Chapter 31 – Sanctuary of Ash
Part 3: Judgment Is Not Mercy
The Church did not expect a blade with a memory. It expected silence. Instead, it will receive judgment.
The reliquary was colder than expected.
Not physically. Spiritually.
A sterile, manicured silence blanketed the marble corridors as Kael stepped deeper, passing beneath archways inscribed with "Blessing, Purity, Obedience."
The doors closed behind him.
But he didn't stop.
He knew this wouldn't take long.
Not once the truth began to bleed.
The first chamber was small. Lined with gold-leaf tomes and sanctified scrolls. A glowing mural of the Sun-God above a river of flame smiled down from stained glass.
Kael ignored it.
His hand moved to the edge of the shelving unit, where a seam in the wood didn't match. He slid a concealed panel open and found a ledger.
Not holy records.
Transactions.
Names.
Amounts.
Ages.
Terms.
It was coded, but not well.
Words like "Lambs," "Stars," and "Tithes" were crossed with symbols that, once seen, could never be unseen.
Next to it sat a crystal recording sphere.
He activated it.
Projected light flared silently on the wall:
A nun, smiling gently, leading a barefoot girl into a shadowed room.
Two holy knights waited inside.
The sphere dimmed before the screaming began.
Kael didn't watch the rest.
He pocketed the sphere.
He knew what it meant.
The hall behind the vault split in three.
Kael took the rightmost path first—toward the barracks.
Inside: armor racks. Weapon walls.
And three men sharpening blessed blades.
Holy knights.
He moved without sound.
The first never saw him.
A slit across the throat.Armor never made a sound when it fell right.
The second turned just in time to draw.
Kael blinked behind him, severed the tendons in both legs, and whispered:
"God isn't watching."
Then slit his eyes.
The last ran.
Kael let him.
Until the man reached the main chamber—and tripped the trap Kael had already set. A holy banner pole, inverted and sharpened, fell from the ceiling and spiked through his chest.
The holy sigil impaled him.
Kael moved on.
In the underground chapel, he found the nuns.
Seven of them.
Smiling. Kneeling. Praying.
He waited in the shadows.
He watched them finish their prayers.
Then followed one as she returned to the orphanage path.
When she opened the cellar door, Kael was already inside.
He slit her throat without a sound.
The others followed soon after.
One tried to run.
He dragged her back by the hair.
She begged.
He didn't listen.
He stuffed their bodies in the orphanage storage—the same cold floor they used to "prepare the children."
Then locked the door and poured the vial of dream-poison they used on the orphans through the ventilation grate.
They died slowly.
Only the priests remained.
He killed them in silence.
Each death different.
Each left behind as a warning.
He filled their holy offering bowls with their own tongues—cut mid-prayer.
And still… he had not said a word.
The reliquary burned behind him.
Holy scrolls turned to cinders. Banners blistered black and peeled from the marble columns like dying skin.
Kael walked through the smoke in silence, blood drying across his coat in violet-black streaks. The guards were dead. The priests—gutted. The nuns—silenced. The orphanage... no longer a prison.
Only one remained.
And he was waiting.
The top floor of the cathedral tower had been designed for prayer.
Now it was a sanctum of rot.
The golden altar shimmered beneath stained glass windows, the light filtered to look soft and eternal.
Bishop Aluin Harrow stood before it, cloaked in divine vestments—blue and white robes, sun-star pendant at his throat. In his hands, a staff etched with runes—divine light coiling around it like mist.
He turned as Kael entered.
"You," he said.
Kael said nothing.
The bishop smirked. "You came for blood. But I am chosen. You think shadow will devour flame?"
He raised the staff.
"Let me show you why God chose me."
The air warped.
Rays of divine light spiraled from the staff, forming a barrier of sunflame.
Holy scripture etched itself in glowing lines across the walls—binding wards.
Kael felt his movement restrict. Shadow Curl resisted.
[System Warning: Divine Binding - Suppression Field Engaged]
The bishop's voice echoed louder now, amplified by the spell:
"Confess your sins and burn, little shadow."
He cast a radiant spear—a bolt of compressed sanctity aimed for Kael's heart.
Kael didn't blink.
He blinked through.
The spell shattered against the wall, melting glass.
Kael appeared at the bishop's side and slashed—only for his blade to hit a sudden warded shield.
The bishop flinched back, panting.
"You… you're fast—faster.
Kael's voice was low.
"And you're slower than you thought."
Another spell.
A whip of golden chains.
Kael ducked.
It grazed his coat, singed the edge.
He threw a shadow dagger mid-roll. It struck the bishop's hand—cut clean through two fingers.
The staff dropped.
The spell collapsed.
Kael was already on him.
The bishop staggered back. Bleeding. Chanting.
He raised his other hand, light flaring again.
"By the divine, I—"
Kael activated Shadow Carve Lv. 2.
The blade blinked through the ward layers and cut across the bishop's ribs, through the scripture tattooed on his skin—not a symbol of devotion, but a leash of power.
The bishop screamed.
And dropped to his knees.
"You… you can't… that's not possible…"
Kael stood over him.
"It is now."
He reached down. Grabbed the bishop's robe.
Pulled him close.
And pressed the ledger to his chest—the black book of names, trades, children.
"Read it."
The bishop shook. "I… I was chosen—"
Kael slit his throat.
Not fast.
Not merciful.
He dropped the corpse in front of the altar.Soaked the robes in null-oil.And lit the flame.
The tower fire would take the whole cathedral before morning.
On the altar, he left behind:
The ledger
The recording crystal
And a single letter:
To the God You Forgot:"I did what you refused to do."
He walked into the street as bells cracked and people screamed.
And watched as the fire painted the sky with judgment.
[System Notification]
✔ Church Stronghold: Destroyed✔ Bishop-Class Entity: Terminated✔ Adept Rank: Unlocked✔ Shadow Marks: +10
🛒 System Shop – Unlocked
"You judged those who claimed they were beyond judgment.Now become what they feared."