[WARNING: Gore]
"Don't!" Sir Dolorem shouted. "You will get into trouble if you kill them!"
Sylvester shrugged. "Oh, I forgot to inform you people about my other status. I am the special Judge appointed to this region, and according to that, everything that steps on this land can be judged by me — including these heathens!"
"Are you sure?" The woman in question finally spoke and walked forward. Her twin bright red ponytails swayed with her exaggerated motion. She skipped forward as if in a park and was not worried about Sylvester at all.
Sylvester glared into the woman's eyes. "You made me sure the moment you poisoned me."
She started chuckling loudly. "Hehe… So you found out? Oh shoots, I should have been more discreet. Maybe this time, I won't have to be discreet at all."
Sylvester didn't bother talking with her and raised his spear while walking towards her. The crimson halo continued along, a sign that he was deadly serious about killing her.
"Oh, my dear Sylvi… You should have kept your head down. We could have been amazing partners… You could have served the true light of the church." She continued to speak like an excited little girl.
"Spine!" Suddenly EX10 shouted. "Do not speak more than what is necessary."
"Oopsie, I'm sorry." Spine pouted and put her hand on her mouth.
Her theatrics clearly showed something was wrong with her mind, which was something to worry about all the more because that meant she had no moral compass or care for her own life.
Seeing that, Sylvester remembered the words of someone from the past, that the Void Keepers were faithful dogs of the Church, meant to do what usually the Church could not do openly. The Void Keepers were purposefully chosen because of their broken mental state, something that could be further broken and controlled.
"I know who you speak of." Sylvester acknowledged. "You spoke of that filth before. To think a man like that desires to become the Pope, it's utterly shameful."
Spine scoffed and crossed her arms on her chest while closing her eyes. She began to caress her shoulders and chest as if in heat. "Oh… You have no idea how amazing he is. That is why you speak of such. If you did… O' Lord Solis, give this foolish boy some intellect."
Sylvester grunted and spat on the ground. "You make me sick."
"Hehe, thank you for the compliment. Now, shall we start?" She raised both her palms towards Sylvester. "I will show you beautiful dreams. I had the chance to see your mother once. I wonder if you'd enjoy seeing her in… certain situations."
Veins on Sylvester's head popped up, as he knew he could not stop Spine from creating illusions. Nor could he close his eyes for the moment, as his entire plan rested on his ability to see.
"Maxy! What did she say about my big mum?" Miraj suddenly asked aloud on Sylvester's shoulder, his white fur standing straight.
Sylvester noticed Miraj shivering, but on a closer look, he saw a ferocious look on his face with his fangs out, and his claws were also visible.
"Miraj, she will show us a few things that will enrage us now. Don't let that rage down. Kill her, chop her to pieces, make her scream in agony." Sylvester did not hold back his words and continued to walk towards Spine.
As he took his next steps, the scene changed from their surroundings, and something utterly disturbing appeared. At first, it simply started with Xavia dying in many ways, over and over again, as gruesomely as possible. But then the illusions showed things worse than death that were best left unspoken.
But one thing they sure did was enrage Sylvester and Miraj to the extent that no battle or foe in the past did.
However, Sylvester still did not stop and moved past the imagery. From the eyes of those outside, there were no illusions, as only Sylvester and those in his immediate vicinity could see them.
Where Spine expected Sylvester to stop moving after the visions, he stayed on the trajectory to her. So she increased the speed of illusions, yet it did nothing to deter the halo from getting bigger and bigger.
As Sylvester reached arm's length distance to Spine, he uttered. "I never enter battles I know I have zero chance of winning. Here, I have zero chance of losing!"
Bam!
Sylvester raised his hand and grabbed Spine's throat, even though the illusions continued to emerge around him and now Spine. He could see her clearly as she became a part of his extended body.
She gasped for breath, but Sylvester didn't allow her to breathe, resulting in the illusions slowly fading.
"Chonky, do it."
"Wraaaa!" Miraj growled like never before and jumped on Spine's head. He used his claws and jaws to bite her, scratch her, and do anything else he could. He was no ordinary cat, so his attack was also intense.
In no time, Miraj easily ripped off Spine's nose and ears, then pulled out her eyes with his claws, making it as painful and slow as possible. But he didn't stop and shoved those eyeballs into Spine's mouth,
"I hate you!" Miraj, who rarely showed negative emotions, growled and continued his barrage of attacks, ripping her scalp in places and even reaching down and destroying her clothes apart, not to leave any part of her unhurt.
Sylvester kept holding her in the air, her throat in his palm. Spine had a small body, so she didn't weigh much either.
"It's enough. She stopped breathing." Sylvester ordered. Miraj immediately pulled back and sat down on Sylvester's shoulder.
"But I'm not done." Sylvester was free of all illusions, but what he saw lingered in his head. "The illusions were the sickness of your brain. For that, you may be forgiven, but for killing Shane, there is no forgiveness."
Thump!
Sylvester threw Spine down and stomped on her chest to revive her.
Thump!
Crunch!
Her ribs broke apart as she was never one to fight physical battles. All she ever relied on was illusions, as her team protected her from other threats. But this time, her only teammate himself had cold feet.
"Wake up, you heathen!" Sylvester kept on stomping until he could sense her heartbeat. Although by then, her body was a hideous mess. Her face was gone, her hair was gone, her clothes were gone, and now her body was deformed from the kicks.
