Hero’s Downfall Report

23 – Report on the Fall of Chastity (10)

Two masses blocked the path before Cain and Lilly. The left one had a cleric, and the right one had a monk inside, looking like a human-sized meatball stuffed with a person.

Cain swung his staff. It hit the right mass’s side. The staff then struck the left mass’s waist, thigh, and knee joints.

The left one staggered and fell with a thud. The right mass fell over the left one. The two masses, fallen, struggled to devour each other.

“Cut them down!”

Cain leaped to the side and shouted. Lilly drew her sword. A horizontal swing above the inquisitor’s head, then diagonal strikes at the shoulders. With just three swings, she severed the vine-like tendrils binding the inquisitor’s tongue.

From the severed tongue, a shadowy figure poured out with a cool, rhythmic sound. Haspel lowered his head and clasped his hands.

“As your humble servant earnestly implores your assistance, kindly descend the purifying fire to cleanse the filth, preventing shame and disgrace!”

From Haspel’s palm, flames erupted. They were crimson flames. As if spreading on oil, the fire didn’t harm Haspel, Lilly, or Cain in the slightest.

However, when the shadows touched the flames, they ignited like paper soaked in oil, burning fiercely. In an instant, nothing remained but a handful of ashes.

The vine-like tendrils couldn’t withstand their nature, trembling and shaking, the tongue tip seemed to want to extend, but each time, Haspel’s fire surged to protect everyone.

“This can’t be…”

Haspel staggered. Cain quickly grabbed him. The inquisitor pointed shakily at the chaste paladin.

“Oh, I… I… I shouldn’t have seen this.”

“What do you mean you shouldn’t have seen?”

“Cain, agent. I’ve been deceived. This is an extremely vile spell. If it can be called a spell. No ancient incantation, not even the curse of the sacrificial offering that burned a thousand people to attain enlightenment, is as twisted and ominous as this. Paladin of Chastity, Archbishop William is cursed.”

“What kind of curse is it?”

The column of fire rose vigorously. The bright flames now turned pale. The heat from the stone walls, ceiling, and floor became even more intense. Yet, not a single cornerstone or glass shattered. They merely melted and flowed like gold, only to solidify again.

“Mockery.”

The priest sighed.

“Mockery. It’s mockery. It turns even the most sacred into the vilest, and the noblest into the most base. When the power of goodness strengthens, the vileness of mockery also grows. I missed this. As we performed the rites of purification and blessing, the power of mockery increased as well. Witness!”

The priest became furious. The tongues fluttered gracefully.

“Behold this endlessly debauched scene. See how those consumed reveal their flaws freely in the air! The most obscene ridicule of chastity. All those countless accusations, all those countless disgraces… each and every one of them was related to s*x…”

“What should we do?”

Cain shook the priest’s shoulders.

“How can we solve this? Isn’t there a way?”

“Get out!” the priest shouted.

“Get out! Don’t listen to mocking words. Get out of the place of mockery! Mockery must be met with cold disregard and contempt. That way, the empty mockery and ridicule will eventually turn back on itself, cursing and mocking itself until it withers away and dies!

But the more you confront it, the more it will grow in strength!”

Cain looked at the knights.

Under the command of Sir Marco, the main force of the Knights was still tightly packed, pushing back the monsters in a dense formation. No matter how much the monsters roared, the main force didn’t swing their swords or shields. They simply pushed with their shoulders, ignoring them as they passed by.

That was all it took for the monsters to fail to stop the advance of the Knights. But that was as far as they could go. The Knights couldn’t go any further.

Archbishop William clasped his hands, chuckled, and repeatedly thrust his waist forward. He shook his waist, pushed out his belly, and repeatedly jerked his head back. It was a despicable and vulgar movement.

“Stop it!”

Sir Marco shouted.

“You were a noble warrior. You were the pride of the Mercy Knights! Remember your true nature, remember your kindness! You were a knight of purity!”

The Archbishop made a movement as if he was taking off his pants.

But what was being stripped off was flesh. And then, from within, a grotesque and obscene lump the size of a person suddenly shot up. It wriggled like the head of a snake.

The Knight Commander wailed and screamed. Haspel, the priest, bit her lip. She seemed to endure agony and pain. Such blasphemy, the corruption of what was noble, was difficult for even the Inquisitor to bear.

