Chương 97: CHAPTER 95 - The Remains of a Saint (Questo rituale nun d’addà fà)

The demonic colossus, the church inquisitor known as Abbondius, took his first steps. The NOIR duo did the same, descending the steps in unison with a slithering sound beneath them. The moment only a few metres separated them, they vanished. Two sinuous silhouettes, one white and one black, glided between the columns at mad speed. Abbondius followed them with his gaze, violently cleaving the air, tearing through a dart of paint." Grijs!"

An iron sabre opened his chest as the girl slid at his feet, wrapped in a fountain of black and violet blood. A white rope was clutched between her thin fingers. Abbondius snarled, ready to smash the chains down on the fragile body before him. His skin closed, and the crosses crashed toward her. Suddenly the paint thread went taut, pulling her away and wrapping around his body. A violent electric discharge of bright blue burst into the air, sizzling against his skin.

"Lance, now!" Jeanne gave a violent yank on the rope, hurling the boy from the other end toward Abbondius. The black and white lightning of Vergehen fused with the blue sparks as his knuckles aimed directly at the man's chest." EINBRAND!" The impact opened a breach in the flesh, piercing through his back and spraying dense masses of dark fluid into the air. Abbondius stared at him, enraged, bashing him with the chains. Lance blocked the impact by joining knee and elbow, but was still hurled away.

"His strength is immense!" He clawed the ground, arresting his flight. Jeanne immediately rushed to his side, reinforcing the rope.

"Do not dare doubt my sacrifice! This body is pure penance to the goddess. You will not stop my pain with so little." Lance sprang to his feet, manifesting his sword between his hands. The motor clicked, widening and lengthening it. A thin vibration seemed to wrap the edge. Jeanne's frame snapped, changing shape from scythe to blade. The sword drove into the ground, cracking the marble.

"His body regenerates damage at extraordinary speed, but he has a core. If the assault can wear him down, then I'll have a chance to pierce it definitively!" Jeanne nodded, shattering one of the Kwasten above her head, covering herself with greyish paint. Immediately, from elbow to hand and from knee to the tip of her foot, a sharp, glistening armour formed.

"Will it only cover the limbs?" Lance asked, worried, immediately answered by the metallic sound from her stomach, still covered by intact clothes. She smiled, gripping her weapon and feeling Lachesi sizzle. Abbondius slammed the chains on the ground, making them clash in a sea of fiery lights. The three sized each other up for an instant, when a fragment of the ceiling shattered to the floor, declaring the exchange open.

The chains rained from the sky, with Lance vanishing and Jeanne seeming almost to dance through the metal. With a violent slash, she broke their order, opening a gap. Sinuously, the tip of her blade carved away Abbondius's flesh, coming within reach of his cross. The priest and Jeanne clashed directly, shattering the ground beneath. Rotating her hips, she let the silver blades graze her, finding an opening. She pierced his face with a single thrust, meeting his enraged gaze.

"Impudent pest!" Abbondius violently swept her away, lashing her with a violent motion of the chains anchored to his wrist. The girl soared through the air, feeling blood pooling in her mouth.

"The dose hasn't fully healed my body yet…" White paint began to flow from her lips, immediately used to wet her metallic fingers. A single white thread struck the ground, expanding into a bluish, glossy pool." Lichtblauw." The paint turned glossy, frozen, and slippery. Abbondius's weight broke the thin plate of ice, limiting his movements as the frost penetrated his ankles. Jeanne slid across the frozen floor, avoiding his chains.

She threw herself under his body, severing the flesh behind his knees while continuing to paint with that icy oil.

"Damned whore!" Abbondius's skin became brittle, fracturing and spraying the same dark, burning liquid. Steam wrapped his figure as he tried to free himself from that unnatural ice that had burrowed into his bones. Jeanne leapt backward, performing a cartwheel before landing directly beneath him. With violence, she pushed off and kicked him full in the face with her sharpened foot. His chin was split perfectly in two.

She used the blade as a pole to lift and spin, striking him again in the face, this time with her heel. The impact broke the ice, forcing him to kneel on his fractured limbs.

