Chương 203

The earth heaved, shaking and convulsing as if the ground itself was trying to vomit up the poison buried in its core. The latrine grate blasted outward, twisting into shrapnel under the pressure wave's force. A blast of superheated steam, dust, and grey fog shot into the night sky, followed immediately by two coughing, stumbling figures, protected from the heat and caustic gases only by a flickering light barrier, as any other shield had long since failed.

Orion pulled Pauline away from the vent just as a second shockwave made the metal plates behind them shake. They fell into the mud, gasping for air, and even though it smelled as bad as any old sewer, it was the sweetest thing Orion had ever experienced.

"Oh fuck," he groaned, rolling onto his back.

"We made it." He looked up at the stars, even as his vision kept swimming. [Gamma Ray] might not have taken the entirety of his Attunement to channel anymore, but it was still a last resort for a reason, and having to sustain [Atmospheric Centrifuge] afterward had brought him to the brink of mana burn. It was only because he was a tier-two now that he hadn't yet collapsed into unconsciousness, and even that didn't feel too far away.

Even the mere thought of concentrating enough to recall the system messages he'd received so far seemed impossible. Beside him, Pauline lay still, her hand pressed tightly against her side where the Centurion's glaive had carved a deep furrow. The blood seeping between her fingers was thick and viscous, showing that she was doing something to stem the bleeding, but he couldn't imagine she felt any better than he did.

"Orion..." she rasped, her voice barely audible over the ringing in his ears.

"Stay awake," he groaned, trying to push himself up.

"Elara and Selene made it out, so help is on the way. Just hold on." He'd been afraid that they might have collapsed somewhere in the tunnels and would have forced him to slow down even more to get them out, but luckily, he hadn't come across their prone forms, which meant they had escaped successfully. At least, that was what he told himself. He didn't want to think about the alternative. Before he could even get to his knees, blinding lights washed over them.

"There! By the vent!"

"Secure the perimeter! Don't let them escape!" Boots splashed heavily through the mud. Orion squinted against the glare of mana torches as a dozen men in green and gold livery surrounded them. They were the Nethergard private security force that had been assembled to control the refugee camp, and although he couldn't imagine they were involved with the Iron State, they definitely didn't seem very friendly.

"Listen to me," Orion coughed, raising a shaking hand.

"There is a toxic leak. You need to evacuate…"

"Shut it!" The man bearing the insignia of a captain kicked Orion in the ribs, sending him sprawling back into the mud.

"Cuff him! And check if the woman is alive. If she is, shackle her too." Orion snarled, a spark of defiance breaking through his exhaustion. He reached for the Field, trying to summon a gravity well to crush the captain's armor and make it clear who he was messing with, but nothing happened. Instead, his entire body seized, and he realized he had exceeded his limit, and any attempt at casting would genuinely risk crippling him.

Two guards seized him, forcing his arms behind his back as cold iron cuffs secured his wrists. Another two approached Pauline, holding her by her wounded shoulder. She cried out, and the sound made Orion see red.

"Let her go!" he shouted, struggling uselessly against the guards.

"Can't you see that she needs a healer! She's dying!"

"She should have thought of that before blowing up a relief center," the captain spat.

"Drag them to the stockade. The master will want to question them personally before we hand them over to the—" The air pressure dropped. It wasn't a subtle change, nor was it particularly kind on Orion's battered body, but for once, he welcomed the violence. A presence flooded the area, robbing the men of their breath. The mana-torches flickered and went out. The wind ceased to blow. The distant shouts of the refugees were silenced, swallowed by the aura of a single person.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Kneel," she commanded, a whisper that rumbled through everyone who heard it. A shadow fell from the clouds, darker than the night sky, coming to a stop ten feet above the ground. Her midnight-blue robes flowed around her like the wings of an avenging angel, and her staff radiated a terrible light, leaving no doubt she was a Veil Priestess of the Sanctum. The guards weren't given the courtesy to follow her order voluntarily as her aura hit them, forcing them to their knees.

The captain dropped his crossbow, gasping as the gravity around him grew stronger, pressing his face into the mud.

"Elder!" Orion gasped as the pressure on his arms disappeared and the chains broke apart. Behind Alcmene, two figures fell from the sky on brooms.

"Orion!" Selene shouted, jumping off before her broom had completely stopped. Elara was right behind her, sprinting toward Pauline with a look of terrified determination. She slid into the mud as her hands were already glowing with healing magic.

"Get back!" she snapped at a guard who was too slow to move away.

"Selene, pull her clothes back! Orion, give me space!" Orion scrambled back, watching as Elara ripped Pauline's robe open to reveal the wound. It was ugly, and the flesh around the cut was rapidly necrotizing, turning a sickly green that made the origin clear.

"It was the Centurion," he gasped out, still feeling out of sorts.

"It used some kind of acid magic to melt steel." Elara didn't hesitate to pour a potion on the wound, but it fizzled out without much effect, and her face grew grim.

