Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero: 143: The Popess

Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero: 143: The Popess

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Commissioned by Shaderic

Wordcount: 2500

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Devastation.

Destruction.

Dread.

Those words were the first to enter my mind as we crested over the hill and caught sight of the mountains of Ylstu.

The vast forces of the Empire, reforged to battle against the Archtraitor, should’ve been present at the base of the mountain. A stronghold mighty and clever enough to overwhelm Hikigaya Hachiman should’ve been before us. Underground shelters, hidden fortresses, magical barriers, and towers capable of countering his aerial swarm of monsters should’ve sprawled across the land.

The greatest force that the Empire could muster.

A force that could overwhelm Ylstu and take the surrounding territories in a glorious crusade.

At the center of that force would be a temple of the Goddess, upon which the dead monsters would be cleansed and purified, so that their power would become sanctified.

When the Demon Lord came forth, an Avatar of the Goddess in truth would’ve met her in combat, and thrown her back… or killed her with the valiant aid of those nearby.

Instead, I looked upon Hell itself wrought upon the world.

There were no trees, no grass, and no springs.

Arcane flame raged across the land, billowing in the scorching wind wherever it found fuel, and smoldering like veins upon the ground when it could not. The roads of the Empire were broken, great craters interrupting the work of Emperors in the past as a gift to the future. Underground shelters were cracked open, deserted, or filled with corpses. Fortresses lay shattered and grand towers cracked open.

Banners of the Empire lay in the mud, icons of the goddess blackened, and unsanctified corpses lay burning and untouchable to ever carrion feeders.

Some of my guards faltered at the sight, until one caught sight of an Imperial camp at the base of a ruined tower.

“Over there, survivors!” Elation filled his lips, but it was for naught. We were supposed to find an army ready to be recruited to our cause, a force capable of allowing us to reach Hikigaya Hachiman, but it was not here. I saw no Champions, no Lords, and even no Knights. Mere soldiery could not defeat the Archtraitor… but the Goddess would not have led me here, or drawn the attention of my men towards the concealed camp, if we had no chance of victory. “Your orders, your Holiness?”

“We go to them.” I spoke with as much faith and power as I could, but the hopelessness within refused to fade away. “Now.”

As we went to them, I found my eyes turning to the sky. It was pitch-black and almost red. Not only that, but the scarlet sky was encroaching past the base of the Ylstu mountain range with the darker clouds as its harbingers. The storm over Ysltu that I had hoped would force his flying creatures to stay grounded was a horror that he inflicted upon the Empire for any who surveilled the sky for his demons.

Again, I could only wonder what we faithful few could do against such immense hatred from an unblessed heretic such as the Archtraitor.

The warnings against his summoning were there. All the difficulties and challenges that came with gathering the resources needed to summon a mighty hero from the farthest reaches of humanity… I saw them all now as warnings from the Goddess against my grave error. If I had listened and if I had not let my hubris blind me, then the Archtraitor would’ve remained on his damned world to live an insignificant life amongst his own.

Instead, he has brought the Goddess’ flock to ruin.

With that knowledge burning in my heart, I cast aside all my fears.

This was my chance for redemption.

This was my chance to kill the Archtraitor.

This was all that I had left.

I could not falter from seeing the horrors that he inflicted, nor how little he has left for me to gather against him, because anything I had now was a blessing from the Goddess herself. My life, the lives of my guards, and lives of some believers of the Goddess would understand that there was no sacrifice too great, nor too small, in exchange for Hikigaya Hachiman’s death.

…

The Goddess smiled upon us still.

After gathering all that we could from the scattered remains of the army that we found, we chanced upon news of immense importance.

The Temple of the Goddess had been shattered by the Archtraitor’s machinations when he crashed the side of a mountain across the field, however the combined effort of many mages and menials went through the rubble and found what we required.

The Goddess’s Tear.

The Goddess long ago left the physical realm to protect us from beyond. However, as she did, she wept for us and left behind her Tears. Many have been lost to history, many more shattered by the Kindred, and others used poorly by the ignorant. Their true worth came from their ability to commune with the Goddess and hear her whispers. Many were driven mad by her sheer divinity, but scribes wrote of their experiences, and so came forth many of the miracles and rituals of the Goddess’ Church.

The Church had only a dozen left, and though the Goddess had few secrets left to share with us, we kept them safe.

It took everything I had left to convince the Church to part with one to be sent to create a righteous avatar of the Goddess to destroy Hikigaya Hachiman.

So, I had wept when I thought it was lost, but rejoiced when it was found.

Especially when I was willing to do what needed to be done for its success.

I held the golden droplet the size of a skull in my hand. It was warm and the whispers of the Goddess grew in volume in my mind. She told me not to risk my life, to turn back, and to protect myself. She cared for me and wished for me to be happy, but I knew that I couldn’t. This was my fault and so I had to pay the price.

Knowing that, I turned to the physicians and mages waiting in the room.

