Everyone in the hall had gone rigid, frozen in place as they watched the winged figure raise its blade of light toward Boien. Everyone except Lucian, who still had no idea what was happening around him.
Boien screamed? A sound of impact... is this the power of that Prometheus Blessing the text mentioned? What exactly did I just summon...
Just as the winged figure moved to strike Boien, its hand stopped mid-motion. Its head turned, slow and deliberate, toward the one standing behind Lucian: the Saintess herself.
Lumina met its gaze without flinching. Then, without warning, the blade that had been aimed at Boien swung around, leveling itself at her instead, as though the creature were daring her to move.
"Saintess Lumina..." Bishop Owen’s voice wavered, his eyes fixed on the thing hovering before them.
"Interesting." Lumina didn’t look away from it. "Bishop Owen, make sure no one else interrupts me."
"Understood. But... are you certain you can handle it, Saintess?"
Lumina drew out her staff and struck it against the floor. A surge of golden mana rippled outward from the impact, and she turned to Owen with a smile so composed it made the outcome seem like a foregone conclusion.
Her confidence swelled with every step she took. She carved an opening through her own Sanctuary and walked straight toward the winged figure, raising her staff to meet it.
A wash of green light spilled from the staff’s tip, swallowing the scene from view.
Elsewhere, near the altar, Jeanne had nearly closed the distance to her brother when a wall of priests stepped in front of her.
"Hey, what is this? Why are you blocking me?"
She pushed forward, but the priests held their ground, refusing to let her pass. Bishop Owen’s footsteps approached from behind.
"Please, Lady Jeanne. I need you to stay calm."
"Calm?" Jeanne’s voice cracked with disbelief. "My brother is lying over there right now. How am I supposed to be calm?" She made no effort to hide the fear in her voice, but the Bishop’s expression didn’t soften.
"That’s enough, Lady Jeanne. You’re not the only one worried here. Perhaps you should take a look at the expression on the Kayden family’s faces instead."
Jeanne turned toward the source of that cold, even voice.
"Duchess Amelia." Her eyes narrowed. "I thought you’d already left. Weren’t you in a hurry earlier?"
The Duchess only shook her head. Her gaze drifted sideways, to where her daughter Alicia still stood transfixed by the Sanctuary, even though nothing could be seen through its barrier anymore. Resting her cheek against her palm, Amelia watched her daughter for a moment, then let out a slow, deliberate breath.
"We would have been on our way home by now if this one hadn’t gotten so caught up staring at your little brother."
Jeanne followed her gaze to Alicia, who looked as though she were pressing herself against the very edge of the Sanctuary, trying and failing to force her way inside. Jeanne couldn’t help but wonder what it was about Lucian that had caught the girl’s attention so completely.
...
Inside the Sanctuary, hidden from the chaos outside, Lumina and the winged figure stood facing each other. The creature spread its wings wide, unleashing a violent gust of wind, a clear show of dominance, but Lumina only smiled and closed the distance further.
Blind and unable to see any of it, Lucian could still feel Lumina’s presence drawing nearer.
[PROMETHEUS: {SOL INVICTA} senses danger. The Conductor is advised to retreat.]
Hey, if I could move, I’d have left already. Lucian’s inner voice was edged with his own unease.
But against every expectation, it was the winged figure that began retreating as Lumina advanced, step for step, as though it were the one afraid of her, despite having challenged her only moments before. Lumina’s smile only widened.
"Weren’t you just trying to attack me a moment ago?"
The figure kept its blade raised, but the tip had begun to tremble.
"Hm. I thought this was your true form. Turns out you’re more of a doll than—"
Lumina’s voice shifted back into the tone Lucian knew all too well, and the sudden change made him cough, hard and involuntary, cutting her off.
"Lumina, what are you doing here?!"
She didn’t answer. She only raised her right hand toward the winged figure. A single flick of her finger, and the creature dissolved into light and vanished.
[PROMETHEUS: {SOL INVICTA} HAS BEEN DEFEATED] [PROMETHEUS: {SOL INVICTA} CANNOT BE USED AGAIN FOR 2 WEEKS]
What.
Seriously?...
No sound, barely any movement at all, and the winged figure was simply gone, as if it had never existed.
Even with the text laid out plainly before him, Lucian still struggled to accept just how strong Lumina truly was. That creature had overpowered Boien without effort, yet Lumina had ended it with nothing more than a single finger.
Lucian’s breathing quickened as he heard her footsteps closing in. "Damn it... what did you just do, Lumina?"
Just as she reached to touch his face, her attention caught on Boien, still crumpled at the far end of the hall. A tendril of dark crimson light shot out and dragged him across the floor to her side in an instant.
"Mm, hold on a moment, Lucian. Let me deal with this vermin first."
"Ha... vermin? Who?" Lucian managed.
It was Boien’s voice, pleading for help, but no help came. Instead, the thick crimson fluid surged straight into his throat.
His face drained to an ashen gray, his eyes rolled back, and his mouth wrenched open, forcing out a stream of thick, dark blood. Something emerged with it: a small orb, glowing with a deep crimson light, breaking free of his lips.
Without a trace of hesitation, Lumina crushed the orb between her fingers. A dense wave of mana poured out from it, and she drew every last drop of it into herself.
Once she’d absorbed the mana completely, she conjured a spear of flame identical to the one Boien had summoned earlier.
Heat? This power? Isn’t that the Inferno the Kayden clan uses? How can Lumina wield it?
"Hm. So this is what it feels like to hold the Kayden clan’s Inferno." Lumina studied the flame with mild disdain. "A bit disappointing, honestly. I expected it to hit harder than the Augusta clan’s Pyre. Guess I set my expectations too high for something so useless. Still, the mana core wasn’t bad. Not bad at all."
"Mana core?! What do you mean, Lumina? You can just absorb someone’s mana core and use it yourself?!" Lucian’s voice cracked as he shouted.
"Ahh, forgive me for ignoring you this whole time, Lucian. Given how things have turned out, don’t you think it’s about time we were a little more honest with each other?"
"What do you mean by that?"
Faintly, Lucian heard movement from where Boien had been lying. The thick crimson fluid had wrapped itself around Boien’s entire body, and in an instant it was mending every wound, knitting his fractured bones back together, repairing his shattered organs in a matter of seconds.
"Boien. Leave this Sanctuary now, and remember my instructions. Act as if nothing happened, and tell everyone we’re both fine."
Lucian could hardly comprehend just how terrifying Lumina’s ability truly was. This crimson, liquid form of the Crimson Soul wasn’t only capable of controlling another person’s mind, it also possessed medical capabilities so advanced they could repair a body’s very organs.
"You did hear some of what we were saying earlier, didn’t you, Lucian?"
Lumina drew closer to where he lay. Her fingers rose, tracing softly along the line of his jaw. In his own mind, Lucian scrambled to guess what might happen if he admitted to hearing everything.
"I... I didn’t hear all of it. I only caught the tail end of your conversation with Wyatt,"
There was no point hiding what Lumina likely already knew. Honesty felt far safer than letting his mind fall under her control. But before he could even exhale in relief, a sudden warmth pressed down against his body.
Eh, what now...
The sound of Lumina’s hands clapping together drifted toward him, her voice bright with relief.
"Nghh, my honest Lucian. Even if you hadn’t admitted it, I would have simply pretended I didn’t know you already knew."
"What are you going to do... are you going to turn me into something like that too?" Lucian’s voice trembled as he spoke.
"Shh."
Warmth radiated from Lumina’s head as she leaned in close, her voice dropping to something soft, murmured right against his ear.
"Is it because you’re so tense that your thoughts are running wild about me, my Lucian?"