The Faith Eater IV

(Recommended Song: Two Steps From Hell - Unforgiven)

"Hey, what's that?" Morlanion pointed in the distance. There was a very faint figure moving towards them, then more showed up. No adventurers were in that area. "Ready your weapons. Get inside the main building" Elsei unlatched her halberd and swung it in a slight arc to get ready, with Morlanion pulling his two swords. They seemed to glow, with what enchant Selene didn't have time to ask. Hrist readied her shield and sword, her spear ready to extend just in case as Selene followed suit. They ran to the temple and started closing the doors, with Blue inside as a last line of defense. Though he was a level 20, she didn't want him swarmed in this. Ezra stared between Morlanion's eyes and Selene's as the doors sealed shut.

An unholy sound came from the figures in the distance, as if the body was inhaling and trying to speak at the same time. The others followed with the same noise, seeming to fan out slowly without being aggressive just yet.

"Huh, this might be easier than we thought…" one adventurer said in the distance, right at the door of the main administration building. The figures all stopped and in unison turned their heads in his direction. They broke into a dead run. The sounds they were making was the equivalent of radar. She caught a glimpse of the face of one of the taken, black goop smearing down from its eyes and pouring from its nose and mouth. The goop seemed to be moving, almost trying to smear across the face and neck.

"What the… they're here!" she heard as more of the taken came out of the fog and charged them. That was when something came warping out of the fog right behind Elsei. The group was outside while the rest of the raid party were inside. It at least allowed the orichalcum ranks and lower to fight a stream of the taken single file entering through the doors.

"Look out!" Hrist yelled as the elf dodged just barely and flipped, her back coming up to Morlanion's as he fought two taken at the same time. Hrist shield bashed another two and slammed them into a wall ten feet away. Selene caught a full view of what had attempted to attack the elf partner of Ezra's brother. The Faith Eater looked almost like some crazed mixture of a mummy, the abomination made up of the Valkyrja bodies and the Swamp Thing, all wrapped up in the same black goop writhing and moving over the body. It promptly disappeared as if it wasn't even there once Elsei struck back.

The battle continued as some of the copper ranks were dragged away from their groups while inside, screaming and the feeling of terror causing panic for some of them. These were not trained soldiers, just people with a few skills to survive out in the field, to explore and fight the occasional enemy. "Keep your backs to each other!" Pops yelled out as three more of the taken came at him from the sound of his voice. Dylan attacked from behind and cut at the legs, disabling it as the other two fought Marv and Dina.

Selene struck at one outside, carving through its collar bone with the tip of her sword, but it kept trying to fight and claw at her head. A quick twist of her sword and slice, and the head was cut off, the body still attacking. The only way to stop them would be to carve the bodies up. They really were puppets.

"Remove the limbs! Carve them up! Focus on the arms and legs! Attacking the head or chest doesn't work!" the empress shouted as a quick foot sweep dropped two more on the ground. The Faith Eater appeared again just as she got up and sliced off two arms, just behind her. The two taken on the ground were still trying to get up just as she was turning around, but four long range shots blasted the remaining limbs off. Her head slowly turned around as the creature was bringing down its arm, three massive claws heading towards her.

Hrist leapt in front and brought her shield up, the claws striking… and completely bypassing her energy shields. The hit kept her pinned as the dev jumped forward to attack, but the Faith Eater disappeared before the tip of her sword could even meet its flesh. "Fuck!" she snapped out as the Valkyrja shook her arm as if it was numb. The empress looked at her in worry. While the attack wasn't fast, about the same speed as a human, the unknown power of the creature had caused even Hrist to feel it. Selene's scanner couldn't tell her the level, it just came up as question marks. There was no red outline or glitching, it just didn't know. Even Hrist showed some level, Elesia had a glitched level as well. This thing didn't even move that quick to show its stats.

