Gates of Penance-Chapter 24: Forged in the crucible

’I’ve done it.’

Nacht’s saber had struck true.

After Alister killed the sinner, his eyes widened in shock before his body went limp and he fell to the ground, motionless.

Nacht made it to his feat and waited.

Sweat was falling down his pale face except this time, it wasn’t from the unbearable heat.

This was the longest couple of seconds in his entire life!

If he was wrong and had made a mistake, then he would die a terrible death screaming in sheer agony! However, in the end nothing happened.

He grinned.

’It seems that bastard was lying after all, or at least not telling the full truth.’

Alister had told him that to repent he would need to kill an abstract. This was most likely the truth but not in its entirety. Whenever he had gotten into a confrontation with another sinner, Alister had acted quite normal. He didn’t want Nacht to die, so he opted for removing him from the situation entirely, or giving him a battle that he could handle... at least for a little while. However, in the arena something had changed.

Nacht had seen that Alister had become desperate. Particularly when he had almost run the sinner through with his saber. The sinner had dodged his attack of course. But Alister hesitated and hadn’t dodged a blatant attack that was aimed at his side. Nacht almost didn’t catch it amidst the chaos of battle but he did. This confused him greatly. He didn’t think Alister could make such a mistake which raised an important question in his mind.

Why had he been so distracted at that particular moment? Alister had to be one of the strongest sinners in penance. He wouldn’t make such a simple mistake as to be distracted during a battle, unless there was an even bigger threat than the one that was in front of him. The only thing Nacht could think of was that he didn’t want him to kill the sinner. But why was that such a big deal? Alister had never concerned himself with anything that didn’t relate to his own survival.

During his own desperate battle, Nacht thought back on his journey with Alister in the crucible. Particularly his conversation with him about how he could conquer the first gate and escape penance. In order to repent, he needed to atone for his crimes by killing an abstract. Abstracts were manifestations of sin, therefore killing an abstract was synonymous with the cleansing of sin. This was the act of atonement which would allow him to leave penance. However, it wasn’t the act of killing the abstract that caused one to atone. No, it was the cleansing of sin, and abstracts weren’t the only ones who carried the infection. In penance, if an enlightened took too long to advance then they would eventually turn into an abstract, some even immediately turned once they entered penance.

This meant that they were infected with sin from the moment their soul entered penance and the destruction of the infection was the path of atonement. In theory, if he killed a sinner who was confined to penance, it would be considered an act of repentance and allow him to leave. Obviously this would be bad for Alister. If he left penance then Alister would succumb to the {soul bind} trait and die a terrible death.

Nacht didn’t need to win in the crucible to survive. He just needed to leave the first gate of penance. In contrast, Alister needed to win in order to survive, and to do it he needed Nacht to be here with him. This made sense and it would also explain Alister’s actions thus far. Killing another sinner would allow him to leave penance and this was the most vital part that Alister had left out and tried to deceive him with. After all, the best lies were most often the truth. He could manage to kill a weakened enlightened sinner but he could never manage kill an actual abstract! No wonder he told him that was his only way out. It was to keep him here for as long as possible! Nevertheless, this was only a theory but everything seemed to connect a little too well.

Nacht didn’t want to have to kill someone else in order to leave penance, he would rather kill an abstract. Even so, it was too late. There were no abstracts left on the last floor for him to kill. This was his only chance. He had to kill someone. Initially, he thought about killing one of the other two sinners, but it was much more likely that Alister would kill them first. In the end, he decided that Alister would be the one he had to kill. Killing Alister would free him from his runes ability and it would also have the highest chance of succeeding since he wouldn’t expect it. Nacht knew that eventually he would have to try anyway. After all, wasn’t it odd that there was only one shard of ascension on the pedestal in the centre of the arena?

There was only going to be one victor from the start and Nacht decided that it was going to be him.

’It’s finally over.’

He was the last one standing.

Nacht thought about everything that had led up to this moment.

He had survived the perilous trials of the crucible, having overcome both abstracts and enlightened along the way. From barely surviving the inner chamber, to coming face to face with an abstract in a dark forest and living to tell the tale. From the strange white halls, to the daunting pale platforms, to the chain of interlocking hallways and finally the mysterious bloody arena. Hell, he had even played that perilously stupid game with Alister on the only floor that hadn’t been trying to kill him! Overall, this place had forged him into an enlightened, even if he wasn’t one yet.

’Perhaps that is why this place was named the crucible.’

The arena was now surrounded in flames. It wouldn’t be much longer until the floor was devoured.

Nacht looked up at the blinding light in a daze. He had become the victor of the crucible.

’...but why am I still here?’

Had he been wrong in thinking that he could kill a sinner in order to leave? Was he now going to suffer the horrifying fate of having his soul destroyed?

Nacht looked up at the miniature star that shined brightly against the ominous red of the blood moon.

Its light had reeled slightly to allow the shard of ascension to be claimed.

’Maybe that’s my ticket out of here?’

The arena was almost fully consumed which meant that he would have to leave soon. He began to quickly make his way towards the pedestal to claim the shard and leave this horrid place.

Nacht didn’t make it far however.

"You should have gone for the head."