Hello everyone, here's chap.9, Heresy, edited. By edited I mean I just added an extended part to it that came to me today. I'll enforce this more just to be clear: I'm not condoning people's religious beliefs, I'm just typing the story while leaving the circles how they were with little change on my part. Dante believed atheism to be heretical, so that's how I'm showing it here. Sorry if you're an atheist, but don't blame me, blame Dante, he's the one who wrote the poem that way.
Chapter 9: Tomb of False Beliefs
As Lelouch and Diethard walked on the stony path, Lelouch stared around the sixth circle, Heresy, and saw nothing but flaming coffins and heard nothing but screaming coming from them.
"Here you will find the heretics and followers of every cult and pagan sect, all buried together, burning in eternal fire." Diethard said. "They ignored the proper teachings and preformed unholy sacrifices to the "Fallen One", illusionary gods, and false idols. The difference between the souls burning here and the souls from Limbo is that while the souls from Limbo were indeed heretics, they were still virtuous. As I said before, the souls condemned to Heresy have committed atrocious actions in the name of their unholy gods and idols. Now they are all stacked on top of each other, forced to burn in those coffins until the horns of Judgment Day sound."
"That was a pretty long speech Diethard, and here I thought you were just a man who'd silently stand in the background recording with your video camera." Lelouch sneered, not even looking at Diethard, who was slightly offended.
"Yes, but I didn't condemn souls here at least." Diethard said, attempting to get back at Lelouch.
"What?" Lelouch asked, curious on what he did to send someone to Heresy.
"When you were Zero, people began to revere to as a god, there were actually some cults out there that worshipped you as one. One was called…umm… ah, yes, it was called the Church of the Ultimate Zero, they were your biggest cult, but I never told you about them as I didn't think it would be important or if it would even matter. The thing is though, most of those cult followers died still thinking of you as their god or their messiah." Diethard said, hoping that it would deal a blow to Lelouch. He didn't want to crush the boy's spirit, but he wanted Lelouch not to get too arrogant just because he can kill and destroy nearly everything in Hell.
"I don't see how that would bother me Diethard, so too bad for your revenge plan." Lelouch stated bluntly. "They chose to revere me without my consent and here they are, suffering for it."
"Damn, I nearly forgot how cold you can be with all that emotions you've been showing in Greed and Anger."
"Mao was in Greed, so I couldn't help, but get ticked off. For Anger, you said so yourself that circles can affect ones emotions and since I had a lot of anger in me, an anger you know the source of, and the circle of Anger easily drew it out of me and caused me to explode and massacre those angry souls."
"Wow, I never thought you could really shut down your emotions like how you're doing right now." Diethard stated.
"When you become the leader of a military organization that can become a force to be reckoned with and become the emperor of a global superpower, you tend to be more serious than you are emotional."
"I kind of expected that, but you really do have the face of a leader when you're serious."
"Yeah, actually, even when I was a child, when I wasn't being bugged by my sisters, brothers, or parents, I was also quite serious most of the time. Of course I got emotional easier back then, I was a child, but overall, I was cold and calculating even back then."
"I don't want to break it to you, but I think you got that from your father."
"Yes, I think you're right, as much as I dislike the fact, but we've got company." Lelouch said stopping.
"I was hoping we could get through at least one circle without something trying to kill us." Diethard sighed.
A tall grey skinned, humanoid creature appeared in front of them. It seemed female and for pink clothing in ways you'd see a shrine priestess wear them. The creature had a staff that had a crystal ball on top and wielded in its right hand.
"That's a Heretic, Lelouch. The demons of Heresy granted souls here power that they tried to achieve by doing the very actions that sent them down here. Now they guard Heresy with their heretic powers." Diethard said.
"Pretty ironic." Lelouch said while pulling out his scythe.
"Just for a heads up, but Heretics are also immune to holy powers, which mean your holy cross is useless against them.
