27 Chapter 24 - "Lust Crusade: Destroying Passion" (1/2)

※※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

Jens : ”H-Ha?”

Jens looked around him, only to find Emilia looking both sad and relieved at him.

Emilia : ”Is there something wrong Jens?”

Jens : ”No… It's nothing. I'm just relieved that we dealt with the biggest enemy, Regulus. I mean, I understand he'll be back. But for the time being, this is really good.”

Emilia : ”Yes… So what do you think, let's go to the Lust Conquest?”

Jens : ”That sounds like a perfect plan! If something happens, scream for me, please.”

Emilia : ”I'm not that weak. I can take care of myself, but if the situation gets fatal, I will call out your name.”

Jens : ”Understood. Then let's go!”

Both Emilia and Jens stood up and rushed through the giant door.

※※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

In the meantime at the Lust Conquest, the group was standing in front of a giant crystal door.

Weiss : ”Hmm… It seems the Archbishop of Lust sealed the door, we've been trying to open this door for almost an hour. If we won't open it on time. The situation will get very nasty.”

Crusch : ”Weiss-sama. I received a telepathic message from Reinhard. The Greed Crusade and the Conquest against Gluttony were successful. Some of their fights will head towards us.”

Felix : ”This is quite shameful. We~ aren't even able to open the door to fight it.”

Tivey : ”According my analysis. This door is made of something that won't melt. We need another way to enter this—”

Suddenly, the group that exists of Weiss Schnee, Aldebaran, Crusch Karsten, Felix Argyle, Maria Aqua and Tivey Pearlbaton hear footsteps coming from the stairs.

It were Julius Juukulius, Nathan Harmonia, Otto Suwen and Priscilla Barielle.

Weiss : ”Priscilla, Julius, where are Aestas, Haku and Felt.”

Julius : ”Tsk…”

An awkward silence ruined the atmosphere.

Priscilla : ”Haku got eaten. He got devoured by the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony, Louis Arneb.”

Weiss : ”A-Ahh?!”

Nathan : ”Felt and Aestas are heading towards the actual city. Plans got changed slightly. Another girl who we met, Krista Lenz, went to the city too.”

Weiss : ”Jens and Emilia? Are they fine?”

Nathan : ”We're all safe except for Haku, who tragically lost his life. I'm not–”

Weiss : ”Not sure how to tell it to Cecilus? He'll be mad, for sure. But right now, that's not our time. It's time to defeat the remaining Archbishops. First of all, do any of you know how to open this door?”

Nathan : ”Y-Y'all haven't even begin to battle?!”

Weiss : ”Sadly, no. The door is crystallized by something unbreakable”

Then, Jens and Emilia arrived.

Jens : ”Sorry for being late, how did the battle go?”

Weiss sighed out of irritation.

Then suddenly, a loud voice could be heard and the door opened.

??? : ”Yahoo! YAHOO! YAHOOOOOOOOOO!”

The twelve of them, entered the Crystal Room. At the end of the hall, stood the woman on a pillar. She had a microphone in her hand.

Weiss : ”That's the City's Radio Broadcast Magic!”

??? : ”Hello, all you meat creatures! No matter how many times you've heard it, doesn't my beauty and my lovely voice excite you? Gahaahhahhah!”

The voice rang with a childlike cruelty, like a girl who'd spurned etiquette and trampled on conventional manners of speech. Her sharp laughter seemed able to pierce right into your mind, causing an aversion both mental and physical.

Jens : ”That's Capella…”

Weiss : ”Don't do anything. Keep listening. Everyone outside hears this. The whole Capital hears this.”

Capella : ”Alright, you meat creatures enthralled by a beautiful girl's enticing voice, I have news for you: we're all tired, so what about y'all giving what we want? The true tossing and turning of day and night starts now! I want the Artificial Spirit, and I want the King. So give me them!”

A harsh, harsh voice, like a mirror next to the ear being scratched with sharp claws, filled with sadistic glee. What, what, what was this voice, what was this individual?

Capella : ”It seems my precious words end here. We got some people ruining my love here. Metamorphosing meat creatures and insects is what they deserve! Like we said before, we got this whole city under our control. I think it's best to not try anything weird! Now, The Sin Archbishop of Lust, Capella Emerada Lugnica is leaving for today! Gahahahahahahaha!”

The cruel high-pitched laugher was interrupted as the sound faded.

Felix : ”B-But that's a name of royalty? Emerada is the name of the first queen of Lugnica!”

Capella jumped down and faced the giant group.

Capella : ”You all want to metamorphosed? This is hilarious! And some of you aren't even knights or warriors! Gahahahahaha! HEY CLOWN!”

Then, a black purple portal opened behind Capella. Masquerade appeared in front of the group too.

Jens : ”Masquerade.”

