Aqua found herself in the middle of the concentric stone circles. Her eyes scanned around, noticing that she was close to Onost.
Yet this time, it stood tall. Aqua breathed a sigh of relief, and her smile widened.
So I am supposed to restore something called a Great Clock. Thank goodness that Sun God's world lacked these artifacts.
Of course, despite the deepened understanding of time, she was not foolish enough to underestimate the hands of time. The very moment that she witnessed its usage against the Ice Giant was the moment that her alarms went off.
And now, after meeting someone like the Lord of the Beginnings, it was completely out of the question to underestimate anything related to time.
While the Aether and Divinity were weak in this world, the Authorities were far above her old world.
Of course, it was possible that the Lord was a mere exception, yet the existence of the Hands made her unsure.
I can't let my guard down. I don't know which god was the culprit behind the attacks.
She stepped forward.
I need to go see my Azure as soon as possible. She couldn't wait to see her alive and well. She panned her gaze to Onost.
She sighed in relief. Her tampering with the timeline at least secured her time to deal with the threat to her home. "The city is safe; I am so glad my spell worked."
Her ears perked up, picking up voices from the nearby forest. She cast [Beyond the Veil] and slowly followed the voice deeper inside the forest. Her eyes glowed, noticing a familiar black haze and a pair of divine entities.
One of them was Hikari, whom she recognized well, and the other one was darker and unknown to her.
However, what intrigued her was the dark-hazed individual.
She knew who it was.
It was scum who dared drain Sheira's blood and shortly possess her.
She grinned. It was perfect; she would kill him and get rid of a pest permanently.
She stepped into the clearing, carefully observing the trio.
"The Eyes had warned me; our mission was successful, yet time had rearranged itself to make it that you two lived. I will not abide it," an elf with clipped ears spoke mockingly.
The duo of blessed children stared at her, their weapons in hand.
"Bishop?!" The dark blessed child shouted. "What are you doing here?!"
"Bishop?" The woman said before chuckling. "I suppose you should know the truth, considering you will die. My name is Rolan, the First Disciple."
Slippery little monster. She frowned.
Soon, Rolan retrieved a small box from his robes. It was completely dark and absorbed light around it. "The Eight Eyes have your goddess and the White Hand. So it is my duty to get rid of those who have a reason to interfere," Rolan said, and the box shattered.
"Heretic!" The dark child charged forth before being struck by twilight chains.
Aqua smiled. She could let the dark child die, and then deal with Rolan. However, as she turned her head to Hikari, that thought was dismissed.
They are very powerful, though; perhaps they can defeat Rolan. Rolan's real power came from his tricks; he would not be able to deal with two highly powerful blessed children.
However, the moment she sensed what the chains really were, the thought disappeared like smoke in the wind.
They were made of pure rot, enhanced by shards of time.
Both blessed children were bound, and their divinity faded, and Rolan approached with his despicable smirk.
While she could respect using any means to destroy divinity, she drew a line at using rot to do so.
"You traitor! I will kill you!" Ilya screamed, her muscles tearing apart and blood gushing as she attempted to break the chains.
"Silence, blessed child. Despite being a human, you serve a lesser divinity rather than the God King. I pity you in a way," he mocked before turning to Hikari. "And you… are an elf? You are not even deserving of the proper death," he said, chuckling.
Aqua dispelled her invisibility, appearing in front of the two girls, her arms crossed. "Rolan, Rolan… we meet again," she said, her lips widening into a grin.
His head slowly turned, yet no fear was present behind his glare. "Ah, we meet again, goddess."
"Aqua!" Hikari shouted.
She turned to the girl and smiled. "It is fine."
"Who in the hells are you?! I will kill you both!" Ilya screamed at her.
Typical divine berserker, though I can't blame her for panicking. She just got her connection severed.
Aqua rolled her eyes and turned to Rolan. "You will tell me why you have the twilight rot. Now!" she demanded.
"You demand a lot, goddess. The Great Inquisitor already knows about you, and we have ways of dealing with you. I would suggest just surrendering. I will even promise we won't make you a pleasure slave when we wipe your mind," He said, assured of his safety.
The goddess was more powerful than him and would erase him, yet he would escape to another vessel as he had done so many times before.
He melted into the shadows and rushed away before reappearing and turning toward Aqua. "You caused me to fail my mission in Razul. I can't think of any greater sin! However, once I make you my vessel and clip those ears of yours, then I will consider that sin absolved."
Aqua's eye twitched.
He was just like he was in Razul, but this time, he would not escape her. She would not fall to her anger and allow him to escape.
She snapped her fingers, and the chains were consumed by the Black Flame. "[Dimensional Lock]. No running now," she stated, and with speeds surpassing sight, grabbed his throat, lifting the false elf in the air.
She scanned him from top to bottom. The body of the elven woman was scarred and clearly tortured before being mind-wiped and taken by Rolan. It almost made her shed a tear. Red Dawn needs to be destroyed as soon as possible.
She squeezed.
"Rolan. You needn't answer me; I have a way to consume you and unravel your pathetic little mind."
He chuckled. "Let's put it to the test; I have fulfilled my purpose to the Inquisitor. I too am merely an expendable pawn in the machinations of the Great Inquisitor and God King."
His eyes turned to Hikari and Ilya.
Hikari held Ilya back, who wished to attack both Rolan and Aqua.
Aqua sighed. I will deal with that dark child later.