"Never really use it against a single enemy anyway." Lelouch said as another Heretic appeared next to the first one. "It seems that I spoke too soon." Lelouch said, not amused at his inability to use the cross against multiple enemies.
One of the Heretics fired a bolt of purple lightning at Lelouch, to which he evaded, but got hit by an attack coming from the other Heretic, knocking Lelouch back.
"Will it help if I said that they're bad in close combat?" Diethard said, smirking at how Lelouch got sent back flying.
"Please don't smirk. C.C. smirks at nearly everything I say and I don't need a second C.C. So could you please go back to your serious manner that you had one circle ago?" Lelouch complained while getting up.
"Sorry, thought that you missed C.C. so much it would help if I acted like her." Diethard said, still smirking.
Lelouch groaned at Diethard's comment, but got serious once he stared at the Heretics. Lelouch rushed forward as the Heretics launched some spells at him, but because Lelouch was now paying attention to both of them, he easily dodged their magical attacks. When Lelouch got in close, the Heretics stopped casting and tried to hit Lelouch with their staffs, but their attempts were so pathetic that Lelouch took one small step to the side and they hit each other. 'Seems like they aren't just bad at close combat, but are just downright terrible.' Lelouch thought as he quickly cut both of the Heretics in half while they were still dazed from each other's attack.
"Good job, now then, let's keep going." Diethard said before Lelouch nodded to his statement as they went lower into Heresy.
After a while of walking, Lelouch saw that the coffins were a bit more organized than the other parts of Heresy. "What part of Heresy is this?"
"In this part of Hell, Epicures with all his followers, who make the soul die with the body, have their burial place." Diethard stated.
"Help me, oh please help me." A voice called out.
Lelouch found the source and saw a soul halfway out of a broken coffin (Lelouch considers it broken because it's not on fire). "Who's he?" Lelouch asks Diethard.
"Cavalcante de Cavalcanti, a Florentine aristocrat, philosopher, and merchant who was condemned to Hell because off his atheist beliefs and defending his son's atheist beliefs."
Lelouch remembered how cruel and ruthless his father was to him and in a flash; he shined his cross on Cavalcante.
"Thank you…" Cavalcante said before going off to Heaven.
"Let's get going." Lelouch said, but another creature appeared before them. This one looked similar to the Heretics, but this one was clearly male and wore red clothes like that of a priest. In its right hand was a staff adorned with a goat's skull.
"These are the Pagans. They're basically the male variant of the Heretics. While they aren't immune to holy power, they certainly are better at close range than the Heretics are." Diethard said, stepping back to give Lelouch some fighting room as two more Pagans appear next to the first one.
"I guess it's time for a good, old Inquisition." Lelouch said, grinning as he held his cross in his left hand and his scythe in the other.
The Pagans launched dark fireballs at Lelouch, but Lelouch just rushed forward, either dodging the fireballs or neutralizing them with a cross bolt. When Lelouch got close in, he was able to destroy one of the Pagans by firing a cross attack at it point-blank in the chest, vaporizing it in a flash of holy light. The other two did a pincer attack using their staffs, which were encased with black flames, as their weapon. Lelouch started charging his cross, but when he fired, he fired at the ground, blinding both of the Pagans completely. Taking this opportunity to end the battle quickly, as the cross attack was just meant for Lelouch to be able to get out of the pincer attack, Lelouch cut one of the Pagans in half and before the other Pagan recovered, Lelouch threw his cross at the last Pagan, stabbing it in the head and killing it.
Lelouch picked up his cross and sheathed it and his scythe before turning to Diethard. "I think it's time we got out of here. I've had enough involvement with the occult to last a lifetime."
"Agreed." Diethard said as they continued walking. "However, there's one more stop that has to be made before we can go there."
"What? Another part of Heresy dedicated to a group of pagans?" Lelouch asked, growing a bit impatient.
"Yes, your pagans." Diethard said as he led a now shocked Lelouch to a massive hall with thousands of coffins on both sides, each one branded with the Black Knights' symbol. However, at the end of the hall stood a stone statue of the Black Knights' symbol, but where the middle sword should be stood a statue of Zero who was surrounded by flames. "I told you people worshipped you as a god."
