Blasphemia II: Deus Vult Pt. 05

"Don't get hurt again," Luca said, sagging against the wall. "That was it for me."

"I won't," Judith said, then pushed off from the ground.

Yog-Sothoth was still preoccupied with whatever was going on inside him. Now he actually seemed annoyed, one hand grabbing the opposite wrist in an effort to force it away from his puppet's twisted face. "Stubborn pontificate," he said. "Still lingering in the warped remnants of your mind?"

"Though faith..." the puppet's mouth wheezed. "All things... are possible..."

Judith realized what was going on. Somehow, the Pope had maintained enough of a presence in his corrupted mind to retain some control over the body that had belonged to him. It was what had forestalled the energy blast that would've obliterated her. The strain of him resisting must have been what was causing the eyes to burst. It was inspiring to think about - that even with his body mostly dead, enough of His HOliness hung on to resist the almighty will of Yog-Sothoth. Renewed faith kindled a fire in Judith's heart as she wreathed Celerity in holy fire. She swung hard, putting her entire body weight behind the blow.

This time, Celerity bit. The sword cut several inches into Yog-Sothoth's neck, ichor sizzling against the consecrated steel. The big eye snapped to Judith. "Pest," he intoned. Judith saw the blow coming and ducked. She clapped a hand to the thing's side and willed a Consecration into it's flesh. The spell blasted a chunk of desiccated flesh free. She pivoted away from another swipe, then slashed again, laying open the thing's chest.

Yog-Sothoth's wings flapped, sending him back across the room. As he landed, her raised his hands. SPears of red light seared through the air towards Judith, trailing steam. Celerity hummed and sang through the air as she batted them away. Now that she was in the flow of battle, everything seemed a half-step slower, allowing her to react appropriately. Or perhaps it was His Holiness' influence within the puppet body slowing Yog-Sothoth's onslaught.

Either way, she knew she could win.

She rushed forward, conjuring a lance of holy light and overhanding it at Yog-Sothoth. It speared into his shoulder, staggering him. The puppet fell to one knee, then raised its arm. Tendrils of flesh shot out at Judith's face, and she raised Celerity to block them. At the last moment they changed direction, snaking down and scouring around her leg like a barbed whip. Judith hissed in pain and sliced them free, feeling a burn spread through her leg from whatever corruptive fluid was coating them. She pushed forward, bolstered by her faith and fury. Another lance from her speared into the thing's chest, making it slump over further.

"Such power," Yog-Sothoth said, its eye looking up at Judith running towards it. "Enough to harm even my vessels. Were you only more pure, Templar. You would have made a wonderful avatar for me. With some alterations of course."

Judith took hold of Celerity in both hands. "Sorry. Not interested."

Then she sheared the puppet's head off, spun on her heel, and bisected it down the middle.

A moment passed. The head hit the floor, the eye bloodshot and spasming. With a slow, soft noise, the one-time body of the Pope came apart down the middle, peeling in half like a blooming flower as Judith ripped her sword free. The smell was utterly grotesque, and Judith gagged as it assailed her nostrils. One by one the eyes went slack, growing glassy as they stared off in random directions. Judith stared at what she had wrought for a long time, before crossing herself. "Find peace in the arms of the Lord, Your Holiness. I am sorry we couldn't save you from this fate."

Luca slowly stepped forward, crossing himself as well and folding his hands. After a moment, he turned and hurried over to the still-prone Filia. The hole that had been punched in her back had healed, that much was easily determined. Slowly, the librarian rolled the succubus over. Filia was unresponsive, her eyes closed. "Judith, there's something wrong with Filia."

Judith moved closer. Though the exit wound in the succubi's chest had healed, it wasn't the flawless heal job that her regenerative powers usually did. A scar had been left behind, puckered and infected-looking. Strange bumps had risen up around the wound, full of light the same dazzling white hue as holy magic. Though the succubi's chest still rose and fell, her breathing was labored and short.

"That thing did something to her," Luca said, his hands gently probing at FIlia's body.

Judith cocked her head as she heard a noise. A scratching. She moved over to the wall nearest them and pressed her ear to it. On the other side, she heard scraping and moaning. And a lot of it. "Verdes," she said. Her leg burned and her arms ached. What's more, her reserves of magic were stretched to their limit. She was in no condition for another fight.

