The Manipulators

Willier-Chapter 15

God and Religion, something that gets frowned upon by Mintians. The Gerald managed to turn it into something necessary and delightful for some, but to me and many others, it is but utterly foolish. So foolish in fact that I found myself want to believe in it. Have faith. 

...

Lunists rarely receive any jobs, but when they do, it sure is hell. Unlike the last one we got, this one required us to work with another group and was assigned by no other than Vaperrashi himself. We met with the other group in the shady dining hall since it is the one of the few places big enough to hold more than five person other than the bathroom. Sadly, none of us know any of them, so it was a bit awkward. We gathered around one of the tables and Hallam and a Silvestro read out the mission detail to us. The quest we received instructed us to a building in the Felsen Territory and the ten of us are to kill everyone who dares to pray and preach to a false God, no survivor. The rest of us went silent after they finished reading the mission details. Graciano mumbled something under his breath that is unintelligible and possibly a swearing word. Honestly, I would probably say the same. 

We got a freaking Annihilation Mission. 

Missions have different tiers and forms which could be categorized into two main categories: Combat Orientated and Non Combat Orientated. The Lunists usually receive only Combat Orientated missions. Among the Combat Orientated missions, the most difficult and chaotic is Annihilation, which basically means kill everything. In conclusion, if this is a ten person Annihilation, there must be like at least  fifty or sixty subjects we have to slaughter. 

None of us spoke to each other at all when we walked down the dusty dirt road of Felsen Territory. As usual, the Felson Territory is still hot as the blazing forge of the Combustioantitheus smith house. Worse than the forge house, dusts would run into our line of vision and make the surroundings blurry. On the way to our destination, I couldn't help but think if the ten of us would make it out alive: fifty Mintians are a lot to deal with, but at least we don't need to care about them not dying. 

We reached an old Felson dirt church that just so happened to be the place where the massacre would take place. It seems that the Mintians have no regard of privacy since we could literary hear them preaching inside when we are still several feet away from the entrance. A Felson church only has one entrance, meaning that we could just burst through the ancient wooden door and they won't be able to escape. We devised a plan that two of us ten would stand guard at the door to make sure that nobody escapes. The rest would go in and, hopefully, round them up so it is easier to kill them. Graciano and Ridge are more than happy and capable to guard the entrance and we went in, quietly. 

"... and may it be his great lord's holiness' will that we sin, for we sin for ourselves and greed and all alike. We sin and sing our prayers to the above and it be just for them to laugh us for we sin. Oh, our Heavenly Father surfer from our misbehave and it may only be just if we act to redeem ourselves and only then may it be just for us to beg for his forgiveness and plea to enter his paradise." 

The church room was supposed to be dim, but a ray of sunlight lightened up a space on the stone made podium and made the Mintian standing within it look like some kind of a holy saint. The Mintian wore a white robe and a golden ring on his right pinkie and his voice are both kind and tough. He would wave around his hands and spoke loudly of a great God that is too good to even be real. In the space between he and us were at least sixty Mintians who also wore white robes except that their's are shorter and they don't have rings. The Mintians are on their knees and their hands are clasped together. They are mumbling, possibly prayers to their false God, disgusting. The eight of us lined up near the entrance and waited for a moment to strike. 

"Isn't it selfish?" I whispered to Hallam who was startled by my suddenness. "I mean, it sounds like that they would do good deeds if they could have a chance to enter paradise, not because it is the righteous act."

"Heh, you ought to read Have Faith." Whispered back Hallam. "The Gerald really justified it well."

I was about to ask him if this cult was started by that book when the Silvestro raised held his hand up: the signal for preparing to strike. Soon, the cultists went on all fours and the Silvestro mechanically put his raised hand down like a lever. We instantly began our operation. 

It went smoothly at first. The cultists didn't even realize our presence until we either pierced or behead a number of them. The survivors rose up to their feet and, surprisingly, decided to fight back. Of course, their untrained punches and occasional slashes would barely reach us before they went to hell. While this was happening, the priest of the cultists shouted out foolish words at us. 

"Soldiers from hell! Beasts of darkness! You Lunists' heart are as dark as the night your unholy witch of a queen brings to all of us! This kingdom would fall before it becomes an empire and all shall be lost because of you servants and dogs and slaves of her Shadows! That beast of darkness shall surfer a million death and the unholy serpent will face god's most horrific wrath! That Sinner of the fallen shall find his head on the spike of the entrance to he-" Before the mad priest could finish his insult toward the Substitute Kunstler, a very angry Hallam found his way through the crowd and, with a conjured ice saber, went straight for his larynx and cut his head off. 

Though their very unholy holy head figure suffered his deserved demise, the cultists did not stop retaliating in the name of faith or not-wanting-to-die. In the end, though, all their efforts are futile and we found ourselves bathing in crimson blood and the scent of rusted metal. A Mintian of the other group eyed his Silvestro leader with sorrow and his leader dismissed him; He instantly went for the exit and was almost tackled by Ridge. I looked at the pool of blood and scattered bodies with unexpected pride; I think that I have killed at least ten cultists, not bad for a small scale Annihilation Mission. The scene do look somewhat gruesome even to me and I almost set it all on fire before Ridge beat me to it. Sometimes I do forget that I look more Gelumnatio than Combustioantitheus and that it is not normal for two opposing different species to breed together, but it is always easier to let fire burn it all away. 

I watched the fire burn as Hallam called me to leave in a not particularly hateful way as he used to do back in school. I left the building and I realized that Ingeborg and Hallam accepted me in some way because I look like a Gelumnatio than a Combustioantitheus. But you know fire well and way before the pesky ice, remarked a voice inside of my head that I have heard once too many times. And remember, you are not a Combustioantitheus, you are something greater and lesser than us.