CHAPTER 2

As I walk towards them, I can feel the staff vibrating. It’s reacting to my presence. I imbue some of my power into it, causing the vibrations to stop. The staff is slowly changing in appearance. The tags on it start to tear, as my demonic energy is being poured into it. The staff is definitely made out of divine material. I guess that makes sense, bu I didn’t expect it to change so fast. As my power corrupts the holy nature within it, the metal pole cracks and opens up, revealing shining red eyes.

I mutter, “That’s kinda creepy…”

The wings that were once propped up on the staff shift downward as the middle of the head also gains an eye. What I have in my hands is a staff made for demons— made for me.

“What is that thing…?” Bernard’s blade lowers.

“Corruption.” Connor’s eyes are focused on my staff.

“Corruption?”

“It’s when a strong demonic power—”

Bet interrupts, “It doesn’t matter what it is! That thing is changing Maria from the inside out!” Bet charges at me, causing me to stop in my tracks. I can take him.

“Give her back!”

He strikes. I block with my staff. His blow feels heavy, but nothing like the demons in the underworld. When a demon would hit me I would be sent back and I’d practically lose my balance. So instead I’ll make him lose his. I can feel how weak he is with that strike. I redirect his momentum causing him to lose his balance. Heh, that was almost too easy.

“Hey idiot!” He growls. I look over, and watch as he regains his balance by turning with the motion, and as he turns over his hand brushes against the ground. He grabs the dirt and throws it into my face to blind me.

“Tch.” My eyes wince, and with my free hand I rub my eyes, when suddenly I feel the cold steel of a blade pierce through my body. The dirt clearing from my eyes, I look over to see Bernard.

“You forgot about me huh.”

He wasn’t wrong. I assumed he was afraid of what my weapon had become and thought he wouldn’t attack at all. I will need to remember that the enemies won’t wait to attack one at a time and will take the shot when it’s opened to them. My dad would have scolded me right about now if he had seen this happen, probably say something stupid and annoying like, “Wow are you gunna cry? Cry”. Damn. I can taste the bitterness of blood in my mouth as I let out a cough. As long as Bernard’s dragon blade is inside of me, I can’t use magic. My dad could easily overpower the negating effects of dragon scale type weapons, and was supposed to teach me how but… That’s just more things I left behind. I’m kind of annoyed with myself over that.

“Connor! Set a binding spell.”

“Already on it.”

I can hear the pages being run through. In front of me, I see Bet. He looms over me and looks at me with disdain.

“It looks just like Maria, nothing’s changed in her appearance. Just the way she moves.”

“Well, it’s over now. We’ll get her binded and into the church for the exorcism and healing.” Bernard seems to be confident in himself.

“Who knows what it was capable of.” 

“I’m not… An ‘it’.”

“Oh?” Connor scoffs.

I can feel my body’s natural ability to regenerate, activate. I can feel my organs and muscles pushing against the blade, forcing itself to close with it inside me.

“I’m a ‘she’, and my name is Apura.”

Bet spits when he speaks, “Your name doesn’t matter!”

“It does. It’s the last one you’ll hear.”

“My blade is starting to feel stiff. I can’t… Move it as much!”

“My true form has a healing ability that isn’t magic. It’s a natural ability that happens when certain conditions are met. Just like your beastman friend’s ‘survival instinct’.”

It’s true, even though my dad had to heal me when I was injured and exhausted, my body knew I was never in real danger around him. So it never had the chance to activate my healing factor. I’m only “in danger” because of the anti-magic effect.

“What… What are the conditions…?” Bernard seems to be unsure of himself. The blade is beginning to snap. He attempts to pull it out.

“My life on the line!”

My muscles tense up and the blade snaps between the regenerating skin tissue before falling to the ground. I can still feel the fragments in me but,

“Your blade only stops magic. Not brute force.” With my free hand, I tear out my stomach and pull out the fragment left within me. As I hold the shard of the blade in my hand I turn my head towards Bernard, looking at him. I toss the shard as my body turns for momentum. The shard misses him as he steps back and weaves away from me to create distance. A mistake he makes by focusing on himself and not those around him. It looks like I’m not the only careless one here. The shard goes directly through Connor’s head.

