The Inquisitor lifted Oriane's still body one last time before bringing her back in front of him.
He leaned forward. "Do you realize why I am hurting you?"
Keeping her head lowered Oriane panted in between words. "…Cuz…its fun for…you…?"
He slammed her again. "Try again…"
"…I am not…worth the…position…of saintess…and you hate…me for… it…"
He smirked. "Finally you understand! If so how about you finish yourself off, hm?"
"…but you know…Lord Uranus is too smart for his own good…"
"Don't you dare insult his good name!!" he hissed.
"…So smart he must have foreseen this situation…" A ghost of a smile stretched on her bleeding lips. "…Hence why he released my seal before I left…" She looked up her iris now completely bleach white. Stones levitated off the ground as wind blew in torrents.
Overhead Claudina could see the sea becoming wild. She glanced down. 'What a splendid turn of events~'
"I terrified my family with my abnormal power. After I killed my own mother with it my father started to fear me and started to hit me if my powers ever went haywire. I was meant to die a long time ago but my brother took me into Lord Uranus' temple to protect me…"
The Inquisitor's brow furrowed and he threw her off from his cable but Oriane stubbornly held on to it.
She wrapped her arms and tore through the hard metal cable with her bare hands without enhancing her strength.
Anatole and Claudina looked down in shock.
Oriane threw the broken cable at the Inquisitor but he blocked it with another cable. He narrowed his eyes. "…I must have underestimated you."
The strange silvery glow returned and she crouched down. The Inquisitor's eyes widened as she effortlessly pulled out a large chunk of the earth and flung it at him with tremendous speed. He couldn't move fast enough and the chunk hit him. He flew away along with his four suspended cables.
After the hit he slowly got up to his feet. Shaking of his dizziness he glared at Oriane across the field. Not only was the strange white glow was leaking out of her eyes, strange runes appeared on her skin as she levitated off the floor.
'What sort of power is that?!' A white glowing ball spun out from her hand.
He gashed his teeth. "Doesn't matter. I just need to kill her here and now!" He ripped open more cables from his back as well as his stomach and proceeded to attack with them.
As he engaged in battle he had a thought back in his mind: Where was Rosalind?
Deep within the forest Rosalinda had to halt in her pursuit of Claudina.
For standing in front of her were the three saints and one hulking demon bloodied and bruised.
"Finally we got to the swine who started all this!"
Shulia flexed and cracked her fingers as Rosalinda looked at down at them from top of the Heider Spider monster.
"Heyyy~ Lady Carlos~ We don't want to hurt you so how about you surrender right now and we can at least pardon most of your crimes?" Sullivan offered.
"Hmph! Only fools will give when they are so close to their goals!"She rammed the spider monster at them only for the monster to get it's front legs cut off.
Sylvester looked over his shoulder sword in hand. "Forgive me. If you wish to blame someone, blame yourself for getting entangled with the gods' enemies."
"Woww~ look at our little brat taking lead~ Guess us adults need to do our part as well," Shulia said drawing out her sword.
Rosalind still sitting on top of the now squirming monster lowered her head.
"Ah! Are you giving up? That's good, that's good. We will take you into cutod-" Sharp needles were thrown at their way as Rosalinda jumped up on to the trees and began leaping from branch to branch. The saints were able to block the poisoned needles in time but Rosalinda had escaped.
Shulia growled under her breath. "That little!" She slashed at a tree and toppled right on top of the monster killing it once and for all.
However before they could move Baron stepped forward, opened his mouth and let out three breaths of fire burning both monster and half of the forest.
"Uwah!" Rosalinda had fallen down in the fire.
"…As expected of a demon," Sullivan said watching Baron sitting back on his hunches again. "No mercy even for plants."
All of his eyes were soley focused on the burning forest. "i aM MoVinG uNDer ThE dUchEss' OrDErs. NOt anYOne elSe's."
They watched silently as the forest fire slowly came to an end until ashes smoldered where the wind passed.
They waited to see any movements.
Nothing. They squinted their eyes to see any unusual lumps.
Still nothing.
Something moved.
Someone covered in ash pushed off a burned tree above them. The figure looked across to the battle ready saints and crouching demon before digging deep under their singled clothes they bought out the red Forbidden Grimoire.
Rosalinda screamed out the curse of her heart paralyzing them. Had it not been for Baron they surely would have died. He pushed them out and threw a large rock at her stopping her from finishing.
"Agah!"
He turned to meet the disbelief in the saints' eyes. "DucHess wIlL bE sAd iF yOu dIE nOw. aS i sAid beForE I aM foLloWing tHe dUchESs' oRderS."
"YOU FOOLS THAT WORSHIP THE SHEEP GODS!!" Rosalinda yelled after crushing the boulder. They spun at her in horror.
She shot out her hand and shadows ripped out shaped like dragons and attacked them.
The saints dealt with each shadow while Sylvester and Baron slowly inched forward to catch Rosalind off guard whilst she directed the shadows where to attack. With her strategies similar to war campaigns it was difficult for Shulia the power house of the saints to fight.
Suddenly the gravity in the air dropped.
Sullivan widened his eyes realizing what it was.
"Sullivan…this is!"
"I know!"
Rosalinda trembled as the black shadows she conjured with the Grimoire disintegrated into dust. She scowled at the saints. 'This awful power...! So they had this under their sleeves!'
Back at the clearing Oriane was still fighting with the Inquisitor. Oriane's appearance had taken into a more of a Celestial being. The runes had spread entirely over her now pitch black body. There were no more visible marking of her facial features or clothes just smooth matte black. Her hair also black was longer and flying upwards with glowing slivery highlights. The glow in her eyes dimmed as a single tear rolled down her face. "…It hurts…" she mumbled. As she said this, nearby trees that weren't affected by the fight started to rot away.