"You burned an entire town just because of a suspicion! You killed my student for nothing!" The halo behind Sylvester's head turned bigger, growing the size of a chariot wheel. But the frightening part was it being crimson red and the coldness emitted by it.
However, Sylvester was not out of control. He chose his words carefully and ensured the peasants knew what crimes the woman committed, so they didn't sympathize with her and instead hated her.
"You are just like that Grand Duke and his filthy Widowmakers!" Sylvester added, striking the iron while it was hot.
"H-He…"
Spine still had the energy to say something somehow.
"H-He… w-wi… ki-i-ll… yo…"
Sylvester shook his head and pointed his palm toward her. "Let's see if you melt, just like Shane and his mother."
A bright red rune circle appeared before Sylvester's palm.
Woosh!
A violent stream of fire emerged out of it and engulfed Spine entirely. She may have been calm and crushed before, but with the fire, she writhed in pain, screamed, and cried while rolling on the ground.
"Consider this a trial by fire!" Sylvester continued to spew the flames.
In no time, Spine stopped struggling and stayed stuck in one place, curled into a ball of slimy flesh that had melted. Parts of her skeleton were still visible, while most of her skin was burnt. However, she was still not dead, for Sylvester wanted her to suffer as Shane did.
He stopped and glanced at EX10. "Sir Dolorem and Count Bradley, bring that heathen here! He was a part of the group that massacred the Sphinx town!"
Bradley, for some reason, was happy to oblige and quickly rushed to EX10 before the man could respond by summoning the undead. Sir Dolorem followed suit and grabbed the man from the other side since he was seven-foot.
"You are making a grave mistake, bard! The Pope will not forgive you!"
Sylvester shook his head in disappointment. "You are foolish to think the Pope still blesses you! You are heathens! You've been that for a long time!"
Following that, Sylvester glanced at Bishop Lazark, who was still fighting the other Dark Wizard who created the plague. "Bishop! I am going to kill EX10!"
Bishop Lazark didn't even share a glance. "You need not ask, lord bard. Heathens deserve to pay—he's no brother of mine. Nor is this man I'm fighting a mentor of mine! This disgusting thing made a contract with a demon to live longer! But he's too weak."
Sylvester stared at the Dark Wizard with newfound interest. His interest in demons had always been high since he saw the demon world through the ancient demon stuck under the Pope's palace.
"You hear that, EX10?" Sylvester focused on the task at hand. "Kneel down and hold Spine's molten body in your arms, just as Shane's mother held him."
EX10 looked around and found no way to escape as powerful wizards surrounded him. "You are doing wrong, bard. You are no god to judge people."
Sylvester spread his arms and brought everyone's focus to his halo. "Yet I have his mandate!"
"Stop with your false acts. There is no such thing as Solis! You, me, we all are tools for the church." EX10 blurted, as he was already a dead man counting his last breaths.
Sylvester refuted his words. "But he is real, and I have seen him in visions under the Soul Tree."
"You lie!"
Sylvester raised his palm toward EX10 as the man held the molten body of Spine in his arms. "Yet, my light begs to differ — die now."
Woosh!
"Aaargh! Haaa!"
EX10 screamed loudly, and his wails turned demonic towards the end while he, too, melted apart into a messy blob of flesh and bones along with Spine. There existed no means left to differentiate one body from the other.
After a few seconds, Sylvester stopped and walked back. 'Two dead, three more to go.'
Sylvester did not burn the two bodies to ashes as that was too respectful for them. No, they were to be fed to animals.
"May the holy light enlighten us!" Sylvester faced the peasant army as his halo turned bright golden again, and the soothing warmth spread around. "Those who wish to stay and watch the trials of The Patch's heathens may remain, and those who wish to rest may retreat to backward camp."
"Sir Dolorem." He called the man next. "Arrest all the Widowmakers and line them here to be beheaded."
"Lord Bard, there are likely tens of thousands of Windowmakers among them! Almost half of their army is made of them." Count Bradley informed.
Sylvester took out his mitre from the bag that Miraj handed him. He knew that he was no good man and absolutely not someone in a position to talk about justice.
But the moment he put that mitre on his head, he was the Archbishop, Cardinal Suprima of the region, and the next Pope. For that, he had to act the part.
"I speak not from personal opinion, but the laws are written in the Holy Law of Light. Those Widowmakers pillaged towns, cities, and villages. They killed mercilessly, and raped women, men, and children. Under the eyes of the church, war of conquest is acceptable, for that is a matter between nobles.
"But heresy shall not be tolerated, be it committed by a commoner, a soldier, or a king. It matters not if the sinners number a thousand or ten thousand or a million — They consciously chose to sin, so now they die.
"Sir Dolorem, under Articles 4, 4A, 4B, 5A, 19C and the Crimes Against Humanity Act, continue with beheadings. Only chop one leg of those who agree to testify against their brethren and superiors."
Thud!
Sir Dolorem, being a veteran Inquisitor, saluted seriously and took Count Bradley's army along to gather the Widowmakers.
"Lord Bard!"
Just then, Grand Wizard Einarr came closer to Sylvester. His palms clapped together as if praying. Einarr kept staring at Sylvester's face in awe of the bright golden halo behind his head.
He knelt down in front of Sylvester on one knee and dug his sword in front of himself as he kept his head low.
"Your grace, I value my word with my life. As long as my daughter is safe, I accept to be your slave for eternity."
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