Chương 11: Time's Up

Tick, tick, tick. Three days turned to two after the expedition party returned at the dead of night. Two became one, and Sid wasted the day trying to convert Peter to no avail. He was just as cold as Haruya without the near death experience to soften him up. Once the clock hit midnight, they only had hours until the nonexistent five-day clock ran out. Davine would certainly be coming for Sid when it got dark. He wanted to face him with an XP boost from completing his conversion mission.

Since they were facing imminent death, Davine gave them the day off and made the residents of Embrace serve themselves for once. Peter was sitting in one of the private prayer rooms like a statue. Sid approached and the floorboards creaked under his feet.

"For the last time Sid, leave me alone."

"You seem stressed. That's no way to spend your first and last day of freedom."

"No fucking shit I'm stressed. Now please fuck off before I smite you." Sid's eyes brightened.

"Ooh, can you actually do that?"

"Do you want to find out?"

"Look, if you would just listen to me for a second, I think you'd feel a lot better." Peter laughed.

"You know what? You remind me of Davine. Another wannabe prophet." Ouch, that one actually stung a bit. Brute force was getting Sid anywhere, so he'd have to prove himself through action once again. He quietly inspected the back of Peter's head. They were about the same height and had a similar hairstyle. In the dark, someone approaching from behind could mistake the boy for Sid. Especially a middle-aged mystic hanging onto his last thread of sanity.

"Do you think you're gonna be able to sleep tonight?" Sid asked.

"I wouldn't even if I could. I don't trust you not to try anything, and frankly, I don't trust Davine either."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about Davine," Sid said casually.

"He wants to kill me, not you."

"Ha! That's the most genuine thing you've said yet."

"It's just a figure of speech. I know he's going to try and kill me at some point today or tomorrow. Probably at night. That's how he's survived so long, you know." Peter stared at Sid.

"I said I don't trust Davine, not that I'm suspicious enough to accuse him of systemic murder with no proof."

"Oh I have proof." Sid stood up and moved to the door. He looked back at Peter.

"You coming?" Peter scoffed, but he did start following Sid out of the room. They left the mystics' wing and went to the standard dormitories where Allani slept. She was placed in a room with six other beds. It was empty at the moment. Her bed was marked with her name in the corner. She wasn't there at the moment, so Sid started pulling her sheets up and searching for where she hid the book.

"What the fuck?! You can't just rummage around a woman's bed!"

"Shh!" Sid hissed.

"Don't draw unnecessary attention." He lifted the mattress and found the book tucked beneath it. He handed it to Peter, who flipped through each page with increasing concern. He slammed the book shut and shoved it back in its hiding place.

"Ok. That's pretty creepy," he admitted.

"Everyone from my monastery is here except for me and Haruya. Did he really kill a dozen mystics in one night?"

"If your mystics were the holy pacifists they were supposed to be, I imagine it wouldn't have been that hard. He's spent at least a decade leveling up and collecting skills, after all." Peter's knees buckled and he fell back onto the bed.

"Why just them? Why did he leave me and Haruya alive?"

"You were the newest graduates. He needed to cycle out the more mature mystics before they started questioning him. Honestly, if I wasn't such an asshole he probably would've killed you or Haruya next." Sid smiled.

"You're welcome!"

"Does he know you took his book?"

"Maybe, but what's he gonna do, demand his murder scrapbook back in front of everyone?"

"I don't understand why you haven't shown this to Dalisay or Violet already." Peter rubbed his temples.

"They could…get rid of him. His crimes are severe enough. The rest of us wouldn't have to worry."

"Peter! You're not listening to me. None of us have anything to worry about. No one is dying tomorrow, not even Davine. I still need him."

"What on Earth do you need him for?" Sid jumped on Allani's bed and spread his arms out.

"To prove that I was sent here by the Rose herself! I'm the pawn that's going to break the seal and kill the Thorned Devil. I'm going to end this game."

"Ahem," Allani coughed from the doorway.

"I don't think you're supposed to be up there." Peter scrambled forward and yanked Sid off the bed. They both tumbled to the ground.

"I'm so sorry miss!" Peter stayed on the floor and bowed to Allani.

