Chapter 8: The journey is still far away.

"One person? That's a joke right?" Nero chuckled nervously and in disbelief.

"Have I ever predicted a single vortex wrongly?" Sierra asked and the air in the room became so thin that everyone troubled to breathe. "Don't ever make such a ridiculous question in my presence, especially when we are in a meeting like this. Do you understand, Nero Lewis of the Gentlestar Guild?" Sierra smiled with her eyes closed and the air became thinner and thinner so that everyone started to feel dizzy.

Nero nodded his head repeatedly out of fear as if he had a trauma when he felt the pressure. The atmosphere and the air suddenly turned back to normal. Everyone could breathe and relax the tension on their shoulders.

"As the information is given on the screen. This isn't a raid, this is more of a trial," Sierra turned around and looked at the photo. "You can only send one Candidate into the vortex, someone that powerful enough to stop an endless war," Sierra crossed her arms and leaned against the table.

"There are only 14 S-Rank Candidates in Dasmein, and the only one who excelled in offensive, defensive, high survivability, and decision making is Elenoir, but that doesn't mean she can handle this thing on her own," Ando looked at Elenoir, and then looked at Sierra.

"I think all of you misunderstood something," Sierra shook her head and sighed. "Elenoir, if you can put me in a Rank as a Ranker, what rank that befits my skill and my strength?" Sierra looked at Elenoir over her left shoulder.

Elenoir put the back of her hand under her chin as she thought really hard.

"An SS... SSS... SSS+... SSS++? I apologize. I can't decide because you have never fought me seriously," Elenoir looked so troubled while the others found it funny when she said those ranks that she mentioned.

Sierra snickered and couldn't hold her laughter.

"In my world, there's no such thing as a Rank that uses letters like F, E, D, C, B, A, S. We used the total of Atonement that the Candidate had done. First Atonement, Second, Atonement, Third Atonement, etcetera until it reached Tenth Atonement," Sierra explained as she used her ten fingers to count.

"Hold on a second. Does that mean we can still grow since we are all still on the Seventh Atonement?" Katya raised her hand and looked at Sierra with curiosity.

"That's right," Sierra nodded as she glanced at Katya.

"Then does that mean we can reach the Tenth Atonement and we don't have to worry about the threat anymore once we reached it?" Gratya pointed out with her left eyebrow raised.

Sierra didn't respond to Gratya's question as she rubbed her nose bridge. She then sighed as she walked to the middle with a serious expression. "I'll tell you a secret that nobody in Dasmein knows, and it's up to you whether to spread it or not," Sierra looked everyone in the eye. "Of course, the Tenth Atonement is the highest, but only when you're a Candidate," Sierra pointed out and rested her hands on the table.

Everyone furrowed their eyebrows and looked at Sierra with confused looks.

"Once you reached the Tenth Atonement, you're no longer a Candidate. You'll become an Apostle, and that's still not the end," Sierra continued.

Everyone was shocked and speechless when they heard their path was still so far away. They then realized if they were so weak against Sierra, they started to question how strong Sierra was.

"To become an Apostle you will have to do the First Ring of Redemption," Sierra lifted her left leg and put it on the table. "How many innocent animals have you stepped on, where did you step your left foot on, where your left foot brought you? To kill someone? To threaten someone? To kick someone? All your sins that your left foot did," Sierra explained as she slowly put her left foot down.

"The Second Ring of Redemption. It's the same," Sierra put his right foot on the table. "The Third Ring of Redemption is your left wrist," Sierra grabbed her left wrist and showed it to them. "How many lives you killed with your left hand, how many living beings that you had punched with it, how many people you hurt with it," Sierra looked at everyone's terrified faces.

"The Forth Ring of Redemption is your right wrist, and it's the same as the previous one. Lastly, the Fifth Ring of Redemption," Sierra lifted her chin and put her left hand on her neck. "What did you eat, what harmful words you said, what did you spit on, what did you smell, what you saw, what you thought, what did you hear? All the sins you have done with your head will be judged. Your Karma won't help you during the Redemption," Sierra explained.

Everyone went quiet and their faces were pale because they didn't know what they had done with their limbs, their thoughts, or their words. They were too scared to do such an act of Redemption because they might fail.

"What happened after you reached the Fifth Ring of Redemption?" Alseace asked without showing any fear.