"Jonah? Jonah? Where are you?! OH GOD!" they heard with a following scream from one of the female adventurers inside, searching for her teammate before she was caught herself. The high tier group finished their fight in their area, moving towards the remainder of teams hiding in the building as they pressed their backs to each other and moved near the walls

"We're coming! Just hang on!" Morlanion roared out as the remainder of the raid party fought against the majority of taken inside, Elsei keeping some taken away from the front doors. The limbs of the taken were still moving, not even connected to the bodies of the people that they had once been. It was a little difficult to work their way through the entrance with the puppets somewhat blocking the path.

Definitely like something out of a horror movie… if we could just hit the fucking Faith Eater… he keeps teleporting around!... wait…

"Can anyone sense magic here?!" Selene yelled out.

"I can" Elsei said to her right, swinging wildly into the fog, striking three taken and launching one up in the air with an angled uppercut of her halberd. Elsei's orb was providing some vision around them, further increasing the range at which the empress and battle maiden could see to around seventy-five feet. The others might as well have been trying to see five feet in front of them while inside the building.

"Are there any teleportation spells being used?" the dev asked.

"No, I can't sense… I mean… there isn't anything other than the wizards and priests in our parties. What do you mean?"

"That answered my question, don't worry about it."

Worry about it. That thing is somehow teleporting around without magic. Its ambushing people then disappearing.

That got her thinking. She couldn't disperse the fog with [Manipulate Weather], she couldn't hit it without the creature disappearing. The fog…

Selene saw it show up just behind one of the orichalcum adventurers just inside over the head of one taken, with them just barely dodging. One of the claws clipped her armor, slicing it clean off as if it wasn't even there… including a chunk of her shoulder. She screamed in pain as she fell to the ground, the rest of her team trying to fight back without luck.

"That thing is gonna pick us off without a problem. To hell with playing nice, we need to lead that thing to us and drop the pleasantries. Show what you can do" Selene whispered to Hrist. The raven-haired woman nodded with a smirk on her face, she needed a better workout than the undead they had fought two days before. Both of them broke away from Morlanion and Elsei, at their surprise, and headed to an open area. Most of the taken were cut to pieces inside, with a few still roaming around and heading for other buildings with no one there. That was when the Faith Eater showed up one more time.

"Keep it blocked. I'll handle the rest" Hrist brought up her shield, protecting against the downward strike as the empress focused on using {Molecular Reformation} on the water the fog was made of… or at least she hoped it was made of. All of it condensed into a large block and changed color from white to a greyish black, pulsating and undulating as it tried to expand out again. The Faith Eater turned and looked as Hrist struck at its arm, chopping it off with ease this time.

Selene simply bolted for it at maximum speed, an after image showing where she used to be. The creature was absolutely not ready for them unleashing on it, with no fog to teleport around in or their speed. It was matched against humans… Selene might not be able to call herself that anymore. A forearm was cut off, followed by parts of its body being dissected into sectional pieces with the last being the head. As soon as it fell, an odd pulse erupted from the pieces, dispersing the effect on the taken and having the bodies collapse on the floor. The battle was over, with no one getting a chance to see Hrist and the empress engage it.

"Whose still alive?" Morlanion yelled out as they tried to locate the rest of the raid party, Elsei checking on adventurers while Morlanion was outside looking for stragglers who tried to make a run for it. Selene turned around and was about to yell and wave at him, but her eyes quickly latched onto Hrist's shield. Three massive grooves were seen, puncturing the first layer of Carbyne material and showing the secondary defensive features hidden within. Circuits sparked, wires were frayed, electricity was shorting out mechanical parts inside. If anyone saw that shield, it would open up a slew of questions she really didn't want to answer.

"Psst, give me your shield!" she hissed out to the Valkyrja. Hrist took the thing off her arm and handed it to her, with the empress shoving it into her inventory as quickly as she could. Morlanion's eyes barely looked in her direction as he realized they were alright.

"Ilana! Brynya!" he yelled. Selene gulped and stiffened up, barely dodging that proverbial bullet. He jogged up to them and looked at the corpse of the Faith Eater. "You ended him."

