anwhile...
Maria POV
To Maria, stress was a rare luxury she rarely afforded.
Aside from l, her position permitted her to see others only as insects, nothing more.
Yet for l’s sake, she tolerated these insects, though it depleted her patience, a small price for l’s happiness.
That includes, of course, those who were deeply close to l.
Ending her with the Cardinals, she glanced at her most trustworthy source of stress, staring right down at her from the door.
"Maria."
In her rough travelling robe that had already shed her disguised armour outfits, Saria kneeled with a knee down, the twilight in the Whale’s room failing to dull her worry.
"Please. Let escort l and Lila out. Right now."
Maria’s eyes smiled, yet her brows twitched with a slight irritation.
Swift orders had already diverted the other factions’ prying eyes from Embervale’s frozen disaster.
The problem? Not even , mimicking Sloth’s , could teach the Saintess to dissuade a sister determined to drag her family to safety.
"The Snow outside, Saria," The Saintess sighed. "It was far from dangerous. And you do know the safest place was within my summon here, right?"
Lila’s , enhanced by Long chant, had reached every corner of the World with falling snows and ice.
The very climate has been warped into a sudden winter, plants threatened to die without Maria’s holy intervention, and armies from different factions were on high alert.
The World has been thrown into utter chaos. Maria’s head was already bursting to unveil the politics, retaliate against the Iron Kingdom’s foolish threat, and halt the North’s Drakes from advancing towards Embervale.
But even the worst of them couldn’t compare to the pressure a single word from Saria exuded.
"I, of course, understand."
The Knight’s brows knitted together, her fist settling on her sword’s hilt on high alert.
"But you’re the type to set aside a few to save many more. I’m sorry, but I can’t entrust l and Lila’s safety to you when that snowy disaster happens outside."
Should I smite her and knock her out?
A nance washed over Maria’s face, her smiley eyes shutting against the trembling impulsion.
Then, l’s words flashed in her mind.
’I’d make sure to repay you, Maria!’
And her stress imdiately dissipated, like a puff of smoke exhaled from the lungs.
"Please do not worry, Saria."
The Saintess’s thighs slid against each other, part relaxed, part aroused at l’s repaynt.
Her frown loosened as her palms dug into the mattress, eting the Knight’s stare. "I promise to prioritise l and Lila’s safety above everything else."
"Really?" Saria’s voice was low and grumpy, failing to grasp any trust for the Saintess.
"It hurts that you viewed indifferently, but it’s simply a matter of reasoning."
She gestured to Saria with a wave of her hand. "I couldn’t imagine the utter consequence of the Cult possessing Mind-bender. It is best if l were watched over by and soone she trusts."
Her mind drifted to a certain mont; in a deep, distant past, or future, one might call.
The extent of Mind-bending magic, reaching over all of the Kingdom with a simple command, resolved multiple incidents within seconds.
A terrifying power, one that once flared up the Saintess’s distrust.
Maria’s thighs clasped more at the fond mories, her smile widening at the prospect of owning l at night.
Her tongue licked at her teeth as she stated. "So, don’t worry."
l shall remain perfectly pure until I inevitably pry open her body.
This ti, even Wrath couldn’t intervene as I snuff out her intent to save the Witches.
She held back a heated chuckle, her inside threatening to wet for tonight.
-------------------
Calina POV
anwhile, a figure rushed into the frozen forest, her eyes sharpening as if possessed.
Her hand gripped her sword’s hilt; knuckles steady, steps heavy, breaths rasping as she sprinted against the ice and frosted trees.
Calina knew sothing had occurred in the forest.
And her first instinct was not to exterminate it, but to first protect her ho.
So fully aware that she had no chance against a Calamity-level threat yet, she planned for a single glance of observation before pulling back to relay any information she could find.
Survival of the Fittest. She was never one with a Knightly grace.
Yet as she weaved through the trees, her eyes narrowed in disbelief.
Bodies of Holy and Royal Knights lay around like corpses, with not a trace of fighting indicated.
No dents scarred their armor; no chips marked their swords beside them.
Her opponent, then, must be-
Thought severed. Her spine shuddered in that split second.
No bloodlust rushed at her, no indifference glared down from behind.
She drew her blade-
SLASH!
-and swept it backward, steel clashing against a hollow pang.
Yet her eyes widened. No sword. No shadow. Just her steps stumbling against the unseen force.
She knew now; the slash held no emotion, as if swung by a swordsman who knew neither rage nor apathy.
"Grr..."
Gritting her teeth, she hopped to the side.
The air slash, to her shock, vanished without a trace. There was no cut on the ground or even a slight split of a frozen leaf.
Then, with trembling eyes, the Witch Hunter spotted a thin, fickle crack in the air.
Her inexperience failed to comprehend it, but her instinct drove her blade to swing.
SLASH!
So accidentally, she slashed against a ’wound’.
A ’wound’ created by the true mastery of Sword, one that blinded the World’s perception to another visage.
And for her observation, her vision was granted a reprieve.
She could briefly make out a figure, cloaked in a grey hood and eying her with grey, emotionless eyes.
"Expectingly amateruish, Calina."
Wrath’s voice echoed; impressed, uninterested, two conflicting emotions hamring beneath her weighted tone.
The Sword Master froze in awe; the wound reclosed, and Wrath ’escaped’ her vision once again.
Chortling in exhaustion, she held firm her blade in a readied stance.
She felt it: that her opponent was testing her.
If not, Calina would not last even one step.
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