Chapter 7: Heresy

Several battles with the harpies later and Shepard and his squad had come up to the very front of the City of Dis. There were no gates barring entrance, only the various monstrous guardians who all now lay dead courtesy of the combined firepower of Shepard's squad. Knowing they wouldn't stay that way for long, Shepard and his group cautiously advanced through the open entrance to the Sixth Circle of the Inferno, the halls of which glowed a fiery orange.

"We now enter the tombs of Heresy." Orpheus observed grimly. "Those who claimed to adhere to a faith but had ideas that conflicted with the mainstream. Here they burn for their radical ideas."

"That's so unfair!" Tali protested. "My people have always believed in different interpretations of our faith. To punish people who disagree with you in such a way...it's awful."

"I am afraid that it only becomes worse from here." Orpheus' shade said sadly. Indeed, as the squad stepped into the long hallway that resembled the inside of a medieval dungeon they could see throngs of people crying out in pain as their corpse-like bodies were wreathed in fire that brought them pain but did not incinerate them, ensuring that their suffering would never end. And incredibly even with so much hellfire the tombs were still only partially lit, with the upper half of the area still cloaked in shadow.

As they walked through the hallways, Shepard made sure to absolve many of the souls, though a part of him wished he could absolve them all. Those he freed from their torment included Farinata degli Uberti and Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti, a pair of Epicureans who believed that the soul died with the body, an Asari Matriarch who challenged longstanding practices and ideas of the mainstream faith, and Salarian scientists who sought religion without swearing loyalty to any specific one, instead claiming that all had some measure of validity.

While this was happening, Miranda could hear Lucifer's voice whisper into her ear: "Closer and closer you and your friends come to my domain in the lowest circle. And closer and closer you and your friends come to ruin followed by eternal damnation. Have you reconsidered my offer?"

"Never." Miranda spat.

Lucifer chuckled, but his laugh and voice could be heard only by Miranda now. "Such passion and defiance. Oh, how I will so enjoy bending you to my will. Perhaps I will impregnate you with my brood and from this create a new lineage to carry on my...work."

"Never." Miranda repeated, now desperate to force the disgusting image of Lucifer turning her into his slut out of her head.

"Much like your Commander and lover you presume you have a choice. I decide how things go here. And I have decided that you will all be mine. You know there is only one way to avoid such an outcome."

Miranda snarled but said nothing further. Mercifully Lucifer's voice seemed to fade away but she suspected that was only because he had lost interest in threatening her at that particular moment. Quickening her pace, Miranda stood next to Shepard just as he finished absolving another condemned heretic, this one a Prothean of all people.

"It's sad that all of my encounters with Protheans have been with some broken remnant of them." Shepard observed as the absolved Prothean's soul disappeared in a flash of blue light.

Miranda wasn't sure it was a good idea to ask Shepard what she wanted to ask, but ultimately felt that she needed to know, as Lucifer's taunting brought back the painful memories of Shepard's words in the previous circle.

"Shepard, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Miranda what is it?"

"Back in Wrath, when you yelled at me and Jack, did you…?"

"...mean what I said back there?" Shepard sighed deeply. "I'll admit I don't enjoy always having to play peacemaker between everyone. There are times when I really wish everyone could just learn to get along without me. But I suppose that's asking for too much. Miranda, I love you and even if I hate it when you and Jack bicker, or when any of the others fight for that matter, that doesn't mean I hate you as people. I still care about you and want you in my life. And that will never change."

Miranda looked away from Shepard as he said this and he in turn put one of his hands on her shoulder. "I'm sorry if I hurt you. I was just so angry I wasn't myself back there. None of us were. If I'd been in control I'd have never said that."

"I can appreciate that, Shepard." Miranda said before adding: "I was hardly acting like a saint there myself. Not that I was ever one of those."

Shepard smiled. "No one's perfect, no matter what genes you were given. But if you ask me that's for the best. Like I told you on Illium, you're human just like the rest of us. And that's what makes you great."

Miranda smiled warmly in response to Shepard's kindness. "That's...that's sweet of you to say, Virgil. Thank you."

"Besides..." Shepard said with a smile. "...you're not eligible for sainthood until after you're dead."

Unfortunately though, as Miranda said this she could again hear Lucifer's insufferable chuckle ringing in her ears. "How touching. But you will not need his love or approval when this is over. You will have my presence to grace you with instead."

Piss off. Miranda thought, her face turning into a vicious scowl as he did. Seeing this, Shepard asked her if something was wrong.

Miranda breathed deeply and answered: "Yes. Lucifer. He's been in my head. Taunting me, telling me that we're destined to fail here. But more than that he's...he's offered a deal with me."

"What deal?"