He was gravely injured but his some of the smaller cables continued to reconstruct his body. He skidded back as Oriane used one magic spell after another. It was like there was no end. Even Claudina was surprised to see the fight go on for hours. She didn't have that much mana with Forbidden and Holy magic combined.
The inquisitor looked at his stomach wound. This one was taking the longest to reconstruct. He glowered as Oriane got ready to attack again. 'I can't go any longer! I need to rest.' He glanced up. Claudina and Anatole were still tied up with all three of the Holy Swords suspended with them.
For the entire duration Oriane never once tried to call for her sword. Instead she was using the most complex spells the Inquisitor has ever seen.
'I will mentally crush her with this. And even if it doesn't work I can still escape for a bit.' "Take this!" He tossed the swords and the saints up in the air while another aimed for her heart when she was momentarily distracted. The cable hit her but immediately she tore it off her body.
Anatole and Claudina fell from the sky screaming and flailing their limbs. Oriane jumped up and caught Claudina by the scruff on her neck and Anatole by the arm. She somersaulted in the air and landed on her feet back on the ground.
She titled her head to the side. "…Looking back my brother must have sent me to the temple because he too was afraid of me…This power is too destructive." She stared at the two saints under her arms. "Are you alright?"
Claudina glanced up. "He escaped."
"Let him. My friends come before anything else." She started to revert back to her normal appearance. Both previous and new wounds were gone.
"Oriane I didn't expect you to released all your power like that." She jolted out of her skin at the reprimand and lowered her head. "…It just happened."
"Try to control it from now on. I am sure Lord Uranus wouldn't want his Saintess to die."
Claudina frowned, not liking to be left out the secret. "What was that power?"
"..It's best you don't know Saintess. At least not now." He steadily rose to his feet. "Our swords, where are they?"
"I got them right here."
After getting back their swords they got ready to go after the Inquisitor when suddenly someone attacked them from behind. Oriane still high with adrenaline rush from the last fight didn't evade it but rather cut the curse into two.
"Ke ke ke ke~ I thought you would get pulverized." Rosalinda stepped out the shadows wearing a grotesque expression of madness. "It took me awhile to get rid of the saints from my back but once again I meet you, Claudina!"
Claudina stood rigid. "Indeed. I had hoped you would have died by now."
"Nonsense! I could I die so easily not without taking you with me."
She raised her forbidden Grimoire.
Shadow puppets sneaked up behind them. Anatole saw them move and casted a spell for Holy light. It caused the shadows to disappear.
"Hmm? Right you also killed my Lucas with that floozy didn't you?" Then she grinned. "I will take both of you down them!"
Claudina and the others braced for the incoming attack when a bright arrow was shot in the clearing. The arrowhead exploded and caused momentarily blindness.
"Not so fast!" a familiar voice shouted. The light cleared up and Sylvester and the others had arrived.
"Oh look who joined us!"Though Rosalind said it in mock cheer it took a sheer second for Claudina to see the panic stricken look she had before faking it.
'They must have put up a tremendous fight if she is nervous.' She was snapped out of her thoughts when she felt fur brushing on her side. She grinned. Claudina didn't have to look at the rabbit demon crawling out of her shadow. "Seems like I was worried for nothing huh Baron?" she said ignoring Oriane's stupefied looks.
Baron slunk behind her but continued to glare at Rosalinda. "sImiLaR pOweR liKe duChesS bUt weIrD hUmaN iS ScArY."
"Is that so?" she whispered before yelling, "Hey! Rosalinda! Let's not bring the saints and fight with only using our Grimoires!"
Rosalinda smirked. "That had always been the plan!" She glanced at the drawn swords still pointing at her. "But! I fancy a wager! Won't you?"
Claudina arched a brow. "A wager?"
"Yes, a wager! If I win not only will you return the blue Forbidden Grimoire but you must also kill all of the saints present here! Then I will either kill you after you apologize for seducing and killing Lucas."
"And if I win?"
"You get to keep the Grimoire and I will withdraw for now. My partner however will not. He can do whatever he wants with you all."
Shulia was enraged. "The hell sort of wager is that?! And besides Claudina will never agree to that!"
"Hmmm…" Claudina on the other hand thought about. She clapped her hands as if finally coming to a decision. "Seems intriguing!" "CLAUDINA!!" "Let's do it!" She raised her index finger. "But with one more condition! You will forfeit your Forbidden Grimoire."
Her face was completely blank but then she smirked. "Alright~ what makes a wager more interesting are when more things are on the line. I will set up an isolation field first."
"Claudina."
She turned to see Sylvester's worried face. "Don't do this."
Claudina chuckled. "Hey which one of us is fighting her? You or me? Don't look so worried!"
"I am saying this for your own good. I saw her power. It can rival the Celestial Heavens. You don't understand. Back down, please I am begging you."
She gave him a fond smile. "All the more reason to win." She lowered her eyes. "Though I do know I can't defeat her."
"Then why?!"
"I wonder too as I am not interested to get the Forbidden Grimoire. Perhaps for fun maybe~"
"Claudina this is serious."
"And I am answering seriously." She entered the isolation field. "Though I can't beat her I can certainly stall her so I will draw out the match to reach the right moment."
Sylvester tilted his head in confusion. "What moment?" he questioned.
She didn't answer him. Instead she said, "I can't wait to see her absolute despair in her eyes when she dies a disgraceful death surrounded by her enemies! I will make sure her body is never received by her family! The vultures and crows will tear of her flesh and wild dogs will gnaw through her bones. Hehehe~ I can't wait!"
"Just what are you talking about?"
The isolation felid span from the clearing and in to the forest. She had serene expression as she faced him.
"Of course I am talking about the betrayal!"