"...Let their suffering be light, though their deaths be dark.
I, who still walk in Thy mercy, thank Thee for this breath,
For the fleeting gift of life Thou hast bestowed upon me.
May Thy will be done,
And may Thy servants know the comfort of Thy eternal embrace.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
Amen."
The Bells rang loudly for minutes on end. They rang for so long that Valeria started bleeding excessively over the grassy floor beneath him and Kaiser and the rest of them decided to start walking up to the church with their fingers over their ears.
The intensity from the bells got stronger the closer the people approached the Church doors, Adam seemingly being affected the most as his pale skin turned red as though he was being whipped all around.
"get in the church, bow to the altar." Valeria mouthed to Kaiser and Kaiser nodded as he easily read his lips.
They walked into the church and one by one they all bowed to the altar that was awe inspiring to say the least.
The Interior of the church itself was a testament to both faith and artistry, its soaring ribbed vaults drawing the eye upward to a celestial expanse. The altar, positioned prominently at the far end of the nave, radiates an almost divine brilliance, illuminated by the kaleidoscopic light streaming through the intricate stained glass windows. These towering panes depict biblical stories and saints in vivid detail, their vibrant hues painting the cathedral in shifting patterns of red, blue, and gold. The altar itself is a masterpiece of devotion and opulence, adorned with gleaming gold ornaments that catch the ambient light, creating an almost ethereal glow. Surrounding it are finely crafted statues of saints and angels, their expressions carved with such precision that they seem alive in the flickering candlelight. The surface of the altar is arranged with profound symbolism: among the richly detailed crosses and chalices of gilded design lie several upside-down crosses, a reference to Saint Peter's martyrdom and his humble request to be crucified differently than Christ. Every inch of the space conveys reverence, from the ornate carvings along the choir stalls to the gilded arches framing the apse, ensuring that everyone who sets eyes on it is enveloped in a sense of the divine transcendence.
Bowing towards this altar showed respect to the God that is expected to reside withing the cathedral as it is the house of God, Obviously they are in Hell, so even if there was a God This was the place he most definitely wasn't in. At least that's what Kaiser thought in his head as he bowed and offered his reverence reluctantly.
AS soon as he did it, the loud sound of the bells that he could hear even through his blocked ears, ceased almost instantly and as soon as he unlugged his ears, the silence was so relaxing that he felt like his brain was melting.
Adam laid on the floor, staring to the ceiling in so much comfort that he started to actually look like a child again.
Kaiser looked to his right and saw a group of women dressed in nun attire pop out and put Valeria on a bed and carried him off into a separate room of the cathedral, supposedly to heal him.
"This is intense, holy shit, is this how people in the 20th century felt. No wonder they killed millions in this dudes name, his houses are something else." Vari said referencing the Christianity craze of what would be the old times for him.
"Just like before, its all a facade. Their God wouldn't even be here in the first place anyway, this is all the work of a particularly devoted Legislator." Kaiser said as he walked up closer to the altar where there was numerous long benches arranged into where the congregation would all sit and he laid down on the one closest to the door.
Two of the 6 men that followed them back from the forest were standing by the massive doors of the church, obviously not guarding it, but watching them.
"Vaal, Whats up with the loud ass bells." Vari said to the guys watching them and he watched as they looked at each other confused and then their irises seemed to split in two and the two of them turned to look at vari perfectly in sync.
"You figured it out." Valerias voice emanated from both the men at the same time.
"Was pretty easy, given you did something to get all your old skills back this early." Kaiser responded from the chair he sat on.
"Crowd Control." Vari said.
"I didn't do anything. Spawned in with them." Valeria responded.
Kaiser and Vari tried to hold in their surprise as they acted like they already knew that and ignored him.
"The bells only ring when the people who walk in are going to die horrible deaths. the number of tolls the bells make is directly related to how many lives will be lost from the people going in." Valeria responded to their earlier question then he winced, he was getting bandaged up wherever he actually was and his pain passed through into the bodies he controlled.
"So, everyone who just walked in is going to die soon?" Kaiser asked as he sat up and turned around.
"There was only 10 people." Valeria responded.
"If only ten people were to die, the bells would have very well have stopped by now." Adam chipped in, and both the bodies Valeria was controlling nodded at once.
They all looked to the bell that they would see through one of the stained glass and saw that it was still swinging side to side.
"Correct." Valeria said.
"Must be a glitch. We cant go outside as long as its ringing that loudly right? I'll go cut it down." Vari said as he stood up and pulled his massive axe off his back.
The men controlled by Valeria threw two pebbled wrapped in wet cloth to Vari, these were make shift earplugs, they helped Vari not even need to cover his ears as they were outside.
"They pop after 10 minutes."
Vari walked up the stairs on the side of the cathedral and hopped out the ceiling onto the platform above the roof that had the paths to all 5 watch towers around the cathedral.
He looked out into the forest and could see that in that moment a massive cloud of darkness was rushing through the forest right for them. The cloud was simply the massive amalgamation of rats that was running around in circles around the map, they simply moved to the side when they go too close to the cathedral, a testament to it being good at being a safe haven.
