Chapter 746: Guinevere
"I must thank you. Really like truly thank you. You've made this job worth taking~" Gwen ripped out her spear as she squatted down with a twisted grin.
"I'm grateful for the fact that you heretics decided to deliver yourselves to my door, giving me the time of my life. Someone of my station shouldn't be here you know? I should be elsewhere, doing something actually worth my talents rather than just playing border control." She sighed, leaning her head against her hand as she stabbed the spear into Maevis' shoulder.
"But having clowns like you appear before me means I get to indulge in a little entertainment. A break from this monotony." Gwen giggled, pulling out the spear before stabbing it into the other shoulder.
"Though it makes one wonder. Is it really worth it? Smuggling something like this overseas? It's hard to hide the traces of divinity from someone like me~ Did you think I wouldn't notice? That horrid aura latching onto your body. The signs of a fallen god." Gwen tilted her head in confusion while looking at the twitching mass of flesh shifting beneath Maevis' skin.
As for Maevis, she simply glared at this woman with hatred in her eyes.
Around her, her allies lay motionless.
Black blood dripping out of their wounds as their limbs were either torn apart or bound by the golden chains.
Even Rinan was forced onto his knees, unable to do anything to the sentinels thanks to one variable that Maevis didn't account for.
The presence of a Cardinal! And not just a normal one at that. . .
"Cardinal Gwen or rather, Guinevere. The esteemed daughter bathed in the finest rays of gold. Offspring of Arax the Protector. Apostle of the Sun God with the moniker of Protection. I can only curse my own foul luck to have run into someone like you in this backwater port." Maevis spat out in annoyance.
"Ohya? Someone knows of me even though we're all the way out here. Seems like you're someone who works with information." Gwen chuckled, leaning towards Maevis as she began to sweat from the heat.
"Since you know, maybe we can strike a deal. You've already killed my assistants and even the guard I hired. Whatever you're looking for in the south east, maybe I can help you look for it with my connections." Maevis offered.
"Hmm. . . That's not a bad proposition. I have been stuck out here for days and Dad's even keeping a close eye on me so I can't slack off too much." Gwen grumbled.
A spark of hope appeared in Maevis' gaze when she felt her eye twitch.
Her eyes stung as even blinking began to hurt. Furrowing her brows, she realised that her eyes were beginning to dry up. Her throat parched and her outfit soaked with her sweat.
"M-maybe we can talk this over a nice meal. I've already shown my desire to not fight anymore yeah? I surrender." Maevis' smile twitched.
"But that's something you do with friends isn't it? To talk over the table." Gwen smiled, looking at Maevis who was beginning to squirm. Her body was pinned down by the several spears she had summoned.
"I wouldn't dare be friends with someone as illustrious as you. A s-servant!"
"I wouldn't go as far as a servant. But as friends, that's something that can be arranged yet." Gwen nodded happily and Maevis nodded along with the smile.
Her throat was beginning to dry up.
Each word that she spoke felt like sand paper sliding against her flesh. Crackles in the voice and profuse coughs.
"Even so~ If my dad finds out I actually negotiated with heretics like you smuggling pieces of fallen god flesh, I'll get scolded as well. If we're going to be friends, you have to stop doing things like that." Gwen sighed with lament.
"I-I can do that. No more smuggling from me, I'll walk the righteous path!"
"Oh! You get it! Yes you get it!" Gwen grabbed Maevis' hand with excitement.
*TSSS!!!
Flinching from the heat, Maevis held back the urge to scream as she could feel- no, smell her flesh being seared from coming into contact with Gwen.
"But to make sure that you're truly free from that life of crime, we must go through a baptism okay? Don't worry, I just need to burn away the sins that you've accumulated, then we can truly be friends." Gwen chuckled, unable to hold back her grin.
The black tattoos on her body now shimmered with a radiant gold as the sand beneath her feet began to melt into a puddle.
Maevis wanted to let out a string of curses but all that came out was slurred noises and the gurgling of blood.
The moment she opened her mouth, Gwen stuck her fingers inside, burning the tongue and pulling it out.
A movement so quick Maevis didn't even notice until the tsunami of pain stabbed into her consciousness.
