Chapter 47: Crushing evilNotes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 47
The village was in chaos. People were running around screaming in obvious terror, but so far only a dozen or so casualties had occurred. At least that was what she was able to observe in her few seconds flying over the buildings. It was entirely possible that a large number of villagers had been murdered indoors which she couldn´t see, but the witch´s cult was not particularly inclined to subtlety and covert warfare.
In fact the most cultists that she could see were standing guard around the whole settlement in a perfect circle formation. Not only was that wasteful, but also incredibly stupid for a multitude of strategic reasons, mainly that one targeted assault could break their ranks. Perhaps they recruited only crazy morons after all?
Naturally, where the band of brainless puppets went their mentally unstable leader was not far. Petelgeuse stood in the middle of the market square and preached about his pseudo religion, a.e. his obsessive idolatry of the witch of envy. His insane nonsense was getting old pretty fast. The cultists were probably only positioned outside to keep the villagers inside and force them to listen to his never-ending yapping. In a way the situation reminded her of the communists who compelled their citizens to consume their state-approved media regardless of how harebrained it was.
"And so rejoice in the knowledge that your sacrifice will greatly please her and strengthen her love for us all."
She needed to intervene fast. If she could keep him occupied for long enough the majority of the civilians could be saved. A more than acceptable outcome in her opinion.
"Ehem - Hello there. Have I been too late for the ordeal? Could you please stop and listen to me first before we begin the fun?" she grinned while floating above the sin archbishop.
"Huh? Who are... that smell... You are loved! Clearly her love clings thickly to you! Oh, how joyous, how wonderful, how EXHILARATING!"
"Yes isn´t it fantastic to see each other again?" she grinned, her mouth impossibly widening even further.
He furrowed his brows and gripped his chin in thought.
"Pardon me, but I do not recall meeting you. On second thought... I don´t even know who you are!"
"Really, Petelgeuse Romanee Conti, sin archbishop of the witch´s cult representing sloth? Are you sure about that?" she purred while leaning forward.
"Oh how slothful, of me to forget our acquaintance! How terribly foolish, inconsiderate, ignorant!" he screamed.
Tanya wondered if he had perhaps been a librarian before becoming a member of the witch´s cult. Because he sure seemed to love enumerating synonyms. Anyways it was time to move the plan along before he could make up some new brain-dead idea while beating his own body to death for a supposed failure. How had he called his underlings? Fingers?
"Could you stop wasting time please? Call your fingers all here so that I may officially introduce myself to them. We both have a mission after all."
He stopped mid swing and his eyes grew comically large.
"Yes, yes, yes, of course! The ordeal must commence! Come here you useless lot! Don´t keep her waiting!"
Hundreds of robed figures seemed to grow out of the ground in an instant. This kind of coordinated mass teleportation was a very frightening ability. Could they do that everywhere? Was there a range limit? Tanya dearly hoped so. After this whole mess was cleared up she would never leave the safety of the capital again to avoid such ambushes. If Petelgeuse had a shred more competence than he could have brought the entire country down in a few years through the use of guerrilla tactics and rapid strike manoeuvres, but thankfully he was as mad as Mary Sioux. (Well, he was even worse in some aspects, but less deranged in other so it evened itself out.)
"Are these all of your minions? I would hate to repeat myself to them at a later date. Such tardiness would waste much time we do not have!"
"Yes. Obviously! They all are here and listening closely! Now tell us, are you the one who was awaited?"
He was bouncing up and down in excitement.
"Glad you asked I - hrhgh." she coughed dramatically before continuing in a weaker voice. "Can you can –hrrr – come closer please..."
The green madman eagerly called his cultists together so that they were now standing shoulder to shoulder in a big uniform mass of purple and black. Perfect.
"Am I correct in my assessment that –hrghr..." she continued while tilting her head down so that her hair would fall over eyes.
"Huh?" asked Petelgeuse, obviously confused.
"...ahem - ... you believe in miracles?" she spoke barely audible.
"Of course! The witch´s love for us undeserving sinners is the greatest miracle there is! Nothing can compare to her majesty!"
She sighed.
"Then be amazed by our Lord´s true power."
"YES! Show us her love! How blessed we are!"
"He speaks in divine tongues to lead us to victory and cleanse our souls of the infernal taint."
"He?"
"His every word is justice and wisdom made manifest,"
"I don´t..."
"To guide us through the darkness of temptation."
"... understand?"
Pure golden light illuminated the surrounding houses despite the day being far from over.
"Fear the Lord."
It was in this moment that Petelgeuse knew he had made a critical error by trusting the blond, floating person who had interrupted the ordeal so unexpectedly.
"For the burden of your sins might be too much to bear."
"Get aw-"
"Ul Vita!"
Gravity increased by a hundred fold on the entire plaza and stomped every living being into the ground. Flesh practically liquefied as hundreds of cultists turned into red smears on the stone, completely flattened by the sudden increase in gravity. Bones horrifically broke and blood pressed itself into the earth as quickly as possible to escape further downwards.
Meanwhile Tanya´s golden gaze feasted on the evidence of god´s might in front of her. She hummed contently as she analyzed the human puddle with satisfaction. Her saviour never failed to amaze her.
