There must be other schemes at play!
"You don’t need to think too much, the path of evolution narrows as it goes upward. Those who act first suppress those who act later. We were once suppressed by the Heavenly Father, and now Nature has taken the lead. It’s only natural that I help you."
The Dark Goddess spoke, "You gained time to ease the conflicts, and I acquired the information I desired. Our interests are mutual."
"Fair point," Wayne nodded.
"Anastasia will always serve as the Holy Maiden of the Dark Church, even if her faith does not belong to me. I trust her pure qualities. Treat her well and do not betray the faith she has offered."
The corner of the Dark Goddess’s mouth curved, speaking through Anastasia’s visage, "She’s one of your followers; I can’t constrain her. I wished to descend through her, waiting for a chance to meet you, but I did not anticipate that we would meet so soon."
"Is it really okay that the Holy Maiden of the Dark Church does not believe in Darkness?"
Right, you are the Goddess, and you have the ultimate right to interpret; belief or disbelief is up to you.
Wayne nodded, tentatively accepting the response.
"I will continue to descend through Anastasia. If you are uneasy, you can let her keep custody of the idols, she will act as the intermediary in charge of communication."
The Dark Goddess continued, "There’s no need for caution. You are still too naive at this time. I merely wish to observe, not disrupt your evolution. That is all."
Wayne nodded repeatedly, extolling the mercy of Darkness.
Even so, he felt that the Dark Goddess might have other intentions. Their meeting today went unexpectedly smoothly; he did not probe further and chose to part on good terms.
After the Dark Goddess had left, Anastasia, drenched in cold sweat, knelt on the floor, her robe clinging to her body due to the sweat, covered in mathematical formulas—trigonometric functions, the Pythagorean theorem, parabolas, and hyperbolas.
Wayne courteously reached out, out of respect, avoiding her embarrassment. Although the Dark Saintess was desirable, at this moment, he was wholly enveloped by the Dark Goddess.
Intuition told him that the Dark Goddess’s desires were not limited to the Life Alliance’s evolution. The real answer lay within the part of Anastasia’s erased memories.
"It can’t possibly be after my body, that’s absurd..."
As Wayne pondered, he felt something amiss, looking speechless as the self-aware tentacles had already enveloped the visibly desperate Anastasia, who had her eyes tightly shut, readying herself to sacrifice for her faith.
Wayne, speechless, withdrew his tentacles. It wasn’t his fault; anyone with tentacles would know—they always have their own ideas, especially fond of Magic.
Especially the Magician Girl.
Although Anastasia had aged a bit, she had never undergone a major overhaul since the factory release and indeed was a Magician Girl.
"Her Holiness, did you hear all my conversation with the Goddess?"
Anastasia nodded, her tentacles reluctantly leaving, noticing Wayne’s speechless gaze, filled with self-blame and embarrassment, her heart sorrowful.
Wayne found this piercing, promptly pushing the patient into the operating room for emergency care and managed to stabilize her after five minutes.
Not ideal, she’ll break down eventually! x2
"The idol will be in your custody. I’ll come by once every fortnight; you don’t need to contact me unless it’s important," Wayne commanded.
Anastasia weakly nodded, feeling relieved but can’t help feeling somewhat disappointed, spoke out, "What if Lord Dreyne asks me to play cards?"
You could refuse her.
Wayne opened his mouth to speak but then said, "You decide; you have your own thoughts."
After speaking, he left the basement under Anastasia’s earnest gaze.
Three seconds later, Wayne returned the same way, placing the two idols back, and said, unable to bear it anymore, "This place is too rundown. I’ll arrange a new home for you downtown. You are a saint of the Church; you deserve a quality of life that matches your status. Be kinder to yourself; stop always thinking about punishing yourself. You’ve never done anything wrong."
With that, he strode away.
Anastasia held her heart in reverence as her faith departed, then rose to bathe and change, washing away the remnants of Darkness, worshiping the idol of the Pale Knight with a pure heart and body.
The idol of the Dark Goddess was left isolated aside, spared from a sad fate of being swept into the storage room by the owner’s command.