The interior was as magnificent as the exterior. The walls, benches, paintings and central statue were all a little too well maintained. There was nothing to suggest that this was the site of one of the greatest massacres of all time. No corpses to speak of. The church was empty. The four statues were arranged in the same way as in Orio.
"They're slightly different. Their eyes are no longer gouged out and they look at the man in the center with grandeur. It's as if he's made a success of his descent."
Indeed, all the statues seemed to be singing the praises of the man in the statue. But something was bothering Marc.
"Where is she?"
"I know what you mean, but let's move on first."
Elie didn't much appreciate Marc worrying about another woman. Even if she was a statue. They walked towards the central statue again. This time, it was right in the middle of the church and was positioned so that all the pews were facing it. The man seemed even more powerful than in Orio. He remained impassive, however, and still had the same look in his eyes.
"It's a good thing his plans went awry. What would we have done with a guy like that on earth? What was his purpose?"
The statue looked at Marc as if he were alive. As if it simply didn't want to answer him.
"Let's move on."
They walked around the room and met up near the entrance.
"Well. We've been all around the room, but there's one thing you've missed again. Look up."
They all looked up at the ceiling. Hidden in the darkness, it wasn't possible for a normal human to see the horror that lay there. Marc opened his eyes wide, Elie wanted to vomit, Exorian looked away, Jin could hardly breathe, Nathanaël began to cry in horror.
"It was probably necessary for that guy's descent."
In the middle of the ceiling were hundreds, no, thousands of hanging corpses that seemed to magically pile up.
"How is that possible?"
"No matter how many times I've seen it, I'll never get used to it."
"Take a good look at all these people. Their corpses are still intact. There's aura holding it all together. But, Marc, you wanted to know where she was. Look closely."
Marc made the effort to look up. Under the pressure, his heart was racing. He could hardly breathe and his vision became blurred.
"Look closely, Marc."
He raised his head to observe the corpses and discovered to his horror that a statue was holding all the ropes of the hanged men. It was her. It was the lady.
"Ahh...."
Marc fell over in shock. The lady was holding all the strings of the hanged men and at the same time, she had swords planted in every direction in her body.
"I guess you weren't expecting that. You seemed to appreciate her."
His breathing quickened again. When he saw that the statue had a black tear running down her cheek, his heart nearly gave out. This impassive-looking lady, with her cold, slightly hateful gaze, was weeping with the strings of the thousands of corpses she herself held. Marc fainted in shock. The aura in the room was far too powerful. The group fainted under the effect. The Emperor looked at them.
"It happened to me too. You'll wake up in a few minutes. I assume you've figured out where the blood came from in Orio."
He sat down in a chair with Exorian at his side.
"Everything all right, Exorian?"
"I'm still having a bit of trouble. But I won't leave you alone in that place anymore."
"You may sit down."
"Thank you, Majesty."
The Emperor looked intently at the statue. His emerald eyes met its black ones.
"What did you want with our beloved world, motherf.cker?"
Receiving no reply. He continued to observe the statue. However, he was surprised to find that Marc had already risen to his feet.
"Well, well. You're mentally strong."
Marc wasn't listening. He moved forward, clenching his mouth and fists so tightly that he began to bleed. With his hand over his heart, he struggled towards the statue. His blood trickled to the ground and evaporated under the pressure emitted by his aura.
"Marc, where are you..."
The Emperor did not, however, stop him from advancing towards the statue. Exorian was shocked by the lack of respect he showed towards him.
"You insolent fool. You're going to..."
"ZODRIC"
Marc was so angry that he tore at his vocal cords to shout at the statue.
"What did you do to her? What did you do to her? ANSWER."
Elie opened her eyes. She saw Marc shouting at the statue with all his might. She envied the one he was waxing for. Then she looked at the statue. It gaze had gone to Marc. It had moved.
"Marc. No..."
Under the effect of the aura, she fainted again.
"Marc, what are you th..."
The aura emitted by the statue increased violently. It swept across the room so strongly that all the windows shattered and the door opened wide. The benches were thrown back and the statues began to tremble as if alive. Marc, however, stood proudly in front of this one. Yet the last time he'd faced an opponent with such a terrifying aura was the time he'd confronted Goagi.
"You. Who are you really?"
The statue looked at Marc, then slowly began to move. The Emperor and Exorian couldn't believe it. Marc looked at the statue. His eyes turned red.
"You're him, aren't you? Or are you someone else?"
The statue rose from its pedestal. From its height, it stared at the group as if they were mere ants.
"I'm going to find out soon anyway."
Before they could see anything, a powerful blow was thrown towards the ground. Marc and the Emperor barely had time to dodge.
