Claudina looked over where Rosalinda was still bound earlier so it was most definitely coming from above. She tried looking over and got the shock of her life.
Those strange butterflies were all lined up behind her in military fashion. So surprised she stumbled and fell back. She could remember the burning sensation when they first attacked her. She was also helpless against them as whatever magic she used didn't work.
The smallest of the bunch as well as the one at the front flew towards and rested on her left hand.
She froze in fear.
Last time Rosalinda had ordered them to stop them. But what about now?
"Death has never been so far yet so close…", she whispered. She waited for the burn but it never came.
Rather the butterfly flapped its wings once and a silver light flashed out. When the light cleared Claudina saw the blue Forbidden Grimoire on her lap.
Now she was trembling. 'W-what is this? This creature…this thing…so easily it took over my Ancient Power… terrifying…' She squeezed her eyes shut. Her heart was beating so fast she could hear it. '...I regret becoming a saintess.'
The wall behind her crashed open with a loud bang.
Jolting up she peeked over and saw Baron standing. He had increased in size and there were two more pairs of arms under his first one. His mouth was wide open in a black horizontal slit with dark liquid dripping out. Inside his mouth were eyes in red outlines.
"wHy dId dUcheSs cAlL mE?"
She blinked but said in a relieved tone. "I am sorry Baron but I didn't call you." She now fully turned. "More importantly how did you get inside? And what happened to you?"
Baron grinned. "i AtE HUmAnS! sO maNy humAnS! RipPe' eM To SheRds! SWaM iN thEir bLoOd!"
Claudina stared at him before looking down at the rows of menacing butterflies. "…Baron, burn these filthy insects." 'I will be losing sleep if they are not dead.'
He looked and gleefully agreed, strange liquid dripping. Sucking in air through his mouth he unleashed five streams of fire burning the entire roof. Strangely enough, none of the butterflies moved as they turned to crisps. He again sucked in air and this time blew on the flame extinguishing them.
When the flame cleared Claudina started to tremble again. They were still there. The blasted insects were still beating their wings as if to mock her.
The one on her hand flew up and now rested on her nose. Baron growled dangerously.
''...Foul, loathsome creature,'' she said in annoyance. Seeing how they were indestructible she had forgone her fear and started to treat it in disdain.
She snarled. "What do you want?"
It merely flapped its wings in response.
"Is everyone alright?"
Shulia nodded. She had her head hung low as she heaved. She wiped sweat from her brow. "Haa, haa...do...do you think he will be alright?"
"...We have trusted him before. We shall do so again."
Sylvester snapped his head. "Wait, we forgot about Claudina!" He quickly stood up and attempted to run back when Anatole pulled him back.
"Where do you think you are going?"
"To Claudina! She might be in trouble."
"The Saintess will fine. I doubt she will need our help." '...She'll outlive us all with her mana reserves.'
Sylvester threw his and off. "No! Every time you say that she ends up getting hurt!"
"She is never injured to a life-threatening degree though…"
"Shut it, Anatole! As much as she's strong at the end of the day she's still a girl who's barely an adult. And you want her to die? She might be dead for all we know! But that's what you want right?!"
"I never said anything like that!"
He rolled his eyes and continued scornfully. "Of course! Hah! You and I both know the meaning behind your words!"
"Why you…!" Anatole grabbed his collar and shook him. "I ought to pummel you to death!"
Sylvester choked on his collar but flashed a smirk. "Not if I do it first!"
Both of them raised their fists and were about to hit one another when two large clawed arms picked them up by their torsos.
"What the?"
Baron looked straight at their bewildered faces. "iS tHe giRaFfeS' pOiSon sTilL AffEcTinG yOu? I cAn pUncH iT oUt fOr YoU. DucHess wIlL bE disPleAsED iF yoU kIlL eAch oThEr."
"Wait how did you get in?"
"I broke the barrier."
They turned to the right. Shulia was watching them with disappointment. She rubbed her arms and looked away.
"You were fighting like children when three of us saints were down. I had to do something."
Anatole signed. "I…apologize. It was never my intention to do so…"
She sniffed. "Not me, Sylvester! Apologize to him."
Sylvester and Anatole started at each other awkwardly.
"wOw,yOu arE woRse thaN dEmon sPawNs. ArR yOu shItTy sAinTs nOt frIendS? DoeS ThAt mEan I cAn eAt yoU?"
"Don't compare us to demons."
