He Who Hunts Demons Chapter 25: 25-Beyonder Demons

Read chapter 25 of He Who Hunts Demons by A_Random_Turtle on NovelPedia.

I was unlike the rest of my soon-to-be teammates; I had not gone through the church’s school, blessed with the divine grace of knowledge that was passed across in their classrooms and within their walls. So it was only right for me to frown and be plagued by countless questions when I heard things I couldn’t understand. Luckily for me, I had never been one to shy away from asking. “So every single Transcendent in the Iron Eagles and Golden Eye are in the Pathway of Time?” I asked. Martha nodded. “That is correct.” “Why does the pathway of a Transcendent determine the city they live in?” I asked. “Yes, I do understand why each church is bound to a concept of the world; what I don’t get is why that directly affects their livelihood? Just because someone is from a different pathway, they have to pack up everything they own and move to a completely different city, terrain, and way of life? Seems absurd. Why should anyone honor it?” “Because the Golden Eye exists,” Martha answered with a smile that should have been classified as warm, but her words made it appear cold. I could see that she was partially threatening me not to prove stubborn in the event that I turned out to be from a different pathway from the Pathway of Time. I kept silent. “On a more serious note,” she continued, like she had just been joking, “the reason for that is to foster growth. Once one becomes a Transcendent, their life from then on will be bound to the supernatural. Of course, no one is asking you to discard the material things that put food on your table, but you have become more than who you used to be previously. Your head will be filled with thoughts of advancing to the point that you become obsessed with it. At least this was how it used to be a couple hundred years ago. Regardless, it’s easier for like minds to come together and prosper, than otherwise. And this also makes it easier for the church to help their Transcendents with advancing. The Church of Ur focuses on Transcendents in the Pathway of Time, just like the Church of Uduak focuses on Transcendents in the Pathway of Desire.” Her explanation made things clear to me even though I still didn’t quite see why such a rule couldn’t be changed. A couple hundred years ago, Fitzroy wasn’t as developed as it was now. A lot of businesses had grown and the industrial revolution was fast approaching. If one of the owners of such large scale businesses became a Transcendent, what then? Do they shift the company from the city they had grown it in? And it didn’t take a genius to understand that leaving something so large yet fragile into the hands of another could bring about great calamities. There were not many trustworthy people. However, the fact that this was a rule that had existed for a while now, made me take a step back on the topic. After all, if nothing had collapsed yet, then obviously the church had steps in place taken to combat any disturbances. Personally, I had no actual pathway I wished to be a Transcendent of. I had no ties to Ur, and I most certainly wouldn’t hesitate leaving. So Martha’s subtle threat earlier was unwarranted. She needn’t worry. I had my eyes set on something and someone else. On that note… “What can you tell me about summons?” I asked. Martha, who had already turned to the blackboard, glanced at me with a frown. Yes, I did realize that my question was abrupt. And even if it didn’t seem like it, I had been conflicted about shifting the topic from the lectures on what made up my runic projections to the hate I bore deep in my body. But one of the reasons I’d made my joining the Iron Eagles not feel as distasteful as it should have been was because I wanted to make use of their resources to exert my revenge. I had held myself back from asking so far because I wanted the question to be brought about a little bit naturally, if not totally. My current conversation with Martha was the best cover. “Summons?” she asked. I nodded. “Yes. Summons.” She turned towards me, took a m