Chapter Forty-Five
THE REGRETFULLY INSANE
It was dawn. It was dawn and nobody was there.
Only the executioner, Veritas, and one other.
A general.
She wasn't there for any specific reason, there just had to be a general to bear witness. After all, reports had to be turned in, and someone of a rank lower than that of a general wouldn't do.
It was a cloudy dawn. There were rays of sunlight shining through here and there, but none that were willing to land on Veritas specifically. It had also rained just the night before as well, so there were still some puddles in multiple places.
There was also a puddle up on the stage that the execution would be taking place on.
". . . I'll ask you just in case. A man should stand proud if he pursued his goals to the end. Do you have any final words?"
She was a crimson-haired connoisseur of strategy and psychology. Unlike a large majority of the generals, that was all that she had to construct her path to her current status. She was a woman of honor, resilience, and humility.
"No, I've got nothing."
This execution was taking place at the center of the capital. The whole city was ominous quiet, even if it was at a time as early as dawn. The only thing that could be heard was the blowing winds, along with the scraps of trash that were being carried away by those very winds.
The executioner held a comically large axe and covered his face with a black hood of sorts. He stood as tall as a giant, but his posture didn't wave at all.
He was resolute to finish it.
"So be it."
SHWIRL
The lady general unfurled the scroll in her hand, beginning to read all the crimes that Veritas had committed from the top, annoying Veritas.
"There's nobody here, who are you trying to read to?"
The lady pierced him with a gaze that warned of the levels of tolerance she had, which were extreme.
"As someone who's about to forfeit life, you should take in each and every single second left."
Just like that, she disregarded his question and continued to read. Veritas heaved a sigh out of his chest, making it somewhat warmer for his face. He had something that resembled a potato bag on his head, concealing everything that he could possibly see. With both his hands and arms chained, he couldn't even escape.
As long as his will was gone, he couldn't.
This wasn't truly Veritas anymore. In fact, the true Veritas died off a while ago, the last decade or so being spent trying to give his life purpose. The second that the last pillar was knocked down, he had lost all stability, both mentally and physically.
He was nothing more than a cripple at this point.
In the end, though, he was dedicated to finishing it off with the last smidgen of dignity and pride that he could drag out of himself. His chances of escape were essentially nil, as his abilities had gone haywire after the 'battle' with Dionysus. He had the physical strength to tear off the chains, but it was hard to move his body, as sluggish as it was.
The destruction of a person had been fully demonstrated.
The list of crimes went on and on, and the general wouldn't stop talking. Many innocent civilians and guards had been killed by four of his five contracts, and he was the one paying for all of their crimes.
Ira had been slaughtered yesterday when one of the guards that had lost family to Veritas' and his contracts lost control of himself and leapt out at her to kill her.
Unfortunately for her, nobody else, Veritas included, really cared for her life, so she was slaughtered by multiple piercings of a spear from that one guard. Veritas considered it ironic that the army, that was here to prevent even more crimes, allowed her to die without batting an eye, but he didn't care enough to call them out on it.
As for the other three, not even Veritas knew anything about them. For all he knew, they could be dead, burned at the stake, or in the middle of torture. On the other hand, they could be happily living out their life.
Whichever it was, he didn't have the answer.
"And, with the crime of collapsing city grounds, compiled with all of the others, you are sentenced to death by the power of the empire."
The time had finally come.
"Gagh!"
Veritas had his knees kicked in the back by the executioner, dropping him down to the wooden stage. His forehead reeled from hitting a slab of stone that his neck was supposed to lie on. It was bleeding, but considering that his execution was most likely not even two minutes away, Veritas didn't think it mattered either.
The sun was starting to pop the clouds away more fiercely, but it still wasn't fully shining its brilliance down.
"The time has come. Veritas, who has been accused of crimes far beyond the allowed limits, shall now be executed."
The lady general crossed her legs and watched Veritas with an intensity that surprised him. He couldn't tell if this was just out of her respect for him, or lack thereof. But, once again, he quickly reminded himself these wouldn't be worries anymore.
"You may now execute him."
Dionysus and Silhouette were nowhere to be seen, clearly respecting the words that the first one had said yesterday, something along the lines of not intruding on the decisions of Veritas. Dionysus wasn't rash enough to make an enemy out of the empire, and he decided that he wouldn't be rash enough today either.
