The fight between Rosalinda and Claudina was at it's peak.
The surrounding area had been demolished with craters, ice, ashes and monster corpses. Sharp crystals grew out the ground, mutated trees were skewered left and right and golems of strange and unknown materials were crumbled to dust. Broken swords, arrows and spears littered and protruded out of the ground. Tidal waves left the forest floor with mud.
"…H-hey this sort of power isn't this…" Oriane clutched her neck in fear. She couldn't continue with the lump on her throat.
"I know. This is why this is called Taboo. This power can take down the Celestial Heavens," Sylvester slowly said
Shulia nervously looked at Claudina and Rosalinda. Both of them had a deranged smile as they fought one another in futile.
Beside her Sullivan frowned. "We can't even stop them even if we wanted too now. All we can do is pray those spells don't hit us by mistake."
Anatole was quite. His fist was clenched tightly against his side. Under his veil he wore an expression of concern mixed with anger. '…Wench, don't get hurt…'
Both Claudina and Rosalind were breathing heavily. Injuries were heavy on Rosalind's side since Claudina's Holy power would naturally heal her but now it also was slowly dwindling.
"…Hah…ha…hah…hey…do you…ha give…up?" Rosalinda asked with a shaky breathes. She was clutching her stomach. Green crystals were lodged at her side. Her fine hair was coming out of her drills and her icy blue eyes were bloodshot.
Claudina shot a halfhearted triumphant look. "As if! I can still take you on!" Her arms were shaking as purple flames left blue burn marks. 'Kguh! Damn this curse!' Her bright green eyes were twitching due to pain.
Shakily she raised her hand and opened her mouth to say the spell when…
…blood dribbled out instead of words.
She stared blankly at the blood. '…I am at my limit.' Her vision blurred but somehow she held on. If she were to fall now she wouldn't be able to see Rosalinda's despair stricken face.
Ahhh…just imaging it makes her shiver. Glancing back at the saints she noticed their tense stares while holding their sword hilts in a tight grip. What surprised was Anatole looking right at her. Though the veil obscured his face she had an irritating feeling he was watching her like a hawk as if he was about to rush in at the slightest thing.
She faced Rosalinda with a gentle look. "She's nearly drained too…one final push…before it all ends…"
She snapped her fingers and a min tornado ripped through the pages of the Grimoire. Rosalinda raised her own Grimoire to defend however neither the tornado nor the shield ever appeared for both of them extinguished the last of their mana.
They fell weakly on to the ground. Claudina's head was pounding. '…this pain is more… excruciating than back...in Whirlpool Reefs.'
"Claudina!!"
'My head…its spinning…let me just...Ahhh…that's much better...'
"Claudina, are you alright?!"
She craned her head up. Sylvester was already kneeling down and taking her in his arms to heal her when one of saints gasped. "Shit! Her eyes are bleeding too!"
'…Bleeding…? Guess it explains the …red in my vision…'
"Just stay awake! Don't fall sleep!"
She blearily nodded and tried to her best not to close her eyes.
Soon she felt the cool yet warm sensation of Holy magic touching her skin. It was comforting like the hand of a loving mother that was never present in her childhood. Her wounds started to fade and her bloody vision cleared.
"…Urgh…Sylvester…you're crushing me."
"Oh! A-apologizes! But I will be done healing you so bear with it for a little bit more."
"…Whatever…ugh…"
After she was healed she pushed Sylvester away and stood up by herself. Blinking her light headedness she looked over where Rosalinda was also coming to her senses.
"…ha…haah…my head…" She raised her head, first stared at the ground in a daze before suddenly looking up with a hateful glower. "…Seems like you are still alive."
"I could say the same about you too," Claudina replied but her fingers were still twitching.
Her eyes then fell on the saints. "Must be so nice to have personal healers at your beak and call~ you can be revived again and again if you died. Heh! Though I doubt they will be able to bring you back from the death after this!" She had already readied a spell whereas Claudina had yet to recover from the aftershocks from the battle.
She gasped and covered her face. But the spell never reached her.
Confused she peeked out of her hands and nearly shrieked in joy.
A sword had stabbed through Rosalinda's chest. "Kguh…" With the exception of Claudina, the saints looked on in absolute shock. The Inquisitor stood behind Rosalinda the hilt of the sword on his hand.
