Chapter 20 - 21 : Ghost island (1/2)
Erik and Theodor didn't waste time and immediately headed towards the teleportation array, they went back to the holy church's headquarters to report what just happened, Erik is not stupid enough to try to bring back Lucy forcefully as he saw how strong the black-robed man with her was.
Even though the Pope personally ordered him, he can't do something impossible so he headed back to report what happened.
Erik's position in the Holy church was considered high, actually, the Holy church was divided into 2 divisions, the first one is the army division which included soldiers, healers, and some mages and this division is led by astrong commander known as the Holy general, as for the second division; it's composed of 6 Cardinals, 3 Bishops, and 1 Archbishop.
The 6 Cardinals are the weakest ones and must obey the 3 Bishops, which in return, must obey the Archbishop. Erik was one of the Cardinals, which is considered a high position in the church. The difference in power between a Cardinal and a Bishop is very big, so no Cardinal dares to provoke or oppose a Bishop, much less the archbishop.
Of course, the Pope had the absolute authority and can command both divisions at will and no matter his orders, they must obey without questioning. Once Erik arrived at the Headquarters, he quickly headed towards where the Bishop Arnold was.
Arnold was one of the 3 Bishops and also the 'master' of the deceased Holy Knight Rein, he was the one who took him under his care and trained him. Erik usually receives the Pope orders from Arnold except in some unique cases where the Pope personally talks to him.
The old man soon arrived at what seemed to be a garden, he spotted a handsome middle-aged man with long green hair and charming eyes, he had a sheathed white sword at his waist and seemed energetic, the man wore a long sleeved blue robe with golden patterns on it. His appearance was of a definite ladykiller.
”Lord Arnold, excuse me for disturbing you but I have some urgent matters to report.”
Arnold who already noticed the presence of Erik, continued to stare at the sky as if he didn't hear what Erik said, after a couple of seconds he spoke with a calm yet overbearing voice
”Mhm? if it isn't Erik, weren't you in the Nemia Academy per the orders of our Lord?”
Of course, Arnold and every other Bishop knew that the Pope wanted that demon girl but they didn't know why.
They only knew he was obsessed with her and he chased after her for years without catching her. When he questioned why did the Pope not send any of the bishops to just capture her, the Pope replied saying that doing that would attract a lot of unwanted attention so he just kept sending normal soldiers from the church.
Erik didn't waste time and replied with an uneasy tone
”Yes, about that, it seems she has someone powerful by her side and I judged that person to be more powerful than I am, so I cannot take her forcefully even if I wanted to. That black-robed man actually ...”
He then continued to narrate what happened in details including how he couldn't react to the sudden attack of Arthur.
When he finished speaking, Erik awaited for Arnold to give him his new orders but nothing happened, the middle-aged man just ordered Erik to stay here for now until he speaks to the Pope about this.
*****
Late at night, in a long and enormous hall, with a throne at the end of it, there was an old man sitting on it, he seemed on the verge of death, he wore a simple white robe and had a wrinkles all over his face, a couple of meters ahead of him was a kneeling Arnold.
Arnold already told the events of today to the Pope and waited for his orders with the utmost respect. The old man, who obviously was the Pope, was stroking his beard seemingly lost in thought, and after some time, he finally spoke with his an aged voice.
”Since it's like this, we cannot capture her if she is in that academy. Young Arnold: I want you to wait for the moment she gets out of that island and capture her, and this time I don't want any failure, do you understand?”
”Yes my Lord, your servant obeys.”
Arnold soon left the hall prepared to carry out the pope's orders, while the pope was still sitting on the throne, a flash of cold light appeared in his eyes as he thought about that demon girl
'Ahhh if I wasn't afraid of those powers lurking in the darkness, I would have long since captured you myself, little girl!”
**********************
Arthur and Lucy soon arrived at their room when night has finally fallen. It was too early to sleep and with his infinite Stamina, he didn't need any sleep in the first place so he wanted to try something new today.
He was still curious about the attribute fusion he did against that dragon and wanted to try it again, as for Lucy she was little tired so she laid on the bed to rest for a bit.
The room was spacious enough for him to practice without wasting time so he began doing his tests. The first thing he did was create a fireball with his ancient fire and tried adding the chaotic dark magic but to no avail, he couldn't do it as the same notification popped up again and again
You don't meet necessary requirements to do that!
