Rules of the Holy War (3)
Having fled the pursuit of the holy knights, Shirone and his party took shelter in a secluded wing of the Holy See.
It was a row of prayer rooms, all empty now, giving the place an unnerving chill.
"They probably won't be doing anything in the public halls. Let's head down to the underground," Shirone said.
"But they'll be guarding it, right? If they realize we never left the Holy See, they'll read our thoughts too."
"There's nothing to be done then. We'll just force our way through—"
A sound of weeping echoed down the corridor.
"Huuuu… huuuh…"
Shirone pressed his back to the wall and peeked around the corner. A woman clutching a spear was walking toward them, crying as if in agony.
"God Kriya, why is the world so impure? Grant me courage. Grant me the power to make all beings bow beneath Your feet!" she wailed.
"What's with her? Is she mad?" Neyde muttered.
"In a manner of speaking." Shirone guessed. "She's probably a holy knight from the Heresy Division. If I'm right… she's a Weeper."
"A Weeper?"
"It's one of their titles. The Weeper, the Laugher, the Supplicant, the Wrathful. And the head of the Heresy Division is called the Pardoner."
"How extreme. To lock a person into a single emotion."
Shirone nodded. "I heard the practice was officially abolished, but according to the Omega records, the Rami Church's holy knights were given special training from birth—extreme discipline of mind and body. The training the Heresy Division gets… it's so twisted I can't bear to say it."
"Guuuh. God, punish this sinner—" At the wail close by, Neyde snapped to attention.
"Subdue her for now. I don't want that sort of weird person dogging us while we run—gives me the creeps."
"Don't hit too hard. Like before—"
"All right. I'm just rusty at controlling myself." Neyde sparked electricity between his fingers and, like an ambush, rounded the corner and lunged at the woman.
"I'll knock you out in one hit."
"Sniff, snifff. God—" Neyde's jolt of spark magic hit the back of her neck and the woman shuddered.
Done, Neyde thought—but the woman's body twisted, and the spear's tip shot toward his throat at terrifying speed.
"Ugh!" The blade swept past Neyde's face as he leaned back, and the woman let out a scream that edged on a shriek. "God!"
Incredible speed. But— Neyde, in a state of Divine Lightning Rebirth, moved faster than even Shirone could follow.
The spear passed. Neyde, generating static as he shifted around it, filled his palm with electricity.
"Take this." With a sharp crack, the side of the woman's robe singed away, the spear clattered to the floor, and her limbs trembled.
Now. Shirone sprang off the floor and, as he had for Seina, pressed the light of Agape into her forehead.
"Aah, ahh—" For a moment the woman's tears seemed to stop…
"God, God." Blood ran from under her eyes. Her lips hardly moved, but her throat worked and a hoarse voice came out: "You fucking bastard."
The purification wasn't taking. The brainwashing was massive. "Dieee!" Just as she dug her nails in and lunged, Neyde slammed both hands into her back with an electrical burst.
With a pop, the woman flew over Shirone's head and crashed into the corridor wall.
"Hah. Hah." Neyde panted, and even Iruki found no snide remark this time. "A fanatic. That was close."
Iruki checked the fallen woman's pulse. "She's not dead. But—" where her clothing had burned away, her back was exposed.
Even from that partial view, the marks of torture were clear.
"Whipped? How could a human body look like this?" Iruki said.
"Self-inflicted." Shirone stepped closer. "The Heresy Division's job is to root out heresy and to torture it. But that's an evil methodology. So the Rami Church's Heresy Division… before torturing someone, they inflict equivalent pain on themselves."
The air went cold as Shirone continued. "Otherwise they can't wield divine power. But this is dangerous. The experience of enduring such horrific self-harm can be used—"
"—against others," Iruki finished. "Without an ounce of guilt, calmly."
"Yeah. This is trouble. If the brainwashing's strong enough that Agape can't purify it—" A laugh echoed from the opposite corridor. "Hehehe. Hihihihi." "God, I'm so happy." Seeing dozens of shadowy figures, the group fled, turning corners one after another.
"Creepy. What do we do? If purification won't work, we'll have to beat them up."
"Catching and fixing them one by one will never end. Find evidence. Find a way down to the underground—" Shirone stopped short. "Damn."
About ten holy knights were walking down the corridor toward them, hands clasped in prayer.
"God, grant blessings upon the world. We pray for everyone's happiness."
They were the Supplicants. Their prayers rose together, and from the other side came laughter.
"Do we have to fight?" The prayer room door opened and a familiar face appeared.
"This way." It was Seina.
Thinking the prayer room safer than the corridor, the party hurried inside. Seina activated a mechanism in the fireplace; the wall opened, revealing a secret passage.
