Behold, The Power Of An Ancient Sancrosanct

CHAPTER EIGHT: Behold, The Power of an Ancient Sancrosanct

—"Tsk..Pathetic."

Thaddeus threw another powerful blow to Paige. She gasped and doubled over in pain, dropping her sword. The air echoed with the frantic scatter and distressed cries. Serenity fended off Quinn, while laying waste to the entire square in havoc and debris.

"These are the paladins you fought, Serenity? I'm quite disappointed." He turned his attention to Quinn, who was trying to pick himself up, struggling to maintain his composure. "I'm surprised that you didn't finish them off the last time."

"Whatever, I would've taken their heads if I wanted to!" The petite Sin Wielder looked on gleefully, mockingly waving her hands over her head and a barrage of spiked chains whizzed towards Quinn. The paladin quickly rolled out of the way just in time, feeling the razor-sharp edges just barely scrape the side of his cheek. "Besides, they're really weak. Nowhere near Golden-rank status. So they weren't worth killing."

"I see..." Thaddeus hummed, then took notice of the statue's absence from the Emerald Legacy. His expression darkened, showing a hint of anger beneath a calm exterior.

"Serenity, explain why the statue is missing from its post?" He said, accusingly. "I assume you didn't destroy it."

"I didn't do anything! It was there last time I was here! I think..." She hollered back, continuously floating high above his head, unconcerned. "Maybe it finally fell apart."

"I don't have time for this. We need that statue." Thaddeus loomed over to Paige, his dark shadow casting over her as he raised his hand, radiating a flaming dark energy. "Where is it?"

Paige gritted her teeth, refusing to answer. Thaddeus tapped his foot, becoming peeved.

"I'm not one to be left on wait..." Devoid of any emotion but deadly intent, he strongly stomped his foot against her leg, making her wail in agony. Thaddeus was influenced by his dark power, making him much stronger than he appeared. "Speak, or I will tear your limb from your body."

"G-gg—AHHH!" Paige screamed.

Meanwhile, Maeva watched from the sidelines, her eyes shrunk as she witnessed the vile man torture the pained swordstress. "Shouldn't we do something?!" She turned to the Mayor.

"The paladins are our heroes, we mustn't step into danger."

Maeva tightened her fists, she needed to do something! Anything! Watching was too much to bare. Near her, she saw her parasol and she grabbed it off from the ground. Without a second thought, she charged ahead to attack.

"Verdana, no!" Elsinore shouted.

"Hey! Let her go, jackass!" She yelled. Quinn looked up and noticed what Maeva was trying to do, but feared the worst. "Stop, don't get too close—"

The rubicund-haired girl stiffened as the parasol disappeared from her hands, as well as Thaddeus from her eyes. He reappeared in a flash, much that it took Maeva a second to register his presence. She slowly turned to meet his empty blue eyes staring coldly her down. "What's this?"

Maeva gasped and took a few steps back, making the man smirk. "I say, the tenacity to interfere would have you killed with a single blow and your remains spattered over the floor..."

"Eek!" the girl squealed, stepping far back but the sinister pursued her.

"I am not one to be genocidal unlike my colleague here. But you indeed catch a gentleman's eye..." Thaddeus flagged back his robe, revealing out a part of his well-made suit before holding out his hand to take hers - and lowering his head to press his cold lips.

"Allow me to introduce myself. The 14th Sinister of the Yellow Butterfly, Sin Wielder of Impatience: Thaddeus Vessalius. Pleausre to meet such a mortal beauty."

"Uh...yeah, no." Maeva subtly recoiled her hand back and noticed Serenity reappear behind her.

"Thaddy, quit flirting with this floozy mortal," Serenity roared in a sudden teething rage directly at the girl. "Just let me kill her. She's wearing my favorite colour. Red is mine and only mine."

"Serenity, etiquette. You must properly know a soul, before you send them off to death, not out of hate. That is the true way of the gospel." The suited Sin Wielder turned back to Maeva, letting out the equally same dark aura that would shake anyone's core.

