Chapter 65: Chapter 65 - Divine Judgment
---Earthland, Remote Monastery---
Changing into her Black Wing Armor, Erza shot past us with Mirajane right next to her in her Satan Soul: Halphas form. The initial group of people didn't even get to draw their swords before the two women obliterated them. Falling to literal pieces as they hit the ground, the Killing Intent they were let off caused some of the weaker willed hunters to back away.
"You aren't get away, Nya!!", Millianna shouted as she bound several of the men as they fled, "It's payback time!!"
Watching Lisanna change into a Cat girl, the two of them pulled their claws out and tore them apart. Shouting and screaming at them, the two of them blew their gaskets as they took their anger out on them. By the time they moved on to their next victims, the deceased hunters looked more like shredded chicken than people.
"Open Gate of the Canis Major! Fenrir!", Lucy shouted summoning one of the spirits she had a contract with.
"Open Gate of the Ursa Major! Tombus!", Sorano said adding her own as well.
Summoning two of their larger Celestial Spirits, the massive silver wolf Fenrir and the titanic sized bear Tombus snarled at the men. Through the two women, I had learned that the Celestial Spirits on that were stuck in the Celestial World felt horrible that they couldn't help their summoners. They couldn't see where they were being held or what was happening, but they could sense they were being tortured. Given the opportunity now, it was certain that these two weren't taking prisoners.
Commanding the two of them to tear the place the apart, I watched the group of Mage Hunters approaching from the barracks become minced meat. Tombus was bisecting hunters like he was cutting paper, and Fenrir was freezing then shattering his enemies. Sending Juvia, Minerva, and Brandish inside the prison, I told them to secure the prisoners before they could be used as hostages.
While the rest of them were busy destroying everything in sight, I sifted through debris looking for any sort of paper trail to more of these sites. At this point I fully intend to go full scorched earth on the Church, but I did want to save the mages they were holding captive as well. The fact that those kids would rather freeze to death than be caught told me all I needed to know about how bad their treatment was.
Finding a wall safe buried in the rubble, I ripped the door off and pulled out the contents. Instead of finding things regarding the captives, I found a few documents regarding a device that could forcibly remove magic from wizards and put it in a transportable container. Not only that, there was some sort of concoction they were forcing prisoners to drink that forced them to release not only their normal magic, but all the magic in their Second Origin.
"...over use of the concoction can cause irreparable harm to the subject. Side effects include shorten lifespans, poor health, and immediate death upon magic extraction completion.", I read, "These fuckers..."
Clenching my fist, I couldn't imagine how much those kids had suffered. Having your Second Origin released was already a very painful experience, but to have it forcibly released without their choice...it had to be ten times the pain.
"This has to be tied to the Eclipse Project. Layla and Grammi have the Twelve Golden Keys so they have to come up with an alternative method to operate it.", I muttered putting the documents away, 'They have to be using the Celestial Mages as a fuel source for the gate...'
Noticing that the women were returning to me, they looked a lot happier now.
"We are all done.", Erza said flicking the blood off her sword, "None of them got away."
"That was better than a year of therapy.", Lucy laughed as the two Celestial Spirits left.
"Agreed.", Mirajane stated, "How are the hostages?"
"Juvia, Minerva, and Brandish are in the Dungeon now. We can head in to help them out.", I replied.
Once they were cleaned off, we headed inside to find several dead guards inside the main hall. Seeing the three women trying to make a large steel door move, it seemed like they were in quite a rush to trying to move it.
"Damn it, move!!", Minerva spat in anger.
"What's wrong?", Erza asked.
"Two guards sealed themselves inside!", Brandish said trying to use her magic on the door, "The prisoners are on the other side, and it sounds like they are killing-"
Before she finished her words, I punched the door off its hinges and into the wall thirty feet behind where it once was. Stepping inside, I saw the two men in question holding bloodied daggers over a group of older wizards. Going to cut their own throats, I used Trick Star to swap the blades with hay that was lying on the ground.
"You aren't getting off easy...", I said in a cold tone.
Using Cocoon of Darkness on them, I used Dark Matter to turn the inside into an Iron Maiden. No one could hear them from outside, but me. Hearing them scream for mercy, the spikes kept shooting in and out of them till they went silent. Scorching the inside once they were dead, I made sure nothing was left of them.
"Alright, start getting people out of their cells.", I stated walking further in.
The thought of resurrecting the older wizards crossed my mind, but bringing them back into this shitty place didn't feel right. They deserved peace now, I was sure Clark would find them a good place to reincarnate. As I was thinking about what I was going to do with Church, I wondered if Clark was really okay with it. He did leave me in charge of this world, but I was about to kill a lot of people.
