Cardinal Vox raised its hands.
Dozens of mouths opened in the walls.
None of them had faces. Just raw lips carved into the flesh of the cathedral. Some were child-sized. Some were mine. Some whispered. Others howled.
And then, the song began.
---
> "You let her die…"
"You looked away…"
"You were glad when it ended…"
---
[BOSS BATTLE INITIATED – CARDINAL VOX]
> HP: Unknown
Phase: 1 of 3
Hazard Level: B+
Arena Modifier: Every 10 seconds of silence adds +1 to Vox's Power Stack.
Confessions weaken him.
Lies empower him.
---
I pulled Harper to her feet. She was trembling, eyes wide, throat bleeding from where a hook had scraped across it.
Adrian was sobbing silently, his jaw clenched like it was wired shut.
"Adrian!" I shouted. "Say something! Anything!"
"I—I'm scared, okay? I can't do this!"
A tremor ran through the floor.
Vox twisted its speaker-face toward him, voice glitching.
> "Then be remade."
---
I activated Mirror Break.
Cracks spidered through the floor and walls, showing brief glimpses of truth hidden beneath.
One flash: Emily in her wheelchair, looking up at me with forgiveness I never earned.
Another: Adrian, sitting alone on the school roof, hiding his tears.
Another: Harper… cutting something into her own skin. A glyph. A name.
---
The enemy fed on shame.
But I had something else now:
Self-awareness.
---
> "You want confessions?" I shouted at Vox.
"Fine. Here's one."
> "I didn't love myself. I loved how she made me feel less broken."
The mouths screamed in pain.
Cardinal Vox reeled back—black bile spewing from its speaker.
> [Sin Discharge Successful – Vox Power Stack -2]
---
Harper stood up beside me, trembling.
She whispered:
> "I forged my first Devil Mark… not to fight evil—
but to kill someone who hurt me."
Vox howled again.
The choir wailed.
A few hooks melted.
---
Then Adrian stepped forward.
Voice cracking.
> "I only joined this system because I wanted to be important.
I didn't want to save anyone.
I just wanted someone to look at me."
And something broke.
Not in us.
In Vox.
Its robe cracked. The stitched flesh holding its chest burst open.
Inside wasn't a heart.
It was a child—hooked to an organ made of lungs and wires.
It was a host.
Barely alive.
Eyes rolled back.
Mouth sewn shut.
> "He was a real person," I whispered.
"And the system… made him into this."
---
> [CARDINAL VOX – PHASE 2 UNLOCKED]
Shield Broken. Core Exposed.
Target must be put to rest.
Objective Modified: Mercy or Termination.
Your decision will affect Sin Level.
---
The ground shook. The walls sang.
The child inside Vox tried to speak.
But couldn't.
His mouth was sewn with glowing threads.
---
Harper looked at me.
Adrian stepped back.
The choice was mine.
---
I could end it now.
Strike hard. Kill the creature.
Raise my System Favor.
Or…
I could cut the threads.
And risk everything.
---
I knelt beside the creature.
Pulled out a blade.
The same one Harper gave me when we first met.
And I whispered:
> "You don't deserve to be a weapon."
I cut the threads.
One by one.
---
The child gasped.
Air. For the first time in years.
He looked up at me.
And smiled.
Then…
He died.
Peacefully.
---
Vox crumbled.
Not exploded.
Not screamed.
Just… faded.
The choir fell silent.
The mouths in the walls closed.
And for the first time since entering the cathedral—
Silence felt safe.
---
> [BOSS DEFEATED: CARDINAL VOX – MERCY ROUTE CHOSEN]
System Favor: –1
Humanity: +2
Sin Level: 0.7 → 0.6
Kai Unlocked Ability: "Voice of the Dead" – Speak with remnants of corrupted souls
Harper Bond: +2
Adrian Bond: +2
Emotional Trait Gained: "Grief Resonance – Hear echoes others cannot."
---
Later, as we walked through the now-quiet cathedral, Harper whispered:
> "You showed him mercy. That's rare."
I shrugged.
"I don't want to become like them."
She smiled.
"That's why the system's afraid of you."
---
As we neared the exit, the system whispered softly:
> "You delayed the darkness. But you did not erase it."
"The higher layers will not be so kind."
We stepped through the bleeding archway.
And the sign above read:
> "Welcome to Layer 4: The Garden of Forgotten Things"
And beneath it…
Was my face.
Etched in stone.
> "YOU LEFT SOMETHING BEHIND."