The battlefield was a graveyard, a desolate expanse of shattered stone and smoldering ruins.
Arthur struggled to rise from the rubble, his breaths ragged, Galahad's spectral armor cracked and fading beside him due to Arthur weaken will.
Across the ruined square, Sin's stitched face twisted in mock disappointment as his spider-like limbs retracted back into his human flesh with a sickening slither.
"Your hatred is weak, lacking the wrath that lives within your heart?" he crooned, "Where is the fire that should consume me?"
A shadow blotted out the sun, a monstrous silhouette against the ashen sky.
The air itself screamed as Miles' Wyrm erupted from the ground, its form bloated with rage, scales glistening with dark fury.
Dozens of shadow hands lashed out like whips, smashing buildings to dust in a cacophony of destruction as it wailed, "WHO HURT YOU! WHO HURT YOUUUU!"
Arthur barely had time to raise his arms before the Wyrm's maw split open, unleashing a sonic cannon that blasted toward him with a deafening roar.
The concussive blast sent him flying through three buildings, before Galahad's fading strength cushioned the impact, its ghostly form shimmering weakly.
Blood filled Arthur's mouth as he watched the Wyrm turn on Sin, its hollow eyes burning with mindless fury.
Sin sighed, his mouth unhinging like a serpent's, "How tedious."
A sphere of golden light formed between his teeth, before a beam of light shot straight toward the Wyrm.
The Wyrm vaporized mid-roar.
Silence.
Then—
A crimson lance pierced Sin's shoulder.
The preacher staggered as his mocking smile freezing as he turned.
High atop a crumbling cathedral, Gwin stood motionless—her limbs jerked by marionette strings of blood, controlled by spectral hands that danced with eerie precision.
Her mask remained fixed in its eternal smile but her eyes…
Her eyes were empty.
"Envy…?" Sin whispered.
A second blood-spike shot through his spine, then a dozen more erupted from within his body, pinning him like a grotesque butterfly against the ruins.
"Your depression for love is strong. I see your aura grows with each day," Sin rasped, tears of euphoria streaming down his stitched cheeks as Gwin's puppet-body raised another trembling hand.
"Oh child…" His mouth distended unnaturally wide, a maw of doom, "Let me SAVE YOU—" Then a golden wave hit Gwin square in the chest, the impact a thunderclap that severed her strings.
Her body fell, lifeless, her head turning toward Arthur as she crashed to the ground, a marionette with its strings cut.
For a moment, Arthur forgot that this world was nothing but a simulation of what could happen out there.
---
Consciousness returned.
Miles' left arm hung limp, bones protruding through skin with a grotesque crunch, but the sound of a child's whimpers cut through the pain like a lifeline.
He found her curled beneath collapsed shelves, her legs crushed under debris.
"H-Hey…" Miles winced, shadow tendrils gently lifting the rubble with a careful grind, "We're getting out of—"
"P-Please…" She clutched his shirt with bloodied fingers, her voice trembling, "The bad man… he killed the lady…"
Miles didn't trust his voice to answer. The shadows coiled around them both like a protective cocoon as he stood, the girl secured tightly against his back.
One thought propelled him forward, a mantra beating in his chest:
Get her out. Get her out. GET HER OUT.
---
The preacher knelt beside Gwin's body, his mutilated hands clasped in prayer, his voice a hollow chant, "May the Lord welcome you to—"
He felt Arthur's presence behind him.
Arthur sat slumped on a broken pillar, his left hand pressed against his face, his arms trembling as his right eye stared at Gwin's lifeless body.
"I'm glad…" His voice was frighteningly calm, "…this is just a simulation. But I'm scared to admit that this will be something I will have to get used to seeing."
Sin's breath hitched, a rare falter. The aura around Arthur wasn't burning red anymore.
It was pale. Translucent. Infinite.
"Serenity…?" The preacher trembled with awe, "You… you've touched the door—"
Arthur looked up.
His left eye pulsed with an infinite symbol, a gateway to oblivion.
Sin's world ended.
For an eternal second, the Messenger of Salvation stared into Death Door and understood true judgment—a peaceful world with law and order that oppressed Sins and worshipped Virtues, a paradise denied to him.
Then Arthur's fist, wreathed in blue flame, punched clean through his chest, "That's the only paradise you'll get, because hell will forever be your true domain."
---
Miles blinked as the white walls materialized around them. His arm was intact, the pain a memory. The girl was gone, "Is it—"
The words died in his throat.
Across the room, Arthur had Gwin in a soft hug, her face tomato-red as she flailed uselessly, "A-Arthur?! When did you—"
"Shut up," Arthur muttered, his voice muffled against Gwin's hair, "Just… shut up."
Gwin's flailing slowed, her resistance melting. Then, very carefully, her arms wrapped around his back.
They didn't see his face, but Arthur was far more determined than before. When he saw Gwin die, when he realized it was still a simulation, a fire had ignited within him.
He told himself that, no matter what, he must not let that simulation's outcome become reality.