This heretic cannot be burned, he must be hung up and whipped!

"O Merciful and Sovereign Lord, what is Your instruction?"

"Calling the Crusade."

God's voice was no longer the ethereal one of the past, but now it had the hissing sound of a venomous snake: "Kill the cursed one and the lamb that rebelled against me at all costs—no, bring them back to Rome and sacrifice them to me! I want them alive, and I will suck out their souls myself!"

Benedict trembled.

Below the altar, thousands of believers were prostrating themselves in prayer.

"Lord, the Dominican swordsman is just a lost lamb..." He tried to struggle, but suddenly covered his throat - his vocal cords were strangled by an invisible force, blood dripped from his fingers, and scarlet flowers bloomed on the white robe.

"You question me?" God's laughter rang out like the grinding of rusty gears. Amidst the illusion of rising smoke, the angels in the dome murals suddenly began to wriggle, their plaster wings peeling off, revealing a dense mass of eyeballs beneath.

"Look at your lambs." Following the whisper, the believers all raised their heads. Their eye sockets were as hollow as wells, but the corners of their mouths were stretched to their ears, and they chanted in unison:

"The Lord is supreme—"

Benedict hung his head sadly.

"As you wish..."

He uttered these words mechanically, and the cross on the palm of his hand pierced into his flesh, signing the devil's contract.

PS1: 6.5k! Burning out! Please vote...

PS2：当前法案：前期动员 220票票下一更4.5k！1刀片/月票/100打赏等于20票票嗷！

PS3: Psychonauts in Arknights

Introduction: Good news: I traveled through time and became a psychic

Bad news: It's Terra, she's going to burn (sad)

Good news: It's not Holy Terra

Bad news: This beast-eared girl Terra is no less impressive.

Rising Flames: 1914: Chapter 18: A Saint's Long Pilgrimage (6k)

Luce was born in an apartment in Turin.

Her father was a church bell ringer, waking the sleepy neighborhood with his rusty brass bell every morning; her mother sewed vestments in the church textile factory, her knuckles rough and deformed from years of hard work. The only luxury in the house was the gold-stamped Bible on the bookshelf, the pastor's blessing written in faded ink on the title page.

“The Lord will guide you on the path of suffering.”

Although life did not show any signs of getting better because of the couple's devotion to God, her parents still placed their hopes for the future on the fruit of their love and gave the baby girl a holy name:

Luce.

In Italian, it means light.

She and her family believed that one day they would be able to complete this difficult journey, and perhaps when that day came, they would be taken to the Garden of Eden by angels sent by God.

After several years of religious school life and accompanying military training, Luce graduated from Turin's school as a distinguished "devout Christian." As if God had bestowed upon this child of God, whose name embodied hope and light, she possessed a remarkable affinity, often defusing conflicts within the community, both large and small, through her mediation.

Everyone who knew Luce, whether her teachers, classmates, businesspeople or believers, believed that she would become an honorary saint - the highest reward for believers who practiced the teachings of the Bible throughout their lives.

"What kind of person do you want to be, Luce?" "...kind."

Luce knelt in the light cast by the church's stained windows, thinking about the priest's question. The priest stroked her head and said:

"Luce, suffering is the ladder to heaven. I hope you will always be kind and compassionate. Under the guidance of the Holy Lord, you will shoulder this burden for all living beings. When you reach the end of this thorny journey, you will find that the Kingdom of God has opened its doors to you."

The sunlight shone through the morning mist onto the priest's holy and pious face. At this moment, Luce made a decision that affected her life.

She decided to become a pilgrim.

"If piety could eliminate the injustice and suffering in the world, I would measure every inch of the dust of the Holy City with my own feet."

"Then let's go to Rome. Our holy city, Jerusalem, has been occupied by demons for over eight hundred years. Now our new holy land, the new holy land favored by the Supreme God, is Rome."

So she went on a pilgrimage to Rome.

Before the morning mist on the outskirts of Turin had cleared, Luce had already tied her boots with hemp rope for the third time. The cross her mother had secretly slipped her the night before was burning hot in her inner pocket. Her theology teacher at school had given her a copper-headed leather belt. The chain mail and other armor she wore were collected by kind people in the community, carrying their blessings for Luce.

Before she left Turin, the bishop of the city church strung together the crosses he wore day and night and placed them around her neck, the brass gleaming faintly in the sunlight from years of prayer.

"The Lord will see you through to Rome."

The community veteran hung his shield from the battle on the front line on her shoulder. Luce clearly remembered the veteran's last blessing mixed with coughs before the night shift at the iron foundry. She remembered the faded new Antioch shield on the veteran's shoulder.

This was the glory his ancestors had won in the Fourth Crusade, but at this moment it was like a red-hot iron plate pressing down on Elizabeth's collarbone.

During her pilgrimage, she met many like-minded pilgrims.

On the third day, it suddenly rained halfway through the journey, forcing the pilgrims into a nearby church.

Luce wrung his wet headscarf, and the bonfire reflected the old farmer Giuseppe who was curled up in the corner.

"My name is Giuseppe, and I've been growing beets for thirty years."