"This is for all your filthy obscenities, damn parasite of the empire!" Jeanne quickly clenched her knuckles, impacting perfectly with his face, which snapped backward on cue. Another followed, of equal power and speed. She grabbed the sword, preparing to drive it into his chest, when the cold that had blocked his other upper limbs shattered.

"Got you…" The two crosses began to close like lightning around Jeanne's neck. The impact shattered the ground, immediately followed by the appearance of golden veins on Abbondius's forehead.

"I'd say the opposite…" Lance stared grimly at him, as his hands gripped the silver metal of the sharpened cross, slowly fracturing it under his grip. Lachesi lit up, radiating a violet glow. Abbondius snarled, raising the crosses with his other arms as well." SALVE!" A beam of white, black, and violet energy pierced his body. The dark demon slid across the ruined marble, clawing the ground. A strange dark mass dangled from his abdomen, spilling boiling liquid. He stood, baring his teeth at Lance, smiling.

Only now did Abbondius notice the very thin rope clutched by the girl. With a single yank, Lance's weapon flew toward him, embedding directly in his flank." Rood!" The rope caught fire, engulfing Abbondius in flames from within. Lance lunged at him, aiming for his legs. A single impact of his knuckles fractured the knee, bending his heavy body. He suddenly grabbed the blade from his shoulder, scattering flames behind him as he drove the metal directly into the man's throat.

Lance immediately felt the man's claws pierce his side as they stared each other down with blood on their lips. Jeanne plummeted from above, crashing the head of her hammer against Abbondius's skull.

"NOT ENOUGH!" New appendages emerged from his shoulders, shaped like tails armed with curved barbs. Those infernal limbs were covered in pitch-black crystals, lit by a violet aura. Lance saw them, ready to tear Jeanne apart, with his foot on the man's shoulder and still off-balance from the impact. With his organs still pierced, Lance summoned Supplicium between his fingers. The bullet burst from the barrel with a dark flash, piercing Abbondius's flank and completely shredding the spike.

The explosion threw Lance against the floor and Jeanne toward the columns.

"You still hold yourself up as a hero?!" Abbondius struck him in the face, sending marble splinters flying around them. He grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall. Lance coughed blood, but the priest grabbed him again, dragging him face-first along the wall. A trail of blood and black slime was left on the wall's remains. Lance stood, noticing half his field of vision had gone dark. He touched his face, brushed the exposed facial muscles, and immediately withdrew his fingers.

Supplicium had been knocked away; the only thing left was Jeanne's hammer, abandoned on the ground.

"Who are you to kill? Who are you to end this glorious age?!" Abbondius snarled, rebuilding his flank and gradually taking on a more monstrous appearance. His skin was scaled, and new pairs of eyes began to emerge from various pustules on his shoulders and abdomen. Lance gripped the hammer's shaft tightly, feeling his skin stitch itself back together and his body corrupting further.

"Please, Lachesi … Just bear with me a little longer…" Lance smiled, meeting Abbondius's gaze.

"ANSWER ME!" The boy smiled, chuckling between coughs. He spat a jet of slimy blood, yet without cracking that blissful expression on his face.

"No one. I am insignificant. And yet I don't want those girls to lose the right to enjoy life. I'm just that selfish." The veins spread to Lance's heart, glowing. He raised the hammer above his head, gritting his teeth. He vanished, leaving sparks and small flames behind. Abbondius was lifted off the ground, struck by the violent head of the hammer gripped in his hands.

"She's this fast with this weapon? You're incredible, Jeanne." He smiled, spinning the maul a second time, this time aiming for the face. The impact echoed through the dark cathedral as the beast rolled across the floor. Abbondius raised his head, finding Lance before him, hammer raised above his head.

"I don't care about your pain. You will never see the nightmare you love come to life!" A third impact completely shattered the ground, plunging the two into the catacombs. The beasts crowded around them, launching themselves from the walls and columns of skeletons. Lance grabbed Abbondius by the neck, despite the crosses piercing his legs. The boy gripped the hammer with one hand, right at the end of the shaft. Lachesi's slime wrapped the weapon, sizzling against the Lambdite.

