SIS B4: Chapter 114: No and How

[Ember of Endurance [Entry-level] initial mastery increased to 98%.]

'Really? Even though I started hovering just before the impact? I did cover myself in my Ember of Endurance, but for it to gain mastery so easily...' Daz thought as he dodged an incoming chunk of the cathedral that was heading his way.

To gain mastery meant to obtain new understanding. It wasn't as simple as just taking more damage, hence his mild surprise.

Daz tried his best with his Ember to reduce the impact of the wind pressure and the countless fragments of dirt and stone that were slamming into him.

Eventually, the storm raised by the thunderous explosion ended and Daz could clearly that where once there stood a tall and majestic cathedral, now only remained a pit that seemed to have no bottom.

'Soul vision can't spot Crusher, which is good. She's either too deep or already fled,' Daz colluded as he searched for any souls at all.

Suddenly, however, he felt a sharpness in his neck and spine. At the same time, his connection to the system disappeared.

Daz's needles had flown all over the place after Crusher's attack but that was exactly what he had wanted. They'd be harder for the cardinals to destroy that way since they were spread out. Even to distant locations which would serve him well should he be forced to move or run.

He sensed a few of his diamond needles near him so he controlled them to go after his attacker. At the same time, he spun to punch them.

With two wet squelches, the daggers that had weaved through the gaps in his new armour, exiting the gaping wounds they had created in his jugular and back.

'Sneaky one, this cardinal,' he thought as he stared down the short woman who looked dishevelled and distraught.

His Lifeforce had been reduced by a solid 10,000 points.

'Heavy attacks for such light weapons,' Daz noted.

He was relieved to see his armour was still working and wasn't just a pile of heavy metal he happened to be wearing.

He assumed this was due to how it was created. It likely hadn't been upgraded since it was forged, meaning even without access to the system, it would remain unchanged.

Slowly, the four other cardinals appeared, surrounding Daz along with the short dagger-wielder.

The old man had a furious expression on his previous calm face and he was now holding a thin sword which has clearly been concealed within his cane.

The little girl had blood trickling down a seemingly useless right arm but her left still held her wand as she pointed it straight at Daz.

The muscular man's robes had been destroyed and there were small wounds on his revealed torso. He was holding his magical tome as he chanted faintly, clearly preparing for some attack of some sort.

Most shockingly of all, however, was the woman with fire for hair. Behind her stood an astral gateway of fire and brimstone. Just looking at it gave Daz a deep sense of danger.

"Have I upset you by attacking your capital? Ironic," Daz mocked. "Perhaps you weren't expecting that? If I kill you five, am I safe to assume I have a free pass to find and kill your leader also?"

"How dare you!" the fire-headed woman screamed. "Do you have any idea what you have done?!"

Daz nodded. "Of course I do. I destroyed the headquarters of a dangerous cult."

"You...!" the woman grit her teeth and raised her arms.

The gate behind her swung open and a powerful burst of hellish energy swept over Daz, threatening to kill him then and there.

Immense pain coursed through his body, mind, and even his soul. Each of which shook so wildly it was like they wanted to explode. Daz found he couldn't move his body even an inch as if he has been locked in place by something.

Very quickly, his Lifeforce reached zero, signalling his death. However, die he did not. Instead, a question was posed to him.

[Do you wish to die?]

Those words appearing both in front of Daz and within his mind, shocking him deeply considering he should be among the dead like those he had ordered Crusher to kill, those who had died in Fort Home, Sandy, Idris, Ger, Sarah, and Jorden too.

Instead, here he was, being asked a question by... something.

"No," he replied calmly.

[Then persist in loneliness.]

The hellish energy still wreaked havoc throughout his body, mind, and soul, trying to tear his very existence free from the fabric of reality.

However, as much as it tried, it simply could not move the mountain that was Daz. He felt scorching pain in his every cell, but he didn't crumble nor did he die.

The fire-haired woman looked aghast as her gate shut behind her all on its own then faded away. It was easily a power that could rival Daz's Laughing Skull or perhaps even his Reflective Chains of Justice.

