Chapter 196: My Rifle Broke a Saint’s Barrier

The projectile cost too much.

Raven knew that before he finished making it.

Valeria knew it too.

"Tell me you’re not planning to fire many of those."

Raven held the round between two fingers.

Treated steel on the outside.

A narrow Black Mithril core.

Heavier than the standard ammunition.

The internal distribution had taken three attempts before FORGE stopped identifying premature deformation.

"I can’t afford many."

"That wasn’t exactly what I asked."

"Then no."

Roland looked at the small box.

"How many?"

"Three."

"Three."

"Yes."

"And each one costs...?"

Raven told him.

Roland closed the box.

"I don’t want to know anymore."

"You asked."

"I’ve changed my mind."

Valeria picked up one of the rounds.

"What does this one do differently?"

"Retains its structure after the first impact."

"After the first?"

"Elise’s barrier had layers."

Valeria remembered.

"The first absorbed most of the shot. The second finished stopping it."

"Yes."

"And now you want to penetrate both."

"One completely."

She looked up.

"Only one?"

"For now."

Roland frowned.

"That sounds less ambitious than usual."

Raven took the round back.

"The objective isn’t to kill her."

"That helps."

"I need to prove I can penetrate a serious defense."

Valeria leaned against the table.

"Prove it to whom?"

Raven looked at the ammunition.

"Her."

Valeria understood.

"You want to change how she evaluates you."

"Yes."

"And if you make her angry?"

"She already tried to purify me."

"Fair."

---

They chose the terrain two days later.

Not an ambush.

Not exactly.

Raven left enough evidence for Elise’s group to find them near a series of abandoned agricultural terraces.

Low stone walls.

Open fields.

Few nearby homes.

Not enough civilians for Elise to use them as a reason to avoid a confrontation, but not so isolated that anyone would casually use large-scale destructive techniques without considering the consequences.

The balance was deliberate.

Roland studied the area.

"How long?"

"Depends on when they find the last trail."

"That doesn’t answer the question."

"Between one and three hours."

Roland sighed.

"You always give ranges when you don’t want to admit you don’t know."

"It’s more accurate."

Valeria sat on one of the low walls, checking several small containers of prepared blood.

"What’s my part?"

Raven indicated the terrain.

"Don’t attack the barrier directly."

"I already learned that."

"I want you to force her to concentrate her defense on one side."

Valeria looked up.

"That requires making her believe I can actually break through."

"Can you?"

She smiled.

"Raven, just because your rifle can crack one of her barriers doesn’t mean you’ve forgotten which one of us is Elite."

"That wasn’t my question."

"Yes. I can."

Roland pointed at himself.

"And me?"

"Eyes."

"Again?"

"I don’t need you shooting."

"That’s new."

"Watch her team."

Roland stopped joking.

"How many are you expecting?"

"Few."

"And if there are too many?"

Raven looked toward the three special rounds.

"Then I don’t fire."

Valeria nodded.

That mattered.

They weren’t going to improvise a war simply because the target arrived with more people than expected.

---

Elise arrived with six.

Brother Halven.

Two knights.

Two priests.

And a woman carrying a staff Raven didn’t recognize.

Elise walked in front.

Mercy hung at her waist.

Raven watched them approach as Predator’s Instinct remained alert.

No immediate hostility.

Yet.

Roland murmured, "She doesn’t look happy."

Valeria replied, "I wonder why."

Raven stepped out from behind the wall.

Elise saw him and stopped.

The six behind her stopped as well.

"Raven."

"Elise."

She looked around the terraces, then at Valeria, then Roland.

"This time you chose where I would find you."

"Yes."

Brother Halven murmured something.

Elise raised one hand.

He fell silent.

"Why?"

Raven held the Mk.I lowered.

"I wanted to talk."

Elise looked at the rifle.

"You have an interesting way of preparing for a conversation."

"You brought a sword."

"I wasn’t planning to use it."

"I wasn’t planning to use this either."

Valeria spoke from the wall.

"That depends considerably on how the conversation goes."

Elise looked at her.

"Lady Valeria."

"Saint Veyra."

"You could stop helping him."

Valeria smiled.

"You could stop trying to purify him."

Elise exhaled.

"I see we’re all being reasonable."

Raven interrupted before that could grow into something else.

"Withdraw the pursuit order."

"Which one?"

"The one following me."

"I can’t."

"You don’t want to."

"That too."

That was more honest than Raven had expected.

"Then we still have a problem."

Elise stepped forward.

"We could resolve it if you allowed me to examine you."

"We already discussed that."

"And since then, I learned you can integrate sacred structures."

"I learned things too."

Elise glanced at the Mk.I again.

"That concerns me."

"The feeling is mutual."

Brother Halven lost patience.

"Saint Veyra, this is not—"

Elise raised her hand again.

Raven watched.

Real authority.

She didn’t need to raise her voice.

Halven stopped.

Elise looked back at Raven.

"I’m not going to let you continue accumulating sacred Traits while we pretend there’s no risk."

Raven raised the Mk.I.

He still didn’t aim it.

"So you’re going to try to stop me."

Her expression hardened.

"If necessary."

"Good."

Valeria stopped smiling.

Roland moved back toward his position.

Elise’s team reacted immediately. The knights stepped forward, but Elise raised one hand.

"Stay back."

"Saint—"

"Stay back."

They obeyed.

Raven understood.

She intended to handle him personally.

Perfect.

---

Valeria moved first.

Blood erupted from three containers.

Not as thin threads.

A broad, dense mass.

Elise reacted.

Halo.

This time, Raven could see it clearly.

A structure of light appeared behind her—not a simple circle, but layers of overlapping rings and patterns rotating around an invisible center.