"Go find someone to pray for you…" A violet glow illuminated the catacombs, releasing a shockwave strong enough to collapse the ceiling above them. Jeanne, recovered from the impact, watched the cracks spread with an unsettling creak. She spotted the weapon at her feet: a revolver with a terribly menacing appearance. She grabbed it and darted behind one of the columns.

"Is this Lance's gun? It feels like it's boiling and it's really heavy. Is it really possible to fire multiple shots with this thing?" Suddenly, Abbondius and Lance emerged from the floor, covered in the crystallised remains of the Helspawn.

"I just did to…" A thread of blood seized the hammer, freeing his hands. Abbondius tried to grab it, only to find his palms completely seared by the Frequency discharges emitted by the boy. Not a single sound rose from the combatants, only the noise of boiling marble. Abbondius's crystals reflected the light emitted by the boy as he clenched his blood-reddened teeth." Overwhelm you!" A violent impact to the abdomen sent the demon flying among the columns.

A trail of blood and slime stained the still-intact parts, as Abbondius's body tried to reassemble, pervaded by Lance's Frequency. The boy's hand was beginning to lose its human features. Beyond the furrows of overload, the scars on his body glowed brightly, highlighting the fragments of Lachesi embedded in his flesh.

"I will advance, even if I have to tear the life from all of you!" A sea of chains exploded from Abbondius's back, lit violet and yellow. Lance hurled himself at him, shattering the iron with every step using Jeanne's maul. They entered each other's range, faces contorted with pain, inhuman. Abbondius's crosses struck him, sending the hammer flying from his hands. Lance threw his unbalanced body forward, using his forehead to shatter the man's face.

The crystal shattered on the ground, forcing Abbondius to let out a spectral scream from the depths of his throat. He kicked Lance violently, sending him sliding near the crater. He rose quickly, launching himself at the already-moving Abbondius.

"Your relic, that graceless arm that parasitised you… You're still holding back in this situation!" He smiled, baring all his teeth as their fists collided. With every impact, shockwaves shook the infinite, regal space, often drowned out by their screams. A violent hook from Lance opened the demon's stomach, drenching him in innards and slime. His face was devoid of human expression, only a mass of wrinkles and teeth.

"Useless, useless, useless, USELESS! The power you wield is a shadow of the true power the goddess granted me. You only endure because the conditions favour you!!!" As he spoke, his jaw was shattered by Lance, now reduced to a screaming barbarian. His muscles, tendons, bones, nerves were focused solely on one goal: ending the life of the beast before him. The images of the nuns, of Elise, of Jeanne's possible fate flashed through his mind, fueling his fury.

First the abdomen, then the neck, then the shoulders, finally the chest. Everything was torn and ravaged. Abbondius raised the crosses, only to see them fly past Lance's shoulders, still clutched in his hands.

"A little more, just a little more before being consumed". Lance smiled, feeling his innards churn and his bones strain. Abbondius knelt before him, and that was the peak moment. The boy clenched his dark knuckles and threw one last punch. The demon smiled, and the blow missed miserably. Lance felt his body break in that exact moment. Abbondius's stinger had severed his arm, which lay a few metres away. He tried to unlock his limbs, but by now the body enslaved by Lachesi was only trying to keep him alive.

Flesh stitched and proliferated over the bones as Abbondius grabbed him by the throat, slowly driving the new cross into his leg.

"You have failed. The ritual is now close to success." The stinger rose into the air, aiming at Lance's forehead. He smiled when he noticed a sinuous silhouette flash in the distance. A silver reflection illuminated the woman's face, her weapon aimed directly at him. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

"Neither you nor any god will make him suffer before me again." A single click rose from the weapon, and Jeanne's slender fingers rested on the trigger. Before Abbondius could even realise it, a bullet of pure Frequency pierced and fused his entire body. Jeanne's arm broke in several places, and her nails flew from her fingers. The armour on her legs shattered from the strain, and blood slid from her eye. Immediately, white paint bound her elbow like a bandage while part of it turned metallic grey.

"One last effort, Lance… I still believe in your plan." The paint became a long blade, emerging directly from her left forearm. With one eye burning blue and the other drenched in blood, she launched herself at Abbondius, now almost bereft of human features. His fused, carbonised flesh began to scale over, taking on the appearance of black armour. His many eyes lit yellow as he howled. Jeanne kicked him full in the face, shattering the paint on her leg. She swung a slash at his arm, slicing away one of his crosses.