The old man poked the fire with a dry branch, and sparks danced in his cloudy blue eyes:

"My son simply asked the tax collector why the 'Eleven Tax Instructions' had been reduced to 45%, and the conscription officer accompanying the tax collector sentenced him to 'blasphemy', put him in iron shackles and sent him to a penal camp." His trembling index finger drew a twisted cross in the ashes.

"After the tax collectors and conscription officers left, the inquisitors came and said I had to serve my sentence for my son's crime. So that day they took away my last mule, saying they were going to donate it to the artillery of the Legion of St. Mark."

"These past few years, the plague has not only killed people, but it's also strangled my very life. Many farmlands have been completely destroyed. Now, I have nothing but my devout faith in God! Since you plan to go to the Holy City, I'd like to go with you. By the way, I also want to ask God, how much more suffering do I have to endure before I can go to heaven?"

Luce didn't understand. She wanted to ask something, but in the end, all her words turned into a sigh.

"This damn world." "Yes, this world is really too bitter."

At dawn, the rain stopped and a young mother with a baby on her back joined the team. Her name was Marta.

A few strands of dry yellow hair appeared under Marta's faded headscarf. She repeated mechanically: "Merciful God will forgive my husband. He just wanted to find some goat's milk for the child..." A glaring red cross was sewn on the baby's swaddling clothes - the mark of those infected with the plague.

Luce noticed that the officers escorting them always kept five steps away from the mother and child, and the bronze holy water bottles jingled at their waists.

"Stay away from the criminal, Pilgrim!" "The child is innocent!"

When Luce tried to hand two rye breads to Marta and the child, the officer escorting her swung his whip and shouted at her: "This child will also bear the sins of his mother and father! If you stop us, you will be going against God!"

Seeing the mother and son suffering from hunger and cold, Luce thought for a while and said:

"This is not what the Lord taught in the Gospel of Mark: People brought little children to Jesus, asking him to touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he became angry and said to his disciples, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.'

Then he took the children in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.”

The escort officer's face flushed crimson as he stammered in defense, "The Lord... The Lord will not hear the voice of a sinner, let alone one who is serving a sinner's sentence."

"Nonsense!" Luce said seriously.

"In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus reminds his disciples not to despise children because their angels have a direct connection to God.

'Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.'"

As she cited scriptures to defend women and children, the first ray of sunshine after the rain shone on her armor, and the bronze cross hanging on her chest gleamed, like a saint descending to the earth.

　"Okay...Okay."

The escorting officer bowed his head to her, retracted the whip, and removed the heavy shackles from the mother and child. The people around also praised this kind act. Those who had clothes gave clothes to the child, those who had medicine gave it, and even the escorting officer tremblingly handed over a small bottle of precious sulfa to treat the child.

After everyone had finished their offerings, the mother and child's faces began to turn red, and it seemed that they could survive. The old man among the pilgrims asked:

"Since they are innocent, shouldn't they be released?"

The official shook his head in embarrassment. Even though the crowd was staring at him angrily, he held on to the mother and child's clothes tightly to prevent them from leaving.

"Then let me bear their sins!"

Luce knew that this official probably had his own difficulties. She believed that everyone was kind and no one was born cruel. This official must have his own difficulties for doing such a thing.

She stepped forward, handed the one-handed sword she used for self-defense to the official, and planned to take the flail.

"...No! You don't need to wear this! Our escort team is going to Rome, and you have your own things to do!" The official didn't dare to take it and shook his head to refuse.

"We are going to Rome on a pilgrimage. I have a letter of introduction from the Bishop of Turin. When we get to Rome, I will intercede for you so that you will not be punished."

"Thank you for your mercy and kindness! God will know your righteous act!" The official knelt on one knee in gratitude and kissed the back of her hand.

Luce insisted on wearing the flail, but was finally persuaded by the officials and the crowd to give up. The other team of Erlinger III going to Rome for pilgrimage now had an additional official and some prisoners.

On the fifth day of crossing the Apennines, a blizzard ripped off Luce's raincoat.

At a certain mountain pass, Luce dug out the dying soldier Lorenzo from the snow. The man with three medals of courage on his chest was now curled up like a wounded beast:

"A steel monster that spews flames has appeared on the front lines..." His broken nails were covered in mud and blood. "The supervisory team's bullets pierced the deserters' backs faster than the demon's minions."

Luce noticed that he had no gun calluses on his hands at all.

"Food was very scarce on the front lines, and only those in the main battlefields had good rations. In areas like the one I served in, we might not see a single heretic for several months. We could only serve in the trenches—no, serve our sentences.

We were so hungry that we went to the battlefield to dig up corpses and eat rats. I was lucky enough to be assigned to farming, so we dug a field behind the trenches.

But we couldn't leave the trenches. Anyone who tried to escape would be shot by the supervisory team in the rear. No one knew what the situation was like in the rear. We only knew that new soldiers would arrive every season to serve here, and every month one or two boxes of supplies would be airdropped into the trenches by hot air balloon. We used whatever was available.

When Luce asked what was in the supplies, the soldier angrily accused:

"Guns? There are none. Occasionally there are gunpowder and bombs, and sometimes there are some cloth and books, but books... you know, miss, they are all theological things, which can't be used to make a living."

