Upon their arrival back on the Trident, Valentina’s bodyguards rushed right to her. Limp on the ground with half of her face missing, her flesh was sizzling from the blow from Kleisth. In spite of missing half of her brain, her eyes wandered left and right, frantically trying to make sense of what was happening. However, with half of her mind gone and being kept alive by the red devil’s potion, the Red Madam could neither speak nor think, or even move so much as a finger.
"That damned potion worked after all," grabbing Jenna’s hand, Linkle jerked her closer to Valentina’s body. "Heal her, you alchemist! I’ll contact Erika! Everyone else, get Raven and anyone who can help!"
Appearing in the middle of the helm, everyone around them was at a loss. Not knowing what was going on, their bodies were frozen still–all but a handful, including Regalia and Evangeline. Moving past the crowd with a gentle brush from the back of her hand, the angel of life knelt by the injured woman and cast her a curious glance.
"Greetings, Sorceress. Quite the reunion this is." All worrying eyes turned to Evangeline, but instead of explaining herself, the angel stretched her right hand over Valentina’s face and began to whisper in pure arcane. Light blood from her palm, and her eyes started to emit a golden glow, and the very next second, the injuries on Valentina’s body healed with not even a speck of blood splashed over her clothes.
To everyone’s further surprise, however, the angel’s eyes began dripping a reddish golden blood. It drained down her cheeks before disappearing altogether.
"This should aid in curing your deeper wound." Pushing her hand against Valentina’s healed face, Evangeline once again began to whisper another spell. But this ti, unlike the last, she wasn’t healing the Madam, instead reversing a few decades of her age. Getting younger under the angel’s touch, Valentina groaned a little. All the while, Evangeline’s fingers had begun to wrinkle and wither, although the mont she pulled her hand away, her fingers returned to their youthful state.
"Take her now," glancing at Linkle, the angel gripped her own shoulder with the opposite hand. "Tell the general that my soldiers are ready. This attack is all we needed to hear from this wretched goddess."
Having peeked into the madam’s mind, she knew what had happened in great detail. And now that the ssenger had been attacked, in her eyes, there was no room for diplomacy–not anymore.
"We’re gonna talk about this," more than a little curious about what was going on between Evangeline and the Red Madam, Linkle did as she was asked for now, but it was only a matter of ti before those two, along with the Mistress, had to answer so questions about the Madam’s past.
Taken away to the infirmary, Valentina remained conscious of everything that was happening around her. Linkle’s frantic call to Erika over her teleportation necklace and the rushing footsteps all around her as the crowd scrambled about to prepare for a war that they were already expecting to happen.
"The gods have a strange way of greeting us, mortals..." She chuckled, feeling light in both mind and body.
"Stop laughing!" Linkle yelled, wiping a drop of blood oozing out from Valentina’s coughing lips.
Healed she may have been, but a strike from a god wasn’t as cured so easily. Much like their blessing, their curses, and their strikes, had nurous other effects that may linger for who knows how long. Knowing that was the very reason Evangeline had aged back the aged woman. To give her a better chance at surviving whatever curses she may have incurred.
Even so, the ntal scar from having half of her head blown off would require at least a few hours of rest before she could get back into her own head again. Evangeline’s healing and the effect of the red devil potion had helped, but the extent of her injuries was nothing she could shrug off.
And in that ti, everyone who was present for the eting was called before the dark General. In detail, Aradin explained what had happened, and to a degree, Raven showed his appreciation towards the bodyguards for not trying to be a hero and remaining back there instead of simply teleporting back. Not to ntion, with the potion in effect, Kleisth would be under the curse of the red devil as described by the Crimson witch.
Alliance would soon be drowned in blood and carcasses, and if the potion was strong enough to affect a god, then the goddess would be struck with bad luck till the end of her days for attacking the person under the effect of the potion. However, with no way of knowing if it had worked at all, it was ti for the hero to make the next decision.
"We extended a hand for diplomacy, and she struck it down," standing beside Raven in the eting room, Helga scoffed out loud. "What happens next is her own damn fault! If it were up to , I would’ve crushed this Alliance, and then, after she had no followers left, we would’ve talked with her on her knees like so shrivelled up dog!"
"There are still civilians in that kingdom," Adith reminded, staring at Raven’s stern face.
"And we’re at war," planting her hand on the round table, Helga spoke with a growl. "You have any idea what happens if you let a single one of those folks live? Their children and the survivors will one day try to stab us in the back, so why in the hells would you give them that opportunity!"
As soone who had spat in the face of those she’d killed, and now with her mind slipping back to her older self, Helga–at least for now–was willing to go to any length to ensure complete victory over their enemies.
"We never learned why she wanted to talk to you," breaking the tension, Linkle spoke up, her gaze locked with the general’s. "She said sothing about her plan being ruined by us showing up instead of you. But other than that, she said nothing else. We also don’t know why Oruon, the other god, isn’t showing his face around."
"Probably late on preparations for the war," the ntion of the holy war from her own lips finally gave Helga so pause. "That or... he’s expecting the council gods to turn on each other. Maybe he and Kleisth are more in danger from them than they are from us?"
"At this point," leaning back in his chair, Raven broke his silence. "That makes the most sense. However, even if Oruon isn’t worried about us and Kleisth is planning sothing, we still have to figure out how we’re gonna pass this kingdom."
On one hand, the goddess had given them more than enough reason to declare war. On the other hand, innocent citizens were bound to perish if their armies showed up on their doorsteps. The weight of the decision had now landed on Raven’s shoulders, and although it was a difficult choice to make, the hero had already co up with sothing morally gray.
"Mistress, Maria, and Asmodia–" Lifting his head, he looked at all three of them. "Can you brainwash the citizens under Oruon? Kleisth’s followers might prove more difficult, considering the goddess is present in the flesh, but a bunch of blind elites should be easier to deal with than the rampant chaos caused by able-bodied citizens."
Taking a mont to consider his request, the girls gave him a subtle nod one after the other. The Mistress seed especially excited for the opportunity, but whatever secondary ploys she may have had, the hero, as of now, wasn’t interested in the least.
"I also need the monster holding bracelet back," getting out of his chair, Raven decided to head over to Valentina and get his bracelet. "Arche, Maine, and Mino can help subdue the elites as well, but before we depart, I need to have a chat with the Madam."
Glancing around the room one last ti, it appeared that plenty of others shared that sentint. The Madam had a lot to answer for, especially her past–a past that had sohow, unbeknownst to the hero and his companions, allowed her to escape the foresight of the very goddess of foresight itself.
’Moeria, you better get used to that body soon.’ The hero said to himself, hoping to fight the foresight with foresight and end this war without having to turn the kingdom of Alliance into a blood-soaked war path.
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