"…Why do you with hold important information until the last minute Saintess?"
Claudina looked away from the accusing stares the other saints gave her. "You would have yelled at me either way since it was information that Baron told me." Baron squeezed himself more on her side.
Sylvester exchanged looks with the others. "We won't so could you tell us more about…Rosalinda's affiliation?"
She looked him straight in the eye and said, "The Arbitrary Abstractions is relying on the group Rosalinda is part of. From what I have heard, it is more dangerous than the cult." Ignoring their stupefied faces she continued on. "According to Baron, they are bringing demons over here…As for why, I can easily come to the conclusion that they are supplying demons to the cult. The cult themselves have little to no means of summoning demons as we thought."
She reeled in their petrified expressions. 'They sure get scared so easily~'
"…What's done had been done," Shulia spoke in a faint voice. "Now that we are aware let's try our best regardless."
"Agreed." Anatole stood up. "It's about time we leave."
"Doesn't your leg still hurt, grandpa?"
"Silence, you wench!"
They started to leave when small dust fell on them. "Miss Fairy is this cave old?" Sullivan had a strange expression as he looked up. He took out his sword.
"Old? I am not sure but it's certainly unexplored…" She frowned. "What's wrong?"
"Ambush…" The others immediately took out their own swords.
"Seems like they are waiting for us…"
"I suppose you have a plan?"
Claudina smirked. "I have a plan for everything."
Outside Rosalinda was standing alongside with the revived herbalist. Both of them were above the cave and up on air a magic circle keeping them afloat.
The herbalist was bent double and muttering curses non stop. Rosalinda glanced at him.
His skin had patches of different skin tones stitched on to his body since his clothes were ripped in shreds from his fight with Claudina. Frayed white hair was falling off in clumps form a scabbed head. His face was sunken deep with wrinkles and creases on his skin looked like an added layer of flesh. He had gnarly teeth pulled into a permanent snarl and deep set pale blue eyes surrounded by black circle.
Rosalinda tsked inwardly. 'What a shabby appearance! If only he had a proper face maybe I wouldn't have to feel so nauseating!'
She glared down at the cave's entrance. 'To think the infamous Inquisitor one of the highest members in the Arbitrary Abstractions can be defeated by a little girl! Has it become so weak it can't handle a few blows?!' She breathed through her mouth. 'No matter. I will deal with that harlot.'
Then she mumbled, "However, it's rare to find such talent for Forbidden magic…If only we had met in a different world perhaps we could have been colleagues…"
CRACK.
She turned to the Inquisitor in surprise. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
CRAAAACK!!
His bones were being cracked under his skin. He hunched forward as the bones made some awful crushing sounds. His back started to smooth over form the scabs and he slowly started to stand right up till he loomed over Rosalinda. He removed his hands from his face.
Rosalinda let out a small gasp. His sunken in crone face was recovered and chiseled like a young man's. The black circle around his eyes remained as markings while his patchy skin only restored on his chest. Everywhere else looked poorly sewn fabric on a large quilt. His pale yellow hair bloomed out of his skull in silk tresses and stopped short of his shoulder blades.
"Well, well, well, you don't look half bad."
He glanced at her. "You can't expect something to retain its youth when it has died and been revived twice," he answered in a deep voice. He clenched and unclenched his fist. "Though it was impossible for a non saint to restore me completely, my humanity is gone. Forbidden magic can't give the same effect as demonic magic nor Holy magic..." He furrowed his brows. "I can't say whether this is a good thing or bad…"
"Mhhmm~ Say what you want but," with a sly smirk she pushed herself on to his side and grabbed his arm squeezing it on her cleavage. "This new look of yours is much better. Did the Forbidden magic restore only a bit of your original appearance? It looks good. Much better than the awful crone~" she purred on his ear.
He threw her off and rubbing his arm in grimace. "Did you not hear what I said?" he asked rising his voice. "My humanity is gone and you are concerned about my looks?!"
"So? Is it wrong to appreciate something good when it's in front of you?" She shrugged her shoulders before turning back to the cave. "…They haven't moved for a while. I wonder…" Floating ice formed above her outstretched hand. "Should I lure them out or force them…Hmmm…Yes definitely drag them out!"
She plunged the ice shards inside the cave the size growing exponentially. She snapped her fingers. The ice exploded throwing rocks and debris away into the sea.
"…With such an attack I doubt they would be alive…" the Inquisitor mumbled.
Rosalind gazed at the now crushed cave. "No they are very much alive. If that bitch Claudina had really died the Forbidden magic of hers would be cut off."
The Inquisitor said, "Leave the Saintess of Uranus to me."
"…Sure. I only have business with Claudina. Whatever you do to the other saints is no concern of mine."
"But I must say...she's unusual strong for a saintess. Holy mana coexisting with Forbidden magic… I doubt any normal attack will work on her."
"Don't worry I can keep up with her tricks." She smirked. "Especially this ONE!" She swirled around and blocked the incoming attack aimed at her. The Inquisitor stared wide eyed as a ball of lighting the size of a meteorite that hurdled toward them was so easily blocked by a single frail woman.
