Lowly Ascent

Cain felt Laimir's gaze and immediately knew who he worked for.

'So the Bureau is here for me.'

Although both Cains were present in the room, neither felt the presence of the other. They didn't know their natural enemy was in front of them.

"Get that bird!" Laimir commanded.

"Stop the Bureau!" Melina screamed.

"Hahaha! Isn't this a party!" Lexi manically laughed as he changed his fighting style.

The Lesser Idol fighting Lexi couldn't hold him off anymore, the stitches on her neck unwound and her head stretched towards the ceiling. Her neck, like her arms, became monstrous, little legs sprouted out and turned her neck into what seemed to be a centipede.

Her voice distorted, "Die!"

The creature leaped at Lexi, but he grinned.

"Kneel before god!" He said, his gray tongue moving strangely.

It came as a surprise, that multiple people, not only the Lesser idol, knelt upon hearing Lexi's words.

Melina frowned, "Those maniacs have it easy, their blessing is so well suited for the Path of Voice, cheaters, the lot of them."

Lexi looked at her and winked, walking past the kneeling Idol and heading towards the steps where the other two idols were already worn down by the group of maniacs using their words to try and constrict them. But for these foot soldiers, their voices only relied on the blessing their god had given them, they didn't meet the requirement for the Path of Voice.

Much like the Path of Magi, the Path of the Voice needed a strong soul, like a megaphone to project its words. Because these soldiers of the Blood Draped Orphans didn't have strong souls, they had to substitute it with other paths in the meantime.

Like the many others who heard Lexi, Isaac was kneeling. Luckily, he was talented in all things, becoming used to the pressure set by the crazed man and being able to stand a few minutes later. But during that time, much had happened.

Lexi had reached the stairs of the altar, using a device, he threw it at the two last Idols and they were pushed back, hitting the idol of their god on the altar.

"Last time old man, give me the fucking bird!"

Finally, the Priest turned, his face solemn.

(You will not get what you want. Leave now, or else.)

Lexi's face ripened like a tomato, "Fucking geezer! Just die then!"

Snap!

A stitch on the Priest's mouth released, hot decaying breath released into the air.

Snap!

Another stitch went, his lips beginning to curl upward.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

More and more stitches came off until the Priest's entire mouth was unsealed. It started to change and contort as it warped into a circular and round shape.

The Priest smiled, and Lexi got a good look at rotating teeth lined around the edge of the mouth with more littered inside like a giant worm.

Melina got the gist of the Priest's level just from that.

"Shit! He specializes in voice!"

Even Lexi couldn't fathom the words that escaped the old man's throat.

"Ohere you gir ose youlelpodere. Yoru dsoves chdt. My mbele whe lpof medsofive oume yo che chou de nchef mbos at d Ohes you os nes yond move mou che me youre yo mor mou stch, p Oheleresille mofil mourumbe goul bo hou mber me!"

The Priest's eyes darkened as the altar's puppet lit up. It pushed away the two Lesser Idols and stood on its own two feet before creeping towards the Priest and standing before him.

"Please God, save your lambs, even if I must sacrifice myself." The grotesque Priest prayed. 

Melina roared, "Stop him!"

Lexi didn't have enough time, it was too late.

'Perfect! Darla, now!' Cain acted as well, the small child ran up the altar stairs and grabbed the cage. No one noticed, the Priest's body transforming, all eyes fixed on him.

Darla took Cain and ran towards a side exit, opening the door and running out. When she found a safe spot in the sewers, she opened the cage and let Cain out.

'Although they stopped misfortune falling on them, that doesn't mean the luck of others will just disappear.' He flew onto Darla's shoulder and laughed.

After he had his fill of the situation, Cain and Darla escaped into the wider network of sewers.

Isaac saw all of this, but he couldn't say a word. He could only let his eyes widen as the Priest's body condensed and became like the puppet, only his eyes were white and his human features turned murky and continued to stretch beyond common sense.

Laimir was frozen on the spot and Lexi was the one who announced it.

"Fuck... a descent. It's the fucking Stitched Pupp-"

The lifeform smacked Lexi, sending the man flying into the wall near Melina and Laimir. It then turned back to the altar to see nothing there.

Its broken voice brought a whole new realm to sound, its words translated as the others heard its words. Strangely, it couldn't formulate proper sentences, like Darla before Cain's intervention.

"Key! Where key! Need!"

The "gods" were not humans, and their intelligence came from what they could see looking down upon the world. If humans knew the origins of the gods they would not worship them, nor would they listen to them. The gods were nothing more than instinctual beasts with great power.

The lifeform that was believed to be the Stitched Puppet roared as its body sprouted hairs and the stitches around it unraveled into more fabric and flesh.

Gunshots lit up the room and the ringing of bells echoed. The organizations understood if they didn't kill the monstrosity now they would regret stopping the sacrifice. The Bureau already had records of descents and the main factor in all of them was time.

The longer the deity could stay in this world, the more accustomed they would be to it. In severe cases noted as the "apocalypses", even the astral bodies would fuse with their new form and the god would walk the earth, becoming its real body and fully throwing all its eggs into one basket.

The only time this event occurred was many millennia ago when a cult almost caused their god's full descent. Luckily, a ruling Emperor of the largest Empire in history killed the god as its astral body revealed itself. They sacrificed themselves in the process to kill it.

Hopefully, with so many people present, they could kill the thing. No one had no time to worry about the missing bird.

...

"Hah hah hah..."

Darla ran with all her might, making her way into a small access room where there was some stocked food and a sink with running water.

'This must be where service workers take breaks.' Cain thought as he took in everything, basking in his freedom.

Darla rested, she was sweating and Cain couldn't entirely suppress the effect the events in the sanctum caused to her mental state. In the last few moments before they left she saw her father turn into something else, it's not something she would forget, only suppress.

'I'll work on her problems if we survive, it will be my thank you. In the meantime, I have to get used to not being in a cage. There's also that event to worry about, I doubt the Priest is still alive... something beyond my understanding just happened.'

...

"Key! Where key!"

The living puppet expanded as puss and linen filled the room, taking anything it touched into the abyss that was its loosely fit body.

'It's like fighting a living pillow fort!" Lexi was becoming increasingly crazy as he fought, his tongue even secreting a gray gas.

Melina sighed seeing Lexi, "This is all Cromwell's fault, these cultist freaks were fine before he came along. That man is too much trouble." She turned to Laimir, "Why didn't you get rid of that bastard when you had the chance all those years ago, we all suffer for it you know."

Isaac was interested in her words but Laimir didn't find it appropriate to give a history lesson or even defend the Bureau. He just continued to give orders while sending someone to get reinforcements.

"So, how do we kill this thing?" Isaac was shooting his gun but he saw he was doing nothing. The situation was becoming dire.

Laimir responded, "Sheer strength. We need someone powerful with abilities that can kill it in a few blows."