"Don't worry about things like that, I put you in charge because I trust your judgment.", Clark told me telepathically, "These aren't innocent people you are about to kill, all of them have many deaths on their hands. They have reaped benefits on the backs of the innocent, making them atone for their actions isn't bad or cruel...it's karma. Believe me, I have seen it all since I took over for Presence...from two year old kids who died in the cold because their parents didn't want them in the house to people like Lobo that have no moral compass. Death for people like them is inevitable, all you are doing is speeding up the process."
Chuckling at that, I thanked him for the guidance and resolved myself to do it. Using Detect Life to look for anyone else aside from the group at the front, I found a sole person in one of the interrogation rooms. Kicking the door in, I glanced over at the table and saw a very familiar face on it. Seeing her crying as she saw me, I almost couldn't keep eye contact as I saw what they had been doing to her.
"Everything okay?", Millianna and Lisanna asked as they came over.
Motioning for them to stop, I told them to get Sorano then get everyone else outside. Asking about what I found, I again asked them to please go back and do as I asked. Seeing the serious look on my face, they did as I asked without any further questions. Using Ark to patch Yukino up so Sorano didn't have to see her sister cut open like a cadaver, I heard Sorano running over in a hurry.
"You find Celestial Keys? Lucy and I could certainly use some more-", Sorano said as she got next to me.
Before I could say anything, she bolted past me and over to Yukino. Breaking the restraints holding her down, Sorano pulled her sister into a tight embrace.
"Yukino!!", she screamed holding her sister tightly, "No...why!! Why are you here!? You weren't a wizard, you told us you weren't!!"
Giving her sister a hug back, the two started crying. This wasn't the best location for a family reunion, but I was sure they were happy to be back together. Hearing Sorano apologize over and over to her, she said she should have looked harder to find her. Carrying the two out since they weren't going to be moving any time soon, I took them and everyone else back to Irene and Yennefer.
"I honestly can't believe you assaulted a holy site, do you realize...", Yennefer started to berate us till she saw the prisoners, "Good Lord...so the rumors were true..."
"Irene, can I leave you in charge of protecting the house for a bit?", I asked opening a portal to our home, "If you need to get a bit aggressive with anyone...do so."
"Of course, where are you going?", Irene questioned.
"I have let the Church maintain it's hold for far too long...", I told her as Erza and Mirajane helped Sorano and Yukino through the portal, "Today is their day of reckoning."
Changing into my Angelic Form, I said I would be back this evening before shooting off into the sky.
---Church of the Eternal Fire HQ, 3rd Person POV---
Rushing into the Pope's Office, a senior member of the Mage Hunters burst in interrupting an important meeting. Turning his gaze to the hunter, the Pope demanded to know why he was barging into his office.
"One of the research facilities was just attacked. One of our men managed to get a message through before he died.", the hunter told him.
"This isn't something new, the Dark Guilds sometimes lash out.", the Pope assured him.
"Sir, it wasn't a Dark Guild. The image we received...it's Fairy Tail Mages sir, and the Rank 1 Wizard Saint Mael was there!!", he gulped.
"Brand that guild as a Dark Guild, and have them-", the Pope started to say before he found himself in midair.
Screaming as he looked down at the ground, it took him a moment to realize that he wasn't falling. Looking around for a moment, he spotted Mael staring at him with a darkened expression. Feeling his soul being crushed under the weight of Mael's gaze, he desperately tried to look away but found he didn't have the strength to.
"I have allow your cult to stay on this world for far too long.", Mael told him as the Pope's soul vibrated with every word, "Today you will pay dearly for your transgressions."
"You arrogant mage!! Our God will strike you down, and make you suffer for your arrogance!!", the Pope seethed.
Staring at him closely, the Pope felt he was looking straight at his soul. Seeing a smile appear on his face, Mael started laughing at him.
"I see now, this makes complete sense now.", Mael chuckled, "No wonder you have been able to keep wizards down all this time. You've been receiving help from Shang Tsung, how does it feel to be a mere puppet?"
"You will not disgrace the Eternal Fire!", the Pope shouted back.
"I don't think you quiet grasp who you are standing before, mortal.", Mael said as the heavens above them stare crackling violently, "In this world, no one on this world stands above me. Consider this retribution for all the wrongs your cult has caused this world, Shinrai!"
In a split second a massive bolt of lightning erupted from the sky, and dropped on the center building of the Church's HQ. Blinded by the light, the Pope howled in pain as off shoots of the attack struck him repeatedly over and over. After a few moments the lightning vanished and his vision started to come back. Looking back at where his office once was, all he saw was a molten crater where the building once stood.
"Now then, you can die with your repulsive fanatics.", Mael told him as he began falling to the ground.
"DAMN YOU!!", the Pope howled, "I CURSE YOUR VERY EXISTENCE!!"
"And I damn yours, Death Zero.", Mael replied with a wave of his hand.
Suddenly the world around the Pope went dark as the entire compound was swallowed by darkness. After a few minutes, the only thing that remained of the Church of the Eternal Fire HQ was a massive crater. After ensuring that not a single person was left alive, Mael flew of to systematically take out other Church Strongholds.
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