The Grand Cathedral shuddered again as Aiden stepped down from the outer wall, papal vestments stained with sweat, blood, and drying cum.
The stone beneath his boots groaned like a living thing. Cracks still spiderwebbed across the ancient pillars and vaulted ceilings, glowing with faint, angry red light that pulsed in time with the fractures running through his own body.
Inside the sanctum, chaos waited.
Cardinal Morten stormed through the massive bronze doors at the head of twenty lesser cardinals and a detachment of cathedral guards. His face was purple with rage. "This ends now, false Pope!" he bellowed, voice echoing off the fractured walls.
"You have turned the Holy See into a brothel of sin! Copulating like beasts on the very walls while the faithful bleed and die! We demand you abdicate this instant, or face formal excommunication and trial for heresy!"
