"Oh, Lord. What a mighty blessing have you cast upon your humble Servant today. To believe that my eyes would be graced with such an act of divine retribution. 'Tis a shame that such a person had to die, yet 'tis more of a shame that my hands weren't the ones to cast this wicked imitation of such a holy man to the flames of hell. Indeed, quite a shame, yet I am truly blessed. For the Hand of the Lord shall find within himself to show these lost lambs the path to Heaven."
"... thus, it is now the time to make my entrance. As the virtuous shepherd that'll guide the worthy ones to Paradise, and the ruthless executioner that'll doom the heretics to oblivion. As the judge of those who deserve, I leave my fate in your hands, Oh Lord."
Latin District - Arènes de Lutèce
It had been a magnificent spectacle, so much that he was a tad disappointed he had arrived too late to properly appreciate it. Nevertheless, the crackling of the funerary pyre set for the Servant was almost cozy to see. Although he felt that it would be more adequate to say that it was "the funerary pyre that the Servant became".
Those were the thoughts that the figure that had just recently arrived had. Or, more accurately, the thoughts the one controlling the figure had. Whilst it was definitely strange and suspicious to spot a procession of cowled figures slowly forming an orderly line as they arrived from the west, it'd be even more bizarre to spot a
snout slightly protruding from underneath it. It wouldn't help that the lightning of the zone was subpar, adding a sinister layer to it all. A normal passerby could easily infer that this was a group of cultists or young men that believed Halloween to be a bit earlier than most.
This was the Holy Grail War, however, and as such almost all unexplainable phenomena had to find its explanation within this extraordinary event. These were familiars, of which only one was standing different than the rest: Whilst the others kept their heads low as to conceal their animalistic feature with the hood of their robes, the one in the middle was admiring the dying fire, paying no attention to anyone else. A single mutter could be perceived from them:
"Exodus 3:2 to 3. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses though, 'I will go over and see this strange sight- why the bush does not burn up'".
A dry chuckle came from the smirking familiar, a smirk that was made much more disturbing by the canine snout and the fangs it sported.
"Bah, what a joke". Then, a shift on the attitude of the hound could be seen as his head bowed down and the group of them began to make their way into the arena, uncaring of those leaving or remaining lest they were stopped.
Latin District - Église Saint Thomas d'Aquin
He had seen enough of that situation. A late arrival had ended up working to his advantage: without any sort of intervention from his part he had gotten one of the leylines in the city for himself. However, such a valuable place was not without dispute and he had to tread carefully: make too many enemies and he'd be doomed. Make too many allies and he'd be limited and, more importantly,
forced to cooperate with unsightly heretics. This city was stemming with them and, were it not for the secrecy of the war, he would have already taken the matters of this deranged city into his own hands.
The times weren't as they previously were. Things were way better when he was in charge of the Inquisition. Catholicism was purer, and one couldn't half-ass their beliefs. He even founds his own existence as a Servant repulsive, as it was an affront to the Lord and the holy miracle that was life. Yet, he had to make do with what he had. After all, this was most likely part of His plan, and could be accounted for the ineffability of it. It must have been divine intervention that brought him this chance of taking the Hoyl Grail, and righting the wrongs in Humanity with its might.
This was a test. A test of faith, and devotion. And Tomás de Torquemada was going to show the Lord just how far he'd go to protect the name of Catholicism, and to clean the sinful taint that had spread through it across the ages.