Saints Can't Risk a Cruel Lie

A wave of heat radiated through the waystation while Maria remained motionless on her knees. It wasn't the usual comforting warmth she’d ‌come to expect from Thomas’s flames—the gentle heat he would use on chilly evenings to light a campfire or brighten a dark trail. It was a ferocious fire that roared at the tip of his silver staff.

The ex-court mage finished rattling off the incantation under his breath. It seared forward to the crossbowmen above before they even realized the attack spell was meant for them.

Raging orange flames reflected in Maria’s wide eyes as the wooden watchtowers caught ablaze. Piercing shrieks echoed across the outskirts of the Capital as the panicked crossbowmen scrambled to escape from the inferno. Several jumped from the tall towers rather than burning alive, engulfed in flames.

They landed on the cobblestone yard with gruesome thuds. The sound made Maria shudder every time.

But heavy grunts and the sharp clash of steel drowned out those dreadful noises.

“How unfortunate,” the commander murmured. He barely spared a glance at the burning watchtowers before returning his cold gaze to the battle ahead.

Kaelan slipped past a heavy shield blow and countered with clinical strikes from his daggers.

Beside him, Celeste parried two sword strikes at once, using her momentum to stagger her attackers back.

She pointed her blade forward. “You’ll soon come to regret your threats!”

The commander watched from behind his frontline, completely unimpressed. “You believe so?”

Kaelan and Celeste continued to push back, with Thomas providing elemental magic cover from the rear. Though outnumbered, the three companions held their ground. Yet a growing knot of unease tightened in Maria’s chest as she watched. Her companions had fought off bandits, slain terrifying monsters, and even faced down trained vanguards, but these Inquisitors refused to break.

They weren't fighting like ordinary soldiers. They moved with synchronized precision, targeting openings and exploiting every split-second weakness.

Before anyone realized, an Inquisitor slipped past Celeste and Kaelan and closed the distance on Thomas. A heavy, dark-edged sword crashed viciously against the mage’s chest. The strike landed with a sickening crackling sound and knocked him completely off his feet.

Celeste’s eyes went wide. “T-Thomas!”

Kaelan could only shoot a desperate glance at his motionless figure while he blocked two incoming spears at once.

But when the dust settled, Celeste's eyes filled with relief as Thomas let out a breathlees groan. The fading remnants of a golden barrier that surrounded his chest crumbled away.

Maria had erected the barrier with a quick divine spell as if by pure instinct. Her hands trembled as she picked herself up off the cobblestone yard.

“You choose to resist, Sister?” the commander called out. “You know what that will bring upon your chapel.”

“I—I…” His words made her hesitate. Her heart hammered in her chest.

“We’ll take care of this, Maria.” Thomas staggered back to his feet while clutching his sides.

Yet the longer the fight dragged on, the more her companions struggled. A familiar, sickening sense of unease drifted from the weapons the Inquisitors wielded. Their deep black color wasn't decorative.

“Their weapons…” Kaelan muttered, shooting a grim glance at Thomas. “They’re miasmic.”

Thomas nodded as his face grew pale. “How in the hell did they get their hands on demonic blades…?”

The words confirmed Maria’s fears. Even from a distance, she could feel the dark energy clashing violently against her own divine nature. As she’d learned, the oppressive effect was far harsher on someone aligned with divine magic like herself, but the sinister weapons wore her companions down.

“The longer we fight, the more it’ll drain our strength!” Thomas warned.

Celeste rushed forward; her longsword clashed against an Inquisitor’s blade. Sparks of ember and specks of shadowy miasma shot into the air.

“We’ll just have to finish them before then!”

Her brave words didn't hold. No matter how hard they tried, the tide of battle turned against them.

Maria held her breath. Her chest ached as she struggled to hold back from helping. Perhaps Vane's threat to burn the orphanage was a bluff... but how could she possibly risk the lives of her loved ones at the chapel?

She clenched her teeth, watching in horror as her companions suffered blow after blow.

“S-Stop…” The words barely squeezed past her knotted throat.

She felt sick to her stomach as their blood dripped onto the cobblestone yard and their figures grew battered and bruised.

“S-Stop…!”

