It all led to this: there was no more turning back. If we failed now, then we would probably die. But my friends trusted that this would work. They trusted me, so I trusted them.
And now, with my staff in hand and Gennady by my side as he inserted the Greater mana crystal I had paid for into his large, tube shaped weapon, we approached the Saintess. She whirled around as she saw me come from the corner of her eyes.
"You…" She glanced between the dozens of pirates— all of Ginah’s most elite fighters— surround her. She stood alone amongst enemies. "So this was a trap, huh?"
"It was," I said simply. "And now we have got you where we want you."
Lilith’s eyes flashed. "Do you really think I can’t kill all of you by myself?" She gripped her spear dangerously as everyone— Ginah, Kai, Jack, Braz— all tensed.
I raised my shoulders in a shrug and pointed at the wooden floor around us. "Not if you don’t want to sink the ship and get yourself killed." Shaking my head, I raised my wooden staff and pointed it at her. "This is not a threat, Saintess. You may think I am some kind of evildoer, but I am not. So here’s my ultimatum: leave me alone, and you will never hear from me ever again. I shall disappear into obscurity in the Taw Kingdom, and you can just claim to your higher ups at the Church that you killed me. It’s a win for everybody, is it not?"
That line of thinking had made sense to me, but apparently it didn’t to the Saintess as she scoffed. "The Church doesn’t even know that you exist. I’m here of my own volition."
I blinked. I exchanged a glance with Lisa who was off to the side, but she looked just as confused as I was. "If that’s the case, then why are you hunting me? Is this a personal vendetta? Did my mother do something terrible to you? If so, then I apologize. But I am not responsible for what she did, so don’t hold me accountable for it."
"That’s not the case either." Lilith sighed helplessly, leaving me even more perplexed. "I have to admit. I don’t even want to do this either. You’ve got fight in you, Aria. I like strong girls— unwilling to back down in the face of adversity."
"Then why are you doing this?" I cocked an eyebrow.
"Because," she said, shaking her head. "If I offer you to the Church in exchange for my freedom, then maybe they’ll finally listen to me. Maybe they’ll strip me from my title of Saintess, and I can finally live the life I want to, not the one they’ve always given me."
I stared at Lilith for a moment, into the darkness of her eyes. The shadow that hung over her gaze from the arch of her brows indicated some dark past. Something I didn’t know anything about. It reminded me that I knew so little about other people— like with Bahr whom I briefly met and fought. Did he have a reason for doing what he did? Definitely.
But sometimes, I had to act even when I knew nothing about what someone had been through. Whether Victor’s desire to exact ‘revenge’ was justified or not— even if I thought it wasn’t— didn’t matter, because I had to act there and then. And even if it was for different reasons, the same thing applied now.
I put a hand out, opening it towards Lilith. She cocked her head, eyeing the gesture. "What?"
"Saintess Lilith, I do not know what you’ve been through and I do not know anything about you. However, I shall offer you a deal now. If you want to be free from the Church, then come with me. With us. I can’t make any promises, but I’ll do everything within my power to ensure this comes true."
It was a similar offer I made to Ginah. It was an unsubstantiated offer. Something I had no previous results to show that I could deliver. And yet, Ginah trusted me because she had gotten to know me. But Lilith? She said she liked me, but we had only just met.
She laughed.
"Going against the Church? Haha! Good one— oh, wait you weren’t joking."
Lilith cast her gaze over all of us, stopping at each and every single one of our faces as if she were assessing us. She stopped at Gennady for a moment, narrowing her eyes, before she continued past him to face me.
"And what do you have with you to achieve that goal? A motley crew of pirates? A Dwarf inventor that was replaced by his own country for one of our insane Scientists? And you, Aria— a little girl who can cast some magic?"
"I’m not just any little girl," I said, meeting her gaze. "I am Melas, and I am the [Witch]."
She snickered. "Well then, Melas the Witch. If you truly want to be like your mother, Valeria the Fiend. Then go ahead and try. But I am no fool. I know what the Church is capable of, and I know all the secrets that they are hiding." The Saintess lifted her spear, pointing it at me. "So come then. Try and stop me from slaughtering you all."
Lilith blurred. She moved so fast I could barely keep up with her. Kai tracked her movements, firing one of his beams at her. She easily deflected it as a barrage of bullets came at her from the other pirates. It bounced off, her protective aura, of course. There was no way that would work.
She landed between three pirates, quickly disposing of the first two with a wide swing that they couldn’t dodge. The third pirate barely blocked the attack, but she struck him with the butt of his spear, knocking