"Yeah. Go check on the others, we need a head count quickly." The large warrior nodded and ran back to Elsei, lightly tending to the wounded. The empress quickly grabbed the body parts of the Faith Eater and shoved the pieces into her inventory for research later. A quick theft of some taken corpses and there was plenty to experiment on.

Psionics? No, couldn't sense that kind of mind from that thing… I've never seen a monster in any bestiary that functioned like that…

Once the head count was completed, both women found Morlanion and asked for the grisly news. "Of the one hundred adventurers that were brought… sixty are still standing. They fought well, but the fog clearly had an effect on what they could see" Ezra's brother explained solemnly. The temple was opened up with the priests coming out to tend to the wounded. They weren't outside during the battle due to none of them having combat experience beyond Ezra, and his brother absolutely would not allow it for the young boy to have to fight his own dead brethren now coming for him. Blue was used to bring anyone back to the raid party to regroup.

"Ezra, can you come here for a second?" Selene asked quietly as she stood next to his brother. Elsei checked each taken corpse to make sure they were truly dead and couldn't get back up.

"Is… is it over?" he timidly questioned, worried that one of the bodies would stand up at any point as he stepped between them. His brother nodded and motioned for him to come stand next to them. The dev brought her arm around his shoulder and whispered in his ear.

"Do you believe you have it in you to ask Elesia to help bring these valiant warriors back from the dead one more time?" she asked. He looked up at her and blinked. She was referring to the necromantic orb from the previous quest.

"I… i-if Elesia is with me… I-I think so…" he stuttered out. She nodded and gave him a reassuring shoulder hug.

"Good. I'll get the orb from my pack, we'll get the others to collect the bodies of the fallen."

"Can… can we bring back the… the taken?" he asked. She stood there in silence. They weren't undead it seemed, mere puppets of the Faith Eater. Every part of them was held onto by some unseen string, immediately severed once he was defeated.

"I… I don't know. It's up to Elesia to try and attempt that, you just do what you did last time." He nodded in agreement and ran off to go talk with the abbess. Dina helped Dylan to limp over to a chair and sit down, his leg getting bandaged until a priest could heal him.

"I wonder if holy spells would have worked on that thing" Morlanion commented as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I haven't a clue, though I'd rather they not attempt that. The religion is almost dead, losing even one more could have ended it." The man looked around at the limbs lying on the ground, some of them from the taken, others from adventurers. "Shouldn't these things have not attacked the way they did?"

"What do you mean?" Ezra asked.

"You said they dragged people off right? These things just threw themselves into the fight. The creature we fought seemed to do the same. That seem odd?" Everyone looked around in silence, remembering what had happened during the battle.

Did the Faith Eater know the following was close to being destroyed, with one final push ending the religion? It was going in for the kill… for the juicy center…

The entire battle had taken place with all of the members of the religion inside the temple while Elesia was barricaded in the abbess's quarters. It gave Selene a chance to slip away and open her inventory to pull out the necromantic orb that clearly wasn't in her backpack. As she carried it with her to the office and checked in on the barricade, it had held without anything trying to rip away the furniture pushed against the door. Inside Elesia was lying still, breathing softly, her eyes closed. Unfortunately for the main office door, she twisted it a little too hard and broke the lock. A slight curse had erupted from her mouth as she hadn't controlled her strength enough.

Gonna have to make this place safe for them behind the scenes. If another one of those Faith Eaters shows up, might have to get built some automatons with microwave weapons to sweep the area in the future.

The empress placed crafting requests for a new platoon of automatons with the specialized weaponry to be built in the 3D printers; she'd release them before they left for Silvinholm. In the meantime, handing over the orb temporarily and pulling another 'Elesia bringeth thee to life' show for the believers was the next immediate priority.

As she turned around, Francine walked into her office and looked at her, perplexed that she had made it through the door. "Your lock is busted. I was worried something had gotten inside." The abbess sat down in her chair and sighed.

