The cargo shuttle's hull rattled as it tore through the choked skies, bound for Tormina.

Angar sat in his Crusader Armor, crammed in the back of the shuttle, the faux-d'klar armor worn beneath still.

Across from him, Sister Yuuga cradled her auto-pistol like a sacred relic, her gnarled fingers stroking its battered casing like a beloved pet.

Her battle-scarred armor creaked as she shifted, covering an exposed part of a veiny, decrepit leg with her tattered habit, her leathery face splitting into a grin that bared yellowed teeth.

"Those Kondunean barbarians learned slowly, Child," she rasped out, her voice filled with zeal as she continued her story. "Heresy ran thick in their blood, worshipping spirits and whatnot. I taught them all about the Three's intolerance and Holy wrath, their need to repent. The streets ran red, purging filth. Glorious work, it was."

Her good eye widened, the other squinting like a rusted scope, fixing on Angar. "No offense meant, Child. I know these stinking, rank savages are your kin."

Angar's jaw tightened, only at the casual offhandedness of the insult. His people did stink, and they were savages. But his goal was to decrease the stink and ramp up the savagery.

Yuuga hadn't been abandoned by Captain Vernost in Kondune. She'd stayed of her own choice, reveling in her petty tyranny, purging with gleeful abandon, imposing Imperial Law.

After stopping to confer with Fen, Angar found Yuuga eager for a ride to South Point, the southern hemisphere's northern badlands outpost. He also had North Point, its mirror in the northern hemisphere's southern badlands.

She'd worn out her welcome in Kondune, and she wasn't too popular in Fen's camp either.

As a wandering Presbyter, Yuuga drew a stipend from the System, half what a small parish post would grant. Angar suspected she was angling for that role at South or North Point.

"No offense taken, Sister," he replied, deciding to take a gamble. "We've time before Tormina. Will you hear my confession?"

Yuuga's grin widened, her eye sparkling with feral delight. "Of course, Child."

The shuttle's hum filled the silence as he shifted his bulk, the armor scraping the floor as he knelt. Like he'd continuously done to all around him in the last four days, he attempted to sense her thoughts, but her mind, like every other, remained completely silent.

Aude was a weak Psychic, more a dabbler. She knew little about anything and, psychic-wise, was no help to Angar at all.

He performed the sign of the trey, touching forehead, right shoulder, left. "In the name of the Father, God above, the Mother, blessed Mi, and Theosis, the Divine System. Bless me, Sister, for I have sinned. It's been over a week since my last confession."

"Over a week?" Yuuga's voice sharpened, her squinting eye narrowing further. "A devout lad like you, letting sin coil so long? It blackens the soul, Child, festering like rot."

"No excuse, Sister," he said, though he had a good one. He didn't trust the Ecclesiastic of either South or North Point. They could pull a Presbyter Prostasia and really muck up his life. "I've been busy binding fiefs to my banner."

Yuuga hrrmed, stroking her pistol. "I've heard you've gotten every fief of this cursed rock to bow to you, Child, and changed its official name to Tribute too. A Baron now, eh? Fancy."

"Forty-one of forty-two," Angar confirmed. "Tormina's the last."

"Well, let me know if you need help twisting their arm. I'll fill them with holes till they kneel." She cackled, then sobered. "We should get to the confession, Child. What sins weigh you down?"

Angar exhaled. "Theosis believes I murdered innocents, but I only wanted to kill them and didn't mean to. Not right then. The distinction is critical."

Yuuga chuckled out in a throaty rasp. "I'd say so too, Child. Intent matters, and accidents happen. Sounds like an interesting story. Friendly fire, was it? I've been guilty of that myself a time or two, maybe a dozen more. How many and how'd it happen?"

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"Only seven," Angar said. "I pictured slaying the lot with an Ability. My psychic power answered, manifested for the first time, accidentally frying them. It's Electrosynapticism. A new evolution of it I call Electrocute."

Yuuga's good eye widened, her scarred brow arching. "Isn't that power exclusive to the Grays?"

"It was."

Her squinting eye twitched. "A new evolution, you say?"

"Yes."

She leaned closer, her sour breath making Angar regret removing his helm. "Well, that's interesting. A big deal, it is, like something we should spend more time discussing, but after we finish the Sacrament of Penance. What other sins darken your soul, Child?"

Angar hesitated, then pressed on. "I've conquered lust, but I still have impure and sinful thoughts. Often."

Yuuga coughed, nearly choking. "On this world? With these beastly women?"

Rage flared through Angar's veins, but Yuuga caught his glare and nervously added, "No offense meant, Child. Just took me by surprise, is all. And I forgot your camps have normal ones to lust after. What other sins, Child?"

