Chapter 22: The Whipping Judgement

Bishop Lancaster got up and headed towards Garden Eden. On the way, he was accompanied by four Church Ladies. They quietly followed the bishop without a word, as they felt the bishop was not in the mood.

Lancaster was dissatisfied. Killing the Necromancer without setting an example will only relief the people of the fear, but not thoroughly prevent them from becoming dabbling in Necro Arts.

He slowly sat on the chair and quietly drank tea. In this serene and peaceful garden, birds chirp while the sun basked the world warmth, it was a relaxing morning.

But Lancaster suddenly felt something was wrong.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

His heart unknowingly started beating like crazy. He felt pain with every beat. The Ladies noticed his expression and hurriedly came close.

"Your holiness is something wrong?" A lady in white asked. She held the bishop's arm for support. The other ladies also expressed their concerns.

'It can't be...' Bishop wanted to reject the idea, but he was certain. He clenched his chest while groaning in pain. Cold sweat feel from his forehead as his face paled. The bishop slowly fell on to the floor while the ladies surrounded him with concern.

"YOUR HOLINESS! SOMETHING HAPPENED IN DECA STREET!"

Someone shouted from the distance. It was a man in white robe, with swords hung in at his side. He ran hastily towards the gazebo. When he saw the state of the bishop, he came over and yelled at the ladies.

"What are you doing!? Get the High Priest this instant!"

The Church Ladies bowed, but did not move as they already sent someone to fetch the High Priest. Understanding their action, the robed man, Davlelor, slowly calmed down.

"Are you alright bishop?" Davlelor asked in concern.

The bishop was visible trembling with paled expression. But Lancaster forced his lips to part and talked. "S-Send someone to Deca Street, this instant.... Don't let anyone see, unless... it's the Paladins and the Palladian. Bring the Trion Blue Knight and young master to safety."

Davlelor frowned upon hearing that. He knew something had happened to Deca Street as all residents in the area mysteriously fell asleep in broad daylight, but the bishop seemed to know what happened.

"Ladies, take good care of the bishop, if not, I remove all your heads." He eyed the women threateningly. They bowed, but their body trembled upon hearing the declaration.

He nodded and left.

Looking at his departing figure, all ladies sighed in relief and went to aid the bishop as best as they could. They knew the man said was not a joke, and is true.

Davlelor the Sword Master. The Palladian Captain and the most violent person in the Church. If he says he will pike your head, what he said is true down to every word.

***

In Xexus, a kilometer away from Actrou Metal Ware Factory.

The array was still above the building and sealed the area from outsiders. Due to the massive looking veil covering a kilometer where the Factory once stood, it attracted the attention of all inhabitants.

"Wha'd ye think... Aye Necromancer?" A man asked a beggar to his left. The smell of alcohol came out of him mouth as be opened them.

The man nodded while frowning at him. "The'd found the Necromancer, but to think it's in there..." He looked at the massive array.

In this place where both of them stood, there were many others who were conversing with eachother. Hundreds of people gathered and admired the massive magical array above Factory area.

The alcohol smelling man looked around the people, hoping to find someone. "Ey, Casim's no'here?"

The man at his side looked around too. But they could not find Casim anywhere.

"He must be somewhere else... He's probably fine." The man reassured. Casim was a tough kid, and would probably not die suddenly.

The alcoholic man nodded in agreement and sat down, gazing at the array.

***

Inside the sealed area, Draon was bound by chains of white. His whole body was covered in wounds, and blood soaked his body. He tried to struggle free but was unable to even move.

Surrounding him were twenty Paladins, with drawn swords. He glared at these men, but the Paladins were not in the slightest intimidated — They looked at Draon with indifference. But their eyes would unknowingly shift towards a specific person.

Priestess Mala donning in white armor with a whip on her hand gathered the Priest and Paladins. She looked at the building and began leading the way in.

She instructed the priests and some Paladins to head up and check every floor. While she gestured the remaining ones to follow her down.

They arrived at a seemingly normal room, with normal furniture and accessories. But Mala aimed her whip and lashed it forward, destroying the wall.

The wall gave in and a path was revealed. It was a dark path and moist was obvious. The Paladins heavily frowned upon whiffing the smell from the path; the smell of rotting flesh and decay.

They glanced at Mala controlled their expression seeing the woman had not changed in expression despite the odor.

"Follow me." Mala commanded. She entered the hidden path.

The Paladins followed behind her and went in. As they walked further in, the smell only became stronger. Some wanted to vomit, but held themselves back to avoid embarrassing themselves.

As they descended using a metal stairs, the Paladins noticed cages and chains hung from the ceiling. They frowned heavily seeing this.

On the cages, corpses laid. Some were already skeletons, or mangled flesh with blood dripping down. The Paladins clenched their swords in disgust and fury.

