NOVEL NEXT Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Brainwashed
"Okay, I'm not seeing any sign of the Inquisitors, I think we lost them...we should be safe in here," Remarked Celia, peering out cautiously.
"You think?" Responded Lexia dryly, as she stared back at the forest, which had been set ablaze.
"Damn, you're heavy...as an Assassin, I'm not built for heavy lifting, you know," Sighed Colt as he set Raven down, before adding, "Mm, my body's all sore and aching...not too bad, a little more pain would be nice, but I'm not complaining."
About an hour had passed since their hideout was attacked, and the four of them had finally managed to shake off the pursuit of the Inquisitors.
They had been persistent, which prompted Celia to unleash her explosions with increasingly reckless abandon...and while it did work, it also ended up setting the forest on fire.
After they managed to lose the Inquisitors, they came across a cave and decided to hide out in there for a while, which brings us to the present...
"There had to be a less destructive way to shake them off our tails than this," Sighed Lexia, as dozens of birds flew out of the trees to avoid the spread of the flames.
"Maybe under normal circumstances, but with Raven in this shellshocked state, I wasn't able to move nearly as fast as I normally could," Pointed out Colt.
"And look, it's getting really cloudy, it'll probably rain soon. So, you know, the flames shouldn't spread too much further," Added Celia sheepishly.
"Okay, now that we're in the clear, the hell is going on with him?" Frowned Lexia, as she approached Raven, who was slumped against the side of the cave.
"Well, you see-...," Began Celia, as a drizzle began pouring down outside the cave.
"Let's try snapping him out of it by force," Suggested Colt, as he walked over, before both he and Lexia slapped Raven in unison, startling him.
"What the...? Wait, what's-...ow, sh-shit...," Began Raven, before grimacing in pain from the deep wound in the middle of his torso.
"Hurry up and heal yourself, dumbass...and then, you better give us a good fucking explanation," Responded Lexia icily, a rumble of thunder echoing out as the rain began to pelt down.
"I...I'm sorry," He replied quietly as he healed his injury, before adding, "My...my sister was there, among the Inquisitors. I just-...I-I don't know. I was so relieved to see her, and then my mind sort of just...broke, when she attacked me."
"Huh? Wait, now that I think about it, the one who managed to dodge me...yeah, I don't know how I missed it, but looking back, she looked just like you. Yikes, talk about a close call...it's a good thing she was able to react to my sneak attack, that could've been really, really bad," Muttered Colt with a sigh of relief.
"Oh...w-well, I suppose that's an understandable and justifiable reason to mentally shut down like you did," Added Lexia with a slight huff, before thinking to herself, "Damn it, now I feel bad for being so harsh on him! Way to look like a heartless asshole! Fuck...why am I like this?"
"Hey, just take a breath and calm down...that might not have been the heartwarming reunion you were hoping for, but what's important is that she's still alive, that's huge," Pointed out Celia, as she sat down beside Raven and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Y-yeah...yeah, you're right. Moping about it won't accomplish anything...I don't know how she ended up among the Inquisitors, but I'm fairly certain she isn't with them willingly. Something was off about her...she had this blank expression and there was no emotion in her eyes. And if I remember right, I think I saw a weird collar around her neck. It wasn't an Enslavement Collar though, it looked different...it had this strange glowing gemstone embedded in the middle of it," Recalled Raven, as he composed himself.
"Yeah, I noticed that too, her eyes were completely blank and devoid. Well, the obvious answer is that it must be some kind of Ancient Magic Artifact that brainwashes its target or puts them under the control of someone else," Surmised Colt thoughtfully.
"Yeah, that sounds about right. Enslavement Collars don't suppress the victim's personality, it just forces them to obey any and all commands given to them," Nodded Lexia in response.
"Hm...you know, I don't think the entire Church of Persona is aware of her being in the Inquisition Squad. I mean, the King definitely wouldn't let a Commoner with his blood remain alive, he'd have them executed right away...and usually, the Inquisitors carry out such decrees without any bias or exception. We know that the Priest who turned Raven into a Homunculus almost definitely used some kind of Ancient Magic Artifact to get some of the Inquisitors under his command. After Raven burned that church down to the ground, don't you think it's possible that someone else found that Artifact and is using it in the same way?
Whoever it is, if I'm right, then the Inquisitors who attacked us today are probably under their control. And if I had to guess, it's likely one of the church leaders, going behind the backs of the Pope and the King. That'd also explain why they attacked us with such a relatively small force...if the church and the Knights knew about this, then surely they would have sent a much larger, not to mention stronger, group to attack us, right? If we can just figure out which church leader is behind it, that should lead us right to Raven's sister!" Deduced Celia with a gleam in her eyes.
"There's a lot of conjecture and circumstantial evidence in that theory, but it's definitely a strong possibility," Nodded Lexia after a brief pause.
"And at the very least, we can rule out the churches in Ruby Village and Amber Village, as well as the church in the Capital since that one's under the direct supervision of the Pope," Surmised Colt thoughtfully.
"Hm? Wait, why Amber Village?" Celia asked him curiously.
"Well, uh..."
"The two of us went there and assassinated the Nobles in charge of the place as well as the Priest running the church in the village. That was almost a week ago now, so obviously, whoever commanded those Inquisitors to come here, certainly wasn't from Amber Village," Lexia informed her.
"I see...then, that Priest is dead, huh?" Muttered Celia, a look of relief appearing on her face as she felt like a weight was lifted off her chest.
"Yeah. If nothing else, life should get a little easier for the people in the village now," Replied Colt with a wistful smile.
"So, what now? We definitely can't go back to the hideout now," Pointed out Lexia, shivering as a cold gust of wind blew into the cave, the rain continuing to pour down torrentially.
"I know one thing for damn sure...I am going to exterminate the entire damned church, I'll wipe it off the face of the map," Stated Raven in a cold fury, as a flash of lightning erupted across the sky.
"Well, you're in luck, then...after all, the destruction of the Church of Persona is a big part of our overall goal, so we'd already intended to work our way towards accomplishing that. But first, we're going to need to find a way to regroup with Aster and Tacitus...I have no idea how we're going to get in touch with them now that our hideout is gone," Sighed Colt, as he stared out at the heavy rain pelting down outside the cave...
...
...
A couple of days later...
"Uh...," Trailed off Aster in bemusement.
"What the actual hell is this? It's barely been ten days since we were last here, how did this happen?" Responded Tacitus incredulously, as the two of them stared at their hideout, now reduced to a large pile of charred wood.
"This entire section of the forest has been burnt down...something tells me this wasn't a random wildfire that started on its own," Replied Aster, as they surveyed the wreckage of what used to be their hideout.
"All that effort I put into building the place...," Muttered Tacitus despondently.
"Seriously, what in the world happened while we were away?" Frowned Aster with a bewildered look on his face...