Chương 27: Devout Follower

Edana looked towards the group and spoke in whispers, "I think we've reached the base. There's a cultist standing guard in front of the door."

She looked towards the group and reached to her waist for her sword. "Let me take care of thi-" Zane stopped her by grabbing her arm.

"??" She looked towards him in confusion.

"What are you going to do? Charge at him from here and alert those on the other side?" he jeered.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Edana gave Zane a death stare.

Sighing, Zane moved ahead to where she was. "Come here, let me take a look."

Edana backed away and let Zane move to her spot. Zane peeked around the corner to understand the situation they were in.

He saw a long corridor filled with flame-lit torches and a black door on the end. A guard was standing in front of the door with a spear. He could tell that the guard was not taking his job seriously as he was leaned back towards the door, his eyes closed.

"Hmm..." Zane contemplated for a moment and started moving his arms around in different angles without extending it out of the corner.

The others looked at him, bewildered.

"What are you doing? This is no time to play!" Edana looked like she was about to cry.

Cadell looked towards Ouida, "I told you he was not fully in there."

Ouida looked at Valentina with pity. Seeing her expression, Valentina went red and berated her brother.

"Brother! What are you doing?"

At the same time, Zane stopped moving his arm. "There we go!" he exclaimed, his arm stuck in a weird angle, and he looked towards the group. Grinning with his sharp teeth, he fished in his pocket with his other hand.

"Watch this." He threw the stone he had in his hand towards the corridor. After it landed, it did the usual greeting with it's heavy voice.

"Hello"

Hearing the voice, the guard was startled. He stood straight and pointed his spear towards the corridor vigilantly.

"Who's there?" He spoke but didn't get any reply. He scanned the corridor but didn't find anything strange.

Except a stone on the middle of the path, covered by shadows.

The guard dropped his vigilance and walked ahead towards the stone.

"Haah.. I've been here so long that I'm starting to hear things." He reached the stone and picked it up. "I must be going crazy..." He sighed and turned the stone.

He widened his eyes right after turning the stone as he saw a mouth on it.

"Hello" Then he heard a gleeful voice from the end of the corridor and jerked his head towards it.

He saw white hair, a pair of white eyes, and a sharp set of teeth grinning at him before feeling a sharp pain on his gut. He turned his head down towards his gut, just to see that it was impaled by a thick pitch black tar like shadow.

Before his final moments, he took a look at the face on the corner of the corridor again.

Widening his eyes in fear, he spoke. "D-Devil..." his mouth streamed with blood, and he fell down on the ground, no longer breathing.

Zane turned towards the others, his body relaxed. "Let's go" He was no longer whispering.

He turned the corner and started walking the corridor.

The others looked at each other, confusion on their faces, and decided to follow Zane. The moment they turned the corner, their confusion turned to shock, as they saw the corpse on the ground.

He had a huge hole on his stomach and his dead eyes showed fear.

Zane nonchalantly walked towards the corpse, stopping with his shadow on top of it. He then knelt down and took the stone from his hand. "I'm liking this thing more and more." He smiled. His eyes darted towards the other hand of the cultist.

He moved his hand and picked up the spear, examining it. "A fine piece, I'll use this for now." He stood up.

"How did you do that!?" Valentina ran towards him, her eyes sparkling. He pat her head, but his eyes was not looking at her, it was gazing at someone behind her. Pouting, she turned to see who he was looking at, and found Edana at the end of his gaze.

Zane watched Edana walk towards him calmly, but her face was serious. He knew that she'd have questions for him, as she was already a knight, a seeker serving a God.

"You... How'd you do that?" She finally asked.

Zane smirked, "Didn't you see? I used a relic." He extended his hand to show the stone.

"Don't bullshit me!" She shouted, "Are you a rogue Seeker!?" She moved her hand towards the hilt of her sword, ready to strike as soon as she heard his answer.

"Oh? And would it be a problem if I was?" Zane also fixed his posture, readying his spear.

The three cadets looked at the two of them, clearly feeling the tension in the air.

"Uh..guys? What are you doing? Don't joke around right now..." Valentina spoke with a smile, her voice filled with nervousness.

The two didn't react at all, still glaring at each other.

"Haha! I'm just kidding!" Zane relaxed himself and pulled back his spear. "I'm a devout follower of our Goddess, Nox!" He put his hand on his chest, making a sincere expression.

"So devout, in fact, that she was impressed by my devotion and personally gifted me! Look if you don't believe!"

He moved his shadow's jaws which was on top of the corpse's and began devouring it. Edana looked at it with doubtful eyes.

"I've never seen <Arcane> like that acquired through Lady Nox's gifts." She was still skeptic.

"Of course you wouldn't have! The Sacred Order uses blue flames after all! But you don't need to doubt me! Think about it, our Goddess Nox is the ruler of the night, the darkness! Wouldn't it make sense for her to gift me the power to control darkness itself?" Zane convinced her, speaking like a devout preacher.

Edana hesitated, "But the flames are supposed to be her gift..."

"Of course! The <Night Flames>, flames gifted by our Goddess so we can eradicate the real darkness in the world and our society!" He struck a melancholic pose, his hand clenched into a fist. Then he looked towards Edana and grinned, "But the Goddess also needs followers who can fulfill her gritty wishes, no?"

"No... Our Goddess would never.... She wouldn't..." Edana clenched her teeth, now starting to believe Zane due to his performance.

'Hehehe... She fell for it! Now for the final touch!' Zane laughed inwardly.

"Of course not! You don't need to worry. She'd never bring harm to innocent people! She only guides us towards the criminals and scums of society, to get rid of them through the shadows and cleanse the true darkness."

"Hmm....Okay, I'll believe you." Edana nodded her head after thinking for a while and relaxed herself.

Sighing, Zane turned towards the door and started moving. "Then let's move now. We've delayed long enough."

Edana remembered something and blurted out, "Is that why you're so bent on destroying the cult of Mayhem? Did the Goddess also give you a mission?"

Startled by her sudden question, Zane stopped on his tracks. No one could see his expression, but looking at his back which shuddered, they felt cold.

Zane turned his head towards Valentina and Cadell first. Giving them a guilty look, he turned towards Edana and smiled softly. "Of course! But.. It's also personal..."

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