Claudina shut down the telescope with a snap. "Well they seem to be quite angry…" She turned back to the others.
"Aim directly at where I am pointing in the illusion. Else it will all be for naught."
"…It's nearly impossible to aim directly at where you point," Oriane mumbled. Realization hit her. "Oh…never mind…"
She pursued her lips. Claudina acknowledged the fact she couldn't take on Inquisitor and Rosalinda Carlos. Not with Forbidden or Holy magic. Hence they were forced to use the Holy book of Eros.
There is a reason why the Holy books are kept away. They are too powerful for any mortal to handle. There is a chance to control it if they were a saint. However…
Sylvester looked worriedly up at the sky. Someone touched his cheek. He looked down and saw Claudina wearing a grim expression. Her fingers gently brushed on his skin "It's now or never…Please get in position."
He gave a weary smile. "Then I will be counting on you for support." He ran to the other end of the clearing.
…one wrong move and all their lives will be at stake. That is why the saints memorize the spells instead of bringing it with them. But even than it is risky.
He lifted his hands up and put them in front of him. The other four followed suit. Claudina stepped back until she was nearly hidden by the bushes.
'…Your deaths…will probably be remembered…'
The spell shot up at the sky breaking the illusion.
The spell must have been a success for an explosion happened upon impact. The smoke even reached down to the forest making her cough.
Through wet lashes she peeked and was able to see the saints all alive.
'So they are not dead yet? Pity…' "Are you alright?" she called out.
"We are just…dandy…" Shulia answered in between coughs.
Once the smoke cleared they regrouped in the middle. "I suggest we leave now since the enemy is defeated," Anatole said.
Sullivan swung his arms. "Agreed! I feel like all my limbs are falling!" He side eyed Claudina. "Today Miss Fairy worked me like a salve~ to think she would also abuse my Sludge pup side of the family!"
She raised a brow in amusement. "The situation called for it." She glanced at the other side thinking, 'Though I had no idea monster blood ran in your human veins...Revolting...'
"Well you can't find fault in her for treating you like that. Grownups should work once in a while," said Shulia. She rubbed her shoulder. "But sheesh! For a second there I thought I was going to die back there!"
"Don't worry. I won't let you be killed." Claudina smiled at her. However it caused her to shiver instead. "When you say it, it's almost like you want me to die."
She loudly gasped bringing her hands to her mouth. "Heavens no! Whatever made you think that?"
"Yeah, yeah I got it…no need to be so dramatic." Shulia rolled her eyes.
They traversed out of the forest and back into the sandy beaches.
"Hnnng~" Claudina stretched her arms. "When are we leaving this island again? We also need to reach the eastern empire." she said.
"Oh you're not leaving anytime soon dear~"
Claudina and the saints flinched. They turned to see Rosalinda Carlos and Inquisitor standing right behind them. Her clothes were partially burned off.
"My, my…I didn't think you were still alive." Claudina appeared weary and on guard.
Rosalinda grinned. "As much as I want to join my departed beloved I don't think he can rest in peace knowing his murderer is roaming out in the open."
She widened her eyes. "That's why, DIE!!" Thousands of glass shards appeared and went straight for the saints.
Anatole raised a shield before throwing more smoke bombs at them.
"Did you think you can get away with the same trick again?" Rosalinda charged out of the smoke and broke the shield with a slam of her closed fist.
Before she could do anything Baron leaped out from the trees and pinned her to the ground.
"lEaVe tHe DUchEss aLonE!" He attempted to attack her but instead he was thrown off by Inquisitor.
Claudina couldn't see through the smoke but she did hear him falling hard on the ground. He groaned in pain. "hUrTsSss…BleEdInnNNgGg…"
Her eyes widened in worry. "Baron?! Baron where are you? Answer me!"
Someone grabbed her. She turned to see Rosalinda clawing into her bare arms. As the smoke eased she could make out the woman's crazed expression.
"There you are~"
"Tch!" She pulled out her sword causing her to jump back. However the action caused a thin gash on her cheek. Claudina tightened her grip on the hilt, took a fight stance and stared down angrily at her.
Blood trickled out. Rosalinda only smiled seemingly in a calm manner as she touched the wound. She breathed out. "HOW DARE YOU RUIN MY FACE?!?!?" she screamed. Her face had contorted into a twisted mixture of anger, spite, disgust and despair. "DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW VALUABLE HER FACE IS TO A WOMAN?!?! AND YOU DESTROYED IT!!!"
Claudina beamed. "Yes! Indeed I have done it! Isn't it obvious? With how beautiful I am I don't want any more competition with anyone else."
