Chapter 54: Abating Madness

Lumière sprang up from the chair, throwing himself backwards as the shadows arose from the ground. Thousands of midnight-black tendrils began to writhe around the Nameless, engulfing their forms as they screamed out in pain and agony. Engulfed in shadow, Asmodeus stared at Lumière through the eyeholes of his exposed skull. They seemed to burn with fury. Still he stood silently as the shadows took over his form entirely.

"Get to work, my friends!" Lumière grinned, shouting aloud. He looked over towards the White Roses who seemed frozen in fear still. Yet, having seen the current event, their hands moved instinctively towards their weapons, grasping the hilt and running forward towards Lumière. They grouped behind him, and Lumière stood up from the ground before looking over towards the group of Nameless that had gathered around them. In an instant, the shadows had left nothing but bones behind. The remaining flesh on their skeletons had been rendered away in an instant, and the monsters within the shadows had dissipated.

However, the same was not the case for Asmodeus, who still remained standing. The shadows had washed over his form completely, churning on the surface of his remaining skin like a sea of midnight. From time to time, the tendrils would thrash out, slapping against the stone ground around them with a resounding 'crack' like a whip. As the White Roses watched the shadows devour his flesh, they realised in horror that each time bits of skin and meat would disappear from his body, new, pinker flesh would take its place. It layered itself- muscles, sinew, fat, and skin growing one after the other in the places where his body was being eaten.

For Asmodeus, a servant of the Blood Lace, the heretic Goddess, he had received her Boon. In doing so, he was granted the ability to shape, reform, and renew his flesh and blood. So, in a constant battling against the agony of being eaten alive, Asmodeus was renewing his flesh- piece by piece. It was an eternal pain, but also eternal survival in the face of the monsters of shadow. Lumière's plan hadn't anticipated such a development. After all, what living creature would willingly accept such a pain?

Clearly, the hatred and anger in Asmodeus's eyes transcended such a trivial matter.

"Are you ready to die, liar?" Asmodeus spoke in a low, grave tone.

Lumière's eyebrow twitched slightly. Yet, like every performer, he saw opportunity in Asmodeus's revealing of power. He raised his gloved hand up in the air and snapped his fingers. Sparks flashed in his open alternate hand, and out of the sparks, a rose sat between his fingers. The White Roses and Asmodeus looked at him in confusion.

In the meanwhile, from inside his coat where his gloved hand had moved, he pulled the trigger of his gun. A bullet cascaded through the air, blasting a large hole in the side of Asmodeus's skull.

"It's a magician's job to distract. Really- isn't this much obvious?" Lumière chuckled. "I wonder- to what extent does the renewment of your flesh end? For instance, if at the same times as you were being consumed alive, I too were to take flesh from your bones, would you be able to keep up? If we were to fight, then I wonder who would die first- you or me?"

The White Roses behind Lumière immediately came to a realisation, understanding the true meaning of his words. Grasping their blades tighter, they immediately rushed towards Asmodeus in unison. Swinging wildly, his flesh was cut in several places. The tendons in his ankles were sliced away, causing him to fall to the ground. His blood dripped incessantly onto the earth below, staining the ground a bright red. The moon churned in the distant, casting violet light onto the red mist, turning it a faint purple. It felt as if they were in some sort of hellish landscape forged by the worst nightmares a person could experience.

Lumière then walked up to Asmodeus, looking deep into his eyes which carried an inconsolable rage. He pressed the barrel of his gun to Asmodeus's skull.

"You. All of the people you care for- your friends, family, and your beloved will die. I am her most beloved. Do you think she will let this slight stand?" Asmodeus cursed.

"Will that Goddess of yours save you even now?"

Lumière pulled the trigger. Immediately, a bullet shot forward, tearing its way through Asmodeus's skull, causing him to fall to the ground in a heap. The shadows in the area slowly convulsed, and the aura of malfeasance and malice began to dissipate. It felt like a weight had been taken off of Lumière's shoulders. He let out a heavy breath, collapsing to the ground along with the rest of his group.

"That was truly a mess…" Cornifer chided. "What kind of training was this- a test to see if fate truly wants us to live?"

Ramses let out a slight chuckle between pants. "Well, it's too early to tell, my friend. Perhaps you will die tomorrow."

Cornifer looked back at him slightly annoyed, about to say something, but Midas raised his hand.

"Should I turn both of your tongues to gold, so that you will stop speaking?" Midas growled, out of breath. "Maybe then your words would have some value."

Nicole seemed obviously shaken. Besides having to extend his shadows to the monsters which he clearly feared, he had used up the majority of his stamina, and so he was unable to stand up. Moreover, having witnessed such horrors in the past, it had brought up certain traumas that left him silent, stuck in his own thoughts. Besides that, he was clasping his ears like they were in pain. He had become the true mess left behind by the plan.

