At the top of the towering skyscraper, a man was chained to the ground, by both wrist and ankle.
The gush of wind was biting, and as every wind passed his bruised body, Williams could feel the fresh blood flowing from the numerous wounds.
And the circle surrounding him had accumulated a large pool of blood.
His clothes were burnt out, leaving him naked where he was chained, but at first glance, you would think he was wearing clothes, because the bruises and cuts were covering his whole body to his bum.
"Be done with this already," Williams breathed out, staring at the floor, staring at his blood reflecting the moon.
Williams understood his situation very clearly; the major factions of exorcists had been looking for him for one hundred years now.
But even knowing he would die, Williams remained calm, savoring every last breath he took.
Surrounding the heavily wounded man were seven grand holy exorcists dressed in white robes and a cross of Christ as an emblem.
They all had with them the book of the reverend scriptures.
Once a demon hears a word from the reverend scriptures, it becomes restless, wanting to kill the preacher.
"And exorcising the demons from hell, thou shall gain a place in the house of Jah, exorcising the forbidden creature and sending it to thy Jah for mercy."
The seven grand holy exorcists said in unison, and shut the reverend book at once.
However, instead of Williams feeling restless, he was mocking them, laughing like a menace.
"Well, let me tell you what the insanity scripture says." At once, Williams's facade altered from mockery to dead glares.
"Bind not the demon, nor banish it—but learn from it, feed upon it, and master its use. The righteous will drown in mercy; the wicked will burn in greed. Only the wise shall stand upon the ashes of both."
Williams quoted his scripture, still staring at his accumulated pool of blood.
The grand holy exorcists looked at themselves and spoke in unison.
"We don't care if you harness the powers of demons for immortality or make yourself stronger. However, you have broken the most sacred rule of an exorcist. For preaching about fallen gods, you'll now be exorcised."
They said. Williams sighed; he was already feeling cold from the wind, his breath somehow introduced with fog.
It was known to all exorcists that their job was to find demons and slay them in all realms.
And those who follow and teach the doctrine of fallen gods.
Williams was an exorcist who did the former, but it started with that one insanity scripture.
He could still picture his grandfather giving him the book of insane scriptures, opening his eyes.
Williams muttered those exact scriptures. Insanity Scripture 109.
"This scripture is not for mortals—it is for those who wish to rise above mortality," said Williams. He looked at the middle-aged exorcist in front of him and added,
"To walk this path is to shed the skin of man and craft a new form, woven of knowledge forbidden and will unshaken...
You will not find paradise, nor fall into torment. You will create a place for yourself, beyond judgment, beyond death....
A place where you are the rulemaker, and all spirits, holy or vile, are subject to your decree."
After repeating the exact line, Williams felt satisfied because he had done exactly that, but now, the freedom he had sought would be taken from him.
"You have managed to convince many people to follow your teachings, but do you expect a grand holy exorcist like me to even pay attention?" said the middle-aged exorcist.
Williams chuckled.
As each of them rose their palms, encased in a white shimmering light, the skyscraper became noticeable to the people underneath.
Suddenly asking themselves what was going on up there.
Williams knew it was time...
"You'll now be exorcised," they said uniformly. "Any last words?"
"Righteousness be damned."
With his final words, his head exploded in pieces, leaving his body with a gush of blood streaming down below the building.
Williams was dead.
---
The round table of fallen gods, occupied by the seven most evil and powerful primordial fallen gods.
Hades; god of the underworld and afterlife, Ares the god of war and chaos, while Hera, the queen of gods, was sitting adjacent.
Zeus, Poseidon, Dionysus, and Apollo.
These fallen gods were all at the round table because of one soul. William's unconscious, red-glowing soul was at the center of the table.
The architect of the bid war, a statue-cloaked angel with multiple wings, held the rules and regulations on the stone tablet.
The bid for William's soul was started by Zeus, offering a hundred of his disciples.
The one-eyed god thought it would be that easy.
William's soul was one of a kind. They were all fighting to have control of it.
"Hmph, seriously Zeus? 100? I bid a million corrupted souls," said Hera. Her robes were imperial purple and deep crimson.
Her placed bid made everyone adjust themselves.
"Of course, that was just a warm-up... five million souls," said Zeus.
These souls were people who worshipped them—their followers. The more souls they got, the stronger they became.
And all bid souls, once sold out, would lose their life—like sleeping and never seeing the next daylight.
It was all the doing of a fallen god bidding thy soul.
And William's soul cost more than that. They knew about the billions of disciples that came with William.
So Ares wasn't going down without bidding.
"I bid twenty million souls."
Hearing Ares, the fallen gods except Hades turned to look at him. He didn't usually participate in things like this and saw it as a childish game.
For him, the proper way was war. The last man alive would take the soul.
Ares smiles.
All the gods knew how many followers they had, so there was a limit to how much they could bid.
"No, Ares, allow me to have this soul. Obviously, he died with the heart of revenge. Only I can grant him such power to do so," the tempered god, Poseidon, spoke.
However, before he could bid, the fallen god Apollo stole the spotlight.
"Hmm... well, I need someone to preach my dark prophecy, of course. Who else could do it better? I bid fifteen million souls," said the fallen god Apollo.
"Uh, that's smaller than my bid. Oh, I see... you don't have more than that many followers. Hahaha," said Ares.
Meanwhile... the two gods who hadn't placed a bid were still watching William's soul.
Hades and Dionysus were staring at each other and at the soul.
Dionysus really needed this soul because William was like a copy of his traits—revelry, chaos, and most important of all, madness.
However, Hades wanted the most powerful soul for himself, but when it came to bidding, he had always let Dionysus win.
"I bid 300 million souls."
"400 million," Hades overruled Dionysus's bid in an instant.
The two of them had completely stolen all the attention for themselves. No one was willing to join the bid war.
That much soul risked? It all seemed worth it, but what if it wasn't?
Dionysus sighs.
"One billion souls... Sorry, Hades, I'm in a hurry. I really need this soul."
Hades remained quiet. Everyone was staring at Dionysus. He was infamously known in all realms, but a lot of William's disciples were somehow his converts.
He managed to secure a few souls from William's dark bible. There was only one god who could challenge him now.
But no one said anything. They were now waiting for the voice overseeing the bid to speak with his thunderous voice.
However, as Hera was now clapping for Dionysus.
"Please, you flatter me, Hera. I just always get things I like," said Dionysus.
Until Hades chuckled. Resting his hand on his jaw, he spoke.
"You easily forget I am the king of death. I have an infinite number of undead souls," Hades sighs.
He shut his eyes with a grin. Opening them, he spoke.
"900 billion souls."
That settles it. Anyone else?