Rosalinda was enraged. "You-"
The smoke cleared. Then she noticed the monsters and demons fighting the saints.
"Did you think you are the only one you can use illusion magic?"
She snapped her head and sneered. Rosalinda was way ahead of the horde of monsters with the Inquisitor.
"The things you do to get my attention~"
"No, no, no. The things I had to do in the name of love," Rosalinda's expression darkened. "I will let you experience it in full…" She ripped open the Forbidden Grimoire and unleashed a cry.
The sea surface bubbled and out came a monster.
Claudina recognized the monster. They had fought with it on the ship. The monster was fifteen feet high with a thick vile made of seaweed, barnacle, dead coral and prickly sea urchins that stopped just above its wrinkled and scaly feet. It had three toes on each foot with the toenail made of dead fish. From two dark gaping holes on the veil was a pair of glowing red eyes. Multiple tentacles with rotting suction on its sides were in place where the hands were supposed to be.
Claudina wasn't sure what sort of monster it was. Maybe Sullivan knew but right now she had no time to ask for it had started to attack her.
Rosalinda continued to summon more monsters and demons so none of the saints were given any rest.
Claudina stumbled back panting. They had been fighting for the last few hours with no respite. Even with Baron there was no end to it.
Suddenly a sword whooshed by her face leaving a cut. She tripped and fell on her back. "Urgh!" Rosalind stood over Claudina. Before she could react she plunged another sword on her stomach. "Time to die!"
Instead someone kicked her to the side. "Get up! This is no place to die!" Shulia screamed over the noise pulling her up and handing her sword. Looking over her shoulder she saw Rosalinda at the far end clicking her tongue in disappointment.
Another illusion.
Quickly she healed herself from her injury and ran back into battle.
Suddenly Oriane screamed from above.
Looking up she saw Oriane kicking her feet in protest while her upper body was bound by a cable. Her sword was picked by another cable and both were hoisted up from the battle before they were lead back into the forest.
Below her was the Inquisitor running at full speed.
Claudina yelled out in the middle of deflecting a demon. "Anatole!"
"Yeah I saw it!" He kicked the monster away and chased after the person. The fight between the saints, the demons and monsters continued. Rosalind Carlos was still far ahead of the horde, laughing like a mad woman from a safe distance. None of the saints could reach her. If they were getting close she would direct demons and monsters alike at their way.
Claudina growled. Nearby Baron was tearing the monsters with scary accuracy. It just reminded her that the demon she was always treating as a doll was a King Grade demon, a relatively strong demon.
She remembered Anatole chasing the person Inquisitor in the forest. 'Bastard may be in danger…' Gritting her teeth she tried to squint a way to go after Anatole. "Baron! Clear a path to the forest!"
"yeS!" Baron fell into a frenzy to massacre his weaker brethren. Soon enough Claudina was able to get closer to the forest with Baron in front of her tearing away at monsters and demons alike.
"DUcHeSs pAth iS cLEareD!"
"Good! Help the others while I am away!"
She ran off inside the forest.
Unfortunately Rosalinda saw her and gave chase from a monster's back. Claudina noticed it but did nothing. 'With her straying there will be no one to summon more demons and the saints can come to find us.'
She sliced off any obstacles in front of her and threw them back to slower her pursuer.
A flash of thunder struck into the forest from the sky. "Anatole…!"
She sped up. She could hear the groans coming from behind as the monster tried to keep up with her in the forest track. "Ugh! You blundering fool! Use your nose! Sniff her out! Ignore the branches!"
Claudina somehow managed to restrain herself from saying anything back to her.
Light shot out in thin rays in front of her. A clearing was getting close. She could even hear the clash of steel and magic being used.
Anatole was fighting the Inquisitor. He had think cables with blades at the end using it as stingers and attacking Anatole who battled it out with his Holy sword. Oriane was still high above trying to use magic but another cable ripped out of his back covered her mouth.
Since none of them saw her, she sneaked up behind the bushes and plunged her sword right behind his heart. The Inquisitor merely glanced at Claudina. "…I only wish to fight with the Saintess of Uranus so stop getting IN MY WAY!!"
He threw both Anatole and Claudina and knocked off their swords. Then he caught them both in his cables. "Why won't saints understand simple orders? By not understanding orders you will die."
Claudina struggled against her binds. "Ngh! Put me down!"
"Do you think by saying that I will put you down? You are capable of using the Forbidden Grimoire but you are incompetent…"
"I am not incompetent! I just don't know how to use it y- Mmhp!" A cable covered her mouth muffling anymore she had to say. "And don't think I didn't notice you as well." Anatole flinched stopping mid chant. The cables swayed and covered his mouth as well.