"That he'll let you and the others go if I..." Miranda pursed her lips and took on a look as if she was being ordered to swallow poison before at last spitting out with contempt: "...kill you. I told him I'd never do it."

"Good to know." Shepard said. "I just hope the others will make the same choice you did."

"You don't really think any of us would ever consider...?"

"I don't think so." Shepard admitted. "But bringing out the worst in people and tempting folks into sin is what The Devil does, right? I would not want to test it if I could avoid it."

As the squad continued to move, they caught sight up ahead of several figures dressed in tattered burgundy robes with a gold trim. They were all of a gaunt frame and with bony hands that tightly grasped long, black staves topped with either a ram's skull or a pentagram, with a few others still having symbols that were less easy to identify. Lastly they all had hoods pulled up over their heads, with many also over their faces a mask or another ram's skull.

"Who are they?" Shepard asked.

"Men and women who sought to be rewarded in Hell rather than punished." Orpheus explained. "More specifically practitioners of dark and forbidden magics long since lost to history. And just as well at that."

"So more enemies to crush?" Grunt scoffed. "Those rags they wear won't give them any kind of protection" The Krogan hefted his Assault Rifle and took aim. "Can I kill them, Shepard?"

Seeing Shepard's squad approaching them and in particular Grunt aiming his rifle at them, the robed men and women each stretched out a hand and from it erected a massive barrier of energy in front of them that seemed to burn like the fires the heretics were consumed in but also paradoxically looking clear and without color, like a fire that was trapped inside a glass window.

"I don't want to waste any ammo trying to bring that down." Shepard said. "I'm open to other ideas."

"Could try overloading it through other means." Mordin suggested. "Of course, field magic, so scientific strategies useless. But then, magic is merely unexplained science, incredible events in need of proper reasoning. But what reasoning for this? Hmm, curious, most curious…"

"We need ideas, Mordin not tangents." Tali said in an exasperated tone.

"Magic likely just previously unknown form of energy." Mordin pointed out. "Could find way to manipulate ener-"

Mordin was cut off when one of the robed men unleashed a fireball from his skeletal hand at the Salarian Scientist's head and Thane dived forward to push him out of the way, causing the fireball to sail over their heads and off into the distance. This attack was soon followed by several more fireballs as well as bolts of lightning, several of which connected before Shepard and his squad could move out of the way in time, the crippling bolts short-circuiting their shields and prompting them all to seek cover behind the pillars lining the burning tombs. The lightning bolts collided with the black rock and sent chunks of it flying in all directions.

As the squad continued to stay behind this cover, Shepard's mind raced with different ideas for how they could get past their enemy's defense. They could try shooting at it until it fell but that could end up being a great big waste of precious ammunition, and Shepard knew the lowest parts of hell would no doubt be the worst as far as fighting went. But then what were the alternatives?

Then Shepard remembered what the archangel had told him: how his enhanced omni-tool could not just absolve souls but also smite hell's legions. Could he use it to get past the force-field? It seemed like a possibility, but what if it didn't work? Shepard would have thrown himself right up against his enemies, and be left a sitting duck.

In the end though, Shepard decided he had to take the risk. He turned to his squad: "All of you unload everything you have on that shield and cover me. I'm going in."

"Are you insane!?" Miranda protested.

"The archangel said my enhanced omni-tool can smite hell's legions. I'm about to test that theory."

"I hope you know what you're doing, Shepard." Garrus said, shaking his head.

And so with a silent prayer in the depths of Hell, Shepard leaped out from behind cover and went straight for the force-field. Using his omni-tool arm as he would if he was employing the Omni-Blade, Shepard was pleased to see a glowing blue sword blade come to life in lieu of the standard omni-blade. With a roar Shepard slashed at the shield and allowed himself a slight smirk of satisfaction as it cleaved right through it like it was nothing. As it happened the conjurers reeled back in shock, clearly just as surprised as Shepard was. Wasting no time, Shepard seized on their moment of distraction to carve into them with his angelic blade, with each of his victims howling in pain and bursting into flames as they were struck. Shepard's allies pitched in with gunfire from behind cover to ensure that any Shepard missed were still cut down. As the last one crumbled to dust after being shot by Thane, Shepard decided to nevertheless keep his angelic blade out just in case anymore surprises showed up. In fact they did as the group continued to make their way through the burning tombs. Going past a large door made of darkened wood with a ram's skull hanging over the head, the squad came upon a library that was filled with rows upon rows of dust-covered books. The mostly dark room was partly illuminated by burning bodies nailed to the walls screaming out in pain.

"What is this place…?" Shepard asked Orpheus' shade.

