Trouble With The Church XII

Casting Wind Cannon twice and Wind Lance once took up all the magic that he had regained when he was dodging all their attacks. Kies was now back where he started and at a major disadvantage. He instinctively reached for his pouch where the moonstone was in but stopped himself. Now was still not the right time to use. If he used it now, then he would have none left for attacking back when he got the fragment.

D*mn it, where are the demons? Were they still trying to find the fragment? Or maybe they were also fighting and were slowly making their way towards him right now. Or worse... Had they left him behind after they saw the giant avatar and realized that they had no chance of winning. Kies shook his head. They may have abandoned him once down in the sewers, but he trusted that they wouldn't do something like that again.

For now, Kies needed to focus on staying alive. The demons were probably having trouble on their end. He needed to hold out until they arrived.

***

"What a joke..."

Falte stared at Jasyeu with lifeless eyes as she dug yet another hole under the barrier so that they could get through. Who would've guessed that the barrier had multiple layers? This was what, the sixth one now? They really didn't want anyone escaping from this place... Or entering either, though probably not intended.

Jasyeu shouted something from the hole which translated into, "I'm almost through."

"Good." Falte looked at the other two demons and saw that they were just as annoyed as him. Getting blocked once was bad enough, but getting blocked this many times was absolutely ridiculous. Who in their right mind would create a barrier with this many layers?

"I'm done!" Jasyeu shouted from the other side of the barrier. She sounded distant since the barrier blocked off her voice and it was coming from through the tunnel underneath her. Everyone jumped down into the hole and climbed out the other side.

"I sure hope this is the last one. Though I must say, they sure are thorough. But not thorough enough. I doubt they know it's possible to go underneath the barrier," Falte complimented the church for how efficient they were at keeping their victims contained within a specific area.

"I think that was the last one too."

"Thank goodness."

It was smooth sailing from here. There were no more barriers in their way and all they had to do was reach Kies. But if only that was so easy.

"Intruders!"

Not even a few seconds after Falte said that did a bunch of people in white robes spot them.

"Horns! They're demons!"

Falte put his hand on his head and felt his horn sticking out. He then looked up and saw that he didn't have his disguise magic on and it was visible. "Maybe I should have put that on before we entered..."

"Makes no difference. We're killing them all, aren't we?" Ammine asked, already knowing the answer to the question. They were going to kill everyone here.

Messa's eyes darkened when she saw robed people and let out a low growl. She put her hand out and instantly tore off a person's head with her magic before anyone had the chance to make a move.

"Kill them-"

Messa blasted another one with her magic and continued to attack them all until all of them were dead.

"Woah... Impressive..." Falte noted.

Messa wiped out the entire enemy in just a matter of seconds. She didn't even give them any time to attack back. There were around ten of them yet she took care of all of them in an instant.

"Didn't you say that these guys are tough?" Ammine turned to Falte with a question. He had told them that they stood no chance against the church, but considering how fast Messa killed them, they didn't seem like threats at all. "Did we even need to leave or go search for this thing?" she held up the fragment which she had carefully been keeping in her hand.

"I'm not stupid you know. If I think that we can't win a fight, then I have good reason to think so. Why don't you take a closer look at those rats first?"

Ammine went over to one of the bodies and examined it. The head was missing and blood was gushing out of it like a fountain. She felt out the magic residing in the body with hers and found out that there was barely any at all. Actually, it didn't even seem to be coming from the body. The magic was coming from somewhere outside it. Ammine used her magic to pinpoint where it was leaking from and found out that it was coming from a bracelet.

She bent down and snapped the bracelet off the arm. It was a magic tool. She looked around and saw that every single other body here also had it. No one here was actually a mage despite all the magic auras she felt. They were all coming from the bracelets.

No wonder they couldn't do anything. They were nothing more than fodder. She had no idea what these bracelets did but she assumed that they had offensive magic capabilities since the one she was holding kept stinging her finger at an interval.

"The real threat is those that Kies is fighting. I guarantee you that if we try to fight them, we won't stand a chance," Falte told her.

"And how do you know that?"

"Cause I recognize one of them. Does the name Basha, the Bane of Demons ring a bell?"

"What!? He's still alive? Don't humans only live like fifty to sixty years?"

"My eyes are quite good and so is my memory. Yes, he's still alive. It's been well over seventy years and yet he still looks the same. I don't know what kind of magic is keeping him alive, but I'd say it's about time we put an end to his life."

"Do we stand a chance?"

"No, but isn't that the reason why we're even trying?" Falte pointed at the crystal fragment. "There's only one way to find out."

---

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