This Church Needs a Champion (1)
Orishin's arbitrary label of Tuon had become the sword spirit's official name.
The first reason was simple. "Kriel. There's no good that comes from casually dropping the name of one of the Seven Great Demonic Weapons. Let's just call it something else for now."
It was to hide Gratuon's true nature. The sword already resembled one of the Seven Great Demonic Weapons in appearance anyway. A gray-bladed sword like Gratuon, carried by a knight? "The Holy Kingdom would slap a bounty on my head that very day..."
The second reason? [Gratuon is, after all, the name of a broken loser who faded away. Having gained a new form and a new master, it is only fitting that it receive a new name.]
The sword spirit herself preferred Tuon over Gratuon, for some reason.
And so Kriel's attire took on a rather peculiar look. Orishin's curved horn dagger on his left hip. Tuon's ash-gray cross-sword on his right. And his primary weapon, the massive greatsword, strapped to his back. That was why Orishin had snarked about whether he planned to fight with a sword in his mouth too.
Morgina watched the sight with mixed emotions. From her perspective, an abyssal monstrosity like Tuon had no business clinging to Kriel. "But purely on looks..." Her personal taste—and according to hushed rumors among the faithful, the general taste of Eve Kaha's followers—found the image of a warrior laden with weapons utterly perfect. It wasn't uncommon for devotees of the goddess of the fallen to take satisfaction in evoking the battlefield.
Kriel sensed the odd, feverish glint in Morgina's gaze. "That's an impure look. Up to no good in that head of yours?"
"Impure? How rude. I was just pondering how to fix your cursed situation."
"I see. Sorry."
Kriel nodded along, but inwardly he was convinced this weird saintess had definitely been entertaining some bizarre fantasies.
[Hee-hing! Everyone ready? Let's get going. We've gotta head to the Eve Kaha headquarters pronto, right?]
At the legless horse's urging, Kriel and Morgina set off.
The grand cathedrals of each order in the holy capital Temris served as symbolic faces of their faiths. Even frugal sects made sure to display some splendor or refined elegance. Eve Kaha's cathedral was no exception, boasting a restrained beauty with subtle crow statues and wing reliefs.
Yet Kriel hadn't expected the order's true headquarters to be so "beautiful."
Temples were like that, generally speaking. The holy capital Temris drew the most pilgrims in the Holy Kingdom. To captivate travelers' eyes, they dolled up the cathedrals—but the real origin sites of each order? Left plain. Who bothered sprucing up places only visited by diehard pilgrims or priests? No profit in it, pure capitalist logic.
And Eve Kaha's origin site, birthplace of the crow goddess faith...
[Yo, is this really a temple?]
"...Well, sort of."
Put kindly, it was unique. Put harshly, it resembled a demon king's castle.
Its location atop some nameless peak, remote and hard to reach? Kriel could accept that. Revelations from gods usually came in high places, low places, or other odd spots. The hundreds of crows wheeling about, the withered trees fitting right in? "Makes sense for the crow goddess."
But the finale crowning that lively mountaintop path—crows perched in rows on leafless branches—was the crimson lake.
And it wasn't "crimson" from sunset or autumn leaves reflected on the water. Encircling the black fortress at the peak like a moat was a circular river of pure blood-red.
Between the ring river and the fortress sprawled a complex-patterned true moat linking to the castle. Viewed from afar, including that moat, it looked like a massive magic circle centered on the black fortress. Crows swarmed around the central structure.
Topping it off, red mists rising from the fortress turned the whole scene into something straight out of hell's backyard.
[Whoa. Scarier-looking than a demon king's castle. Eve Kaha's aesthetic is something else...]
Kriel usually sided with Morgina when Orishin poked at her nerves. The instigator was almost always the motormouth horse-head. But this time, even he had to agree with Orishin. No wonder Morgina turned out so twisted growing up here. A living testament to how environment shapes a child's psyche.
