Sir Cassiel did not get back up to fight. He just curled into a ball on the cold stone floor, his forehead pressed against the ground like he was trying to disappear into it.
"The blood..." he groaned, staring at his trembling hands like they belonged to someone else. "It does not wash off. No matter how many times I scrub, it never washes off."
Kaizen let out a long sigh. He shoved the cooling pan into his belt loop and crouched down next to the fallen legend, his knees popping from the movement.
"Of course it does not wash off," Kaizen said gently, trying to catch his breath. "You have been bathing in guilt for five thousand years straight. At this point the stains are permanent."
"They were innocent children..." Cassiel choked out, his voice breaking.
"They were possessed by demons," Kaizen corrected him firmly. "You know the lore better than I do, old man. Once a demon successfully latches onto a soul like that, the original body is just a meat suit. A puppet. And if even your holy light could not purify them and burn the demons out, then there was literally no other way to save them."
Kaizen reached out and poked Cassiel's armored shoulder.
"Do you honestly think they wanted that? Do you think those kids wanted to be used as weapons to kill their friends? To kill you?"
Cassiel froze mid-sob. He looked up slowly, his eyes red and raw from crying for millennia.
"No... they would not have wanted that..."
"Exactly," Kaizen said while nodding. "Nobody wants to be a puppet. Nobody wants to be a passenger trapped in their own body while a monster drives it off a cliff and there is nothing you can do but watch."
Kaizen looked up at the ceiling where the shattered Sun Disc used to float.
"You did not kill them, Cassiel. You cut the strings. You put them out of their misery before the demons could make them do something they would regret forever. You gave them a clean death instead of a corrupted existence."
Cassiel stared at him like he was seeing him for the first time. His bottom lip trembled.
"Is that really true?" he whispered, sounding exactly like a lost child looking for reassurance. "Do they truly not hate me for what I did?"
"Hate you?" Kaizen actually snorted. "They are probably annoyed that you kept them waiting in the afterlife lobby for five thousand years. That is a really long wait time."
Cassiel blinked in surprise at the casual response.
Then something changed. He looked past Kaizen, staring at the empty air behind him.
His eyes widened. The swirling darkness in his pupils completely vanished, replaced by a soft, warm glow like the dawn breaking.
"Ah... I see them..."
Cassiel pushed himself up with shaking arms. He sat back on his knees, completely ignoring his injuries and the blood dripping from his wounds. He reached out with trembling hands toward what looked like empty space.
But to him, it was clearly not empty anymore.
He saw them.
Three small, shimmering figures appeared, running across the temple floor toward him. No demonic claws. No corrupted black eyes. Just three normal kids, laughing and giggling, tripping over their oversized robes, racing each other to tackle him in a hug.
"You are so late, Sir Cassiel!" the little girl said with a bright smile.
"We waited forever!" another one laughed while jumping up and down.
Cassiel gasped, his breath catching in his throat. A single tear rolled down his weathered cheek.
It was not black tar anymore. It was not corruption.
It was liquid gold, shining like melted sunlight.
"I am..." Cassiel's voice cracked completely. "I am so sorry... I am so, so sorry for making you wait..."
A genuine smile broke through the ancient mask of grief on his face.
The children did not seem to care about apologies. They just piled onto him all at once, hugging his neck, patting his armor with small hands, climbing all over him like he was their favorite jungle gym. They were happy. They were free. They had forgiven him a long time ago.
Suddenly, the entire roof of the ruined temple just dissolved into particles of light.
A massive beam of pure, concentrated holy light shot down from the heavens like a spotlight from the gods themselves. It was so bright Kaizen had to shield his eyes. It was blinding. It was sacred.
It looked exactly like the tractor beam of a UFO from a science fiction movie.
Kaizen stared at it with his jaw hanging open.
'Are you absolutely kidding me right now?'
He looked up at the divine light with disbelief.
'I spent two entire days begging the aliens to abduct me and take me away from this nightmare! And they finally show up now? For him?!'
Obviously, Kaizen was just joking here. He believed that alien ship just float on the sky and beam a light down just like this, and just abduct you.
The holy light completely enveloped Cassiel and the ghostly children, bathing them in warmth. The gravity around them reversed. They began to slowly float upward off the ground.
Cassiel hugged the children as tight as he could, like he never wanted to let go again. He looked down at Kaizen one last time.
The corruption was completely gone from his body. His armor was shining pure white again, spotless. He looked young again, like time had reversed itself. He looked like an actual Hero from the legends.
"Thank you, young warrior," Cassiel said, his voice echoing with the power of a thousand temple bells ringing at once. "For waking me up from my nightmare. For freeing me from my prison of guilt."
"Do not mention it," Kaizen said while sniffing and wiping at his eye. "Just go already. Before I change my mind and charge you for the therapy session."
Cassiel laughed. It was a true, genuine, hearty laugh full of joy that echoed through the entire temple.
"A word of advice before I go, young warrior," Cassiel said as he drifted higher into the light. "The path of the outlier is incredibly lonely. But always remember this... even the mighty sun needs the humble moon to shine properly."
"Very cryptic," Kaizen muttered while rolling his eyes. "Thanks for the fortune cookie wisdom."
"Farewell, Kaizen! May the sun shines up on you."
Cassiel turned his face toward the light above. He hugged the three children one final time, holding them close.
And then, they all shattered together.
Not into blood or broken bones. Into pure light. Into what looked like a billion golden sparkles that drifted slowly upward like fireflies on a summer night, merging with the holy beam until there was absolutely nothing left but a warm, peaceful feeling in the air.
The divine beam vanished with a soft sound like a sigh.
Sir Cassiel was no longer the Fallen Guardian. Sir Cassiel had become the Ascended One.
Five thousand years of accumulated sadness and guilt had been completely washed away in an instant, finally purifying him and setting him free.
The darkness slowly returned to the ruined temple, but it was not scary or oppressive anymore. It was just peaceful and quiet.
Kaizen sat there alone in the comfortable silence. He let out a wet, shaky laugh that turned into a sob.
"He actually ascended," Kaizen whispered while tears streamed down his dirty face. "The five-thousand-year-old crybaby actually got his happy ending and ascended to heaven."
He wiped his eyes with his sleeve.
"I am definitely not crying. This is absolutely not a crying scene. sob sob. Shud up."
Ding.
A cheerful blue system window popped up directly in front of his teary eyes.
[Hidden Dungeon Cleared!]
[Boss Defeated Through Unconventional Method: Emotional Support]
[REWARDS CALCULATING...]
Kaizen stared at the notification through blurry vision.
"Emotional support," he read out loud. "I beat a dungeon boss with therapy and a frying pan."
He started laughing.
"This is the weirdest day of my entire life."