An entire village was wiped from the face of this earth. All fifty people in the Village were dead, and not a single person outside knew about it since the Village was disconnected from the rest of the world for the most part.
Lira didn't tell Gabriel what she did, but even if she did, she didn't think Gabriel would've cared. She had given those people an option to save their lives by keeping their mouths shut, but they refused to listen. She didn't believe she was in the wrong. She just did what she had promised to do. They were in the wrong for making her do it!
"This isn't the direction to the Royal Capital, is it?"
The two of them had only left the village a short time ago when Gabriel realized something. The sun was behind them. That meant they were going in the wrong direction.
"That's right. We aren't going to the Royal Capital right away." Lira confessed.
"Where are we going then?"
"You aren't ready to get to the Royal Capital yet. There are still a few things we need to handle to ensure you have the highest chance of success. That's why I'm taking you somewhere special," Lira explained. "As you said before, there are a few people in the Capital who recognize you and know what you are, so we need all the precautions we can take."
"You have a way to make sure they don't recognize me? I don't think a disguise will work on me." Gabriel shook his head in response. He assumed that she was taking him to a makeup artist who was going to place a fake mustache and beard on his face for his disguise. He believed it wasn't going to work.
"Don't worry; I'm not taking you to get a disguise. It's something more than that. You'll know when we get there." Lira smiled in response. She believed Gabriel was going to be pleasantly surprised when he saw what she had planned.
Lira was the only Dark Mage that was still in existence, according to what she knew. All the other dark mages were killed in this world as soon as they awakened, so she could never protect anyone. She had always been alone. She had already lost hopes of someone else supporting her in this battle against the Holy Church.
In her isolation, she didn't realize when she had gone inside a shell where her real optimistic personality had died. She didn't even remember the last time she was hopeful for what the future held for her. She just killed and killed to get a purpose in her fight.
Now she wasn't alone. She had Gabriel, who had promised to support her. Even though the two had just met, she had already started considering him like her. The two were similar in more ways than one. She didn't want to lose Gabriel and go back to being all alone.
The mission was not only for her sake, but it was for everyone like her who had to fight for their lives in this biased world. In this battle, she didn't want to lose Gabriel. She wanted him to come out safely, and she was willing to waste as much time as she needed for it.
It didn't matter how much they waited before infiltrating the Holy City, but what mattered was doing it right on the first attempt. Because if they failed once, it was all going to be over.
Gabriel was going to be killed and possibly her as well since she wasn't going to sit back and watch him face the enemies alone. The fight for their freedom was going to end right there, and she didn't want that.
"As I told you before, I'll give you everything you need, no matter what I have to do for it," Lira stated calmly.
Gabriel didn't respond. He just gazed into the distance.
The Royal City was also known as the Holy City. He had already dreamed of going there, but now, that dream was coming true, but not as he had hoped.
This time, the journey wasn't for his future and goals. This time, the journey was for his revenge and something even more than that.
"Can I ask you something?" After a long silence, Gabriel asked.
"Anything you want," Lira answered immediately.
"How many spells do you have in your Grimoire?"
Lira was slightly surprised at this question, but she didn't hold back on answering. "More than twenty. As for you, I suppose you have two or three? One of them being the Undead Shield?"
"How do you know how many spells I have?" Gabriel asked in surprise.
"It's not hard to guess. The Grimoires aren't like any other books. They are the Holy Books with lives of their own. That's how they can select hosts."
"They also decide how many spells you can access based on your spiritual strength, so you don't hurt yourself while using a spell. As you can expect, a Grimoire won't want its host to die using a spell they can't use, right?"
"I know you've just awakened, so you're probably a novice mage. Your soul power would be really weak for now, and that's why the Grimoire won't give you any advanced or mid-tier spells. So I can guess you have a couple of spells only, but you don't have to worry about that."
"The stronger you get, the more spells you'll unlock, each being stronger than the last."
Hearing Lira's explanation, Gabriel finally understood. So this was the secret. Apparently, this wasn't written in any books, probably because there were only a few Grimoires, so there was no need to generalize this information.
Lira further continued her explanation.
"You awakened a never-before-seen element, but that's about it. On the core, you're still the same old self. Your soul is also the same. You have a Grimoire and probably an Ancestral Staff as well, but you aren't strong enough to hold their complete strength."
Hearing her explanation, Gabriel was able to understand a few things that he didn't before.
He had the weapons, but he didn't know how to use them properly. He also needed to strengthen his soul and advance as a Mage so he could use stronger spells. Initially, he was confused about why this book only had two spells, but he finally had some clarity. He wasn't the only one who started with only two spells.
The Holy Books were said to have lives of their own. The Book of Necromancy selected him. It also took him to safety when he had no other option. It was probably the same for all other Holy Books.
Since the Forbidden Book of Necromancy wanted him to be safe, it only showed him the spells that he could use based on his current strength. As a basic mage who hadn't trained his soul yet, if he tried to use an Advanced Spell from the Holy Book, he could actually damage his Soul forever, so he wasn't allowed to see those spells yet.
"So this lack of spells is nothing more than a safety mechanism," Gabriel commented.
"That would be accurate."
"That means you are stronger than me and can kill me whenever you want?" Gabriel asked, frowning.
He had only two low-tier spells while this lady had over twenty, possibly even advanced spells of darkness? Didn't that mean she was in a different league altogether?
Lira shook her head in response. "That's not entirely correct."
She further continued, "The spell you used in the forest… It was probably a basic tier spell for you, but the strength behind that spell... I felt it. Your basic spell was comparable to my stronger spells, if not stronger."
"I honestly don't know how that's possible. Even though you used the Ancestral Staff for that spell, your spell still shouldn't be comparable to my advanced spells, but it was. It's probably something about your element. Honestly, even I'm confused about it. Your Element... It's something really special, Gabriel."
"If your Basic Tier Spells are so strong, I can only imagine how strong your advanced tier spells are going to be..."