She turned to Luca, looking down at Filia. "We have to go. Leave her."

Luca's head snapped up. "What?"

"You heard me." Judith sheathed Celerity and moved to his side, hooking her arm under his. "We need to leave, and she'll only slow us down."

"You can't seriously be thinking of abandoning her!"

"If it hadn't been for her, we would've made it here in time!" Judith said, her voice growing loud. "We would've been able to save His Holiness. But she... I..." She made a frustrated noise and pulled Luca up with all her strength. Her arms screamed in protest - he wasn't a small man. "Filia failed her mission. I've failed mine in more ways than I ever thought possible. If we're to have any hope of getting out of here alive, we can't afford dead weight!"

"So you'd rather run?" Luca demanded. His gold eyes were full of determination. "And leave the reason we've gotten this far behind like she's nothing?"

"She's! An! Infernal!" Judith screamed. "She is our enemy, no matter what tenuous alliance circumstances have forced us into! For all we know, she's been using us this whole time!" Her whole body felt hot. She was tired, her leg burned. A part of her mind was acutely aware that some of the blood on her was from the man she had sworn an oath at the feet of years prior. Everything was going to hell, and nothing made sense.

Luca's glared was furious, but his voice was carefully controlled. "I will not leave someone behind to face this nightmare, no matter who or what they might be. Our mission should be to save whoever we can from this, regardless of who or what they might be." Luca ripped his arm free of her grip and moved back to Filia's side.

"And you would count her?" Judith said. Her voice sounded so very, very small.

Luca knelt down, hooking his arms underneath Filia's body. He lifted her up with what seemed like little effort. "Were not Lucifer and his fallen angels creatures of God at one time?" he said in a quiet voice.

Judith didn't know how to respond to that. Luca adjusted his grip on Filia's body just as the verdes burst through the wall. Judith didn't think, simply acted. Celerity was in her hand without a conscious thought, slicing through weak flesh a moment later. As the first few fell, she aimed a blast of holy fire at the ceiling and brought it down, crushing a few more underneath it. "There will be more," she said, in a voice as quiet as Luca's. "Where should we go?"

Filia stirred in Luca's arms. "Down," she panted. "Down... to the undercity... "

The two Templars shared a glance. "How can we get down there without you to fly us?" Luca asked.

"Shield... bubble... jump..." Filia winced, her fingers clawing at empty air. "Dumb idea... might just work..."

More verdes were slowly making their way over the debris pile. "Good enough for me," Judith said. "This way!"

She took the lead, shouldering open a door on the far wall and moving into a dark hallway. Shame burned in her being as she realized Filia had probably heard her near-hysterical screaming. What was wrong with her? Circumstances had fried her self-control, but that was no excuse. At the same time, she found she believed her own logic.

Perhaps I am damned, she thought as she barreled through another door and cut down the verde behind it. Trapped between my bloodlines, torn between my loyalty to the church and my own unshackled desires. Wielder of holy power but unable to stand against the tide of nightmares that assails us.

Judith used the last of her magic to blow a hole in the last wall, opening up the structure to the outside. The structure had dropped in altitude, hovering just above the phantom image of Yog-Sothoth's eye. The ground was several hundred yards below them.

"Moment of truth," Luca said, moving close to Judith. He closed his eyes and recited a protective prayer. Another shield flickered to life around them.

"Look out below..." FIlia moaned, sounding delirious.

Judith and Luca shared a look, then leaped out into open air as one. They dropped like stones, falling away from the structure at an alarming rate. They passed into the phantom image of the eye, then kept going, the ground rushing up to meet them. Judith screwed her eyes shut a moment before landing.

The shield at the brunt of the fall impact, compacting a half-sphere of dirt underneath into a bowl like a meteor impact. Some of the momentum seeped into Judith's legs, making her calves scream in protest, but the barrier held long enough. A moment later, it dissipated.

"Howsabout that?" Filia murmured. She made a noise, then went limp in Luca's arms.

"Hang on," Luca murmured to her. He looked around. "Judith. There."

Several yards away was a staircase leading down into the ground. Cool air wafted up from it. "Better than where we are now," Judith said. She hurried over and started down the steps. "Come on."

With Luca following behind her, they plunged into the darkness, the only sounds around them being their boots on stone, and Filia's raspy breathing.