Safely hidden away inside an abandoned observatory the six saints and one demon gathered around in a circle.
Oriane slowly raised her hand. "Um…If I may, but didn't Senior Saint made this place using a Forbidden Grimoire? Couldn't Claudina try to re write the spell?"
'That 'Senior' tried to kill you…' Claudina had a quizzical expression before taking out her book from where it was on her back. "I tried but the pages are empty." She flipped the pages for them to see and indeed there was nothing written on those glossy black pages.
"Seems like there are some places where Miss Fairy is at a dead end huh?"
"I am not at a dead end! I just can't work this stupid thing!"
Sylvester pulled them apart. "Alright that's enough. I was not expecting the Grimoire to work in the first place." "Watch it, you!" "So we will stick to the original plan; finding the Inquisitor and be done with it."
"That's excellent idea," Anatole said nodding. "But here's the thing dear Sylvester we haven't got a clue where he is!"
Sylvester removed his hands form his ears. "Geez don't take your frustrations out on me…"
"Is that so? Then how about you do something that won't make me so frustrated in the first place!"
"Shut up!"
"I would recommend splitting up. That way we can cover more ground."
"Oh and prey tell how are we supposed to communicate again?" Claudina snapped. "Honestly 'splitting up', Shulia? It already took us so long to even find everyone; do you want to go through all that trouble again? Suppose we did and we got attacked and got picked off one by one what do you think will you happen?'
Shulia glared. "No need to get snip at me! If you hate my idea why don't you come up with one of your own?"
"Oh I will! Though my ideas won't be as dumb as yours!"
"What did you just say?!"
"Awww~ Are you hard of hearing, Li-Li?"
"Call me that stupid nickname again I'll skin you alive!"
"Oh, no. Now she's angry~ In addition of not only having stupid ideas and deaf you also have a short fuse. No wonder Anatole left you~"
Claudina laughed loudly.
Before Shulia could maul Sullivan, Baron had grabbed the lot of them with his four additional limbs and made a break for it with Oriane dragging Sullivan away. The tiny humanoids like creatures were nearly upon them with their needle spears and mice steeds.
By the time they got out of the observatory Claudina and the others got their senses back.
"What…happened to you back there?" Oriane asked. "You were all acting so different."
Sylvester shook his head. "W-what do you mean? And why are we outside?"
"Baron, you are a demon so you must know what happened to us, right?"
Baron instead of answering Sullivan rolled his eyes at Claudina awaiting her orders. She nodded.
"MaN eAtinG GIrAfFeS. thEy cAn cAsT sEnSorY aNd ilLuSiON MagIc. TheY eXpLoit neGatiVe eMoTionS aNd whiLe thEy aRe disTracTEd tHey attACk iN bAndS. UNlesS You HAvE An iMmUniTy oR tRaINed AgaInst iT, yOu wilL bE cAuGht anD Be EatEn."
"Um…Mister Baron Demon…I don't think those were giraffes," Oriane meekly started. "They resembled tiny men."
"tHEy aRE giRAfeEs."
"Ok! Claudina teach your pet what animals really look like!" Shulia yelled. "Oriane's not blind! You did this before at the beach too!"
Claudina tilted her head with a smile. "What are you talking about? First Baron is not a pet, he is a friend. Second he is perfectly capable of distinguishing between animals. And third, we are inside the Void. Maybe the animals are called something else here."
Shulia gaped at her.
Sullivan snorted. "W-wow~ critical hit…"
"Can it, oldie."
The Inquisitor made his way up to the room where he kept Rosalinda locked in. Though he revived her and she agreed to cooperate with him it didn't mean he trusted her. In the entire Void Maze only she could use Forbidden magic because this place was meant to lower the power and magic stats of the saints.
"…Those pesky saints." He touched the area surrounding his neck. A cable had been wrapped to keep his head from falling off. He growled remembering the fight.
