A Hell Called Serestral - Chapter 52

The guard laughed and said, “You want to possess a corrupted soul?”

“Do you think I’m joking?” Gani glared and choked the vessel. “Do you want to die?”

“No… please… sorry…” the guard tapped the hand that was choking him.

Gani loosened his grip and told the corrupted soul, “We are in a hurry. If you want to be saved and not die then allow me to enter that body.”

“If you truly wanted to possess my body, you can do it any time you want. Why ask for permission?”

“Do you think I want to ask for permission?” Gani slammed his axe on the ground, near the head of the guard. “Aries is saying that one of the ways to redemption is being polite. If you want to lose my patience, then I might just cut your head off and forget salvation.”

“O-okay!” the guard nervously mumbled. “But… before I agree, can I… say goodbye to my wife?”

“She is not your wife,” Gani told him what Aries was thinking.

“I want her to be my wife,” the guard admitted with blushing cheeks.

“You and that woman are crazy,” Aries and Gani both agreed.

“Her husband was abusive,” the guard began explaining and his eyes filled with shame as he admitted, “I too had been like him. I tried to change but I died before I could begin. I can’t accept it,” his brows furrowed with rage. “Why do I have to die just when I decided to become a better person? Can’t I change? If the gods will not allow me to be a good person then I will grow more violent than before!” he paused for a while, let out a deep breath, and his eyes turned remorseful. “That’s how I came to be a corrupted soul, for decades. Then the offer to be converted back into a human had come. I grabbed it without hesitation and won the battle to the death,” his regret was replaced with enthusiasm as he said, “I am alive once more. And when I came home, I saw her… looking like my previous wife,” his eyes became reminiscent and sad. “She was terrified and resentful. He hated her husband but could not walk away. I thought that finally, the gods had allowed me to correct my past mistakes. I tried again to become a better person,” there was a flicker of hope in her eyes as he said, “I guess… that act… healed us both. We are just starting to live happily. I don’t want her to feel broken again. Please…”

“Don’t worry. That woman will not feel lonely again,” Gani voiced out the thoughts inside the head of Aries then he finally let go of the guard’s neck. “Get up. Let’s talk to her.”

^##########^

Walter and Shane, the unusual couple, had been given the time to say goodbye to one another. Gani, still in control of the body of Aries, was sitting on a couch and observing the couple in front of him. It took them hours to finally calm down. They stopped crying and hugging each other.

“While you are waiting for him, you can work at the manor,” Gani relayed the message of Aries. “I will ask Lira to hire you. Do you want that?”

“Yes, Sir Aries!” the woman eagerly exclaimed.

“Now I, Gani Cleaver, will possess the body of Walter Janus.”

“Move aside for now,” Aries told Gani as he took control of his body. He raised his hand and pointed his palm over the forehead of the guard.

After a few seconds, smoke oozed from the center of his palm and seeped into the forehead of the guard. When it was over, Gani had fully transferred into the body of Walter.

“Until we are here in the House of Scale, I will let Walter take over,” Gani joyfully declared.

“Thank you,” the woman bowed gratefully in front of her husband. “Please, take care of him.”

“I will bring him back here. I promise.”

“Sir Aries, you should drink Walter’s remaining potion,” the woman noticed that Aries weakly collapsed on the couch the moment he was done transferring the soul of Gani. “It saved him from his neck wounds. He only needed one bottle to recover his full strength. It was as if he had not been fatally wounded.”

Shane pulled a bag underneath the bed and drew a tiny bottle of glowing purple liquid. She quickly handed it over to Aries.

“Is it safe?” Aries glanced at Walter.

“Searched his mind,” Gani was the one who answered. “This body drank that liquid twice. That is how he had been revived from the battle to the death and from your dual blades. He is still safe and sound. I think it is effective,” he shrugged his shoulders and added, “Mercielle made that potion. It should be effective. And as far as I can see in this body, it has no side effects. Drink it and walk on your own or you keep it and I can carry you back to the manor.”

Aries opened the bottle and gulped its content. The effect was instantaneous. His energy had been replenished and his head was no longer painful and heavy.

He kept the bottle in the pocket of his overcoat and got up on his feet.

“This is a good potion. Thank you,” Aries gratefully bowed to the woman and to Walter then walked out of the hut. “Let’s return to the manor.”

