NOVEL NEXT Chapter 142: Paved with Good Intentions
And like a fading memory, the plea buried in Lucia's eyes quietly evaporated. Her features deformed into an angry grimace as the force behind her boring claw grew stronger.
"Gh—!" Zula stifled a scream. Her panting was a sign that she was barely holding onto her sanity through the pain. "L-Lucy… I'm sorry I couldn't save you… from this fate. I'm sorry I wasn't a better mentor and sister to you. I-I'm sorry I led you… to your death. I was selfish and thought I could handle what the world threw at us… I just wanted to protect everyone… Yet in the end…"
Another sharp jab made her nerves burn hot. Zulema clenched her teeth through the pain and concentrated every bit of her glacial energy to try something she wasn't even sure was a good idea. In a desperate gambit to stop the creature's claw from breaking straight through her shoulder blade, the priestess took the frozen moisture from the air and condensed it slowly around her bone like armor. The ice collected into the scratches left by the claw and slowly repelled the blades away. Deathly frost encroached up the sharp metal and creeped onto Lucia's hand, enveloping it in hundreds of tiny shards that began to painfully bite at her skin.
"I never wished to brandish my blade against a Scarlet Sister," Zula continued. A bit of force returned to her voice as the glacial armor surrounding her bones pushed back against Lucia's claws. "Especially against you or Marie. But I can't bear to see you like this, Lucy. Your pain. Your anguish. I could see it in your eye. In the force behind your strikes. I can't just lay down and die after receiving your call for help."
Lucia's mouth writhed in pain, releasing growls of misery as the frost clambering up her arm dug further into her skin. Her blood vessels were being frozen and she could feel her reattached limb going numb. The excruciating sensation caused the bestial girl to finally release her grip on the claw buried in Zulema, jumping back from her dominant position and abandoning the weapon to crack in half from the blistering cold temperature.
"What are you doing, Lucia?!" cried Marie, digging her staff into the barren snow. "Sister Zulema is still very much alive! Do not forget the reason we are here!"
Lucia looked back at Marie then back to Zulema before letting lose a blood-curdling howl. A shriek so horrible, it reminded Zula of the same scream she had made when the monster had torn off her arm.
"You don't have to do this, Lucy. Fight it." Zula rose to her feet, still grasping her injured shoulder. She sealed the cut with ice, but continued focusing more of her power around the wound, until finally forming a large clear pauldron to protect it from further attack. She then shaped another two-sided scythe in her hand and braced herself. "At least retain a little of that dignity you always used to have in spades."
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Lucia shot forward and slashed at Zulema, who parried her attack with ease. With one weapon less, she'd gotten weaker.
Zula leaped and brought down the back of her weapon on top of Lucia, who barely managed to dodge. The ice maiden then quickly spun herself and swept the limbs out from under the beast. Despite her advantage, she was still hesitating to use the bladed ends of her scythe, allowing the fumbled Lucia to easily regain her balance.
"Why do you continue to resist your absolution, Zulie? You made a vow to give your life to the Church whensoever She chooses. This is Her will."
Marie was goading her now. She must be getting desperate. Zulema gazed at her ex-captain, wondering how things had deteriorated to this point. How quickly the Scarlet Church had turned them all against each other. Like the relationships they had built meant nothing at all. Everything paled in comparison to the grace of Macha. It was almost too crazy to cope with. She had almost wanted to give into the despair. But what was despair if not just the other side of the coin of insanity? She still felt conflicted about fighting her fellow Sisters, but there was no other way around things now. If she wanted to pursue her vengeance against the Scarlet Church, she would have to go through her former allies to do so.
"…?" She blinked and both women were gone.
Easier said than done.
Three large fiery orbs came crashing toward Zulema almost instantly, homing in on her. She spun her scythe, cutting the closest one in half, then the other. The hot energy radiating from the strange projectiles were strong enough to melt her weapon, forcing her to dodge the final orb at the last moment. As it cratered into the snow, hot steam immediately shot up from the impact, causing Zula to shield her eye from the excessive heat. The perfect opening for Lucia to strike once again.
Her remaining claw clashed against the priestess, scraping against the large icy pauldron on her shoulder. Despite being protected by her newly formed glacial armor, the force of the blow managed to knock her back.
"How did you like that, Zulie? Pretty powerful, wouldn't you say?" Marie emerged across from her, holding up an impossible looking tool. "This little artifact traces its origins all the way back to the dwarfwin exodus. It hasn't seen use in over a few millennia. I figured these fireballs would be of use in this freezing climate, but I never imagined I would have to use it against you."
"Artifact…? But I thought we archived those! They just let you walk out with something that powerful?!"
"Oh, my dear, sweet Zulema. Any sufficiently high-ranking Scarlet Sister is allowed access to the use of these. You could've been next on that list of chosen Sisters, but you just had to go and force their hand. It seems you just weren't in Her plans. And I so would have loved to teach you more about cryptoarchaeology."
Zulema screamed.