Chapter Nineteen #2
Vester let out a harsh laugh, then he pointed his cane at Reve.
“Avatar of Life,” he said calmly, then brought his cane down and tapped the knob against his chest. “Avatar of Change,” he concluded.
At the last moment he’d swapped Chaos for Change, just to make himself sound a little less sinister.
“Denny might be the Hero here on Ordinal, but Reve and I are actual divine agents. Why do you think Peace wanted you all to get rid of us so bad? I’m cursed, so loyal followers of the Church of Light hate me in proportion to their depth of faith. ”
The wheels were visibly turning behind Rachel’s eyes, and then she shifted her gaze to look at Emma, who was sleeping.
Emma’s face was sweaty, and her black hair was a tangled mess around her head.
Her pale skin looked gray, though the cracks that had been oozing blood had scabbed over.
Faint scars ran all over Emma, making Vester think she’d look like broken porcelain if her skin tone were healthier.
“She’s going to be a problem—she directly channels Peace’s power,” Rachel said.
“It’s killing her, but she won’t stop. She thinks Peace is everything her church back home promised her: love, kindness, light, hope, understanding—but it’s burning her up from the inside out and not in a good way.
I don’t think she’s capable of going against the church. ”
“It’s only a problem if she wakes up,” Li Ra said.
The oni had never moved from where she’d been standing guard, and she hadn’t put away her pistols.
She still held them in a relaxed grip that could rise and fire in a split-second.
Rachel jumped and Vester realized the Soulsage had entirely forgotten the quiet oni was there.
“W-what do you mean if she wakes up?” Rachel asked. Fear and anxiety spread across Rachel’s features, and Vester watched the mage struggle with the implications, because he suspected some part of Rachel already understood. The woman glanced back and forth between Emma and Denny. “Oh…”
“Yeah,” Vester said. He felt like a lead weight was forming in his chest and trying to drag his heart down to his feet. “If Emma is reinforcing Peace’s hold on Denny, then Denny is safer if Emma is gone.”
“But they’re dating!” Rachel protested. “Like, really dating. Seriously. Denny bought a ring and everything. They’ve been together for months now. They even talked about having kids when the war is over! Emma just wants to finish the task the goddess gave her so she can settle down and be a mom!”
Vester wanted to scream. It wasn’t even that he didn’t know Emma and Denny were dating—he’d overheard enough to realize it.
He’d just been trying to avoid thinking about it.
It was hard enough to contemplate killing the girl in cold blood, especially when one of his Party would have to do it for him, but having the relationship rubbed in his face made all of it worse.
“Does she need anything to cast? Focus, words, gestures?” Vester demanded.
When Rachel confirmed that Emma needed her divine icons and to speak a prayer for most of her spells, Vester looked to Li Ra.
“Please strip her of everything, wrap her in something so she’s not naked, and then gag her and tie her up so she can barely twitch.
If we’re letting her live, we’re doing everything we can to make sure she can’t cause trouble. ”
Li just nodded, already materializing rope and some spare blankets from her inventory. Rachel stared in shock to see the stuff just appear in midair. “You really do have a storage skill! They’re so rare, how do so many people in your Party have it?”
“Yeah, it’s a perk from fucking me,” Vester said, barely paying attention to her at the moment. His mind was racing and he needed to center himself before he made a dumb decision. He started walking toward Krysta and Rachel followed alongside him. “Can we get Kimmy to calm down?”
The catgirl and Kora were still engaged in their fight, with Ripper continuing to help Kora.
Vester was genuinely shocked that it appeared to be a draw.
He knew how powerful Kora and Ripper were, so to see that Kimmy was still going against them, healing herself and keeping herself in the fight, shocked him. Her class was incredibly strong.
“Not unless you’ve got a boombox,” Rachel said with a shake of her head.
“Her class is supposed to work with music, but Kimmy hates that stuff they play on this world. She’s a Swiftie, or something like that?
That Taylor woman. Anyway, she says the stuff they play here just makes her angrier.
But her class is a combination of berserker and dancer—the longer she’s fighting the stronger she gets, until she wins or collapses. ”
Vester paused, tilting his head. It took but a moment for him to focus on a spot to Kimmy’s left, and then reality shifted.
A blonde in a beige corset top and black skirt simply appeared and the music began pounding.
‘~cause baby now we got bad blood…~’ the illusion began, and Kimmy’s reaction was immediate.
Vester really hadn’t expected the athletic felid to just collapse into a sobbing mess on the stones.