The laboratory was a tomb of artificial life, silent save for the wet, rhythmic thumping of the oversized heart suspended in the glass vat. The air was a suffocating soup of formaldehyde, ozone, and a cloying, sweet stench of rot that Benedict's expensive incense couldn't begin to mask. To walk into this room was to realize that the 'Holy' facade of the Academy was merely a thin layer of gold leaf over a mountain of filth.
Dorian stood at the threshold, his hand loose on the hilt of his wooden training sword. He surveyed the High Priest, a man who had once been the polished face of the Academy's moral authority. Behind him, Julian and Elena were paralyzed by a blasphemy so profound it felt like a physical weight upon their souls.
"You look like a half eaten corpse, Benedict," Dorian said, his voice a flat, grating rasp. "The 'Gilded Cathedral' clearly lacks a competent apothecary for your skin condition."
Benedict let out a dry, rattling chuckle the sound of dead leaves scuffing over a grave. He adjusted his pristine white and gold robes, the fabric a grotesque contrast to his sloughing grey flesh.
"Vanity is the luxury of the ignorant, Dorian. I assumed you, with your sudden 'illumination,' would comprehend that," Benedict said. His violet orb of an eye tracked Dorian with predatory intent. "The Light... it was a parasite. It was devouring me. My resonance was a dying ember, and the Heavens didn't even blink. So I found a more... persistent fuel source."
"So you took up knitting with human remains?" Dorian asked, gesturing toward the pulsing vat. "How remarkably industrious."
"I am refining the vessel!" Benedict's voice spiked into a frantic, jagged pitch. "The human soul is a cracked jar, Dorian. It can only contain so much Light before it shatters into dust. But this... this necrotic pressure... it doesn't leak. It preserves. I am engineering a true immortality!"
*Ding!*
**[Urgent Saint Quest: The Fallen Priest.]**
**[Objective: Reject Benedict's 'Unholy Partnership' and prepare to purify him.]**
**[Reward: +100 Faith Points.]**
Dorian's lips thinned into a cold, mocking line. Immortality was the most tedious delusion of the weak. He had lived through an empire, had ruled as a god, and had found that the only thing more agonizing than dying was the inability to do so.
"New Saints?" Dorian laughed a dark, hollow sound. "Benedict, I've seen the 'Old Saints.' I've stood before the Seven who claim this continent. And believe me... you aren't even a footnote. You're just a desperate old man playing with dolls in a basement."
The human side of Benedict's face contorted into a mask of fury. "Then you are a fool, Valerius. A fool who will serve as the first sacrifice for my new world."
The High Priest raised his hands, and the shadows in the room began to coil around his limbs like oiled serpents. The grass dolls on the worktables began to twitch, their featureless faces swiveling toward Dorian with a synchronized, mechanical jerk.
"Elena, Julian get back!" Dorian barked.
**[Skill: 'Holy Eyes of Truth': Deep Scan]**
The room dissolved into a grid of data. Above Benedict's head, the 'Sin Count' was a scrolling, endless ledger of atrocities. *12,402 lives ended or desecrated.*
"Twelve thousand," Dorian whispered. A predatory hunger vibrated in his chest. "That's a significant dent in my debt."
Benedict slammed his palms together, and a wave of violet energy a 'Necrotic Pulse' detonated outward. The stone floor splintered, the grey rot spreading through the masonry like a physical infection. Dorian slammed his wooden sword into the floor, channeling his resonance into a defensive shell.
**[Skill: 'Divine Strike': Shield Pattern]**
A wall of golden radiance erupted. The necrotic energy hissed as it slammed into the barrier, the smell of ozone and putrefaction clashing in a violent, metaphysical storm.
"Julian! Burn the dolls!" Dorian roared. "Elena, find the umbilical! If we don't sever the connection to that heart, he'll just keep knitting himself back together!"
Julian dropped his sword, his hands shaking so violently the metal rattled on the stone. Dorian reached out and seized him by the collar, his grip like iron. "Do it, Julian. Or I will use you as a lightning rod for the next pulse. Decide now!"
Something in Dorian's eyes a depth of cold, merciless resolve finally pierced Julian's paralysis. The boy scrambled for his sword and began the 'Light Spark' incantation. Orbs of golden fire ignited the grass dolls, turning them to ash.
Elena had crawled to the barrier's edge, her glasses sliding down her nose. "The conduits! Dorian, there are glass tubes beneath the flagstones! They're siphoning mana directly into the heart!"
Dorian collapsed the barrier. Before Benedict could react, he was a blur of motion. He didn't run; he translated across the space. He targeted the floorboards with a devastating downward strike.
**[Skill: 'Divine Strike': Earthbreaker]**
The granite pulverized. A massive crater opened, exposing the complex web of glass conduits. Benedict let out a scream of visceral agony as the tubes shattered. The necrotic light in his violet eye flickered and dimmed, and the rot on his face began to spread rapidly.
"Your masterpiece was a delusion, Benedict," Dorian said, landing lightly on the crater's edge. "Just like your 'Faith'."
*Ding!*
**[Saint Quest: COMPLETED!]**
**[Good Deed Detected: Refusing a Path of Easy Power.]**
**[Faith Points Received: +100]**
**[Current FP: (9,988,480 points deducted)]**
Dorian looked at the crumbling High Priest, his face a mask of absolute, cold indifference. Benedict looked up, his violet orb glowing with a final, desperate intensity.
"You don't understand, Valerius. I'm not the only one. The 'Great Awakening'... it isn't a blessing. It's a harvest. And you... you're just the most promising crop in the field."
He lunged forward, his hands transformed into claws of pure, oily shadow.
***
**Author's Note:** The "Great Awakening" is coming, and Benedict's warning suggests it's more sinister than Dorian remembers. If you enjoyed the destruction of the necrotic conduits, support the novel with your **Power Stones**! Your votes keep the Emperor one step ahead of the "harvest." Can Dorian finish the job in **Chapter 15**? Let us know in the comments!