Chapter 102: Chapter One Hundred Two

Jessie and Grimmengap made it down in record time, and the first thing  my blonde teammate did was heal me. I needed it, I'd been so out of it I missed the notifications for the points I got for the win, though I made a note to check them later on . A quick laying on of hands and a  minute or two of concentrated life energy took care of the cuts, but it  took almost a half hour of consistent healing to fix the cracked bones.  Once it was done I was not only feeling no pain, I was energized and  ready to take on the world. Jessie's life energy was better than a  thousand shots of espresso injected straight into my heart in those  kinds of doses, I was going to be wired for hours.

Still,  it was good timing. By the end of my treatment the others had rustled up  the still living sleepers and had them tranq'd and restrained, dragging  them down to where the other captives were already being held, since  Benny needed to re-dose them anyway. Six H rankers and two G rankers had  died in the assault, which all in all was much less than we could have  lost. Knowing Skanda brought home that these were innocent people who  had been brainwashed as children. It didn't mean we could hold back when  fighting them, but it definitely meant we should try to spare as many  as possible. Eight bodies out of a hundred strong assault force wasn't  bad though.

The first person we questioned was, of course,  Sarah. We called her over with the others and showed her Aiden. She was  obviously shocked, but I had to push forward with the questioning. "We  wanted to ask you about this. Given how long he's been here it's not a  shock you didn't know about him being a double agent, but he used some  pretty crazy techniques on us, and they did some strange things. Is that  a standard part of the Church's ranks? Did he have some kind of unique  Skill or something?"

She was stunned, staring down at  Aiden in horror and what looked like genuine hurt. Sarah's eyes filled  with tears. "I sent you to see him. I'm so very sorry." She covered her  mouth. "He was such a kind man, I didn't know he was a heretic." I noted  that apparently the Church used the same word for Cultists as the Cult  used for people related to the Red Revenant. Still, it was obvious that  she was disturbed by the idea that she sent friends, even new ones, into  the hands of a Cultist, especially one guilty of harming children.

Jessie  stepped forward, putting a hand on the Cleric's shoulder. "Sarah. It's  alright. None of us knew. We don't blame you. But we need to know as  much as we can about what he's capable of. We still need to find the  children, and that means we have to question him. We need to know if  it's safe to wake him up. Is there some way you can stop him from using  his abilities? Or that we can? Whatever abilities he was using were  clearly based on the Church's skillset, at least judging from the way  they looked."

Grimmengap and Jessie had been watching from  up top, and they had a solid grasp on what had happened. Plus the  burning angel look hadn't exactly been subtle. Sarah swallowed.  "Templar. He's a Templar. It's an advancement of the Paladin Job.  They're Holy Warriors of the Church. Usually assigned to guard important Priests. I just... I don't understand how a heretic could embed himself so deeply into the Church. Even on a small planet  like Callus. The damage he might have done in his time here  is...immeasurable."

That was an understatement. The number  of kids who could have been corrupted was staggering. We had to find  some way to get the information we needed from Aiden and then hopefully  reverse the process. I was a bit worried about how possible that even  was. Fixing one sleep with a wish, or even a dozen, was one thing, but  fixing as many people as Aiden might have gotten to would be nearly  impossible. It would take even me months or maybe years to finish, and  that was if I could find someone to wish for each of them to recover.

Callie  seemed to sense my unease and stepped up next to me, taking my hand.  That got a raised eyebrow from Celine and a smirk from Jessie, but  otherwise no one commented. I decided to pick up the questions because  one was driving me crazy. "Sarah, what was the energy that he used? It  was this bright shining light that seemed to be incredibly strong for a G  ranker to wield. Is that something all Templars have?"

She  chewed her lip, as if unsure how to respond, but finally nodded. "It's  called holy wrath. Technically anyone in the Church can use it, but it  requires extreme devotion and prayer to gather even a bit of it.  Basically you offer your own power to the Red Lord and he grants you a  bit of wrath to use to defend yourself. But the exchange rate is  notoriously bad so it isn't used by many church members. It takes years  to build a stockpile large enough to be viable. It has to be your own  power too, a personal sacrifice of a part of yourself."

I  sighed and rubbed my nose. "And if you had access to a way siphon energy  from potentially thousands of people?" I wasn't sure exactly how the  link worked, but if he had been getting way too much power from  somewhere I was guessing the two things weren't related. If power  siphoning worked like other energy it would make sense too, because a G  ranker could only hold so much power as far as I knew. It was the  reasoning behind the elixir cap, even if it wasn't exactly the same. But  if he could drain a shit ton of people to exchange for a higher level  of power... I shook my head. It wasn't the time for that. I focused back  on the Cleric. "So is there a way we can stop him from using it again?  Assuming he isn't out."