The arm turned to ash in the air, swept away by the chains pouring from every pore of his body.

"Lost... one." Abbondius whispered from some unknown orifice, immediately silenced by Jeanne, who kept relentlessly carving away the flesh. The blade on her arm shattered, now exhausted and unable to hold. All the paint on her body returned to its original liquid, while various internal clots began to form in her arteries. Abbondius let out a guttural laugh, almost as if it came from his stomach.

"The core is there…" Jeanne smiled, pointing at a violet glint hidden beneath the deformed skin. Abbondius raised his skull, noticing Lance hurling himself at him with a new arm and a blade clutched between his fingers. The sword's motor hummed, extending the edge and vibrating fiercely. The tip pierced his hands, only to be stopped by the stinger just before reaching the pulsating mass. The chains lifted both, seized by the throat.

Lance let go of the weapon, which thundered onto the marble, bouncing several times before coming to rest.

"P-Pity… S-So c-close, yet so f-far…" His voice was inaudible, something that disgusted him from the first hiss. The smell, the appearance, by now the only thing fouler than that mass of flesh and crystals was the personality. He tightened his grip on Jeanne's neck, turning her pale skin an incredible red.

"Your m-mad crusade… ends… here." He raised one of the crosses from an appendage not easily defined, perhaps an arm, with every intention of opening Lance's face. The boy was on the verge of begging Lachesi, sacrificing his body, when he realised he was beginning to fall to the ground. Something invisible had cut the floor, allowing dark spurts to stain the air.

"It's ironic how people who proclaim their victory so early are the first to be disappointed. Scum like you should be barred from dreaming!" A man, his clothes completely ragged, emerged from the chasm. On his shoulders, a young nun with a pallid complexion. On the arm of that black-haired man, a piece of armour on his forearm, grim like the green glow in his eyes.

"Truly, sacrificing your humanity to become a servant? You fill me with pity beyond measure." He laid the nun on the ground, tearing off his rags to reveal the olive vest beneath. The man smiled, resting both hands on his knees. Lance and Jeanne fell to the ground, coughing, as Abbondius turned toward the newcomer.

"A-And who w-would you be?" Without waiting for an answer, the figure vanished. He spun his head to find the man's palm before him, wrapped in blazing orange flames.

"Mortified, but I believe it's useless to waste oxygen on you." A blazing wave engulfed Abbondius, exploding until it completely devastated the cathedral wall. The entire wall collapsed, opening a passage to a completely new but identical section. Lance smiled as a hand was extended to him.

"I should just hang you naked in the hangar for what you do…" Maliard murmured, followed by the pained reaction of Lance, still shaken by Lachesi's violent regenerations. He stared at the wounds on the boy, shaking his head.

"Lance… Can you still bear it? The girl there and I reached our limit before arriving, but for some strange reason, when we were about to collapse, your presence made the singularity's corruption regress. Obviously, you know what will happen if you collapse before containing the anomaly?" Lance nodded, holding out his hand to Jeanne, who could barely look him in the face. He stared at the bandage on his arm, clicking his tongue.

"I truly thank you for being here with me…" Lance smiled, drawing his sword and revolver from one of Lachesi's scales.

"I won't fail. I promised." He struck the sword's guard against his chest, briefly fixing his gaze on Elise's figure. Her energy was faint but still there, so small that her heartbeat and breath were like the flight of a spark. Maliard nodded, turning immediately toward the beast with the incinerated body. By now, words had been replaced by grunts and horrid hisses." Verandern!" All the tissues of Maliard's body increased their resilience and strength as he, along with the two, launched the assault.

Jeanne, with her single arm, cut a finger and let it slide to the floor. A very thin blade of dull grey appeared on her nail, aimed at the beast's throat. The blade drove straight into its forehead, making the mass in its chest glow. Maliard appeared from above, violently slamming his knuckles against the back of the skull. Abbondius sank into the ground, cracking everything around him.

