83 The Purge (2/2)
The Pope laughed heartily and said, ”Is that you think it is? A decommissioned weapon? Nonsense. It is much more than a piddling weapon — the Divine Furnace was created for a far greater purpose than to be a tool of war. Those blundering idiots in the North haven't the slightest idea of what it is truly capable of. I wager only a few know its true purpose, my child. With it, we will be able to—”
Anima suddenly raged like a typhoon in the room as Lu'um pondered on how she'd kill the old man. She was contemplating making his death as painful as imaginable — stripping a soul down into its constituent elements was considered a crime against nature itself.
Lu'um didn't care about that, though. What she wanted was to make him scream for mercy and forgiveness the whole way through the slow and methodical… disassembly of his existence.
The old bastard crossed the line once and now he wants to cross it again! Not only that, but he also wants to use the Divine Furnace for his own goals!
The audacity of this miserable insect…! I knew I should have exterminated these insolent meddlers a long time ago!
Reed quickly shouted, ”Hey! Slow down! We aren't here to start a fight, alright?! You know that!”
Lu'um grit her teeth and said, ”You don't understand! I knew that these bastards were up to no good, but I did not expect something on this level! I can't let him go!”
Lacrima howled, ”She's right, boy! They've gone too far! There can be no compromise, no peaceful dialogue with these meddlers! The nerve of this wretched worm to even think of the idea!”
Shit! Shit! Shit! What do I do?! Oh, fuck! What would Velvund do in this situation? Think, Reed, think!
If Reed let things continue as they were, it'd probably start the beginning of the end — a premature beginning of what he was trying so desperately to avoid.
Reed quickly reigned in the Anima in the room to best of his ability and yelled, ”Get the fuck out of here, old man!! Go now!!”
Lu'um clicked her tongue in annoyance and said, ”Don't get in the way, Ka'an!” She tossed a massive chunk of Anima toward Reed and it hit him like a bomb. The blast of raw energy knocked him out of the room like a bullet as he crashed through the cathedral's walls.
Reed's vision blurred as he tumbled like rag-doll across the cathedral until he finally crashed. He groaned in pain as he tried to make sense of his surroundings and muttered under his breath, ”Fuck's sake, she hits hard! Aargh…”
Violent explosions reverberated and tremors followed along after every numbing surge of Anima passed by. They were fighting and the sound of it, things were escalating.
Time was of the essence. Reed needed to act now if he was to salvage the situation before it got out of hand. If Lu'um killed the Pope, it'd likely be over for Astrid and Sebastian. Maybe they'd still have some use, but if the Twilight Children decided that they weren't useful as hostages anymore because of this...
”Boy! Don't do this! I know you care for your friends, but this takes precedence!”
Anima surged and Reed grit his teeth in preparation. He enveloped himself in it and clenched his fists. No doubt, he was about to enter the fucking shit-show of the century.
”Fuck that.” He spat out a glob of spit and blood.
His legs tensed up like tightly wound coiled springs as he channeled Anima into them. Reed gathered as much Anima as he could and then... he released it all in one go.
Reed burst like a dam and turned into a blur when he let go of his control. He felt a hot, sharp pain like someone had stabbed his legs with a searing knife and let out a low groan in pain. The force had been too much for his body to handle — he had completely torn his hamstrings in the process but it was worth the pain.
In an instant, he had converted his Anima into pure speed and momentum. He barreled through the cathedral like an unstoppable force towards the source of the conflict.
I'm only going to have a single opportunity to do this! I can't fuck it up!
Reed focused and closed his eyes. He'd have to rely on his mind's eye in order to find amongst the chaos up ahead and end the fight… with a single move.