’Better to stick around and see what happens. If I suddenly got up and left now, I would draw more attention to myself.’
The chanting continued for a while before the old man slowly lowered his hand. The entire hall went silent.
"Faith should not require proof. But God knows that we are weak, and in His mercy, He sometimes allows us to see what should only need to be believed."
He gestured toward the side of the stage, where two members helped a woman who looked to be in her early forties walk forward.
Even from where I was sitting, I could see how badly deformed her back looked.
Her spine curved outward into a huge uneven hump, stretching her clothes tightly across several protruding sections that looked like bone.
Every step looked awkward and painful, and one of the members had to hold her arm to keep her from losing her balance.
’It must be fake.’
There was probably some kind of prosthetic underneath her clothes, with fake skin covering it to make the whole thing look real.
Samuel approached her.
"My child. How long have you suffered?"
"Since I was young," she answered. "It kept getting worse. The doctors said there was nothing more they could do."
He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Nothing is impossible if you have faith."
The woman nodded, and he gently turned her around until her back faced the audience.
"Show them."
She hesitated after seeing the dozens of people watching her.
He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Don’t be embarrassed, my child. Everyone here is family."
She still looked uncomfortable, but she was desperate enough that even if he asked her to strip naked, she would probably do it.
Not that anyone would want to see that.
One of the female members stepped forward and carefully lifted the back of the woman’s clothing, exposing the deformity underneath.
’They’re actually showing it?’
The hump looked even worse without her clothes covering it.
If it was fake, it was a damn good one.
Still, I wasn’t sold. Give a special effects makeup artist a few hours and enough money, and they could make it.
Samuel ran his hand across the curve of her back, pressing his fingers against the protruding sections.
"Have faith, my child."
"I do."
Nothing happened for a few seconds until the temperature suddenly dropped.
The same cold from earlier swept through the hall, crawling across my skin as it intensified with every passing second.
She shivered as the skin beneath his palm slowly turned pale.
At first, I thought it was another part of the trick, but the color continued spreading until almost her entire back became unnaturally white.
"My back..."
"Do not be afraid."
CRACK!
The woman cried out.
Another followed.
CRACK!
CRACK!
Her spine shifted beneath her skin as the massive hump began to shrink, forcing her body upright.
Within seconds, the woman who could barely stand without assistance was standing almost completely straight.
Samuel removed his hand.
The woman cautiously straightened the rest of the way before reaching behind herself.
"It’s gone..."
She touched her back again before breaking into tears.
"It’s really gone! I’m cured!"
The hall erupted.
People jumped from their seats, clapping and shouting while some dropped to their knees.
"HIS WILL GUIDES US!"
"HIS WILL GUIDES US!"
"HIS WILL GUIDES US!"
I clapped along with everyone else, and this time I didn’t have to pretend to be impressed.
Unfortunately, that meant I was screwed.
Forget about impressing them with my skills. If I summoned that creepy black book here, they’d call me the Devil.
I would get purged by the old man and the Demon Contractor just to make them look even more legitimate.
My attention landed on the Demon Contractor.
He did nothing the entire time. He didn’t speak, move closer, or even raise a finger, but I was certain he was responsible somehow.
The problem was figuring out how.
My Eye couldn’t analyze him because of his protection, and trying again wasn’t going to change that.
’Wait.’
Maybe I didn’t need to analyze him directly.
The first ability of my Eye allowed me to see what others couldn’t. If the Contractor was doing something during these miracles, then maybe I could catch it while it was happening.
Samuel raised his hand again, calming the crowd.
"God’s mercy does not end with one soul, but today, I can only extend His blessing to two."
He gestured toward the side of the stage, and another member helped a middle-aged man walk toward him.
Unlike the woman, he had no obvious deformity, though his pale face and thin body made it clear he wasn’t healthy.
I focused on Samuel and activated my Eye, but nothing looked unusual at first.
Something beside the stage caught my attention, though.
’What the hell is that thing?’
It was so translucent that I almost mistook it for some kind of distortion in my vision.
Once I could make out its shape, it looked almost like an oversized dead infant.
Its head was too big for its scrawny body, and its arms dangled almost to its knees. Tiny holes covered its pale skin from head to toe, making my stomach turn.
Disgusting. But that wasn’t the scariest part.
A long, fleshy cord extended from its abdomen, with one end still attached to the woman who was previously healed.
Before I could figure out what I was looking at, another cord slowly emerged from its abdomen and reached toward the man who just walked onto the stage.
The cord attached itself to his back, and the temperature dropped again.
Samuel placed his hand on the man’s shoulder and started praying.
I kept my expression composed, pretending I couldn’t see any of it.
My gaze landed on the Demon Contractor, only to find him already staring at me.
He smiled.