"Follow me. Quickly. If they catch us, I'm finished too." As they slipped into the passage behind her, two hands grabbed Shirone by the collar.
"Yahweh! You bastard!" Neyde and Iruki rushed forward at the sudden commotion, but Shirone raised a hand to stop them.
"What did you do to me? What did you do to weaken my divine power?" he demanded, meeting Seina's sharp gaze calmly.
"Nothing. The brainwashing just wore off," he said.
"Brainwashing?" The hands on his collar loosened a little, then tightened as Seina lifted him off the floor.
"What nonsense is that? I wouldn't be brainwashed. I'm a paladin of the Oracle Administration Bureau," she spat.
"You don't even have to ask me—you already know," Shirone said. After a moment his feet touched the ground. "Hah. This is maddening."
"I want to know one thing. Do the holy knights' brutal trainings still happen?" Shirone asked.
"...Officially they've been abolished," Seina said with difficulty. "But after the Great War, there have been signs of its return. The number of holy knights is much lower than before the war."
"And the Heresy Division?"
"I don't know about them. Even among holy knights, the Heresy Division is restricted—only up to third rank in the Holy See hierarchy are allowed near them."
"Third rank, huh. First rank is the Pope; second is—"
"...Pardoner Vani Sa, head of the Heresy Division." The Pardoner. "If second rank is the root of the problem, then the third rank is all that's left."
"Right—High Priest Maximus. But he's unwell and convalescing. It seems he was injured when a woman named Lukia awakened a demonic power."
Iruki asked, "What sort of training do the holy knights undergo?"
"Everything that opposes evil. They push mind and body to the limits and then recite salvation—We are loyal to God; we refuse the words of those who deny God." Seina shivered. "It was a brutal process, but back then I didn't question it. I thought it was the proper way to fight evil. But now… I don't know." Was it truly her own will?
Seina glared at Shirone. "Even if you baptized me, my faith in God Kriya hasn't changed! So why did my divine power weaken?"
"You can get it back," Shirone said. "If the doubt in your heart clears. You need to go through the process of believing in God yourself. If there's doubt, check it now. Whatever you choose, be certain of it."
Seina bit her lip, thought a moment, and asked, "What should I do?"
"Lead us to the Holy See's basement. Something's happening down there. Coercion will never lead to true goodness."
"...That's the Heresy Division's domain. Since it's underground, hardly anyone ever runs into it inside the Holy See." She made up her mind and turned. "Follow me. I don't know how much I can help, but I'll try."
"Kingdom of Paras—enter!" While the nations attending the holy war rested at headquarters, the Kingdom of Paras arrived.
Fast. Even using a teleportation circle, without top-tier mobility they shouldn't have made it so quickly.
At the head of the procession rode a golden carriage; a man with a giant serpent coiled around his neck rested his chin on his hand.
'Kitra. Paras's new king.' Although Kashan currently rules the Middle East, everything Kashan grew from Paras.
'The origin of civilization.' The procession carried a pride that claimed the dawn of intellect.
"Looks formidable," Lupist muttered, but Shirone gave no answer.
"Why?" "No, nothing." Shirone was facing someone called the In at the Pyramid of Truth.
"Emotion Sickness," he murmured. "The Paras king might have been cured of Emotion Sickness."
The Paras procession reached the main hall. Kitra met Shirone's gaze through the window and asked, "Have you received the In baptism?"
As Shirone suspected, this was why King Kitra had authorized an exploration of the Pyramid of Truth—he'd already gone in and come back out. Kitra's eyes flashed coldly; he smiled with a chill.
"Human deeds," he said. "Truly an odd thing." A robed man stepped up beside the king and whispered, "Your Majesty, it is time to change fate."
Shirone didn't miss the moment madness swirled in the king's eyes.
An astrologer. The most dangerous sort—Paras's think tank, the Zodiac Twelve.
"Glen! Where are you? Glen!" Inside the time-warped pyramid, Lukia searched for Glen.
Please be safe. Her ability could subdue others, but Glen's specialty was healing alone.
"Where did he go?" As she took her next step, the scenery shifted, like everyone else's had.
Where is this? A seminary under the Holy See—the place Lukia first met Glen.
"Here, you idiot!" Seventeen-year-old Glen and Lukia ran through the empty nave as if it were a playground.
Glen. A smile tugged at Lukia's lips. Naïve, carefree days—just enjoying time with a friend.
"Hey, you're so slow—" "You brats!" The supervising nun burst through the door and scolded them. "What are you doing in the sacred nave! Today is an important day; I told you to behave!"
"Eek!" Glen and Lukia froze as a middle-aged man walked up beside the nun.
"Hoho, don't be too hard on them. Everyone's like that at that age. I was the same." He was Maximus, currently third in rank at the Holy See.