The Past that Binds Us

The Head Pastor shrieked in disbelief at what I assumed was her Window that probably informed her that I was immune to all curse-based attacks and spells. She stumbled forward and threw herself at me as she screamed incoherently.

I was still out of her reach, but I took the opportunity to go around her. She fell heavily on her chest because of the uneven ground, and it took me all I had not to throw up when I saw how absolutely ruined her damaged ankle became. A thread of flesh was all that was left that held the foot to the leg.

The Head Pastor howled in defeat.

"Why is this all happening to me?" she cried. It sounded like she was sobbing, but no tears formed because she was already undead.

"This is all because of you," the undead woman threw an undeadly glare to me, "you, and that stupid faith of yours and Kazuhiro…"

I froze. How did she know the campus leader's name?

The Head Pastor lowered her face onto the ground with a heavy thud in defeat. Then she lifted it up again and smacked it down on the ground again. And again.

I looked around in discomfort. I made sure that the exit to the courtyard was right behind me just in case the undead woman decided to do something unexpected, I wanted to be able to escape easily.

She started to mumble, and I turned back around to face her.

"I loved the One Creator, but He didn't love me back," Maru mumbled. She still sobbed, but I was able to catch a little bit of what she was saying in between her heaving breaths.

Did she say that she loved the One Creator?

"W- what did you say?" I spoke weakly.

She ignored my question and continued to mumble her sorrows, "I loved everybody there. I did the best I could. I believed the best I could. Masahiro, why did you abandon me? I needed you and you—"

Hearing the zombie woman say my father's name sent a shiver down my back. Who was this woman? How did she know the campus leader? And how did she know my father?

"Why are you saying that?" My voice cracked as I started to lose control of my emotions.

"Kat are you okay?" came Ryuu's voice over the System. I couldn't answer him. My throat tightened and my mouth went dry as I started to approach the undead woman that lay on the ground.

"How do you know Masahiro? How do you know my dad?" I struggled to get the words out.

The woman stopped sobbing as she processed what I just said, and before long I noticed that she started to laugh into the dirt.

"What are you laughing at?" I started to freak out at her changed mood. I couldn't get a handle on her quick-changing attitude.

"Kat?" Mr Saizo's voice resonated in my ears, but I also ignored him as my need to figure out how the undead woman and my father were connected to each other.

"Tell me!" my voice thankfully sounded convincing this time around.

The Head Pastor pushed herself around onto her back and continued to laugh before she sat up and looked at me. She didn't say anything until her laughter died down.

"You're Masahiro's daughter?" she asked calmly.

I didn't answer her, but I think the look on my face gave her the answer that she needed as she started to laugh uncontrollably. Her laughter was so robust that she nearly lost her balance and fell on her back again.

"How do you know him?" I attempted to sound threatening to try and get her to keep the focus on what mattered to me.

"Oh gods," the woman chuckled, "man, if I knew that the One Creator had such a sick sense of humour, I would have stayed part of the Religion."

"You were part of the Religion?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I was," the Head Pastor said as she heaved herself back up on her feet. She completely ignored her ankle which was only attached by a strand of skin and simply placed the stub down on the ground. The ankle dragged behind the stub and the difference in height between the legs with and without the foot caused the woman to have a substantial slant to the side without the foot.

"And you know what the kicker was? I was part of your campus years ago, with ol' Kazuhiro as our campus leader. And Masahiro as the Vice…" the Head Pastor struggled to stay standing as she started to awkwardly step forward towards Kat as she spoke.

"I'm sad that he never spoke about what happened twenty years ago," the Head Pastor continued.

My head was swimming with conflicting thoughts. The leader of the rival religion that killed my parents used to be on the same campus as me, and she knew my dad? What happened twenty years ago? I racked my brain to see if I could remember anything that could help me figure out what she was referencing, but nothing came to me.

Until the memory of the discussion between the campus leader and my dad that I overheard came back. Was she talking about what they mentioned?

"You don't mean—"

"I was your father's disciple," Head Pastor Maru cackled. She paused and looked like she was reminiscing about something and then said, "ah, he was a good teacher for a while."