Angar let it go. Her 'accidents happen' comment had given him too much hope. "Holy Theosis demanded I express only true remorse in the Vow of Contrition, believing I was insincere in my last absolution for killing innocents."

"Oh," she said, her wide eye boring into him. "Happens regularly, does it? Killing innocents?"

A bead of nervousness grew in his chest. "Only on three occasions. Two were accidents, just once on purpose, and those were enemies, not innocents, by any sane measure. A Heretical Presbyter saddled me with a ridiculous and heavy penance for that, requiring me to save sixty souls. I saved more than that, but Holy Theosis said they didn't count, insisting fifty-five still remain."

Yuuga's fingers paused on her pistol, her gaze now piercing. "Let's go back a way, fully unburdening your soul. Tell Sister Yuuga everything."

She sat back, her armor clanking against the wall, and Angar recounted it all, answering every question, only leaving out the blessed Mother's parts.

When finished, her wide eye searched his two mechanical ones. "Swearing false contrition's a dark sin, even if coerced to confess uncommitted crimes. I can't touch prior penances, as that's between you and the Almighty. For now, I'll hear you express true remorse for swearing false contrition, the same for accidentally killing those seven councilors."

Angar's jaw clenched. Yuuga still wanted him to confess to killing innocents.

"I see that glint in your eye, Child," she said. "I didn't say killing innocents. I said accidentally killing. If you truly didn't mean to, there shouldn't be an issue expressing remorse for your mistake, no?"

Angar exhaled in relief. It seemed like this gamble would pay off.

"As for the impure thoughts," she continued, "it happens. I'm old, Child, beyond lust, and haven't spent a Voluvicas Credit in decades, but it even gets me sometimes. Why, hearing about all the slaughtering you've done dampened my nethers. As long as you don't succumb, Child, or self-gratify, there's nothing to confess."

That wasn't true. According to Catechism, a thought became a sin when actively thought about, continued to be thought about despite knowing it was wrong, desiring to do the act, or delighting in the thought as if committing it.

He knew his impure thoughts were sins, and he'd include them in contrition, despite Yuuga's heterodoxy.

He bowed his head for the Act of Contrition. The sister interrupted before he began. "Only speak what's in your heart, Child. Express true regret for the sins you know you're guilty of, and your soul requires absolution for."

Angar nodded. "Oh Lord, I regret killing those seven councilors accidentally, instead of purposefully, as I craved to, avenging my ancestors. I regret swearing false contrition, admitting to sins I never committed. I regret continuing to have impure thoughts of a lustful nature and coveting a married woman. I vow to never stop struggling to purge my heart of sin, as I serve you zealously and with great fervor, upholding my Knightly oath to the best of my ability, shielding all worthy Children of God with my faith, my fury, my life."

Yuuga's eye pierced his, as if flaying his soul, then softened. "Good, Child. That seemed sincere."

She clasped her prayer beads, their iron links clinking as she shifted. "God, the Father of wrath, through the blessed martyrdom of Mother Mi, has gifted us sinners a chance, handing this realm to the sacred aegis of Holy Theosis. Through the Church's ministry, may God grant you pardon. I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Mother, and of Holy Theosis."

Angar performed the sign of the trey. "Amen."

"For your penance," the sister continued, "you'll recite 'God's Wrath Knows No Mercy' three times, 'Blessed Mother' three times, and 'Litany of Unrelenting Slaughter' three times daily for a month while genuflecting. Go and try to sin no more."

Relief flooded Angar. This penance, reciting two prayers and a litany a handful of times, was proper for accidentally killing a few monkeys.

He'd finally found a sane and reasonable confessor. Perhaps Saint Hidetada would take her as the Zephuros' chaplain.

The dark weight of the unjust penance inflicted by that filthy Heretic, Presbyter Prostasia, still loomed over him, placing his soul at risk, but Yuuga could do nothing about that.

"Thanks be to the Lord, our vengeful Master," he said, his voice filled with relief. "Amen."

Yuuga's weathered face cracked into a smile.

Angar met her gaze. "One last thing, Sister."

Her widened eye twinkled. "Yes, Child?"

"Insult this world's women again, and it won't go well for you."

The smile on the sister's face withered. She studied him for a moment before saying, "Fair enough, Child. And good for you, sticking up for your own like that. Commendable, it is."

They flew in silence the rest of the way to Tormina, Angar continuously trying to catch a glimpse of the sister's thoughts, getting nothing. Were he alone, he'd be practicing Electrosynapticism.

As they were nearing the city, he donned his helm, preparing to jump out of the shuttle, making a grand entrance.

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