"Is it really over? Our goddess… she just lies there… how… how do I continue to keep this a secret?" she asked, the wear of the issue weighing heavily on her shoulders.

"You can start by rebuilding your flock. Ezra is going to attempt to bring back to life those who have lost to this creature." Francine gawked at her in disbelief.

"You can't be… you can't be serious? Ezra is a boy, he can't possibly-"

"He will with help from this and from some help from your goddess. She answered his call to bring back a team of adventurers in the quest to earn the money for the raid party. He's stronger than you think." The dev showed her the orb, held in a wrought iron lattice block.

"That thing reeks of undeath."

"Yet it is capable of amplifying his request, with help from his goddess, to raise those people from beyond. I've seen it." Lying to these people was becoming commonplace now, as there was no way they could really understand what she was capable of. Even Hrist, her General, didn't know about her stats, her levels, her abilities. There was so much she just couldn't share with everyone. Creating this dream world for them to live in, only ever seeing steampunk from her empire while there was much more advanced technology hidden away, was the only way to make sure things were kept peaceful and prosperous.

She could see why some governments used to hide away documents of potential alien visits, supernatural creatures or magic, even actions that other countries had done to nearly bring everyone to the brink of extinction. If they knew even a small ounce of that, it could cause riots, chaos, destruction. It did cause destruction with some governments collapsing from the citizens wanting to lynch them, the corporations sweeping in an taking over some countries. Playing dumb on occasion to keep her subjects safe seemed prudent.

The old woman stood up and stared at the artifact, glancing up at Selene every few seconds. "I should be the one to-"

"She's answered his call before, I trust him with the orb."

"You do not trust me to use it effectively?" the old woman questioned in annoyance.

"I really don't care. What I'm worried about is this thing has something hidden in it that can do more damage in your hands than his. Less experience in this case is better than more. Besides, it's my artifact, I don't see why we're even arguing about this." Francine stared at her for a few moments and sighed, nodding in agreement. What she does with her tools is entirely up to her. They did just save the abbey from total destruction.

The dev walked out of the room and headed outside, straight for the temple. The bodies were being lined up, including the remains of the taken. Now that the fog had dissipated, they could get a good look of what had happened to them. The cornea of the eyes was pure black, as if someone had poured ink into them. A black ooze had once been pouring from the sockets down the faces, but now that they were inanimate, it had dried up and looked like running mascara or ash. The rest of the face followed a similar look, as if they had shoved their heads in the remains of a campfire and eaten the charcoal.

Adventurers were weeping over their friends who had lost their lives in the battle, though Ezra was preparing to resurrect them, or so he thought. The whole process took an hour as she just sat down and watched. Hrist came up and followed suit, her arm tingling still. While no bones were broken, however that Faith Eater had distributed the force in the blow was up for research. Elsei walked up to Morlanion and reported something, which caused him to come over and talk to her. "The body of the creature is gone."

"Must have dissolved. I've seen it before from other monsters." Hrist looked at her, curious if she meant her sister's corpses. The raven-haired woman cast that thought from her mind, her empress would never call them monsters. The abomination they had become was a monster, her sisters were people. Selene received a notice in her Hud that another GPS satellite had launched into LEO, setting up position as she sat. They had been gone for three days, though she didn't miss the castle as much as she felt she should. Ash and Luna were being taken care of, Blue got to travel with them, Jeeves kept the castle maintained.

How much longer… we expected a week at most. We just need to travel back to Silvinholm...

"I see. Brynya, your shield is missing" Elsei commented.

"Must have been knocked away in battle, we couldn't find it" Hrist replied, trying her best to lie as she glanced at Selene.

"I have a spare back at the family home, I'd like you to have it as a gift" the warrior said smiling. Hrist opened her mouth to say something, even though she had no clue how to respond.

