Bridgett

Heretics.

Heretics represented quite a large range of groups. Anyone the Empire religiously with to abyssal entities. Heretics were the mortal enemy of the Empire, and anyone accused of heresy was, by Imperial law, to be executed on sight.

Covering my left eye with my hand, I suddenly longed for a phone, so I could look at my reflection and confirm I wasn't being lied to.

Than again, I'd be dead the moment the priest would have seen it.

Little did the priest know, he had just performed the coming of age ceremony for two so called 'heretics'. If it he had known that the future Saintess possessed one of forbidden Angel Eyes...

The thought of snitching on Mary crossed my mind, as it would eliminate one of my problems pretty quickly. But at the same time, I had to keep the story as in line as possible, and she was unfortunately a major part of it.

Than again, I don't even think I'd have the stomach to do it, especially knowing what they'd do to her if they captured her.

Scientists could be just as deranged as arcane users. They're minds may not be affected by the abyss, but their obsessive need of advancement had proven time and time again to be costly, yet uncaring.

Though I must admit, the things they've managed to accomplish is nothing short of impressive.

I also sat there and wondered about my path. A path was usually brought down through bloodline, and it marked the journey a Divine User would go down. It was almost a sequence, and the higher someone got in the sequence, the more powerful they'd get. It was said god imparted one-hundred-and-twenty different pathways to humanity. Obviously, through the ages a lot of those have disappeared, consumed by time, but I knew of a at least thirty that still existed here in the vast Empire. A lot of noble houses shared similar pathways through centuries of political marriages.

The Path of the Hallowed was very well known as the one the Emperor went down. It was said he reached an almost divine state using it. On the other hand, the Path of the Unwritten? I had never heard of it, and from the looks of confusion when it got announced, it seemed I wasn't the only one.

Thanks to Charlotte, I had an idea of what it meant. But that brang me a lot of attention, as such an unknown pathway may bring me under scrutiny, even if Mary completely outshone me.

The last thing I want is those emotionless robots from the inquisition on my heels.

Sitting there, I sat uncaring at the dribble Arthur continued to spout. I had my head leaning on my hand, staring blankly at the two same paintings I had been looking at earlier in the ceremony.

My guess now, was that the man grabbing the sword, his face hidden, was the Emperor. He was known to be faceless, always wearing a mask until his disappearance. That was also the reason the church higher ups refused to show their faces, as they believed it was a religious rite.

While I was thinking that, I tried summoning some red energy into my hand, similar to how Charlotte did it in the Bird Cage. It was actually easy, as if I was just doing a simple movement, I started pulling red strings of mist from my fingertips, and manipulating them into shapes.

Staring at the painting of the long missing Emperor, I thought I might as well try my luck. I started to fine tune the strings, forming them into crudely formed shapes. It seemed even though my control of the mana was already sufficient, my artistic mind still lagged behind by a lot.

Giving up on doing the whole picture, I focused on just the Emperors face, or lack thereof. Glancing at the statue, I copied the mask onto the picture I was forming. It's two eye holes, a lack of a mouth and its plain appearance were all copied into my drawing.

Finally, after around a minute, I had made a portrait that even I was impressed with. Far from an art piece, it still was good enough to pass off as a sketch, and I patted myself on the back.

Just as I was about to dissipate the drawing before anyone saw me, the shape started to change.

It started to get more detailed, and before long, it was extremely detailed. From the scratches on the mask, the disheveled hair, and even the eyes, it was detailed to a fine detail.

Staring slightly shocked, I quickly tried to blow away the mist with my hand, but nothing worked. As I disrupted the masked Emperors portrait, it returned back to normal, as if the wind didn't affect it.

Suddenly, just as I was giving up hope, I saw the image start to move. Specifically, the masked Emperors eyes gained light, and he looked directly at me. It was if he was staring me down, before he finally spoke in a raspy tone.

"Arthur... Will die... All of you... Will... Die.... The drinks..."

Hearing this, I stared back at it. I could guess what happened, and it didn't forebode anything well.

Charlotte, she's warning me.

Slowly, while trying to avoid gaining any attention, I stood up, as the masked Emperors portrait faded into nothing. I could see Arthur was still in the middle of a speech, as oblivious as ever, basking in the moment. I felt slightly begrudged, considering I was doing his job, but my life was involved as well, so my hands were essentially tied.