Sierra smiled and chuckled softly. "Then you will become a Saint or a Saintess. That's one last step before you reached the highest point as a Candidate. Once you have met the requirement and God acknowledges you, you will become a Messiah," Sierra continued, but suddenly her nose started to bleed and collapsed.

Elenoir was the first one to react and she slowly and gently put Sierra in her arms. The others were cleaning the nosebleed that she had while Alseace just stood there and wasn't bothered by it.

"(I wonder what's your plan for me, Miss Sierra)" Alseace squinted his eyes and didn't show any expression. "(But what's the point if I can't level up)" Alseace glanced at Elenoir who carried Sierra in her arms and left the room.

After two hours, Sierra finally woke up, but she couldn't move her body which was weird because she was healthy and fine before. It wasn't the first time they saw her nose bleed like that, it happened back then as well. They wanted to ask if something had happened to her, but they were sent outside since she wanted to rest for a bit more.

"You stay here, Alseace. Come here," Sierra glanced at Alseace before he left the room.

Alseace sat down next to Sierra, and then suddenly Sierra lifted her right hand and wiggled her index finger to tell him to come closer. Alseace leaned his head toward Sierra's mouth and focused on what she was going to say.

"There's a reason why I'm not choosing that path. Once you're done with all the Redemption, you're no longer a human being," Sierra quietly said. "A human supposed to feel emotion, but they took it from them forcefully and brainwashed them. They looked like the purest human beings, but they're worse than a demon, a puppet," Sierra continued.

Alseace looked shocked and didn't know how to react other than leaning his head back to look at Sierra's expression.

"I have been looking for you this whole time," Sierra looked at the ceiling.

"Looking for me?" Alseace furrowed his eyebrows.

"A Candidate with Leftover skill," Sierra glanced at Alseace. "You're the only one who can become strong without having to follow the rule of the book," Sierra explained.

"I don't understand what you mean," Alseace looked so confused.

"You'll understand once you experience it yourself," Sierra smiled with her eyes closed.

Alseace wanted to ask more, but Sierra looked so weak that he didn't want to bother her with questions that seemed too personal to her. But after not saying a single word, the atmosphere became so awkward.

"What happened to you earlier? Why suddenly you collapsed like that?" Alseace asked with curiosity.

"Ah, that... I was mocking God with my thought because we were talking about it. That's the punishment since I'm one step away from becoming a Saintess. We are on the same boat here, we both hate them," Sierra genuinely chuckled and smiled. It was something that Alseace had never seen or heard before.

"(One step away from becoming a Saintess? Does that mean she's already on the Fifth Ring of Redemption?)" Alseace looked at Sierra with curiosity.

"To think they would open an opportunity for me so I could reach the level of a Saintess is sickening. That vortex seems to be made just for me, but I'm not going to take it," Sierra sighed and messed up her hair.

Alseace thought about it and realized that she might be right since there was nobody else that could handle that kind of difficulty. He started to think how terrifying it was to become an Apostle because their fate had been determined for such greatness, but in exchange for becoming God's puppet. But he wondered, what was wrong with becoming God's puppet as long as they could defeat demons and monsters.

"The rules that you mentioned last night, I remembered it now. It's for your own survival to achieve your goal," Sierra said without opening her eyes. "You don't need anyone's help, only rely on yourself, and never put trust in anyone other than yourself. I'm not trying to control the path you're going to take, but for now, just follow my words. I'll let you choose your own path after I believe you're good to go out there on your own," Sierra continued as she slowly opened her eyes to look at Alseace.

Alseace hummed with understanding.

"You can leave now, and bring Elenoir and the others back in. I have something to say to them," Sierra waved her hand as if she wanted him to leave.

Alseace left and told the others who were waiting outside to come into the room. It didn't take a while until all of them left the room again, and this time they were all surrounding Alseace. He looked confused and uncomfortable because they were judgingly staring at him.

"Alseace, Sierra wants you to enter the vortex," Gratya said with a serious expression. "She didn't tell us why, but she wants you to enter, and you have no reason to refuse because of the house rule she made for you. She wants you to go back home and prepare everything to go into the vortex," Gratya explained and crossed her arms.

"Do as I say..." Alseace mumbled to himself and remembered that word from Sierra. "If that's what she wants me to do, then I'll do it," Alseace nodded his head with understanding and left.

"That kid, is he really going to be okay?" Ando asked.

"If she said so, who can stop her?" Elenoir asked back.

"Right..." Ando scratched the back of his head.