"Jeanne!" She only heard Lance's voice, finding her frame before her, still transformed into that heavy, bloodied maul. She smiled, gripping it with her arm. The greyish metal returned to paint, which quickly began to take on two distinct tones. White bands and red fibres bound themselves to her skin, digging down to the bone. Lance charged Lachesi, emitting a violet glow as Abbondius used his appendages and chains to rise again. He screamed, splitting his own throat.

"And shut up!" Maliard and Jeanne struck him from below, lifting his chest enough for Lance to hit him. Abbondius defended with every tool at his disposal: the silver crosses, the chains, his flesh, and even the crystals growing on his body were used to shield against the wave of energy emitted by the boy. For an instant, his black arm condensed into a grim, malevolent firearm.

"Explode!" The beam struck Abbondius, shattering the ground beneath him as he sought a handhold. The air itself began to melt, forming black-violet flames that were swept away by the pulses and the screams of the two. Suddenly, Lance stopped firing, realising his arm was being corroded. Biting his lip, he signalled Maliard to continue.

"Excellent work." Compulsion burst with jets of boiling steam, while a repulsive black mass formed on his left arm. Abbondius, headless and with limbs reduced to soft pulp, still found a way to turn toward them. The moment Maliard fired, the beast lunged sideways. The black dart pierced the ceiling, even the sky itself, opening a gap.

"You… Failed." The beast whispered, raising a silver cross above what remained of its head. It stopped, hearing the faint sound of rain striking the roof. Behind it, from the same hole, a few intact drops filtered through. Maliard smiled, licking his chapped lip.

"The singularity isn't perfectly formed. Breaking it for a few seconds when Lachesi is used is entirely possible. The boundary between reality and Hel is devoured and consumed, creating a tiny hole. Fortunately, I know someone who can make excellent use of it." Outside, a man cloaked in white was leaping from roof to roof, pushing a heavy black projectile into the breach of his weapon: a very long firearm, with space for a single shot loaded after separating the barrel from the stock.

"It was to be expected there would be problems…" He laughed, resting his finger on the trigger as he slid along the rain-soaked roofs. His scope found the hole, and the shot was immediately detonated. Abbondius didn't even notice; he only felt the iron pierce his chest in total silence. The casing bounced off the floor, piercing him again. Like a swarm of insects, that piece of metal continued to torment him.

"NOW, LANCE!" The boy hurled himself at the beast, stretching out his arm one last time. He was right there, close to tearing out the core, when everything seemed to enlarge, blinding him for an instant. Chains and bone remains exploded in all directions, impaling the legs and arms of Jeanne and Maliard. Lance turned for an instant, only to be pierced by the man's arm. Horror rose on the faces of everyone present as the boy drenched the beast's body in dark spurts.

His skin turned completely white, highlighting the scars on his body.

"Finally…" Abbondius whispered, pushing his limb deeper and deeper. Lance coughed blood, raising a clenched, trembling fist.

"Yes… You've finally lost…" He smiled as all the blood coagulated around his wrist. Abbondius tried to pull away, but by then Lance had already grabbed him. A dagger of liquid formed, bound to his arm by a very thin, very dark cord, crackling with energy discharges." Karmesin …" The blow exploded in an instant, returning immediately to its owner's hand like a harpoon. Abbondius's body began to crumble without explanation, as something could be seen pulsing, directly impaled on the tip.

"... Harpune." The arm turned to ash, and Lance fell smiling, with Abbondius's core clutched tightly in his hand. The harpoon, in that very brief instant, had pierced Abbondius through and through, and now the boy was crushing that boiling mass between his hands.

"In the end, my determination beat your hatred, Abbondius." His back touched the ground, and that was the signal to crush the core, which vanished in a sea of crystalline sparks. Abbondius screamed so loudly his own body swelled, while he tore away the pieces that were turning to ash or crystals. He began to weep, clawing at his own flesh. Jeanne and Maliard threw themselves onto Lance, pinned to the ground with Lachesi now leaving his body, stitching the wounds one after another.

A nausea so strong made him stagger even though he was held up by the two. Every fibre of his body vibrated, stretching and stitching itself back together hundreds of times per second. He wanted to scream, to thrash, but not even that was granted to him.