"Yes, but I never thought this many!" Lelouch shouted as his voice echoed across the hall. A crack was then heard, surprising Lelouch and Diethard. Another crack was heard and this time they identify the source as the Zero statue, whose right arm seemed to have moved a bit.
"This isn't good." Diethard said quietly with more cracking as the Zero statue moved its left arm continuing after.
"No doubt about that." Lelouch said as he pulled out his scythe. In a sudden burst, the Zero statue exploded, with pieces of rock flying everywhere. In place of the statue stood an exact replica of Zero, but there was a thin line on the Zero mask where the mouth would be. The Zero copy then jumped down from the Black Knights' logo and faced Lelouch and Diethard.
"Get back Diethard." Lelouch said to which Diethard obeyed as the line on Zero's mask opened up showing a set of sharp teeth as it roared at Lelouch from speeding at him with his hands that have now become claws. Lelouch blocked his strikes with his scythe and proceeded to attack, but Zero was very quick for someone who was just a statue a minute ago.
Lelouch struck at Zero who caught the scythe with both of his hands, smirking at this feat, but frowned when he saw Lelouch with his cross out and pointing at him. Lelouch fired, knocking Zero back who then tried to run away by turning his cape into bat wings to fly off.
"Sorry, but there can only be two Zeros. One of them is me and the other is Suzaku." Lelouch said as he launched his scythe at the fleeing Zero, hooking onto him and then slamming him into the ground. Zero tried to get up to fly again, but got hit by a flurry of cross bolts, staggering him. Lelouch then grabbed Zero by his helmet and decapitated him. Lelouch watched as the body fell to the ground with smoke coming out of the neck. Lelouch let go of the mask and watched as it turned to dust the moment it hit the floor along with the body.
"Ready to go?" Diethard asked to which Lelouch just nodded and led him to the exit. "Good luck."
"What do you mean good luck? You mean in leaving Heresy? The exit's over there, isn't it?" Lelouch asked, confused at Diethard's words.
"Yes, but Heresy was designed to make sure that even if a soul escapes their coffin, they can't escape Heresy so they won't be able to spread their corrupt teachings. While you aren't a heretic, you are still trying to leave Heresy." Diethard said before vanishing.
"As long as there won't be any more fighting, I think I can manage." Lelouch said as he walked down the path out of Heresy. "I don't see the problem here, everything looks-"Lelouch couldn't finish because the moment Lelouch entered a cavern, the whole place began to shake as stalactites began to fall from the ceiling. "Crap!" Lelouch shouted as he started running, put another stalactite hit the cavern floor in front of Lelouch, breaking it and showing a fiery inferno below. Lelouch jumped the gap, but barely got to the other side as part of the other side began to fall apart. 'When Diethard said that Heresy was designed to stop people from leaving, I didn't think that would mean it would be a giant death trap as a result!' Lelouch thought as he sprinted towards the exit like there's no tomorrow, because if he didn't make it, there really wouldn't be a tomorrow for him.
The path began to get a lot narrower as Lelouch proceeded, but he didn't care because the cavern began to collapse and he didn't feel like getting caught up in it. When Lelouch saw the exit, he jumped forward, narrowly avoiding the cave-in. 'Ugh, makes me think of that day Arthur got my Zero mask stuck on his head and I had to run around the whole school as a result.' Lelouch thought as he got up and stared at a giant, red river.
"Welcome Lelouch." Diethard said, walking up to Lelouch. "Welcome to the seventh circle, Violence."
In the case you didn't know, Arthur is a cat. In the next circle, Lelouch meets three people from the Black Knights and has a boss fight against someone in the third ring of Violence: violence against God. I think some of you can figure out who said person is, but this is as far as I'm going to say. That's all for know and don't forget to vote in my poll. I'm going to close it right before I post the final chapter so I can figure out if people want a sequel or not.