He turned to see who threw it and to his surprise it was Sullivan standing on a magic circle. He grinned and snapped his fingers. Another energy ball appeared and he threw it at them.
This time it was aimed at him and Rosalind didn't block it. Not prepared for it, he got the full blast of the attack.
He tried shielding with his arms which left burns on the festering stitches. "Tch! This body is done for!" Then he directed accusing eyes at his partner. "You! Why didn't you stop it?"
Rosalinda twirled a stray strand of hair and replied without looking, "Why you ask, Inquisitor? Because it wasn't aimed at me obviously."
"Grr!..."
"Hey!"
The Inquisitor turned. Sullivan stuck out his tongue. "Are you so weak that you are asking help from a girl?" he taunted.
Several black cables drenched with blood ripped out form his back. First they swayed wildly in the air before cracking once like a whip and hurled at Sullivan. "YOU"RE DEAD!!"
Sullivan smirked and let the sharp ends of the cables pierce through his body and out. 'Caught in the trap~'
He coughed out blood and held on to the cables with dear life. The Inquisitor's smug grin dropped when Sullivan's face started to melt by an unknown source of heat. He tried to get the cables out but his arms also melting wouldn't let them go.
"What the hell…?"
Sullivan melted in to a gooey sticky black and yellow slime that gripped onto the cables.
The Inquisitor glowered at the slime and brandished the cables up in the air around to get rid of them. Rosalinda looked on with a bored expression. 'Such a strange saint…'
Instead of falling off the slime wiggled forward engulfing the cables in it's sticky clutches.
The Inquisitor tried to shake it off, tried attacking with magic and lastly tried to separate the cables but everything only made it grip them tighter. "Tsk! What sort of magic is that?!"
"Hmm~ Magic?" Rosalinda mumbled. "I think its closer to a specific race's power…is the Saint of Nyx a Halfling? Part human, part different race?"
"Say that before!" He gritted his teeth and wrenched free the cables from the slime. He grinned. "Hah! Got rid of it!"
Rosalinda narrowed her eyes in amusement. "I wonder about that…"
"Huh? Wait! It's still there!"
The slime was still stuck on the cable.
"I'll help you a bit." Rosalinda snapped her fingers and the cables were set on fire.
This turned out to be a very bad idea.
Instead of burning off, the slime increased in mass and lurched forward by jumping up and down. As it went, it destroyed the cable by denting it backwards. The Inquisitor cursed under his breath and released the cable from his back but the slime took one large leap in the air and morphed into Sullivan who slashed the Inquisitor's face and broke the magic circle causing them all to fall.
Rosalinda shrieked at the Inquisitor. "You blundering fool! Catch me!"
He tsked and threw a cable at her while another one spun up and stabbed through Sullivan's head. However Sullivan vanished into a puff of mist the moment the cable hit him.
"Another quirk of a Halfling?!"
"No that's an illusion."
"WHAT?!"
Down below hidden in the forest adjacent to the now destroyed cave Claudina looked up at the falling Rosalinda and the Inquisitor catching her at neck break speed.
In a moment Sullivan came tumbling down from the trees.
"P-ha! I almost died back there!"
Without looking at him, she answered. "You didn't. I made sure of that. Now what is the status of the herbalist? Is he still alive?"
"Hmm~ Lady Carlos called him 'Inquisitor'. My guess he is someone high up in the ranks of the Arbitrary Abstractions."
Claudina appeared thought for a moment. "…We can still deal with him. The others are waiting for us."
She went back to where the saints were.
In a wide clearing a magic circle the size of a house was drawn with white chalk. At the end of the five points the four saints sat cross legged in deep concentration. In front of Anatole was the Holy book of Eros. Sullivan took the free spot and concentrated on the spell.
Yellow stardust was coming out of the magic circle in regular intervals. To keep it hidden from view Claudina casted an illusion spell overhead just as she had done for Sullivan. Hence why the top of the clearing would look like the top of the tree canopy for an outside person.
Claudina opened her hand. A flower bud made of purple glittering dust swirled out. Now comes the hardest part. She had to maintain all the Holy magic inside the illusion from leaking out else they would give away their position.
"Hng! Okay...Ow, ow, ow!...yes, that hurts a lot."
The way to keep the Holy magic from escaping was by blooming this magic tool given by Shulia. It was an invention made by Lord Gaia; a tool where one can hide away all the Holy magic in an area of two to three kilometers without making it disappear. It had already passed the testing processes and soon it will be distributed to the other temples to be used against demons.
The only problem is to give the flower bud a certain amount of mana little by little for if it bloomed too quickly it will wither soon and won't work anymore.
Unfortunately once Claudina releases her Holy mana these days it seems to be completely drained.
'…Maybe I should have joined in the stupid magic circle…but then again I don't like pain.' She glanced at the poker faces of the saints. '…Bunch of fools with gorilla strength…'
Slowly the flower bloomed. The glittering leaves under the flower moved and slivery lines were being collected at the flower petals.
It was a success. Claudina signed. "Finally the hard part's over." She flexed her fingers. "And thankfully my mana is still there."
A few minutes later the saints stood up and Shulia opened her eyes. "We are ready."
Claudina smirked. "Time to bring the pink gremlin and her deformed troll of a partner down~"