Heading in the direction of a door to the far right of the podium, as I entered into a hallway. What greeted me was the insides of large mansion, with servants moving back and forth, constantly working to maintain its pristine appearance.

Some of them looked at me, but witnessing my attire and the fact I had just come from the main hall, they all kept their heads down.

Seeing this, I felt slightly regrettable, but had no time to ponder over such reactions.

I have to find that waitress. Considering I asked her for my drink, that I never got, she's the first suspect.

I walked down the hallway, trying to find the kitchen. This mansion was massive, probably the size of a small University, so finding anything would be difficult. In fact, saying this place only had one kitchen was an insult to the sheer size of the place.

Why the hell is an assassination attempt going to happen tonight? Actually, now that I think about it this would be the perfect moment. But who is the question.

In fact, it would be too difficult to even figure that out. In this world, enemies were everywhere. Every division, race, language or religion could mark you an enemy, so it was much too difficult to narrow down.

Finally getting fed up, I pull one servant to the side, who seemed the least busy and asked her in a slightly hurried tone.

"Have you seen a adult woman, probably my height, auburn hair and slightly tanned skin. She was serving drinks before and I'd like to personally reward her for her excellent service."

Seeing the servants eyes grow nervous at the mention of trying to find one of her colleagues, I included that it was to reward her, to avoid being lied to.

As I predicted, it worked. Her eyes glowed a bit more, and she quickly replied.

"U-um yes your lordship. Shes one of my friends, her names Bridget. Last I heard, shes currently doing dishes in the washer room. Would you like me to escort you there?"

Seeing the servant girl ask with a questioning glance, I played it safe just in case.

"No, just point me in the direction of her and I'll find my own way."

Answering quickly, I urged her to quickly tell me the location. After receiving the approximate way to get there, I hurried my pace.

For some reason, the closer I got to my destination, the harder my heart beat. It was almost as if I knew instinctively that something was up, and I had to get there as quickly as possible. It felt more like a compulsion than anything.

My steps crunched the carpet below, and the closer I got, the less crowded it became, until finally, I reached my destination. A door at the end of the hallway, and a sign indicating I had reached my destination. It was completely abandoned, compared to other parts of the mansion I had just been in, which had been crowded by busy servants.

By the time I saw the door, I was practically sprinting, urged by a sense of foreboding. My heart wouldn't stop pounding, and my senses felt heightened.

Finally, I put my hand on the handle of the door, and stopped just before opening the door. I tried to listen for anything, movement, breathing, struggling, anything. Yet, the only sound I could hear was water.

Why can I hear, water? Is it spilling on the ground?

After waiting a moment, I opened the door slowly, peeking my head as I looked around. The first thing that greeted me was the long sink that lined the wall. It was overflowing, the tap haven't been turned off.

But that wasn't what caught my attention. It wasn't the overflow of water, nor the puddle at my feet. It was the color of the water.

It's... red.

I opened up the door more, opening it fully. When I finally saw the reason for the color of the water, I felt oddly relieved for the young servant who had helped me.

It was better you didn't come with me.

I had found Bridget, or at least, Bridget's head. It was currently floating in the water, having been decapitated from her body, her long auburn hair had been tied to the the tap, keeping it from spilling out the sink. 

I showed barely any reaction to this brutality. In fact, I was already accustomed to it. After being witness to the massacre in the Northern Forest, and some of the things the hereitic's did up there...

Needless to say, my past self would be shocked to see me now.

In the left corner of the room was a headless body. But it was hard to call it a body, and more of a mangled corpse. Her whole body had been desecrated, opened up from top to bottom. No limb had been severed, yet like gutting a fish, her whole body lacked any contents, being scattered across the room.

Her corpse sat upright, crudely crucified, with both her skinless hands nailed to the wall, the nails themselves were pitch black, and I felt a sickly feeling looking at them.

The wall above her had been covered in Bridget's blood, a disgusting painting had been made above her head, its patterns resembled a crude magic circle, with a demonic element to it. Right next to it, words in blood had been written, and from then on, I knew who I was dealing with. In bold letters, it read:

Death to the Puppet Emperor, and Death to all those who follow him.

It seemed Arthur hadn't done a good enough job one year ago.

They were back, and this time, they wanted to make an entrance.

Heretics.