Auriel felt her heart skip a beat as she waited for someone to come and get her. It was time for the destined fight to take place, and Auriel felt her heart leap into her throat with a mix of excitement and dread.
"O Divine One, you look excited to see this fight. If you would like, we can have more of them in the future for your entertainment. You don't have to be shy about it."
Priestess Lilith had a happy smile on her face and clapped her hands together in a delighted manner as she spoke. The amount of joy on her face creeped Auriel out, and she was quick to deny the accusation.
"Ah, it's fine. While it is true that I enjoy watching a fight or two to pass the time, peace is a much more appealing option for me. So I would rather not have meaningless fights if I can help it," Auriel assured in a pleasant voice.
Fighting was something Auriel avoided doing herself, but she was always ready to witness a good fight happening in front of her.
Priestess Lilith's eyes shone in a way that Auriel did not want to try and figure out. She felt it would be better to focus on getting ready and heading out.
Truth be told, Auriel had a feeling she should not be heading out at the moment. Her body had not fully recovered from her last use of magic, and it hurt to move too much. But Auriel still forced herself to move because she knew she could not afford to show her weak side to anyone.
"Goddess Auriel, you are a much better person than most people. Maybe it is because of your noble soul that you were chosen to guide our next empress. I feel relieved that someone like you is here to guide us."
Priestess Lilith's words were filled with praise, but hearing them made Auriel feel odd and a little guilty.
'Yeah, sure! Because of my pure soul… I can never tell these people that the only reason I was chosen to come here was because the chief god decided to create trouble for me because of a misunderstanding.'
Auriel sighed at the thoughts cramping her mind, but she ultimately managed to force them out. Carol entered her room, and Priestess Lilith shoved her responsibility, as well as Auriel's safety, onto the young goth.
"Carol, stay with our Divine One and keep her safe. I will go and make some final preparations for the match."
The priestess was quick to leave, and Carol took her place beside Auriel. She did not say much, but something about Carol's body language made her seem tense.
"Is there something wrong? If there is some kind of danger, then you should tell me in advance so that I can help you out."
Auriel was not sure how much help she could provide, but she still offered this deal to the young woman. Carol looked taken aback by her words but quickly recovered, wearing an almost offended look on her face.
"Please do not worry about it, Goddess Auriel. You just need to enjoy yourself once we are out there. As for whatever heavy lifting needs to be done… please leave it to me."
Carol assured Auriel, but the goddess still decided to keep her guard up. She was well aware that these people were hiding something from her, but she was not going to force them to tell her what it was.
______
"Wow! A lot of people managed to gather here in such a short amount of time. I guess a duel is a big deal after all."
Auriel looked around the stadium, and there seemed to be more than a thousand people gathered to see Lady Munero and Princess Greengrass duke it out until the end.
"It is because both have… well, had strong backing to become the next empress. But as you can tell, most of these people just want to see which one of them will fall first."
Carol cleared up the misunderstanding Auriel had, but her eyes continued to move around as if searching for something else. Auriel was about to mimic Carol's actions and look around as well when she suddenly saw a cloud of black smoke enter the arena.
It felt like corruption and dark magic, and just looking at it was enough to fill Auriel with a sense of dread like she had never felt before.
The smoke was thick enough to hide whoever was behind it, but Auriel felt a glaring need to know who that person was and what they were doing there. Her senses were tingling, making her unable to focus on anything but the cloud.
"Goddess Auriel, are you alright? You're too focused on the match… and you're staring too much at Lady Munero. Is something wrong with her? Would you like me to bring her in so that you can question her?"
Carol was observant, and despite her young age, she knew exactly what to say and when to say it.
Her offer to bring Lady Shelly Munero felt tempting… but more than that, was it really Shelly Munero behind that smoke? Auriel had not even been able to tell…
"Shelly Munero? You're telling me that all that smoke is hiding Shelly Munero behind it? Ugh, what a pain. How can you even tell?"
Auriel did not mean to ask that question, but it escaped her mouth without her permission. Carol looked confused at her question and hesitated.
"I am afraid I do not understand your question, Divine One. What smoke are you talking about? As far as I can see, there is nothing wrong with Lady Shelly Munero. She looks like her ordinary self in my eyes."
Carol spoke confidently, which gave Auriel pause. She knew from experience that Carol did not have much of an impression of Shelly Munero, so there was no reason for her to lie or cover for her.
It also meant that Auriel was the only one who could see the black and corrupted smoke around Shelly Munero… most likely.
"Tsk, this is bad. Is there any way we can postpone this match? I am afraid that it would be too dangerous for us to hold it in the current situation. Someone could get seriously injured if we don't take care of the corruption surrounding Lady Munero first."
Auriel knew that it was a foolish request she was making, but she couldn't help her instincts, which were urging her to stop this ridiculousness.
Carol bit her lip in agitation, her tension evident. However, her hesitation turned to determination as she considered what to do next.
In the end, she concluded it would be better to follow the goddess's orders and not think about anything else.
"Of course, Goddess Auriel. If this is what you wish, then I will head down and stop this fight this second. We cannot have people get into danger without any reason—"
Before Carol could head out, the bell rang, signifying the start of the match. It was too late to stop the fight from happening.
"Carol, hurry up and give the signal now... no, wait, I will give it myself."
Auriel stood up and gathered some of her magic in her hand before signaling the people to stop the fight.
This caused the two fighters to halt even before their swords clashed. Both looked toward Auriel with worried expressions on their faces (well, one did—the other, she couldn't see).
"Goddess, is there something wrong? Would you like us to do something for you?"
Princess Evelyn asked as she clutched her sword tightly in her arms. She had been ready to strike Lady Munero down, but now she had to wait for the goddess to give her an order.
Her irritation was evident on her face, and Auriel felt a bit taken aback to see the princess look at her with such a disappointed expression. However, she chose not to give in to that annoyance and focused on addressing the match.
"I am afraid that we cannot continue this match at the current time. Lady Shelly Munero, I would like you to surrender for an investigation into the corruption you are carrying. It could be dangerous for you and others if you continue using corrupted dark magic."
Auriel's words caused gasps of shock from the crowd as they pointed toward Lady Shelly. They hung on the goddess's every word, convinced this was the end for Lady Shelly.
But contrary to their expectations, Lady Shelly did not back down. Instead, she defied the goddess's decision and even called her words into question.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, Goddess Auriel. I assure you that I do not have any source of dark magic on me, and I am only using fair means to fight the princess."
Her words caused people to gasp. No one had expected her to speak up against the goddess.