"yOU aRe rIgHt. ThAt's aN inSult To dEmon FolKs."
"...This scoundrel…"
"INCOMING!!"
They all looked up and saw a raging ball of flame hurling at their direction.
Shulia narrowed her eyes to see clearly when suddenly her eyes widened. "Somebody catch him! That's Sullivan!" she screamed out.
Baron put the two down and spread both his arms to catch the charging cannonball.
Upon impact, the ground burst open in chunks scattering the saints. Baron was thrown back but somehow managed to stay on his feet. The explosion itself echoed even after all the fume cleared.
When the smoke cleared the saints got their bearings back and went towards Baron. His many eyes were dilated as he looked at what was on his scorched arms. A blob of slime secreted out from the seams of his claws. Low groans of pain were heard for the sludge texture slime.
"Sullivan is that you?" Sylvester asked carefully.
"...yess…", a voice that resembled Sullivan replied.
Baron bought him near to his nose and took a long whiff. "tHis SmElLs nIcE." He unhinged his jaws and licked a strip from top to bottom.
"Uwah! What are you doing?!" Sullivan cried.
"ThIs tAstE gOoD toO!"
"Nooo! I am not food! Technically I am but still!"
"Demon drop him. Your…duchess will be sad," Anatole awkwardly said. "She doesn't want you to eat humans."
"Yeah, yeah! Put me down! Miss Fairy will be super sad if you eat me!"
Baron looked from Sullivan to Anatole. He gave a few more licks to the shivering sludge and dropped him with a splash sound. Sullivan in his Sludge pup form jumped away.
He kept muttering to himself, "Awful, awful, just awful!"
"Uh…Claudina's demon…there's uh hole in the middle of your…torso-chest, I believe."
Baron looked at where Sylvester was pointing at. Tiny smoke left the area smoldering. He patted the place twice and white maggots came out. They twitched, crawled, and joined together before they fussed back his skin.
Shulia blenched. "...That's rancid!"
"Not as much as eating me! Look at my fur! It's all standing up at one end!"
She looked down. "Why are you still in that form?"
He raised two lumps from his slime to act as his hand. "This form stops the curse from spreading!"
"Okay…?"
"Where's my sword by the way? The Inquisitor threw it out…"
"Found it!" Sylvester held up the sword. He had picked it up from behind a large rock. "I will keep it with me for safekeeping."
"Now that's out of the way…what happened to the Inquisitor?"
Sullivan jumped up and down in glee. "Glad you asked. The way I left him, I doubt he will be standing up again, or at least not with his own two legs."
Anatole nodded. "That's good enough. I just hope," he looked over where Oriane was laying down still unconscious. "...she won't have to deal with the Holy book again."
Shulia's face darkened. "Yes…repeated use is bound to…" She shook her head. She looked up at the tower again. "..."
"Claudina's demon. I am getting worried. If you could…can you go and help her?"
Baron who was still eyeing Sullivan snapped his head to Shulia.
He tilted his head. "I doN"t neEd sHiTty SAints tElLinG mE whAt tO Do aNd wHAt noT To DO. I WiLl gET thE dUchEsS mYseLf WiThOUt yOU teLlIng mE To Do IT."
She made an offended sound but he ignored her.
He trudged ahead to the gate, stopped a few steps away, and crouched.
They stared curiously at what he was doing when he abruptly sprinted inside leaving a tall dust trial.
Carefully Claudina placed the two Grimoires side by side.
As she did so the butterfly kept fluttering from one book to another. Once or twice she got annoyed and swatted it away but it kept coming again.
Baron was behind her lowly growling at the insect.
"Baron, dear go and check if the ice has melted. I don't want that god-awful wretch escaping." 'Though I doubt she can. Those restraints are made of only pure Holy mana.'
He slowly got up but not before snarling at the infuriating butterfly. 'He must hate butterflies.'
"...Now where was I…Ah, yes…." She twisted both bird heads and the Grimoires snapped open. "Blank…" she asked gazing at her empty pages. The butterfly drifted down from her head and lightly touched the page. Instantly the writing appeared. She widened her eyes. "I guess you are useful after all."
"What's next?" It flapped its wings multiple times on the locks, sat on the blue Grimoire's lock before going over to the red one, and did a gesture that resembled an action that was pulling and connecting the two opposite locks.
"...You…want me to connect the two locks?"
It flew up and down.
