Chapter 99: His Darkest Hour

Raziel pushed his back against the cold stone wall.

The smoke from the explosion burned his eyes and his lungs as the heavy iron door of the cell was completely destroyed, its pieces scattered on the floor.

The purification ritual circle he had drawn with coal and Oracle blood was ruined. The lines were broken and its light was dead.

Mirael hung unconscious from her chains, her chin rested on her chest and her golden blood dripped onto the dirt.

Raziel wiped the blood from his chin with his sleeve and looked forward.

Mother Superior Celestine walked into the cell.

Her gray robe didn’t have a single spot of dust and she didn’t look affected by the riot upstairs didn’t look worried about the screams echoing through the hallways of the sanatorium either.

She held the Chalice of Oblivion in her right hand.

The object was repaired.

Liquid gold filled the cracks Raziel had caused days ago, holding the black metal together and It pulsed with a violent violet light, hungry for mana.

“You think a fixed cup changes anything?” Raziel provoked her.

Celestine stopped in the middle of the ruined circle.

The warm, motherly facade she always wore disappeared completely and it didn’t just fade, it shattered.

Her shoulders relaxed, her stance changed and she planted her feet on the floor with military precision.

Raziel felt a physical weight drop on his shoulders and he struggled to breathe, it felt like the gravity itself seemed to bend around her.

His interface flickered and displayed a blood-red warning right in the middle of his vision.

[ANALYSIS: UPDATED]

[TARGET: SISTER CELESTINE]

[CLASS: SAINT-LEVEL EXORCIST]

[THREAT LEVEL: FATAL]

’Saint-Level.’

That meant she wasn’t just a director, because the Church hadn’t put a simple nurse to guard the Oracle and the crystal factory.

They put a living weapon.

Saint-Level Exorcists were the absolute elite of the Church, the executioners who wiped out entire armies of heretics by themselves.

“You thought you were clever, Raziel,” Celestine said.

“A little riot upstairs, some fire in the hallways, do you think that matters down here? I have guarded this dungeon for thirty years. I didn’t get this post by praying.”

The Chalice hummed in her hand.

VMMMM!

The violet light illuminated the whole cell.

Raziel searched inside his core for the [Paragon’s Light]. He tried to pull that golden warmth to create a shield or a blade but pain shot through his chest.

The parasite was half-asleep thanks to the Oracle’s blood, but it was still there.

If Raziel forced the holy light right now, the parasite would wake up completely and devour his core to protect itself from the purification.

’I can’t use magic because if I use it, the parasite eats me alive.’

He only had his body, a weak fifteen-year-old body full of bruises, exhausted, facing a monster in a nun’s habit.

Raziel grabbed the dagger he had used to cut Mirael.

He didn’t think twice and lunged forward, he gripped the hilt until his knuckles turned white and aimed right for her throat.

Celestine didn’t even blink.

She didn’t draw a weapon nor did she step back.

She just raised her free hand.

CLANG!

The dagger hit an invisible wall of solid mana and the impact sent a shockwave up Raziel’s arm, his wrist popped loudly.

“Too slow,” Celestine said.

She flicked her index finger.

BAM!

An invisible force slammed into Raziel’s chest and he flew backwards through the air, he crashed hard against the stone wall.

CRACK!

He felt two ribs snap.

The air left his lungs, he slid down to the floor, leaving a trail of blood on the stone.

[WARNING: CRITICAL PHYSICAL TRAUMA]

[RIBS FRACTURED]

[INTERNAL BLEEDING DETECTED]

Raziel coughed hot blood onto the floor.

He tried to stand up but his knees shook uncontrollably, he forced himself to stay on his feet and he picked up a handful of dirt from the floor and threw it at her face.

Celestine didn’t flinch, the dirt hit her mana shield and fell uselessly to the ground.

She walked toward him.

“The Church demands order, novice,” Celestine said. “You are an anomaly, you bring chaos and we extract the chaos.”

She pointed the Chalice of Oblivion directly at him.

“Soul Drain,” she ordered.

FWOOSH!

A thick beam of dark violet energy shot out of the Chalice and hit Raziel right in the chest.

Raziel screamed.

It felt like someone shoved a freezing hook into his chest and started pulling his actual soul out.

The energy pulled his memories, his willpower, and his life force outwards.

His skin turned freezing cold, his muscles locked up completely, it was total paralysis.

He dropped to his knees.

THUD.

He couldn’t lift his arms, he couldn’t move his neck, he couldn’t even close his mouth and his vocal cords were frozen.

The interface went crazy, flashing furiously in red.

[CRITICAL ALERT: SOUL DRAIN ACTIVE]

[MANA DEPLETED]

[MENTAL STABILITY: 40% -> 32% -> 25%]

[WARNING: IMMINENT EGO DEATH]

The violet light sucked his essence into the cup.

Raziel stared at the floor, his vision blurred and darkened at the edges.

Flashes of his past lives exploded in his mind.

The orphans dying in the cathedral.

Zion’s black sword cutting through his friends.

The capital burning to ashes.

The faces of the people he failed fading away into gray smoke.

He was going to die here, a pathetic death in a dirty cell, drained into a cup so the Church could turn him into ammo for their soldiers.

Celestine walked toward him.

Her boots stopped right in front of his knees.

Raziel forced his eyes up. He couldn’t move his head, but he could look at her.

Celestine looked down at him while she held the Chalice steady, absorbing his life.

“Do you know how many like you I’ve broken?” Celestine asked.

“How many ’chosen ones’ and ’prophets’ knelt here?”

She leaned in. “The problem with heroes is they think will is enough.”

She smiled. “It’s not enough.”

Raziel stared at her and the drain continued pulling.

[MENTAL STABILITY: 18%]

But then, something stirred in the empty space.

The parasite.

The Soul Drain was pulling on it too, and the entity was furious.

It woke up completely.

It throbbed against his broken ribs.

THUMP.

THUMP.

THUMP.

The dark energy flooded his locked core, fighting back against the violet light.

And a voice whispered in his mind.

It wasn’t the System.

It was a human voice.

The voice of the older Raziel from the previous cycle, the one who had injected the shadow into his own veins.

“Let me out.”

The whisper echoed in his skull.

“Let me out.”

Raziel closed his eyes.

The normal blue interface shattered into pieces.

A new screen appeared in the darkness of his mind, It was pitch black with text written in blood red.

[EMERGENCY PROTOCOL TRIGGERED]

[THE PARASITE OFFERS A PACT]

[CHOOSE YOUR PATH]

[OPTION A: Release Parasite.]

[Result: Temporary massive power. Complete physical control granted to the entity.]

[Cost: Permanent loss of 50% Humanity.]

[OPTION B: Fuse Paragon + Parasite.]

[Result: Unknown. Forced integration of Holy Light and Abyssal Shadow.]

[Cost: Unknown.]

[Probability of success: 12%.]

Raziel read the text while his body turned to ice.

Option A was the easy way.

Give up control, let the monster out and let it rip Celestine to pieces.

But that meant losing his mind and he would become exactly what the Church thought he was.

A monster, another corrupted pawn like Prince Ayres.

He would never give up his control.

Not to the Church, not to Zion, and definitely not to a parasite.

He looked at Option B.

Raziel smiled internally. ’Twelve percent? I’ve survived with less.’

Raziel selected it.

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