Waxed Finger of the Wicked Angel

"Who are you!?" Slem asked the woman in front of him with his cute voice, adjusting his posture to show that he was ready to attack her with his little fist. "Why are you freeing the criminals here? Are you also a criminal?" He glared at her.

Edana looked at him in shock. 'A kid? They even imprisoned a kid here...' She opened her mouth and began speaking. "I'm a knight from the Sacred Order, I'm not a criminal. I came here to free all of you from this prison." She raised her arms up, showing that she meant no harm to him.

"Sacled Oder?" Slem raised his eyebrows at Edana. "What's that?" He asked in a doubtful tone, which made Edana drop her jaws. "...How long have you been locked here for?" She answered Slem with a question of her own. "Tch." Slem clicked his tongue cutely, displeased with Edana's answer. "Don't you need to answer my question first? I've been here as long as I can remember." He answered.

Edana looked at him in pity. "It's all right now. We will take you outside where you'll be safe." She spoke in a soft voice, but clenched her teeth after saying that. She could see that the kid was a rogue seeker. Even if she freed him and took him back to Arcturus, she didn't know what the Acrosanctus Church Union would do him. As she was thinking about it, Slem suddenly spoke and pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Outside? I don't care about that. I have an important job to punish the criminals locked in here." He looked towards all the freed prisoners and pointed towards them. "We still need to punish those people over there."

Speechless, Edana could only stare at Slem for a moment. "Uh.. Why are you talking about punishing these ..uh.. criminals? Who gave you this job?" She asked while walking towards Slem, who had relaxed his battle ready posture from before. "Huhu" Slem laughed while crossing his arms. He gave a smug look and opened his mouth. "Of course we need to punish criminals, that's why they're chained up. I didn't know it was my job either. I only knew when brother Zane told me."

"Huh?" Edana stopped in her tracks. "Zane...?" She muttered. "Are you talking about a white-haired Zane?" She asked in a hurry and put her hands on Slem's shoulders and kneeled down, looking straight at his eyes. Slem was startled by the sudden change in her attitude. "Yes white hair and a scary looking face. He is also a bit crazy." He described.

Edana's lips curved into a full smile. "Where is he? Is he here?" She shook Slem, his head wobbling forwards and backwards. "...He's....gone....to....the...church...." Slem could barely speak, being shook like that. "Oh.. Sorry." Edana realized and let go of Slem. "Why in the church? Do you know anything?"

Slem shrugged. "I don't know. He always goes there, together with Zaros." Edana widened her eyes after hearing his name. "Zaros..." She clenched her teeth. "Uh..." Slem spoke, making Edana shift her attention towards him. "Do you also know brother Zane?" He finally asked.

Edana nodded. "Yes I do. He's a..." She continued after a pause. "... a friend of mine." She gave a smile towards Slem. "Oh his friend?" Slem smiled. "You should have said so earlier. Hahah." Edana nodded, "What's your name?" She looked at him.

"Me? I'm Slem. What about you sister?" Slem gave a bright smile. "My name is Edana." She continued. "Slem, can you help me find Zane? You know where he is right?" Slem nodded his head. "Sure. I have gone in the church many times!" Slem put his hands on his waist and puffed out his chest. "I can help you find him in no time!"

Edana ruffled his slimy green hair and smiled. "Thank you Slem. We'll go right after freeing all the prisoners here okay?" Slem turned his head towards Edana. "Free the criminals? Why?" He tilted his head. "Are you really brother Zane's friend?" He stinted his eyes.

"Haah.." Edana sighed. "I am really his friend. The people here are not all criminals." She explained to Slem. "Some of them are good people. As for the criminals, we'll take care of them after bringing them to another place." She said, a guilty look on her face.

"Hmm.." Slem thought for a moment. "Okay, but I'll tell this to brother Zane after finding him!"

"Haha okay. Help me free them then." Edana walked towards the doors again, unlocking them. This time, Slem also helped her unlock the door. After unlocking every door and freeing every prisoner, the passed out knight woke up. "Huh?" he looked around until he saw Edana. "What happened?"

Edana shook her head. "It's fine now. You two take them to the town's gate. I need to go find someone. I'll be back shortly." The knights looked at her for a moment. It looked like there was something they wanted to say, but they only nodded and left with the prisoners.

"Let's go." Edana looked towards Slem and walked ahead. After some steps, she staggered and fell down. Slem ran towards her. "Sister? Are you okay?" He looked at her pale face and examined her. His eyes followed her right arm all the way to her stomach, which she was squeezing with her hand. "You're wounded." Slem spoke out.

"...It's fine..." Edana said as she tried to get up. "No." Slem stopped her. "Let me help you." He turned his hand into green slime and moved it towards her stomach. After a while, Edana's complexion began improving. Letting go of his hand, Slem wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Phew.. There all done!" He smiled at Edana.

Edana looked at her stomach and widened her eyes. "..How.." She was shocked. Her cauterized wound was healing visibly. She looked at Slem, her mouth wide open. Slem was also looking back at her, a smug look on his face. "Let's go now!" This time, he was the one who spoke and walked in front.

---

Outside the barrier, Thorn and Buck were waiting patiently for the knights to arrive, and Anson was still sitting at the back, despondent.

"Will he be alright?" Buck looked at Anson with worry. Thorn turned back and glanced at him. "I believe so. He just needs some time to process all of this." Buck sighed and nodded his head. "I hope so." It had already been quite some time after Thorn had sent a knight to bring back relics and the remaining fighting squads.

Right when Buck opened his mouth to complain about the wait, they saw the silhouettes of the Knights on the path, slowly getting bigger and bigger. "Haah.. They're finally here." Buck sighed and began stretching his arms.

Three people were leading the squads who arrived just then. Asa, Haskell and the last one was Roe, a Night leader under Buck. "You're here. Sorry to change your role at the last minute, but we need all the knights we have here." Buck spoke to Roe.

"It's alright sir." Roe, whose eyes were covered by his black hair, replied back without much emotion on his voice. His squad was supposed to stand by and guard the temporary base and the operational knights stationed there, but due to the unexpected situation, they had called him too.

Asa quickly approached the place Anson and Price were resting at. "Sir, Are you alright?" Asa asked Anson. Anson turned his head and looked at Asa with empty eyes before turning back down again. Shaking her head, she approached Price next, and sat in front of him. Price lifted his head to look at Asa.

'What happened?' She used her hands to sign. 'A lot of knights died, some trapped inside. He couldn't save them. He's feeling powerless.' Price signed back. 'What about you? Are you okay? Any injuries?' Asa signed with a worried look on her face. 'I'm okay. Go to the commander.' Price signed back and leaned on the rock. Nodding her head, Asa stood up and went towards Anson once again.

Meanwhile Thorn approached Haskell hurriedly. "The relic?" He asked him. "Sir!" Haskell turned back and looked at his knights. Two knights came forward, one carrying the relics that were used before, #25, the Fickle Flame Lantern, and #26, Empty Night Crystals. "We brought these too, it may be of some use." Haskell explained while Thorn nodded.

The other knight reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a small wooden box. The wooden box was black and had intricate designs carved onto it. Thorn reached for the wooden box and grabbed it. Pulling it towards himself, he slowly opened the box.

Everyone was staring at the box intently. Thorn reached out inside the box and pulled out it's content, which was covered by white cloth. Thorn opened the cloth and revealed what was inside. It was a thin decaying blackish finger, which looked waxed and gave off a strong aura of dread.

"Waxed Finger of the Wicked Angel..." Thorn muttered in a heavy voice.