Chapter 33 - 33 : War? (2/2)

Even though she seemed like a new person, her coldness remained a bit, but that only added to her beauty, but do not be mistaken, she had a hint of coldness when dealing with this old man, and even though she was happily talking right now, that deep inside her, she was feeling delighted to finally begin her revenge towards the church with her own hands.

To be honest, the miserable appearance of the old man was really pitiable, he was coughing blood non-stop, almost choking from it, his ribs were all broken, and his internal organs were crushed into dust, even with a specially divine armor from the pope, it still couldn't hold and he knew his death is nearing, he could only stare at Lucy with fear as he seriously did not expect her to be this strong, one must know that she was very weak just a year ago, and even a cardinal can take care of her, but now, with one kick, she defeated him, a bishop, he felt he had to tell the pope of this this, but unfortunately he can't..

The woman who was mumbling the incantation for some time, finally finished, and a grin soon appeared on her face, she breathed a sigh of relief, and prepared herself for the teleportation..but it never happened, first she thought she did something wrong or made a mistake in the incantation, but that was impossible, so the only reason is that...there is something obstructing the teleportation..

She lifted her head and saw the grinning Arthur as if he was a harbinger of death, she knew she was done for, so her legs grew weak and she almost fell down.

”So you finally understand that there is no way out, how about you take a seat and calm down a little”

Arthur spoke in a mocking tone while waving her hand nonchalantly, a near chair was moved to Lara, since her legs grew weak and she was barely standing, when the chair came out, she unconsciously sat on it, then dark blue chains appeared out of nowhere and bound her legs and hands.

The telekinesis was really useful thing, and even though Arthur could not use it in fights, it still was good to have it, he trained with it for some time, and he managed to even lift a boulder which was quite big, he became quite skilled in it, but it still was useless in fights, maybe it'll be helpful in-house labor, if he ever had a house..

As for Lucy who was still looking at Mozu, she pondered for a moment before slowly extending her petite hands and taking off Mozu's storage ring with a 'hehe', no matter how rich she and Arthur were, if a storage ring which was probably full of treasure was thrown in front of them, of course, they will take it.

Mozu saw her actions, but he could only gaze at her grudgingly and curse her in his mind. As for her, she injected her Mana and inspected the storage, and to her surprise, there was some books, items and even enchanted weapon, plus there were gold coins, but the amount had in his storage ring was just unbelievable, he even gave her more than 1 billion gold coins, but the mountain of gold still didn't diminish.

She put the ring in her own storage ring then walked near Arthur, she knew the old man was going to die anyway, so why waste her time with him.

Since things were done now, Arthur headed to Mary, who was still silent, her eyes showed astonishment and fear. She really was beyond surprised when she saw how much both of them improved in terms of strength, especially Lucy, heck! if she received that kick then she would surely have died, that's for sure.

To be honest, she never was willing to kill Arthur and Lucy, it's true, she hated Arthur in the beginning, but later on she felt neutral, she neither liked him or hated him, and the decision of her big sister seemed rushed, even though she tried to persuade Sonia to not proceed with plan, her efforts were futile, and she had to follow the orders of her big sister.

She felt guilty towards this duo, they didn't deserve to die yet they were ruthlessly killed by the cannon, she really couldn't accept that but what was done is done and no one can change the past.

But not that she saw them alive and kicking, plus they became even more strong, she felt complicated, she felt a tinge of happiness to see them both alive, but at the same time ashamed to face them, after all, she plotted behind their backs, so how could they not hate her, she even knew they come back today for revenge, or else why would they come back?

She saw a Bishop, who only her big sister can defeat, easily killed by Lucy, with just one kick, and how helpless Lara was against Arthur, so she knew they became extremely strong, but if it was anybody else she would be saved, but these two would surely not let her live, nonetheless, she wanted to die peacefully and not feel guilty.

”I-I'm sorry, even though I know it's too late, but I'm sorry for what we did, I-I really tried to persuade them not to do it, but alas....”

