8th June, 2021

"Thank you, honestly. I've always wanted to see how professional boxers dodge a bullet at point-blank range." Damian said.

It immediately dawned on Sarah that Damian wasn't there for jokes and he would most likely shoot her. She was frozen on the spot.

Everyone watched as the issue progressed. They didn't dare interfere and were eager to know if he'll pull the trigger.

Mark didn't even have the strength to interfere and David Dolan was too far away to be able to stop him before he fired the shot.

Damian lowered his hand and said, "I hope that taught you a lesson. You still live in an illusion. That's why you don't realize that humanity could go extinct. I don't condone such an attitude…

"You want to join my team, you must accept the fact that no one has time to debate equality. The only goal is to survive. And to do that we need to maximize efficiency…

"You are not in a safe America anymore. Once the 2nd phase starts even I could be your enemy. If you're here to act out your opinions I'll kick you out and we'll see how far boxing and despising men will take you. You here causing a ruckus over such a meaningless issue is taking the lives that are dying outside there lightly."

Sarah retorted, "Then! Then I will leave---"

He placed his hands on her shoulder and used [Demotion].

Sarah with a confused look, said, "I'm-I'm sorry for causing trouble. I-I don't know what happened. I didn't mean to take the situation everyone else is facing lightly. I'm sorry."

She sheepishly went over to where Mark was to get herself a gun.

Damian glanced at David Dolan and smirked. 

David Dolan replied with a shocked face.

Damian went back to watching Mark give gun tutorials and muttered, "Dammit. I can't keep wasting rings like this."

After what Arthur had told him it wouldn't be wise if he didn't take note of extreme acts around him, acts that were out of the norm.

At first, he thought that was how Sarah was but it became evident that there was something wrong with her when she was willing to die to prove her point. It was stupidity at its finest.

...Talking some sense into them doesn't undo whatever he does to them, and I can undo whatever he does with [Demotion]. I've gotten a hang of this special power of mine, it can only work on non-physical things on a binary scale at the cost of rings. From pain, down to no pain, but the damage is still being dealt…

...With this knowledge it means he is probably increasing the effectiveness of a particular thought or emotion on how people perceive things, which makes them have imbalanced priorities and act in a certain way, which is why I can undo it...

...Hmm, although it's just a guess– wait, if [Demotion] reduces the effectiveness of a particular non-physical thing on a binary scale then what would be its opposite?

...But that doesn't explain much. What happened to Sarah, Harry and Arthur's mom aren't similar. These special powers are something else... Anyway, I can learn from this. I should try reducing someone's will to live someday...

* * *

In Saint Rose of Lima Church, the leaders were having a meeting.

There were 5 people in the room and they sat around a rectangular table.

The fifth person was sitting at the head of the table. Her light brown skin was without blemish, her long golden curly hair was bright as the sun. Her iris was like fine gold, and her pupil was a white four-pointed star. 

Her countenance felt purer than snow and more majestic than a crown of precious stones.

It was Rebecca.

"Isn't it easier for us to use the houses around us?" Mother Grace asked.

She wore a habit. Her brown eyes and pale, wrinkled face wore a calm and joyous expression.

"Bishop Clement, I know you're against that suggestion, but I'm afraid it is our only option. We cannot afford to waste any more time and we are constantly losing supplies as we speak. If we still want to bring in more followers then we will have to get more room." Father Martin, who was sitting next to Father Vincent added.

He was white-skinned, bald, blue-eyed, and had a white moustache. His face was wrinkled and he looked to be in his 60s. He wore the same priest outfit as Father Vincent.

Bishop Clement restated his argument, "Supplies aren't an issue. We can set tents in the courtyard if we're talking about rooms. The problem here is how easy will protecting them be when they're a block or two away from us?"

He was white-skinned and had full white hair with a large stomach.

Father Vincent sat calmly with a stagnant warm smile across his face.

Rebecca raised her hand slightly and said, "Use the buildings around us."

All the elders stood up in a split-second then bowed and chorused, "The messenger of the Lord has spoken. It is our duty to obey."

…

Outside the cathedral, there was a long line of people standing in front of each of five booths.

The nuns worked tirelessly, while the priests regulated order. Some nuns cooked, some served and some washed the already used cooking utensils.

Karin joined in the serving of the food. 

"Here's your food." She said as she dished a man his food.

"Thank you. God bless you."

She smiled and dished the food for the next person.

All the while, she was lost in thought.

…What is going on? Why is Rebecca not acting like herself? A gift? That's bullshit. Should I try to find Mark? But what if that thing Deloris told me happens? What then? 

