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Chapter 191 From Sin to Salvation
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Nothing.
Ringing the first Bell of Awakening had done nothing.
Naruto stood there in stunned silence, staring up at the massive bell as if waiting for the heavens themselves to shatter open and answer him. He still could not believe it. In Lordran, every action always carried a consequence. Yet after the Bell of Awakening had rung, something so widely spoken of throughout the land, nothing had happened at all.
Do I need to ring both bells before anything changes?
"Can you believe this?" Naruto muttered as he glanced down at Oscar.
The small crystal lizard lay limp in his arms. The little guy gave no reply, only a soft, rumbling chirr in his sleep.
Naruto sighed. They had waited long enough for something to happen that the world had reset around them, time and the world pretending as if nothing had occurred at all. If fate was going to spit in his face, then he might as well enjoy himself while it happened.
And so he decided to climb down the great ladder of the spire in style.
He hooked one arm loosely around the rung and let his weight drop, boots scraping along the wood as he slid down with a reckless grin. At the last stretch he twisted his body, letting go entirely, spinning once in midair before landing lightly on his feet as though gravity had been nothing more than a suggestion.
Oscar stirred at the motion, blinking awake, little claws clinging to Naruto's glove.
Naruto chuckled and gave the creature a quick scratch along its side. That was when he noticed the presence waiting for him below.
He stopped dead in his tracks.
A man stood near the entrance to the spire. His entire form was draped in black. A long coat fell to his boots, with a cape-like mantle spread wide across his shoulders. His gloves were as black as the rest of him, fingers curled and rigid as he stretched both arms outward, as though embracing the world or mocking it. The gesture was strangely theatrical, like the familiar posture of one proclaiming Well, what is it! but delivered with an aura that made it feel more like a challenge than a jest.
Naruto froze, instincts prickling.
Is he here because I rang the Bell of Awakening? he wondered, keeping his movements cautious, sidestepping slowly along the wall while adjusting Oscar in his arms.
The man's face was a study in unease. Pale, almost bloodless skin, a mask of lifeless calm that betrayed no emotion. Long strands of silvery white hair spilled down from beneath his helm, veiling part of his features.
The helmet itself was striking. It crowned his head in dark metal, adorned with curling golden patterns that traced across its surface. At its center a sharp piece of metal ran down between his eyes, narrowing into a cruel point along the ridge of his nose. It lent the impression of a bird of prey. The longer Naruto stared at him, the more oppressive it felt, as though the helmet itself was watching him.
Creepy, Naruto thought, lips pressing thin as the air grew heavy with awkward silence.
Oscar gave a chirp.
"No, don't shoot him," Naruto hissed in warning, clutching the little lizard tighter.
Oscar grumbled, clearly displeased at being denied the chance to shoot someone.
That was when the man spoke.
"Greetings."
The word carried through the ruined spire like a tolling bell, deep and sonorous, resonant enough to crawl into the bones. It was not a shout, yet it filled the chamber all the same.
"Yo," Naruto replied quickly, voice casual and clipped, if only to cover the tension crawling up his back.
"I am Oswald of Carim. The Pardoner."
"A pardoner?!" Naruto blurted out, the echo bouncing off the ruined stone walls.
Oswald tilted his head slightly, as though surprised by the boy's tone. "Thou dost seek to recognize me?"
"Yes… no. I mean, I don't even know who you are, dude. But I do know pardoners… they deal with sin, right?"
Oswald gave the faintest nod. "Cometh thou to confess? Or to accuse? For indeed, all sin is mine domain."
Naruto's eyes lit up. He stepped forward with sudden eagerness. "Rank. What's your rank?"
"Bishop of Velka."
The words struck like lightning.
A wide grin spread across Naruto's face, his voice bursting with excitement. "Yo, looks like lady luck finally smiled on me. I didn't even know where to start looking for you guys!"
For once, Oswald's voice held a trace of uncertainty. "Hast thou been seeking mine services?"
