Sacrificial Ceremony [2]

"What are you doing, you bastard?" Cecil gritted her teeth. She didn't expect Tyler to actually surrender himself to the temple.

"I am cleaning this temple of trash," Tyler smirked. Once he noticed that he was exposed, he decided to get rid of Cecil. Because of that, he didn't mind revealing his motives.

"Cleaning this temple of trash?" Cecil narrowed her eyes.

"Indeed." Tyler nodded. "Can't you understand, Cecil? No one is born equal. All of those people are just bottom-feeders who waste space. I am just sacrificing them to my god."

"Gods have abandoned this world. Are you stupid?" Cecil said.

"No, Cecil, they haven't! You can't see it. You can't hear it." 

"But I can!" 

"I can hear the voice of the temple." 

"It craves for flesh. It craves fresh blood. And once I give it to the temple, I can get stronger!" Tyler laughed madly.

"You are crazy," Cecil concluded.

"No, you all are crazy," Tyler said before dashing towards Cecil.

Cecil had been learning martial arts from her father since she was a kid, but no amount of training could bridge the overwhelming difference of a person who had several times her stats.

Cicle had kicked toward Tyler, but Tyler had simply grabbed her leg. With a smirk, he lifted her before slamming her against the floor.

Cecil could feel her thoughts going into disarray, her body growing weaker, and pain overwhelming her back.

"The temple is telling me, Cecil," Tyler said. "Ah, what a beautiful name. I'm glad Indie told me about you."

Cecil only glared at Tyler. 

"You see, Cecil, I want to teach you something." He grinned. "When there's trash, you opt to clean it."

Tyler stomped, but his leg was stopped. It was a leg of a young man.

Cecil looked at the person who had stopped Tyler.

It was Nyle, the handsome dark-skinned youth who was second only to Tyler in terms of power.

"Nyle." Tyler gritted his teeth.

"Hey man, how's it going?" Nyle smiled.

"Don't ask oblivious. What are you doing here?" Tyler asked Nyle with a rude tone.

Nyle narrowed his eyes. "I saw you. Sacrificing people to the temple for power? Isn't that devious?"

"So you know," Tyler said.

Suddenly, he bent his knee before extending it. He hit Nyle's leg, throwing Nyle out of balance.

"You are still too weak." Tyler grinned, kicking sideways towards Nyle.

"And you are too stupid." Nyle grinned.

Before Tyler could realize what Nyle meant, he was kicked in his private area by Cecil.

With pain in his eyes, Tyler quickly stopped his attack, covering his private area in case Cecil decided to attack again.

However, Tyler had forgotten about Nyle. Nyle had swiftly arrived in front of him, kicking him straight in the face.

Before Tyler could recover, Nyle kept kicking and punching.

Cecil joined. She was dealing damage, albeit low. It accumulated, though.

Together with Nyle, the two of them beat Tyler.

"Thanks." Cecil thanked Nyle.

"Oh, indeed, emo girls look the best when they act shy." Nyle laughed, prompting Cecil to dangerously narrow her eyes.

"I was joking, joking." Nyle chuckled, holding hands in front of him as if he was defending himself.

Cecil smiled.

The story was supposed to end with a good ending.

However, it didn't.

No, it had a continuation.

After the two of them left Tyler, Nyle could feel himself becoming stronger.

He instantly knew. Temple was rewarding him for a corpse. But his own Fate Providence didn't activate, showing that Nyle didn't care at all about Tyler, meaning that killing Tyler wasn't a 'sacrifice.'

After the two of them returned, the survivors wondered about the relationship between the two, but no one questioned.

There were stories about a hero saving a damsel in distress, but no one knew how right they were.

The next morning, Nyle woke up to a scream.

He had rushed out of his room.

At that moment, he was the strongest. Because of that, he felt like he was the one responsible for the survivors.

But his sense of responsibility was quickly thrown into shambles when he spotted a person dragging an innocent survivor towards the outside door.

The corridor was full of blood, and the survivors were screaming. Some could be found in the corner opposite the outside door. Most surviving ones were in their rooms.

"And the rest?" Ash asked the old man with a curious expression.

"Dead." The old man answered.

"How? What happened?" Aster asked.

"It's what we call a sacrificial ceremony." The old man answered. "Almost the whole survivors' corridor was sacrificed to the temple. But there's a twist."

"The person who sacrificed the survivors didn't kill them herself. No, she made another survivor kill them all. A survivor she crippled. After that person became too strong, the culprit would kill her, choosing another survivor and repeating the process."

"No way." Aster blinked twice in disbelief. He couldn't believe it.

"Yes." The old man sighed. "You guessed it. It was Cecil."

"And how do you know so much about that?" Ash asked the old man.

"Stories of old, rumors, Cecil's mutterings in her sleep, and most importantly, from a survivor who had a handy Providence." The old man said.

"Do you know what's the most horrifying thing?" The old man asked.

"What is it?" Ash replied with a question. He was truly invested. He didn't expect Cecil to be so evil. He thought that she was justice-driven.

"She was madly laughing while she was dragging survivors, saying how Tyler was right and how, to achieve the world she wished for, all she needed to do was clean up trash." The old man shook his head.

"'It was such a simple solution.'" The old man quoted Cecil's words. Then, he continued. "And in the end, I saw her myself."

"I saw those dangerous eyes full of hate and love at the same time."

"I saw Cecil smiling while enjoying killing the innocent survivors."

"She looked like a devil himself."