…Or maybe is it a way to just keep me from contacting Mark? Although they did get it right when they said he won't be how he used to be. Damn. What should I do? How did he even find me? Did he put a tracker in my phone?

Sister Deloris was beside Karin. She noticed how detached Karin was acting and asked, "Hey, are you okay?"

Karin snapped out of her daze and smiled, "Yeah, yeah. I'm okay."

The next person that brought their plate up to Karin spoke enthusiastically, "Hi! My name is Emma."

"Karin."

"Nice to meet you, Karin. Look, I know I might come out as weird but I'm a BIG fan of Apple. I noticed your phone had the logo at the back…" Emma pointed at Karin's phone on the table facing down. The new OS rendered it useless to her.

Emma continued, "But I know for a fact they haven't made a type like that. I just wanted to ask to make sure I didn't miss any limited edition sales. Hehehe."

Karin was perplexed. Who was this girl coming to her and ranting about nonsense?

"I don't know what you mean. This was the latest brand so I bought it. Here you go." She handed Emma her food.

"Oh, so you got the iPhone 7 early? OMG! I only watched leaks on YouTube. Please can I touch it?" Emma asked. She was a blonde 18-year-old with brown eyes and was about 5'4.

"Hey, move it! There's a line here!" The people at the back of the line started getting antsy.

The man behind Patricia spoke, "Haha it's most likely an iPhone 8. I heard those will come with more cameras. Also, I bought my mom the iPhone 7 plus."

"What? No way…"

Karin was confused. What the hell was wrong with these people?

"Please, others are waiting in line to get served."

"Sorry…" Patricia sheepishly walked away.

…

After the sharing of food was complete, Karin went into the cathedral and sat on one of the pews on the right.

She was lost in thought. Everything just seemed a bit too surreal.

"Hey there." 

"Hi."

A black-skinned woman in her late 40s sat at the other end of the same pew Karin sat.

She bowed her head and murmured to herself then raised it after a short while.

After a few minutes passed, she asked,

"Have you ever doubted your eyes? Is it really easy to believe everything you see?"

Karin looked around to see who the lady was talking to but soon realized it was her.

The woman turned to Karin and said, "Sorry about that. I'm Jasmin."

"K… Karin."

"Are you a believer too?"

"N-No, not necessarily."

"Oh, ok."

A woman with a boy about 7 years old and a girl about 4 years old stood up from the pew with her kids and walked away.

The woman that sat next to Karin smiled and said, "I once had two kids like that, but they were both girls. They loved soccer. My husband… ha. He hated soccer but he loved to watch it with them and always slept off about 10 minutes after kick-off…

"No matter how much he hated soccer he was always there for each of their soccer practices, and although we just owned a small restaurant and had countless bills he always bought every member of the team lunch…

"It's funny y'know, this earth we live in. Don't you think everyone has their own definition of happiness? 

"Some believe not restraining themselves from every desire gives happiness, some believe you being you is the only way to get happiness, some believe happiness is only found in doing what you love…

"Some believe becoming rich and famous is the greatest form of happiness, some think being with the person you love is one of the best things in life, for some it's a combination of some of these things…

"Don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with all these things. But… don't you think it's a bit too shallow? Only a dead man will know the true meaning of happiness because only they can even fathom what a happy ending actually means…

"What I'm trying to say is… this life is already too sad for you to be sad. Just smile. Smile when you're in pain, smile when you cry, smile when you grieve. Problems could be an illusion, but only your smile will be real."

Karin was almost pushed to tears. This was what she needed.

"...Thank you."

Jasmin gently nodded her head.

"How long have they been gone?" Karin asked melancholically.

"7 years. They died in a car accident one day when they were coming back from a game. 12th April, 2009. I'll always remember that day."

Karin thought for a second then said, "But as of this year won't it be 11 to 12 years?"

"What do you mean? Haha, when 16 is subtracted from 9 isn't it 7?"

Karin was greatly perplexed. What… is she saying?

"It's all weird y'know? This all feels… surreal. I sleep for a few hours and wake up in New York. The streets are awfully too quiet too. I heard New York was always busy…"

…I don't understand. What is wrong with her? Is-Is she okay? She subtracted 16 from 9 when it should be 21… Karin couldn't bring herself to come to the ugly truth.

"Oh, I can't remember today's date. What is it?" Jasmin asked.

Karin stuttered with a face in complete shock, "...T-Today's date is… 8th June, 2021..."

Jasmin's expression gradually became horror-filled when she tried her best to not jump into conclusions but her brain had already parsed the information and had come to a realization. 

She had been 'asleep' for at least 5 years.