Naruto nodded so fast it nearly became a bow. "Yes! Yes, absolutely! I need you to pardon a sin against the gods themselves!"
Oswald grew very still, his helm tilting as though he peered straight through the boy. "Heh heh… Now that is no small transgression. Few dare to walk so boldly. Yet all sin, no matter how black, may be absolved…" He raised one hand, fingers curling inward, beckoning as though drawing a soul to judgment. "For a price, of course."
"I figured. Didn't think something that heavy came for free."
"Then speak it," Oswald intoned. "Confess thine misdeeds, that Lady Velka might weigh them."
Naruto threw up his hands, shaking his head. "Whoa, no… not mine. I'm clean. This is for a friend. Firekeeper Anastacia."
The name made Oswald's head incline with recognition.
Naruto's tone sharpened with determination. "She sinned, right? Her punishment was having her tongue cut out. Last time, I healed her… and some bastard crow tried to rip it out again. After talking with Rickert, he told me I'd need someone from the Church of Sin to step in."
For a long moment, silence clung to the spire. Then, Oswald's voice returned, smooth and unhurried. "Ah… intercession. How noble. Few there are who would bear the burden of another's stain. Bring this friend before me, and I shall see what strings of sin may yet be untied."
Naruto gave a firm nod, his eyes burning with resolve. Without waiting another second, he turned, sprinted across the rooft, and vaulted down the church.
"Quite the curious soul, that one," Oswald murmured, tone heavy with dark amusement. The sin of murder bled thickly from the boy's soul, yet twined with it was the karma of a savior, glimmering like a halo. "Thou art no saint. Nor art thou a mindless butcher. Just a human… flawed, fractured, yet striving."
The words lingered as he gave a soft chuckle.
"Despite being a dragon. I see that you are still human. For it is only human… to commit a sin. Heh heh heh heh…"
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"Guess Anastacia can finally be free," Naruto said, and Oscar gave a short, bright nod in reply.
The elevator rattled and creaked as it descended toward Firelink Shrine. The motion was familiar now, the chains and gears almost like background music.
Oscar peered over the open back. Below, in the broken church, Petrus stood with several others. The crystal lizard chirped softly, trying to call Naruto's attention to the gathering, but the boy was somewhere else entirely.
Naruto's gaze was downcast, his thoughts circling.
Oscar chirped again, a curious note, almost like a question.
"Nothing," Naruto muttered. "It's just… I was honestly expecting more from the bell of awakening, you know?"
Oscar tilted his head, confused.
"For most of my life, my dream was to become Hokage." Naruto's voice was low, almost wistful. "That dream kept me going no matter how many times people laughed, no matter how many times I failed. And when that dream got replaced with the bells of awakening… I wasn't even sad. The bells became my reason to come back to Lordran, to keep going forward. To fight." He drew in a breath, slow and heavy. "And Lordran has changed me a lot."
The elevator clanked on.
"But now that I've rung one of the bells, I think I finally get it. The bells were never really my dream. They were a promise to my master… but not mine. At least being Hokage was my dream, right? That was mine."
Oscar chirped again, his tone curious.
"My point is…" Naruto looked at his hands, fingers flexing slightly. "I feel lost. Like I'm just drifting down the river of life, letting the current push me wherever it wants. Doing one thing, then another. But there's no end goal. No Hokage at the finish line anymore."
Oscar trilled in a questioning note, almost like he was asking if such a goal was even necessary.
"I don't know. Maybe it isn't. But me… I like having something big to reach for. Something worth bleeding for. Maybe I should make it about my clan. Maybe that's the answer."
The conversation stilled as the elevator door creaked open. A woman stepped in quickly, clutching an ivory talisman close to her chest as though it might shield her from the curse of the land.
Her presence struck Naruto immediately as unusual. She was no warrior. Her long, plain dress brushed her shoes, beige with a faint brown panel running down the middle. The trim was modest, tied at the waist with a rope-like belt. Draped over her shoulders was a hooded shawl, shadowing her face, leaving only the pale outline of her cheeks and the glimmer of her wide, earnest eyes visible. Her brown hair was tucked neatly beneath the hood. Her features were soft, fragile, touched with the solemnity of prayer.
