Chapter 54 – Sermon of the Hollow Saints

The cathedral stood at the center of the death domain, a hollow place built not of stone, but of fragments of forgotten truths, broken promises, and decayed ideals. Tall, skeletal arches rose into the dim, oppressive sky, each one draped with long, rotting banners of white, now stained with the rot of unspoken lies. At its heart lay the pulpit of souls — a dais formed of decaying bones, where the hollow saints preached their sermons.

The air was thick with the scent of incense, heavy with the damp, stifling weight of sacrificial blood long dried. Shadows swirled in the corners, and the stained-glass windows depicted scenes of martyrdom, of divine struggle — false images of heroes who had given themselves to causes that only led to greater destruction. The hollow saints lingered within, figures carved from marble and bone, their eyes hollow sockets, but their lips ever moving as if speaking truths that the world could no longer hear.

Rin stepped into the vast cathedral, his presence barely causing a ripple in the world around him. His steps echoed, though no one walked beside him. The floor beneath his feet was an intricate mosaic of names — names of mortals who had lived and died by the words spoken here, words that promised redemption but delivered only damnation.

"Sacrifice is the path of the pure," came the first voice — smooth and sonorous, yet laced with a hunger for devotion. Rin's eyes flickered upward to see the first saint, a robed figure standing on a raised platform, one hand extended toward him, a gesture of invitation. "To give oneself to the greater good, to surrender all for the world's betterment — that is the true death of purpose."

The saint's words dripped with reverence, and Rin could feel their weight press against him. It was the first temptation: the promise of nobility, of justification, the sense that everything he had endured, all the suffering, had a meaning beyond mere survival. A purpose that he could cling to, a reason that could provide some semblance of peace.

But Rin's eyes narrowed. He recognized the voice. He recognized the lie. He had heard it before — when he had been bound by chains, when he had been betrayed. He had lived it. He had fought for the higher cause of his sect, believing it would bring an end to the pain, to the endless cycle of death and rebirth. He had sacrificed his innocence for this cause, and the result had been betrayal.

"I am not here to be redeemed," Rin muttered to himself, stepping forward. "I am here to destroy the lies that created this place."

As the words left his lips, the saint's sermon grew louder, more forceful. "To sacrifice is to become divine! To die for a greater cause is to become one with the heavens themselves, to ascend into the realm of everlasting light. Do you not see the truth, Rin Xie? You walk in the shadow of a god. You are the chosen one to break the heavens with your death! Come now, embrace it. Lay down your soul and let it be refined, so you can ascend."

Rin's hand twitched toward his side, where his Death Dagger — the Dagger of Final Names — rested. Its presence called to him, the faint hum of its power vibrating through his palm. The saint's words wrapped around him, but Rin refused to listen. He had heard too many hollow promises in his life — too many voices that claimed to know the way to salvation, to the end of suffering, when in truth, all they offered was more chains.

He pulled the dagger from its sheath, the dark blade shimmering with the power of names forgotten, of deaths yet to come. As he approached the saint, the figure's lips curled into a smile — a smile that was both sad and knowing, as if it understood the weight of Rin's struggle.

The saint raised its hand to silence him, its voice carrying the command of authority. "You seek to defy the heavens, to break their will, but what will you become when it is done? A hollow shell, an endless shadow. You will be nothing. Without purpose, without a cause, you will lose yourself to the void."

The words felt like a slap to his soul, the pull of temptation strong. But Rin's gaze remained unwavering, and he lifted his dagger high. "I refuse your words," he said softly, his voice a whispered command of his own fate.

The blade came down, slicing through the saint's mouth, shattering the once-perfect lips into a jagged, broken mess. The saint's form trembled, its marble skin cracking like dry clay. The voice that had once been full of promise fell silent, replaced by an agonized scream, a sound not of divine purity, but of hollow despair.

The saint crumbled, its body falling apart like dust in the wind, leaving nothing but a void where it had once stood.

Rin turned from the remains, his eyes scanning the others that stood in their eternal positions, their mouths still moving with their false sermons. Another stepped forward, its voice even sweeter, more insidious than the first. "Mercy is the truest form of power," it preached, its tone dripping with benevolence. "To forgive, to offer a hand to the broken, is the path of divinity. Mercy is the key to transcending death itself."

Rin's mind recoiled. He had once believed in mercy. He had once shown mercy to those who betrayed him, hoping that their lives would not be filled with suffering. But mercy had only led him further into the abyss. It was mercy that allowed those who sought his life to survive, to continue their exploitation of the weak, to perpetuate the cycle that chained everyone to an endless existence.

"No more mercy," Rin muttered under his breath, his voice cold and resolute. "I do not forgive, for to forgive is to perpetuate this hell."

The Dagger of Final Names flashed again, cutting through the saint's chest, tearing the form apart. The saint's words sputtered, dying in its throat, and the illusion it had woven shattered, revealing only its empty shell.

Rin moved from one saint to the next, each lie exposed, each sermon silenced. Each shattered mouth revealed a fragment of his Death Dao — not in the act of destruction, but in the act of refusal, of denial. These saints had preached the very ideals that had led to the downfall of so many, and now, they would be made to face their own end. Not with power or vengeance, but with the quiet finality of truth.

As he reached the final saint, the largest and most imposing of all, Rin felt something shift in the air. This saint was different. Its eyes, hollow as they were, seemed to look through him, into the very core of his being. It was the last test — the final sermon.

"You have walked through shadows, Rin Xie. You have killed in the name of death," it intoned. "But even you know that there is no escape. Death will consume you as it has consumed all who came before you. You cannot escape it, for it is all that you are."

Rin's heart burned with the weight of the saint's words, but he remained silent, his hand gripping the hilt of the dagger. The saint's voice softened, as if offering a last, gentle plea. "Is this truly the path you choose? A path of endless death and destruction? Is it not easier to die with purpose? To live for something greater than yourself?"

Rin's eyes met the saint's hollow gaze, and he whispered, "No. I walk this path not for something greater, but for something true."

With that, the dagger plunged into the saint's chest, and its body crumbled like the others, leaving only silence in its wake.

Rin stood amidst the ruins of the hollow saints, his breath steady. The cathedral that had once reverberated with false ideals was now empty, silent, and still. The lies were shattered, and in their place was the cold, unyielding truth: his journey could not be justified. It could only be understood, endured, and accepted.

As the final remnants of the saints' illusions faded into the ether, Rin turned and walked from the cathedral, his heart steady, his mind clearer. Each step he took was one step further from the lies he had once believed, and closer to the truth he would forge in the endless cycles of death.

He would not be a saint. He would not be a savior.

He would be something far greater.

And far more dangerous.

To be continued…