Chapter 421: In Gods We Trust

"Why... Why does this always happen to me?" Belladonna muttered to herself, her trembling hands weakly wrapping around the shaft of the spear, as she gave it a few feeble tugs. Each one sending a new jolt of searing pain through her body, which made her whimper in pain which in turn stabbed her broken ribs into her lungs more which was even more pain.

It was a truly vicious cycle.

"Stabbed, Beaten, Poisoned and Shot at... I get that is my life now, but does it really all have to happen in one day?"

Behind her, Figg pounded on the silver wall of pure moonlight, as he tried to get back inside. He stepped back, thrusting his hand towards it, causing vines, trees and shards of stone to burst forwards and uselessly shatter or splat against the silver wall.

Between his fruitless efforts, the burning sensation in her stomach, and the armoured stranger slowly striding towards her with withering disgust in his eyes, Belladonna could not help but laugh.

A soft, delirious chuckle as her body and mind failed her.

"A freaking shark with freaking lasers coming out of its forehead. Heh... The Gods must really hate me."

"Of course they hate you, abomination. Why would they not hate and despise such a disgusting, unnatural creature?" The stranger spat at her, wrapped his hand around her throat and slamming Belladonna’s head against the wall, forcing her to look him in the eyes.

Her eyes glowed softly, as she pushed mana into them. But when he noticed the glow, the stranger didn’t look away. Instead he leaned closer, narrowing his eyes and glared deeper into her eyes.

"Go ahead. Try your little trick, we will see how long your mind lasts before it burns with the rest of you."

At the word ’burn’ the stranger grabbed his spear and drove it deeper into Belladonna’s guts. Worse than the agony of the blade tearing apart more of her internal organs, was the hellish heat that flared up inside of her, cooking her from the inside even worse than it had before.

It was not quite on the level of her brief encounter with the Church wall, at least not in terms of raw power and agony. It was just more refined and concentrated.

The lesser power that it had literally had been forced into a blade that existed to pierce into her very soul, and which was carving through it with such deadly precision and unnerving ease, that it might as well have been a red hot knife carving through butter.

Belladonna looked deep into his eyes, which were filled with defiance, disgust and barely contained power. It was at that same moment that she finally realised something important.

This man had no aura, no presence to speak of. He was hiding himself from the world, which also meant the usual spine tingle she got when she met something much more powerful than her, such as the dragon.

Yet even before him, Belladonna got nothing, until she looked into his eyes and he looked back. Whether it was an accidental slip or an intentional release to scare her, Belladonna felt the power he was holding back.

It didn’t just send a shiver down her spine, it turned it into solid ice.

The glow receded from Belladonna’s trembling eyes before she lowered her gaze like a scolded puppy.

"That’s what I thought. Pathetic. After everything your wretched kind did to steal that power, you are still unworthy of even a fraction of it.." The Stranger spat, slamming her head against the Moonlight wall again.

He drew a dagger from his belt and drove it through Belladonna’s shoulder blade, forcing another wheezing cry from her lips as this too cleaved through flesh and soul, searing both in the process, whilst also forcing her to stay upright.

"Upon these sacred lands, I call upon the Truth Keeper. Speak the truth, and nothing but the truth, else be struck down by his wrath."

Thunder shook the skies in response to the strangers words, as thick black clouds rapidly appeared out of nowhere and blanketed the sky as far as the eye could see. Only the moon was left visible, the clouds forming a perfect ring around them, so as not to impede the holy light that filled the clearing.

Yet the flashes of light and low, growling thunder made clear that this was not a problem for the so-called Truth Keeper.

"Now, tell me abomination. Why did you set foot in this Holy Land, a place that your kind should know to stay far away from, and why did you kill the Sacred Beast? What orders did your Matriarch give you, exactly?"

"No orders..." Belladonna wheezed, taking short and shallow breathes after every few words as she continied to raspily speak,

"Here on... my own free will... Came because of... issue that needed fixing."

"An issue that needed fixing? You? Even with his blessing, I seriously doubt that is anything but delusion. If there is an issue with this place, then it will be fixed by myself.

As amusing as it would be to watch you writhe and burn, even your disgusting ashes should not touch her Holy floors and mar them with your filth.

However, does that mean that your grand Matriarch doesn’t know you are here?" He asked with narrowed, suspicious eyes.

"Never met her... Don’t know anything about her except the name..." Belladonna wheezed, before coughing up a mouthful of blood that splattered at the strangers feet.

"Ugh, disgusting. And here I thought it was the rotten ones that spread like insects, but even the great Matriarch has lost track of all of her kin.

However, that means I have no issues dealing with this infestation. The Matriarch will not miss you, your servant there will be happy to be free from your control, and I have no doubt the gods will be pleased with my service." The Stranger said with a wicked, sadistic smile as he slowly drew a crescent, single edged sword from his waist.

However, Belladonna’s eyes trailed upwards. Away from the gleaming, Hollonite sword as her attention was drawn to the dark clouds that were rumbling with an ominous warning.

A smirk danced across her ruby red, blood stained lips as she asked softly,

"You swear by that?"

"Yes you filthy abomination. I swear that when I end your miserable, unholy existence, that not even the Gods themselves will care."

KRAAKOOOOM!