Chapter 187: Cathedral Ruins

The Cathedral stood opposite the Castle like a monument to divine failure.

Where once it had been a titan of architecture that rivaled even the Emperor’s seat in both scale and grandeur—now it lay broken beneath the Angel’s colossal feet.

The structure that had been wrought seemingly of solid gold, catching the sun and reflecting it back with blinding intensity, was reduced to rubble and ruin.

Ishiki stood at the edge of the destruction. The main structure had collapsed inward, its roof tiles scattered like broken teeth across cracked marble floors.

The walls leaned at angles that painted a scene of imminent further collapse. The massive archway that had once welcomed thousands of worshipers now lay, half-buried beneath tons of masonry.

From the illusion that he had witnessed long ago he remembered that the pillars inside were the first to collapse. Back then he had not paid enough attention to what happened after he walked out of it.

There were wide steps that lead one to the door… The marble used on them was stained with dark streaks that looked disturbingly like dried blood.

’This is the blood of the innocent people,’ a treacherous voice whispered in the back of his mind. ’From the day the gods fell and the city died.’

He pushed the thought aside, but it left a cold residue in his chest.

The Silver Moon’s light didn’t penetrate far into the ruins. Shadows pooled in the deeper recesses, thick and absolute, as if light itself feared to tread there.

Dust hung in the air, visible as pale motes that drifted lazily through the moonlight, giving the entire scene a dreamlike quality that was deeply unsettling.

’No,’ Ishiki corrected himself. ’Not dreamlike. Its nightmarish.’

There was something profoundly wrong about this place. The reason Ishiki felt that was rather simple. It was because of the fact that the Angel had deliberately tried to crush this place under its foot before being petrified.

And back in the illusion the two figures… whom Ishiki suspected to be Mandecium and his Son, who was the angel.

He came to another conclusion and that one was really dreadful. The Lord of Illusions had shown him an Illusion dating back 3000 years ago. So that means that he was alive at that time.

’It was a good choice that we ran away from there. I don’t think we could have fought something like that.’ Ishiki sighed.

He looked at the ruins and then walked closer to the steps. Beneath those colossal stone feet, the rubble and ruin, lay secrets.

Ishiki activated Ghost Blade, expanding his awareness outward in a sphere of black-and-white clarity.

The ruins resolved in his mind with perfect detail. And there, just as he’d suspected, his skill revealed what his eyes couldn’t see.

Chambers.

There were two rooms that were untouched by the devastation above.

’The High Priest’s sanctum,’ Ishiki thought, pulse quickening despite his efforts at maintaining calm. ’If the Secondary Ring had a High Priest who chronicled partial history, the Inner Ring must have had someone even closer to the truth. Someone who served at the very heart of the Empire.’

It held, answers.

But answers came with prices, and the cathedral exuded menace like a physical presence. Standing before it, Ishiki couldn’t shake the feeling that there is something really dangerous there.

’The Secondary Ring cathedral had a sealed dragon, ’ he reminded himself, suppressing a shudder. ’What kind of horrors does this one contain?’

The question had no comfortable answers.

He had activated Ghost Blade in the Cathedral of the Secondary Ring… but his skill wasn’t able to provide him any information on the area below. At that time he didn’t give it much attention… but now that the same phenomenon has occoured again he couldn’t help but feel a little terrified.

He was so absorbed in studying the ruins and planning his approach that he didn’t hear the footsteps until they were quite close.

“Big brother Ishiki?”

Ishiki spun around slowly and narrowed his eyes. What was Nina doing here again?

She walked toward him with careful steps, as if uncertain of her welcome. In her arms she carried a basket filled with vegetables.

Fresh vegetables, Ishiki noted with surprise. Tomatoes, carrots, leafy greens that still glistened with moisture. They looked recently harvested.

“Nina,” Ishiki said, straightening from his examination of the ruins. “Where are you going with those?”

She stopped a few meters away, shifting the basket’s weight in her arms.

“Filch gave them to me,” she said quietly. “From the Secondary Ring. He said there are still gardens there that haven’t completely died, and that I should eat properly. I need to give half of them to the castle to show that I am working.”

Those who had surrendered to the dragon had to do some work towards building a new Empire from scratch. And everyone had to do it without any exception.

’Half an hour, ’Ishiki thought with something between amusement and genuine amazement. ’It’s been maybe half an hour since I last saw him, and he’s already brought food for Nina.’

Filch’s efficiency was bordering on supernatural. The man operated with the tireless dedication of someone who viewed every younger Player as his personal responsibility. Like a guardian who had appointed himself protector of lost children in a nightmare world that devoured the weak without mercy.

’He tries to do that for everyone,’ Ishiki mused, studying Nina’s uncertain expression. ’He acts like we’re all his responsibility just because he’s a little older than us. As if being twenty-two instead of eighteen somehow makes him obligated to feed and shelter everyone who crosses his path.’

It was endearing and frustrating in equal measure. Endearing because the genuine care was obvious. Frustrating because Filch stretched himself thin trying to protect people who might not survive regardless of his efforts.

’A full-fledged guardian,’ Ishiki thought with a faint smile tugging at his lips despite the grim surroundings. ’That’s what he’s become. Whether he wanted the role or not.’

Nina was watching him with an expression he couldn’t quite decipher. Her hands clutched the basket tighter.

Ishiki studied her for a moment longer, then formed a smile.

“Do you need something, Nina?” he asked slowly, keeping his voice gentle.

For a moment, she didn’t respond. Then her cheeks puffed up in an expression of childish annoyance, and she turned her head to look away, refusing to meet his eyes.

“I asked Filch and went to the house you live in… but you weren’t there.” she said in an exaggerated manner.

Ishiki blinked.

’Is she… angry? ’

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