The Inquisitor's eyes moved on to Oriane who stiffened. He smirked. "It's been so long… so long since I once again felt this power…The power of Lord Uranus!" His face darkened. "But why is the vessel so weak?"
"Kyaah!" Oriane shrieked.
He flung her across a tree. The force crushed the tree in half and Oriane let out muffled whimpers. He collapsed into the ground. "Why is it so damn weak?! This wasn't like this just a few years ago! Lord Uranus is seen as one of the strongest! So why?!" He pulled the cable back. "Why are you a saintess?!" he yelled at her horrified face. "What did Lord Uranus see in you?!" He removed the cable from her mouth.
He grabbed her by the hair. "Answer me! Why are you so damn weak?!"
"Uagh!…ha…ha…I don't know why he choose me either. But what's it to you?"
"Me? Who am I, you ask, you foul loathsome sorry excuse of a saintess?!"
Oriane said nothing. She only continued to silently stare at him.
"I didn't expect an idiotic woman to learn the history of the saints." He harshly shoved her head away. "Agh!"
"So you are hurling all of your rage at me because I am the weakest saintess of all?"
Way above Claudina thought in her head. 'Well when she puts it that way it is stupid reason…Only strength alone doesn't define one's capabilities.'
"No, no, no. Your strength has nothing do with it…It's you as a whole that repulses me beyond belief!" He fell down on the ground covering his face. "Hah. Why? Why is it you? If only the current saintess had been stronger I would have left the Five Nations alone. But now...you have ruined everything…"
He signed before saying in sobbing voice. "...And even if I go in front of Lord Uranus, rather than taking me in again as his saint again he is sure to abolish me. I have become a monster with no redemption."
Oriane flinched hearing him refer himself as saint.
"You…just what are you?"
He bolted right up. "I am not a 'what.' I will not be refereed as an object," he said in a commanding tone. "I am-was-the 10th saint of Uranus, Radley Hawks and one of the twelve heads of the Arbitrary Abstractions; the Vessels of Ri'sh, the Inquisitor."
The clearing went silent.
Up above Anatole and Claudina couldn't believe what they had heard. A former saint now enemy. That and someone who should be dead for more than a hundred years.
There were only three know methods to bring back the dead.
The first one is done by resurrecting someone by the saints holy powers. This is usually done when someone who was not supposed to die yet had died to strange or unusual circumstances. This meant the former deceased person would continue to live as they were until death finally comes to take them away. No saint could ever resurrect them after that. Those who attempt to do are condemned and die instead.
The second one is by using demons. By forming a contract or selling your soul as the price, the deceased person will come back to life. However the deceased person will be sad and cold to them as if separated by a veil. Though they returned to the mortal world and can no longer go back to the grave they would suffered before ultimately turning into a man eating demon.
The last and final one was through necromancy. Because it was field different from magic it was extensively researched by enchanters and shaman. By using the deceased person's soul they could bring back the lost souls. Unlike using demons, they deceased person maintain a puppet like behavior such as rigid or jerky movement and be very obedient to the necromancer.
The Inquisitor on the other hand didn't appear to be revived by any of them. Nor did he resembled an undead. The way reason on how he moved around must be something the Vessels of Ri'sh did.
After a pause Oriane was the first to spoke. "…Did senior rise up from the grave only for scolding me?"
The Inquisitor widened his eyes in pure hatred and flung her again. He repeatedly slammed her up and down on the ground before raising her up and making him face once more. "Being a saint won't kill you but it doesn't mean you can't get hurt!"
Oriane was trembling with cuts all over her face. Her hair was all over the place with dirt and soil on them. Blood flowed out in torrent from a deep gash on her forehead. Soft pants left her lips but not once did she scream out.
She peeked through her bangs and let out a breath of laugh. "…Heh! Done already? I expected something more intense..."
A face of absolute calm came over to his face when he suddenly let out a war cry and threw her back at the ground, the trees, stabbed through her, did everything possible to make her scream out.
Claudina was looking on at the spectacle with morbid curiosity. Beside her Anatole looked ready to bolt.
'Wonder what's gotten into a girl oh so very timid…Is she showing off to a senior?' She cringed when the Inquisitor threw her especially hard on the ground. 'That doesn't mean she has to take such a horrible beat down…And this guy on the other hand,' she glanced at Anatole who was mumbling against his restraint some sort of prayer to Eros. She rolled her eyes. 'Sheesh! Calm down, sir! She will be fine!'
Then she noticed Oriane's eyes were no longer black but a shimmering silver.