"Do not act rashly." They heard Mala.

The Paladins nodded in understanding. They wanted to help the people trapped in cages and properly send the deceased off, but they knew everything was not so simple.

Groans of pain echoed from the cages, and the cries became louder as they got closer. After a while, they reached the ground and gazed at the cages.

Inside, several people of all ages were laid. They all had despaired expression blanketed by indifference, like knowing they could not do anything and everything was meaningless at this point.

Mala clenched her jaw seeing them, and sighed. She looked above and saw many more cages hung from the ceiling. She was not eyeing the cages, but the dark spot on the ceiling.

"Draw your weapons." She commanded the Paladins.

Without hesitation, they drew weapons and followed her gaze. What they saw made them paled and disgusted.

The black spot started moving and revealed itself, like a blossoming flower. But the petals were far from beautiful as they were made of rotting flesh and bones. At the center, a wide hole with sharp teeth opened, revealing rotting flesh mangled inside. The creature had no eyes, but the mouth faced them. The creature had eight legs and resembled a spider of flesh and bones.

'We meet again, you dog.' Mala voiced in her head.

SKEEEEECH!!!!!

A sharp sound escaped for the creature, making the Paladins cover their ears. But Mala sprang from her spot and landed on top of a cage.

She brandished her whip sword and jumped to another cage, she was heading for the creature.

The spider noticed her and sent a leg hurdling towards her. The leg was made of flesh and bones, but it was deadly sharp. Mala knew a simple graze would be fatal as this creature can spread disease.

The leg impaled at the cage she stood a moment ago. As she leaped, she sent her whip toward the leg. Her whip managed to slash the leg off the creature.

The Paladins below stared at her with awe. But it was only for a moment, as they hurriedly began moving and unlocking the cages, freeing the trapped people.

BOOM! Mala nimbly avoided another leg. She did not slash it, but wrapped her whip on it instead. She took out a dagger from her armour and broke the chain supporting the cages she stood.

The creature felt a strong pull to the ground, and the ceiling started to crack as it was forced to come off. Mala held the chain in one arm while the whip on the other.

CRACK! The ceiling gave in and spider fell with Mala. She let go of the cage and retracted her whip, due to the retraction, she was sent hurling towards the leg.

She collided with the leg and slashed with her whip now a sword. The leg dislocated and fell off, but she did not waste a second and whipped towards the main body of the creature.

The spider defended with its remaining legs. The spider was sent flying to side due to the impact.

CRASHH!!!

It crashed to ground while Mala gracefully landed. Mala did not let it relax and sprinted towards the creature with killing intent.

Her whip slithered like a snake and aimed towards the spider. The spider hurriedly defended itself from the attacks, but the flesh making its body were chipped as the exchange continued.

SLASH! One of the leg had been slashed off, and the creature wailed loudly. Enraged, it sent four legs to overwhelm her. But, it was futile.

As the legs descended, Mala smirked and retracted the whip. She held the sword and eyed the legs. As it attempted to impaled her, she simply raised her swords and deflected it by hairbreadth.

Although it was deadly close, she was relaxed. One by one, she avoids the legs with graceful steps. The spider saw it attacks being useless and used its remaining legs to jump for a higher ground.

Not letting it get away, Mala sent her whip lashing towards it. The spider defended, but it was thrown off course, landing to the ground instead.

I wailed loudly and weakly stood up. The open mouth viciously aimed at Mala. The sharp bone teeth began to loosen, and left the mouth. It was sent flying towards Mala.

"Useless." She muttered. Her whip coiled in the air and deflected the attacks. The attacks were thrown in various directions, but Mala made sure to not send it allies.

The clanging sounded and earned the attention of the Paladins who gazed at them with shock and awe. Now, they actually saw in person the strength of the Whipper Maiden.

The creature fully exhausted its set of teeth, and had no choice to send the claws. It tried, but Mala mercilessly lashed her whip, removing the legs.

SKEEEEECH!!!!!!

The creature used its last resort in hopes to distract Mala while getting away. But Mala did not flinched and sprinted towards the creature with her whip.

The spider tried to get away, but was too late. With its legs cut off, it could hardly move around. So Mala arrived a foot away from the creature.

'Finally, I got you.' The whipping blade descended on to the creature, slicing it in large pieces. The pieces fell to the ground, and Mala stood in front of it.

Gazing at the spider, she could not help but smile.

She looked at the dumbstruck people, and the Paladins. "Rescue the people, and lower the cages." She commanded.

The Paladin snapped out, and nodded. They immediately resumed and helped the people out of the cages. The cages were lowered, and the dead inside were properly sent off with a prayer.

Gazing at the cages and to the people, Mala could not help but sigh in relief. Now the Slaver was dead and the people were rescued, they no longer had to suffer and her past were now somewhat resolved.

'I have avenged you, mother.'