Of course, Morgina wasn't having it. "How dare you insult my order?"
[Who'd pilgrimage to a dump like this! They'd run screaming!]
Morgina wrapped her hand in red holy power and swung at Orishin. A scene that was starting to feel routine.
The cross-sword on his right hip hummed.
[I know not this place well, but it feels... homely. I approve.]
[See? Even the abyss spawn likes it! Eve Kaha tastes are seriously whack!]
"Keep yapping! You're the weirdo who can't appreciate this beauty!"
Kriel glanced at the bickering pair—one human, one ghost—over something trivial, then nodded to himself.
'Guess I'll just go on ahead.'
He trudged toward the black fortress. It took the feuding duo a good while to notice.
The blood-red water wasn't mere water.
"Ah, yeah, that's real blood."
[Damn. Great Six Rulers, don't you manage your youngest goddess?]
"...Doesn't smell like blood, though."
"That's 'cause it's special blood."
Morgina raised her right hand, palm out. The hand stayed pristine white despite all the battles, thanks to holy power. "Our priests' miracles basically forge weapons out of blood, right? This is an extension of that. The purest blood from our priests, gathered to craft weapons. Not the disposable holy-power junk, but the premium stuff for true warriors."
[Like a forge, then. Hey Tuon, wanna take a swim?]
"What're you doing."
Kriel reined in Orishin, who was eyeing the cross-sword like he meant to dunk it mouth-first into the blood.
[Your sword said it 'approved.' From what the thug saintess says, that flowing blood's less biological and more holy power essence in blood form. No rejection reaction?]
Kriel had started to retort at "your sword," but paused at the follow-up. Interesting point. He secretly hoped for Tuon's affirmative.
[I heed not the words of the weak.]
Firm rejection.
Eve Kaha's headquarters had no gatekeepers.
Morgina hefted her blood-and-holy-power-forged mace high, slamming the gate like a gong.
Boom—
A heavy thud echoed, and the gates creaked open without a hitch.
[Six Rulers... what're you gonna do about your youngest...]
Orishin muttered in shock at this barbaric "proper" entry method.
Morgina ignored the lament and dragged Kriel along. "C'mon. We're here, so let's pay respects to the High Priestess."
"As an outsider, shouldn't we wait in the reception hall?"
"Outsider? Pfft."
Morgina flashed a sly smile. "You're our order's Champion now, remember?"
Come to think of it, their original reason for coming was to quit the Champion role. Kriel had no choice but to follow her to meet the leader.
The black fortress's interior was surprisingly ordinary. Or rather, like any temple—priests going about their daily lives. Eve Kaha's faithful prayed quietly, fed the crows, sparred with multiple weapons, or meticulously maintained them.
Morgina and the priests exchanged silent nods instead of words. Quite the contrast to the mace-wielding rampages Kriel had witnessed.
'Reminds me of when she first showed up at the Western Army.'
Back then, he'd pegged her as just another quiet minority-faith priestess. Timid, persecuted, barely able to speak. Well, the speech part was true enough—but not from timidity. She was just debating whether to cave in the skulls of those fake-knight thugs.
Knock, knock.
The rapping pulled Kriel from his thoughts. A plain door for a High Priestess's chamber.
"Grandma, it's me—"
"Come in."
Kriel blinked. He'd overheard her call the leader "Grandma" a few times, but to her face? And the easy acceptance suggested it was everyday lingo. Eve Kaha allowed clerical marriage, so maybe blood relation.
He glimpsed the elderly woman beyond the door and revised that. Too kindly for Morgina's kin.
"I'm here. And this is—"
"I know. Word came from the cathedral. Heard you arbitrarily named a new Champion."
"Arbitrarily? Look at his skills."
"Not saying he's unskilled. Just that you forced it on someone who didn't want it."
Morgina averted her eyes. The leader turned to Kriel.
"So you're Morgina's Champion, then."