Champion.

The pressure followed.

Raven could feel her mana from where he stood.

Valeria attacked.

A thick spear of blood struck the right side of Elise’s barrier. Elise didn’t move as the blood slammed into a white layer and deformed across its surface.

Valeria added more pressure.

She wasn’t actually trying to penetrate.

Elise didn’t know that.

The barrier changed.

Raven saw light shifting through it.

Mana concentrating on the right.

Exactly as expected.

"Not yet," Raven murmured.

Valeria heard him and kept pressing.

Elise raised a second layer.

Thicker.

Raven watched carefully.

She had learned something since Bellcross.

So had he.

The casual defense was gone.

This one was serious.

Raven loaded the Mk.I.

Blue filaments lit along the weapon.

Elise felt it immediately.

Her eyes snapped toward him, and a frontal barrier formed at once.

Denser than before.

Raven didn’t fire.

He waited.

Elise frowned slightly.

Valeria increased the pressure.

The right side of Halo grew brighter.

Raven continued waiting.

Roland spoke from behind him.

"Three moving."

"Don’t interfere."

"Wasn’t planning to."

Elise’s team was nervous.

Useful.

But still not enough.

Raven watched the mana flow through the barrier.

It wasn’t rigid.

Valeria had been right.

It redistributed.

Elise reinforced whatever section received pressure.

That meant there was a delay.

Minimal.

But real.

Raven adjusted his angle.

The special round was loaded.

Black Mithril.

More mass.

More concentrated force.

Less room for error.

Elise saw where the barrel was pointing and shifted mana.

Raven moved the muzzle slightly.

She responded.

Good.

Now she was following the weapon.

Valeria changed her attack.

Not right.

Up.

Elise corrected.

Mana flowed away from the frontal section.

Only a little.

Raven fired.

BOOM.

The Mk.I roared.

The first layer took the impact.

CRACK.

This time, it didn’t merely fracture.

It opened.

The projectile passed through.

Elise’s eyes widened.

The second layer reacted.

Too late.

It deflected the Black Mithril core, but not completely.

The round shifted several degrees.

Passed beside her neck.

Cut across her shoulder.

White fabric.

Skin.

Blood.

Elise stepped back half a pace.

Everything stopped.

Valeria withdrew her attack.

Roland fell silent.

Brother Halven had gone pale.

One of the knights stepped forward.

"Saint!"

Elise raised one hand without taking her eyes off Raven.

She touched her shoulder.

Her fingers came back red.

The wound was small.

Superficial compared to what the Mk.I could do to a normal target.

But it existed.

An Awakened had made her bleed.

Elise looked at the blood.

Then at the broken barrier.

Then at the rifle.

"You shouldn’t be able to do that."

Raven opened the breech.

Empty.

"I hear that too often."

Valeria gave a short laugh.

Nobody from the Church joined her.

---

Elise closed the wound with a pulse of mana.

Not completely.

Only enough.

Raven noticed.

She didn’t want to spend more than necessary.

Good.

Halo changed.

The layers reformed faster this time.

Thicker too.

Raven didn’t load another special round.

Elise noticed.

"How many do you have?"

Raven looked at her.

"Enough."

A useful lie.

Elise narrowed her eyes.

"I don’t think you want to kill me."

"No."

The answer surprised her.

Raven continued.

"If I wanted you dead, I would have aimed somewhere else."

Brother Halven took another step.

"That’s a threat."

"It’s an observation."

Elise raised her hand before Halven could continue.

"Raven."

"Yes."

"What are you trying to prove?"

That was the right question.

Raven indicated the fracture still visible in one of the layers.

"That this won’t be resolved just because you’re stronger than me."

Elise held his gaze.

"I’m still much stronger than you."

"I know."

"Then what changes?"

Raven lowered the rifle.

"Now you know how we fight matters too."

Silence.

Elise understood.

Raven wasn’t claiming he could defeat her.

He was saying the level difference no longer guaranteed she could ignore him.

Valeria stepped down from the wall.

"I think that was the conversation."

Elise looked at her.

"All of this just to make me bleed?"

Valeria considered it.

"When you say it like that, it does sound rather childish."

Raven looked at her.

"You’re not helping."

"I keep you humble."

Roland appeared behind them.

"Are we done?"

Elise looked back toward her team, then at Raven.

"For today."

Brother Halven turned sharply.

"Saint Veyra—"

"I said for today."

His jaw tightened.

But he obeyed.

Raven secured the Mk.I.

Elise approached by two steps.

Predator’s Instinct reacted.

Not hostility.

Caution.

She stopped.

"Next time, I’ll raise three layers."

Raven nodded.

"Then I’ll bring something better."

Elise seemed unsure whether that was a threat or a promise.

Probably both.

"You are an extraordinarily difficult person to save."

Raven considered that.

"You could stop trying."

"No."

"That’s what I expected."

For the first time since arriving, Elise smiled.

Only slightly.

"I’ll see you soon."

Raven watched her leave.

Valeria waited until the Church group was far enough away before speaking.

"Three layers."

"Yes."

"Do you have anything that can penetrate three?"

"No."

Roland appeared on his other side.

"That sounds like a problem."

Raven looked at the Mk.I, then at the small compartment holding the two remaining special rounds.

"Now I know I need one."

Valeria closed her eyes.

"Of course that’s your conclusion."

Raven watched the stain of blood still visible against Elise’s white clothing.

He had accomplished what he wanted.

Not defeated her.

Not even come close.

He had changed one variable.

Next time, Elise wouldn’t treat him as an Awakened carrying an interesting weapon.

She would treat him as a real threat.

That would make everything harder.

It would also make her more predictable.