Chapter 16

“It’s okay, miss. Louis, you don’t have to take her side like that.”

“I’ve told you several times, I’m not your mother, right?”

*

016

Punishment and Sin (Part 2)

*

A cardinal, especially one of François’s stature, can issue religious decrees on his own. Even a brief conversation in his office carries the same authority as a verdict from a religious court.

However, even if he pronounces a sentence, there’s still a short administrative process before the punishment is carried out. Anne used this time to act swiftly.

Following the old adage that forgiveness is easier than permission, a sin already paid for is as good as absolved.

Suppressing her desire to return to Louis, she crossed the Inquisition Temple and kicked open the door to one of its annex buildings, the Inquisition Judge Training Center.

Bang!

All the other comrades were dispatched outside, and there hadn’t been any new recruits recently who couldn’t control themselves after consuming the Holy Body. Now, the only person left in this vast compound was her.

Verdo, the red-haired Inquisition Judge. A man whose schedule was left hanging because Anne had taken over the ‘judgment’ he was supposed to handle.

Despite his rough appearance and cruel nature, he was equally devout. Verdo had been sweating profusely in the training ground, engrossed in his self-discipline.

“Sister Anne?”

Her sudden and violent appearance filled Verdo’s eyes with confusion. Anne, whose compatibility with the Holy Body was astonishingly high, rarely engaged in such training.

It wasn’t for nothing that she was called the Divine Inquisition Judge. Even with elders who had devoted decades to heresy trials, no one could ignore her because-

Simply put, Anne was that strong.

“Were you training? Perfect timing.”

And now, with everyone gone, there was no one to stop her.

Anne walked towards Verdo, picking up one of the wooden swords lying on the ground. Her main weapon was a mace, so she wasn’t particularly skilled with swords.

But it didn’t matter. Anne wasn’t the type to rely on technique anyway. Pointing the wooden sword at Verdo, she smiled softly.

“Brother Verdo. How about a sparring session to warm up?”

But the fierce aura emanating from the girl was so intense that even a clueless person would notice. Verdo wasn’t fooled by her smile.

“Sister Anne? What’s going on…”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Her words were more of a threat than a request. Before Verdo could protest, a small, agile figure shot towards him like an arrow, raising a cloud of dust.

Verdo reflexively swung the weapon in his hand. Unlike Anne, who held a wooden practice sword, he had been training with a real sword, its edge sharp.

A treasure incomparable to a mere wooden stick, the sacred weapon, Dayblade.

Whoosh.

The second sharpest sword in the royal court sliced through the air with a sharp sound. However, the red afterimage left by the sword didn’t even graze Anne’s clothes.

Partly because Verdo held back, not wanting to harm his sister, but even if he had gone all out, the result wouldn’t have changed.

The difference in speed and strength was unbelievable for beings of the same race. When Anne struck his side, a heavy thud echoed, and Verdo’s body was sent flying, tumbling to the ground.

“Cough!”

“Thanks for letting me go first, but you shouldn’t be so relaxed.”

“Who’s relaxed… Gah!”

Her sudden attack and absurd words were baffling, but the situation itself was even more so.

Sparring between Inquisition Judges was routine. However, given their strong bodies and somewhat one-dimensional emotions, they often fought until they were half-dead.

To prevent this, there was a rule: the fight ends when a weapon breaks. This rule was effective since most used practice weapons, but not this time.

Verdo, who had drawn Dayblade in a daze. Meanwhile, Anne held her wooden sword by the blade, protecting it with her fists.

A radical idea: protecting the weapon with her body, which was tougher than the weapon itself. Normally, if Anne struck with such force, the weapon would break, and the spar would end.

“Calm down! Damn it, are you trying to kill me?”

“It’s just a light spar, what are you talking about?”

True to her words, Anne adhered to the sparring rules. Avoiding excessive humiliation, showing respect, and stopping if the weapon broke.

But the chilling cold in Anne’s eyes was hotter than any flame. Her gaze wasn’t that of a sparring partner but more like looking at a lover’s sworn enemy.

A mix of affection, betrayal, and a burning frustration of not being able to kill. Even Verdo, who had faced countless heretics, was momentarily overwhelmed.

“Are you really crazy?”

Eyes filled with hostility, bordering on murderous intent. Giving up on persuasion, Verdo drew his sword and made a shallow cut on his own arm.

Fighting half-heartedly might get him killed. Even if she only held a wooden sword, she was an opponent beyond his level. He had to go all out!

Flames began to lick the blade of the sacred sword, fed by noble blood. The fire, named Sun’s Blood, wrapped around the blade, shining as white as the midday sun.

“Don’t get angry, Brother Verdo.”

Anne also had her sacred weapon, but her mace, Polaris, was resting in the armory, not the Inquisition Judge Training Center.

