173 Deus vult

-Would you dare to oppose the will of God?" Said the black priest in a calm yet firm tone that seemed to be a question and a threat at the same time.

Nicole gave the man a furious look, as her body tensed up, as if she was about to jump on him and tear his throw off but stopped herself before making a very unsatisfied grin and retracting her large black claws. She then started to walk toward him taking large steps, only stopping a few centimeters away while completely towering over him.

-I hope that you keep your promise, Dix." She threatened while looking down at him with piercing red eyes

Unconcerned by her menace, the man calmly stood still, his head looking slightly to the side, as if looking in the void.

-That is no promise, only a mere observation of a small fragment of our Lord's plan that he bestowed to me.

She grinned again, visibly unpleased by the man's answer, but as she opened her mouth to complain, Dix spoke again:

-All that you have lost will be yours again, even what is no longer.

Then, without wasting an instant the man stepped very slightly to the side, barely avoiding Nicole before continuing toward Sansoul and Romeo, as she glared back at him with suspicion before walking away.

On the other hand the boy hadn't moved from where his mother left him and was still kneeling on the ground crying a tear at a time in complete silence, submerged and drowning in a sea of despair and self-hatred, he was sure to never come back from.

-Look up." Ordered the priest in a strong and comforting tone to the boy, who naturally followed the instruction and upon making eye contact said:

-It's you, again.

-Always." Responded Dix while staring down at the child

-Why?" asked the boy in a shattered voice "Why always you? Why does it always end up like that? Why do I always fail? WHY!? Why can't I win a single time?!" he shouted in gut-wrenching cry to the man

-You already have won." Stated the priest

The boy's tears dried up as froze in place completely dumbfounded by the man's words, Sansoul just stood there eyes wide open as all his emotions tried to express themselves at the same time forming an amalgamation of anger and sadness, relief and despair, he didn't know if he was about to cry some more or laugh like a mad man. And after what seemed like an eternity to him, he managed to ask a singular question:

-How… How can I have won anything? How can I have won when my friend is dead right next to me, because of me?!

Dix turned to the blond teenager's bloody corpse which was pierced by a thousand metal shards and slowly bleeding out.

-That is no problem." Simply said the man as he slightly raised his arm before turning his hand to the side and saying, in a foreign language: "Deuxième œil, entropie."

At which point his all-white eyes flashed bright blue, as Romeo's body and the container started trembling unnaturally, the blood, which was spilling slowed down, stopped before flowing backward into Romeo's body. The small puddle of blood that had formed on ground were being drained back inside the teenager's body.

Then, once done, a mysterious force started to not only pull the teenagers away from the container, but also close his wounds, pushing the hundreds of metallic shards out of his body and back in the container, at the exact place they were before the impact.

In only a few seconds both Romeo's body and the metallic containers were both back to how they had been before the crash, except that the teenager was now floated in the air.

Dix then turned his hand back around, causing his eyes to flash back to their original, lack of color and Romeo to fall on the ground unarmed and alive, the priest cofed a bit of blood but seemed otherwise unaffected by how he just broke one of the primordial laws of the universe.

Sansoul was at a loss for words once again, he couldn't believe what just happened, he had never since anything close to this, either in this or his previous world, it was something that contradicted all he knew and had learned. To him this was a miracle.

-You have won, for you achieved the goals which were yours." Explained the men while looking away to the boundless sea once again "Once your own betterment isn't something that is instantaneous, but a long road full of demons and obstacles which must be taken down one step at a time. Trying to jump ahead will lead you to an enemy you cannot yet face and ultimately send you back much further will reinforce your demons.

Dix then turned to face the boy and stared him in the eyes: "You didn't fail, it isn't the time anymore. You didn't fail, you fought the wrong battle, it wasn't time yet. You won, but it will not be time yet; be patient like a tree and only grow leaves when your roots are deep enough, and your branches have hardened. That is the will of our lord.

The priest then turned to a seemingly random direction, his eyes locked on and followed the direction of a falling object which only he could see and that fell right in front of him.

-After all, Rome wasn't built in a day, but that is a lesson better taught to someone else.

As he ended his sentence a large body which had been launched from the other side of the port by Nicole came crashing down right in front of him after following the trajectory the priest had followed a few seconds prior.

Dix who was already looking down stared at the Italian resistance leader who had crashed only a few millimeters away from him and repeated the order he had given Sansoul before:

-Look up.

Without a second of hesitation Benito obeyed, despite the pain and atrocious state his body was in and his lack of consciousness.

-See how low you end up." Commented the priest in an extremely judgmental tone as his expression showed all his disappointment and dismay. "Is that frivolous proto nation what you have done of the power that you took?

The Italian leader, who seemed to just have regained his senses looked up at the priest in utter confusion, completely speechless.

-Father Dix?" he asked as if unable to believe what he was seeing.

-Indeed, my child.

-You were dead, I saw you burn in that church, you can't be here, it's impossible!

-And yet I am, and yet I had been, and yet I told you time and time again, but never did you listen. You are too stubborn too, Benoit" Dix looked to the sea once again, before taking a large breath. "I never understood why you were chosen, you were the least loyal, the least innovative, the least intelligent, you were always the least, and yet, you were chosen. And you were a failure, with all the power you had, all the knowledge I had given you, you managed nothing.

The priest then looked straight up at the sky and continued:

-But I see why now, I had failed to understand, I had doubted the lord and committed an unforgivable sin. May he have pity on this poor soul who had foolishly thought that his worst disciple had been chosen despite his lack of talent, but because of his lack of talent.

A large smile then formed on the man's face as he continued to ramble while looking beyond the sky.

-Is this not wonderful? You were the proof that our lord's power extends beyond logic and that no matter the circumstances his will will always come true! Do you not see the beauty in this power, the power to manipulate the word however he wishes and put us where we need to be, even with such flawed pones as us?

He extended his arm toward the sun, placing his hands next to another forming some kind of ball, as if he wanted to pick up the sun or was waiting for an offering, as his expression became ecstatic.

-No matter the starting positions or the peon at his disposal he will make it into the best possible outcome! How Grand! How Beautiful! How powerful! No amount of prayers will ever be able to catch up to him!

The man continued to look up, in trance, uncaring about his surroundings in the slightest, then after a few seconds of silence, the man's eyes winded as a ball of pure light formed in his hand, enveloping and hiding everything in its way.

-I see! I see now! That was what it all meant! Such splendor! Such life!

Then light then disappeared leaving the priest to lower his hand as his face calmed down. After a few more seconds of silence Dix looked back at Benito who was still helplessly stuck on the ground before taking a strong, menacingly fatalistic tone and saying:

-Your mission is now over my child, and it is time to pay back for the sin you have committed." Dix lowered his hand to be above the Italian leader's head. "Up"

Benito instantly and unwantedly raised his head putting it in Dix's hand, as he struggled with all he had to get aways but stayed stuck where he was.

-By the name of our lord, judgment shall be given to this child, who's faults are to have abandoned his brothers in belief to die, to have lied to all and have abused the divine power he stole for our lord to bend people's will and thought. For all of that, Benoit Menteur, born in Louisiana on the first of April 3551 will be sent back to the lord.

The man's eye then started to shine with a piercing bright and deep black as an oar of the same impossible color swirled around him before concentrating in his hand.

-Dixième œil , jugement final!

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