"We'll remove ourselves from your room immediately!" Sid pulled him up by the arm.

"Calm down. Allani isn't a puritan. I mean, she's seen way worse than two guys jumping on her bed at the circus."

"What's that supposed to mean?" A piercing scream rang through the halls and cut her off. All three of them ran out of the room towards the source of the noise. Dalisay was standing at the main entrance with a silver-haired man in her arms. His entire left arm was missing, and the wound looked fresh. Bright red blood rushed out and filled every crack in the floor.

"Where's Davine!?" Dalisay yelled. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Sid grabbed Allani's arm.

"We'll go look for him. Peter, go stop the bleeding." Sid pulled Allani towards the cafeteria. She quickly overtook him in speed and was practically dragging him on the floor. She crashed through the doors and screamed Davine's name. The other three mystics were in the kitchen and all looked up, along with everyone that was trying to enjoy their breakfast. Ife looked around the room before responding.

"Um…he was here a minute ago."

"Oh shit," Sid muttered.

"Allani, we need to go back to your room right now!" Allani's face went pale and she hoisted Sid over her shoulder. He couldn't see the crowd's reaction, but the gasps and clatter of silverware hitting the floor told him enough. Good thing there was a man dying nearby. Breaking petty rules like staying away from women was permitted as long as it was for a good reason. When they reached the hall, they could hear frantic footsteps and crashing noises coming from Allani's room.

She bolted to her doorway and let Sid down once she stepped inside. Davine was standing over her bed holding one of the sheets. The mattress was thrown off the bed, and his book was now exposed in the bedframe. He snatched it and tucked it into his robe. Allani cleared her throat.

"Brother Davine, this is a women's dorm-""Quiet, interloper," Davine barked.

"Excuse me?" Sid looked down the hall towards where Dalisay and Peter were waiting. He put his hands on the sides of his mouth.

"DAVINE! THERE YOU ARE. WE'VE BEEN LOOKING ALL OVER FOR YOU." There. That was enough to get their attention. Davine's hair and robe were disheveled from his search. His eyes were still closed. He looked like he had gone off the deep end, and whatever restraint he had shown towards Sid had run out. Based on Davine's level, they would need backup. [Board Vision]: Pawn Davine Shea activated [Holy Censure] lvl 5 on you and Allani Abbascia for 55 resonance points. Looks like it's time for a… [RINA RUMBLE!] [Board Vision]: You and your ally have 38 and 85 resistance, respectively. Your enemy has 69 resistance. That didn't sound too bad. Allani had more resistance than him at level three. Then again, dark purple spirals were starting to pop out of the floor and surround them. It hurt Sid's head just to look at them. Allani Abbascia activated [Comedic Timing] lvl 1 on Davine Shea. The dark spirals faded away. Allani gave her best deranged clown chuckle and used Auguste to take her clown form.

She reached for an empty space on her back and her smile vanished.

"Oh shit. I don't have my marotte." Davine pulled a dagger out of his robe. He ignored the weird clown lady and went straight for Sid, aiming at his throat. Allani shoved Sid away with her shoulder, taking the hit in his stead. Davine started twisting it inside of her shoulder joint. Allani Abbascia loses 34 resistance points. Davine Shea activated [Mercy's Due], taking ERROR points of resonance from Allani. Davine let go of the knife.

"What? What does error mean?" The blood on his hands started glowing. It crept into his skin and entered his veins. He took a step back and put his hand on his heart.

"Fuck. What is this? I feel so…so alive." Sid grabbed Allani's shoulder and put pressure around the knife wound.

"Allani, what's your blood doing to him?"

"I have no idea!" Davine's heavy breathing turned to insane laughter. He held both arms out and started coalescing the light within into two orbs. Board Vision wasn't popping up with any helpful information. Whatever he was doing wasn't a skill. He put his hands together and started reciting a prayer typically used on the battlefield to help witch hunters find their prey. The orbs of light left his hands and started darting through the air in nonsensical patterns.

Sid took Allani's hand, but she used her one good arm to push him as far away as her strength would allow. Her scream was the worst thing Sid had ever heard. Allani shrieked a lot as a child, but it was nothing like this. She wasn't someone who got hurt. She always had one last act, one trick up her sleeve. Now her body collapsed to the floor with smoke coming off of her wild hair. Allani lost 60 points of resistance.