Of course, if two Inquisition Judges fought with their sacred weapons, it would be a disaster and a major incident. Hence, the sparring format.

Given their reputation as battle maniacs, this would just be a minor accident caused by heated emotions during a spar.

Swoosh!

The sacred sword drew a white arc as it swung in a semicircle. A single hit would end the spar, whether she was cut or the weapon broke. Anne skillfully stepped back, avoiding the blade’s trajectory.

Engaging in close combat with a stronger opponent was suicidal. Verdo maintained a certain distance, swinging his sword repeatedly instead of chasing Anne.

The extended blade length, wrapped in flames, and the following heatwave and sparks blocked her approach. The tactic seemed quite effective.

Crack!

Until Anne dashed through a gap invisible to ordinary people and smashed Verdo’s head with her wooden sword.

The impact was absorbed by their tough bodies, but the force alone caused cracks in the wooden sword. She hoped it would last until her venting was over.

Anne charged again at the staggering Verdo, delivering a spinning kick.

His jaw twisted at an absurd angle, and his body fell again. Verdo flailed wildly with Dayblade, but the sun-like flames only caused mild discomfort to Anne.

Finally, the flames of Dayblade, fueled by blood, extinguished. Without giving him time to replenish, Anne mercilessly continued her assault.

She punched and kicked with the wooden sword. Of course, no matter how hard she hit, it couldn’t compare to the cruel torture he had inflicted.

This was just venting. Futile, but unstoppable.

She stomped methodically. No matter how strong Anne was, she couldn’t break an Inquisition Judge’s tough body with bare hands. Thus, Verdo couldn’t faint and had to endure the pain, both physical and mental.

She didn’t kill him. Anne kept her promise to François before coming here.

‘I won’t let anyone touch Louis.’

She also kept her promise to herself. The chain of absurd violence. Just as Verdo had done to Louis, Anne vented her rage on Verdo in Louis’s stead.

No matter how tough an Inquisition Judge’s body was, Anne’s full-powered kicks were enough to kill a wolf with each strike. The internal shockwaves were unavoidable.

“Cough!”

Clang.

Finally, Verdo dropped his sword, and Anne kicked the bloodied man into a wall of the training ground.

She stepped closer to the fallen man, who still couldn’t get up. Anne grabbed Verdo’s hair and lifted the larger man with one hand, like plucking weeds.

“Brother Verdo.”

She whispered a warning, staring into his dull red eyes, now devoid of madness.

“You shouldn’t have touched ‘what’s mine.’ No matter how tempted you were.”

“Tempted? Heh, hehe… How could we, servants of God, be tempted?”

But even though the flames were extinguished, the man’s eyes remained steadfast. Armored in faith and shielded by conviction, his will was unbreakable, even under the baptism of violence.

The eyes of a fanatic, just like hers. For the first time, Anne found them unpleasant.

“Don’t play dumb, Sister Anne. Brother François and I… we’re just worried about you.”

“…”

“Sister, you need to be more aware of your position.”

Instead of answering, Anne punched him again. Even as he coughed up blood, Verdo continued.

“From the start, you’ve been under scrutiny, and as Inquisition Judges, we’re more prone to corruption than any other role. If you protect a specific heretic, there will be many who’ll want to tear you apart.”

“Shut up.”

“No, even now, we’re suspicious. Sister Anne, when I tortured that heretic, he said something.”

The mention of Louis made Anne’s relentless punches hesitate. Seizing the moment, Verdo quickly continued.

“He said he was innocent, that he hadn’t committed any crimes… But Sister Anne, you know as well as I do about torture.”

“…What are you trying to say?”

“Ordinary people, in such situations, would confess to anything, even things they didn’t do. It’s too painful, too unbearable, they just want relief.”

Thud! Anne punched him again. But Inquisition Judges weren’t ordinary people, so Verdo, despite the pain, stubbornly continued.

Such strong willpower wasn’t something a country boy could possess.

“Was his spirit too strong for me to break? No, Sister… That’s not it.”

His buzzing voice was as unpleasant and creepy as if it were Laube’s seduction.

Anne didn’t want to hear anymore. They were trying to protect her. Maybe they weren’t entirely wrong, but there was a big difference between them and her.

No matter the situation, she would always protect Louis.

But if the Order confirmed her betrayal or corruption, they would kill her themselves.

“His spirit was already broken long before I touched him.”

Crash!

“Long… long ago.”

Anne’s full-powered punch finally silenced Verdo.

Though she protected it with her hand, the wooden sword finally broke into two pieces. Her delicate hand, having absorbed the impact, was now covered in wounds.

Anne tossed the broken sword onto the unconscious Verdo and turned away. Clearly, it was just nonsense, but-

-For some reason, his last words stuck stubbornly in her ears.