Leon felt a rush of relief and started to climb the ladder that exposed the next room, but something stopped him. Something made him hesitate.
to repay for the sins of my
ancestors...
Leon's eyes finally moved from the ladder, down to the pile of goo, hair and flesh that once made up the little castellan. The words from his memo;
...the Lord would
make better use of this power to help save the
world.
To save those that have sinned...
His teeth clamped together as he considered the dead young man before him. Young man, as hard as it was to believe at first-
"Did you say old man Mr. Kennedy? It may come as a suprrise, but I am only twenty years old!"
-but then it made sense. The infection that was slowly destroying and taking over his body. It made sense that his looks would deteriorate, looks that Leon himself had seen in a portrait of the once-human Salazar in a previous room in the castle. He stood in a room filled with beautiful fabrics and a table for him to rest his hand on, as was the traditional style of portrait. He stood up straight, but there was a warmth to his face; A hint of a smile, a confidence that only an independent person could achieve. Not the snivelling, wicked, hunched up castellan he had met. No, Ramon had died when he injected himself with las plagas.
...to cleanse the their souls
creating a world without sinners...
find their
reason to live...
Leon gritted his teeth. Damn Saddler! Damn him for killing this boy, this child! Salazar was a lonely young man with delusions of righteousness, led astray and groomed by a manipulative demon. Ramon Salazar, the eighth castellan of this fortress, had signed a contract with a devil dressed up as a savior. Leon continued to stare in anger, and finally took a knee toward the ruined cadaver.
"Ramon, you may not have been saving the world the right way, but when I've killed Saddler, it'll be in your name, too. If you only knew... You'd wish him dead, too."
He whispered a quick prayer and stood, his glance still lingering on what was, at some point maybe years ago, the true Ramon Salazar, and finally tore his eyes away and toward the ladder. His face, contorted in anger, suddenly calmed his features, stern and smooth and unreadable.
"I'm ready for you, Saddler. Give me the best you got!" He whispered harshly, and aggressively grabbed metal rung after rung, and when he reached the top, he opened the door.