"I-Inquisit-tor…just w-what is the meaning of…this…" Rosalinda grabbed around the fatal wound as her body trembled all over.
He pulled back the sword letting her fall on to the ground in a heap. He returned her angry glares with an emotionless face. "Apologizes the higher ups and I had already discussed to eliminate you after this. I interjected should you continue to remain useful we will allow you to live but you failed my expectations so…no hard feelings."
He knelt down and picked something up. "…And I am taking this with me too." It was the Forbidden Grimoire. "It's not hard to find someone who can use Forbidden magic in the Arbitrary Abstractions"
He looked at Claudina. "You. You knew I would betray her." He raised his head haughtily. "Why didn't you say anything? And for how long did you know it?"
She gave a close eyed smile. "How long? From the beginning of course!"
"I am asking how not when."
"Oh! Well you see when we were fighting one another. I found it strange but didn't question it further. You made sure not to hurt me even when you captured me. You threw me against some sort of soft landing if Oriane wasn't able to catch me. Because I was the only one able to go head to head with Rosalinda you needed me in a tip toe shape for me to weaken her so you may able to give the final blow." She opened her eyes. "…in other words you could say I used just as you used me."
The Inquisitor started at her with a peculiar expression. "I see…I am just curious about one more thing."
"Spit it out then."
"Why didn't you tell this to the other saints? I understand why you couldn't tell Rosalinda because she might have betrayed both of us but why not the saints?"
She looked behind her shoulder and faced him again. Claudina tilted her head before answering, "…I am not sure either but I guess it was to protect them?"
The Inquisitor frowned. "…You say you want to protect your comrades but your actions say otherwise." He gripped the Forbidden Grimoire. "…Not that it matters to me." He glanced at the angry saints. "What do you want to do to me, Saints?"
"Take you into custody. And remove the Forbidden Grimoire from the Arbitrary Abstractions' archives," Shulia said in a loud voice. She furrowed her brows. "We'll be putting you in Lord Nyx's trail where all the other gods will witness your execution."
He gazed the other way. "…Will I get a plead case as I am a former Saint?"
"If you are a Saint you should know it better."
He shrugged his shoulders. "I see. The negotiations has ended."
"What?! This wasn't even a negotiation! Hand yourself and the Grimoire ove-Wait. What are you doing?!"
It was too late. The Inquisitor was already chanting out a spell his eyes glowing red. Suddenly he stopped and quivered as the spell sapped out his mana. The force of the spell sent them reeling back.
"Ugh!" Claudina covered her eyes from the dust when…
"What the hell did he do?!"
It was Sullivan's voice and he sounded extremely angry.
Claudina gasped when she opened her eyes and looked over where Sullivan was glaring at.
A Void Gate had been opened.
The void gate stood in an ominous grey mist. Two gigantic femur bones had rumbled out of the ground. A midnight blue smoke spiraled out in the middle of the bones before it spread to the edges like a tent. Multiple bones taller than the average man made an arch leading to the larger two bones. The sky changed to a deep purple with red clouds that moved in a foggy mess.
The area was glitching multiple times causing various anomalies to form; dark blue spiders with tormented human faces were growing out of florid seeds that infested the trees. Strange howls that sounded uncanny like children being whipped reached their ears. Fungus the size of a small child walked around them with jerky movement on wrinkled bloody feet that tore through the seams. Moths crawled on the bead grass with scorpion legs with large human eyes. The birds and small animals all suffered similar fate; strange howls ripped through their throats as they transformed into a gruesome mixture of melted faces, multiple human growths that oozed blood with each step, bones being pulled out by an invisible hand and not dying from blood loss.
Oriane shielded her eyes as tears fell down profusely as the animals' grunts of pain overwhelmed her.
"Why did you forcefully open a Void gate?!
The Inquisitor lifted his head up form where it was heaving huge mouthfuls of breath. He wiped his mouth and stared at him before answering, "You seem to be the next strongest after Rosalinda's love rival and also the oldest among the saints. But I am disappointed you don't seem to know what this magnifique creation I created." He lowered his head. "But I can see why you would remain so ignorant of this. Something like this hasn't exited since my reign came to an end."