"The Silence in the air must have entered her system," she grunted, and although it wasn't an accusation, Orion couldn't help but feel it stab his heart. He'd been so confident he could sustain [Atmospheric Centrifuge] as long as necessary, had convinced them to go along with him, yet he couldn't hold the tier two spell halfway through their escape, having to rely on weaker and weaker versions as they faltered. Clearly, despite his best efforts, it had not been enough.

Another potion, this one glowing a vivid red, was poured out, producing better results if the slight easing of Elara's expression was any indication, but given the extent of the damage, Orion wasn't sure it would be enough.

"I need to purge her," she grunted, then started muttering prayers and thrust her fingers straight into the wound, drawing a ragged gasp from Pauline. Orion sat there, breathing heavily among the still kneeling soldiers, under Alcmene's heavy gaze, watching his mother's apprentice do her best to save his guard from his own foolishness.

"This is going to hurt," Elara warned, and a moment later, a searing white light burst forth. Pauline arched off the ground as a ragged scream was ripped from her throat. Smoke billowed from her wound as the anti-magic residue battled the healing energy, hissing like water on a hot skillet.

"Hold her!" Elara shouted, sweat dripping from her nose.

"I need to go deeper!" Selene leaned her full weight on Pauline's shoulders, tears streaming down her face, while Elara poured more mana into the spell, burning away the corruption inch by agonizing inch. Orion was startled out of his horrified staring when he felt a hand shake his shoulder, and looked up to see Alcmene there.

"I need to know what has happened since they left," she said, and he wanted to shout that this wasn't the time. Couldn't she see that Pauline was fighting for her life? Yet the words died in his throat. It would all be useless if he dropped the ball now, so he gathered himself as much as possible and explained the fight with the Centurion, the agent destroying the evidence, activating some contingency to erase the factory in its entirety, and their subsequent escape.

He didn't try to sugarcoat his words, plainly explaining the choice he made between securing some of the files and saving Pauline, and the subsequent escape through the tunnels as the facility collapsed behind them. The screams had died down by the time he finished, turning into muffled whimpers of pain, and he could see that Elara had removed the poison and was now stitching the flesh back together. Finally, he looked up and met Alcmene's eyes. He expected to find disappointment, maybe even anger.

Knowledge of the Iron State's plans remained very limited, despite their best efforts, and gaining access to some actual files stored in a secure facility would have definitely helped a lot. Instead of all that, however, Alcmene merely grunted, patting his shoulder.

"You are a fool, Voidwalker," she said, but her tone lacked any bite.

"Do you think a stack of ledgers is worth a Magistra?"

"But the information we could have gotten…" he whispered, uncertain how to respond.

"Look up," Alcmene ordered, pointing toward the direction of Silverpeak, where he vaguely recognized the silhouette of the noble district. A multitude of lights swarmed around a mansion. Witches on brooms kept flying in, and flashes of combat magic lit up the estate as the Sanctum's full force descended upon it.

"When your companions alerted me to the nature of the threat," Alcmene said grimly, "I authorized a full Inquisition on the Nethergard family. The mere presence of an enemy facility within our heartland is enough to justify eradicating their entire damn line, and I don't care about any file."

"So Norman…"

"He's being taken into custody as we speak," she replied.

"As you can see, he had some kind of contingency in case he was discovered, a few mercenaries he paid out of his own pocket and more of his personal guards, but they aren't anywhere near enough to stop us."

"I'm done," Elara announced, her voice trembling with exhaustion. Orion whipped around. Pauline was unconscious, breathing shallowly but more steadily than before, and most importantly, all signs of the green rot had disappeared, replaced by angry red scar tissue.

"She's stable," Elara said, wiping blood from her hands onto her robe.

"She'll need a week of bed rest before she can even attempt channeling any mana, but she'll live." An exhale rushed out of Orion without his say-so, and he would have collapsed from relief if he hadn't already been sitting.

"Good," he whispered.

"That's good." Alcmene stepped past him, apparently done with her attempt at comfort, and raised her staff as the light intensified, flooding the camp.

"Inspectors!" she magnified her voice.

"Secure this sector! Quarantine the vent! Anyone in Nethergard livery is to be detained immediately!" Dozens of Sanctum Enforcers descended from the sky, landing in the camp to take control. The private guards who had arrested Orion were quickly shackled.

"You kids did well," Alcmene finally said.

"We'll take it from here." Orion nodded, feeling a strange lightness in his chest. He hadn't known what he was agreeing to when he said yes to Seraphina's request, and he wasn't sure what he would do if he had to answer her again, but luckily, he didn't need to. It was over, at least his part in the counterintelligence efforts. He watched as two Enforcers carefully lifted Pauline onto a floating stretcher, while Elara and Selene climbed back onto their brooms.

Another enforcer quickly arrived to help him up, guiding him to another stretcher, where more witches gathered around him, checking his health and asking questions about what substances he'd come into contact with. He addressed each of their questions for several minutes until he was finally able to lie down and rest. Closing his eyes, he focused and realized he could hear the distant boom of spells hitting the Nethergard manor.

He could also hear the city watch rushing into the camp and the people of Silverpeak recognizing that their peaceful days were over. But for the first time in months, he didn't feel like he had to handle everything alone. The giant had awakened. The Sanctum was moving.