You don't meet necessary requirements to do that!
You don't meet necessary requirements to do that!
After multiple tries, he gave up on fusing the ancient fire and chaotic dark magic as it was deemed impossible for the time being, nonetheless, he tried fusing the chaotic dark magic and the void magic which worked perfectly, he created a weapon with their fusion and it was a dark blue spear with some violet in it.
Surprisingly, creating it did cost quite an amount of mana. The exact cost of making this spear was 400 Mana, which was by no means a meager amount but that did make sense since the Hell Arrow did empty his Mana pool but its power was extraordinary too. As he was musing over this idea, a crazy thought struck him
'What if I were to fuse Void Magic and Ancient Fire? A Hell Arrow constructed from them both would be an interesting sight to behold..'
Arthur continued practicing for 2 more hours but no matter how hetried he couldn't make a weapon made of void and that bugged him, the only thing can do is the [void slash] or fuse the void attribute with the chaotic dark magic or ancient fire to make a weapon.
In fact, when he fused it with the ancient fire it didn't cost that much mana and he noticed it that the weapon made by void+chaotic dark magic was slightly powerful than ancient fire+void so he guessed that the void and the ancient fire are maybe not that compatible, after all, if he fuses ice and fire it may work but the weapon or whatever he creates might not be that powerful.
Lucy has already fallen asleep some time ago and Arthur decided to sleep too, he wasn't the least tired but he enjoyed sleeping next to her for it was comfortable and warm, he soon joined her on the bed and slept next to her, he held her hand and closed his eyes to sleep.
The night has peacefully passed and morning soon came, Arthur opened his eyes and felt Lucy hugging him again like yesterday, she was also looking at him with soft eyes and a bright smile hanging on her face
”You finally woke up huh? so much for infinite stamina.”
She teased him with her charming voice while hugging him tighter, to be honest, Arthur couldn't believe this was the same cold and emotionless girl he met in the auction house but nonetheless he stretched her arms and hugged her back while saying
”A little more, let me stay like this a little more.”
He was unwilling to just wake up, he liked the feeling of her hugging him and felt his heart melting being next to her, to just wake up now and leave her warm embrace would be such a waste.
Lucy didn't say anything and just kept hugging him while leaning her face on his chest, though they didn't do anything obscene or didn't even kiss each other, they were quite close and enjoyed being the presence of one another and that was enough to let them forget their past for a little and free them from their loneliness. They stayed like that for some time without even talking, it was kind of awkward at first but Arthur soon got used to it and enjoyed this feeling.
Time passed quickly and it was time to finally let go of each other, though this time Lucy seemed more reluctant about it, there was nothing he could do after all classes were about to start and they can't stay like that all day, for now at least.
When they were adjusting their clothes and preparing to head out, someone knocked on their room's door and said :
”Mr and Mrs, the principal wants to see you, if you would please head to her office when you are ready.”
Actually Arthur didn't share his name or Lucy's to the principal so they were just called by 'you' or 'Mr,Mrs', it was embarrassing for Arthur as he thought being called like that meant they considered them married, it's kind of childish to be thinking that and he may be overthinking a lot but that's just his attitude, when facing others he is as cold as ice and when with Lucy his personality changes completely, same goes for her.
Arthur replied to the man outside of the room and said he will head out immediately with Lucy. A couple of minutes later, they arrived at the principal's office, when they entered Arthur noticed the principal talking with Zephir and another man who was a beastman and had a long sword on his back.
Sonia seeing Arthur come with the demon girl, smiled at them while saying ”Good morning, I see that my subordinate has informed you” her tone seemed slightly different and contained some seriousness in it.
With an expressionless face, Arthur walked in front of her while ignoring the beastman and Zephir and replied ”Yes, so why did you call out for me? is it maybe because of those dogshit people from the holy church? ”
”No no, that's irrelevant, they got what's coming to them, I called you here to propose a deal for you.”-the principal
Arthur furrowed his brows for a second before speaking again ”A deal? please enlighten me”-Arthur
The principal looked at Zephir who was standing near Arthur and nodded towards him, seeing that the demon bowed and left the room with the beastman.