Chapter 85: Soul, Flesh, Appetite
“Well, what a delightful surprise, Little Black Charcoal.”
Angel said this with a glint in his eye, lips curling into a smirk as he squatted on a round stone, expertly flipping pieces of meat over the fire. His face was smeared with black ash, looking like he’d just auditioned for a role in “Messiest Cook: The Anime.” Honestly, I couldn’t tell how surprised he was.
I hadn’t really been paying attention to what he said before; my mind was too busy pondering whether the soup would taste good. Then I heard him mention “surprise,” and it took my brain a moment to catch up.
“…Surprise?”
I frowned, asking Angel back softly, looking for some clarity.
What surprise…
I had already checked the corpses of the heretics, and they were just empty vessels—nothing special.
But Angel had turned his gaze away, now fixated on the roasted meat, totally engrossed. After a minute, he casually dropped, “Six months ago in the Royal City, you offed the member of the Gate of Truth… hmm, I read the reports from the palace and St. Zayeli. Her body was first frozen, then turned into dust, and then morphed into something else.”
“Angel.”
I’m stirring the soup, eyeing the half-cooked fox heart with skepticism, and gave it a whiff—ugh, that’s a horrifying stench.
“Do you remember what I told you in the Royal City? Infernal Fire is indeed dangerous, but it belongs to the Deities—the Goddess of Sin, to be exact. And divine power isn’t something mere mortals can wield. The Church receives miracles through devout faith, while the Gate of Truth’s method involves ‘sacrifices’… either of oneself or of others.”
He continued despite my internal squabble over the soup. “The first and second stage of their clergy are just vessels of infernal fire, without any special traits. When they sacrifice their bl**d to ignite infernal fire, it becomes a vessel for power that doesn’t belong to them. When the infernal fire extinguishes, it’s like their bl**d and life force have burnt out, leading to a quick aging process and turning into ugly, dry corpses.”
“That’s the ‘price’ of infernal fire…”
“Mortals can gain temporary powers through various sinful means outside the Church. However, a human’s mortal form cannot serve as a good vessel. Their attempts will result in draining their life force… or perhaps their souls? In any case, that’s the domain of the deities, something beyond our comprehension.”
Souls…
I couldn’t help but interrupt, “Angel.”
“What?”
“Is there really a thing called a soul?”
The ‘white smoke’ engulfed by Chaotic Power—many say that’s a soul… Though it sounds abstract, if it’s not a soul, then what is it?
If it is a soul…
Using infernal fire, if the bl**d burns out, one ages, hair turns white, and they d*e quickly… I’ve witnessed such scenes in the Empire, and it’s definitely not how a person looks when they lose bl**d.
Those scorching, scarlet flames must be burning something beyond bl**d.
That ‘something else’—does it relate to the ‘souls’ many believe are consumed by the Abyss? Or are they the same thing?
After a moment, Angel replied, “The Church believes that after a person dies, their soul returns to the embrace of the deity. This is what many clergy and countless virtuous believers aspire to through their earthly pilgrimage. So if you’re asking, I wouldn’t deny it.”
“But as I said, that’s the realm of the deities. Mortals cannot touch that domain. Even as a Pope, I remain just a tiny human in the eyes of the great existence.”
Implying he didn’t really know if souls existed, but he couldn’t admit that.
…Why not just say it plainly instead of all this fluff?
I was starting to lose patience and tossed the ladle aside, giving him a deadpan stare: “So, surprise?”
The Pope finally picked up on my exasperation and ceased the riddling.
He raised his hand, and with a flick of his finger, golden light swirled around, suddenly bursting into dazzling brilliance. A miraculous “buzzing” echoed in the not-so-large space, and an invisible flow of air spread from Angel.
I squinted against the light while he continued, “Okay, now nobody can see or hear us here.”
…Huh?
As the golden glow faded, Angel looked at me, lips curved slightly, and pointed to the tent behind him. “There’s a burlap sack inside, placed quite conspicuously. You can check it out yourself; that’s the surprise.”
“…A barrier?”
I stood up, glancing around in confusion.
Intense raindrops plummeted from above, hitting an invisible transparent barrier perhaps ten meters high; the ground around the tent was dry, but it poured heavily just beyond this invisible dome. The sounds of rain echoed, and I could faintly see knights at the village entrance… Everything seemed unchanged, but Angel said they couldn’t see us.
Why can’t they see us?
What’s the principle behind this?
“What kind of miracle is this?”
“That’s not important…”
Angel waved his hand dismissively, but then noticing my expression, quickly added, “Alright, the miracle is called Reverse Termination. It creates an invisible barrier that can shield and reflect many things… It’s complicated to explain; just go check the sack.”
“Oh.”
Reverse Termination…
I mentally noted this name while glancing back at the bubbling soup, took a step into the tent, and indeed found a gray burlap sack, possibly used for grains but now who knows what it contained. Ice shards seeped from the bag… huh?
Ice?
I think… I have an idea of what’s inside.
I turned to peek outside the tent, seeing Angel still grilling meat, with no intention of coming in. So I approached the sack, opened it, took a deep breath, and leaned in to look.
Just one glance, and I quickly let go, stepping back two paces, eyes wide as I shouted, “Angel!”
“What is this?!?”
Human organs? Cut-off flesh?!
I didn’t know…
But it had to be whatever I had frozen from that heretic—the contents of their body.
Dark crimson, resembling some organ, about the size of a fist, frozen solid with a layer of ice, still emitting a nauseating sensory assault that made me retch despite any attempts to mask the stench.
“Ugh, that’s disgusting…”
Heart, liver, kidney… No, that’s not any human organ I recognize…
What on earth is it…
My heart raced, with a wave of extreme revulsion washing over me.
Yet, what made me feel even more nauseous was an insatiable, uncontrollable desire, like a demon from deep within trying to seduce me, whispering that…
This thing… it’s edible.
I’m hungry.
I want to eat it…