The Inquisitors completely overwhelmed the three. They writhed on the ground, blood and soot caking their faces. It would have been effortless for the soldiers to finish them—a sword through the chest, a slit of the throat—yet they held back on the commander's orders.

It was a brutal message. A silent one Maria clearly understood as her last chance to cooperate.

There was no mercy for her companions as they pummeled them. They beat Kaelan’s face black and blue. A few of Thomas’s teeth lay beside him in a growing puddle of red. And Celeste’s silver armor had even cracked; her ribs had surely fractured. She twisted in pain, with tears rolling down her cheeks.

Yet none of the three released their determined stares.

“Enough!”

Maria’s divine mana erupted in an overwhelming wave of brilliant gold. It rippled across the waystation yard like a boulder dropped into a quiet pond, washing over her companions and healing their worst wounds. 

The divine shockwave was enough to stagger the surrounding Inquisitors. It even forced the commander’s aloof expression to crack into momentary hesitation.

Maria stepped forward, passing her exhausted companions.

“Maria… don’t.” Kaelan struggled to force his battered body off the ground.

Her heart ached as she ignored his words, but she kept walking. She marched past the Inquisitors, who reflexively flinched and staggered sideways from the sheer density of her radiating mana. They forged a direct path straight to the commander.

The commander drew his sword and pointed forward. It quivered subtly.

Maria stopped inches from his blade. “That’s enough… I’ll go with you.”

The commander’s composure returned. He gestured with a hand toward the waystation shed in the back. Before long, two elite guards stepped forward, carrying heavy restraints forged of darkened silver that reflected no light.

“A wise decision, Sister Maria,” the commander said.

Maria remained silent and simply raised her wrists. The moment the darkened metal cuffs clicked shut around her arms, a thread of black miasma curled upward. She winced as it seared her skin. Her radiant mana that poured out recoiled violently, making her knees buckle.

“M-Maria…” Celeste pushed up with her sword, but her strength gave out.

The painful burning ache shot up her arms. Maria groaned. Her radiance faded into a faint flicker.

Kaelan clenched his teeth around a dagger as his arms wouldn’t listen. He squirmed forward from the ground, ignoring his useless legs. His unblinking eyes were fixed on the commander as he violently tossed his head and slashed his ankle.

It shattered the commander’s composure. The man kicked him in the gut with fury in his eyes.

“Please stop!” Maria cried out.

Even his fellow men winced at the sight. He turned to them, his gray hair disheveled.

“What are you staring at! Get her into a carriage!” he said.

“Y-Yes, sir!” one of his men ran off to prepare their departure.

Maria’s eyes stayed on Kaelan as he lay on the ground.

“…I‘ll protect them,” he struggled to whisper. “I promise.”

Her heart swelled. She knew exactly who he referred to; those most precious to her. She gave him a warm nod before being stowed away.

All her companions could do was watch helplessly.

The carriage seemed no different than a noble's. It bore the High Inquisitor’s emblem, but no one the wiser would’ve guessed what that truly meant. They didn’t know what kind of men served him. Or what kind of man he surely was. 

Maria watched just as helplessly from within the carriage, as her body weakened. But if it stopped her companions from getting hurt and kept those in the chapel safe, that's all that mattered. She just prayed that when she faced Vane, there was more to the man then this show of cruelty.

“And what of her accomplices, Commander?” an Inquisitor asked, pointing a sword toward the three.

“Leave them,” the commander instructed, turning his back on the fallen party. “They’re not worth any more of my time.”

Kaelan smirked. “You’ll regret leaving us alive,” he muttered.

It was almost enough to pull back the commander. If not for Maria making a fuss within the carriage, she feared what would’ve happened.

The Inquisitor’s carriage rolled off with the clacking of the pulling horses. Maria watched from a growing distance as Thomas struggled up with his silver staff, as Celeste remained on her knees, averting her gaze, and as Kaelan regained just enough strength to slam his fist into the cobblestone beneath him.

Maria gave them a final, strained smile before their figures blurred. Her heart dropped.

Please, stay safe...

Now, she had no choice but to turn forward as the Holy Capital gates loomed ahead. Her meeting with Vane would finally come to be.