"Exorian. Take the kids and get out of here."
"Okay."
Exorian rushed to carry the other three and take off running. But Jin woke up to the smell of a fight. His dark eyes opened wide as he saw the statue charging at his master.
"Magnificent, master. I was right to choose to follow you all the way."
In an instant, the immense statue was in front of Marc. It had no trouble moving. If anything, it moved faster than they did. Marc had trouble dodging its blows. He brushed against it every time. But his anger only increased as the fight went on.
"You're getting on my nerves."
"I know."
The Emperor, who had managed to shake off the statue's attention, split the air again. The trace of the blow was marked on the ground, but the statue did nothing to dodge it. On the contrary, she took it head-on, but it did nothing for it at all. It charged at Marc again, as if the Emperor didn't exist.
"Such insolence. You'd better look at me a little."
In the blink of an eye, the Emperor appeared right in front of the statue's face. With a few visible strokes, he launched a flurry of blows at her.
"You're annoying me, Emperor. You don't belong in here."
Turcan was surprised that none of his blows managed to make a large cut on the statue. He soon found himself in front of a finger that swept him away with a flick. Marc continued to desperately dodge the stone giant's blows. If this was stone.
"What did you do to her?"
"You should know."
The statue's blows became faster and faster.
"You're not him."
His right hand like a peg, he struck towards Marc with such violence that the whole town thought it was an earthquake. But strangely, Mark was not under his hand.
"Tell me what happened to her."
His red eyes shone in the dust. Suddenly, the statue took a huge punch to the left cheek. She was pushed back against the church wall. Before it could get up again, this time it caught Marc's knee in the face. From a position of strength, Marc landed a series of punches to the statue's face. His red eyes shone even brighter. Blood poured from his hands. Rage. That's what Marc felt at that moment. He was lost in his rage. His blows left indentations in the statue's face.
"Not bad."
Suddenly, the statue's aura threw Marc to the other side of the room. When he opened his eyes again, it was gone.
"I suppose I'd have an easier time of it, if I were your size."
The statue came up behind Marc, who noticed it too late. Its left fist filled Marc's vision.
"My turn."
Fortunately, Jin's foot deflected the fist's trajectory.
"I'm going to..."
Marc followed up with a direct fist to the face. And began to advance toward where he'd thrown it.
"Master?"
Jin looked at his master. His gaze was terrifying; he was covered in blood, no longer looking like the master he'd known. Under this vision, Jin didn't intervene in the fight.
"You're definitely not him. He'd have killed me by now if he wanted me dead. But since you look like him, I'll have a little fun."
The statue stood up and came face to face with Marc.
"Let's have some fun, human."
Marc's red eyes left a trail of light across the room. In a flash, he leaped over the statue.
"A circular kick."
The blow was quickly countered by the statue before they disappeared again due to their speed. Marc followed up with a heel kick. The statue avoided it. Front kick. The statue avoided it. A Brazilian kick. The statue avoided it. All Marc's punches ended up being countered or avoided until the statue started to attack.
Simple jabs to start with, then more and more lunge punches. She followed up with scissor punches and uppercut punches, all of which were narrowly avoided by Marc. The church was gradually deteriorating under the blows. The powerful wave of aura swept away the debris. Hundreds of blows were exchanged for a long minute. But suddenly, cracks began to appear on the statue's body. It was clearly deteriorating.
"Tch."
It soon noticed, but it was already too late. Marc, who could no longer see anything but combat, was hitting harder and harder. The cracks increased until the statue's right arm exploded under one of the blows. One-armed, she took a magnificent roundhouse kick right on the right cheek and was thrown onto the door, which Exorian quickly closed.
"You're lucky I only have this body to fight with..."
Marc jumped on the statue and poured a series of fists into its face. Jin stared at his rampaging master, his red gaze lost in rage.
"Marc."
The Emperor stepped in front of him, but received no attention. On the contrary, he could hardly stop Marc from striking. Jin also tried to stop his master. He managed to get him to back away from the carcass.
"Perhaps we've met again, strange boy."
The statue lost its aura. It seemed to fade as if it had never been lit.
"No. Come back. Tell me what happened. Tell me."
"Marc. That's enough of that. He's gone. We'd better save our strength for later."
Marc suddenly snapped out of his rage and came to. His eyes turned black again. He looked around and surveyed the damage.
"What happened?"
"Don't you remember? It's really sad."
The Emperor looked at Marc's face to see if he was somewhere else. His anger had made him shiver for a moment. He didn't want to make a decision yet, but Marc had to be watched, if not eliminated.