Despite that, it hadn't killed Daz. He had a good idea of why, but her? He figured she must have been beyond confused and angered by his survival.

'I see. The Curse of Loneliness... I can choose when I want to die, is that how it works?' Daz theorised. 'How is this a curse though? I'm not lonely... so can I persist in loneliness?'

He didn't fully understand this power quite yet but he knew that it had saved his life. He was correct to come here. Daz felt nothing but vindicated by this revelation.

'My Survivor's Instinct is screaming louder than ever but my gut seems wiser than such a basic thing like my esper power. It cannot factor in the curse... Useful to know but it somewhat renders my heritage meaningless now. Good. The last thing I want is to have to rely on something my father gave me,' Daz thought.

He also reasoned that perhaps his Survivor's Instinct was a bit weaker right now thanks to him being restricted from accessing the system. Currently, the power was relying on his self-created silver bloodline instead of the Hamilio one.

The little girl with the wand started violently crying as she shouted, "My family were in there! My mother, my father, my baby brother... All dead now because of you! So many children and elderly people were in there! You... you animal! Monster!"

Daz gave her a condescending look. "Am I supposed to be sorry? I did not want to kill innocents. I would have been happy to settle our differences on an actual battlefield. That changed when your fellow cardinal and your mind-controlled priests sacked Fort Home, killed the people of New Earth and even kidnapped many of them to experiment on. You're beyond deluded if you think I won't do everything in my power to eradicate such a threat to humanity as your cult."

The old man growled, "My granddaughter and son were in the cathedral your puppet just destroyed. She was only six and my son was blind. He preached of being kind and forgiving to all. Well, sadly, I won't be able to honour him here as you will get no kindness nor forgiveness from me, you devil."

Daz couldn't help but laugh. "You are fools if you think you will make me feel even a shred of guilt. Did you and your people give my people time to evacuate before you assaulted our cities? Did you stay your hands when children or the old met your path?"

"Do not compare heathens to u-"

"I gave you fools the time to evacuate. Any unjust blood in on your hands and your hands alone. Now, no more talking. Let us end this, shall we?" Daz interrupted as he summoned Rimmy and exploded into action.

***

"How...?" the fire-haired woman asked as the life was slowly fading from her eyes.

Daz cracked his neck as he glanced around at the carnage that surrounded them.

Only the fire-haired cardinal was still breathing. Even the child with a wand wasn't spared from his ruthlessness.

The girl was, in fact, the most tricky of the five. The fire-haired woman had the most destructive potential but the girl, despite having a useless arm, was able to pepper him with spells that, while not injuring him, made fighting far more difficult.

She could slow him, trap him, made his mind feel foggy. So on and so forth. It was enough of a nuisance that he dropped everything and charged her, moving 50 needles to assault her from every angle.

His curse asked him if he wished to die 14 times while he endured the attacks from the other cardinals before he was able to finally end the girl's life.

Once she was out of the picture, Rimmy was able to, with some difficulty, keep the muscly mage and the old man busy while Daz slowly killed the dagger-wielder.

Rimmy was able to severely injure the old man who Daz quickly killed with needles. When it became a two on two... fell, the mage fell swiftly and the fire-haired woman slowly sustained so much damage that she could resist no longer.

All in all, Daz had been asked by his curse if he wished to die 23 times, included the 14 with the girl.

'It had no limits as far as I can tell...' Daz thought.

His mind slowly drifted to the morality of what he was doing. He hardly cared despite his new emotions and his Ember of Empathy, however, the fact this was being broadcast worldwide was an issue.

'It's a good thing I checked their crime lists before they cut me off. I can use that to shut up anyone who tries to turn me into the villain here. I can't believe even a child, while a cardinal, yes, had killed over 12,000 people without valid justification... Insanity,' he thought.

Daz suddenly felt his powers returning to him along with his status as an Archreaper. He knew why this had happened so he reached out and grabbed the fire-haired woman's head.

