God doesn't live in the Metropolitan Cathedral. At least, not the God people expect.

  If you look at the neo-Gothic architecture with normal eyes, you'll see stained glass windows and stone gargoyles. If you look with my vision—the vision of someone who spends their life opening corpses—you'll see a calcified tumor in the center of the city.

  The "Cathedral of Ascension" wasn't just a church. It was a vault.

  "The smell of incense is making me nauseous," Luna whispered. We were crouched on a maintenance beam, thirty meters above the main nave, hidden in the shadows of the vaulted ceiling. "There's something wrong with this smoke."

  "There is," I agreed, adjusting my gas mask. The Parasite vibrated uncomfortably in my duodenum. "It's not frankincense. It's Siren Scale Powder mixed with sandalwood. It's a mild hallucinogenic narcotic. Helps the faithful see 'miracles' and calms hostility. Chemical crowd control."

  Below, midnight mass was underway. Hundreds of people on their knees, praying for the protection of the Solar Knight. The irony was so thick I could cut it with my scalpel. They were praying to the monster that would devour them.

  "Where's the library entrance?" Luna asked, holding tight to my arm to avoid looking down.

  "City Hall blueprints say it's in the basement. But the mana structure says otherwise." I pointed to the main altar, where a gigantic statue of an angel held a real sword. "Air circulation is different behind the angel. There's a void. A passage."

  "We're going to have to go down there? In the middle of mass?"

  "No. We'll wait for the changing of the guard. Church Paladins aren't like Helix private security. They don't use technology. They use Faith."

  "And that's good?"

  "That's terrible." I pulled a vial from my belt. "Technology, you hack. Faith, you have to profane."

  Half an hour later, the nave was empty. Only four guards remained. They wore polished white armor and halberds that glowed with their own light.

  "Intent Detectors," I analyzed. "The weapons glow if anyone with 'malice' approaches."

  "So we're screwed. I'm full of malice. I want to kick Commander Jin in the shins," Luna grumbled.

  "Calm your mind. Think of... kittens. Or your paycheck."

  "You haven't paid me in two months, Arthur!"

  "Think of pudding."

  We descended using silent rappel ropes. The secret to fooling intent-detection magic isn't being "good." It's being empty. The Parasite helped me with that. It suppressed my emotions, leaving only analytical coldness. To the church's magic, I wasn't an enemy; I was a stone.

  We landed behind the altar. The guards' halberds didn't blink.

  Arthur (the human) slid his hand along the base of the statue.

  Arthur (the parasite) detected the biological mechanism.

  It wasn't a lock. It was a blood scanner. The Church required a holy lineage to enter.

  "Shit," I whispered. "Needs blood from a Cardinal or higher."

  Luna looked at the guards, who were twenty meters away, facing the other direction.

  "We can't... you know? Take a little from one of them?"

  "Paladins aren't clergy. Their blood is common."

  I looked at the statue. At the details. There were dark, dry stains on the base. Residue from centuries of rituals.

  "Gristle taught me something about dry blood," I murmured. "If you add enough reagent, it 'remembers' what it used to be."

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  I took out a vial of Reanimating Saline Solution. I dripped three drops onto the old stain on the stone. The dry blood fizzed, turning liquid and bright red for two seconds.

  The stone absorbed the liquid.

  CLACK.

  The passage opened.

  The Forbidden Library didn't smell like old books. It smelled like formaldehyde.

  Dark wood shelves rose to the ceiling, but instead of just books, there were jars. Angel fetuses. Demon feathers preserved in amber. Relics the Church confiscated to "protect the people."

  "This is where they keep the truth," I said, walking through the aisles, my eyes scanning the leather spines. "The history of magic before commercialization."

  "Arthur..." Luna stopped in front of a massive book chained to a podium. "This book... it's breathing."

  I approached. The book was bound not in cow leather, but in human skin. The skin of a Regenerating Martyr.

  The title was in archaic Latin: Evangelium Carnis (The Gospel of Flesh).

  "This is it," I said, feeling a chill. "Valéria said Helix used 'ancient runes.' The Church provided the theoretical basis for the creation of the Solar Knight."

  I tried to open the book.

  The chains glowed. A thundering voice echoed through the room, not coming from a person, but from the walls themselves.

  "WHO DARES DISTURB THE SLEEP OF THE SAINTS?"

  "Oh, shut up," I grumbled, pouring magical sulfuric acid on the chains. The metal melted.

  I opened the book. The pages were made of thin muscle tissue. The letters were black veins.

  I read quickly, the Parasite recording every word.

  Project Genesis. Year 1 post-Rift.