She looked a bit sick, but  swallowed again and nodded, before saying in a small voice. "His eyes.  He needs to see to be able to call the power. The eyes are the windows  to the soul." Her voice was strained and small, and she clearly hated  even voicing the thought. I could sympathize, heretic or not, she had  essentially just suggested we gouge out someone's eyeballs. Sadly, it  wasn't really a suggestion we could turn down.

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I honestly  didn't get why the eyes would be a necessary part of channeling any kind  of power, but then, there was a lot of things I didn't understand about  cultivation. It was what it was, so I turned to Cark. "You want to do  it? I'd honestly rather not and I'm sure the others feel the same. Of  all of us here you're the one he's wronged the worst. Plus cauterizing  it should help stop his Vitality from fixing them. Not that gouged out  eyes would heal anytime soon even with G rank Vitality, but still."

Cark  was staring hard at Aiden's prone form. His eyes were blazing with the  same intensity they'd had when he'd threatened Cold Snap. Part of me  didn't want him to do this. It would cross a line, but we couldn't leave  Aiden with his full powers once we woke him up. We needed him  neutralized for our own safety, and for the safety of those kids. It  drove home what Zeke said about hero work being PR even more. When it  came down to it, priests, fae, heroes, villains, we were all just  cultivators.

Callie  noticed my unease and put a hand on my shoulder before looking to  Benny. "Clockwork, dose him up a bit more. I agree this is the best call  for keeping him under control but it doesn't have to hurt. Torturing a  captive seems...wrong, even one like him. We'll make it painless, even  if he wouldn't do the same." Benny nodded, stepping forward to apply his  tranq hand for a minute or two continuously, letting it get it's hooks  in a bit deeper. Before stepping back from the body and nodding to Cark.

I  saw Callie pull Jessie back and turn her around, and I admit I looked  away as two of Cark's fingers were driven into Aiden's eyes. There was  no scream, since he couldn't feel it through all the tranquilizer, but  there was a sound all the same, and not one I'd ever forget, and then it  was over. Cark stood up, looking...uneasy. He wasn't as satisfied as I  think he expected to be. He gave us a nod and then stepped back. All in  all Callie had been right, he would have done worse to us given the  chance. We'd already shown what mercy we could.

Callie  gestured for me to Carry him, so I hoisted him up on my back and took  him up to the hatchery. I double checked with Sarah. "Does he need holy  wrath to use that wing skill? I mean I imagine it would be harder not  being able to see, but if we need to plan for that being used as an  escape attempt it'll change how we react to things." I'd made the  mistake of underestimating him before, and the only reason it hadn't  screwed is was overpreparation on out part and the minor miracle that  lucky wish had produced.

She  nodded. "Holy Judgement is a high ranking Skill. Until you're an  Arch-Bishop or equivalent you can't use it without tapping into holy  wrath. Energy is weighted in a certain way based on what the Impact of  the person who produced it is. It doesn't exactly have it's own weight,  but Divine Energy like holy wrath is...more, than lower level stuff."  Which explained how he was able to break my wish. Superior grade of  energy probably. Still, that was something to watch out for going  forward. The fact that I knew that was possible now meant I had to be  prepared for it.

We  ended up dumping him on the top floor of the hatchery, with his back to  the sky and Cark next to him. We wanted to be able to kick him off the  roof if need be. Callie, who had brought Jessie up, supporting our  healer who still looked a bit shaken by the eye gouging, not that I  blamed her, asked Jessie in a quiet voice. "Can you give him just enough  juice to clear the tranquilizer out without healing any of his injuries  or restoring his eyes? I could tell she felt bad asking.

Jessie  just closed he eyes and nodded slowly. "Yeah. Yeah I can do that." She  stepped up and knelt down next to the body, and Cark and Benny moved to  flank her in case the bastard was playing dead. No one even had to ask,  we all knew we had to be careful with this bastard. A slight green glow  pulsed through him, but cut off pretty quickly, and he began to stir,  waking from the unconsciousness we put him in.

He  groaned groggily, but when he couldn't see anything, he sighed. "Great.  I'm guessing the Cleric told you about my eyes." He panned his head  around as if looking at us before stopping his empty sockets on Sarah,  who whimpered slightly. He smirked like that made him happy before  slumping back to let his head aim at the ceiling. "Let's get this over  with. Yes, I'll tell you where the kids are, but only for a price." I  heard Cark's knuckles crack, and I knew nobody here wanted to pay this  asshole anything. It wasn't happening. Aiden heard it too because he  chuckled. "Oh calm down, you'll like this. If you want me to talk, you  have to promise to kill me after."

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