Reincarnated as an Alchemist - If i have no cheat then, i just have to make one

Chapter 52 - Holy Arms

??? POV

Today was the day where I was forced to see the darkness of the church. Many orphans who were taken care by the church were gathered here in this underground facility. This wasn't a baptism ceremony or anything sacred. It was a human experimentation.

They were forced to try the prototype Holy Arms created by following the manual found in the forbidden section of an abandoned church library. It was by chance the pope found it when he was investigating a way to summon a better hero to save the humanity but his goal changed into this after seeing the content of the manual.

Normally, this experiment should never be done. But, the current Pope was kept telling us that the summoned heroes are useless so that they need to arms the humanity to completely eradicate the impurities. He also trying to convince the high echelons that we doesn't need 'outsiders' to protect us. I didn't know how he managed to convince everyone but he somehow managed to get this project started in secret.

Holy Arms were weapons made using unique method. They used special engraving carved on a part of a weapon and used a 'living' raw material as ingredient. This process then produced a high grade weapons and depending on the material it also gave birth to intelligent weapons. But, these weapons were difficult to wield. Most of the wielder were losing their mind, turned into ashes, got the blood completely drained, etc.

Most of the Holy Arms held resentment of the beasts which was used as material during the processing. This made that these Holy Arms were supposed to be called Cursed Arms instead. But, even the most of them were looked like cursed weapons, there were few of them which was successfully made. The wielder of those weapons were directly promoted into Paladin Corps after they had shown the powerful might of those Arms.

The experiment started. Around ten orphans were given ten different weapons. They hesitantly picked one each. The room became quiet all sudden but that silence didn't last long. Out of the ten, three were exploded from inside and the fragments flew toward every direction, two were burned alive by blue flame, four were going berserk and were killing each other while the last one was standing still while staring at his weapon but a moment later, his body was losing its color and turned into an ash colored statue.

"Tch! Another failed product huh? How useless!"

I heard an angry voice. I turned my face toward the person who complained his dissatisfaction. He was the Pope himself. It seems like he was undergoing a sudden inspection on the research.

"Get the next batch of orphans as soon as possible. I need to find the requirements of wielding these Holy Arms by the end of this year!!"

He said. Somehow, it saddened me when I looked back at the remnants of those pitiful children. I really want to expose this wicked experiments to the world so that it would be forced to stop. But, I would never be able to do so. After all, all of the personnel who were involved in this experiment was either not allowed to leave the site or must be under surveillance for 24/7.

Another group of children entered the testing room. They were screaming when they saw the blood splattered at all direction. The one leading them pushed them forward and told them to take one weapon each. I closed my eyes. I really hoped that these children wouldn't have to die. But, that wish was remained unanswered. I had to stay as a witness of the lives of those innocent children got reaped by the desire of the corrupted humanity.

Later after that wicked experiment, I visited the chapel facility of this wicked place. I knelt down as i prayed for the lives of those children who had died in this place. Inside my heart, i prayed that this place will be destroyed as soon as possible so that the endless blood wouldn't be sacrificed anymore.

"Haah, I wonder if that foolish wish will be granted. Of course it wouldn't. I prayed for a destruction which also means obstructing the God's will."

I muttered.

"I'm not sure if that wish is really foolish."

A voice came from behind the large cross standing at the end of the hall. I looked up and saw a person wearing shabby hood and scarf was leaning against the cross with his arms crossed.

"Who are you?"

I asked him.

"A hero of justice... is what I want to say. I'm just a dog of one of the dark side of this world. But, that's indeed too disgusting of a church to continuously sacrificing innocent children like those fanatic and heretic."

He said.

"Then, are you reporting this to your higher ups."

I asked him. 

"I already did so."

He said nonchalantly.

"Eh?"

I was surprised hearing the unexpected answer.

"Then, why are you here?"

I asked him.

"Looking for treasures i guess?"

He said carefreely.

"Treasure.... hunting?"

I titled my head in confusion.

"Yeah, more or less. My boss asked me to scout around the area as my reinforcement will come to help me bring down this place but he said he'll give me a large bonus if i can find the source of this stupid matter."

He said.

"Source?"

I inquired him.

"To be more precise the reference of the weapon blueprint. If possible the original."

He said.

"If it's just the transcribed ones, it should be in the archive in this facility but if you want the original, the pope has it."

I said.

"That baldy again huh? This is rather nasty."

He muttered in barely audible voice.

"By the way, is it alright for you to tell me this?"

He asked.

"It's fine. I'm already sick of it. If possible, i want you to kill me right now. My sin is already too much to count and it will keep increasing and will crush me someday at this rate."

I said wile looking both my hands.

"Then, if I were to scout you to join my Lord, what will you say?"

He said.

"Your lord?"

I asked. He didn't answer it. He just smirked at me as if he had found something amusing. It was several years later that I knew I had fallen to the devil's temptation at that time.