“That’s not all.” I pull my arm back, having my elbow hit Bet in the stomach. Making him crouch down and hold his stomach in pain. Following with the motion from my hand being pulled back, my blood left on the shard shoots out from Connors head and acts as a small javelin that pierces through Bernard’s neck. “Demon blood techniques are a lot trickier for me to do, but that small amount should do the trick.” Just then,

“Maria!” Bet screams out in agony, I could tell the loss of his friends overpowered the hit I gave to him in the stomach. He attempts to grab me. He fails as his arms are about to reach me, I tilt my head to look in his direction. The ability my father has to strike fear into the hearts of any existing creature, was imitated by me. Bet could no longer move.

“I’ll make sure to take care of her…” What’s a cool thing to say… “Bet? Was it?” I then turn to him and touch his face with the same hand that may have once consoled him, a final moment of peace in some way. In Maria’s voice, I tell him, “Goodbye Bet.” My fingers slowly feel his cheek, and move closely towards his temple. My fingers then sink into his temple effortlessly, his eyes roll up, and he falls to the ground.

The fight was over.

My legs tremble, and I fall onto my knees. I take a deep breath in through my nose, and let out a heavy sigh through my mouth, “That was so scary! They actually wanted to kill me!” I look at the three bodies on the ground around me. I’m sure it’s because of the body I’m using but, I feel… Bad? My eyes won’t stop blinking, and I can feel my head sinking down. The sides of my lips twitching at random. With the hand that isn’t holding the staff, I use it to lightly rub my tear ducts with my thumb and finger in the direction to the top of my nose. As I do, my eyes stay closed. Something begins to flow out from my eyes.

“Tears?” Of course it was tears. Maria still lives inside me and can experience what goes on the outside emotionally. She may not be able to see it, but our feelings are one in the same. I may feel relaxed knowing I “stopped” her friends, but she must feel the opposite. They all seemed to have a close bond after all. It will be a while before she’s completely assimilated, so until then… I’ll.. I’ll… My nose starts to clog up and I let the tears leave my eyes more freely. Her emotions inside of me feel so freeing, I cry more than just for her friends. I cry for my freedom from my father, my life starting for myself, I cry just for the sake of crying. When training with my dad, I was never allowed to cry this badly. Always told to hold it in.

“O.k. That should be enough.” I get up, using the staff to support me. “Uhh…” Looking at the bodies again, I realize that it may not be a good idea to just leave them there. Especially if more come by.

“Hup.” I pick up Bet after putting my staff down, and place him in a sitting position. His head looking down, legs spread out forward and… Now he’s bent way too over his legs. I then make him look like he’s sleeping. One arm over his belly, and the other over his face. I also didn’t want any casual observer to see the markings of the attack I did on him. I grab Bernard next. I pull him towards Bet and have his body “resting” against him. I then put Bernard’s hands behind his own head to make him look relaxed if seen from afar. Thankfully, the Blood Javelin attack I did strikes so precisely and small, that I’m not worried if anyone were to come up to him and check up on what was going on. Connor however, is a different issue. Because of the fragment I lodged inside of him, he just looks Disgusting. I take the fragment out and put it inside my guimpe for safe keeping. Or not. I take it out because of how uncomfortable it feels against my neck.

“Hmm…” I stare at it, and think where would I place this. As I stare at it, I notice the habit Maria is wearing has open gloves attached to the sleeves. I tuck it in right at the base of my middle finger. It’s tight enough to hold it until I find a better way to store it. I start to drag Connor’s body and rest it against Bet and next to Bernard. I grab his spellbook and place it over his head. Now it looks like he fell asleep reading. I pick up my staff and stand a bit further from the three of them.

“Nice.”

They now look like a couple of friends, taking a break. Should give me enough time to leave this place and then leave the cathedral without being caught.

“I’m so smart.”

I look at the grotesque and then the ground. The ground no longer seems to have Connor’s spell activated and the grotesque no longer seems to detect my presence. I go in front of it and wave. Nothing. I walk a bit in circles in front of it. Nothing. This is too perfect. I walk into the back entrance of the cathedral and I am greeted by two men in holy attire.

