Chapter 61: The last Altar (3)

Merency body lay there motionless as the dark liquid started overflowing from the altar.

Covering almost the entire Steven was forced to move back, staring at the disaster happening.

As I was about to swallow Merency whole, it just stopped moving.

Then a powerful quake filled the entire room, as Steven could finally feel a mana arriving.

As the liquid pulled itself back together into just a dark spot on the floor.

He could hear a single footsteps echoing through the room, followed by another.

Followed by a menacing laugh, as he could watch somebody rise from the dark spot.

It was the same woman he has seen inside the forest so many times and the fourth finger.

A hazelnut-haired, small young woman with perfect skin, only her eyes have changed since before.

Because they were entirely white as she was staring into the nothingness ahead.

Her mana was nothing he had ever felt before; it was a mixture of so many different things he could even tell them apart.

Even then he knew they would normally destroy each other, but that wasn’t happening.

No, it seemed as if only a single drop of mana was controlling the complete rest of it.

"Steven, you disappointed me." As she stepped forward, her speed was unimaginable.

If he hadn’t lost the seal, he barely would’ve been able to follow her.

But even for his unlimited form she was fast, as she came to a stop before him.

Instead of fighting back, Steven instead lowered his body, beginning to kneel.

"Oh, mighty fourth finger, I had no idea the princess was hiding such power." He spoke, sounding as submissive as possible.

She instead only gave him a mild kick to the head. As she lowered herself grabbing his hair.

"You won’t disappoint me again, understood?" Those weren’t just empty words; he was sure of it.

Nodding hastingly, she let go of him, stepping through the room.

"Thanks to your failure, I will need at least a few months to completely manifest." As she once again returned to him, this time sending him flying across the room.

But before she could follow her attack up, the room began to glow as the imprisoning runes activated.

Forcing her to her knees, as she stared directly at him. "Not even able to destroy this shit." As she swatted her hand.

But nothing happened, as she seemed just as confused as Steven.

As she let her head fall back laughingly. "It seems like this body can’t handle any magic."

As a slight hope rose on Steven’s face, if she was truly going to be trapped here, the fingers couldn’t blame him.

After all of that, she couldn’t free herself. How was he going to do that as a simple student?

"Luckily something like that never was my speciality anyway." Her voice sounded dark as suddenly one of her pupils returned.

Her single golden pupil stared at the walls until her body suddenly started rising unnaturally.

As she stepped heavily forward, standing only a few inches away from the wall.

Until she shattered it into pieces with just a single strike of her hand.

The spell of the room crumbled away as Steven understood what she had done.

She had simply decided to mind control her own body, forcing it to act despite any harm arriving.

As his pupil disappeared once again into nothingness, she looked back at him.

"You stay here; I’m only letting you survive because someone has some interest in you." As she stepped forward, dissolving into the dark liquid, climbing up the stairs.

Steven was already screaming at Elizabeth to get here as fast as possible.

This finger had been much more dangerous than he could’ve expected.

As he hurried over to Merency, who hadn’t moved a single bit since the altar had drained her mana.

As her whole body was covered in wounds from the gravity spell meant to trap them here.

"Mercury, wake up." As he shook her hard trying to wake her, but to no reaction.

Casting an emerald healing spell on her, her body didn’t even start healing.

Meaning only one thing: she was already dead.

Falling backwards, Steven couldn’t believe how this had happened.

And he also didn’t accept it using a diamond healing spell; Merency still didn’t move a single bit.

As he readied himself to cast a resurrection spell for a heavy price of his own.

Something stopped him; it almost felt like a whisper in his ear, not the creepy one from the fingers – no, it felt warm.

Wanting to shake her once more, he jumped back at just the slightest contact.

His hand has been burned even with the seal gone. "What is happening?"

As he suddenly couldn’t breathe anymore, looking around, red lines started forming in the air.

Forming a giant magic circle which he had never seen before.

But what it’s used for was easy to decipher, as the runes of resurrection were written in the middle of all of it.

As the darkness of the room was burned away, Steven couldn’t even feel any heat at all.

Until it seemed like the whole world was being turned around.

With a blinding light shooting out of Merency’s body, piercing the ceiling until it reached the sky.

As the light faded away, Merency was already standing once more.

Even if he could feel that it wasn’t truly her.

She was wearing some new clothes, an elegant red dress combined with some kind of witch hat.

Only one thing was truly different, as on her collarbone was a mark formed next to it where two more were looking slightly older.

"Steven," her voice sounded tired as she nearly fell forward.

Catching her easily, the marks slowly faded away.

"Yes, Merency?" He held her firmly, as he could already feel the chaos in the church above them.

"Merency would’ve never hurt you... Please believe me," she spoke, her voice growing weaker.

What was she talking about?

But before he could ask her, she had already fallen unconscious.

As he could feel Merency’s true mana return.