She flashed me a grin before she flipped over the Stone Spear, moving much faster than the rapid projectile with ease. She flew through the air, coming at me as I panic rolled out of the way. I left my Explosive Orbs behind, spreading them out so she wouldn’t be able to go around them.
The Saintess simply took the blast, the explosions creating a brief shimmer in the aura protecting her. It remained intact, of course. However, there was clearly some damage caused by the attack. There was no way I could shatter it with a single spell, but perhaps if it accumulated enough damage, I could actually hurt her.
I put more distance between myself and Lilith as I readied my next spell.
"Just give it up, Aria," she said casually, spinning her spear before suddenly stopping and bringing its butt down on the wood ground with a thud. A dangerous look came over her face as she continued. "You’ll only get yourself hurt if this continues. Which— fine by me. But if I accidentally kill you, how can I get you to confess your sins to the Church?"
I grit my teeth in frustration. I aimed a finger at her, ignoring her warnings as I cast a Lightning Strike. There was a crackle, and the lightning bolt came crashing down from the sky right at her. Lilith just sighed.
"Alright, that’s enough of this."
She brought her spear up, intercepting the lightning. It flashed for a moment, and a partial red dome of energy covered her from the spell. Saintess Lilith held the barrier up like it was an umbrella, letting the lightning splash off of it before the barrier dissipated.
Lilith widened her stance, finally gripping her spear with both hands as I felt a surge of mana come from within her. She took a step forward as I braced myself for whatever she was about to do—
"Got her!"
I felt someone come up at me from behind. A pair of rugged arms roughly wrapped around me, pinning me to the ground as I struggled to break free. But I couldn’t. Braz was too strong for me.
I wriggled on the ground for a moment as he clasped both my hands behind my back. "Let go of me! Let go of—"
There was a clink as a cool pair of manacles closed around my arms, binding them together. I froze as the old feeling of being chained up sent a shudder down my spine. I began to thrash about in the ground as Lilith and Braz backed away from me, allowing me to move once again.
I turned to the Saintess as she took a skip and a step back. Did she really think a pair of chains could stop me? I had magic. I was no longer the same girl I was before, unable to act just because a piece of metal bound my hands together. I reached for the mana in the air, preparing to cast a Fireball—
And I froze. I could feel absolutely nothing.
"Antimagic manacle," she said, smiling sweetly down at me. "Try all you want, but no matter what you do, you won’t be able to cast magic while wearing these."
"Wha… how—" I was speechless. There was an item that could cancel out magic? How was that possible?
"Designed by the greatest minds of the Holy Xan Empire. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard about them before. They’re brand new— still in trial. We’re not even sure if there’s a limit to how much magic it can nullify. However, after all the problems your mother and the Shadow’s Evangelium caused the Church for so long, they decided to commission these for development. So we can actually detain you heretics for a proper trial rather than giving you the painless deaths you don’t deserve on the battlefield."
I just looked wide eyed at the Saintess as she finished her explanation. Braz and Jack picked me up by the side as I said not a word. Lisa and Ginah came up from the side to talk with Lilith.
"Where’s our payment?"
"I told you, you’ll get it when we deliver her to the Church. Don’t give me that look. You can even keep her until then— make sure I don’t run off before you get your reward."
"What do we do with her, boss?"
"Lock her in some place she can’t cause any trouble."
I ignored the conversation between Lilith, Ginah, and Braz. Instead, I focused only on Lisa as I passed by her.
"How could you?" I asked, voice quivering.
She shrugged. "I told you, I like money."
I was dragged down to the bottom of the ship by Jack and Braz as Lilith taunted me. "Next time, try picking better friends, Aria." She started laughing as if she just made the funniest joke in the world— like the maniac that she was.
And I couldn’t help but snicker as well.
***
One week ago.
Ginah placed her hands on the table, leaning forward onto them as she watched Melas leave the room. She wanted to sigh in relief.
She had been nervous. She knew that helping the girl would have only been detrimental to her and her crew, so the fact that Melas chose no to press the issue any further made her feel like a burden had been lifted from her shoulders.
The Dwarf— Gennady— chased after his companion, but stopped at the door to leave one last comment. "You… you’ll really leave a child like her to die?"
She flinched, drawing her lips to a thin line. "That’s not what I’m doing. I’m simply doing what’s best for my crew and Melas knows it too."
He shook his head and left the room.