"Allani?" he whispered.

"Good." Davine smirked.

"Now that she's out of the way, I can finally discipline you properly." Ok, this was fine. Davine was a mystic, surely he had loads of healing skills Sid could force him to use on Allani. [Forced Move] activated on Davine Shea. Please choose a skill: [Holy Censure] lvl 5, [Staff of Asclepius] lvl 3, [Anathema] lvl- Davine shoved his knife through Sid's system interface and buried it in his chest. Sid's vision started getting blurry, though he could barely feel any pain. Aww, poor baby lost 25 resistance.

Good thing he stabbed the right side of your chest. These modern healers really gotta learn anatomy.

"Agh! Staff of Asclepius! Activate Staff of Asclepius on Allani!" [Staff of Asclepius] lvl 4 was activated on Allani for 30 FAITH. Davine released his hold on the knife and stood up in a stiff, robotic motion. He walked over to Allani and knelt next to her, placing his hands over her head.

"No, no! You can't control me anymore! That blood freed me from your oppressive magic." Honey, you got a little primordial blood on your hands. I'll admit, it was cool to see how it affected a magic user, but I gotta admit I'm kinda bored now. And rules are rules, so you're gonna get on with your skill and stop complaining about it. Primordial blood? What was Rina talking about? He didn't have much time to think about it. Two pairs of footsteps were approaching from behind.

"Sid!" Peter grabbed him and laid him on the floor.

"Oh my Rose, what happened?! Dalisay and I came as fast as we could." Sid coughed up a bit of blood.

"Oh, you know. Just a bit of mystic infighting. Don't interrupt Davine now though, he feels real bad about what he did and is healing Allani." A thin staff appeared in Davine's hands. He pressed it against Allani's shoulder and started rotating it. A strange silver worm came out of the wound and wrapped around the staff. Once it popped out of her shoulder, the wound closed up, and Allani's fingers started twitching. Sid sighed with relief and closed his eyes.

"Davine, what the hell did you do?" Dalisay asked.

"What do you think I'm doing?" His voice returned to its usual calm tone.

"This woman was on the brink of death. I had to subdue that lunatic over there so I could heal her."

"Not true," Sid groaned.

"Peter, the book, show her the-" [Board Vision]: [Comedic Timing] is now triggering [Holy Censure]. Darkness emerged from where Davine was kneeling and circled Sid and Allani once again. Sid could feel its judgement crawling into his soul. You and your ally have been judged - [Sinner]"Shit, Davine activated Holy Censure on them!" Peter yelled. Allani and Sid both started screaming as the spirals condensed around them, crushing their insides. They let up for a brief second only to squeeze even harder at the next.

Peter was still holding Sid, his hands healing some damage, but not enough to counteract Davine's skill. Oh… what's that? You're being judged by [Holy Censure] and a minute just passed? Yeah, that's gonna be 10 points of resistance down the drain. Sid's hands went cold. He could feel his consciousness fading. The world around him went black. He was floating in an endless void of space. Two small hands were the only things tethering him to reality.

The hours flew by as he slept, the feeling of Peter's healing hands never leaving him. His eyes flickered open at one point and he saw Peter's face hanging over him. Sid couldn't hear what he was saying, but he could read his lips. You were right. No one died this morning. Sid sat up despite the burning sensation in his abdominal muscles.

"She willed it so." He started coughing, and Peter helped him back down. Oh my! Looks like you've completed your first objective. What? Was now really the time for that? Sid was barely conscious. 4/4 mystics think you're something special. That's +500 XP for you, darling! [Rina Ring!] You barreled past level four and went straight to level five! He groaned and curled in on himself, clutching the sealed wound over his chest. Tier up! You're now ranked Pawn II.

Your artifact receives an upgrade, and you'll now receive better attribute and skill rewards from level-ups.

"M-moh. I-can-cahnt." He tried to speak to his mother but the words just weren't coming out right. Aww. We'll have to circle back once you wake up again, mkay?

"Mmm-kay," he mumbled, returning to the void.