Masquerade : ”Ah hey my sweetheart. Long time no see? Well actually, that's not true. I saw you a while ago. I was watching you the whole time in fact! But I got bad news for everyone!”

Weiss : ”Tell it you damned clown!”

Masquerade : ”So many nice people! I don't think Capella deserves to ruin this many people. Let me make this easier, what about this?”

Masquerade put his palm on the ground and collapsed the floor.

Everyone, including Capella and Masquerade, fell down.

Masquerade fell perfectly on his feet and created multiple portals to teleport people away, however due to the chaos, the crystals falling, nobody was able to notice who got teleported away and who didn't.

Jens landed on his feet, and so did Emilia.

Weiss created an icicle platform and landed there along with Crusch and Otto.

Priscilla used her yang magic on herself and Aldebaran to levitate and don't land horribly wrong.

Priscilla Barielle, Aldebaran, Emilia, Weiss Schnee, Crusch Karsten, Otto Suwen and Jens were the ones that would battle Capella Emerada Lugnica.

They were at a similar hall as they were just few seconds ago. It was a crystal room, but this room had darker blue crystals.

The crystals contained a lot of Mana, so using magic was a must.

Jens : ”Anyone got any ideas? Strategies?”

Aldebaran : ”Well, I must say brother, this woman is different from the Sin Archbishop I know…”

Weiss : ”A-Are you saying you're acquainted with a Sin Archbishop?”

Al scrapped his helmet.

Aldebaran : ”Yes. I know one. I met a Sin Archbishop many years ago.”

Masquerade : ”Ah how lovely! The ones that aren't here anymore are somewhere in the Capital Capella, I had no time to decide where to send them.”

Capella : ”No problem you freak. Now go back to your place.”

Masquerade : ”Understoood desu hey hey! Goodluck everyone hey hey!”

The man with the mask started raising his hands and clapping, often saying 'hey' as if he was singing and dancing.

He swung his hand and opened a portal, and disappeared.

Capella : ”Welcome you flies! I think now is a right time to welcome you thrash, right? Gahahahahaha!”

Weiss : ”She's even worse than Regulus…”

Capella : ”What was that? Were you speaking while your majesty was talking? Gahahahaha! How ruthless!”

Capella swung her hand and transformed into a giant black dragon. It was capable of flying, but due the hall being too small for a dragon to fly, she remained on the ground.

Capella was a shape shifter.

This woman, this individual, this- this thing… It's dangerous.

The black dragon had golden horns, it opened its mouth which revealed golden teeth. Then, the dragon opened its jaw further open, and started breathing fire towards the group.

It was a black and purple flame which was heading towards the souls of the group.

Immediately, Otto and Aldebaran swung their arms, creating a giant dome of rock to use as a barrier from the flames.

However, the flames didn't stop flaming, they were eternal fires. The were impossible to be distinguished.

It slowly, after only a few seconds started to get extremely warm in the dome of rock.

They were trapped in their own walls. Capella was still trying to turn them into ashes.

Otto swung his hands towards a certain spot in the dome, and a small port opened. He opened an escape route out of the dome and screamed,

Otto : ”HERE! FOLLOW ME!”

After the battle against Gluttony, Otto had changed. He didn't think about playing the hero in this scene, in fact, he does this to prove himself.

He does not want to be seen as a nobody, he wants to be someone.

An actual— Someone.

He swung his hands towards the entrance while everyone left and finally so did he.

The Dragon stopped breathing fire and started throwing needles towards the group.

Weiss and Emilia created a giant wall of Ice which allowed Priscilla and Otto collect enough Mana from the atmosphere and the crystals in the giant hall.

Otto absorbed enough Earth Mana out of the area and created a track, no a road.

A road which circled the entire hall. It was made of earth, bricks, stone, everything that could be summoned by Earth Magic.

He created a big plate of stone and surfed it. He surfed towards the road and levitated on it. He circled the hall and surrounded Capella. He summoned even more Earth Mana and started summoning stones infused with Magic and started throwing it at her.

Otto : ”EVERYONE! LET'S DO THIS!”

Otto distracted the dragon and it started aiming for Otto. He was fast enough to dodge them, but not for long.

Jens, Emilia– Everyone looked at Otto and admired him. Then quickly, Weiss ran towards Otto's created road and used it to run on it.

She grabbed her Rapier.

The name of Weiss' rappier is 『Myrtenaster』and was created in the Schnee family. It contained every single kind of Mana Stone, which allowed her to use every kind of magic she's compatible with, even if she's not an Yang Mage, she's still able to use that kind of magic.

While running on the road of Earth, she started firing Ice pinnacles through the Dragon's throat.

Priscilla then fired a flame towards her, granting her a shining barrier surrounding her, and then, Weiss Schnee dashed right towards the throat of the Dragon and cut it's head off.

Aldebaran : ”W-Was that it? It can't be, she's Lus–”

Looking at the insides of the Dragon, Capella came out of it.