She was seconds from death, perhaps even closer than that seeing as how her control over God's Faith had faltered.

"You asked me 'how', yes?" Daz asked plainly. "I came here with the feeling I wouldn't die. I am a being of justice itself and I knew I would support me in ridding the world of an infestation such as the Truthians."

The woman shook her head slightly and laughed ever so faintly before she, too, like her companions, died.

"Rimmy," the booming voice of his 30-metre-tall companion said.

"It's been too long since we've fought side by side. I agree. We should spend more time together, old friend," Daz said as he began sending off the souls of the cardinals.

The souls of the people who were residing within the cathedral would have to wait until later. They were likely at the bottom of Crusher's crater.

He decided to find them once he had dealt with the mythical city and Mother Danielle.

"Rimmy!" the big golem of cyan crystal replied with a reassuring tone.

Daz looked up at Rimmy and smiled when he saw the golem making a thumbs-up sign with its hand. He reached into thin air and pulled out his earpiece before putting it on.

"You're too forgiving. I know I've been busy and I know you like helping people, but It was cruel of me to just leave you to act as Fort Home's guardian. We'll be uniting the world after this, so come help me, buddy. I'm sure the people of New Earth will feel safe knowing you're out there with me ensuring the future of our planet," Daz said in a powerful tone.

"Rimmy!" the massive being boomed.

"... Annnnd cut. The broadcast's off. Good acting, by the way," Rose said

Daz shook his head. "I wasn't acting. My goals and thoughts just so happened to line up with our agenda."

"Huh. Well, the news back home is working overtime to really ham up your 'perfect and casualty-free' plan. How the hell didn't you die by the way? Madison's in tears. She kept screaming 'No, Daz!'. It got kinda annoying especially when it was clear you were using some sort of trick to cling onto life," Rose asked.

Daz wore a ponderous expression. "You can't figure it out yourself?"

"Why the fuck would I be asking if I could?" his sister retorted.

"... Look, Rose, just because I've stopped calling you out for it, that doesn't mean you can swear without a good reason. Even I only curse when I'm very upset or angered," Daz said.

"Yeah, yeah. I need to confess to someone now though thanks to you, so excuse me if I'm a little crass," Rose said as Daz imagined her rolling her eyes.

"Haha, let me know how that goes. Right, and make sure to let the news outlets know I plan to release memory orbs that can be used by anyone which show my perspective of that fight system-wise," Daz requested.

"For the crime lists, right? Wise. You can tell the truth all you want but hard evidence is always best," Rose answered. "There, done. Memo sent to everyone who's relevant across our territories. Anything else?"

"I don't see the entrance to the mythical city anywhere around here. Any clue as to where it is?" Daz asked.

"Nope. None at all. I can try to use a few more obscure guesses but I'm definitely being blocked by so-"

A golden glimmering and holy doorway appeared right in front of Daz and Rimmy as his sister was speaking to him over the earpiece.

"Come in, Daz. I wish to speak before returning to the Lord's side as you have forced all of my closest followers to do," Mother Danielle's voice said in the surrounding area.

"-... Nevermind. Seems you have an open invite. Will you be safe in there?" Rose asked.

Daz nodded lightly. "Probably. If the cardinals couldn't kill me, I doubt she can. And while I can't see her... my Ember of Empathy is giving me strong feelings of defeat and acceptance from her voice."

"... Gonna tell me why you're so unkillable now, or what?" Rose asked.

"Or what. I'll see you soon," he said before he took off the earpiece and tossed it back into his Industrial Item Box.

Daz then looked up at his massive companion. He unsummoned the main body but left Rimmy's core. It floated next to him in a friendly manner.

"My armour's not fully repaired yet, but it'll do since you're by my side. Care to check out a mythical city and kill an archpope while we're at it, Rimmy?" he asked with a grin.

Despite not having a face, Daz could almost sense a smirk staring back at him through his Ember of Empathy. "Rimmy!"

With that decided, the two of them entered the massive golden gate. It closed behind them with a powerful dinging. It then disappeared as if it had never even been there in the first place.