Arthur and Lucy walked up in front of the tied female beastman and coldly looked at her.

”Do you think apologizing now would change anything? If you really feel guilty, then tell us where is the rest of the council members and SONIA!” (Arthur)

Even though she expected this kind of harsh treatment, Mary still felt sad and guilty at the same time, nevertheless, she mustered her courage, breathed some fresh air and replied to Arthur

”I-In the war, a lot of people died, and only 4 council members remained, me, Mach, Veronica, and Zephir, as for their locations. I really don't know, we dispersed in the war, and each went fighting, I have been captured 3 months ago, as for them I don't know if they are even still alive or not but last time I have seen them in 3 months ago”

Even though Arthur hated her guts, he still felt some sincerity in her tone, and she didn't seem to be lying.

”Fine! then how about Sonia!”(Arthur)

”B-Big sister is...Arthur, you must know! big sister really didn't have a choice, you know..she is part of a clan, the Ma Clan, and very few know of it, even I only visited a few times, It's really secretive but have a lot of experts, and basically, the clan controls the Academy through big sister, really!! she only obeyed orders, she can't oppose them! please believe me! it's not her fault!”

The identity of Sonia known to all council members, but Mary was Sonia's little sister, they grew together so she obviously knew of her circumstances, that's why she followed her here to the academy and stayed with her, when she went begging Sonia to not kill Arthur as he was an innocent bystander and didn't do anything wrong, Sonia could only shake her head and tell Mary that she received direct orders to kill Arthur and Lucy no matter the cost.

Arthur was a bit shocked to hear this and pondered for a bit

'A clan why would they want my death? I don't remember messing with any clan whatsoever, there is only one way to resolve this, it's to pay them a LITTLE VISIT!'

”Hmm, and where is this clan? Since it's very secretive, it'll be quite a pain to search for it, so since you visited it a few times, how about you tell me where it is”(Arthur)

”I..I cannot do that!” (Mary)

She seemed quite stubborn in this matter, she shook her head continuously and seemed unwilling to say the location.

Arthur just smiled at said

”Huh? And why is that?..”(Arthur)

”Obviously because I know you want to kill big sister, how could I tell you her location! She wasn't at fault! I'm not saying, just take my life instead and consider it the end of your revenge.”

”Either you tell me or not, that doesn't matter, sooner or later, I will find the clan's location!”

As he said that, he lifted his hand, and white sword energy formed on his hand, he used the unique skill of his title to make a sword out of his hand, he planned on beheading the female beast-man, but for some reason, he felt unease.

He didn't know why but mayhap these 12 months really did change him? Did he become soft or did he feel pity for this woman? How could he feel that! that's absurd! look at what they have done to him, they tried to kill him and Lucy, and were almost successful, so why would he feel sympathy for someone who plotted behind his back, didn't that make him weak? he came here for revenge and not to save lives!

His hand was lifted for a couple of seconds, and even Mary who already prepared herself for her death was confused why it never happened, but finally, Arthur's hand twitched and was about to cut the female beastman when Lucy interrupted him and said

”Hubby~ how about you forgive her? she indeed plotted against us, but she admitted her wronging, and it's not like she did it willingly, I feel she didn't lie to us and really tried to save us”

Arthur was really surprised by what he heard, for Lucy to say that out of nowhere made him dumbfounded, he didn't think she would say that or even defend Mary, thanks for the soul link, he kind of grasped what she felt so just a couple of words from her were enough to make him understand what she was trying to say.

In fact, his hesitation a moment ago was a proof that he didn't want to kill her, it's true he came to extract revenge and pay back what was done to him, but this woman seemed sincere and really apologized, she even closed her eyes and accepted her fate.

It's true he hated her, but to hate someone doesn't mean you have to kill him, heck! if it's the previous him, he would have killed her if not tortured her more then killed her, but now he changed, it may be a good or a bad change, but he nonetheless changed and since even Lucy spoke up, he had to think this through and make a wise decision.