"While we appreciate the offering, our armor and equipment is provided by a special supplier. We have a contract that states we cannot use any other items that aren't crafted by them. They have a reputation to keep, we would rather not insult them" Selene jumped in. Morlanion shrugged, it was just going to be a gift after all. The shield he was going to give her would have probably been made of steel, even if it was magically enchanted. He didn't know she was already crafting a new one in her inventory. The old damaged shield wasn't going to be repaired with a spell, she needed to run some tests on it. That thing had somehow damaged Carbyne, at least the first layer, and she wanted to know how. The research lab back at the castle was going to be busy when they got back.

Ezra walked forward and looked at the empress. She stood up and handed him the artifact sitting next to her, then walked with him to the front of the temple. Everyone started to gather and sit in the pews, with the young boy kneeling just behind the podium and gripping the necromantic orb close. He started to chant, begging for Elesia to guide him and help bring the dead back to life. Multiple spells were cast over the entire temple as the dev did her best to make sure no one could see what was happening, just bright lights everywhere blinding them until the entire event was finished. She winced as a full forty percent of the royal treasury worth of coin disappeared to pay for the resurrections. She'd make that back soon, just needed the mines to step up a little from light duty work. This couldn't happen often, the Ferryman was going to be rich if it did. No more resurrections without being the one showing she could do it, and giving others two gold coins.

The adventurers that had fallen rose up, looking around and confused. The taken, on the other hand, were still just limbs and corpses on the ground. Though they weren't undead, something was restricting them from being raised.

"Elesia has brought back your friends everyone… at least… some of them…" Ezra told the people sitting as they rushed to talk to the newly risen. The teenager sighed, perplexed that his goddess had not been able to bring back those who were corrupted by that creature. The empress walked up to him and slowly took the artifact away as he stared at the bodies still lying on the ground. The raid party was back up to over one hundred, with not one single copper rank lost.

"Praise Elesia for doing this for us…" they heard from a few of the adventurers. That was what Selene was hoping for. More were praying, roughly half were converted just from that event. The remainder were stalwart Gigsen followers, however.

That should help, I hope.

As the followers prayed while the guild members checked their friends over, the auburn-haired woman left silently to head back to the office. Francine followed her into her bedroom to see Elesia was struggling to get up. The new additions to her religion had helped, even if it was minor. The abbess looked so saddened at seeing her goddess weak and barely even able to move. Selene sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her.

"Hello. So, you're Elesia, goddess of beauty, kindness and nature huh?" she quietly asked. The platinum blonde woman looked up at her, her eyes seemed to alter between a swirling iris of gold and sparkling diamonds within. She was almost difficult to look at, her beauty was almost painful to Francine's eyes.

"I… I need to… I need to get back… they… they cannot stand without… without help…"

"Who? Who can't stand?"

"Mortal… this summon… I did not come to answer questions you should not ask… the answers… would frighten you to death…" she weakly said.

"You'd be surprised what I've had to deal with, I doubt it would surprise me." The empress helped her sit up and looked at her face. "Why did you answer the summons then if not to listen to us?"

Elesia slowly got her legs swung out with help from the dev as she sat down next to the warrior. "A respite… from… so much… even if it was so short…" the goddess looked up at Francine. "Rebuild the following… your life… your soul… depends on it…" Francine was startled by what she had just said as the blonde glowed brightly, almost blinding both of them as she slowly dissipated into golden dust, heading back to her realm.

Did she just threaten her own Mother Superior?! She's the goddess of kindness! Wait… she didn't threaten her… she was warning her…

"Why… why would she say that?" the abbess asked in horror.

"Calm down. I doubt she was angry at you… it sounded as if she needs you to rebuild the religion. You have a goal now. Spread the word as far as you can." Francine gave out a dry laugh and looked at the ceiling for a few seconds.

"How am I do that? We have no money, we allow those who look for salvation and believe in her aspects. Random travelers don't convert to a dying religion with no value to them… they pray to Gigsen… or Solon… or Xaxara… or any of the others I think have mostly died off…" the old woman looked defeated as her gaze fell to the ground. She had barely fifty in her flock now, even with the converts of adventurers. They would head back to Silvinholm, pray to Elesia from afar and hopefully bring a few more to the religion.