The Empire carved larger tunnels into the depths of the ground and fortified it. Many who survived and fought against the Archtraitor did so hidden away like rats, but they did their duty and survived long enough to give me this chance at redemption. So, I found no fault in their cowardice, as it was the will of the Goddess.

“It is time. Do what needs to be done.” I spoke to the physicians and Mages as I laid upon the surgery table. Stripped of my garments, I was laid bare and naked before their gazes, and felt revulsion at the stares of men. However, I took heart in the fact that my body was beautiful. Only the very best for the Goddess. “Do as the scripture commands. Tear out my heart and lungs and replace it with the Goddess’s Tear.”

Chanting.

Prayer.

Faith.

Magic.

Divinity.

All these things began at once and my consciousness began to fade away.

My chest will be hewn open, my heart extracted, my lungs removed, and all of it shall be replaced by the Goddess’s Tear. Over the course of my lifetime, I bathed in her glorious light and accepted her blessings. Already the souls of hundreds of sanctified Kindred coursed within her divine Tear. A hundred more had been needed and would’ve been enough to give her a body of blessed marble and gold, while arming her with a flaming sword and spear, so that she could lead our Empire to victory.

But I would suffice.

In my death, the Goddess will be granted flesh for the first time, because I have the first to have the qualities she required.

Some would call my actions heresy.

Others would call my actions divine.

But my only wish is redemption.

So, as my thoughts began to fade and darkness claimed me, I uttered one last prayer in an earthen cocoon beneath the hellscape Hikigaya Hachiman wished to inflict upon the entire Empire.

“Oh, Goddess of the Empire, free your flock from the torment of monsters. I am one against many, the darkness encroaches upon us all, and so I offer to you my body.”

My vision left me just as I saw the scalpels of the physicians in the corners of my vision.

The chanting and prayers of the faithful, and the spellcrafting of the mages remained in my ears, as my sense of pain and touch faded.

“Grant me redemption for my sins. Grant the Empire victory against the Kindred. Grant us all freedom from the Archtraitor.”

I prayed, even though I could no longer feel my lips, my tongue, nor my throat.

Everything was dark and I could feel myself fading away as I became nothing more than a sanctified vessel in the presence of a fragment of the Goddess.

Death came for me and I will no longer be, but still I gave one last prayer with my last breath.

“Send Hikigaya Hachiman to the deepest depths of Hell and ensure he never returns!”

With those last words, I ceased to be.

…

I awoke afloat beneath a night sky purged of ruin and despair, surrounding by supplicants and the faithful.

I descended onto the surgical table where my vessel, my lovely vessel, gave her life and soul to grant me flesh.

Her blood stained the bed and the tools, but I could not allow that.

By my will, her remnants came to me and formed a jewel of blood, which I placed in a ring upon my finger.

I girded myself for war, to fulfill her dearest wish, and looked upon my supplicants.

She was much too kind to them.

These were not true warriors.

So, I spoke to them.

“Give me your flesh.”

I commanded, and so it was.

One and all, I seized them and took them apart. By my will and power, they were unmade and recreated into true warriors. Some were too small, some were too large, and some were ugly. However, by my power and by my skill, all were made perfect by my hand. I knit mortal flesh and imbued it with divine power into perfect visages and forms suitable for battle.

The weak, lost their minds and surrendered their spirits, but I shepherded them into my greater self, so that even their meagre strength would not be lost.

Their bodies, however, were refined into true knights. I shaped and hardened their skin into silver plate and their limbs to carry holy weapons composed of their own bone. I rid them of all that they did not need, throwing away their useless organs for consumption, speech, and reproduction, and reinforced their vitals. In my presence, the Holy Knights will be the finest warriors, and they will only fall upon complete obliteration or if I am defeated.

Only a few survived the ordeal, but I took note of them all, and made sure that they retained their features as mortals… albeit refined to my standard of beauty.

They earned the right to remain themselves after enduring all that I challenged them with and I moved them all in my presence in their perfected forms.

They beheld me with devotion, terror, and love in their eyes.

As they should.

Thus, I spoke to them while forming from my own body the weapons with which I would wage war.

“Give unto me all your weaknesses and I will turn them into strength. Give unto me all your terrors and I will grant you courage beyond your dreams. Give unto me all of yourselves and you will receive power beyond imagining.” A spear that can fell a dragon in a single blow, a sword that can hew the grasp of Undeath on life with an errant swing, and a bow that can banish all Demons with its arrows of light. Each one from a rib of my own body, which I regrew from the abundance of power that I called upon. “Give everything to me and I will grant you salvation.”

Those who remained heard my words… and as one fell to their knees and bowed their heads to me.

They were lacking in power, but they were not lacking in spirit.

Good.

I took in the sight of the seven, and raised my hands towards them.

These seven will be my avenging Angels who will lead my armies and scour the land of my children’s enemies.

Soon.

Soon this land will be for my dearest children.

Soon, after I have killed the Demon Lord and Hikigaya Hachiman, I will create a beautiful paradise upon this world bereft of weakness and ugliness in both body and spirit.

An eternal paradise for me and all my children.