As for Mary, hearing what Lucy said, she was dumbstruck, but she didn't dare anything, as it was not her place to do so, she just stayed still and closed her eyes, awaiting her fate, in fact, she wouldn't blame him even if he killed her, as she deserved that.

Arthur's lifted hand, soon descended at lightning speed, and even Lucy was a little bit panicked, because to be honest, she really pitied Mary and knew she had to do that due to her circumstances, she was forced to, nonetheless she apologized and even accepted her death, so why not forgive her? but seeing Arthur's hand descend, she couldn't do anything.

It's true she wanted the female beast to be forgiven by Arthur, but even if she wasn't forgiven, it doesn't matter, because no matter his decisions she would always support him, if he decided to spare her then it's good if he killed her then so be it.

The hand descended at lightning speed and even Mary felt as if a sword descended on her, but even after some seconds passed, she was still breathing, she also noticed that the white rope tied her legs and hands were now cut, it took her quite some time to realise what just happened before she lifted her head to look at him.

”Hmpf! Consider yourself lucky! if not for Lucy then you would be already dead! since she forgave you then I'll make an exception and let the matter go.... but only you and not the others!”

Mary didn't know what to say, she still couldn't believe he spared her after what she had done, 'he really is kind' was what she thought, it seems she was on point, and even though he doesn't want to show it, he indeed is kind-hearted, she also noticed his attitude slightly change from back then.

”Th-Thank you....”(Mary)

”You should be thanking Lucy, not me!”

Mary hastily turned to look at Lucy and then bowed her head saying

”R-really thank you, you forgave me even though I did all those things... thank you”(Mary)

Lucy only nodded without saying anything, she felt her attitude changed, she forgave someone who tried to kill her, that may be stupid to others, but for her, it was her own choice, and it seems even Arthur respected that choice and supported her, he let go of his revenge and urge to kill just because of her.

Lucy then turned around to look Lara who was still shaking from fear and looking at her and Arthur, afraid of dying, but this time she didn't feel any sympathy nor pity for this woman, a sharp dagger was soon created, it was made from the violet fire, the most powerful type of flames, the dagger went for Lara's heart with extreme speed

'poof'

In less than a second, the Cardinal woman was stabbed exactly at her heart, the dagger melted her heart along with other organs and she died instantly, as for her storage ring, it flew towards Lucy, Arthur used telekinesis and made the ring fly toward Lucy who was looking at it with expectant eyes, he couldn't help but think 'This chick really does love stealing others rings, hehe'

....

Since there was nothing else to do, both of them didn't bother with Mary anymore and were about to leave the office which was pretty much destroyed, but all of the sudden, Mary who was silent for sometime spoke again, with a hesitant voice.

”I-If you want..I can take you to the clan, but on one condition!”

Arthur who was about to leave heard that and turned his head to look at Mary, who was clenching her fists and looking back at him.

”Speak, what's the condition.”

To be honest, he was quite interested, if she can take him there, that would save him a lot of trouble to look for Sonia”

”Y-You must promise me to not kill b-big sister, if you want to punish someone then punish the clan.”

”Not kill her? Well, if you take me there, I'll think about it”

”No! You must promise me, and a man cannot go back on his promise!”

This woman was pretty persistent, deep inside, she knew he would find the clan someday, and her big sister would surely die at his hands, if she can make him spare her too by guiding him there, then it was worth it, as for the clan? Mary didn't care, pretty much all the people there are selfish and arrogant, except a few people, just because they are strong, they think they are gods among humans.

This time, Arthur did not talk, instead, Lucy was the one who spoke

”Fine, I promise you that we will not touch Sonia unless we investigate this further, but if she really is guilty, then don't blame us for breaking the promise.”

Mary was hesitant for a second before nodding her head and responding

”Since that's the case, then I will take you there...”