[Name: Reah of Thorolund]
[HP: 1,433 / 1,433]
Her lips moved faintly, a prayer whispered to whatever higher power still lingered in Lordran.
The door clanged shut, the panel clicked into place, and the elevator began to rise.
"Look, lady," Naruto said. "I know you seem in a hurry, but I was just about to get off."
Her prayer broke. She turned to him with a start. "Y-you… you speak? You are Undead as well? Then… Petrus, he… oh, Flame preserve me. He lied to us."
"Petrus? What are you talking about?"
"Brother Petrus did speak to us of a crazed Hollow he had encountered. He claimed it was relentless, dangerous… that it must be put down. He asked for our aid."
The truth dawned quickly on Naruto, and his voice hardened. "So you were planning an Undead Hunt. On me?"
Her hands trembled, but she did not falter. "Aye… such was the plan. I was to ride with you upon this lift, and when the time was right, to strike with Force and push you down. And if you survived the fall, Petrus and the others below would end it."
Oscar's body rattled with a warning growl that made her flinch.
"That's a clever plan. So why are you telling me this now?"
Her gaze lowered, shadowed by her hood. "Because to raise my hand against another Undead, one who yet bears his humanity… that is a grievous sin. I was deceived, and my weakness near led me to carry out a wicked deed. I cannot abide it. Better to confess my failing, and accept the burden." Her eyes lifted, clear but sorrowful. "I thank thee for lending me thine ear. Most would have struck me down without pause."
Naruto studied her in silence before letting out a long breath. "If you had attacked me, we'd be having a different talk. But you didn't. Which means you get to walk away clean." His gaze hardened, mouth twisting into a sharp grin. "As for Petrus… this is the last time I let that scammer slide."
"Scammer?"
Naruto snapped his fingers. A shadow clone burst into being, already crouched and ready. "Tell her," Naruto ordered. The clone nodded and began to speak, recounting Petrus' endless lies, his greed, his schemes, the trail of betrayal he left behind.
Reah listened, horror dawning on her features as the truth unraveled.
Meanwhile, the real Naruto adjusted Oscar on his shoulder and stepped toward the open edge. "That's enough for me. I've got justice to deliver." Then, without hesitation, he leapt from the moving elevator.
Reah stood alone in the rattling lift, her ivory talisman pressed tight against her chest. Her breath trembled as she whispered a prayer, but it did little to steady her. "By the Flame… who, or what, have I spoken with this day?"
The words hung heavy in the air, echoing her fear and her awe.
Using wall-walk to run vertically along the shaft, Naruto created a shadow clone and ordered it to plummet like dead weight. As the clone fell, it activated the Force miracle, a shockwave of white light echoing through the stone shaft. To Petrus and the others watching, it looked like their plan had worked.
The shadow clone splattered against the stone floor with a resounding crash. Smoke filled the tunnel, curling like a thick fog around the chamber where Petrus, Vince, and Nico waited with weapons drawn.
"What is going on?" Vince asked, his voice tense, when suddenly the fog split with motion.
Naruto burst out of the haze, descending like a predator, both legs extended in a double flying kick that smashed into Petrus's chest. The blow sent the rotund cleric flying back, into the hidden area beyond.
Before Vince or Nico could react, jagged crystal shards erupted from the ground, impaling the floor around them and staggering them off balance. Two shadow clones lunged in, reinforced clubs whistling through the air, cracking against their skulls with brutal precision. Both clerics dropped like sacks of meat, unconscious before their bodies even hit the stone.
Meanwhile, on the outside, Petrus grunted as he forced himself back onto his feet, clutching his morning star. His round face twisted into a sneer.
"You must be Naruto's older brother."