“Maria. Are you alright?” Says the older looking man, possibly in his seventies.

“I am.” Using Maria’s voice will have to do until I am out of here.

“Where are the others?” The slightly younger one speaks up, he’s been eying me since they’ve greeted me. His voice somewhat grates my ears, which I’m assuming is something Maria feels towards him.

“They’re sleeping out back. The fight was a tough one.”

“Why did you come back then?” he snaps.

Shit. I didn’t think that far ahead. “I…” the old man interrupts me,

“Don’t you see Brother Campbell.” The old man points to the hole in my habit. “Her clothes are ripped from the battle out there. She must keep appearances with our church of grace and purity. Tattered clothes suggest otherwise.”

“I suppose.” Campbell reluctantly accepts, “Go on then.”

“Thank you.” I was saved by this thoughtful old man! That thank you was more for him. I will have to keep a mental note of his face for when I become the best healer.

“Come with us then.” Campbell sounds annoyed.

“Wait, why?”

“You didn’t think we were here to welcome you back did you?”

“Oh…”

The old man smiles at me, “Today your training finally ends, and we can release you out into the world to spread the word.”

“So, we’ll take you to your room and wait until you change to send you off officially.”

I couldn’t believe my ears, the timing of all this was perfect! First the grotesque not detecting me, the old man saving me from the interrogation and now, being able to go out and live my life without worrying how I’ll escape from here?! I happily follow them.

I stand in front of Maria’s room and go in, “I’ll be fast!”

Her room is neat. Organized books on a shelf, a clean desk, and a tidy bed. There’s no trace of any mess or dust. The only downside is her room has no window. I wonder if that’s a part of their faith training? I look to find her closet, and there I see an assortment of habits, all designed and altered slightly. She definitely had taste if they allowed her to change things up from the illustrations I’ve seen about the holy ones of this realm. I rest the staff against the wall near the closet, and remove the fragment from Bernard’s blade from my glove. I place it on the desk. I see the mirror and Maria’s reflection. She really is pretty. Short light blue hair, calming green eyes. Even though she has some similarities to me, I can’t help but feel a little jealous. My hair had always been long and messy. Tangled up and with split ends. My dad said looks didn’t matter cause I’d get dirty anyway and waste time getting ready but… I always liked looking cute. Now I can. He wouldn’t have understood anyway! I shake my head and let out a sigh of relief,

“This is my life.”

I changed out of the ripped habit and into a new one. I picked one that had the arm sleeves with it, and opened sides of the habit. Free movement is everything! I look in the mirror once again and notice… A bit of my panties are showing. My face and ears get a bit red and I squirm. I’ll just change into something different and— a knock on the door,

“Are you done yet Maria, it’s time to go.”

I shriek.

“I guess as long as I don’t move too freely people won’t notice?!” I grab my staff from the wall, and the fragment of the blade from the desk I place back into my sleeve. I step out, still feeling embarrassed.

“Indecent.” Campbell doesn’t hesitate to speak his mind.

“Just one more spot to go to before we send you out to the world.”

The old man is so kind to me. I will make it up to him somehow. I follow them both, Campbell in the front alongside the old man, and me right behind them. They open a door that leads downstairs.

“Downstairs?”

“Yes. It’s the final thing we must do.” The old man’s voice changes into a more serious tone. My body trembles. Is this a reaction from Maria? We head down and are met with more people in holy attire. They’re in a circle with an opening to where the three of us will sit next to them? No, there's not enough space for three.

“A trap?!”

Campbell quickly grabs my arm and throws me into the middle of the clergy, I drop my staff. The group starts their holy prayers and the ground glows blue.

“You didn’t think we’d notice, did you?” The old man’s demeanor has changed.

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“The staff. The whole appearance of it, the ripped tags were a big give away.”

I’m so stupid, I should have realized the biggest thing that would suggest I’m not Maria was her own weapon. But… I think back to how the old man constantly kept talking about the “outside”. He wanted my guard to drop. It was going too well.

“Tsk.”

“We’re not too sure what you did with Sister Maria or if those adventurers are really asleep, but. This is as far as you go, demon.” Campbell smirks.