The strength in my legs disappeared for a moment and I nearly lost my footing on the uneven ground. My mind was buzzing with all the implications of what the undead woman is saying to me.

"You wouldn't believe how hurt I was when your old man refused to defend me in front of the central campuses, those old pricks. I begged and begged for him to help me, but he decided to side with old shitty Kazuhiro and the central campuses, the coward."

"No, this is all a lie," I mumbled, "it must be a lie."

"You poor girl, this was quite a few years before you were born," the woman taunted, "you didn't know what your father was like back then — I would assume he would act like he's the greatest dad in the world for his daughter of course — but he was weak! He was small, and he was weak!

"Oh damn the gods, I wish old man Kazuhiro hadn't managed to escape that night. I would have loved to have been able to line him up next to his most trusted confidant, your father, and execute them all one by one." The woman laughed cruelly as she continued to walk forward.

My whole body was shaking as I listened to the woman's disgusting words. I barely kept it under control, but I was not shaking because of fear, it was more because of anger.

"I would have executed everybody that he led and made him watch, but I guess I had to make do with killing Masahiro and his whore of a—"

"Why?" I yelled the single word. I couldn't hold in my anger anymore. It took the woman by surprise and she paused and stared at me.

"Why wha—?"

"Why did you have to kill everybody I loved and knew?" I asked defiantly.

The question took her by surprise, and she started to cackle once more.

"Gods, you're so cute when you're angry," the Head Pastor grinned, "why did I kill everyone? Because I had the power to."

I glared at her as she continued to laugh.

"I was such a good follower back then. I was smart, and I was charismatic, and things were going so well…" Maru explained, "until one day, I had the audacity to ask to be a leader within the Religion!"

She laughed as she noticed the look of confusion on my face.

"The old bastards in the central campuses were so panicked when news of my goals reached them. How can a mere simple woman dream to be a leader within the Religion with power? Imagine how horrible it would be to have a female campus leader. The Scriptures say that it was forbidden! There was no way!" the woman continued.

"I kicked up a fuss and the central campuses didn't like that one bit, you know? So, I asked the only person I trusted to help me fight my case. I asked your father, but he kept his distance away from me and sided with him," she spat the word when she mentioned the campus leader.

"They kicked me out of the Religion. My family and friends refused to talk to me because of my heresy. I was homeless and hopeless, and I had nothing. But, you know what?" the woman started to get closer again, "that was when I found out the Church of the Great Demon didn't care that I was a woman.

"I was saddened when I couldn't kill Kazuhiro, but now that I know that you're Masahiro's daughter, I guess killing you is better than nothing."

With that, she lunged at me.

I was so distracted by my anger and by the story that she was telling me, that I didn't even realise how close she had gotten. I squealed in terror and jumped to the side out of the way, but not fast enough.

Her arm snagged one of my legs and we both fell on the ground heavily. I was winded by my fall, but the disgusting sensation of the Head Pastor's rotting flesh on my ankle kickstarted my body's fight or flight mode. Even as I struggled to get my breath back, I kicked and flailed my feet around to try and get away from the woman's grip.

"Come here, you little shit!" the Head Pastor screamed as she grasped at my leg, trying to get a solid hold on my limb.

She dragged her body across the uneven ground to get closer to my feet as I continued to kick. First, I kicked to try and get her hands off me, then when she started to open her mouth to bite into my leg, I desperately started to aim at her face.

I could finally breathe again and I screamed, half in terror, and half in anger as I repeatedly slammed my feet into her face. The old and ragged slipper that I had managed to protect my feet from any cuts from her teeth and bony face as I continued to try to prevent her from being able to bite into my leg.

Small cracking sounds came in between both our grunts and scream as her face started to shatter from the impacts of my kicks, and finally, on one of them, my foot accidentally slid off her slightly concaved cheek and perpendicularly down her neck onto her collarbone right next to the base of her neck.

I heard her flesh rip and then a massive crack and as I brought my foot back up and continued to kick her, her body slumped down.

After a few extra kicks, I finally realised that she wasn't fighting back any more and I shoved her one last time and lay there on my back, trying to catch my breath.

A chime popped in my ears and a Window appeared above and in front of me, congratulating me that I had finally levelled up to LEVEL 6.