Chapter 189: In the Ruins (I)

The darkness swallowed them whole.

Ishiki’s boots struck stone as he jumped over the fallen archway and then stood at the threshold of the small way that opened into a ginormous hall.

From the illusion he remembered how marvelous this large area used to be, it was large enough to house several elephants.

’Huh… how big are elephants? ’ He asked himself, finding it hard to imagine an elephant… because he had not seen one his entire life.

Nina’s breathing behind him was quick and shallow—not quite panicked, but approaching that threshold. Her footsteps were lighter and almost hesitant to follow.

Ishiki activated Ghost Blade and let his conscience expand outward in its familiar sphere. They carefully crossed the small space and finally stepped inside the hall.

The air grew colder as they went deeper. As if the very temperature had been leached away by centuries of isolation.

“Big Brother Ishiki?” Nina’s voice was barely above a whisper, but it carried in the enclosed space with startling clarity.

“What is it?”

“It’s so dark. I can’t see anything.”

Ishiki had forgotten. Unlike him, Nina didn’t possess a skill that functioned independent of light. She was blind here, trusting him to guide her through absolute blackness.

He stopped, causing Nina to almost collide with his back.

“Wait here,” he instructed, then focused inward.

He thought for a second and then summoned his new vestige… [Sorrow’s Edge]. The jian appeared in his hands, as the motes of light condensed. the purple glow of the blade was enough to see around.

But as soon as he touched it the information influx in his mind caused his nerves to stand making his feel a sudden headache. But he suppressed the most evident signs and continued.

“Better?” Ishiki asked.

She nodded, managing a small smile. “Much better. Thank you.”

’From what I remember… there was a large window in the ceiling which broke. But the ceiling had completely broken…’ He sighed remembering that he was walking in a frame that was standing because of some accidental Collison of debris at correct angles.

He needed to be careful of what to disturb and what should stay as it is.

After quite a bit of walking through the fallen debris and closed out paths… they finally reached a part where the hall could be seen in most of its glory.

It stretched far and wide in front of them. And it was illuminated by the streaks of Silver Moonlight that came from between a few spaces in the broken and fallen ceiling.

To his surprise the ceiling hadn’t completely collapsed… it was still standing on two of the pillars.

The ceiling had not collapsed but was instead covered with debris that must have fallen from some structure like towers around the Cathedral or such.

The ground was streaked with pools of blood that had dried and become permanent markings on the ground. They came from the two fallen pillars that Ishiki had seen in the illusion.

Seeing it in person felt really weird and awkward.

But it was the floor that arrested his attention most completely.

Almost half the chamber had simply ceased to exist.

On the other edge of the hall the angel’s colossus feet was visible. It had pulverized everything that came under it had simply turned to dust.

He studied the devastation with growing unease as he noticed that even the angel was unable to destroy the ground of the cathedral.

“Nina… stay behind me.” He said as he walked towards one of the fallen pillars and was utterly disappointed on finding that the symbol had been buried under the pillar itself.

At the center of the hall, the already broken pillar had fallen as well. The Upper part that was connected to the roof with chains struck right onto the lower part and both were turned to dust.

He stopped near the rubble of the central pillar and looked around.

“What are we looking for exactly? In such a place!!” Nina asked a bit hesitant.

Ishiki brought the jian closer to his face making it covered in shadows from above and said in a slow voice. “Evil Spirits!”

Nina shuddered visibly with a grim expression. And then heard Ishiki laughing. His laughed echoed from all direction in this hall which was silent for ages.

“Don’t laugh like that its creepy.” she squeaked.

“Haha… sorry for that.” Ishiki subsided his laughter. “We are looking for books and documents… anything that has words written on it actually.”

Nina nodded slowly and started looking for something like that in the chaotic rubble.

Ishiki closed his eyes and then discovered two doorways that had intact rooms behind them. They were on the two different sides of the hall… closest to the angels feet.

’Hmm… that must have been the High Priests room. So were there two high priests? there were rooms on the both sides in Cathedral in the secondary ring too. The one of the left was broken so I never had the chance to check it… but the one on the right was indeed the room of the one with the Highest authority.’

Ishiki concluded that much from his knowledge and decided to check on the room in the right side.

Unfortunately his skill’s distance didn’t go any further into the room so he needed to get closer to the room to asses it.

“AHHHH!”

Suddenly Ishiki’s eyes jerked open when he heard Nina’s scream and he found her on the ground with a hand against her mouth.

He instantly rushed to her.

“What happened?”

Nina pointed in front of her and said in a suppressed voice. “There… Something moved there!!”

Ishiki looked at it and found nothing special there… until he saw a white maggot squirming in the remains of a skeleton.

He sighed and touched it with Sorrow’s Edge. The purple flames licked it and instantly turned it into nothing… leaving not a single residue behind.

“It was just a maggot. You see.” he said with a smile and then helped her stand up. “You don’t need t look around… I found the place.”

“Oh?” Nina exclaimed in surprise. “Big Brother Ishiki sure is efficient.”

Ishiki didn’t say anything much and simply ordered her to stay behind him and look for rubble.

They made their way towards the Angel’s feet through the debris. In between Ishiki would momentarily stop and at the ground trying to search something but he couldn’t find it.

Nina followed without question, her eyes wide as she took in the devastation. The purple flames of the Jian cast dancing shadows across broken stone, creating the illusion of movement where there was only stillness.

Finally… after crossing almost all the hall… they reached the first intact doorway.

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