Chapter 27: Shattered Grace

Chapter 27: Shattered Grace

Moonlight filtered through stained glass remnants, casting fractured hues across the ash-choked corridor.

The scent of blood, old steel, and sanctified oil hung like a noose around the ruins of the old Church facility. Every step Volundr took echoed with the memory of prayers turned to screams.

Cloaked in spiritual silence, Volundr pressed two fingers to the cold stone floor, releasing a slow breath as he let his Senjutsu reach outward.

Threads of life, faint and frayed, pulsed through the ether. Nearby, Claudius's massive frame moved like a wraith in plated silence, while Lirien hovered just behind—ready spells dancing on her fingertips.

"This was once sacred ground," she whispered. "Now it's a graveyard."

Volundr's eyes narrowed. "Graves can be robbed. I intend to reclaim what was stolen."

Infiltration

The ruined Church was a forgotten fortress, its protective seals cracked but not broken, still emitting residual holy pressure that stung against devil skin.

Volundr's team moved beneath a triple-layered veil—one of shadow, one of spirit-masking illusion, and one of terrain-phase resonance.

It was the only way to get this close without awakening the watchers left behind.

Deep beneath the main chapel, they descended into the catacombs where the experiments had taken place.

The corridor walls bore carved sigils—once used to bind spirits and purify evil. Now, they lay twisted, corrupted by years of misuse. Here, the Church had turned children into weapons.

Holy Swords implanted, bodies mutilated, souls fractured.

Claudius growled under his breath. "What kind of god allows this?"

"One made in man's image," Volundr replied quietly.

They passed a shattered door, burned from the inside. Beyond it, a chamber full of training dummies—many splintered or pierced through with blades still glowing faintly with divine light.

The smell of divine fire lingered, like incense over rot.

In the next room, they found the first remnants of life.

Haunting Remains

Four children. Two boys, one girl, one too disfigured to immediately discern.

They were half-buried beneath collapsed stone and rusted medical scaffolding. Claudius and Lirien moved to free them carefully.

One of the boys stirred, coughing blood, whispering in a broken chant. "Gloria…in excelsis…Deo…"

"No Gloria here," Lirien murmured. "Only ruin."

Volundr crouched beside the girl—her left arm ended in a metal plug, where a prototype sword mechanism had been fused.

Her hair was silver, matted with blood and dirt. Her breathing was shallow, but steady. She would live.

And then…

A rustle from deeper within the hall.

Volundr turned sharply, his hand on the hilt of his spear. Senjutsu flared, tracing the motion. Someone was watching.

First Encounter

The hallway ahead twisted into shadow, broken only by flickering torchlight.

From it emerged a boy with short, ash-blond hair and stormy blue eyes.

Despite bruises, lacerations, and blood staining his white remnants of a Church robe, his stance was upright. Defiant. A broken sword hilt was clutched in his hand.

Volundr's eyes met his.

"Yuuto Kiba," he whispered.

But Kiba wasn't alone.

Behind him, partially shielded by his thin frame, were two more children. One was Caelum—a name Volundr didn't know yet, but whose presence screamed to him across the ley lines.

Black hair tangled around his face, but his violet eyes burned with clarity. He wasn't just surviving.

He was watching. Evaluating.

Volundr stepped forward slowly, raising both hands.

"You're not enemies," Kiba said flatly. "But you're devils."

"We are," Volundr said. "But we're not here to hurt you."

"Everyone says that."

"I don't lie to children."

Behind him, Lirien began stabilizing the wounded. Claudius took position by the door, eyes scanning for incoming threats. The pressure in the hall thickened with silence.

Caelum stepped forward, ignoring Kiba's outstretched arm trying to stop him. "Who are you?"

Volundr didn't answer with a name.

Instead, he knelt. Unarmed. Eyes level with the boy's.

"Someone who hears forgotten voices. I came because I refuse to let them stay forgotten."

Caelum's violet eyes didn't blink. "Then listen well, devil. Some of us are broken."

"Good," Volundr replied, a small smile tugging his lips. "That means you can still be put back together."

Behind them, stone cracked.

Not metaphorically.

Real stone.

Enemies were coming.