CHAPTER 256: IT’S NOT OVER YET.

Kael let out a long groan of frustration and exhaustion, still lying on the floor of the darkroom. His muscles ached, his skin burned as if it had been roasted alive, and his entire body begged for rest. But the roar that shook the church structure above him and Klee’s desperate voice echoing shortly after left no room for doubt.

"...But of course. It’s never simple. It’s never just a vengeful spirit..." he muttered, pushing himself up with his still-shaking hands. "Bring reinforcements, I said. Did anyone listen to me? Of course not..."

Staggering, he climbed the stone steps back to the main part of the church. Each step felt like a challenge. The air was hot, thick with the smell of gunpowder, magic, and blood. And when he emerged into the central nave of the church, the sight that awaited him almost made him stumble.

Magic circles floated around Klee, sparkling in shades of red, gold, and orange like tiny suns spinning frantically. The girl, her eyes wide and her breath ragged, stood in the center of the main aisle, hurling firebombs in rapid bursts. The sound of the explosions was deafening. Each detonation made the church’s stained-glass windows rattle, and the most fragile columns shook with the impact.

The targets?

Villagers. But not like before.

They were even more deformed, with completely black eyes, grayish skin, and veins pulsing with a greenish glow. Their mouths stretched to their cheeks in rotten, inhuman smiles. Some crawled like beasts, others walked with spasms, like puppets hanging from invisible strings.

Kael’s eyes widened. "But... I destroyed the spirit!"

Ahri’s voice came into his mind, urgent. "That was only the heart of the problem, Kael. The seal was holding the central spirit... but it seems that other fragments have spread throughout the villagers’ bodies. They are being held in place by small pockets of the curse that survived."

Kael cursed under his breath. "There are so many of them..."

He ran toward Klee, dodging one of the reanimated corpses that was trying to grab his ankle. With a quick spin, he conjured a burst of fire that threw the creature against the wall, where it crumbled to ashes.

"Klee!" he shouted, trying to reach her. "Are you okay?!"

The girl turned her head, her eyes shining with energy and terror. "Kael! They’re everywhere! I tried to run away, but they were at the doors! I didn’t know what to do!" She threw another bomb, which exploded with a violent flash, setting a group of three creatures on fire.

"You did well! Just... try not to destroy the church too!" he shouted, conjuring a barrier of flames in front of them both, blocking a new wave of attackers.

Klee was breathing heavily, the magic circles flickering with her emotional instability. "They... they were dead, Kael. They were dead and started to rise. They said horrible things! They said my mother was waiting for me outside... that I had to die to find her..."

Kael felt a chill run down his spine. He launched a series of fire arrows, exploding other bodies. The girl’s words were a direct echo of the spirit’s influence. The fragments of the curse were trying to break Klee’s sanity—as they had tried with him, minutes before.

"Listen, Klee," he said firmly, crouching down beside her, his back to the altar. "These things are trying to mess with your mind. Don’t believe anything they say, you hear? This isn’t real. You just need to focus on what’s real."

She looked at him with teary eyes. "And what’s real...?"

"You’re still here. So am I. And we’re going to get out of here together."

A new group of creatures burst through the side doors, now partially destroyed by the explosions. Kael stood in front of Klee and raised his hands, conjuring a line of flame on the floor that soon turned into a wall of fire.

"Ahri," he called mentally, "any idea how to shut down these cursed bodies for good?"

"There is no seal left to break, but there is a chance..." she replied. "The bodies only resist because the curse still hangs over the structure. If you destroy the magical core of the church—the desecrated altar—the field will weaken and they can finally fall."

"Of course. Destroy the altar. Because sacred now means explosive..." Kael muttered, turning his body and aiming his palms at the base of the altar.

"Klee, cover my flanks. Don’t let any of them get close!"

The girl nodded, wiping away her tears and regaining her focus. The magic circles around her sped up their rotation, and new bombs floated into orbit.

"Let’s end this, Kael!"

Kael gathered all the fiery energy that remained in his body. The pain in his hands returned with a vengeance, but he ignored it. An incandescent sphere formed between his fingers, growing until it reached the size of a watermelon.

With a final cry, he launched the attack against the altar.

The impact was devastating.

An explosion of red and orange light illuminated the entire church, shattering stained glass windows, cracking columns, and shaking the floor. The altar was thrown into pieces, and a wave of spectral energy spread in all directions, like a cry of agony released after centuries of torment.

The corrupted villagers fell where they stood. One by one, like puppets with their strings cut.

Silence.

Only the sound of Kael and Klee’s labored breathing filled the ruined church nave.

Kael was still shaking, his hands burning, his body almost too exhausted to move. He looked around, the flames already dying down and the strong smell of gunpowder and burnt magic filling the air. The church lay in ruins, and the silence that had once seemed like a relief now weighed like a sentence.

Klee remained by his side, her eyes still glowing with the remnants of magic, but her expression was empty, as if the shock had drained her of all the strength she had left. The girl took a deep breath, trying to compose herself, dry tears mixing with the soot on her face.

"Kael... do you think it’s really over?" Her voice came out low, almost a whisper, laden with fear and doubt.

He swallowed his answer. "I don’t know. But for now, it seems that the curse has lost its power." He supported her, keeping one arm firmly around her shoulders, while the other still trembled slightly. "We need to get out of here, Klee. This church won’t hold much longer."

Klee nodded, trying to stand up, but her leg faltered. Kael held her steady before she fell.

"Calm down, let’s not rush out blindly. First, let’s see if there’s anyone alive to help, or if there are any clues as to what’s really going on."

They began to walk slowly down the hallway, dodging debris, between the long shadows formed by the dying sunlight coming through the broken windows. The smell of death was suffocating, but something else was calling them forward—an uncomfortable feeling, almost as if the church was breathing, even with all the chaos.

Suddenly, a subtle sound reached them. A distant murmur, almost imperceptible, as if someone were crying. Klee stopped and squeezed Kael’s hand.

"Did you hear that?"

Kael nodded and approached the source of the sound, guiding the girl through the debris to a small side room, formerly used as a sacristy. There, among the remains of furniture and pieces of broken wood, a figure moved slowly.

It was an old woman, her face covered in dirt and her eyes wide with fear. She held a crucifix trembling against her chest, as if it were her last defense.

"Ma’am, are you all right?" Kael asked, kneeling beside her.

She looked at him with an expression of despair. "They... they’re back... The spirit... the curse..." Her voice faltered and she began to cry. "I tried to pray, but nothing worked..."

Klee swallowed hard. "Do you know what caused this? Why the curse?"

The woman shook her head slowly. "A long time ago, a man made a dark pact. The vengeful spirit you faced... is just the tip of what he unleashed here. The church was desecrated... and not just once. With each generation, the curse grew stronger, fed by the fear and pain of the villagers."

Kael frowned, feeling the weight of that revelation. "So it doesn’t end here. If this curse feeds on suffering, we need to find the source—and destroy it once and for all."

"But how?" Klee asked, holding Kael’s hand tightly, strength slowly returning to her voice.

Before he could answer, a shadow moved behind them. Kael spun around, conjuring flames in his palm, but there was nothing but darkness and silence.

Ahri spoke urgently in his mind: "Be careful, Kael. There’s still something in this place... something that wasn’t destroyed by the explosion."

Klee’s magic circles began to glow again, weaker but still active. "We can’t rest now," Kael said, taking a deep breath. "If we want to save this village and your mother, Klee, we have to face everything this curse still holds."

She nodded, her eyes determined despite her fear. "Then let’s go, Kael. I won’t let anyone else suffer."