Naruto sweatdropped, scratching his cheek. "…Do I look that different?" he muttered, glancing back at Oscar. The crystal lizard tilted his head and chirped, as if to say a little.
Petrus used the moment of distraction to lunge. The morning star whistled through the air, a vicious overhead strike meant to pulp Naruto's skull.
CLANG.
The impact rang out like a church bell as Naruto caught the strike with the flat of his Zweihander, angled in a high guard so the force slid down into the ground rather than against his body. Sparks spat from the steel as Petrus staggered back from the recoil, his arms trembling from the sheer weight of the blow rebounding against him.
Petrus grit his teeth and came again, this time trying a sweeping horizontal strike. Naruto sidestepped, the morning star smashing tiles into rubble, and countered with a cross-cut. The Zweihander's massive blade smashed into the haft of Petrus's weapon, twisting it violently to the side, forcing the cleric's arms open and leaving his chest exposed.
Naruto stepped in, delivering a brutal mordhau, gripping the Zweihander by the blade and slamming the pommel into Petrus's helmet. The iron cap rang like a drum as Petrus reeled, blood dripping down his face.
Petrus screamed and thrust forward wildly, aiming the morning star like a spear. Naruto dipped low, pivoting his body to the side, and drove the flat of his greatsword into Petrus's ribs in a brutal set-aside counter. The air blasted from the cleric's lungs as he was thrown back against the stone wall.
He coughed, wheezing, yet still swung again. This time Naruto didn't even bother with elegance. He shifted into a low guard, the Zweihander low and ready, and when Petrus came crashing down with another overhead strike, Naruto simply rose upward in a descending cut.
The morning star's shaft snapped in two. The spiked head of the weapon went spinning across the stones.
Petrus froze, eyes wide, unarmed.
Naruto advanced, pressing his advantage without pause. The Zweihander whirled in his hands like an executioner's blade, driving Petrus back step by step. Each strike was calculated: a horizontal cut that smashed into Petrus's failing shield, a rising cut that nearly split his arm open, a crushing shoulder-check that slammed him against the wall again.
By the time Naruto stopped, Petrus was on his knees, his shield shattered, his face bloodied and gasping for air. The Zweihander's point hovered at his throat.
Naruto stared down at the man, eyes sharp, Zweihander's tip hovering just above Petrus's chest. "Wow," he muttered, voice flat. "That was pathetic. I was hoping for at least something from you. But you're nothing but a fraud."
"P-please… spare me."
Naruto snorted. "This would be funny if it wasn't so damn pitiful."
The cleric pressed a hand to the ground, his other held aloft in a desperate gesture of supplication. "I… I have given you so much, have I not?"
"Yeah," Naruto said coldly, "you lied, scammed, and tried to kill me. Real grateful for that last one."
"No, wait, listen. You like Miracles, yes? I can give you more. So much more."
Naruto tilted his head, feigning interest. "Oh yeah? How?"
"M'lady Reah," Petrus said quickly, words spilling out like a drowning man clawing for air. "She is of noble blood, high ranking in the clergy. She knows many Miracles. If I had her trust, I could… extract them for you."
"So what, I steal them from her?"
Petrus shook his head furiously. "No, no. Leave that to me. I will say I slew you. With Vince and Nico gone, M'lady will turn to me. In her grief, I shall coax her to part with her teachings. And then, you and I… we shall share in her treasures."
Naruto gave him a blank stare, the silence stretching until sweat dripped down Petrus's temple.
Panic overtook him. "And… and more! Once she is pliant, you can do as you wish with her. A noble girl without her station is nothing. Worthless. Yet… pleasing enough to warm your bed."
Naruto's eyes went wide, his grip on the Zweihander tightening. "What did you just say?"
"I-I meant no offense," Petrus stammered, scrambling backward, his voice breaking. "It is merely… she is no use otherwise. A trinket for pleasure, nothing more. You..."
"Shut up!" Naruto roared. His fist shot forward, smashing into Petrus's jaw with a sickening crack. Bone snapped, teeth scattered across the stone, and the cleric collapsed, a mangled ruin of blood and spit where his smug face had been.
