Antagonist Protection Service

To no surprise, "John's" bloodshot eyes glared with superlative fury at the ridiculing Detective, whose citrine eyes gleamed like a snake with that silent, demonic fire within them that only I seemed able to perceive.

Alas, unable to close the distance between them due to the bolstered force of everyone working together to hold him back, he could make no advance. Knocked and forced to his knees, the most he could do was jerk his arm free from the vice-like hold of the others, to no meaningful effect.

Seeing this, I wondered if the Detective felt even the slightest hint of pity, or if the impetus for her next decision was more along the lines of an emotion like boredom.

Erasing any trace of a smile from her face, she opened her mouth.

"『Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain』. Although a pretty, innocent and undeniably cute girl like me could never do something so heinous as sin like you irredeemable lot, doubtlessly, such an edict is the reason I was brought here. Well, 「Judas」? Do you wish to confirm or deny the claim? Faceless coward."

Following a brief pause in which no one spoke up, she sighed.

"Ahhh, only natural. You will hold your tongue right until the very end, won't you? Like a cockroach. How repulsive, how fitting. Well, no matter. As I presently demonstrate before you by bearing my fair skin here, by breathing this stale and crusty air through which you preach for your Lord, and by taking in this scent of fresh pig's blood with an untouched neck, arms, legs, body, do you not see the veracity of my words, plainly and patently and clearly and evidently?"

Her lips curled into a slight smile, but compared to any expression she previously showed, it seemed just like the face a 'real' girl would show.

An ordinary, innocent, happy smile.

Perhaps precisely because of that, it was ever more unsettling.

"You see it, don't you. God does not exist, and therefore, I have committed no sin, and therefore, I have no repentance to face. That is why I stand here before you."

Suddenly, she stuck out her tongue in a playful manner and looked at each person individually.

"「Judas」? You are hearing me, aren't you? You are watching me, aren't you? Pervert~"

Rolling her eyes over each and every one of us, it was obvious she didn't know who 「Judas」 was. Or at least, if she did, she wasn't giving it away.

Neither did I, so I was glad about that. But, it was also because of that that she had her sights set on everyone here. No one was safe under her red laser, or should I say, the yellow eyes of hell.

The Detective widened her smile, still posing as an innocuous girl.

"「Judas」? Try me, will you? Kill me, won't you? Make me confess, make me repent, make me plead to your god 'oh please lord don't make me suffer don't make me repent don't make me scream'...!"

Still, her expression was not one that could be called inhuman by any means.

Not like before.

"「Judas」...? Heed me."

And with it, the fangs, the fire, the terror―had also vanished.

"You are not God here. I will not die."

The witch had evaded the judgement of God.

And now, with the imperishable Detective here to find the true culprit, I felt a subtle, almost imperceptible shift in the atmosphere of the church.

The Third Day had arrived, and with it, something immutable was realised.

In the back of my mind, I could sense it.

This Decalogue Trial――had only truly just begun.

❖─────★★☆☆☆─────❖

Later, everyone returned to the same groups as the day prior.

Of course, with the clergyman now gone, the Detective was the only one spending time by herself.

Meanwhile, the gathering I was a part of included "Thaddeus", the teal-haired girl; "Thomas", the highschooler girl; and of course, "Matthew", the highschooler boy.

From the very beginning, we were all probably the closest in age out of everyone, so it was a natural gravitation. The Detective was also likely around the same age, but well, it didn't need to be elaborated why she wasn't huddled here alongside us.

Since the rather eventful morning had been left behind, nothing much occurred, and the church was quiet all-round, with most of us having caught up on the lost sleep thanks to the midnight to early morning incident.

Only, I again found myself debating internally if I should kill the Protagonist straight-up.

It wouldn't be hard at all.

Of course it wouldn't. Everyone here was only a normal human, after all, and although she certainly cackled like a witch and bore the face of a true demon, the Detective should be no different.

I believe the Tags would have indicated that to be the case were it otherwise.

In any case, it would absolutely be that easy to take out the Black Wisp and shoot her at any time... and yet, I couldn't, for the same reason as before.

Simply, the Sixth Commandment forbade murder.

Although the Detective broke the Third Commandment on the Second Day and survived the night, I could not guarantee the same would be true for me, even with the Authority of the Library.

It had already been made plenty clear to me that the presence of divine beings interferes with my connection to the Librarian, so taking any god-related risk like that was a strict no-go.

Of course, I could kill the Protagonist and then immediately leave before anything had a chance to kill me in turn, seeing as the deaths seem to only take place at midnight, but I also could not guarantee that I would be safe even on Earth. I didn't even know how these deaths were happening in the first place, so making a plan to avoid it was even more impossible.

Hell, it really could be God Himself dishing out punishment.

I don't know. It wouldn't be my first time interacting with something like that, right, so isn't it possible? Although I suppose it would only be the God of this specific Illusory World.

Anyway, that's why I didn't want to take the risk of slaying her outright.

Either I need to have someone else kill her, or I need to find a way that will allow her to die by the rules of this Trial.

That's all I can think of right now, but as for the latter, I don't even know if it's possible if she can avoid death by sin. With the exception of "John", I don't know if the former is, either... and even then, I don't think he's the type of person to murder someone just because they're creepy and insane.

No one here is a killer. At least, not that I can imagine.

Everyone appeared as innocent as could be through our amicable interactions, at least within the group that I had assimilated with. So then, did that mean the culprit behind all these deaths really was some kind of divine power?

Not necessarily.

The door to the North Transept was locked. Both nights. Last night, I even made sure it was definitely locked tight and secure before going to use the toilet. I hadn't even been gone for five minutes and yet the clergyman "Simon" was dead by the time I returned.

Rendered to such an unbelievable, sickening state, too.

Was it even possible to break in and get all of that done in that short time? Without waking anyone up? Without making even an utterance or a pin drop of sound?

Before I woke everyone up upon finding the body, I checked the lock on the door, and it was exactly as I left it. Locked from the inside. I had also made sure to thoroughly check both adjacent facilities to the bedroom―nothing.

In other words, it was a completely closed room.

Despite the otherwise plain impossibility of such an event, I didn't think it was any of the other three who slept inside the room. Not because I believed or trusted in them, but because there was simply no way that any of them could have accomplished such a thing.

We had already fully searched the entirety of the church and found no tools or weapons capable of performing such acts like mutilation or crushing, and there certainly wasn't anything like a hidden tunnel or secret room anywhere... well, not that we could tell. Naturally, I also didn't think there were anything like traps in the bedrooms.

It couldn't have been anyone in the girls' room, and it couldn't have been anyone in the boys' room. One of them was sure to be 「Judas」, but I disagreed with the opinion that they were also the murderer.

So then, was it God after all?

The Detective refused to believe so, but I couldn't imagine any other possibility.

'Troubling...'

At that moment, a particular sound broke through the deafening silence of the church.

It was the familiar, albeit tiresome, wail of a child.

'...Oh, no.'

Turning my head towards the origin of that voice, I also spotted the frowning Detective.