"This is a Void Maze. Smaller than a Void Gate but more deadly. It can turn anything inhabitable with its presence alone. No one can survive any attack form the Void Maze. With how high it's in the danger level one can say a Void Maze is akin to the Demon King's private gardens."
"There are no written records of a Void Maze ever being found after the Saints were first founded but they did fight it.
He had a cruel smirk. "The Gods didn't want such an Evil thing go public. Fortunately Saints have a particular resistance against the poison of the Void Maze going as far as living inside. So it was always hidden with no records of it ever being found."
He tapped on the side of the femur bone. "However a Void Maze appears naturally. No human can summon it like the Void Gate. This one here is a replica, a taste of what the real thing can do." He chuckled. "But who would have know just to replicate one I not only had to sacrifice someone created out of Taboo but also use the Forbidden Grimoire!"
An angry emotion crossed his features as he gazed at Rosalinda's blood splattered face. "Well that's enough chit chat!"
The saints started to say something but he snapped his fingers and immediately the Saints disappeared alongside Baron.
The Inquisitor gazed at the empty spot. "…I hope you all will have a wonderful time in this maze I created for you." He reached forward and carried Rosalinda in his arms. With that he also entered the Void Maze.
Claudina was hurled through the skies of the maze before speeding on the ground with an impossible speed. She screamed when the floor came into view since there was no way out of it. But instead of feeling her head being splattered on the hard ground she felt cold hands propping her upright.
The place Claudina landed was the middle of stone bridge leading to a broken chapel. Black sludge mixed with toxic green water crashed below.
She looked around before feeling for the comfort of the Stars' Blessing. She found it secured in her belt and thankfully she also had her Forbidden Grimoire in hand too.
The only problem seems to be that she was separated from the saints and Baron. She shrugged and dusted her hands. "If they want to find me they can always find me," She looked above. "Now how do I get out?"
"Claudina!"
Someone called out to her. She spun around and saw Anatole running up to her. "Claudina! Are you alright?" he called.
Claudina narrowed her eyes. "…Yes. What about you? Did you find the others?"
"No. Not yet. I saw you falling down so I rushed to you first." Suddenly he grabbed and pulled her hand. She frowned in alarm. "We have to leave from this place. Come on this way."
"As if!" Claudina yanked her hand back. She started at him coldly. "You must think I am an idiot to fall for this."
"Egu?!" The Stars' Blessing was lodged deep in his heart. She watched him sizzle and burn away to ash.
"Hmph! If a low level illusion can dissuade me I should have my title as the Prodigy of Crowley be stripped away. All the saints know the real Anatole has a habit of calling me Saintess in public! He has never once called me by my name." She narrowed her eyes. "If you are going to fool someone, do it right. Not half heartedly like this."
She seethed her sword back and decided to move to where the demon first tried to take her. She was only guessing that she may find the saints on the way if she was lucky.
'At least it's much better than sitting around twiddling my thumbs.'
On the far east of where Claudina was Sylvester and Sullivan both came sliding through a tunnel they later found out made of eel skeletons.
"Ow, ow, ow, oowww! That hurt!" Sullivan said rubbing his head.
"Sullivan you're heavy get off!"
"Oh, it's Vessie! Let me just…get off you real quick there."
When they were finally standing again Sylvester asked, "Where do you reckon we are?"
"Hmm, seeing how all of sudden we are in the most peculiar place maybe the Void Maze?"
This place closely resembled a jungle clearing with the dark blue spiders weaving poison soaked webs that came through their mouths. It must be very agonizing with how their human faces were contorted.
Sylvester looked worried.
"Why the long face, Vessie? Think it as a sort of an exotic vacation~"
"Sullivan I can't share your optimism when we are in an unknown dangerous place."
"This is the problem with young folks! Always being careful instead of living life at the now! If you are always so worried you can't enjoy the beauty of life. And when you can't enjoy life, you would look back and it becomes a bitter one."
He gave a weak smile. "That may be so but the reason I survived so long is because I am so cautious in the first place."
A scream interrupted them. It continued for five whole minutes before stopping.
"…The others must be here too. We need to search for them."
"I more worried about Shulia. Knowing her she might be wrestling a boar to the death if it so as much looked at her. Sheesh!" Sullivan shivered. "Now I pity the boar!"
They started to move out the clearing.