Chapter 58: Perfect Plan

Only waiting a few moments until he woke up, Merency ungently. As he eyes shot open in a panic.

’’What’s going on? Are we being attacked?’’ As she turned her head around the room quickly, probably searching for any danger.

"No, but we should get going." He tried to calm her down with his relaxed tone.

As he could feel her mana slowly calming down, she nodded towards him, already sitting up.

Helping her up, the sun had already set low on the horizon.

Their time had come; as he sat foot towards the last altar, his body was silently telling him whatever he was doing was wrong.

The feeling felt familiar as before; each battler he asked himself the same, and the answer always stayed the same.

’’Adchieve your goal before you forget why you ever wanted it.’’ He whispered to himself, only catching a weird gaze from Mercy.

Clearing his throat, they continued their way silently, walking side by side.

But it couldn’t pass a moment without Merency inspecting him slightly; she was probably worried he was going to do something extremely reckless.

Well, that would be right, but it also was part of the plan, and as long as he reached his target, a small battle won’t matter.

They are all strong; they should be able to handle whatever comes their way if they work together.

Or at least survive until help arrives.

He could feel Lumiel and Edward slowly approaching them, as suddenly the world around him seemed to grow cold.

And a mind-piercing headache drilling through his brain.

The fourth finger stepped out behind one of the trees, her body much more visible than before.

But even then, Merency did not seem to notice her presence; maybe her other side could, but he would need to ask her.

As he felt a slight hint of worry, that whatever might be awakened from the altars be much more human than he had expected.

As the finger started applauding at him. ’’Four done, only one more to go, and you’re even going in the right direction.’’’

Steven only continued his way, barely giving her a glance.

But the finger didn’t seem to be hurt by his behaviour in any way as she only got closer. "After you finished your job, I need you to leave this event as fast as possible?"

As she tried to shake his shoulder, only phasing right through him. ’’You understand?’’

Giving her a barely noticeable nod, the girl finally stepped away from him, her expression unreadable.

’’They are all going to die, so painfully. ’’ She laughed, disappearing into nothingness, only a distant echo remaining.

Stevens’ heart froze for a single second, but even then he didn’t stop; taking a deep breath, he could find himself smiling, not entirely sure why.

Their distance towards Edward had not decreased at all even with their slow pace.

Which could only mean we were trusting Steven even if it was just a bit, but this bit was more than enough needed to finish the job.

After a gruesome half an hour of walking with their pace, they had finally reached it.

A small church barely big enough to accommodate a few dozen people stood in the middle of the forest.

He tried feeling for Junes or Lucy’s mana, but theirs had turned into nothingness.

Which could only mean they were close by waiting for an opportunity. Having stopped, Edward also seemed to circle the building together with Lumiel.

Stepping through its main gates, he already expected the whole place to blow up, destroying any chance of finding the altar.

Or maybe even a magical barrier trapping them inside.

But nothing like that happened; instead, the church seemed to be abandoned completely.

The long rows of chairs were mostly destroyed, and the shrine at the end didn’t have the altar he had been searching for.

’’There must be some kind of entrance. ’’He whispered to himself.

"What did you say, Steven? ’’ Merency asked, hiding herself slightly behind his body.

"Oh, nothing, just that it’s really, erm... ominous inside of here. ’’He was barely able to answer, his focus completely split up on everything around him.

Holding his arm out, signalling Merency to stop on her path, he finally spotted some metal plate fitting for the entrance.

Now he only had to wait until both groups attacked and lost their attention on him.

"Get ready... It’s about to start," he whispered to Merency, who was already summoning a flaming staff in her hands.

As the holy statues to their sides suddenly took a step forward, Steven could finally feel Junes mana inside of them.

As the blocked the entrance, June and Lucy finally appeared in front of them, standing at the altar.

As they turned visible, June was wearing a conflicted face, seemingly not wanting to be her.

Lucy in comparison was smiling with all the happiness in the world.

"Oh, how nice of you two to enter my house without even asking." She spoke, her voice filled with irony.

’’Didn’t know commoners can own churches. ’’ He answered sharply, making fun of her role as a poor student.

She only shrugged at him as her hand reached inside her pockets, pulling out something that looked like a revolver.

Bang

With a sudden ear-piercing sound, his barrier shattered, as a magical bullet barely missed his shoulder, hitting the main door instead.

’Stven, what the fuck is that? ’’Merency yelled, trying to hold her staff defensively.

Steven tried to hide his smile; she was playing perfectly by gaining the attention from Edward with the loud sound.

Lucy was once again acting perfectly to his plan without ever hearing it.

As he took a step back.

’Already fleeing, Steven? I expected more.’’

But Steven only took one more back.

’’Not like they will let you escape.’’ as she pointed towards the moving statues.

As he finally couldn’t suppress his smile anymore.

’Who said anything about escaping?’

As with another explosion, the door was shattered into pieces.

Revealing two people standing outside.