Most of them have died off? Hmm… on this continent maybe… time to do some research on if gods have pantheon wars…

"Solon?" Selene asked confused.

"God of war, battle and strength… he is the brother to Xaxara." That information made the dev raise an eyebrow.

"So… is he like his sister?" Francine looked up at her. She exhaled loudly from her nose and closed her eyes for a second.

"No… despite what some might think, he is not a god of death and want the annihilation of armies. War happens constantly, though battle does not necessarily mean to fight to take another life. Tournament champions for the Artinian kingdom sometimes pray to him to move their arm true and swift. He has no care for snuffing out life, it is just sometimes an end result from what he is the aspect of."

"Hmm." Selene got up and walked out of the room, no longer needing to sit on that bed as the goddess had left. "Tell me, what would happen if you had a sponsor?" she asked as she put her hands on her hips and looked at the wedged closed door. Francine turned around and looked at her oddly.

"What… do you mean?" she questioned slowly as she walked out of her quarters.

"I'm saying what would happen if you could be funded and supplied, to help rebuild your flocks and spread the word of Elesia? A benefactor?"

"Are you speaking on behalf of a noble house? We've tried to get some of them to donate in any capacity, none seem to care."

"Not Artinia." The abbess seemed shocked. She was speaking about another kingdom or empire.

"Each religion is not connected to any one government. We cannot be politically swayed with gifts, donations from nobility are without any strings attached. Blessings from Elesia aren't given to just the rich or famous, a god is to look out for all of their worshipers."

"So, here's your problem. You have no money. You have fifty followers, with around fifty other people who believe in your goddess and might pray to her somewhere else… on occasion. Your goddess is weak right now. At this very moment, you are in a very desperate position. You can either hold to your ideals and have everything collapse around you, throwing the priests and monks that are standing outside to the wolves, or you can set aside your own stereotype of every government and see that some of them are trying to help rather than hinder." Francine sat down on her couch and thought long and hard for a few minutes, total silence in her office as Selene just stood there, waiting.

"What kingdom are you from that offers this?" she finally said.

"The Clockwork Empire, not kingdom, we control the entire west of this continent." That made the abbess's eyes widen. She had heard Artinia had lost contact with a few towns, though how she did not know. Travelers would give bits of information as they stayed in the abbey, only to continue on the next morning.

"And who would I speak to, to gain this… sponsorship?" the old woman said through gritted teeth.

"You're speaking to her right now." The abbess looked up at her and gawked. "I am Empress Selene of the Clockwork Empire. Gold Pine, Glass Dale, Eld Horn, Sweet Water, Puldoros Orchards, soon to be Paldos City and Werelosil Town."

"You… you are at war with Artinia?" she asked.

"They declared war on us, the pathetic government is corrupt beyond belief. Towns are left to fend for themselves when bandits attack, taxes are sky high and barely affords anyone a chance to survive. Have the abbey join my empire, and you can rest assured, you will be taken care of, with almost no interference to the religion."

"See? This is why we do not wish to be connected to any one government! The church of Artinia, full of false gods, they are a disease to the people! The wealthy are supposedly saved by no real deity, while their coffers grow large." Selene cocked her head to the side.

"Well that was a wild tangent you went off on. I meant rules and requirements for how the religion operates. No violence towards other religions, no attempting forced conversion, all are equal in the eyes of your god. That sort of thing." Francine looked at the dais sitting in her office, of all the times she had prayed at it.

"How would I tell my flock we would belong to an empire…"

"You don't, at least not yet. I can't have this get out that you just met an empress." The old woman looked up at her in confusion. "We're at war with the assholes who ignore you in exchange for the all mighty power of greed. I can't have it be known you are connected to us, it would put you in danger and I cannot guarantee your safety quite just yet if you blab to everyone. Also, I'm currently hiding in plain sight to get information. You tell people, I wipe your mind along with everyone else and leave you to fend for a dying religion." The Mother Superior gawked at her threat. She somehow knew the empress could easily do it too.