“Yes, Sir Aries!” the couple had chorused.

^#######^

The newly hired guards were surprised when Aries arrived in the quadrangle not from inside the manor but from outside. Though they were curious, none of them had asked a question. They just bowed to him and let him enter. Those guards were comrades of Lira and when their hideout had been attacked, Aries had helped them escape.

It was nearly nine in the evening and a lot of people had gathered inside the quadrangle. The platform was filled with relatives of Lira. It was time for the verdict and soon afterward, the judgment for Aries would come. But before he hears that, he blended first with the crowd to watch. Walter and Shane were standing by his side.

The new house leader was standing on the balcony. The cold look in her eyes was clearly trying to mask the pain that she was feeling inside. Siorre, Princess Pieffer, Prince Sunrei, and Alfred were also standing at the veranda, providing strong support for the new house leader.

A disconcerting silence had floated in the quadrangle when Lira raised her right hand.

“Let’s make this quick,” her voice was as chilling as the look in her eyes. “All these people in the platform had committed a crime. They made a deal with the corrupted souls. If they had not been stopped, citizens of this House would have been killed. As punishment for their crime, they will be imprisoned in the dungeon. Pardon will only be given if the Beast Tamer allows them to receive it.”

Her relatives did not react to her judgment. It seemed that they were already expecting that kind of punishment.

Lira motioned for the guards to take her relatives away before saying out loud, “Next!”

Guards dragged her parents to the platform and Aries noticed the tear that trickled down the face of the new house leader.

“These criminals had greatly sinned. For bringing chaos to the House of Scale, I should be sentencing you to death. But dying will only be an easy way out for you. People have suffered a lot and for that, you should also go through endless sufferings. You will no longer be a Gavel. You will live on the streets without anything other than your clothes. You should suffer the rage of the people.”

Her parents were also silent about the verdict. It was as if they were ready to be punished in any possible way.

“Sentence them to death!” A woman from the crowd had stepped near the platform and yelled her appeal. “We don’t want to see them walking around the House of Scale. We want to have a fresh start and that will be impossible if you let their punishment be given by us. We no longer want to live in hate.”

There was a few seconds of silence before Lira had spoken.

“Point taken,” she jumped off the balcony and landed gracefully at the platform. She unsheathed her sword and directed the blade on the neck of her mother. “Death it is.”

Her parents closed their eyes and held hands. They were truly prepared for anything. And it seemed that being imprisoned had helped them reconcile.

Lira raised her sword but before she could swing it around, Siorre quickly leaped from the veranda and stopped her from killing her parents.

“Let me do it,” Scorpio House Leader had offered.

Lira was reluctant but she eventually accepted it with trembling hands.

Siorre released her spear and swiftly cut the heads of Lira’s parents.

“Clean this up,” Lira was trying to stop the tears brimming in her eyes. “We still have one more criminal to judge.”

Siorre helped Lira back to the manor. It took thirty minutes to clean the blood that showered on the platform. And by that time, Lira had returned to the balcony with her composure renewed. Siorre was not leaving her side.

“Aries Del Luna, step into the platform,” she had commanded and Aries obliged.

Everyone in the quadrangle had followed his movement away from the crowd and towards the platform.

“Lady Lira! Please be merciful!” the people on the quadrangle, including the guards, had knelt in front of the balcony and bowed their heads on the ground.

“Aries killed two of our guards,” Lira had spoken and silenced the pleadings of the people. “For that, he should be punished with death. But he is a Zodiac Knight. He has the protection of the king. Princess Pieffer and Prince Sunrei had spoken on behalf of their father. Aries will not be receiving a death sentence for now because he still has a duty to fulfill. Once Serestral is safe, he will be summoned back in this House and will undergo the trial of redemption.”

“There is a trial of redemption?” Aries asked because the princess already told him that it was only a lie.

“Princess Pieffer, Gin-Ren, and I had thought about that trial,” Lira had answered. “If you pass that trial, you will be receiving a lighter sentence. Until that time comes, you can never enter this House. Tomorrow, as soon as dawns breaks, you will have to leave.”

Aries bowed in front of House Leader Lira and felt a pain in his chest that lasted for a few heartbeats.

“You will stay inside the manor for the time being.”

“Yes, Lady Lira.”

^##########^