"How? The locks connect like a jigsaw- Ow! Ok! I am doing it! No need to bite me!"
Following the best of the strange instructions she put the two locks together and waited.
Waited.
And waited.
"Nothing's happening." Her arms were beginning to hurt from holding them up for so long. The butterfly had long since gone back to sitting on top of her head.
Suddenly the birds on the cover clanged their heads upright. The jigsaw locks made small whirling sounds as they snapped shut and connected the two books.
Claudina didn't know what to make of this. Neither when Rosalinda started to trash against her restraints nor the ominous clickings of the butterflies.
Something told her, she did something she shouldn't have. Wondering if she could reverse it she turned to the Grimoires. But it was already too late.
A purple light drew her back. The Grimoires were glowing and floated up. Claudina shielded her eyes. She could hear Baron growling. Rosalinda was trying to get free and the butterflies kept clicking lulling the room into peculiar music.
However just as soon as the light appeared it also disappeared.
The books dropped with echoing clanks. Claudina blinked to adjust her eyes to the darkness. She tilted her head when nothing else happened.
"...Well that was anticlimactic."
"I refuse!"
She flinched in surprise. She looked over and saw Rosalinda screeching at the top of her lungs the crude gag thrown to the side. "I refuse to believe it!"
Baron crouched down his head hanging low. "SorRy dUcHesS. I diDn't SeE sHe hAd reMovED iT."
She smiled. "It's alright, Baron. Mistakes happen." 'Besides you are way too cute with those puppy dog eyes! Uwah! So bright and sparkly!' "I have been meaning to ask her something after all."
"I! REFUSE!" Her face was turning red from her screaming.
Rosalinda snapped her head glaring daggers. "I refuse!"
"Yes, yes~ you refuse~," Claudina said nonchalantly waving her hand. "But what exactly are you refusing?
"I deny your existence!"
"Now, now. How will you make friends if you say something like that~"
"Silence! Do you have any idea what you did?!"
Claudina continued to smile. "No clue, but seeing how mad you look it seems to be quite the important thing huh?"
"Agh!! Why is it a wretched being like you-"
"DucHeSs…"
"Hmm? Do you also have something to say?"
He pointed at something.
"Oh? What's this?"
She hadn't noticed it before but another book was there beside the now separated Grimoires.
A purple Grimoire was sitting in the middle of the two. The cover was made of expensive dark purple silk that faded into lilac in the middle. A bluebird flying with its wings spread was stitched with great skill. With pale blue, pale red, and purple threads it looked almost real. A familiar copper latch kept it shut.
'Wonder if this is how the first two were created but dear little Rosa said they were the only two~ Did I create a new one? I am such a genius!'
Cautiously she stretched her hand towards it when Rosalinda yelled again. "Don't you dare touch it!! That's mine!!"
Claudina stared at her open mouth and poked the Grimoire. Rosalinda ground her teeth. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Claudina continued her violent poking.
"A lot." She reached and took the Grimoire in her hands. "NO! STOP!!"
'...Lighter than a feather.' She creased the bird embroidery only to realize it was made out of some kind of soft metal giving the illusion of the bird being made of cloth.
She twisted the bird's head and just like the other two, this one also opened similarly. Claudina smirked down at Rosalinda. "You must be so frustrated now, huh? Soon I will be in charge of three Forbidden Grimoires~"
"Agah!!"
CRACK. CRACK.
Her ears perked up. The ice was starting to break. Her eyes widened. 'She's breaking the Holy man reinforced ice with sheer strength?!' She faltered. "B-baron hold her down!"
Immediately Baron's short cotton tail transformed into a giant rope-like appendage. The rope had a long needle-like end which he used to stab through the ice and into Rosalinda's hands. "Aaaagh! Foul beast! That is sure to leave scars!!"
Blood filled inside the ice carven. Claudina signed in relief before remarking, "The more disfigured you are the better for me!" She turned her back.
Rosalinda sneered through her pain. "Hah! Insecure woman! Are you that afraid of someone outshining you in comparisons of beauty? Pathetic!"
Without turning back she promptly replied, "Whether I am insecure or not doesn't change the fact both your fiancé and lover were charmed by me at first glance. If anything you are the one who is insecure."
"Aidan had a love and potion and as for Lucas you seduced him!" Uttering his name made her howl and mourn for his death.
Claudina rolled her eyes and once again refocused on the purple Forbidden Grimoire.