Sylvester couldn't waste more time, so he hurriedly entered the mist. Once again, he used the hymns to make a halo and put a solidified light helmet around his head that allowed him to see. Miraj was with him, too, watching his back carefully.
He arrived at the exact location where the army of Inquisitors was frozen and started tying the ropes around the legs after putting them down. They were more like statues on the stage, so it was easy to pull them.
He repeated the process in haste since he didn't want to attract any attention from the demon.
"Pl-ease… he-lp."
"M-mom-my?"
Miraj looked left and right in wonder, his hair standing erect in alertness. "Meow?"
Sylvester also stopped and prepared himself to react to any sudden attack. "What was that? I felt as if someone spoke directly into my ear."
"Me too, Maxy. Hey, whoever you are, don't disturb us!" Miraj shouted openly.
"K-Kit-ty… pl-ay… ussss…"
The voices were echoing and seemed muffled. They didn't seem to have one origin and were all around. But they were understandable, and from what the recent words were, Miraj was visible to this creature.
Sylvester was alerted and quickly pulled Miraj close to his chest and hid him inside his robes. "Stay there, Chonky. You're tiny and easy to take."
Miraj didn't object and only peeked out with his head coming out of the robes, cutely wondering who this kid-like voice was that saw him, "New friends?"
"I don't know…"
"Greee…!"
"Fuck!" Sylvester jumped back and felt his scalp tingle. The inquisitors in front of him, each one of them, suddenly turned their heads toward him.
"Zombies?"
He was utterly confused as the events didn't fit in any case. No Bloodling or Demon would use such theatrics.
"Sssss-av-e ussss…"
Mouths of all the bodies moved in unison and spoke the same words in a hissing voice.
"Save us? Who are you?" Sylvester asked, reckoning the entity was using these bodies as a medium.
"Kitty… play…"
But the bodies of the Inquisitors didn't move or speak again. Instead, the happy giggles of a child responded, repeatedly addressing Miraj, who was now shivering for some reason.
Sylvester took a deep breath inside the helmet and looked around himself. 'I must get rid of this mist before even trying anything. But Lady Aurora is needed to fight against the strong pressure in the middle.'
He decided to ignore these voices as they were not hurting him. However, they continued to run into his ears, calling him for help, asking him who he was, or addressing Miraj.
After he was done with two dozen bodies, he decided to leave as the voices became too much. Though before leaving, he did hear one distinct voice coming from a distance—from the place where the Mizar family's mansion used to be.
"De-ath… so-ul… eat…"
This time he felt goosebumps as the voice did seem like that of a demon. Deep, muffled voice filled with great malice, and even the air smelled of death with that voice.
"Chonky… this time, I have a feeling we're dealing with a really messed up demonic and ghostly situation."
Miraj had already hidden inside his robes and hugged his chest. "R-Run, Maxy. That voice… it's talking to me… I don't want to hear it."
"What?" Confused, Sylvester quickly shook the ropes a little to signal the men outside to start pulling. Then he also rushed out of the mist.
But he went a little sideways and came out where none were close. He looked at Miraj inside his robes. "It talked to you? What?! That last voice?!"
Miraj nodded his chubby white head and looked into Sylvester's eyes. "I-It said it will eat my soul… and everyone's soul. Maxy! Don't go in there again."
'A soul eater? I did read about this class of demons… But, if that's the case, then… it's an X-class demon—the strongest ones ever recorded.'
"Did the other voices also speak with you?" He inquired.
Miraj once again nodded. "They cry… everyone cried and asked me to help. But I'm tiny and weak, so I can't help."
'How is it that they can communicate with him but not me? Are they similar to Chonky?' Sylvester was trying to make sense of the situation. He was not a professional exorcist, after all.
"Whatever the case may be, let's try to wake Lady Aurora up. If it's truly an X-class demon, then we will need her to kill it. But what I am more intrigued with is how could that Beastkin summon such a strong demon?"
He talked to himself while walking back to the Monastery. The inquisitor bodies he had saved were now put to rest in the infirmary they had set. However, Sylvester has a different reason for saving them.
'Best I can do is theorise and trust my smelling abilities. They've never failed me.'
He walked to one of the frozen Inquisitors and checked the eyes. They were just like before, milky white, while their hearts were beating normally.
Pa!
A loud slap resounded all of a sudden. Sylvester had just slapped a frozen Inquisitor in the face—very firmly.
"What are you doing, lord bard!" General Arnold came running, angered.
Sylvester merely showed his palm to the man and shut him up.
Pa!
Another slap resounded on another inquisitor's face. This time too, Sylvester was not even looking where he slapped but the bodies beside.
Some Inquisitor men were getting frustrated seeing him disrespect their brethren.
Pa!
Sylvester again slapped the third inquisitor. But this time, he just stepped back while rubbing his chin and a face full of frowns. "As I guessed, my worst fear has come to reality. General, we're in a big mess."
"What happened, Lord Bard?"
"Hivemind—that's what these men are sharing. Look at how they all twitch when I slap one." Sylvester blurted. "A soul eater demon has taken home in there, and these men had their souls snatched away—leaving behind a body that's alive but not really."
