112 Consecrated Grounds

A nun standing at the end of the Vatican's Belvedere Courtyard sighs as she cleans yet another window. It was 5 AM and everyone was working hard to prepare the place for sermons, tourists, and the faithful... Yet, Christina wondered if retaining her chastity and slaving away to do menial tasks truly was God's will. With the rumours she'd been hearing lately of the higher Clergy made her doubt that any of them were pious at all... Perhaps this was merely just a test of her faith however?

She shakes her head and dumps her rag in the bucket before turning, only to drop it the next second at the scene before her. Marching out of the building was a horrifically mutilated man in ruined priest garbs, covered in what she could only describe as demonic symbols.

He groans and burbles in utter agony as he shuffles along, unable to speak a word with how ruined his face and jaw is. More horrifyingly though were the twenty-five or more shambling corpses behind him, some missing vital organs, legs or arms, while others had bodies that were mostly intact...

"HIS GRACE ABOVE!" she screams, cupping her mouth as everyone else notices the creatures, "What is this!?"

"T-that's Walter! What has become of him!?" a nearby Reverend exclaims.

"kkKkkKKKKIIIIILLLLllllll mMMmmmMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! THHHEEE MMMOOOooooRrrRRRnnnnnnnNNNNIIINNNNnNNNgggGGG COOOMMMMMMEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!" the mutilated man howls as his body suddenly explodes, covering the entire courtyard with blood and viscera... As if that was a signal, the undead creatures all started hurriedly stumbling towards the people nearest to them, drool escaping their mouths signalling their intent to devour.

"DEAR GOD! RUN! SAVE YOURSELVES!"

"SOMEONE HELP ME! AAARRRGGGHHH!!!"

"DEMONS!"

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Harry and Kali's escape was somehow easier than getting inside in the first place. Turning that man into a living bomb, painting the place red, and sending a small army of weak undead had certainly drawn the Vatican's attention, allowing the duo to slip out without any obstacle at all.

They'd made their way back to the treehouse on Nieve's back afterwards, for whatever reason the Holy Grail disallowed anyone to teleport with it in their possession... Considering the adventures involved in its legend, this was probably why they didn't just have a Wizard take it and run.

With their vacation to Italy cut short, Harry decided to spend the rest of his break categorising the books and scrolls while trying to figure out what the artifacts did. Since most of Kali's methods were vaguely demonic they simply wouldn't work on Holy artifacts like Christ's Crown or the Grail, so, it was up to Harry...

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"P-Please s-sir, I bet you, stop!" the test subject squirms in his bonds as Harry looks him over and writes a couple lines in his notebook.

"Subject is begging to stop despite not being touched... Okay, be quiet now and there may be a loli in it for you at the end." Harry states, conjuring a scalpal and cutting a lone line into the man's arm, nothing fatal of course.

"STOOOP! PLEEEAASSE! I-I-I'LL DO ANYTHING!"

He pulls away the scalpal and takes the Crown of Thorns from the table after activating the few monitoring Wards he'd managed to erect. It'd taken him a couple hours to set up, but finally, they were 'workable', hopefully they'd actually catch something too. "How would you rank your pain right now?"

"S-seven-no! Eight!" the man exclaims.

Harry notes it down and drops the Crown on the man's head causing the thorns to dig into his skin and make him bleed. His protests quickly die out however, much to Harry's surprise. "What are you feeling?"

"... Pain?" the man neutrally responds, face frowning despite his lacking reactions.

"Why have you stopped shouting?" Harry asks, wondering if he was being possessed or something, or maybe the crown was breaking his mind.

The man shrugs in his bond, "Why? Screaming won't let me escape. The best path I have is to allow you to complete your tests, maybe you'll let me leave if I'm compliant."

...

"Subject is displaying remarkable apathy and rationality towards his situation, he says he still feels pain." Harry notes down, "Okay, next test." he points a finger at the man and quietly intones, "Crucio."

Only to stop as crippling pain hits him, sending him sprawling backwards from the backlash of his own spell. Looking up, the test subject was also writhing so it hadn't completely reflected it. "Ouch..." Harry quietly growls and stands. "What did you feel?"

"Terrible, terrible pain..." the man breathes.

Nodding, he tries the next spell, something less severe. "Confundo." he casts the confusion hex and blinks as a sense of vertigo hits him, also causing him to vomit there and then. He thrusts his Occlumency shields forward, tearing his way back to clarity and removing the effect.

Harry shakes his head and looks back at the man, "What did you feel?"

"... Nothing...? Was I supposed to feel something?"

"Seemingly immune to mind-altering effects," Harry records before taking the crown off of the man, immediately bringing back the pitiful sobbing man-child. "I'll leave you here for a day or two to see if the crown had any ill effects, we'll continue testing when I'm back." he says, leaving and entering the next location where tests for the Holy Grail were ongoing.

"So, no, it doesn't heal wounds if you drink from it," he wonders aloud, ignoring the tied whimpering wounded man in the corner, "It doesn't grant eternal youth." he glances at the jar of dead Mayflies, the things only have a lifespan of one day, and the Grail hadn't altered at all.

"So... What do you do...?"

Let's ignore the Arthurian legends for a moment, true or not, they could have been exaggerated as time went on. No, he needed to analyse the cup's origins... Christ, or more specifically, the Last Supper, where Jesus had supposedly drank from the Holy Grail.

Harry was pretty sure Jesus was real, but whether or not he was the son of 'God' was more debatable. Son of 'a' God maybe, from what Kali had told him Fledgling Gods came up and died occasionally no matter the realm. She wasn't sure why or how they came about, which just left more questions... Currently, he was leaning on the theory of Jesus being some Fledgling God's last hurrah, which got ruined when Jesus got crucified and murdered...

"Hm, ah!" Harry perks up as he reads a passage, the Holy Grail was used by Joseph of Arimathea, a member of Jesus' council and eventually Canonised after his death. "So blood may be the answer... Sure, because blood works for everything." he chuckles to himself and looks over at the test subject, who was trying to make himself seem as small as possible. "Come now, I know you've got enough to share."