"You mentioned that time rearranged itself; you should ask yourself one thing: who did it?"
"That matters not; the mission is completed. Now, excuse me, goddess. I must deal with the two blessed ones as my final task," His form melted in the [Shadowmeld].
Aqua wiped her hands from Rolan's filth. "Curious, you can use the techniques of the vessels you inhabit, too? Interesting."
He retrieved a dagger covered in rot from within his dress and splashed it toward Hikari and Ilya.
Aqua rolled her eyes, and the black flame consumed it. She swiped her hand, and Rolan found himself high in the air. Aqua then conjured a spectral chain, which quickly pulled him back down into her hands.
[False Mind],[Poison the Well]
His mind was pulled into this single elven vessel, leaving no way for him to escape Aqua's grip.
His expression changed; his carefree and cruel demeanour melted as the real Rolan was forced to inhabit a tortured vessel.
"Where is the confidence you always carry with you?"She mocked him. "I will learn everything I need from you."
However, he quickly gathered himself. "Even if I die, my service to the Great Inquisitor and God King will be rewarded; die for me, goddess!" he shouted before hundreds of silvery streaks erupted from his body, aiming for her and the duo of blessed children.
Aqua sighed and, with a cast of [Counterspell], the techniques were rendered useless. Her grip on Rolan's throat tightened, closing his airpipe.
The black flame spread over his body. His mind unraveled, his body and soul screamed and Aqua consumed his memories; his body disappeared. She did not erase him; his sins deserved a punishment much worse than death. She let her hands fall beside her body and turned to Hikari and Ilya.
I need to comb through these memories, but first. She crossed her arms and turned to the duo.
She stepped toward them.
"I… I can't reach Lady Len!" Ilya panicked. "What is happening?!" She shouted, looking at her palms.
"I… I don't know, Ilya," Hikari said meekly, while lifting her head toward Aqua. "Aqua…"
She cautiously approached the duo. "What happened?"
Ilya stared at the ground, ignoring both Aqua and Hikari. "My Lady… I can't reach her."
She kept muttering the same words.
Hikari stood up and looked at Aqua. "She can't commune with Len."
Aqua hummed. According to Rolan's memories, the group named the Eight Eyes of Inquisitor had captured the goddess using the rotten chains.
So it wasn't a goddess that caused this attack, but the Red Dawn.
"It's the Red Dawn," Aqua said coldly. She looked down at Ilya. Despite the tears, she could not feel any compassion for someone like the dark child.
"Hikari," she said. "What are you and this woman doing this close to Onost? You were in the Academy last time I saw you."
She narrowed her eyes and looked at her.
"I was tasked by my goddess to help Ilya with her task, that's all," she said, yet Aqua could notice the increased heart rate, the slight twitching, and the wandering eyes.
"Hikari, do not lie to me. Why are you here?"
Hikari averted her gaze, and Ilya separated from her, disappearing into the shadows despite Aqua's eyes tracking her. No point in stopping her.
"Speak, I consider you one of the good divine children. Do not ruin that image with lies."
Hikari gulped. She wanted to be friends with Aqua, but her duty to Lan bound her from speaking the truth. However, the treacherous bishop had mentioned the artifact too, thus saying the truth was not completely her fault.
"I," She stuttered. "I was sent to prevent Ilya from obtaining the White Hand."
No lies. So the gods do know about the White Hand, too. It seems that every faction wishes to get its hands on it.
Aqua nodded. This meant that Hikari was the Pure One that the Lord of the Beginnings had mentioned.
This was incredibly bad; the Red Dawn most likely held both the Hand of the Beginning and the Hand of the Ending.
She groaned and covered her face. "Thank you for telling me, Hikari."
She was curious about the motives of Ilya and her goddess, yet the fact that the goddess was captured made the blessed child unimportant.
Hikari smiled warmly. "Of course," She said before averting her gaze and slightly pouting, "I wasn't supposed to tell you about that."
Aqua chuckled. It was hard for the blessed slaves to resist their master's word, and Hikari doing so cemented her in her mind as someone trustworthy. "That's fine, Hikari. I am glad your eyes aren't blinded by zeal. Gods do not deserve your obedience."
Hikari frowned but she quickly forced a soft smile toward Aqua.
"I should chase after Ilya; she tends to be reckless. Please excuse me," with the final words, Hikari gave chase after Ilya, leaving Aqua to her own thoughts.
Captured goddess, they likely need her blood just like they did Sheira's. Yet, why go through so much trouble to capture a fully developed goddess?
She shook her head. Despite consuming Rolan's memories, she lacked understanding of their blood usage beyond using the blood to master body hopping.
I likely need to find the members of that group. At long last, she had a clear target and the culprit: The Red Dawn's Eight Eyes.
However, there was something else she needed to deal with first, and that was to visit her Azure and clear out everyone who dared use rot against her new home, and cull their population to a manageable level.
I can't wait to see her!
She could not dismiss the image of Azure's half-vaporized corpse from her mind; she needed to see that her future wife was safe and well.
After a moment of deliberation, she appeared above the academy; unlike last time she was here, it was completely intact.
Good.
Her eyes glowed, and she quickly scanned the surroundings.
It did not take long for her to find two girls.
Sheira's power was less potent compared to what she had seen in the doomed timeline, but what surprised Aqua even more was that Azure's divinity had tripled.
Was the ring not enough? She quickly shook her head. She could not worry about divinity now.
After a moment, she teleported behind Azure.