'Nobody is watching.' Veritas didn't know why, but his mind wouldn't cease putting emphasis on this one statement. He couldn't tell if it was because of his ideal of being called the savior of humanity and being cheered on by everyone, or out of his desire to just not be lonely in his final moments, or possibly something else.
The axe was taken off the executioner's back by his right arm, demonstrating which one was the dominating arm. As for Veritas, he had closed his eyes and had them pointing at the slab of stone that his head laid on.
It felt like minutes, possibly even hours, had passed when the executioner finally swung.
While one can go around and say such a form of execution is cruel and brutal, Veritas was able to confirm, with himself as the experiment, that it really wasn't. If anything, it was a merciful end. The swift end that came to him because of the executioner's experience was actually pleasant in a way.
A head rolled off a slab of stone today.
The sun was also shining through now.
--- SEQUENCE 2 ---
"The fuck?" It should've been over, but Veritas' choice of words and tone of voice betrayed that. He was, spiritually, hovering well, well above the capital. It was high up enough that he was above a couple of stray, roaming clouds.
"You failed."
TICK
"You've failed, and you would dare to present yourself here."
TOCK
Veritas couldn't tell from where, but it sounded as if a grandfather clock was nearby.
In front of him, someone that he had grown to despise recently appeared. To be more accurate, it was someone that he already disliked before, but he now had a vase full of hatred for.
"Why are you where? Why am I here? Tch, can't I even get the right ending . . ."
The disappointment was present, but the will wasn't. Veritas slumped his head and fell onto his backside, having faith that he wouldn't plummet down below.
"Unfortunately, even though a donkey such as yourself has failed, it seems that you have been given a second chance. Prove yourself to the almighty one again, and your life will resume."
At these words, Veritas twitched a little.
"You should be glad that the almighty one is so merciful. Your slothfulness has caused issues this time around, issues that should never have popped up."
"If it wasn't for your existence, humanity would already be obliterated, but you fought, albeit in a fragile manner."
Veritas could feel each and every single spiritual cell of his twitching.
"However, fail this time and humanity will be deleted."
An unbelievable wrath was welling up in Veritas.
Above all, Veritas was more dumbfounded than anything else. He didn't think that over a decade's worth of battling would result in such behavior from the heavens. He began to think over all of the experiences he went through, only to arrive at this result.
"Ha . . ."
"Hmm?"
"Haha . . . it was all for nothing huh?"
"You delayed the obliteration for a whole decade, and you can for even more if you go forward again."
The wrath that was surging up within Veritas was being shoved down. In its place, a clown's thoughts were popping up.
"Hahaha . . . I really have been a puppet this whole time, huh?"
As Veritas said these things, he was continuing to look up at the sun, which couldn't blaze his eyes anymore since he had none. His arms lied at his side, his legs completely straight.
The archangel didn't say anything, but simply watched. It was just waiting for Veritas' confirmation that he would go back down to the surface.
"Haahahahaha, bullshit . . . it was all for nothing, all of those deaths . . . for this result?"
It had devolved to a point that he was laughing and crying at the same time. His spiritual self looked exactly like his physical self, the only difference being that nobody normally would be able to interact with him.
"We don't have time for this insane act, make a choice now."
"No, no, don't worry, I've got it all thought out."
Veritas rubbed off the tears and stifled the laugh of insanity to a giggle, and only that. He then looked the archangel in the eyes, not even trying to put down a single emotion that he should have been hiding from the being in front of him.
There was no hatred, there was no sadness, there was nothing but the eyes of a madman.
"Damn you and your circus of sadistic clowns to death . . . That bastard down there told me the truth, you weren't worth the time . . . haha . . ."
Veritas refused to go back down, and in a way that disrespected the entire heavens as well.
In return . . .
"So be it."
The archangel knew, the second the Veritas looked him in the eyes, that all reason was being thrown out. He considered Veritas a fool for discarding a whole decade's worth of trials.
TICK
TOCK
A grandfather clock that Veritas had forgotten about began again. This was all as the archangel held its arm in the sky and pronounced:
"Off to hell with you."