Sir Cassiel didn't get up. He curled into a ball, his forehead pressed against the cold stone.
"The blood..." he groaned, looking at his shaking hands. "It doesn't wash off. It never washes off."
Kaizen sighed. He shoved the cooling pan into his belt loop and crouched down next to the fallen legend.
"Of course it doesn't wash off," Kaizen said gently. "You've been bathing in it for five thousand years."
"They were innocent..." Cassiel choked out.
"They were possessed," Kaizen corrected him. "You know the lore better than I do, old man. Once a demon latches onto a soul, the body is just a meat suit. A puppet. And if even your light cannot purify them, then there was no other way…"
Kaizen poked Cassiel's shoulder.
"Do you think they wanted that? Do you think those kids wanted to be used to kill their friends? To kill you?"
Cassiel froze. He looked up, his eyes red and raw.
"No..."
"Exactly," Kaizen said. "Nobody wants to be a puppet. Nobody wants to be a passenger in their own body while a monster drives it off a cliff."
Kaizen looked at the ceiling where the Sun Disc used to be.
"You didn't kill them, Cassiel. You cut the strings. You put them out of their misery before they could do something they would regret."
Cassiel stared at him. His lip trembled.
"Is... is that true?" he whispered, sounding like a lost child. "Do they... not hate me?"
"Hate you?" Kaizen snorted. "They're probably annoyed you kept them waiting in the lobby for five millennia."
Cassiel blinked.
Then, he looked past Kaizen.
His eyes widened. The darkness in his pupils swirled and vanished, replaced by a soft, dawn-like glow.
"Ah..."
Cassiel pushed himself up. He sat on his knees, ignoring his injuries. He reached out with trembling hands toward empty space.
But to him, it wasn't empty.
He saw them.
Three small, shimmering figures running across the temple floor. No claws. No black eyes. Just three kids, laughing, tripping over their robes, racing to tackle him.
"You're late, Sir Cassiel!" one of them seemed to say.
"We waited so long!" another laughed.
Cassiel gasped. A tear rolled down his cheek.
It wasn't black tar. It wasn't corruption.
It was liquid gold.
"I..." Cassiel choked, a smile breaking through the mask of grief. "I am sorry... I am so sorry..."
The children didn't care. They piled onto him, hugging his neck, patting his armor. They were happy. They were free.
Suddenly, the roof of the temple dissolved.
A beam of pure, concentrated light shot down from the heavens. It was blinding. It was holy.
It looked exactly like the tractor beam of a UFO.
Kaizen stared at it, his jaw dropping.
'Are you kidding me?'
He looked up at the light.
'I asked for this! I spent two days begging the aliens to take me! And they show up now? For him?!'
The light enveloped Cassiel and the children, like they were holy. The gravity around them reversed. They began to float.
Cassiel hugged the children tight. He looked down at Kaizen.
The corruption was gone. His armor was shining white again. He looked young. He looked like a Hero.
"Thank you," Cassiel said, his voice echoing with the power of a thousand bells. "For waking me up. For… for freeing me."
"Don't mention it," Kaizen sniffed, wiping his eye. "Just... go. Before I charge you for the therapy."
Cassiel laughed. A true, hearty laugh.
"A word of advice, young warrior," Cassiel said as he drifted higher. "The path of the outlier is lonely. But remember... even the sun needs the moon to shine."
"Cryptic," Kaizen muttered. "Thanks."
"Farewell!"
Cassiel turned his face to the light. He hugged the kids one last time.
And then, they shattered.
Not into blood or bone. Into light. Into a billion golden sparkles that drifted upward like fireflies, merging with the beam until there was nothing left but warmth.
The beam vanished.
Sir Cassiel was no longer the fallen. Sir Cassiel was now the ascended one.
5000 years of sadness was washed away, purifying him…
The darkness returned to the temple, but it wasn't scary anymore. It was just peaceful.
Kaizen sat there in the silence. He let out a wet, shaky laugh.
"He ascended," Kaizen whispered, tears streaming down his face. "The crybaby actually ascended."
Ding.
A blue window popped up in front of his teary eyes.
[ SYSTEM ALERT ]
[ Hidden Dungeon Cleared! ]
[ REWARDS CALCULATING... ]