Vari could feel the intensity of the bell on his skin as the hairs on his arms and feet raised on end just because of how loud it clanged. if he had any hair on his head it would be standing upright because of how close he was.
As he swung his axe to the Bell, what seemed to be an angel of light reached its hand out the floor and grabbed Varis leg and begin to squeeze as it crushed into his bone.
Vari didn't seem to mind though, as he still swung for the rope holding the chain up and in one clean swing he cut it off the roof of the watch tower and it hit the floor with a loud enough bang that Vari felt the plugs in his ears literally disintegrate and his skin pores started to bleed. He knew he took quite some damage from this because mediocrity of a sinner had activated and he was particularly displeased by that because he made it a point to never need it.
The arm of the brightly lit being that grabbed his leg had left him alone with a bleeding foot as he hopped off the Watch tower, back into the cathedral.
"Did you do it?" Kaiser asked when Vari walked down the stairs.
"Huh?" Vari responded.
"Did you-" Kaiser tried to repeat but Vari stopped him.
"Let's not do this, I cant hear you, that metal bowl was loud as fuck." Vari said as he slumped into one of the chairs that Kaiser was on.
One of the men at the door, opened up the door and walked outside for a second and nodded.
"Thank you." Valeria said through the man and the control was lifted from the both of them.
As soon as that happened, what seemed to be about 40 people walked down the stairs of the cathedral, Kaiser noticed their irises were all split and they were all wearing white attire as they drifted down the stairs.
"Time for Mass." Valerie uttered and his voice resonated through all 40 of these various men, women and children and they all drifted into the benches and sat down. then the nuns from before, carried Valeria onto the altar, they too also had split irises and they sat Valeria comfortably into a chair.
"Let us begin." Valeria said, this time the voice only went through his real body. the peoples irises merged together again and some of the children started to cry, the women looking about frantically like
they didnt want to be there. Like they were held to the seats by Valerias crowd control.
Kaiser sat up and looked on as Valeria began the mass. He was cautious and stepped back far away from any of the people he could control and he sat on the far end on an empty seat, with Vari sleeping beside him.
"Hey kid." One of the guards at the doors said to Adam as he was lying on the floor.
"We are going to go hunt for food and gather what we can. we need as much man power as we can get." The guard said.
Adam stood to his feet, adjusting the Arm still strapped to his back and putting the sword beside it as he immediately accepted the offer.
"I don't want to be here anyway." he said
「Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.」The system glitched into view behind his back as he walked out with the guards.
He only now noticed they were in white garments too as they introduced themselves.
"My name is Abel. And my friend over there is Seth." Abel said, his long black hair tied back into a bun similar to Valerias. and Seths grey hair was cut as low as what would have been a buzz cut. Their facial features weren't too bvaried, almost like they were chosen to be together.
"We are brothers yes." Seth clarified as he saw the look on Adams face grow into confusion and it immediately vanished as Seth explained.
"Ohh, makes sense." Adam said as he walked with the two. Keeping his distance but still maintaining a friendly outlook.
Both of them were level 7 from what the status board he could see above their heads was telling him, so he felt quite safe with them.
Adam calmed his nerves by thinking about how he didn't immediately distrust Moon and his gang and they turned out to be good people so he opened up to the guards.
...
"Bro, yeah. Our parents used to go to the same underground church too." Abel said out loud with a hardy laugh as the three reminisced about what used to be.
"They forced me there, every fucking day dude. The Preist sometimes would speak through speakers it was horrible. Cops raided the place one day, and get this, my hoverboard snapped clean in half while I was trying to escape." Adam said.
"What the fuck. Gotta be the "Gods Plan" Theyre Always talking about." Seth said as he laughed out heartily as well.
They were just talking about how they utterly hated the idea of churches and laughing at their bad experiences.
Adam completely forgot why he was even out there in the first place.
Abel went quiet for a moment and when Adam turned around to see what he was doing a knife, longer than Adams forearm, plunged into him through his spine, and pierced right through his right lung.
"Hhhkk—guhhh... khhhhgg—gghhhrrkk...!" Adam whimpered out as he reached for the knife he could see coming out his chest as he wheezed and coughed out a bloody mess.
In front of his very eyes the system popped out once more, matching his painful breaths.
「Inhale」
「Exhale」
「Inhale」
「Exhale」
It kept repeating as he tried to keep breathing, until Abel grabbed Adam by his hair and Seth pulled out a similar knife and began to hack at Adams neck, trying to decapitate him. Adam began to scream out, his creams sounding wet and sharp.
Seth pulled out a piece of fabric from his pocket, opened Adams mouth and pulled out his tongue and then sliced it clean out before shoving the fabric down his throat to muffle his screams as he continued to hack away at his neck.
"You really need to learn how to do this cleanly." Abel said as blood splattered over his face and Adam squirmed about, but Abel swiftly twisted the knife he had in his spine and it made his body stop moving as violently.
"Yeah yeah. It doesn't matter." Seth responded as he kept hacking, he was almost finished.
「INHALE」
「EXHALE」
「INHAL-」
'No, Please-' Adam thought as a fatal strike hit and his vision went burry then completely dark.
「Metam」
the system showcased before it vanished.