"In truth this is one part of the Inferno that I do not have much knowledge of. If I to hazard a guess, as we are still in Heresy this place here is where ideas that would be considered heretical are kept. Epicurean ideas, atheist beliefs, theories and hypotheses that dared to challenge the mainstream interpretation of the faith...I suspect all such works are kept here to be damned and forgotten along with their authors."

"Why would The Devil care about that sort of thing anyway?" Zaeed asked. "I mean, I don't think he's exactly big on God either."

"He doesn't care." Orpheus replied simply. "He's simply looking for an excuse to punish as many souls as he can. And this is one such excuse he has used to justify what you see here." Orpheus pointed to the burning souls who continued to suffer.

"I'm going to absolve them" Shepard decided. But as he walked up to the shades nailed to the upper walls horrendous shrieking could be heard before several more of the same robed figures as before materialized. And this time they were not alone.

Flying in through openings in the ceiling were massive, bronze-skinned monsters dressed in crimson and gold and with large brown leather wings sprouting of their backs and long twisting horns coming out of their hands. They held in each of their hands a wicked looking axe with a blade around the size of Shepard's head and also a flaming sword with a hilt styled to resemble bone.

"The Archfiends." Orpheus said in a grave tone. "They were among the original fallen who followed Lucifer in his failed rebellion. Now they join him here in the Inferno where they continue to serve him as his greatest minions. Use caution."

No sooner had Orpheus finished his sentence were the Arch-Fiends upon Shepard and his allies, attacking them head-on while the robed figures stood back and unleashed blast after blast of merciless lightning. Fortunately, they did not conjure up another protective field, and as such it was a simple matter for Shepard and his allies to blow them away.

The Arch-Fiends were a different story. One effortlessly hit Garrus so hard he went flying several feet into the air before crash-landing and gasping in pain. He tried to force himself back up to no avail and seeing his vulnerability several of the robed men converged on him.

"Get away from him!" Tali shouted, rushing in to blast the robed figures away with her shotgun and using her drones to assist her. Meanwhile, another Arch-Fiend tried to skewer Grunt on his flaming sword, but this time the Krogan was ready for the weapon and side-stepped out of it's way with ease. A few blasts of his recently acquired shotgun later and he forced the Arch-Fiend to backpedal. Roaring in fury, the Arch-Fiend tackled Grunt and incredibly managed to force the Krogan to the ground in short order, soon pinning him and holding his head still as he raised his axe over his head in the other hand.

Legion shot the Arch-Fiend in the face with his sniper rifle, which took out one of it's burning eyes and caused it to roar in fury. Changing it's attentions to Legion it soared towards him and swatted Legion's sniper rifle out of it's hands. Another strike of the axe later and one of Legion's arms was nearly taken clean off.

"LEGION!" Tali shouted, briefly turning her attention away from Garrus. This proved to be a near-fatal error as one of the robed men took advantage of her distraction to hit her in the back with a powerful blast of electricity. Tali cried out in pain and fell to her knees as the electricity coursed through her suit and threatened to damage it beyond any hope of recovery. Now Tali, Garrus, and Legion were all down.

Upon seeing Legion nearly lose his arm, Shepard wasted no time attacking the Arch-Fiend with everything he had, and managed to get it's attention. By this point the thing was shedding blood the color of oil all over it's muscular torso and it's armor was badly damaged. Knowing it wouldn't take much to finish it off, Shepard silently goaded the Arch-Fiend to come at him, and it did. Timing it just right, Shepard waited for it to get close enough that he was able to pop out his Angelic Blade in time to run the Arch-Fiend through.

The blade went through it's armored torso like a hot knife through butter. The Arch-Fiend gasped and coughed up black blood before slumping over dead. Pulling out his Angelic Blade, Shepard narrowly ducked under the swing of another Arch-Fiend's flaming sword, but not the follow-up, which dispelled his energy shields the second it brushed up against his armor. It also knocked him back a fair distance.

With a roar of homicidal fury Jack unleashed the most powerful biotic wave she could muster to finish off the last of the robed men and also force the remaining Arch-Fiends back.

As it stood three of them remained, and they proved to be no less easy to kill than their fellow had been. Again Grunt found to his horror that one was able to easily knock him about with just the sheer force of it's blows, and it was all he could do to keep from being cut to ribbons. Miranda, Thane, Mordin, Kasumi, and Jack all working in concert could only keep another back with their combined gunfire and biotic power while meanwhile Shepard and Zaeed were left to defend their injured comrades from the last of the Arch-Fiends.

