While everyone walked towards the gate, Thorn stayed back and asked the two knights that arrived with the prisoners. "Where's Edana?" The two knights looked at each other and back to Thorn. Edana's knight answered his question. "She went to look for someone. I heard her saying Zane? I think."
"Zane..." Thorn tried hard to remember where he heard that name. "Aah! Valentina's brother?" Valentina and Cadell had left quite an impression on Thorn back then. Also, as Edana took them in, she would occasionally tell him about them. "Why would Valentina's brother be here? Was he also a prisoner?" Thorn started muttering to himself.
"Thorn! You coming?" Buck turned back and called to him. Thorn looked at Buck and nodded his head, then he turned back to the knights. "Okay, let's go for now." They all went through the gate and walked through the town.
It was strange, the town was completely silent, it was like the town was abandoned. They could only see the now destroyed wooden houses as they walked through the town. "Why's the town so empty.." The rogue seekers began murmuring amongst themselves. "I don't know.. When I came across this place, the town was full. They all beat me up and then locked me up in the cell!"
The rogue seekers, now free of their chains, were walking along the town casually while chatting with each other, like they were on a stroll. "Yeah, and recently, they also sent some demon who knocked me out cold. I haven't felt right since then!" One rogue seeker said. "Yeah, me too!" Others also began agreeing with him. Just as they were chatting, they reached their destination.
They could see the stone church, which was now missing it's top half, and the huge door that led to the church. "Why are there no signs of any cultists?" Haskell blurted out loud, after which everyone became wary of their surroundings. "...Yeah.. shouldn't they have already jumped at us by now?" A rogue seeker spoke out.
Buck turned to Thorn and spoke in a low voice. "What they're saying makes sense... Isn't it too silent?" He turned to Asa and Price. "Didn't you say you saw a lot of activity in the town? That they were all preparing?"
Asa nodded, a confused look on her face. "We definitely did see them preparing. They were running around with huge bags..." Everyone became silent. Thorn looked at his brother and asked him, "What do you think about this situation?"
Vine contemplated for a moment before speaking. "I don't know. It's unlikely for them to have escaped, the cultists love fighting. Their corpses on the gate and the path indicate that they planned on fighting too. This situation.. it's too unnatural for the cultists..."
As they were discussing, the church door opened slowly. *Creaaak* From the inside, an old man wearing red colored cassock. "So you all have finally arrived." He spoke in a croaky old man's voice. "But this is where you'll have to stop. You cannot go in any further and defile our holy temple."
"You..." Vine looked at the old man with ferocious eyes. "What are you planning? Where are all the cultists?" He barked.
"Haha.." The old man laughed. "Our followers are inside, praying to our god for salvation! So we cannot let you in right now and disrupt the Grace." The old man spoke piously. "Tch.." A sound came from behind him and then someone appeared at the door. "Disgusting old man. Can't you talk normally?" It was Zaros who appeared.
He turned his head from the old man towards the Sacred Order. He scanned everyone, top to bottom, and smirked. "Well... This is going to be fun..."
---
Moments ago, inside the church.
Zane and Zaros were sitting inside the room comfortably. Zane had even dozed off for a moment before waking up again. "Hey..." He spoke to Zaros in a flat voice. "If you brought me here for nothing, couldn't you have at least let me sleep in the bed some more? It's getting pretty uncomfortable in this chair."
Zaros turned his head towards Zane. "Bastard, why don't you let me rest in silence for a while?" He turned towards the ceiling again. "I'm pretty tired from all of this shit..." He muttered in a low voice. "What?" Zane asked him as he couldn't hear what he said. "SHUT UP!" Zaros shouted back.
Right at that moment, the door slammed open. It was Alec who opened the door. He looked at Zaros. "Tch Tch.." Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he started talking. "It's time to use the relic. Make that bastard use it properly." He didn't even glance at Zane and went on his way after closing the door and telling his piece.
"Haah..." Zaros sighed and got up from the couch. He walked towards Zane with an irritated face. "Filthy Bastards..." After approaching Zane and taking a look at the wooden box on the middle, his irritated face changed into that of excitement.
"It's finally time to use the beast huh?" he pat Zane on the shoulder, a wide smile on his face. Zane looked at the hand on his shoulder before turning his head towards Zaros's grinning face. 'What the fuck? Was this guy always this friendly?'
"Haha.. yeah I guess so. So? How do we use it?" Zane gave back a nervous smile and asked. Zaros looked at Zane for a moment before turning towards the beast. "Hmm.. Well, the normal way to make beasts use their
"Oh? That simple? Then I'll try it right away. But what do you mean normal way?" Zane asked without much thought while reaching for the beast in the wooden box. *Slap* His hand was slapped away by Zaros, who reached for the slug and picked it up instead of Zane.
"Well... I'm thinking maybe we should try something else." He lips curved from ear to ear, giving a wide grin to Zane who shivered with goosebumps. "W-What are you doing?" Zaros walked closer to Zane. "Wait... Tell me what you're doing first." Zane raised his hand up, trying to stop Zaros.
"Stay still." Zaros grabbed Zane by his white hair and pulled back his head, making it face towards the ceiling. "This'll be easy if you do what I say." He then grabbed his face and brought the slug near his mouth.
"Ughh Ughh.." Zane tried resisting, but couldn't do anything against his strength. Zaros quickly dropped the wriggling slug inside Zane's mouth and closed it with his hand. "Swallow it. Quickly." Zane struggled for a while, feeling the slimy wriggling slug inside of his mouth. After some time, he finally swallowed the slug. *GULP*
"Hahaha.." Zaros let go of his hands which was holding Zane's head and mouth. Zane turned his head and stared at Zaros. *Smack* Zaros smacked his head. "Don't stare at me like that. You want to die?" Zane grabbed his head and kept staring.
"Haah.." Zaros sighed, shaking his head. "Focus your mind. Focus on what's happening inside your body. Fuse the slug with your essence and use it's
"How am I supposed to do that now? I could've done it when it was outside, but now it's inside my body! How can I reach inside my body to fuse the essence? What? You expect me to insert my hand up my ass!?" Zane retorted.
*Smack* Zaros smacked him on the head again. "What the fuck are you talking about? Reaching up your ass? Fucking lunatic..." He continued. "Think for a moment. Do you really need to touch something by your hand to fuse your essence? If you think about it, It should be easier to fuse now, as it is already in contact with your body. Just think of it as an organ and fuse your essence with it."
After hearing his explanation, Zane calmed down a little. "It does make sense..." He replied grumpily.
"Yeah. Now hurry up, or else the beast will use it's
Widening his eyes, Zane muttered. "You bastard." He closed his eyes and went right to focusing on fusing his essence with the slug.
After some moment, his forehead dripping with sweat, he finally opened his eyes. "AARGH" He began screaming. "Focus! Think about using it's
A huge black aura spread out from his body. "AAAHHH" He jerked his head up, letting out a loud scream which filled the room. Suddenly, his whole body emitted a thin blackish white pillar of light, which went through the ceiling of the room. It went through the whole chapel, above the whole town. After reaching a certain height, the pillar stopped expanding and dispersed in all directions, turning into a pitch black dome barrier.