Without stopping for rest, Father Benedict and Meraline had immediately summoned their carrier pigeons and sent off word to any nearby Heaven's Roses. While the threat had abated, that didn't mean there wasn't any danger left to encounter. After all, they stood at the site of a ritual that had not been completely dismantled. Moreover, the fact that so many Nameless had been able to gather at once could have been proof of the fact that there were much more in the area. After all, Asmodeus had spoken of it being the product of a very long plan.

'How was a nameless able to infiltrate Heaven's Roses in the first place? Of course, there are no measures using divination upon entering Heaven's Roses. If it were so, then he would have been immediately discovered, as divination cannot be used on those more powerful than the user. Still, how did he manage to disguise himself so well? Apart from his countenance, which should have looked a bit odd when seen closeup, to ascend to a level as high as Red Roses within the organisation, he must have had to choose a domain of magic to ascend to. Moreover, he must have had to invoke the Goddess of Thorn's name at some point. How can the believer of an Evil Goddess do such a thing without facing repercussion? There's just too many things that are off about this…'

Suddenly, Lumière's gaze shifted out of the corner of his eye. Where Asmodeus had fallen, his body had disappeared. Behind Cornifer, two glaring red eyes glowed in the darkness. A blade made of pure, sharpened bone had been raised into the air.

"Watch closely, liar. The noble will go first." The figure behind Cornifer spoke in a deep, grave tone.

The blade was swung downwards. Cornifer looked up at the figure, his gaze filling with fear, and his body frozen. The blade made contact with flesh, and blood spilled onto the ground in heaps. Cornifer fell to the ground, in shock. He looked up at Ramses, who had moved into the way of the blade. Along with the blood, several fingers fell to the ground. Grimacing, Ramses supported the weight of the blade. Two fingers remained on his left hand, and he had used the other to push Cornifer out of the way.

Immediately, Lumière stood up from where he had fallen. Father Benedict and Meraline, who had finally gotten over their initial fear after seeing Lumière take down Asmodeus so easily also burst into action. Lumière unsheathed his blade from beside him and swung it at Asmodeus, but he grasped it with his free hand, snapping it in two. Lumière's eyes widened, but he didn't let it distract him. He then raised his firearm and pulled the trigger, sending a bullet flying at Asmodeus's skull.

When Lumière looked back towards Asmodeus, he realised that his form had changed slightly. The oozing brain matter he could have once seen behind Asmodeus's skull had vanished.

'His brain is gone!?' Lumière's eyes widened. 'Did he move its location prior to my bullet making contact with it!? No wonder he didn't truly die!'

Asmodeus tried to take a step back, but he realised that his legs no longer moved as he wished. Glancing downwards, he realised that a brilliant green light flashed, and his legs had been turned into solid gold. Down below, Midas grinned at the tall figure. Stuck in place, Asmodeus grimaced, and with the tattered flesh upon his jaw, he spoke out once more.

"The lady cloaked in mist; she who is draped in blood and strife. You are the interwoven fate of the world, the judicature of life and death. You are also the master of stories, the weaver of flesh and blood.-"

"Meraline! Cast this area in silence!" Father Benedict called out. However, when he glanced towards his teammate, his eyes widened. The skeleton of a Nameless had been warped, and the bone had formed into a tall, sharp spear. It had risen from the skeleton underneath Meraline and made its way through her flesh, piercing its way through her skull. Her face had a shocked, pained expression on it- frozen for eternity. Her body weight was being held up only by the sharpened bone spear, and all movement from her body had ceased entirely.

In an instant, the skeletons around Father Benedict, Midas, and Cornifer also shot forth. They pierced the flesh of the three, pinning them to the ground. Everyone cried out in agony, and Ramses was thrown to the ground by Asmodeus. Only Lumière remained beside Asmodeus. However, his blade had been shattered, and Cerces had yet to reload itself.

'Fuck- how could the situation have twisted itself so horribly, so suddenly? Am I doomed to have to bend to fate, and reveal my abilities?' Lumière's eyes widened. 'Am I really meant to be the clown- to be tossed around by inescapable destiny?'

His brain felt heavy, weighed down by the churning of madness that accumulated within him. In that moment, it was Lumière that began to feel despair. It felt like fear, anxiety, and madness were on the verge of taking him over. In that moment, where 'Lumière' had begun to grow mad, another took his place to avoid true downfall.

