Kapitel 21: The turning point

Shocked by the reaction of the two masters, Raian had to double-check the little girl.

The girl, with fair skin and white pupils, stood before them in a high-class dress, its once elegant arms torn off. It seemed the torn sleeves were removed to facilitate her archery, allowing for unrestricted movement of the bow.

When he first heard of the devil Raian imagined something akin to a beast or some kind of horror but it turned out to be a little girl no older than 6 years old.

'Maybe it's a facade or an act'

Geralt gripped his axe firmer as Gemma summoned another blade forgetting her injury inside her bloodlust, the rage had overtaken her injury.

Being the healthier and not the strongest of the three Geralt leaned forward facing the little girl and putting all his weight in the front began to sprint.

Raian felt compelled to move forward and kill her, but the sight of tears streaming down the girl's face halted his steps, evoking memories of similar scenes from his past in the real world.

Igniting his whole body with a green blaze Geralt stomped towards the girl like an uneven beast desiring solely her slaughter and to be stopped at nothing.

Geralt recalled the mist to do her biddings, to form the wing which was shattered by the white saint, the wing formed behind her as she choked blood blasting many different shards of the purple mist towards the girl.

Not flinching or backing down before the two masters, the little girl still tearing down aimed her bow towards Geralt.

*Whish*

with a silent scream of the wind, the arrows hit nothing, between all the bloodlust and rage Geralt still knew how to dodge.

Raian still stood motionless, not sure of what to do in this situation, struggling.

As Geralt closed the distance by half suddenly the white saint moved blocking the shards of mist with his body, before Geralt could dodge or clash with the saint but under the effects of the bloodlust he wasn't able to react properly colliding with the one-armed saint.

The saint of white rolled on the ground dragging Geralt alongside him and holding him down as he tried to maw at his neck. The desperation was visibly clear upon his blood-soaked face.

Even a one-armed old man could still overpower the Blazing master with pure strength from his dying body, the blazing fire of ethereal green and the corroding shards of mist couldn't make a saint of white budge in the slightest.

The old man in tattered clothes, blood still dripping from his eyes, ears, and nose mounted Geralt with unwavering willpower to defend the girl.

Seeing the success of Geralt being unlikely Gemma decided to use her last trump card, the strongest memory in her possession, her life would likely end soon after the use of this memory but she did not care at this moment.

She needed to end her, the one who carried the blood of the progenitor, as someone with the progenitor's blood, all of demonkind under the rule of the legion, had already recognized her as their future leader.

If this girl was allowed to survive and mature the balance of power between the church and the legion would tip in the legion's favor. She wasn't someone who could roam in the human world freely.

Looking at the half-dead saint, Gemma didn't expect the saint to block her final attack but she didn't want to risk it in any sort of way.

All the chaos of just one girl being revealed had put Raian under the radar. He was still debating something inside his mind.

Seeing the white saint stab his arm into the flesh of Geralt chest trying to crush his heart inside the body, Gemma decided 'NOW'

Sensing Gemma's intention Geralt grabbed the old man's impaled arm and a brilliant blaze of green ignited the surroundings, blocking their vision of what was to come next and formed a spiral of flame around them.

Dispelling the mist and raising her right arm she penetrated her already broken chest. After the hand stabbed through his chest below his lungs and inside her intestines, she summoned a memory inside her own body.

It was an act of suicide, one summoning a memory inside their body was just plain stupid but that stupidity made for a good deceit to fool everyone inside the throne room.

This act may have been essential or just irrelevant but she didn't care, she made a decision and followed through with it.

Summoning an old sword inside her abdomen Gemma pulled it out of her body as it was summoned, hiding its presence until the last moment.

Upon being summoned the old sword released a presence that could not be described. Everyone in the room except Raian felt the presence of the sword being summoned.

Raian remained lost in thought, his mind wrestling with conflicting emotions and memories.

The saint of white tried to move and stop Gemma but Geralt held on with everything he had.

The little girl frightened beyond possible just fell on her rear in clear view of Gemma sitting motionless clouded with pure dread and fear of the sword.

Gemma wanted to use the sword before the actual battle began, killing one of the saints instantly but change had happened.

Fifteen of the warriors had fallen before they could activate the charm and Luciel wasn't able to locate the saint as their fellow elite warriors fell like raindrops in front of them.

