452 To the Hero's memory

With the crowd repeating the princess words as if they were some sort of a magical chant, all the lights of the main sanctuary room suddenly light up. Considering how I didn't feel any energy fluctuations, rather than an automated reaction to the chant, it was nothing else but a cheap trick created by placing trusted men in several key locations, tasked to light the fires when the time was right.

"Today, we will celebrate the first, yearly anniversary of our greatest hero, noble sacrifice!"

As soon as the crowd turned silent, the priestess-princess hit the staff on the floor once again, announcing the daily mission for this strange ceremony. While I was quite curious about how the events would unfold in the near future, I wouldn't be me if I didn't check out on the three of my retainers. 

Compared to me, the chains that they were bound with didn't suck the energy out of them, as if the princess wanted them to struggle through the ceremony, as opposed to someone who dared to raise his hand at the doubtful sanctity of this place. Yet while they were saved from this part of the torture, their beaten-down bodies were barely holding against the simple pain of being forcefully pulled up and kept in semi-hanging state.

Just as I was about to cover us all with an illusion to at least save them the pain while watching the situation develop, the priestess approached Jessie and pulled her head up by her hair.

"I know how everyone was waiting for this moment for days now, but here we have the heretic, that dared to oppose the sanctity of our glorious and noble hero!"

Suddenly letting go of Jessie's hair, the priestess walked away, once again focusing on the crowd while uttering some bullshit. At this point, I was ready to deploy my illusion and save them from the pain, when Barkal's voice reached my ears.

"Just hold on a little longer. We can't let this opportunity go to waste!"

While it was nothing but a soft whisper, despite not even looking at his face, I could tell how much determination and resolve was infused in those silent words. In respect of their dedication to some cause, I decided to keep watching, allowing them to decide their own fate for as long as it wouldn't put them in a harm's way.

But that didn't mean I remained idle.

Deriving the greater meaning from Barkal's words, I scanned a wide area around the entire sanctuary with my vision, quickly locating quite a few, small groups of people brimming with energy, sneaking up on the guards protecting this place.

It seemed like I would be in for quite a show!

"Through the entire year after the hero led us to this holy land, before departing for the plane of Gods to feast and live with his equals rather than with the lowly scum like us, those people…" 

"... Dared to raise their hand against the statue of the holy hero! But now their blasphemous lives will come to an end, in the fitting way of becoming the sacrifice for our great hero memory!"

With a sweep of her cloak, the princess approached the altar once again, hitting its middle with the top of her staff. Even at this point, I remained at my place, unwilling to let go of my disguise till the very last moment. But as soon as the tip of the staff left the altar, what I took to be nothing more than a simple but huge slab of stone, suddenly split into four triangles, as if cracking under the hit of the staff. With said triangles raising up, I could take a peek inside the content of the altar, only to see a messy pile of bones, decomposing meat and even some human skulls, all floating in some strange liquid!

"Any moment now."

With Barkal's words once again aimed to reassure Jessie who was no longer capable of exerting enough strength to care about anything happening around, I didn't forget to check up on the incoming help, noticing without a surprise that they already made a short work of the guards, and were now at the outer part of the sanctuary.

"My dear people!"

Raising her voice once again, the princess moved her hands to the small chain that held her coat on top of her shoulders, undoing the buttons and dropping it down to the ground, revealing her insane figure and most of its details to everyone gathered.

"Just before the ceremony would start, our glorious Hero Guardians, managed to defeat a powerful heretic in a long, and bloody fight!"

This time, pointing her staff at me, the princess moved her entire body around in order to face my fake face, as if wanting to make sure her incoming hit wouldn't miss my face.

"As our traditions orders, those who spilt blood in the holy grounds of the sanctuary can only find their retribution by paying for their crimes with their own blood!"

With her preaching ongoing, I was actually quite curious what kind of bullshit she would come up with, yet to hear about me spilling the blood despite all my efforts to keep my brutality to non-lethal level… 

It seemed that the greatness of her propaganda machine was on a considerable level!

"Wait, don't tell me… Were you a part of the rescue forces?!"

Almost allowing himself to speak those words out loud rather than whispering them, Barkal showed quite a lot of fear in his expression, before his lips curved up a bit, as he finished his bit.

"It seems we will really sacrifice our lives for the true memory of the hero���"

"As always! Let's all praise to our hero, to give us the sign of his will!"

Just as the princess once again threw her arms into the air, signalling the crowd to fall on her knees, yet another familiar voice entered the fray.

"You can all go to hell!"