'Lain' emerged from inside the depths of his mind, a persona shoved into the dark to dissipate the madness that had accumulated while on the Five of Hearts commission. However, apart from the last time, Lumière had obtained the necessary experience to avoid completely losing himself. This time, it was as if his mind was occupied by both 'Lain' and 'Lumière Croft'. He was a mixture of mess and madness, two people within one body.

His expression warped into both a frown and a crazed smile, and he raised his hand to his face to wipe away the black blood that dripped incessantly from his eyelids. Watching this, Asmodeus's face twisted slightly, sensing the malevolence that suddenly began to waft from Lumière's countenace.

"So, is this what you call a 'demon'? Are you really only a liar, playing a role?" Asmodeus chuckled, grasping Lumière's collar and raising him into the air.

Lumière looked up towards Asmodeus with a crazed grin. "It's the duty of a career liar to perform."

Asmodeus disregarded his words, and began to speak once more.

"You are the champion of those without names, and the rival of peace. Your benevolence is what I seek. Please, take upon yourself these humble offerings. Hear my name and repeat it with your lovely voice; invite me to your kingdom and in turn take my place."

"If you don't stop talking, you'll regret it." Lumière grinned. The madness that accumulated within him gradually began to transfer into the 'Lain' persona. With this, he could shove Lain back into the depths of his mind, and continue to act as Lumière Croft without worry. It was like filling a separate vessel with liquid in order to free space up in the main vessel.

"This flesh is yours, this body is yours; my mind is yours, my love is yours. Descend to our mortal realm and bless your loyal followers with your presence! I name you, and so you shall gain control-"

Once again, Asmodeus's words were interrupted. With his remaining strength, Lumière raised Cerces, which had reloaded after enough time had elapsed, and pulled the trigger. The bullet once again tore through Asmodeus's jaw, rendering him silent.

"Shut the fuck up." Lumière snapped.

'It doesn't matter anymore. Kill or die, there's a gnawing desire in myself to perform. Where did this come from? Was it always in me? If I don't 'perform', what will become of me?' Lumière thought, his mind churning. 'Every performer knows one crucial thing- when things go awry, it's your duty to stall for time until the next performance arrives.'

Lumière grinned.

'And I can smell blood approaching.'

Suddenly, the darkness in the area was cast in a brilliant light. From the rooftops surrounding the clearing, dozens of figures in bright-white cloaks knelt, looking over the situation with grim expressions. On the backs of each of their intricately-patterned cloaks, the symbol of a red rose had been sewn into the fabric. A man jumped from the rooftops, landing beside the White Roses who had nearly been all but torn apart. Different from the Red Roses, he wore a white cloak with an abundance of gold decorum lining its seams. On the back of the cloak, there was a design of two patterned golden wings wrapped in thorns.

With a grave tone of voice, he spoke out.

"When a Nameless receives a name from the blasphemer Goddess, they are no longer a Nameless." The man spoke out, pulling intricately-patterned gloves onto his hands. "At that point, they receives that Goddess's blessings, and become far more powerful. It's no wonder you hadn't the ability to take him down. A named usually takes the equivalent of three Red Roses to take down, and even then it's not a guarantee that all three will survive."

"Archangel? What is an archangel doing in Leiden!?" Asmodeus cursed as the man slowly approached. He threw Lumière to the side, who landed on the ground harshly, feeling his bones crack under the weight of the blow.

"Red Rose Whittaker… no, Asmodeus… it's a true shame that you decided to reveal yourself on today of all days." The Archangel declared. "It's been a bad day. I'm not feeling very lenient."

He clasped his hands together as he approached.

"Oh Lady of Ivy, the Crown of Thorns beneath the blood-red sun, our Goddess we belove; in you, we are just." As the Archangel spoke, the space around him seemed to warp. Pockets of reality twisted and churned, and dozens of black vines decorated with razor-sharp thorns appeared around him. As they moved forward, they dragged along the man's skin, spilling his blood onto the ground. Yet, despite the dozens of cuts that opened up on his flesh, he didn't have a single change in his expression. "Remove this Sinner from your garden. A traitor does not deserve your warmth."

The vines shot forward, wrapping themselves around Asmodeus's burgeoning form. The thorns on the vines immediately grew in size, digging themselves into Asmodeus, piercing straight through him. Each individual thorn became like a blade, slicing into his flesh and tearing him into several pieces. As his body crumpled to the ground in a heap of meat and bone, the shock and horror on his face remained.

After appearing so suddenly, in an instant, the Archangel that stood above all of Heaven's Roses had eliminated the horrifying threat of the Named. He was the right-hand of a Deity allowed to walk the Earth. His power radiated an extreme warmth that eliminated all darkness in the vicinity. Yet, as Lumière stared at the man, he only felt a chill- a fear that wouldn't abate.

'Sinner…?'