“Father, Father! You must regain your senses!”

“Why… why was it… why…!”

Archbishop William laughed as he waved the lump in the air. The flesh that had devoured people grew more aggressive.

Tongues burned a sickly yellow, drooling more viscous and thick saliva. Even though the stone walls had become too hot to touch, the tendrils of the tongue were as insatiable as the burning desire. They would not be satisfied until they fulfilled their endless, endless desires.

The knights shouted in horror. They could no longer ignore it. The lumps started to drag the knights away. They jumped on their heads, held onto their legs, and tried to strip off their armor. They dug into their armpits and pushed towards the vines on the wall.

Tongues, vividly tinged in red, swayed like spear-wielding foot soldiers, confronting the onslaught of the Gimaeda.

Not only vividly red but also grotesquely transforming, those tongues at the tip of the head writhed, eager to fulfill their desires by lusting after and tasting people, unleashing their cravings.

They attempted to strip off the knights’ armor.

The eyes of Sister Haspel sharpened.

“Everyone, heed my words.”

The nun tore the emblem on her chest with her hand. It was the emblem signifying the Crusade formed to confront the Devil. She extended it to Cain. He accepted it.

“If you leave this place, without looking back, head to Magdeburg. It’s the central headquarters of the Inquisition. Find Inquisitor Heinrich there. Tell him the job is not yet done.”

“What job are you talking about?”

“The Devil.”

Sister Haspel rolled up her sleeve. Burn marks on her arm caught the eye.

“The Devil was wicked and a corrupter. The true power of the Devil was corrupting people. Beliefs he held, the faith he followed… he overturned, mocked, and trampled upon all of it.

Even though a large army was dispatched, the reason only seven heroes managed to defeat the Devil in the end was that they were the only ones not swayed by his temptations…

But among them, two… fell like this. Temperance and purity have crumbled… Ah, who’s next…”

“What corrupted people?”

Haspel buried her face in her hands.

“…It didn’t sow something that wasn’t there. Instead, it distorted, warped, and amplified the desires within a person. As if that alone were the entirety of the world… what you see now is… so, that means…”

Cain realized.

So, this horrific scene was what the chaste knight secretly dreamed of. Distorted and exaggerated, but it was something breathing inside him…

“Agent Cain. When we rummaged through the Archbishop’s sanctuary, we found disgustingly explicit letters and diaries. They were written by the chaste knight himself.”

“What were they about?”

“A record of the women involved. They even cut and pasted some of their hair.”

Lily covered her mouth, as if afraid to even utter a word.

“They were journals…”

Haspel lowered his head.

“Not even one volume…”

“I knew.”

Cain held onto Haspel.

“I knew. I knew they weren’t investigations. I knew those suspicions…”

“Just a few.”

Haspel looked at the knight of innocence with empty eyes.

“What I found out was only a small part. It wasn’t the whole, so I couldn’t reveal it. I deceived myself like that. But the truth, the truth about me, it wasn’t that. I couldn’t expose the sordid secret of someone I once believed and admired as a hero.”

Tears streamed from the tired Inquisitor’s eyes.

“I lacked courage. You… all of you. I believe you are different. If my eyes are mistaken… it’s an impossible task but… still, I will do my duty. The evidence of the fall of innocence is in my library in Magdeburg… go and see it. The emblem will show you the way.”

He staggered as he walked.

“Where are you going?”

“To do my work.”

“What work?”

Cain asked. Haspel replied briefly.

“The work that befits an Inquisitor.”

Father Haspel clasped his hands quietly. Strange words flowed from his mouth. They sounded like a song and a sob at the same time.

The inquisitor hung. Following his footsteps, a small flame shot up.

It was not a mad frenzy. It was the candlelight by the bedside of lovers, the beacon of hope on a snowy mountain path, the warm hearth fire on a cold winter day, waiting for meat to slowly cook while rubbing your hands together.

“Brother.”

The inquisitor stood before Bishop William, who was still engaged in a repulsive act.

“It’s all over.”

“Blessing…”

“There is no more blessing. The torment is over. Hero. The chaste knight. The inquisitor. Among the seven heroes favored by the sword, the chaste one. Bishop William. Do you truly want to live your life?”