"But I do have a question. You wouldn't happen to know about the beloved Saint Verdana statue going missing from her post, now do you?"

"The statue?" Maeva blinked, remembering what Quinn said about the recent incident. 'They're the ones looking for me? But why?'

"Surely as a Galisborian, you must know its whereabouts. I do not wish to kill such a youthful woman so soon. Unfortunately the laws of my sin are unbound. The impatient I become, the more prominent my power grows. And we don't want to go there, do we?"

"Uh...I-I—I don't...know where it is."

"Hmm." Thaddeus narrowed his eyes at her, unleashing a blazing display of murderous intent. "Pity. Sadly, I will have to end our conversation here. May you find peace in the 42nd World."

"Nooo!" Quinn shouted.

In the midst of her rising fear, Maeva felt an unusual surge of energy coursing within her. The green stardust emanated from her palms once more, reacting to the heightened pressure in the air. The Emerald Legacy began to respond back, with streaks of green highlighting its massive trunk. Maeva began to glow and set off a blastwave of untamed Arcane Energy. The earth beneath her feet breathed a blooming presence of life and flora.

Sending anyone around her further back in a strong gust. Thaddeus was pushed back as well, flabbergasted at the intense levels of manna. "What is this!? Arcane Energy?! Is this work of an Arcane Weapon?!"

The glowing red-haired girl looked over her body, becoming a walking beacon. "Why am I—"

"...•••••..." she froze as she heard ghostly echoes entering her mind.

"...What?" She immediately turned to the Emerald Legacy, it's branches began to sway, its roots coming alive. Murmuring words of gasping phantoms, heeding into the tree and communicating through her mind. Recieving information only she could hear, her eyes widened the more she ingested it. Suddenly her memories slowly stopped glitching. Gradually gathering crumbs of her past. But she was partially certain what they were. Maeva gradually looked down at her hands before clenching them into fists.

"...I get it now."

"This...this is raw Arcane Energy! Impossible! Only the—" Thaddeus stared wide-eyed as soon as he realized. "You..."

Quinn and Paige too were caught off guard by Maeva's unexpected display. But Serenity wasn't going to have it.

"I'll deal with this..." Tugging a mischievous grin, she snapped her fingers to open a dark portal, summoning out a band of Hellions - all of them were wingless, but they were the size of bears. "Sick 'em, my lovelies..."

"Hellions!" Quinn took a shaky stand and readied himself to defend. But he didn't realize what was going to happen next.

The Hellions all charged towards the glowing source of Arcane Energy, hungry and ready to rip it to shreds. But then Maeva's eyes combusted into powerful green flames. With a determined gaze, Maeva lifted a hand up and manifested a powerful green energy ball. She fired it and the intense light was enough to fry the shadowy monsters into ash.

"What?! NO FAIR!" Serenity jawdropped before the blackness around her eyes began to re-emerge again, a sign that her power was spiking. "I don't know who or what you are. But I want you dead."

"Heh. I'd like to see you try, twerp." Maeva confidently smirked.

Without warning, Serenity unleashed a torrent of dark energy, sending sharp spikes hurling towards Maeva.

Maeva simply raised her hands over her head, manifesting a large body of energy from the Emerald Legacy. The energy shaped itself into a gigantic human hand, and smacked Serenity into the ground like a fly, leaving a man-made crater under her. Then Maeva grabbed her off the ground before launching her far away like a ball - much that she even disappeared out of sight.

"Serenity!" Thaddeus shouted before whipping his head back at Maeva's powerful presence.

The Emerald Legacy behind her continously channeled out raw Arcane Energy toward the girl that once stood by it for 1,000 years. Her disembodied hand swindled Thaddeus off the ground before he could react. The sinister, beyond mortified, paralyzed at the sudden relevance that even his powers failed him.

He was facing before an Omnipotent.

"Y-you...you are the statue! The Sancrosanct of the past! How...how are you this powerful after all this time?! You were supposed to..." he mumbled. Her burning eyes narrowed at him with distaste.