"Shut up! You heretic! It's your lack of piety that's causing you to suffer like this!"

A recruiting officer stood up. "You deserter! I've never heard of anything so absurd! How could someone spend over a decade in the trenches without permission? I don't want the recruits I sent to the front lines to be wasted by those lunatics from the Inquisition. If what you say is true, then come with me to Rome! I'm reporting this to my superiors!"

So the soldiers also joined this strange team.

The team continued to move forward, and in a cave late at night, Luce saw an exiled strange man wearing tattered priest clothes.

"You can call me Matteo, former tech-priest, now exiled."

Matteo's shackles gleamed coldly in the firelight. This former tech-priest, exiled for "blasphemy," was drawing strange symbols on the rock face with charcoal:

"Some of the so-called demonic plague's diseased tissue, the fluid from which all the bacteria were separated, can actually infect normal body tissue! Although the symptoms are certainly similar to those of the Black Death, I believe this is a completely different pathogen." He suddenly coughed violently, and the shackles on his wrists rattled.

PS: Viruses were first observed by humans in the 1930s, but people began to speculate about the existence of viruses in the early 20th century.

"The Strategic Prophecy Committee raided my laboratory and burned all my petri dishes, claiming that I was conducting blasphemous experiments that the Lord did not allow... I told them that sulfa may not be able to treat this strange disease and told them my research results, but they said:

'The Lord has seen your future. Your research is completely wrong. You have been bewitched by hell and have questioned the Lord's instructions. You will be exiled immediately! '"

"If reality has proven you right, then the church will also allow your research in the face of reality. Please give me your research materials, and I will go to Rome to help you."

Luce knew the power of the plague. Whistleblowers like Matteo were the rational force that the church needed most. If faith was useful, the plague in Europe would not have spread so quickly and violently.

“In the Old Testament, the Lord also said: ‘Honor the physician, for he is indispensable, and the Lord created him… The Lord makes the earth grow medicinal herbs, and a wise man will not despise them.

The Most High has given knowledge to men, that they may admire his marvelous works. The physician uses herbs to heal the sick and relieve their suffering; the pharmacist uses them to make sweet concoctions and healing ointments. His work will never end until all the people of the world are healed.

Everyone was amazed at her profound knowledge, but Luce said:

"What good is it if I understand all these stories? Suffering still exists in the world. What can I do to save the suffering people?"

Outside Bologna, the team encountered their strangest companion: the twelve-year-old confessor Piero, a boy dressed in a pure white linen robe with a barbed iron whip hanging from his waist.

"I performed my father's purification ritual last month." His childish voice was as clear as a church bell, and a twist of his wrist revealed a relic inlaid on the handle of the whip. "He was possessed by a demon and tried to hide the wheat. I gave him thirty-nine lashes with this whip."

When Luce asked about his mother, the boy suddenly tilted his head and smiled: "My mother lives in the confessional now and doesn't want to see me anymore. The priest who tortured me is also unwilling to take me in. They claim that I was possessed by the devil and did such a vicious thing.

Sister, who is the devil?"

Luce replied: "Come with me, and when we get to the gates of Rome, I will seek justice for you."

This team included the elderly, children, fanatics who traveled to Rome with their families just to see the Pope from afar, criminals who committed crimes and were forced into exile, church soldiers and officials who guarded criminals, and scientists who were exiled for no reason.

Luce chatted with the friends she met on the road, talking about faith and the past. She talked about the harvest with the farmers, the production targets set by the factory with the workers, dreams with the children, the younger generation with the elderly, taxes and taxation with the officials, the cruel and bloody battles on the front with the soldiers, and faith with the priests.

They traveled together during the day and sat around the fire to communicate at night. The more she talked with people, the more confused she became about the world.

There were more and more things she didn't understand, and the knowledge she got from the church school was increasingly in conflict with reality.

The conscription officer later told her that he did not mean to be harsh on the residents, but if he could not recruit enough soldiers, his family would also be forced into conscription;

The soldier later told her that during the years he had been in the army, he had killed far more of his own people than he had killed soldiers from Hell, because more and more people were violating the church's rules for various reasons;

The peasants later told her that the tithes demanded by the church were often multiplied several times when applied to them. Rather than saying that they were forced to join the army because their crops were infected by the germs spread by hell and they could not pay the taxes, it was more accurate to say that the crop failure was just the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Another exiled scientist told her that he once worked for the French National Academy of Sciences, but was punished for researching dangerous technologies that were considered "heresy" by the Strategic Prophecy Committee. When Luce curiously asked him what technology he was researching, she was surprised to get a shocking answer -

He believed that the existing sulfonamides could treat too few diseases, so he planned to research other drugs that could kill more types of bacteria. The Strategic Prophecy Committee also raided his secret laboratory and arrested him for "blasphemy"...

This strange group of people on their pilgrimage to Rome stopped and walked, and witnessed all kinds of human life on the road. The church pastor who was escorting the prisoners said:

"A pilgrimage completely changes a person, healing him, strengthening him, comforting him, transforming him into a new person. Our lives are a continuous pilgrimage."