"Ah please, stop squirming like this. It'll make the baptism more annoying you know?" Gwen summoned more spears, stabbing it through Maevis' back to pin her against the ground. She made sure to avoid the major vitals so that she wouldn't die too quickly.
"Arh!!! Uggg!!! AAAGGG!!!!" Maevis glared at Gwen with bloodshot eyes.
The first to catch fire was her outfit as she was engulfed in a ball of radiant flickering fire.
Next was her eyes. No tears, no blood. They were burned away. Only the melted remains of her eyeballs remained as her eyelids began to peel back. The heat separating skin from flesh as the oils within her body started to fry her alive.
Yet Gwen squatted in front of the burning woman with a wide smile. She watched in satisfaction like a father watching a crackling flame on a sunny day out.
To Gwen, there was something cathartic about seeing the body slowly melting into a puddle while engulfed in flames.
One might even go as far as to say that this was her hobby.
Others may use magnifying glasses on ants or pour water on them. Maybe even going as far as to use molten metal into their nests. But those fleeting acts of violence didn't entertain Gwen.
No, those were lesser beings. Things negligible in her life, beings that can't even be held on the same pedestal.
What truly got her going, what truly fuelled this fire in her heart, is subjecting her fellow humans to the same torture. To push down someone the same as you, to crush them beneath her foot.
Gwen felt a rush of adrenaline whenever she did this.
She even went as far as to use the Zone that her Aunty Shiera taught her in order to capture every little detail while her victims burned.
Forever etching that fleeting memory of their vitality fighting against her baptism.
Once the final embers surrounding Maevis extinguished, Gwen stood up and repeated the same with Rinan.
Quite a few of the citizens looking to enter the city have already fled when the battle broke out. It was no surprise as most people don't even get past three Sigils throughout their whole life.
Never mind hunting enough to put up a decent fight against someone like her.
Which only begged the question. . . where was that old man?
Everyone from that carriage pulled out their weapons to attack the trio yet the old man was nowhere in sight.
Something was off. . .
"Put out a notice. See if you can find the old man that we saw earlier. Either he ran away from the gates or there's more to him." She turned to one of the Sentinels who gave her a salute before walking away.
"I'm not one to judge your. . . enjoyment Miss Gwen but the cleanup will stall the process of allowing the uninvolved into the city." The Sentinel who summoned the golden chains sighed as Gwen shrugged her shoulder with a laugh.
"It'll be fine~ Better to be a little late than to die amirite?" Gwen revealed a cheeky grin while walking away.
Waving her hand playfully, she jumped back into her seat comfortably hidden in the shade and kicked up her legs.
Watching this, the Sentinel sighed out helplessly and turned to the charred remains.
Cleanup was going to be rather annoying, especially if he didn't want to alarm the civilians who may come back.
###
Within the city, a greyish blue haired woman leaned against the walls with her eyes closed. She had short wild hair with two long strands on either side of the face that reached down to her chest.
She wore a sleeveless black shirt beneath a long sleeved sheer blouse. On the blouse were faint golden embroidery that would only appear in direct sunlight.
A pair of short shorts and knee night boots.
Slowly opening her eyes, she retrieved a strand of blood that she injected into the ground. She disguised the blood with the surroundings to allow herself to spy on the situation.
"A cardinal. . . the daughter of an Apostle at that. Yeah I'm glad I dipped before they tried to find me." Alice sighed. She had disguised herself as the old man and travelled with the group having noticed the unusually high Sigil count.
In one sense, it was the perfect cover. If trouble starts, they'll be the one implicated.
And on top of that, there's also the case of them having traces of divinity, it allowed herself to camouflage her own much easier.
Once the fight broke out, Alice found the chance to enter the city and change her disguise so that they won't be able to find her.
[There's probably another check for the boats leading out of the city so you'll need to be careful of that.] Cayla reminded.
'It's most likely going to be limited in departures at all.' Alyss added.
'I aware.'
Getting through the checkpoint was more annoying than anything. What's truly got her back sweating was coming up as the Apostles were checking every single ship departing the nation while also keeping an eye on the Void.
Escaping through teleportation was not an option as doing so would be akin to suicide.
Of course, that's not to say it was impossible. Alice had her methods and even the weakest one should allow her to evade their gaze.