"So, you want me to hide the fact I am receiving donations from an unknown benefactor?"

"Until we come out of the shadows at least. Once Artinia realizes they messed with the wrong empire and we come out in the open, you can shout it to the heavens that we support you. Until then, you have a job to do. Elesia needs more followers. She's… she's doing something, I'm not sure what, and she needs your help."

Some sort of war going on? Maybe with another pantheon? Do gods from different continents go to war with each other? Huh… "my religion is better than your religion and all that!" could be a main theme… or there's something I don't have enough information on…

Francine nodded. "I have a task given to me by my goddess, I will not falter. But… I… we… are now part of your empire?"

"I'm asking you if you want to join us, I need to hear from you that you agree. I'm not going to force you at all. But if you don't accept my offer, all of this with die. Your goddess will die. My empire will take care of you with some laws and restrictions to keep things civil. Do you agree?"

"Yes… I agree… by Elesia, what am I doing…"

"You're saving your flock and your goddess, that's what your doing. We're not Artinia, you'll soon see that." A quick opening of her inventory to have crafted one thousand gold coins completely unmarked from the original gold in her treasury and it was poured into a satchel. With one gesture, her hand slipped into her inventory and pull it out. The abbess stared in awe at what she had just done, reaching into seemingly nothing and handing her a bag full of coin. The currency in her hands had no face on either side, no symbols of the Clockwork Empire.

"Remember, no one will know, understand? At least not just yet. I'll let you know once it is fine to tell others. By the way, I know what your thinking. You think you just made a deal with the devil. You'll see very quickly it's the opposite."

Why does this feel kind of like the mafia with protection money, except in reverse?

"This money will go a long way in helping my flock, thank you. We may need to… send some of our priests to spread the word soon…"

"Send them westward if needed, I'll have my military leave your priests alone, you have my word. They'll be safe heading anywhere in my empire. It's a good start at least." This would hit two birds with one stone for her. It would whittle down the false religion surrounding her as well as build up the following for Elesia.

The Mother Superior nodded and hefted the bag. She somehow knew more would be coming. "Very well." Selene walked out of the room and headed down the hall as the woman just sat there, thinking, her boots causing a slight echo as she moved. The raid party was getting ready to head back to Silvinholm, back to the guild and report the quest as being completed. They wanted to get paid after all.

"Ready to head back?" Morlanion asked as the empress walked out of the front door to the building and checked on stagecoaches. A quick nod from her and the adventurers piled in, with Blue jumping into the first coach. Ezra hugged her, not sure what else to do as he was staying behind and wanted to thank the woman who got him here. As the Rikter family convoy headed back, she received a coms request from Jorge.

"Ma'am, we've found the princess's estate. There's a little bit of a problem though."

"Is she alright?" she asked.

"At the moment, yes. However… there seems to be more activity outside the gates than normal. There are unmarked coaches waiting outside, with mercenaries tripling in the area." Jorge was kneeling near Deacon who was watching through his scope.

"So, no symbols of Artinia yet?"

"None ma'am."

"It could be a resupply of some sort, maybe extra hired guards. Did I say we were going to protect her?"

"You did not ma'am, no. If something does happen, do you want us to head in?" Selene sat on her cushion as the coach continued towards Silvinholm, with Morlanion and Elsei drifting off to sleep after the battle. Hrist was petting Blue as he just sat and enjoyed the attention.

"Antoine would be upset if we just let something happen…" she sighed over the coms, hiding it from the others. "Alright, if any hostilities do arise… just… keep an eye on things until they get really bad ok? They do have personal bodyguards in that estate, the General's best he said, it's not like we have to jump in thinking everyone is incapable of defending themselves."

