Chapter
2 – Unfeeling Saint
These dark tunnels that I’m
traveling down are confusing, barely lit, and filled with traps, such as mines,
motion-activated turrets, and hidden guards. Thankfully, my enhanced senses
allow me to react to them, my glasses have a hidden function that allows me to
see in the dark, and my guardian angel has my back in getting rid of some of
the traps and pointing me in the right direction of this maze. I twist my body
to avoid a series of lasers in a split second that activate near me, fire a
series of pistol bullets to blow up the next series of turrets, while
deflecting their shots with my sword, and cutting apart the robots and guards
that jump out from my blind spots. At one point, I think my guardian angel is
guiding me into a wall, that is, until he cuts the fake wall in two, revealing
it was a gate.
Ahead, I see a checkpoint station
with dozens of armed guards and superhumans. Slowing down, I combine my sword
with my pistol, so that I activate the hidden rifle function within the sword.
A scope and muzzle come out of the sword. I look through the scope and aim at
the guards. Waiting for the right opportunity, I take my first shot when three
of the guards are lined up so I can kill them with one shot. They know they’re
under attack, so they turn on the lights, see me, and start attacking. Despite
this, I remain calm and continue firing, taking out one after the other with
headshot after headshot, sometimes taking out two or three with one shot.
Most of the guards are dead, and
the remaining are taking cover. I switch my scope to allow me to see nearby
electrical and heat signatures through objects, and switch the mode of my sword
rifle so it charges up each shot to allow me to shoot through said objects. After
a few of them fall, they get out of cover and must be realizing that I’m not
making lucky shots. They try charging me or running away and end up dying all
the same. With everyone and everything at the checkpoint dead, I continue on my
way.
Over the speakers in the tunnel, I
hear Giovanni say, “You’re something else, Fr. Luther. It’s no wonder why my
corporation hired you so many times. We can still make a deal, you know. You
may have killed many of my men and done a lot of damage to my property, but I
can set aside my grievances for our mutual benefit. I am a good Catholic man,
after all.”
My guardian angel shakes his head,
and I say, “Nothing has changed. I’m still coming after you.”
“That’s a shame. Guess I’ll have to
send my best after you. Just remember that my offer will still stand if you
manage to live.”
“I shouldn’t be surprised that he’s
made a two-way speaker and is giving me offers,” I say to my guardian angel.
“He’s a businessman through and
through, and knows you’re a threat to him.”
“Is he any closer to repenting?”
“Hardly, but you’ve made a little
progress.”
“And if he doesn’t repent? Will I
still obtain my salvation?”
“If you don’t give up hope, you’ll
ensure the salvation of both your souls.”
“Right.”
Continuing on my way, I begin to
encounter fewer obstacles in my way, which isn’t a good sign. It could only
mean there’s something worse ahead, so I slow down, keeping an eye out for the next
trap. Nothing happens for a little while, which is concerning and only makes me
take more precautions as I move forward. The slight crack in the walls gets my
attention, and before I can turn my attention to it, my guardian angel tackles
me out of the way before a mass of gray mud can consume me. Moonlight and fresh
air come from the hole where the mud came from, along with a man in full dark
blue knightly SWAT gear and another man with yellow and red eyes, black and
white hair, and an expensive-looking suit and outfit with the pins of a police
officer on them. The gray mud forms a man with black hair and blue eyes, who
turns one arm into multiple swords and the other into a hammer.
These must be some kind of elite
guards for Giovanni, given that they’re attacking me by themselves and may even
be brothers, since the mud man’s face is similar to that of the man in the expensive
suit. Now I have to fight with a little more effort than I did before. Firstly,
I separate my pistol from my sword so I can use the two independently and wait
for them to make the first move.
“It’ll be better for you to take Giovanni’s
offer, father,” the officer in the SWAT gear says.
“He’s actually a good man,” the man
in the expensive suit adds.
“He gave me a second chance at life
to make me into a better man,” the mud man comments.
“I don’t care who you think he is.
The only thing that matters is who he actually is, and that he must repent,” I
say before quickly firing a shot, splitting the mud man in two.
The officer takes out his
submachine gun and starts firing it at me, which my guardian angel protects me
from as I fire at the man in the suit who is also firing at me, running, and trying
to dodge my bullets in this place that has no cover. Our bullets collide, but I
manage to deflect some of his back at him, injuring him. When the officer runs
out of ammo, my guardian angel goes after the mud man, piercing him and making
him explode into pieces that slowly start to reform themselves. Focusing on the
officer who charges at me, he reloads his submachine gun and dual-wields it
with a heavy revolver. He fires them both at me, and the force of the revolver
shots knocks off my guard, allowing a few of the submachine bullets to hit me.
Nevertheless, I keep dodging as
best I can and trying to knock his revolver shots back at him. The second
attempt doesn’t go as well, but I manage to hit back the third shot from his revolver,
and it felt as if I was using a baseball bat to hit a bowling ball. The shot
that I knocked back at the officer goes through his chest, instantly killing
him and dropping him.
“Renzo!” the man in the suit says.
Fully healed, the man in the suit
draws a pair of rapid-firing pistols with drum magazines and recklessly opens
fire on me. I spin my blade to deflect them all until he runs out of ammo.
That’s when I fire three shots at the man, one hitting his chest and two in the
head, killing him before he can reload or dodge out of the way.
“Salvatore! Renzo!” the mud man
says as he starts to cry. “I’m sorry for being the useless brother I always was…”
My guardian angel finishes the mud
man and stops me from walking off.
With his hand on my shoulder, he
says, “Take a moment to pray for these brothers.”
“Why?” I ask.
“They are good, Catholic men who
are leaving loving and faithful families behind to join the Lord in Heaven.”
“I’m sure many others were much the
same as them, and you didn’t say to pray for them. They’re also going straight
to Heaven as you said, so there’s no need to pray.”
“These are better men than you’ll
ever be. Please, pray for them, or at least their families.”
I sigh, take a few moments to pray
for their families, and move on.
“There’s a good reason why you’re
the man God chose to force Giovanni Coronamento to repent. Only a cold-hearted
assassin such as yourself could kill good men, and not let it bother you.”
“It’s a blessing and a curse,
right? I know that’s what you want me to think, and yet, I can’t. I still don’t
feel sorry for any of the killings I’ve done, and I’m only doing this because I
feel moved to by Fr. Francesco, and it seems like the right thing to do. Will my
soul truly be saved, even though I don’t feel sorry in the slightest?”
“True repentance doesn’t require
feeling. You only need to mean you’re truly sorry with all your heart and soul,
and prove it to God.”
“I see. Well, I hope this all
proves it if, for no other reason than to give God and Fr. Francesco what they
want.”
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