"I don't give a damn what you say I am! You've hurt a lot of people here, and I'm not gonna let you stand by and terrorize them anymore. Now you better get lost, and never set foot here, ever again! GOT IT?!"

Shaken by her overpowering voice, he nodded profusely.

"Good. Now..." Maeva reeled her hand far back, and like a batter in a baseball field, launched the last Sin Wielder further out of the Arcadian border with Serenity. She smirked at the subtle speck of him flown miles away.

"And STAY OUT, bastard!" She cheered.

The Chromestown citizens basked in wonder before Maeva's green light. The Mayor's old eyes basked before the glorious moment, where Chromestown's favored statue had shown herself to be a true guardian. The once-chaotic air began to shift back into tranquility, a sudden calmness settled over the town square once again. The citizens, once paralyzed by fear, witnessed Maeva as a goddess - with many bowing their heads in respect as she gracefully descends back down to earth.

Paige managed to get herself up, with only just a pained leg. Her glasses were on the ground, slightly chipped but she picked them up anyway. Her grey eyes turned to Maeva's majestic power shining throughout the entire square. "Incredible..."

"Maeva! Maeva!" Quinn rushed over to her, watching her light fade away as well as the tree's, the fire in eyes were put out like a blown candle. Maeva fluttered her eyes repeatedly and felt a massive hit of vertigo struck her. "Woaah..."

The people gasped, seeing her tumble back. But Quinn quickly caught her by the waist. "I gotcha. Are you okay?"

"Oof...thanks," she said, tiredly breathing. "I feel so...drained all of a sudden."

"Heh, you sure did quite a lot just now..." the shaggy-blond gunslinger chuckled before holding her close to him.

"Uh..." Maeva stammered before looking at his charismatic grin. Flustered, she shyly shoved him aside to stand on her own.

—"Verdana saved us all!" —"She protected us from the Sin Wielders!" —"It's a sign! We must continue on with the harvest festival!"

—"YEAH!" The people cheered, having to find courage to return back to the square. Mayor Elsinore gaped in surprise, witnessing the smiles and joy around his citizens again. They were eager to presume on with the Verdana Harvest Festival.

The Mayor approached the group, offering a nod of gratitude. "Thank you, for saving our town," the Mayor expressed, relief evident in his voice. Then turned over to Maeva. "And for Saint Verdana—"

"Maeva." She corrected coldly. Quinn gave a slight curious look.

"Oh? My apologies. For—Maeva, you have brought us happiness. You were always our beloved symbol for generations. And truly, you are."

"Don't...mention it. I guess."

"And I know that the people here are dearly indebted to you. Which is why, I decree that the Verdana Harvest Festival may commence on."

The people roared in merriment and cheer. Sharing hugs and laughter. Quinn glanced over to Maeva, a hint of pride in his eyes. He grinned, watching everyone so joyous again. And all it took was for her to show her light.

Chromestown now had a new tradition, with newfound bonds forged under the wonderous branches of their beloved Emerald Legacy. As the people celebrated under the jovial glow of the tree, Maeva raised a smile to the sight of joy around, but her ears tingled.

Turning back at the tree.

She stood apart, her mind preoccupied by the whispers of the old, from the plea of the lost souls. 'Save us...' Her heart ached with the weight of their relentless cries.

'Verdana...Save us...Save us...Save us like you promised!' They were still crying out to her, just like they have in the last 1000 years.

Her eyes narrowed hatefully at the tree and walked away. 'I never promised.'

She turned her back towards the tree, its towering presence commanding respect, yet concealing a dark history. She clenched her fists, whispering defiantly to herself, 'I'm not going back, never again.'

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Edited: 12/Jun/24

【Author's Note】

—Hey yall, sorry I'm taking too long to re edit, I was taking breaks to refresh my mind. Hopefully the story makes sense now. Please Vote and comment, and leave a review if you must. The lore is coming soon!

–lebzachannn

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