He did not mean to keep his word secretive, as all Inquisitors who heard him quickly came to their friends to see their bodies. The general, however, asked Sylvester to come to the side.
"Are you sure, Lord Bard? Soul Eaters are rarer than the Soul Tree. We will have to call an expert of Soul Magic from the Holy Land, or perhaps the Pope himself."
That was indeed the case. Soul Eaters were dangerous because they could grow infinitely stronger the more souls they consumed. So, if not killed in the initial stages, it could grow stronger than even a Supreme Wizard. The Soul Eater demon—Tut'Makht, the absorber—was precisely what the ninth Pope and five Guardians of Light lost their lives to while fighting.
"I would love to be proven incorrect, General. But before we do anything else, we must free Lady Aurora. She's a Grand Wizard, and I refuse to believe that an initial stage Soul Eater can harm her soul. Perhaps she's struggling right now, but we can't be sure. So, I advise you to prepare the men and send word to the Holy Land. I will focus on Lady Aurora," Sylvester advised him firmly.
"Can't your light defeat it? It's a dark creature, after all." General Arnold asked.
"Only time will tell that. But to even try that, we must first eliminate the mist. Anyway, see you in a while—pray that Lady Aurora is well."
Sylvester left the man and went to the top floor of the monastery's tower. There, in the room, Isabella was still seated beside Lady Aurora.
"Status?" He asked.
"She has a fever and from time to time mutters something, as if fighting someone."
Sylvester rushed to sit beside Lady Aurora and used his hands to spread light magic to remove any evil impurity on her body.
Lady Aurora was sweating profusely, and her lips appeared cracked. She was panting loudly as her body twitched from time to time. Isabella tried her best to keep the fever under control, but it seemed the internal fighting was too hard.
"Remove her clothes!" He ordered as the fever was getting higher than what Aurora could manage.
"W-What?"
Sylvester ignored her doubts and got to work. "I need to cover her in ice, or else, if the fever becomes too high, her brain might get damaged—leading to permanent coma, partial paralysis, or even death. Quick!"
Hearing about the consequences, Isabella also diligently moved and helped Sylvester remove Lady Aurora's clothes from head to toe. Nothing, not even the undergarments were left.
There was no time to feel shame or lust for an injured woman. Sylvester was used to performing emergency procedures, so he got to work quickly. He used water and air elements to create ice and cover Lady Aurora in it from head to toe. He only left two small dots on her temples exposed.
After putting the ice, he created ice runes as well that would keep supplying more ice as the extreme body temperature of Lady Aurora melted it.
"Isabella, I will be giving Lady Aurora Solarium from my own body so she may keep on fighting. In my bag, I have some Solarium Crystals. I need you to keep putting the crystals in my mouth after every thirty minutes so I don't run out instead. Understood?" He ordered as he put his index fingers on Lady Aurora's temples while she remained covered under a thick sheet of ice—as if entombed in a crystal.
"Got it."
Sylvester didn't speak more and closed his eyes to focus. He could smell the scent of rage from Lady Aurora, so he knew she was different from those inquisitors downstairs. 'You can do it, woman. Don't you want to become the First Guardian someday?'
He channelled the Solarium in his body and into Lady Aurora. He specifically chose the mind as he reckoned it was the most critical component in fighting the demon's corruption.
In silence, Sylvester kept taking deep breaths. Isabella kept putting the crystals into his mouth after each interval.
'Good lord, her Solarium reserves are monstrous—I wonder how big are Pope's reserves?' Of course, Sylvester was learning new things at the same time.
As time passed, the day started to come to an end. Hours had passed, and Solarium crystals had run out a long time ago. But Sylvester didn't let go, for he felt the fever decrease. But, he himself didn't look good—his body had started to get thin.
'As long as she can survive, this is worth it. I just need to sunbathe to recover later,' he thought and kept pushing himself.
Crack!
"Sylvester! Look!" Isabella exclaimed.
Sylvester opened his eyes and tiredly glanced at the ice over Lady Aurora's body. It had started to break apart.
"It's working!" Sylvester again focused and gave more Solarium. He didn't know what was happening, but liked to believe that she was winning the invisible battle.
Crack!
The more the cracks appeared, the more he felt rejuvenated.
Boom!
And finally, like an explosion, the ice blew away, sending around shards of ice everywhere. Isabella fell to the ground while Miraj hid behind Sylvester.
"Ah! Good lord, It's so cold!"
Sylvester heard a known voice and chuckled. "Welcome back, princess. You woke up in time, or I was going to make a frog kiss you."
"Sylvester? My little brother? I knew you'd come to help me, so I gave it my all. But you look thin!" Lady Aurora blurted while still lying on the bed and stared at Sylvester sitting behind her head, looking down. "And why am I naked?"
"To save your life. Anyway, how are you feeling?" he asked tiredly while putting a sheet of cloth on her body like a gentleman.
She closed her eyes again for a few seconds and took a long breath. "I-I saw things… a strange world… dark and yet so warm… I think it was the…"
[A/N: Check map image]