"Maliard… Help Elise…" Lance whispered, trying to catch with his tongue the drops of blood sliding from his chin. Maliard moved to speak, but he turned and ran toward the cross. Abbondius was now unrecognisable, a mass not even vaguely human. Jeanne tried to advance, but was stopped by Lance. His face was pale, not from anaemia or total exhaustion, but from something else. The tip of his spine, just regenerated, was trembling.

"Come away…" He pulled her back, directing her to run toward Maliard. Whatever it was, the beast sensed it too, this time beginning to weep and slam its appendages on the floor.

"NO! NO! NO! I CAN STILL SERVE YOU! I CAN, I CAN, I CAN!" A black blade, a silhouette of pure nothingness, split the cathedral entirely and tore the sky along with it. Abbondius was struck full-on, screaming as his body disintegrated. The singularity began to collapse, as from the grim white light of the breach emerged two figures.

"Malcolm…" Lance murmured, coughing and somehow trying to stay on his feet. At his name, the man looked at him with his dead pupils, offering a faint smile. Jeanne felt an inexplicable cold, and it wasn't him who caused it, but the woman accompanying him. She had the same hair, the same features, and somehow the same charisma she felt near Lance. His female version, made and finished. She turned to see Lance's reaction, but he was foaming and trembling at the sight of that figure draped in elegant black clothes.

"Abbondius…" The lady in black smiled, adjusting the veil on her head and giving a final touch to her dress, so beautiful it seemed made for a new bride: long enough to cover her feet, fitted at the waist and adorned with golden chains forming shining spirals, the sleeves revealing only slender fingers painted red, and the neck decorated with a silver collar laden with violet crystals.

"Your ideals were wasted, Abbondius." She began, approaching the heap of ash and crystals.

"You misunderstood the world's desire. Personally, I too wish that no one could rejoice in this modern age without glory or beauty. However, that is nothing but a presumptuous statement." She raised her gaze to Hel, watching the cracks form and the world return to primary reality.

"My true goal is to create a clear, limpid sky, where humanity can paint its own dreams, and to do that… I must kill the throne that shadows this beautiful, dull globe." The lady opened her arms and closed her eyes, making the gathered fabric sway. A regal aspect, somehow contaminated by an aura beyond all malevolence. She knelt in the dust, picking up a black splinter, so black and grim it seemed to have been drawn from the first night of the sky.

"God hides because he is afraid of his own creation. He does not dare to face the humanity he himself gave birth to!" She made the crystal vanish between her hands, licking her lips. Malcolm approached her with steps so light he barely seemed human, whispering something. She nodded, turning silently.

"This is the reason for your failure. Placing your hopes in a coward was a mistake." She spoke in an even grimmer tone, devoid of the earlier theatricality. She turned toward the opening as everything began to tremble with unheard ferocity. A small stone flew to her feet, rolling just ahead of her.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!? WHY ARE YOU HERE?!" Apate turned in total silence, smiling with her crimson eyes. At the lack of response, Lance's hair began to turn white as wax, immediately petrifying Jeanne.

"WHAT ARE YOU?!" Lance's fingers began to claw, his hair to lengthen, and his teeth to sharpen. Jeanne tried to pull him back, but his skin grew colder and colder.

"For the first question, isn't the answer evident? For the second, I think it would be wise to discuss it at our next meeting…" She smiled, winking. Lachesi suddenly developed, wrapping his entire arm and knocking Jeanne away.

"LANCE, NO!" Jeanne sprinted, while the relic became a true firearm, and Lance's eyes lit gold. A violet flow surged through his body, gathering inside the weapon. The woman smiled, bringing a finger to her lips. A single instant, and a single red dot formed on his forehead. Lance fell to the ground, and Lachesi returned to normal. His body no longer responded, as if it had suddenly fallen ill at the end of its senescence, or perhaps it was more like birth.

Apate watched him intently, long streams of blood flowing from her eyes, staining her pale face.

"For now, let's say I am the principle of humanity…" She vanished in a black cloud, as if the air had split to let them pass. Jeanne and Maliard, carrying Elise in their arms and Agnes on their shoulders, rushed to Lance. In Lance's confused, shaken mind, only one question formed.

"Mother… Why are you alive?" Even his soul slipped into unconsciousness as Hel's region collapsed upon him.