The wind howled and the night raged with a deafening silence. The earth quaked with falling buildings and fleeing deserters, but the sound of panic and devastation were snuffed out by the magical energy swirling in the air. It was a disaster with no sound, an inspiring display of power subduing those who were unfortunately caught within. They were insignificant and feeble and their struggles were scorned and ignored.

They did not matter.

The rite was invoked and could not be stopped. The deceleration of its intent could not be heard, but there was no mistaking its authority and no denying its power. The world was tainted, the people corrupted beyond salvation, yet even the most sinful yearned for forgiveness, wished that they could forget the evil they committed. It was a simple prayer, a wish to be complete and perfect without blemish. It was what humanity strove for and she would grant it.

There was only one path for the sinful to reach redemption. There was only one method for the imperfect to attain perfection. They would find peace in eternal slumber, and with their sins and imperfection, be forgotten in forever nonexistence. That was the only way to forgive those that strayed too far away.

The greatest sin was that they failed the Church.

The Rite of Absolution was a decree created in secret by the inquisitor order unknown to the Church or to the Throne. It was the result of eons of research dating back to the first inquisitor, who then entrusted the research and its future progress to his disciples. The research continued and was eventually completed. The origin of the rite was lost and who were involved in those ancient times were already forgotten. No one knew what prompted the research in the first place or its ultimate purpose, but the result nevertheless survived. It was now a decree known only to Grand Inquisitors, a judgment only they could render.

The rite was a weaker form of a Throne’s decree, but it still was close in power when compared to the absolute judgment a king could execute among their people. To activate the decree, it required a Foundation Ring and at least a dozen inquisitors, all who would die once the ritual was completed. It was a last resort, a judgment of having no other option, and a judgment of failure to prevent it from reaching that point of no return. The corrupt were pruned, and so were the ones who failed to stop it, because they were all the same.

The Rite of Absolution was the ultimate weapon for an inquisitor and the ultimate deceleration of their loyalty and regret. It was a ritual that cleansed the area of everything related to the Church, leaving no trace of their existence. It wiped them away from history and wiped away their shame. There were two situations in which the ritual was carried out. The first was when the enemy had them cornered and their secrets were no longer safe, then everything, friend or foe, would burn so that nothing would escape, not their secrets nor their sins. The second was when there were discoveries so abhorrent and evil that they could not see the light of day, everything involved needed to be cleansed.

This was why Rana was sure of her victory. The fact that the chapel remained standing and its wards functioning was testament that the ritual could be activated. The decree could not be held just anywhere, and the conditions were strict. However, she managed to meet them all. The first was that it could only occur on Church ground, areas that were infused with their wards and magical energy. Whenever the Church claimed an area, they transformed the land with conceptualized essence to power their wards. It usually took days of preparation and dozens of inquisitors to extract the essence within and envelop the area with it. It was like a key that marked where the ritual would affect. The second was that every inquisitor then would need to use their mana enter the scattered wards to obtain the specific runes stored within so that they could then construct the runic-pattern that invoked the ritual. The last condition was the Foundation Ring. The completed runic-pattern needed to be analyzed and decoded within the ring, then, with the inquisitor at the center, expand and start the rite.

It was a difficult and delicate process. The rite could be disturbed or it could fail. However, Rana made sure it won't.

Rana had Jessica scatter the destroyed wards in the required locations, the key points that connected the conceptualized essences. It usually took a few days to discover where they were and finish laying the groundwork of extracting the energy, but to those who had the Sapphire Ring, it was a non-issue. Every Foundation Ring had the ability to bypass certain limitations in accordance with their duties. The Sapphire Order was tasked to eliminate traitors to the Church and speed was of the essence. During the fight with the enemy marked ones, her stunt with the blades of ash in the soil was a distraction, to not let the enemy know what was going on beneath. They thought what was beneath were simply swords, but no, it was to connect the scattered wards. She could not do it one by one, as its volatile nature meant she would not be able to maintain their form for the distance she needed to travel between different wards. That was why she sent embers deep into the soil and used the crimson surge that coursed through her body to access all of the wards at once. That was why she only fought to delay, as all she had to do was wait until the runic-pattern was formed and the Foundation Ring was ready.

It was ready.

Rana was the Sapphire and her light was brilliant. The pillars of blue ignited and the land began to shimmer with dust that reminded her of the stars reflected in the ocean. The mana in the area was being consumed by the light and magical energy began to break down.

The first to experience this was the raiders, normal humans without the blessing of the mark. They had no mana and was not able to withstand the violent outbreak of the energy. Soon, their bodies cracked and they began to bleed from their broken forms.

The second was the runic-patterns within the wards and the secrets they guarded. They burned and erased every trace of the Church and the knowledge they possessed.

The last was the marked ones. Their mana began to dry up and their marks were now vulnerable. The lower their mana, the higher the damage they suffered.

Rana had her mana maintained during the fight, but her mark was weaker than the one of her enemies. Her enemies used their Skills just before the ritual started, but their bodies were still blessed by the mark. It was a battle of attrition and one that she won. With the many humans dying and the act of completing a decree, she gained several levels and recovered her health by leveling up. The violent energy could no longer be tamed, the enemy had their health points drained and they fell.

She then felt the ritual’s rage and condemnation, accusing her of failing the Church, and it granted her swift death. Unfortunately, she was already considered dead. She could survive the ritual as long as it did not drain her life to zero. She would not die as long as her health points did not reach zero. It did not.

Rana survived the Rite of Absolution.

She took a deep breath and stood in a sea of dead bodies. There was no sweetness in the air and the aroma of life was nowhere to be found. Her mind was not tempted and her body did not revolt in disgust. It was pleasant, it was peaceful, and she found it in the absence of life.