Absent-mindedly she noticed that something was trying to invade her mind, but the power of god that was pleasantly flowing though her and warming her core was much too strong to allow a heretic entry into this divine servant. Tanya laughed in joy as the mysterious force receded as if burned.
What a beautiful day to do the Lord´s work...
Wait...
Ah, damn it! The cursed orb had taken control of her again! Using the disgusting thing twice in a day was taking its toll on her.
A check of her mana reserves revealed that she was down to roughly ten percent. Had the yin spell she cast not been made more efficient by the use of a computation jewel she would surely have expended all of it. To further preserve precious energy she cut off the flight formula she had been using and plummeted a few meters to the ground. This had unfortunately the effect of splattering her in the gooey remains of cultists from head to toe.
"Ugh- I will need an extra hot bath today."
Her feet were wobbly and she nearly tripped over an arm (or at least what she assumed had been an arm) before she could right herself. Everything below her neck was dripping red and sticky. Seldom in her life had she felt so repulsive. She was so distracted by the uncomfortable feeling of being covered in viscera that she rubbed her face without thinking only to realize a second too late that she had probably just worsened her appearance even further.
A curious (and very stupid) kid looked out from behind a barrel he had used to hide and saw her walking along the street. He did what any normal person in his age group would do and ran away screaming.
Tanya just shook her head and went on the arduous walk towards the mansion. If Petelgeuse had lied for some reason and had more troupes hidden around the area than they would either flee (which was far too logical for these fanatics) or attack the mansion with everything they got in a last ditch effort to fulfil their mission. So she needed to check on Emilia and make sure that everything was alright on her end before she could declare the operation a success.
Last time Ram and Emilia had been able to hold off hundreds of attackers for hours without her intervention. Therefore she was not concerned for their safety. But never say that thoroughness was not a staple of the Argent´s work ethic.
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Rem anxiously watched the village come into view. Had Tanya really sensed witch cultists? How? Highly suspicious.
But if she was right then had she been able to defeat them on her own? Ram was alright as far as she could tell through their emotional bond which most likely also meant that Lady Emilia was unharmed as well. Her brave sister would never neglect the duty that Lord Roswaal had given her. They were both fine. (That was at least what she desperately tried to convince herself.)
No amount of speculation could have prepared her though for the absolute carnage that they found in the middle of the settlement. The ground was soaked with blood and the remains of purple-hooded corpses were smeared along the ground in such masses that it took her breath away.
And in front of it all stood a utterly viscera drenched Lady Tanya with a bored look on her face as if she had just finished airing laundry! What in Shaula´s name was happening?
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Tanya had rolled the barrel she had seen earlier over into the middle of the plaza to sit on and wait. She had chosen the spot in the middle with the least amount of body parts in hopes of not freshly soaking her socks again.
Time flew by as she began to doze off until loud noises coming from the main road put her in high alerta again.
Ah, that must be Crusch´s army. Well, better late than never. She took a step into the direction of the sounds, but actually slipped this time for real and landed face first in the red mush. Damn it! All her effort of changing into some of Emilia´s spare clothes had been for naught! Nonetheless did she decide to continue her walk with as much dignity as she could muster in her gory state to welcome her rival with respect.
Multiple riders visibly flinched upon seeing her and her surroundings. Why? Those dead people were witch cultists. Their annihilation was absolutely no loss for society!
"A-a m-monster! Y-you a-are a monster!" a random soldiers cried despite the harsh glare that Crusch sent him. What an idiot.
"You haven´t noticed until now?" she replied sarcastically. Her tolerance for bullshit today was exhausted beyond belief. It wasn´t even funny anymore.
Without missing a beat she asked the most importantr question right now: "Rem, can the ground dragon make the trip back to the capital?"
"I believe not Lady Degurechaff. I pushed its limits too much today."
Great. Simply great. Pinching the bridge of her nose between two fingers she turned her attention to Crusch.
"Lady Crusch would you be willing to exchange one of your mounts for mine. I would be willing to pay any price as long as it can pull my carriage home before midnight."
"Yes, of course. There is no need to monetarily compensate me. See it as a sign of good will for our upcoming negotiations."
YES! She could bath today!
"You have my thanks Lady Crusch. Rem, make it happen. And before you ask, your sister and Emilia are fine and perfectly healthy. I will get some sleep in the cabin."
Tanya´s arms felt like lead as she ripped open the door and hastily shooed the occupants out. Subaru stayed seated, but her two useless bodyguards promptly left the interior.
"Ah... You aren´t dead." she noted dully as she identified the guard whose head had been blown off before her recent death. Although the fact that the worthless man had not been killed this time around filled her neither with relief nor disappointment; just indifference. His value as a human resource was astoundingly low.
With her last bit of willpower she thanked Crusch for her assistance, despite being ultimately unneeded and warned her of possible remaining cultists in the woods. She couldn´t bring herself to care that she was showing weakness in front of enemies and allies alike, because the hard bench inside the carriage pulled her in like a magnet. The thin padding of the seat became the most luxurious bed on earth for Tanya as her eyelids drifted shut. Finally...
Tanya´s dreams were filled with coffee, hot water and, most importantly, peace.
Notes:
Don´t worry :) More POV´s about what is happening will come.