Before the group could even leave town they stumbled upon a scene that explained more than any words could. Right by the exit of the town, a group of five people knocked on a door waiting for the exact mont the person inside would answer the door to kick it open causing the man a broken nose.
One man then barged in and ca out soon after with a bag with stolen goods and then the sa thing repeated itself on the next house.
It was shocking even to Uriel who had lived on the slums most of his life since whenever groups of people tried to gang up on a community they would either join together to beat them or as a last resort ask the authorities to send a ranger.
But these people didn't confront their robbers nor did they make any attempt to fight back and simply allowed them to take whatever it was they wanted from their hos.
"We should do sothing." Alice said trying not to look at the violent scene unfolding in front of her.
"Do what exactly?" Nika asked and Uriel added.
"For all we know those guys deserve it, but if you want to give it a go, I won't intervene," He looked Alice directly into the eye and then continued. "even if it doesn't go your way."
Despite his cold deanor, Uriel knew helping those people was the right thing to do. However, ddling into other people's business and risking himself without anything to gain felt pointless, especially since he had already decided to end the 'madness' that overca the townsn by taking care of the supposed cryptid behind it.
The group kept moving forward with Alice directing a spiteful glare towards the most violent man in the bunch, but did nothing about it since she realized she wouldn't be a match for more than one or two of them at a ti.
Getting back to the devil's cross took longer than on their way towards the town since it was near the top of the hill, but that gave Luna enough ti to explain her theory.
"If I am correct, the cross will have no effect on you either." She said.
"And what if you're wrong?" Uriel asked, but not before taking a pause to prepare himself ntally for her usual shenanigans.
"Uhm..." She fumbled to herself but remained silent until they reached the cross.
Before anything, Uriel turned on the cara and set it up to docunt what he was about to do for posterity. Despite him not sharing Nika's beliefs, he considered the ceremony of praying of quite high cultural value which ant it still had an important aning to him.
"Do you even know how to pray?" Nika tilted her head when she noticed Uriel remained standing in front of the cross.
"Of course I do, but kneeling is a sign of submission and unlike you, I'm aware that this cross isn't what it appears to be.
If Luna is right and it's actually an unholy symbol, then I'd rather pray standing up and be ready should anything show up." He then placed both his hands together in a gesture he had read about in many anthropology books over the years but had never perford himself and silently prayed.
"What did you ask for?" Asked Alice when Uriel returned to the group to which Luna replied aloof.
"Money, it's always money."
"Co on, I could have asked for safety in our travel too." Uriel grumbled.
"Did you?" Nika lifted an eyebrow, then broke into laughter when Uriel faintly blushed.
"Do you feel any different?" Luna asked after checking up on him.
"Not really." Uriel replied, a bit disappointed nothing happened.
"Then I think it's safe to assu the story we were told was true. Now, dig beneath the cross. Be careful not to tip it over. If necessary you can move it back a little, but try to avoid touching it." Luna warned.
Uriel looked at Nika expectantly who in turn looked towards Alice, leaving her with no choice but to get her hands dirty and excavate the tomb.
It was a painstaking labor made only more intensive by Uriel's pointers on how to prevent damaging whatever it was underneath the soil, but being a huntress and inexperienced in digging up archaeological remains she used too much force and the shovel made a loud clanging sound when it hit sothing hard.
The sound echoed eerily in the hill and the valley in a way much similar to a chapel bell marking the ti for mass, but the thing that made the sound was not a bell but a black luster armor. Uriel grumpily pushed Alice aside and continued the process of digging up the armor until it fully erged and took it out with the sa care a mother would embrace their firstborn child right after labor.
"It's beautiful..." Uriel said, marveling at the armor retaining his luster despite being covered in dirt for an undetermined amount of ti. For so reason beyond anyone present, dirt refused to stick to the armor and it was clean spotless, but that beca the least of their worries once Luna continued her explanation.
"It's just as I thought. This is that knight's armor, but I'm unsure if it's a cryptid itself or if it's a cursed artifact, but I'm certain that this incident involves possession, that is why both of you are immune to it. Nika can't be possessed since her trait involves possessing other hunter's body and Uriel can't because he is already possessed."
"Well, we can rule out both the armor being an artifact or a cryptid. There's no flux energy signature coming off from this armor." Uriel said after examining it with his glasses.
"Then why doesn't dirt stick to it? I an, it's not normal, is it?" Nika rebuked.
"Well.... I don't have an explanation to that." Uriel shrugged.
"There is another test we could perform and it likely will get us where we need to go, but for that, I'll need Alice's help." Luna muttered and Alice soon felt the weight of the stares directed at her. Despite their eyes emitting no flux whatsoever, she thought she saw a strange glint in their eyes as they leaned closer.
"Done." Luna said after tightening the rope she used to hog tie Alice.
"Let go! This is inhumane!" She wiggled in the ground like a worm, but Luna's ability with the rope proved to be impossible to defeat.
"Don't worry, this isn't the first ti we use live bait to lure in a cryptid." Nika chuckled.
"And how did that end up?" Alice said, then turned to cry when no one replied.
"Should we hang her in a tree or sothing?" Uriel asked dismissing the sobs in the background.
"No, she needs to pray in front of the cross. Tying her up is for her own safety. Now, even if she becos violent we won't be forced to kill her," Luna dragged Alice in front of the cross that now looked like an open grave and after nudging her with her foot she said. "pray."
"I refuse!" Alice cried.
"You can bring a horse to water, but you can't force it to drink." Nika shrugged.
"Well, she's not a horse and is actually getting paid to do this." Uriel said.
"I never agreed to do this!" Alice refuted.
"Didn't you say you would do anything? Now start praying or I'll give you a reason to do it." Uriel's words felt like a sentence leaving Alice with no choice but to do what was asked of her.
She looked at the cross and remained silent for a few seconds before uttering.
"I want revenge on them." Upon finishing speaking, Alice started emitting an imnse flux pressure causing imdiate effects on Luna who was at the ascended level. Both Uriel and Nika resisted it, but that didn't an they were scared by the sudden change in her flux signature.
"This is not looking good." Uriel said.
"No shit, Sherlock!" Nika mocked. "she's coming after us!"
"Who's that Sherlock guy?" Uriel tilted his head, as he watched Alice stand on her feet while looking fiercely at them.
"You will pay for what you've done. Your sins will be the end of you!" Alice shouted with a deep masculine voice.
"This is good, it ans it's actually a cryptid, she's now possessed." Luna explained.
"How do we kill it?" Uriel asked after failing to spot any flux node on Alice that would hint at where the cryptid was located.
"No clue." Luna replied.
"You will burn in hell!" Alice laughed as she darted towards the group. Everyone rose their guards and prepared for combat, but she ran past them and disappeared before they could react.
"Where did she go?" Asked Uriel.
"Oh, I know! She wasn't talking about us, she wants revenge on the guys that were raiding the town!" Nika said, giddy that she caught on what was going on before anybody else, but then she noticed Uriel's grim face.
"We need to hurry, I don't have enough flux to use the jaguar or even Dash!" He said as he attempted to follow Alice, though his speed wasn't even comparable to hers.
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