Chapter 2 – One Versus a Thousand
My first target is Ecclesia, the capital city of the Church. Taking the
head off the Church will drastically reduce everyone’s faith and reduce the power
of those who wield the Flame of Cognizance in return. With my newly acquired power,
my singular ship has grown into a fleet of flames. Nothing can stop me from
taking what’s rightfully mine! Let’s start this off with a bang.
“Burn them to ashes and freeze them
solid!” I command my ships of fire.
My ships and their crew leap from
the sea and onto land to destroy whatever they touch. Fire and ice given purpose
kill everything in their path and plunder whatever has any value for me. As I step
on the docks, I watch as a bishop crawls away from his burning ship with his
valuables. He has various burns on his skin with the black flame leaking from
his body. It doesn’t surprise me that even a bishop uses the black flame
instead of the Divine Flame. I put him out of his misery and take his valuables
for myself.
Going through the wreckage I’ve
caused is nostalgic and a feeling that never grows old. The fear and loss of
faith that I’ve caused fuels my flames and makes their burns icier. A knife then
comes out of nowhere and hits me in the back of my head. I take it out and
break the blade of it by squeezing it with my bare hands. This scares off the
assassins of the Church, the white doves.
“Ha! Pathetic,” I say while
throwing the blade aside.
I then go to the main cathedral
where I find people praying and the archbishop, who is the head of the Church.
My appearance scares some while making others pray harder. I cut, kill, and
steal to scare more people, and believe it or not, there are people who don’t
stop praying.
“Your God won’t protect you from
me. His holy power couldn’t even keep me trapped on the bottom of the sea!” I
say to them.
More of the so-called faithful
leave while others give me their valuables and beg for their lives.
“Thank you for your gifts, but I’m
here for a greater prize, the head of the Church,” I say while taking the sword
out of my chest and pointing it at the archbishop who has his back turned to me
as he prays near the alter with his two bodyguards who are also praying. “What?
Nothing to say to me or are you praying for salvation? Let me answer your
prayer for you because God isn’t listening.”
My black flames rush towards the
archbishop, but his guards hold them back from consuming him. That’s fine. I
want to shove the blade of this sword through his throat while he’s still alive
anyway, but before I can do that, the guards break through my flames as the
Flame of Cognizance burns within them. Finally! A real test for my new flames. I
spread my flames around the guards while spawning creatures of flame to distract
them. This allows me to get in close to pick them off one by one. When the
final one falls, more people from the cathedral leave with very few remaining.
“God will not save you, but I can!
Swear your loyalty to me and you will be spared!” I say to those who have lost
their faith.
“Enough!” the archbishop says as he
finally turns to me and walks to me with a limp.
“Are you finally going to do
something? What are you going to do, old man? I gave you that limp you’re walking
with and those scars from my flames.”
“I was a foolish sinner even when I
became archbishop and the Flame of Cognizance was renewed, but Tenebris’
example showed me what true faith really was. How even a devilish sinner like
him could be made into a hero.”
“I don’t want to hear his name ever
again!”
I attack the archbishop but my
flames melt as they get close. What? Clearly, his faith isn’t completely shaken
so I try to kill the rest of the people in the cathedral.
“You will not harm them any longer!”
the archbishop says as he shoots out a small flame from his mouth that sends me
flying out of the cathedral.
What was that? What did he do to me?
I shouldn’t be struggling to stand up. I shouldn’t be feeling any pain. I
shouldn’t be losing this fight!
“I may not be the most faithful
man, but even my mustard seed of faith has produced a flame that has defeated
you and given you your own limp. Walk away and repent while you still have a
chance,” the archbishop says with his faithful around him.
“Haha, I’m already dead! There’s no
reason for me to repent. My soul is hellbound if I still have one. My Heaven and
glory are found here. I will not be denied it and I will not be embarrassed by
the likes of you!”
The archbishop sends me flying away
again with another small fireball that knocks me down for a time. His white
doves take me to him in a secluded place. I’m unable to use my flames and even
lift my sword against him.
“What are you waiting for? Finish
me off if you can. Fight me fairly without that Flame of yours,” I say.
“If I wanted this to go my way, I
would’ve killed you for your atrocities, but the Divine Flame has chosen to
spare you rather than engulf and burn you to ash. Take this as a sign of God’s
mercy to humble you so that you can repent.”
I’m knocked out by the archbishop's flame and I wake up
in a graveyard far from Ecclesia. Bastard denied me my victory. At least I destroyed
a good portion of the city and killed a good number of his flock. I need more
power if I want to defeat people like him and I know just where to get it. My
very demons hidden inside the black flames will bend to my desire.
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