The darkness of night had already swallowed the line of one's sight. A chilly breeze blew, carrying along the whistling sound of leaves that gave one the feeling of dreariness.
On a mushy mud road far away from the cathedral, a group of dark-robed figures escaping from the siege of the Cathedral Paladins ran towards the secret base prepared in the forest.
"We need to hurry. The ritual had to take place in the darkest hour, we couldn't be late." A man muttered while breathing heavily.
Traversing through the deadly forest, they finally appeared at the base and started the preparation.
...
In a dark room with only a faint light emanating from a small lamp hanging down from the middle of the ceiling, a woman was placed on the floor with her hands and feet tied with cuffs and a black cloth covering her face.
Hush… Hush.
The sound of harsh breathing emerged through the fabric. The woman's body trembled in panic, showing the amount of anxiousness and fear she was going through recently.
After an unknown period, the layer of black cloth was peeled, revealing a beautiful face. Messy golden hair drafted over her shoulder and taking heavy breaths, her eyelids opened and closed simultaneously many times until she got used to the surroundings.
A man with thick eyebrows frowned after entering the room on seeing the woman's sharp expression. Despite the situation, she still looked alright for some reason.
'Something is weird.'
"Who are you? Why did you kidnap me? Do you know who I am?"
Her loud voice filled with hatred bellowed.
The thick-eyebrowed man smiled. Squatting down, he muttered"Isn't that Saintess Luna? As per who I am, what does matter even if you know?"
"You are going to die? Oh, sorry!"
"Let me rephrase it. You will be sacrificed for the future wellbeing of our society."
"What?" She screamed.
"I can't believe a meager filthy black mage would dare to be this brave?"
"Hehehehehe! Let me tell you something. You have been betrayed by the Paladins. You might be wondering why there is no reinforcement. That's because you are disconnected. The Vice Captain of Paladins of the 21st squad had joined hands with us. With his help, we brainwashed the people here.'
The man then burst into laughter.
"Saintess, how can you be this naive? I have heard that you have eyes that can differentiate the truth, so how can you not know that you have been trapped the moment you appear here? If not for the presence of the people of Horizon, we would not have resorted to this. You are favored by the heavens. Those bastards and the Princess were a major roadblock to us. We didn't want to do this but we can't miss this opportunity after all we have been planning for a long time..But rest assure, we aren't going to harm The Princess and Student of Horizon."
Thinking about this, the man's expression turned grave.
The church was their nemesis and if others were added to the equation, there was no way they could stay safe and alive. Horizon was the nest of nobles. So touching it now, would surely lead to death. So, all they have to do now is simply shuffle their memories a bit.
"You calculated quite well."
"Huh!" The man frowned, hearing a cold voice.
"I can't believe there is someone gullible enough to relay the inside information."
"Hahaha! It's because you have no chance to escape. You are going to die here."
"Hmph!"
A cold snort echoed.
It was then astonishment appeared on his face and his eyes widened as the temperature of the room went down by several margins and snow particles started to dance in the air.
"It seems you are mistaking something."
CLANG!
The cuffs and chain binding her broke and the woman's figure started to change.
"You didn't kidnap me, rather, I came here on my accord. You just led me to your filthy hideout and made my work easier."
"Now die!"
BOOM!
The entire place erupted with the loud blast, and the sweet dreams harbored by the black magician were turned upside down instantly with her appearance.
...
Every time the spear swirled, an explosion erupted without fail. It was a blow that was packed with condensed mana. The overloaded magical energy exploded, scattering blood and meat pieces everywhere.
The raw force along with the sophisticated spearman ship was a marvellous sight to behold. Even the guards momentarily stood rooted in their place, gasping heavily as an earth-shattering scene took place before their eyes that couldn't be described with mere words.
With one step, a ghostly downward slash blew off the arms of one black mage.
In two steps, a blue solid line was drawn horizontally that severed the legs of enemies.
In the last three steps, the head of the black mages that had put a tough resistance to the guards of Horizon was now squirming onto the ground.
In a split second, Frederick, who stood in front of enemies was now standing at the back and five corpses with cut limbs and arms lay across him.
A powerful blow was needed to overturn the situation, and Frederick just delivered this.
As he stood motionless, screams erupted from the other two black mages.
Overwhelmed by fear, the remaining two decide to flee, but the guards start to chase after them.
As they moved back, Frederick finally collapsed on the ground and vomited blood.
BUERGHH!
Frederick had used Time Dilation beyond the limit his body could endure. Presently, he didn't even have the strength to remain standing, but he mustered his strength to keep standing because if he flattered now, then fear of him in the black mage would have vanished, and they would have either killed him first or taken him as hostage.
As his consciousness sank, he felt a pair of hands gelding him.
"Drink this."
Frederick opened his lips and drank the potions offered to him. Strength slowly returned to his body and his breathing stabilized. But the mental strain was too much for Frederick, and his consciousness finally slipped away.
Lucas, after handing the potion to Frederick, left him in Rose's arms.
"Thank god, everything is over," Monica said, trying to ease the situation.
"Frederick's fight shocked me to the core. I can't believe the scene that I just witnessed. He hides too deeply." Tiffany's eyes were staring at Frederick with a surprised expression.
Charles stared at Frederick with a complicated expression and clenched his fist with a complicated expression.
While all of them stood in awe, the guards finally took down the remaining dark mage and following their death, the ghouls disappeared.
Except for the trail of fire, everything returned to normal. The guards, after taking a moment to catch up, searched around the cathedral looking for the Princess.
Inside the Cathedral, the corpses of the paladins lay on the ground. Out of 30 Paladins, only ten were alive, but all of them were suffering from high fever.
Most of the priests were either dead or injured, except for the two Priests who were fighting with the guards. Since the parking area was at the far end, and the direction of the wind was in their favour, they hadn't inhaled much smoke.
Lucas hardly took a rest when he heard a scream.
"The Princess and Saintess are missing."
As soon as the words resounded, everyone stood up in shock as if struck by lightning.
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