After injuring the stronger two, Sylvester attacked him like a man possessed. His strength was comparable with Oriane when she unleashed her full power but his eyes. He would never forget those hate filled eyes.
While fighting he found out he was amortal and had sliced off his head. He had nearly succeed hadn't it been summoning a giant to take his place. He himself escaped with his head hanging off from a bit of swine and veins.
He cursed loudly and teleported into the room. When he looked up the Inquisitor nearly dropped his head. IN front of him was a large pile of corpses of the residents and sitting on top of them was Rosalinda cradling her Grimoire like a newborn. Circling around the top of her head were red butterflies fluttering up and down in a carousel fashion.
She must have heard him for she looked over her shoulder and jumped down while landing on her feet.
"Back so soon?" she purred.
"How did you get out?" he asked coldly. "No one can enter or exit this tower without my permission."
She smirked. "That is a trade secret~"
Absentminded he glanced up and felt another heart attack. The red butterflies had not only come dangerously close to him but there were more of them now.
Something wet fell on the floor. He gazed at the now open wound of Rosalinda's hand. Blood was flowing out in torrents and on the floor the blood clotted together, creating cocoons made of blood. He now realized how there were so many. He looked up again. Rosalinda was eating something thin as a thread, grayish black in color. The red butterfly's larva.
"…"
"Well, aren't you going to say anything?" Rosalinda asked. The red butterflies bought over more larva.
"…Disgusting. Did you tame them while I was away?"
"I didn't tame them. You see they were in reality th-"
"Yeah. I really don't care. So shut up."
"Hmph!"
Then she noticed the blood on his neck. She reached for the cable on his neck. Instantly a cable stopped her hand. "What do you think you are doing?" he angrily said.
She tilted her head. "You are injured. Isn't it better to heal it?"
He clicked his tongue and shoved past her. Pointing at the pile he said, "Remove this mess, Carlos! I live here for goodness' sake!"
"Interesting choice of décor," she commented creasing the wings a butterfly.
"Tch! Annoying…" He went over the other side of the room and slid down the wall. From his tattered cloak he took out a bottle of blush colored liquid. Taking a sip from the recovery potion he slowly started to remove the cable.
However the recovery potion did little to help for blood continued to gush forth. What angered him more was when the butterflies started to suck on his open wound. He lashed his cables out and glowered across Rosalinda who shrugged nonchalantly to say it wasn't her fault they came to him.
"I don't care. They are yours so control them!"
She quietly walked over and sat down beside him. The butterflies left in a second. He glared at her.
"Show me your neck." The Forbidden Grimoire propped up on her knee
Begrudgingly he removed the cable once more and Rosalinda healed it.
The Inquisitor rubbed his neck. It was seamless skin there. He signed before scowling. "Those saints…I will kill them. I will crash their so called brotherhood!" His blood boiled remembering Oriane. "I will kill that шлюха. I will plunder her in front of the world to see." He had a crazed grin as he trembled. "At that time none of the saints will come to her rescue. They will be too humiliated to associate themselves someone as useless as her! She will learn her fellow saints and the bonds they created are all meaningless!"
Rosalinda coldly stared at him. Annoyed he stared back. "…What?"
Carefully she cupped his face and bought it near to hers. The Inquisitor jolted at her actions the cables already leaving his body and going behind her coiled up like a rearing snake.
"You are right. Friendship, trust... everything they are all meaningless. Friends can betray you whenever they want for their gain. Just one failure and they will turn their back at you so it's better to never to have such pathetic bonds in the first place. Most importantly they are useless." She bumped their foreheads together and closed her eyes. The cables were now dangerously touching her back. "But I am not. I am not your friend neither your foe. That's why you can't betray me but if you do…" She opened her eyes. "…I will kill you."
The Inquisitor shivered. He was seen her in plenty of mood but never this cold and calculated.
She released him, curled into a fatal ball and fell fast asleep.
He gulped while the red butterflies swarmed around her and settled on top like a red fleece blanket. The Inquisitor stayed quite beside her, looking ahead.
