's not right.

That's not how it works on TV!

Everyone gets stronger after going dark.

At least tripled, no upper limit.

Down to crush your bullies, up to punch open chaos.

So why does nothing happen to me?

Miss Xie Shen watched Herbert's exploration in silence for a while before finally speaking lazily: {'My ally, what are you doing?'}

'I'm exploring how much power a human gains after falling—and whether a great Miss Xie Shen is as generous as she claims.'

Herbert looked up at the ceiling, expression blank, and said:

'You give me zero abilities? That's a bit hard to justify. If I die halfway, you lose your partner.'

Wow, I don't even ask for much.

Just give me three or five thousand as a token gesture?

And you won't even give me a hundred?!'

Nie Nasha laughed at Herbert's complaint, laughing until he nearly blushed red before stopping to explain:

{'First, I must correct you—you haven't fallen at all.'}

'Huh... Huh?'

Herbert's eyes widened, unsure how to react.

He'd assumed Miss Xie Shen was just stingy about granting blessings—but he hadn't even taken the first step toward darkness.

Is this my fault?

'Wait, aren't you Miss Xie Shen? I've become your partner, signed the covenant—doesn't that count as falling?'

Herbert recalled the laws he'd seen during his investigation, quickly flipped open the scripture, and soon found the three sins that would kill any Kuxiu Sect disciple!

'Look here.'

The defiler who unites with a demon—whipped, then burned! —

The fallen who signs a covenant with Miss Xie Shen—beheaded, then burned! —

The oath-breaker who abandons his vow—teeth pulled, tongue cut out, then burned! —

Even seeing these again, Herbert couldn't help but complain.

Wait, are you the Kuxiu Sect or the barbecue sect?

How is every punishment, no matter what, always ending up on a pyre?

This sect's methods are unforgettable.

But...

Miss Xie Shen dismissed it entirely.

{'What's this, falling?'}

'Isn't it?'

{'Hah, of course not.'}

Nie Nasha sneered, mocking the rigid commandments, and asked with deliberate weight: {'If you can't understand, let me ask you this.'}

{'In certain rare circumstances, the True Gods and Miss Xie Shen have cooperated—so... did all the True Gods fall during those times?'}

{'Does a Miss Xie Shen become a True God simply by cooperating with a human, purified into righteousness?'}

{'Do you think that's possible? Impossible!'}

{'Fall and purification are merely illusions—tools to control mortals.'}

Herbert listened to Nie Nasha's words; they made sense, yet something felt subtly off.

{'As for the sin of defilement—what defilement? The demons humans speak of are mostly just the exclusive races created by various gods—where is the evil or righteousness?'}

{'Even among angels there are fallen killers; among demons there are peace-lovers—can you generalize like that?'}

{'These commandments are nothing but iron chains binding mortals, shackles forged to cage them!'}

A seductive whisper echoed endlessly in his heart, haunting his mind.

She was constantly feeding him her philosophy, shaping his thoughts.

But Nie Nasha was overthinking.

Herbert didn't need her to teach him—he'd never cared for following commandments in the first place.

'Stop, I said stop—let's get back to the point.'

Nie Nasha knew when to pull back; her seductive tone vanished instantly, replaced by casual laziness: {'Second, I did grant you a power—but not one for combat.'}

{'It's... unparalleled charisma!'}

【"But rather… an unparalleled charm!"】

【"Rejoice! After gaining this charm, you will become extremely alluring in the eyes of magical creatures — they will chase you endlessly! Desiring to claim you as their own!"】

Nie Nasha grew more and more excited as she spoke, her voice seeming to tremble a little, declaring with passionate fervor:

【"And you can take this chance to make contact with them, seize their power, turn them into your slaves, and have servants of your very own!"】

【And right now, in this monastery, there happen to be some powerful magical creatures trapped in the same place. All you need to do is find a chance to slip in, and by the time you come out, you'll already be able to become……】

"Um, hold on a second."

【"Hmm?"】

Nie Nasha let out a suspicious "hmm?" and said strangely: 【"You don't like this kind? Don't try to fool me! There's not a single trace of resistance in your soul — you've never refused at all!"】

"That's not what I meant!"

Herbert scratched his head, spreading his hands helplessly: "I know exactly which magical creatures you're talking about, and I can go in at any time."

"But have you ever considered one little problem — I'm fucking not a match for them!"

Hello, I'm Herbert, a rookie holy knight.

Those monster girls aren't just legendary or epic — they've already gone beyond being big trucks.

Those are overloaded heavy trucks!

And I, as a person, hate heavy trucks the most!

Forget pushing a heavy truck — I don't even have the strength to resist.

If I really charge in blindly, it'll be like throwing a meat bun at a dog — the only ending will be getting beaten to my knees by the monster girls together and becoming a public outlet for their Star Anger.

【"My ally."】

"Hmm?"

【"Hang in there, I believe in you! You can definitely do it!"】

【"You'll definitely win!"】

"But I don't believe in me!"

You believe in a ghost.

【"Well, the problem you mentioned isn't completely unsolvable."】

Fortunately, after finishing her joke, Nie Nasha still provided a solution:

【"I need materials from magical creatures — any part will do, the higher the quality the better……With those magical materials, I'll be able to give you a little bit of help."】

"That shouldn't be hard. I'll go look around the prison tomorrow and see if I can pick some up."

After receiving Xie Shen-chan's promise, the relieved Herbert was just about to open his mouth to thank her when he suddenly recalled Nie Nasha's passionate speech from earlier.

"……Ah, I say, you went on and on with all that twisted logic just now — so after all that fuss, it was for this!"

【"Ehe~"】

"In other words……once I become your collaborator, I'm bound to set foot on a wicked path of consorting with magical creatures and betraying my sacred oath?"

Blasphemy, oath-breaking, corruption……the three great sins of the Kuxiu Sect — in the future, I'll have committed every single one of them.

What a fine "Holy Trinity"!

When the time comes, it'll be first the whip, then having all my teeth pulled out, my tongue cut off, then my head chopped off, and finally tied to a pyre for execution by fire!

By that count, that Cheng-ge guy is practically a light injury compared to me.

【"You finally understand~"】

Nie Nasha chuckled softly, her voice sounding cheerful and innocent: 【"I originally wanted to warn you, but you were the one insisting on becoming my contractor……so this isn't my fault."】

Heh, I believe you like a ghost.

【"At this point, you no longer have any chance to back out."】

【"I won't allow you to disappoint Nie Nasha."】

"I don't want to fail either."

Herbert pursed his lips weakly and complained: "After all, the one who'll be tortured is me!"

A matter of life and death — the pressure is immense.

Now I really have to think carefully about how to tackle those dangerous monster girls……

Meanwhile, at this very moment, deep in Herbert's heart, another strange feeling kept swelling.

It seemed……

Everything was starting to get interesting!

(End of this chapter)