"Understood ma'am, we'll hold back until things escalate to a… less than controllable event for the bodyguards." The coms ended as she just sat there, looking out the window of the stagecoach. Ezra watched the convoy leave behind the abbey, finally able to move about without worrying for his safety. She tasked a company of military units to roam the area and keep an eye on things, make sure no more of those Faith Eaters show up. If unidentifiable fog appears, their first priority is to contain it with evaporators, probably harming the eater hiding inside it. Second priority, obviously, is to neutralize the threat, aka 'blow it to hell.' Microwaving it into burnt mush was going to be very effective.

The road to Silvinholm would be uneventful, especially with a convoy of adventurers riding around. Selene would need to learn a little more about the trade, government and religions in the vicinity for the next day or so, then they would finally head back to the castle. A quick check of Hrist's armor, especially the logs from it in her Hud, told her something she wasn't expecting. Her shields hadn't failed during the fight with the Faith Eater, the attack bypassed it.

Son of a…

A verification of the attack told her just from preliminary analysis that the claws, if they could be called that, somehow acted in the same frequency of the energy shields. She had forgotten entirely that the field wasn't oscillating just yet. That feature hadn't been researched.

So, if someone finds out my frequencies, they bypass all shields… wonderful… let's get that in research right now shall we… did I learn nothing from sci fi shows that have energy shields?

Multiple deflector field emitters were thrown into R&D stations, as it wasn't certain which project would provide that upgrade. She might get something else for enhancing the shields in other ways. Once they got back home, she'd be able to check on what the research provided.

Evening

"Ilana, wake up" she heard as her eyes opened and she stopped leaning against the side of the stagecoach. Selene looked around and saw that Morlanion and Elsei had already gotten out, the adventurers were at the guild and getting paid. There was no need for Ezra to be the one to reward them, as the compensation was held by the guild bank. Hrist was standing there leaning into the stagecoach and shaking her gently.

"Sorry, how long have I been sitting in here?" she asked quietly as the dev rubbed her neck due to the angle she slept. The time was a little past 5 pm. The trip back had taken a little longer than expected it seemed.

"Not long. We took a little detour along the way, an extended path per Morlanion. Apparently, there was a logging camp nearby he needed to speak to for some reason. It did not take long." The empress slowly picked herself out of the stagecoach, noticing the driver was already gone and the horses were disconnected. Not long must have meant Hrist let her sleep for more than should have been allowed. The coach itself was already parked in the garage.

She grabbed her pack and started walking with her partner towards the inn, seeing the lights for the city go on, torches and lamps being lit everywhere. There was still sunlight, Silvinholm just prepared for later.

"Ma'am, it's Jorge again." Hrist walked right alongside her as Morlanion and Elsei could be seen sitting with each other in a restaurant on the second-floor terrace. They noticed the two walking down below as they ate and enter the inn.

"Go ahead Jorge."

"Ornithopters just got visual on Artinian forces just outside the city walls, waiting for something. The mercenary forces collecting outside the estate have again doubled. We put the number at over two hundred men, with a collection of another company not yet here. We have reason to believe something is about to happen." That meant one of two things to her: either they were about to be taken captive, or somehow the princess's bodyguards managed to pay for more security and was going to move out of the city, hopefully somewhere out of the way, a cottage perhaps. Sadly, the second option seemed all but impossible.

"As I said, keep your distance until you are sure they can't win. Once you have verification the odds aren't in their favor, let me know."

"Copy that. Request for transport just in case?"

"It would have to be APCs or HRVs waiting outside the walls away from the Artinian forces, can't afford a helibot waking everything up." That seemed like the most viable option for them to evac the princess if things suddenly went pear shaped.

"Understood ma'am, we'll use those if everything doesn't work out. Jorge out." She quickly tasked two HRVs, Heavy Reconnaissance Vehicles and an APC to hide near the walls for them.

Aerial support should be out of the question… but…

A quick tasking of some Red Tails to run interference if they get tailed by horses or gryphons while they escape would help. Once that was all set, both women entered their inn rooms and sat their packs down. A knock on the door, knocked them out of their thoughts.

As Selene opened the door, Morlanion was waiting there, with Elsei behind him. "Would you have a moment?"