Capella : ”That was amazing! Keep entertaining me!”

She was reborn in the dragon, completely unharmed. She was able to regenerate all parts of her body with ease. It was clearly the work of the 『Authority of Lust』or maybe even something darker.

Weiss jumped on Otto and teleported each other towards the group.

Priscilla : ”Aldebaran. How do we deal with this?”

Aldebaran : ”That's the Authority of Lust indeed. 『Variation and Change』is what people call it. There are more parts. If she's the actual first King of Lugnica, don't allow her blood to touch you. It will do nasty stuff to most people. I don't think I know anything against it. She's pretty much unkillable.”

Emilia : ”What about freezing her entirely?”

Aldebaran : ”Not sure. She would still stay alive. So she could theoretically transform herself into Lava, so the ice would melt.”

Weiss : ”Capella Emerada Lugnica… This is insane.”

Crusch : ”I'm unsure what I can do against her. But I think it's time to show the power of a Karsten. Someone who's part of the Lugnica family!”

Jens : ”W-What do you mean with p–”

Crusch ran towards the remains of the dome and stood on it.

She grabbed her sword, the『Lion Slayer』sword.

She put it behind her back and green lights started to float around the blade.

Only after a few seconds, when Capella stared at the group, Crusch swung her arm towards the place where Capella was.

Crusch : ”Meet the power of a Karsten! This is the Hundred Man Sword Strike!”

She unleashed a ranged sword strike which cut Capella right through the middle. But she wasn't done, Crusch kept swinging her sword and kept firing the strikes.

However, Capella regenerated quickly.

Capella : ”Such a waste from the wife of one of my descendants! Gahahahaha! You're just as weak as your filthy mother! Gahahaha! You know what I did to the kind of her? I transformed them all into flies! Gahahahahahahahahaha!”

Jens : ”Shut the hell up already!”

Capella : ”AH! The boy talks! Now for my next move, I'll turn you all into frogs!”

Capella swung her arm and out of her finger tips, a dark liquid fell on the floor.

Aldebaran : ”WATCH OUT!”

Otto created a wall, but the liquid was some kind of acid, and went right through the wall, resulting into it landing on Otto's shoulder, burning, flaming, igniting.

Otto : ”AAAAAAAAAAAGGGHH! HEELP!”

Immediately, Emilia ran towards Otto and started healing his shoulder.

Jens : ”OTTO!”

Jens looked at Otto and was afraid that he was fatally injured, he had no idea what this liquid could be.

Priscilla : ”Jens, watch and learn. Aldebaran! It's fucking hyper time!”

Resulting in Aldebaran responding with

Aldebaran : ”Ah, it's that time of the day. I'm on it!”

Aldebaran, the man in the helmet, cracked one of his fingers. Nothing happened except that.

Aldebaran : ”Everyone! Stay behind me until I say something different. I've seen enough people suffer already.”

Priscilla : ”You little cry baby. Do it!”

Aldebaran took a step in the small pool of the black liquid, and immediately, his feet burned off. It started to bleed and his whole body turned darker and darker until he changed into a fro ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■ ■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■ ■■■■■■ 『Aha. Just what I thought it was. Testing is every time so painful.』■■■■ ■ ■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■ ■ ■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■■■■■ ■ ■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■『Let's not do that again, shall we?』■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■ ■ ■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■ ■ ■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■■

Aldebaran : ”I've seen enough people— Ah. It's indeed what it is. Everyone! That liquid is Dragon Blood! Don't let it touch you!”

He dashed towards Capella and grabbed his sword. He cut off one of her arms with his sword, but got turned into a small fly■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■ ■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■ ■■■■■■ 『Hmm, it seems it works quite well from close range too. Just as I thought.』■■■■ ■ ■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■ ■ ■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■■■■■ ■ ■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■『Let's Redo that.』■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■ ■ ■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■ ■ ■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■■

Aldebaran : ”Don't let it touch you! Oh! Don't come too near her. It seems it's way easier for her to use Variation and Change from close range! That's it Priscilla!”

Priscilla : ”Wonderful. Very interesting.”

Jens : ”What do you mean? Nothing happened.”

Priscilla : ”Don't you see? He's the same like you. He's able to fix from his mistakes and learn from them.”

Jens : ”I don't get it… Oh my god. Wait. Do you mean he just–”

Priscilla : ”Died? Hmh.”

She nodded. Priscilla and Jens were talked not loud enough to people hear about it.

Weiss : ”Understood Al! I've got a plan to try! Let's go and try to freeze or burn her to death. Priscilla!”

Weiss turned towards Priscilla and asked,

Weiss : ”Use your powers to turn her to ashes!”

Priscilla, immediately summoned her Yang Sword, a sword made of light and flames, and swung it, sending a orange flame towards Capella and setting her on fire.