Powerful lightning bolts came crashing down as if they were the divine punishment from Heaven itself.
Standing on the balcony, Lambard watched the Lightning fall.
"And so it begins..."
A beautiful golden dome appeared all around the city, preventing the city from the wrath of the Holy Priestess of Lightning, at least for now.
****
After being attacked by Gabriel, Lira had left the forest near Lumen City, where she was staying, imagining Gabriel to be dead from her curse.
Even though he was dead according to her, she still needed to find the whereabouts of the Ancestral Staff of Darkness, and the only person she believed could help him was Lambard.
Unfortunately, the sight before her wasn't pleasant. She could see hundreds of Mages in the distance. More than half of them belonged to the Church of Lightning, while the rest belonged to the Church of Water. There were also a few Head Priests here who were from the Church of Light.
Seeing the massive force, she understood a few times. They were the same people that had left the Lumen City. The attack was certainly motivated by whatever happened in the Lumen City and was related to Gabriel.
She knew she had to get inside the city somehow. However, as soon as she took another step toward the city, a mysterious voice echoed in her head.
"Don't make that mistake."
She stopped in her tracks.
The mysterious voice told her that even someone as strong as her couldn't pass through this encirclement.
"If you even tried, before you know it, you would be fighting with two Holy Priestesses."
Lira's face was already pale. She still hadn't recovered completely from her battle with Gabriel. Her magical strength was even weaker than it was initially. She wasn't in any condition to fight the Holy Priestesses at the moment.
A bright clash covered the surroundings, even making Lira momentarily close her eyes as the lightning clashed with the barrier of the city. The battle had started.
Lira watched the start of the battle. She didn't know if Lambard could survive an invasion of this stage, even though he had the Defensive City of Abadon.
Lira stopped in her tracks and didn't approach the city. Instead, she started stepping back, not knowing what to do next. It was clear that Lambard had troubles of his own. He wasn't going to help her unless she could help him, and she wasn't in any condition to help anyone else.
"It's his battle... If he survives, good. If he doesn't, then it's his destiny," the grim voice told Lira. "Your destiny is different... No need to involve yourself in this battle. You aren't strong enough yet, especially after what happened."
"And what is my destiny?" Lira asked, not surprised. It was as if she was very familiar with that voice. "I couldn't even defeat Gabriel properly. I had to run away after using a trick attack to kill him."
"If you hadn't left, you would've been dead," the mysterious voice told Lira. "It's not your fault... It's mine. I should've known what he was capable of. I should've made a better plan when I told you to approach him."
The mysterious voice sounded a bit disappointed as well. "What a waste... If only he had brought the staff back to us, we could've used the Mind Restraint to make him forever loyal to us. The Staff would've finally made you capable of casting that spell. He would've made a fine addition..."
"There are not many Initial Stage Holy Priests, after all. Every new Holy Priest is protected by the Church like a precious treasure until they and their mind are strong enough to resist such spells. Gabriel was all alone..."
"Do you think he knew what we wanted to do?" Lira asked in response as she turned around and started walking away from the battlefield, occasionally hearing the sounds of an explosion behind her.
Even though she had approached Gabriel for a reason, she really did appreciate his company. She hadn't expected him to take a step like this.
"I don't know... Even I can't read the minds of the ones protected by the Grimoires, but I don't think he could've known. There was no way for him to know. Then again, maybe he was like you. Hiding behind a facade? He made us believe that he was working for us, only using us..."
Lira momentarily went silent as the explosions behind her intensified along with the attack of the Churches.
She seemed more distracted by her thoughts.
After a long pause, she finally spoke. "Do you know how he had that much strength? How was he able to fight back in my Domain where he should've been helpless? You said I was invincible in my Prison of Darkness."
The mysterious voice didn't answer. Even it didn't know the answer to this question. He was as surprised as Lira when he saw what had happened. That was something even he hadn't seen before.
A Spirit shouldn't have been able to fight back like that, even in Lira's Domain. Moreover, the strength that Gabriel had shown wasn't something that a Mage was supposed to possess...
None of that had the answer to this question. The silence was understood by Lira. She realized that the voice only went silent when it didn't have an answer.
After a long time, the voice finally spoke, "We need to retrieve the Ancestral Staff of Darkness at any cost. But before that, you need to increase your magical strength even more."
"That entire battle weakened your Magical strength. Before doing anything else, regain your old strength. If Lambard is still alive until then, approach him. If he isn't alive, then we will need to find another way to retrieve the Ancestral Staff of Darkness! That is the most important key in what we have to achieve!"
Lira agreed. "The Ancestral Staff of Darkness...
****
The Ancestral Staff of Darkness was called out by Gabriel, who practiced his Dark Spells a few more times.
Two days had passed since his battle with Cylix, and he had finally healed. Despite being healed, he didn't immediately ask for a battle.
His body might've healed, but his soul was still not at a hundred percent. He could've fought even now, but he didn't want to disrespect Novius by fighting him when he couldn't even give his hundred percent. Moreover, he wanted to be able to cast high-tier spells in battle.
Even if he did fight now, he knew he wasn't going to win without giving it his all. Even winning against Cylix took it his all.
His battle with Novius was different though, as it allowed both of them to use the Magical Staffs in battle.