Naruto lifted him with a single motion of his telekinesis, Petrus flailing weakly in the air. The boy's palm glowed gold as he forced the Heal miracle into the cleric's body. Flesh knit together, bones reset, and in moments the man was whole again, only for Naruto's killer intent to cut him deeper than any wound.
"I… I am sorry!" Petrus gasped, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Forgive me! I did not mean to offend. It was a slip, a fool's thought!"
"Shut the hell up, you scum," Naruto spat. "Oscar. Crystalize this bastard's soul."
The crystal lizard chirped once in acknowledgment.
"No, no! Wait! Please, wait! I beg of you!" Petrus cried, thrashing. "I will serve! I will do anything! Spare..."
Oscar's body pulsed, a beam of pure crystal light bursting from his maw. It struck Petrus in the chest, freezing his scream in his throat as crystal spread across his body like frost. His eyes widened, terror immortalized in stone as the creeping crystal devoured him whole.
With a final chime, Petrus was no more than a grotesque statue. Then, with a sound like shattering glass, he broke apart into a thousand glittering shards, scattering across the dirt floor.
Naruto let his telekinesis drop, dusting his hands off as he stared down at the pile of broken crystal. His voice was quiet, but carried venom. "Good riddance, you worthless scammer."
Oscar chirped in agreement.
[You have acquired:]
[100 Souls]
[2 Humanity]
[Thorolund Talisman]
"Wow," Naruto muttered, shaking his head as the last motes of Petrus's soul drifted away. "Your soul drops are even more pathetic than Mizuki's." He crouched, plucking the talisman from among the shards.
[Item: Thorolund Talisman]
[Description: A medium for casting Miracles of the Gods. This talisman is only granted to high-ranking Thorolund clerics. Its miracle adjustment is high, and thanks to divine protection, is not dependent upon faith.]
Naruto twirled it once in his fingers and slipped it into his belt. "Guess I've got a new and stronger talisman to work with. That's about the only useful thing from this mess."
From the tunnel, soft footsteps echoed. Reah of Thorolund emerged, her shawl drawn close, her face pale. Her hands still clutched her ivory talisman as though it were the only anchor keeping her upright. "I… heard everything."
Naruto gave the woman a sympathetic look.
"I had my doubts about Brother Petrus. I wished to believe he was a man of good heart, that his cold manner was but formality. I thought perhaps this undead hunt was but a misunderstanding, that my own inexperience clouded my judgment. Yet to hear such words with mine own ears… to be so swiftly bartered as if I were chattel…" Her shoulders shook, her talisman rattling faintly as her voice broke. "It rends my faith to tatters."
"Hey." Naruto's voice cut sharp through her grief, making her head snap up. "Don't give scum like that your thoughts. Trash like him isn't worth a second of your mind. Don't let him live in your head rent free."
Reah blinked, tears glistening but held back. Slowly, she bowed her head and whispered a soft prayer. "Your words are firm, Brother Naruto. You defended my dignity as a Sister of the cloth, and you brought justice upon someone who twisted the Gods' name for his own greed. For that, I'm deeply grateful. I owe you more than I can say."
Naruto gave her a lopsided grin and a thumbs-up. "Don't mention it. But… actually, Sister Reah, I do have a small request."
"You have only to ask. What is it you want?"
"Can you teach me the Great Heal miracle?"
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[ Personal Note: First off, thanks a ton to all of you for sticking with this story. Seriously, you guys are awesome. Now, if you're interested in supporting me on P@treon, let me just say that over there, I post these massive 5k-word chapters. But heads up, if you're jumping to P@treon, you'll need to start from Chapter 90, since that's where this chapter lines up with the content there.
To everyone here just reading along, please don't forget to leave a comment! Honestly, your comments make my day, and they let me know you're as invested in this story as I am. So yeah, thanks again, and I hope you have an amazing rest of your day!