Saints of white and black were in a different world with their aspects and memories.

But now it was all paying off, the sacrifice of the warriors that bought precious seconds for her, the sacrifice of Luciel who dragged the black saint into the void domain alongside him to die together, the sacrifice of millions of humans fighting the legion.

Standing on the ground weak yet firmly Gemma raised the sword in her hand, her skin cracking with power tearing apart as blood inside it seeped upwards suspended in air motionless. Eyes glowing with brilliant blue light as the iris went ethereal, all the power within her body went up to be absorbed into the sword as Gemma swung forward.

The sword slash would undoubtedly end the girl's life, Gemma's only regret was the girl would die instantly, she wanted her to suffer more, suffer infinitely more for the fate that she did not choose to have.

*Slash*

*Slash!!!*

Her slash had happened, the walls of the throne room, no, the walls of the whole castle, everything directing from Gemma were annihilated, everything in front of her was gone and she could see the snowy biome outside same as the starry night in the sky, the slash had pierced the clouds forming a clear sky, but Gemma was beyond shocked.

Facing front, she could still see the little girl sitting on the floor desperately wheezing for air as tears, and snot surfaced on her face, she was crying loudly.

Turning her head, she looked towards Raian. "YOU!!!"

With exceptional timing right before Gemma swung the old sword downwards Raian moved before her.

Dashing to her front brandishing a shortsword, Raian had cut her arm before the slash had even started, redirecting the slash to land right beside the little girl annihilating everything in its direction but missing the DEVIL.

Shock turned into anger and the anger turned into fury, wrath following the fury Gemma moved her left arm to kill Raian.

Unfortunately, Raian was ahead of her, Gemma's injury made her movement 0.5 seconds slower and that was all Raian needed to dodge the upward slash aimed at his head.

The method by which Gemma chose to summon the old sword turned out to be essential for Raian's success.

Not even thinking about his next move, Raian instinctually moved after his dodge impaling his shortsword into Gemma's heart, the stab stopped her movement for a moment.

Following his stab Raian raised his foot and kicked the shortsword even deeper into Gemma's flesh while creating some distance between them.

Turning around and making haste Raian moved towards the little girl. Sprinting around the spiraling green blaze he made his way towards the little girl.

Tears still poured from her small eyelids sensing Raian's presence the girl tried to draw her bow in front, the shakiness of her arms made the aim less accurate so the arrows flew past the walking Raian missing him by a hair's breadth.

Standing before the little girl Raian held his hand out with open palm.

"Come with me, I will take you somewhere safe."

The girl stabbed his hand swiftly with a newly summoned knife, but Raian ignored the pain and held out his other hand.

"I won't hurt you." looking directly towards her eyes with his sincere words.

That seemed to calm the girl.

Before she could take Raian's hand the green spiral ceased to spin, the flame dissipating at a fast pace it revealed Master Geralt standing atop the saint of white with one leg stepped on the saint's chest.

Between the two of them, Geralt prevailed as the saint's injury was much more severe.

Geralt looked around with an expression that excluded happiness, confident in Gemma's success, looking at the crawling body of Gemma which left a blood trail behind her, she was crawling towards somewhere.

Tracing her direction Geralt looked towards Raian and the little girl. Seeing Raian on his knee beside the little girl offering his hand, pure shock formed on Geralt's face.

Gemma, seeing Geralt had prevailed over the saint, looked towards him and raised her hand with desperate efforts to reveal the short sword in her chest more clearly.

The shock transformed into pure anger Geralt made up for what had happened. The shortsword was the same one he gave to Raian and Raian had betrayed them.

Looking at the master full of rage, Raian swiftly lifted the little girl in his arms and dashed out of the throne room using the same entrance the little girl used to come in.

Geralt tried to follow Raian and kill them both but an unknown hand grabbed his left leg.

Looking at the saint of white Geralt heard the old man in white laugh. Rage boiling inside, he raised his other foot and mercilessly stomped the saint to death.

With his last breath, the saint broke Geralt's ankle fully before dying.

As Raian desperately ran out of the throne room carrying the DEVIL a loud thundering voice full of rage was heard behind him.

"RAAAAIANN!!!!!!!!"

/// How was the twist? ///