Gates of Penance-Chapter 26: Unforgivable sin

"What do you believe is the worst kind of sin?"

Clang!

Their swords met in the centre of the arena under the blinding light of a dead star.

Alister continued.

"Is it crushing those that are helpless under you or..."

Alister’s smile stretched across his face.

"Is it betrayal?"

Nacht’s body screamed as he failed to dodge another one of Alister’s attacks. Still, he answered Alister’s question.

"It is neither!"

Nacht took a step forward, dodging Alister’s blade and slashed at his neck. Alister blocked the strike but failed to dodge the kick that was aimed at the side where he had lost his arm. The kick managed to rattle Alister enough that his sword momentarily gave way, allowing Nachts sword to penetrate through his defense.

Alister retreated immediately giving them both time to catch their breaths.

"You actually made me bleed!"

Nacht’s eyes darkened as he looked at Alister.

"The worst kind of sin is inaction."

Alister looked at Nacht with the same smile on his face.

"During a time of crisis, the choice to not act is the gravest sin of all, and those who commit that cardinal sin, deserve to be locked away in the deepest parts of penance."

This was the reason why he did not believe humanity could be forgiven. Their inaction to help him and the other residents of District Nine infuriated him. They believed that anyone who wasn’t an enlightened didn’t hold any value since they didn’t contribute to the survival of humanity. Their only value was in death.

Nacht hated that.

He charged at Alister knowing that the desperation that was present on his face before, gave way to the rage that had now overcome his mind.

He had lost so much. He had lost his father when he was young to an illness that had been running rampant in District Nine. His mother had been executed in the name of humanity’s survival, and finally his uncle had perished by his own hand. He had nothing left, only his ambition.

Nacht swung his saber with reckless abandon, racking up some minor wounds on both his and Alister’s body until Alister finally had enough.

Nacht thrusted his sword at Alister before it was masterfully parried. His eyes widened in surprise.

He knew that Alister couldn’t kill him unless he wanted to die as well, which only made what happened next more shocking!

Alister broke into his guard and aimed his blade directly at his heart. The sword was inches away from impaling him.

He had to make a choice.

Nacht had left that area open on purpose since he thought that Alister wouldn’t try to kill him... kill them both. Nevertheless, he had still aimed a life threatening strike straight at his heart. He wanted to dodge since he didn’t want to die but then that would leave the rest of his body open!

In the end, he gritted his teeth and chose to save his life.

He chose wrong.

His body moved before he could think, and in the next moment he was in a world of pain.

’...No!’

He screamed as his body collapsed to the floor, he grasped at his severed arm that had been cleaved through his bicep.

’I lost?"

He could barely hear what Alister said next over the weight of his own failure.

"Did you think you could kill me? This is penance you fool! The kingdom of the damned! This is my prison and my dominion! A mere human that isn’t even an enlightened couldn’t hope to kill me!"

Nacht got to his feet and dashed towards the pedestal.

’If I can get to the shard then I—’

"Unfortunately for you, weakness is another sin that cannot be forgiven."

Nacht fell to the ground as he felt his bottom leg detach from his knee.

"Aaargh!"

The pain was immense.

"I must say this has been the most fun I’ve had in a while, but our time together has come to an end."

Alister casually walked past his feeble form and stepped up to the pedestal.

He tried to stop him.

"Wait!"

Alister kept his eyes on the glowing white shard before leaving him with one last ominous message.

"For the both of us, I truly do hope you survive whatever is coming for you."

Before his eyes, he saw Alister reach the pedestal and hold the shard of ascension above his head.

"Stop!"

Alister looked at him with an expression of what he thought was pity.

"Goodbye Nacht."

Suddenly, the shard disintegrated into an array of white sparks, and with it Alister was gone.

’It can’t end like this! Not when I’m so close!’

Despite knowing what awaited him, he still refused the notion of his death. It’s not that the concept of death scared him. No, It was because he couldn’t and would not forgive himself if he did die! He knew that entering penance would most likely result in his death, and he accepted that. Well, at least he thought he had. Now that it was becoming a reality he realized that he couldn’t accept it! He had sacrificed his uncle for this opportunity! For his goal! For him to just die would mean that his sacrifice was meaningless! It would mean that his dream was meaningless!

He wouldn’t be forgiven. No, even if he succeeded in his ambition he still could not be forgiven for what he did.

The guilt was eating him alive.

Nevertheless, he couldn’t stop what was about to happen.

He crawled up to the pedestal and rested his back against it. The flames had devoured the entire arena at this point. The only area that was left untouched was the arena’s center by the pedestal where he lay defeated.

Nacht stared up into the blinding light of the dead star in a daze, and that was when it happened.

He felt his soul which was previously connected to Alister’s shift. It was quite an uncomfortable feeling but it wasn’t unbearable. In fact, it felt natural. This wasn’t surprising since his soul was never meant to be attached to anyone or anything. However, this wasn’t the end of it.

He felt his soul shift again and attach itself onto something unknown... something terrifying.

He lost his sense of hearing, then in the next moment his eyes widened and he let out a Tortured shriek.