If she wanted Rosalinda could easily kill him and go after Claudina but she didn't. Even though she was able to sneak in and back not once did she went after her enemy.
Solely because he had yet to kill his own rival.
He cracked a smile and rested his head on his arm. He supposed he could also take a nap while waiting for the saints to arrive. After all they have been straying from the correct path for some time now. He can afford to rest now.
They may not be friends or partners but they have at least one thing in common; a rival whom they hate with their entire being.
And they won't rest until they are dead.
'Wait she didn't clear up the mess...'
High above a cliff was a copper tower. It rose fifty feet from the murky waters with a thin trail leading up to the front gate. Previously Claudina had sent Baron to stake out the area but the moment he got close a force field of fire pushed him away. However when Oriane was going she passed through the veil easily.
Anatole concluded only saints were able to breach it but not demons. "Of course this means..." He glanced at Claudina who nodded in agreement.
Shulia looked between them. "What? What is it?"
"It means this must be where the Inquisitor is. From what we have seen no native has setup a barrier like this where demons can't enter. Not to mention there is a faint holy power coming from it. Only the Inquisitor would be able to set it up with him being a former saint. "
"Haa…it's to be expected from Li-Li," Sullivan said shaking his head. "All she thinks about is fighting."
"I swear to Gaia I will kill you twerp."
"Ahh~ so scary~"
"Focus you two!" Anatole snapped at them.
Creeping forward they neared the iron spiked gate in single file. As Claudina passed the gate she noticed it wasn't made of iron at all but rather spiders crisscrossing and hissing at her direction.
Baron couldn't enter the barrier even with the Ancient Power so he stayed outside.
A broken down archway led the way to the narrow entrance. On the uneven, moldy bricks was a strange smelling liquid dripping from the cracks.
"Saintess can you still not use your Grimoire?"
Claudina shook her head. "No, I am afraid not."
He lowered his head. "…I see. Though I knew I would have to use it," he took out the Holy book of Eros. "I was not expecting to use it this soon."
Shulia let out a strangled gasp.
"Surely you are not thinking of using…that," Sullivan asked.
He didn't answer. Sylvester reached out and grabbed him by the shoulders. "You tell me not be draft at times but I now I am asking you; don't do something this stupid."
Oriane chimed in, "H-he's right, Regis! We'll figure out some other way! There is no need for us to use the book."
He signed. "I am well aware but we don't have the time for other alternatives."
"We can't let you ran amuck like that. You were this close to releasing your second seal! You know there is no coming back after the second seal. And our tramp card was the Forbidden Grimoire and now…" He shook his head. "No. This is the only way."
Oriane looked as if she was about to cry. Sylvester was equally distraught.
Anatole nudged at Claudina. "Say something." She threw him a quizzical look and glanced at the two. "Look Anatole hasn't used the book, now has he?"
Oriane tried to choke back her sobs as Sylvester looked down. 'These two are acting like as if he's already dead…' "Hey, come on, now. Please stop crying, dear. There we go that's much better!"
"If you two are going to be so much upset at him when he's not even using I can't imagine what will happen when he does ends up using it…that's a joke Shulia and don't you also start too."
"If you are going to be so troubled over it shouldn't you simply make sure he doesn't use it in the first place? As in take down the Inquisitor without even resorting to the book."
Sylvester nodded and said they understood what she said. Though she felt skeptical she let it go for she another worry. 'The other Forbidden Grimoire…I am hoping it also doesn't work.'
"Now that all's been done and said, let's be off now!" Sullivan chirped tugging at their hand. "To see our good ole' Inquisitor!"
Claudina started to follow when a blood red butterfly landed on her shoulder. She blew at it and it flew off.
"I don't think you will be meeting him soon, though," A silky voice rang out behind them.
Claudina's blood boiled at the sight of her annoying pink drills. She turned in anger.
"Why can't you stay dead after your time has run out…?"
"Rosalind Carlos?!"