  Objective: Create a Savior who does not depend on divine grace, but on perfect biology.

  Ingredients: Doppelg?nger cells for appearance. Tarrasque heart for energy. And the core... the core must be a Hunger Parasite.

  I stopped reading.

  "Hunger Parasite," I repeated.

  "Like yours?" asked Luna.

  "No. Mine is a Symbiotic Parasite. It eats garbage and converts it into data. The Hunger one... it just eats. It consumes infinite energy."

  I turned the page. There were diagrams of the "Savior's" digestive system.

  "Here it is. The flaw."

  To maintain human form, the Solar Knight needs a daily injection of Ego Stabilizer. Without it, the Hunger Parasite devours his mind and he turns into an uncontrollable beast.

  "So we just need to stop him from taking his medicine?" asked Luna.

  "No. If he turns into a beast, he destroys S?o Paulo. We need something that makes his Parasite reject the host. We need to cause food poisoning in the strongest monster in the world."

  Suddenly, the library lights went out.

  Heavy footsteps echoed at the entrance.

  Not armored footsteps. Footsteps of soft cloth.

  A figure emerged from the shadows. An elderly man wearing the red robes of an Inquisitor. He had a blindfold covering his eyes.

  Grand Inquisitor Silas.

  "I smelled heresy," the old man said, smiling. He didn't hold a weapon, only a rosary. "And it smells like a morgue."

  [DANGER ALERT: LEVEL S]

  [INDIVIDUAL POSSESSES CONTRACT WITH JUDGMENT SPIRITS.]

  "Luna," I spoke low, closing the book and putting it in her backpack. "Ventilation exit behind shelf C-4. Go."

  "I'm not leaving you!"

  "You're not fighting him. He's a world-class exorcist. One touch from him and your ghosts are banished to limbo. Go! Take the cure!"

  I pushed Luna toward the shadows. The Inquisitor turned his blind head in her direction.

  "No one leaves. Sanctue carcerem."

  He raised his hand. Bars of solid light sprouted from the floor, surrounding the room.

  "Doctor Veras," Silas said, walking calmly toward me. "You read the Gospel. You know the Solar Knight is necessary. The people need an idol. What does it matter if he is a monster, as long as he smiles and protects us?"

  "It matters," I pulled two scalpels from my belt. "Because lies have short legs, Father. And monsters have infinite appetites. Eventually, he will eat you."

  "Then let the sacrifice begin with you."

  Silas moved a finger. The air pressure in the room increased. Gravity seemed to triple. Holy Suppression Magic. My knees buckled. My bones creaked.

  "The sin of curiosity," Silas murmured, stopping in front of me. "Say your last prayers, garbage man."

  I looked up, struggling. Blood ran from my nose.

  But I was smiling.

  "My prayer... is a chemical recipe," I replied.

  I opened my mouth and bit down on the fake capsule in my molar.

  It wasn't poison.

  It was Abyssal Blinding Mushroom Spore Powder. Highly volatile.

  I blew the purple dust into the Inquisitor's face.

  To a normal man, it would just be irritating.

  But to a blind man who "sees" through mana perception?

  It was like throwing pepper in God's eyes.

  The powder adhered to his aura, creating static.

  Silas screamed, bringing his hands to his face. His "sight" was replaced by magical white noise. The bars of light flickered and vanished.

  "NOW, LUNA!" I shouted.

  We ran.

  We didn't fight. We ran like lab rats escaping dissection.

  We went through the vent, slid down old sewer ducts, and fell into the Tamanduateí River outside.

  We emerged on the bank, covered in sludge and contaminated holy water.

  Luna coughed, clutching the backpack with the book against her chest like it was a child.

  "Did we make it?" she asked, shivering from the cold.

  I looked at the imposing Cathedral against the night sky. The bells began to ring, a furious alarm sound.

  "We got the theory," I replied, wiping the sludge from my face. "We know what the Solar Knight is. We know what he needs."

  The Parasite inside me vibrated. It had read the book too.

  [PROPOSED SOLUTION: SYMBIOTIC REJECTION COCKTAIL.]

  [REQUIRED INGREDIENT: VENOM FROM A LIVE RIFT QUEEN.]

  I sighed.

  "The bad news, Luna... is that to make the antidote, we're going to have to hunt. And we can't hunt dead monsters this time."

  Luna looked at me, defeated.

  "We're going to have to enter an active Rift, aren't we? And we don't even have a hunter's license."

  "Who needs a license when you have the truth?" I reached out a hand to help her up. "Come on. Madame Gristle will know where to find a Queen."