Baptism of Lies

In theocratic Verdania, where the Religious Affairs Bureau operates above the law, a young investigator infiltrates a charismatic prophet's growing congregation. The Path of Divine Purification promises salvation through water, but Lena Marchetti discovers its leader, Father Elias Voss, is orchestrating a mass "cleansing baptism" designed to deliver hundreds of followers into death. As her handlers at the Bureau grow strangely silent and her cover begins to crack, Lena realizes she is trapped in a web where the state itself may be complicit in the coming sacrifice. With the ceremonial waters rising and the Temple gates sealing shut, she must decide: expose the truth and die, or let the lies wash everyone away. Every whispered prayer is a deception. Every sacred ritual masks a crime. When lying becomes the only way to stay alive, the truth becomes a luxury that kills.