“Life…?”

The pieces stopped. The bishop seemed to ponder if he had heard the word before.

“Life. Life… life…”

“William. Comrade. Brother. Do you want to live? Truly, do you want to live? If you want to keep living, let’s stop here. Let’s stop the further sins. Don’t be ensnared by the darkness. Let’s go. There’s still a chance.”

“It’s too late…”

The bishop laughed. Only with his mouth. His eyes were trembling.

“It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s irreversible.”

“I will help you. When I knew that you were struggling in sin, I should have… I should have saved you. But I couldn’t. Now, even if it’s late, I have come to save you.”

“No… that’s not possible…”

“You want to embrace the sin and die?”

William’s body trembled. Defiance shone in his eyes.

“Everyone has sinned. Why are you only asking me…”

“What are you saying?” Haspel looked at William. But William firmly shook his head.

“Everyone committed sins, so why are you asking only me?” he asked. “I… I! I! I!”

Bones protruded from William’s body.

“Ah…”

Haspel, for a moment, did not realize what had happened to himself. The bones that pierced through William’s body also pierced through his own body and emerged from his back.

The masses moved violently. They tore apart their bodies and pulled out bones. The knights who were pierced by the bone spurs screamed in agony. The knights wielded their swords belatedly, but it was too little, too late.

“I! I did nothing wrong! I am innocent! The sin… it was committed by them! They tempted me. They pushed me into sin. They are the ones at fault! I am blameless!”

The archbishop raved. It had become something that could no longer be considered human.

“If that is truly the case,” Haspel’s voice was gentle and calm, despite the blood flowing from his lips.

“If that is truly the case, then God will judge.”

The inquisitor breathed his last with open eyes.

As his final breath escaped, Father Haspel’s body began to wither.

Soon, his body became a sacrificial pyre to the Lord. Flames leapt from every part of him. The flames clung to Archbishop William’s body.

Despite screaming and thrashing the monstrous muscles, the flames calmly consumed his body.

The calm and warm flames spread through the sanctuary. The raging flames of lust, the fury of the scorned holy knights, all knelt before the nurturing, gentle flames.

No matter how fierce the blaze, in the end, it became a comforting ember. The tongues of fire intertwined and fell to the ground, burning away.

The masses knelt and fell one by one. Heads against the stone wall. The original owners of the masses lamented sorrowfully, yet on the other hand, they were grateful for the end of their suffering as they went up in flames.

Clang. The doors of the sanctuary opened with a sound. The bell-ringers, and the squires carrying buckets of water, rushed in. They dragged out the wounded, sprinkled water on the flames, and pulled the injured out of the sanctuary.

Cain and Lily also emerged from the sanctuary. Cain felt emptiness, disappointment, and uncertainty all at once.

“What a damned fool!”

Somewhere, a loud noise erupted. Aldric, the rude knight with red hair, was trampling on my apprentice knight. And that wasn’t all. The other knights of the Order of Mercy were also berating the squires and apprentice knights.

“You little bastards, you almost died in there! What were you doing outside that you couldn’t open the door? What kind of door was it that you couldn’t open?”

“Stop it!”

Cain tried to intervene and stop Aldric. One exhausted knight reached out his hand to Cain. It was Commander Marco.

“Just leave them be.”

“Just leave them be?”

“Their morale has been crushed.” Commander Marco poured the water brought by the squires over his head.

“While my senior knights were trying to burn themselves alive inside, these brats were doing nothing outside…”

Then, someone shouted.

“We did our best! We really did our best, prepared to die!”

It was one of Aldric’s apprentice knights. His hands were all torn and bleeding. The other apprentice knights and the hands of the squires were the same.

“We did everything we could! We tried pulling with ropes tied to our horses, we even tried rushing in to pull, but it didn’t open!”

“Prepared to die?” But those words only made Aldric angrier.

“Prepared to die? So who died then? Who died? Even if it meant dying, we should have saved lives! Are you soldiers? Are you leaders? Are you going to say that to the parents of the people who died on the battlefield?”

“What did we do wrong? Weren’t you knights unable to open it from the inside?”

“That bastard…”

Commander Marco groaned and stood up. But soon, he seemed to be stuck in place. He solidified in his spot.

A shadow wriggled under the feet of the apprentice knight.