Zaeed unleashed a fierce torrent of assault rifle fire, all the while screaming defiantly as the Arch-Fiend stood it's ground against the hailstorm and began to slowly but surely advance on Zaeed and Shepard's position. Deciding that a better strategy was required, Shepard told Zaeed to keep the Arch-Fiend busy while he circled around it, all the while peppering it with fire from his recently acquired Assault Rifle that he'd nicknamed "The Dragonfire Assault Rifle". Fortunately the withering hail of flaming bullets clearly got the Arch-Fiend's attention, and the combined fire of two assault rifles hitting it at once soon began to take it's toll, with oil-colored blood seeping out of the Arch-Fiend's body same as the last one.

Deciding to take his chances, Shepard rushed forward and ducked underneath the Arch-Fiend's expected attack with his flaming sword. Jumping up as he finished sliding under the flaming sword, Shepard again activated his Angelic blade and ran this Arch-Fiend through much as he had the first one. And as was the case before he succeeded in killing it.

Grabbing the Arch-Fiend's axe as it fell, Shepard aimed it at the one that was bearing down on Grunt and hurled it. The axe went briefly sailing through the air before embedding itself in the side of the Arch-Fiend's head. The Arch-Fiend howled in pain and it's burning eyes widened in shock before it too slumped over. Grunt turned to Shepard as his opponent died and frowned at how Shepard had killed the Arch-Fiend in his place.

"Don't give me that look Grunt, you owe me." Shepard then pointed to the rest of the squad, who currently had their hands full with the last Arch-Fiend. "Help them."

Grunt grumbled but nevertheless nodded and rushed over to where the others were and began blasting away at the Arch-Fiend with his weapon right alongside the others. Between all of them they finally succeeded in killing the Arch-Fiend, who collapsed after being shot a truly gratuitous number of times.

"Let's hope there are no more where these things came from." Miranda noted, also daring to let out a gasp for breath as exhaustion at last began to set in. Walking over to where the others were, Mordin got to work assessing the injuries of Tali, Garrus, and Legion. Mordin quickly concluded that Garrus was fine and that it was Legion and Tali who's conditions were much more serious.

"Not good." Mordin said bluntly but also with a clear urgency. "Tali's suit compromised. Needs to be fixed immediately or potentially lethal contraction of diseases iminent."

"Can you fix it?" Shepard asked.

"Checking...good, good. Anti-biotics still present, most of them undamaged. Unfortunately rest of suit's functions appear to be short-circuited. No, cannot fix. Damage too extensive, not enough resources, not enough knowledge. Hopeless. Hopeless attempt…"

"It would seem one of your friends is at death's door, Commander Shepard." came a most unwelcome voice. Sure enough there was Lucifer floating in the center of the library with a smug look on his face. "And here in the sixth circle of the Inferno, no less. Tsk, tsk. That won't be good for her, I can assure you of that."

"You son of a bitch." Garrus growled, aiming his rifle at Lucifer, even though he knew full well it wouldn't do a thing. But at that moment his growing anger overrode his usual tendency towards good strategy. Miranda too was on the verge of momentarily abandoning her own preference for letting rational behavior guide her every action.

"Oh, but I do, Turian. And in fact I dare also to cut another deal: kill your Commander, and I will restore your friend's health."

"We're not making another botched deal with you." Shepard said defiantly.

"Is that so? Well then I hope you can rest easy with the knowledge that your friend is about pay the price for your selfishness, Commander."

"Not so, Prince of Darkness." Orpheus' shade spoke up. "You are not the only one here with the power to heal. And I dare say I can give her better, truer healing than you ever could."

Lucifer burst out laughing. "You? An absolved shade? Please. You wouldn't have it in you."

Orpheus said nothing in response to that, instead going to Tali's injured body and placing his hands above her. As he did they glowed even more brightly than before until soon they were like a pair of small stars that bathed Tali's inert body in a bright light. This lasted for but a few moments before Tali jolted up with a gasp. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but then noticed that Orpheus' previous brightness was fading as he became dimmer and dimmer…

"I'm afraid you will have to make the rest of your journey through the Inferno alone, Commander Shepard." Orpheus' shade said weakly. "That took everything I had. It is time for me to return to Elysium."

"But what about the last three circles?" Shepard questioned. "How will we be able to know what we're up against?"

"I believe your mechanical friend can probably give you what little knowledge you will need to make it through. But I do not think you really need anything more than what you already possess, Shepard. You and your friends are true heroes if ever I saw them. You can brave what the last third of Hell has to offer. I know you can..."

And then, with one last gasp, Orpheus' shade rose up into the air and then in one last flash of bluish-white light vanished completely, his soul gone for the Elysium Fields.

"How very touching." Lucifer remarked coldly. "But it matters little. He may have given your friend a second chance, but I can assure you it will all be for nought. The last three circles of Hell are where they are for a reason. And if you could barely make it through this, what hope have you going forward?"

And with one last cackle, Lucifer vanished.