Debauchery of a Soul-Eating Wraith

With three beasts falling and vanishing back into the Abyss in quick succession, Agenon looked over and his face screwed up in discomfort. A pushback from the Cardinals he could still accept but this upstart's successful kills was putting a bad taste in his mouth.

With a visible strain of effort, the Wraith King increased the incentive of his commands on his Abyss beasts, causing them to break free of Evian's authority but even as they roared, there was very little more they could do.

Daria's thorny spell had had more than enough time to infiltrate their Eldritch bodies and reduce every physical capability they had by at least half. Since her spell, being of the Fifth Circle only, could not bring about the deaths of the beasts, this was the absolute next best thing.

Felling the Beasts after that was a matter of teamwork and there was only one detail that Evian made sure was clear to Armin since the Knight was not familiar with his ways,

"I get the final kill."

"On all three?" Armin asked, surprised.

"On all three," Evian said in all seriousness.

"Very well," Armin answered as he took his stance with his sword valiantly raised.

"The nerve to look away when we are before you," Cardinal Callum Lorient called out as he charged out a spell to strike the heart of the Wraith Lord.

"Oh, you WISH you could kill me!" Agenon yelled while reluctantly looking away from Evian to pay attention to the Cardinals who were almost done doing away with his Beasts.

The mission was a bust and it was about time for Agenon to cut his losses but unfortunately, it was him against the very best of the Arcane Church and the entirety of his Eldritch energy reserves would not out make a dent in the Array they had erected.

There was also the fact that the energy from Callum Lorient's spell was so mighty that it trapped Agenon from all angles, making sure to keep him rooted to the spot to receive his almost divine punishment.

There was no escape but why should he give any of these Spiritual fuckers the pleasure of bringing about his end.

Callum's spell struck out but a second before it made contact with Agenon's body, a snap sound permeated the entire hall right from the Wraith King's body before he shattered into millions of tiny flakes that melted away into the wind.

*BANG!*

Callum's spell hit no actual target and slammed into the wall of the hall instead, shaking it violently.

"Did you— Callum, did you do it?" Cardinal Krion asked while Cardinal Vorden frowned.

Callum appeared slightly stunned as he gawked at the damage he had caused to the wall instead of the body of his target. His attack had carried an exorcising energy so its effect would have been the complete dissolution of Agenon's body but Callum could not bring himself to believe that was what just happened.

And of course, it wasn't.

The only one who knew this for sure was Evian.

[You have acquired 1,200,000 Soul Points]

[You have acquired 1,200,000 Soul Points]

[You have acquired 1,200,000 Soul Points]

'I knew something wasn't right,' he mumbled as the notification of his recent wins flashed before his eyes.

That was not Agenon's real body but it was not exactly a clone or a doppelganger either. The former would have not been able to show off such a level of might and the latter was only useful for a quick distraction to facilitate a quick escape. What Agenon had done was much more 'sophisticated'.

It was as though he had created a spare body capable of exactly what the main body was capable of and able to fool every active sense from telling them apart. This skill or spell was useful to give its wielder a backup life of sorts.

So long as the main body is not found and killed, it can create as many Alternate bodies as it can but of course, such a powerful skill/spell could not be without its downside.

[Dormancy— That is one of the consequences of using the 'Alternate body' Spell. The Main body cannot move or do battle while its alternate body is out and about.

The other consequence is that the Main body will endure about Ten percent of the harm that brought about the end of its alternate body.]

'But what just happened…' Evian started.

[You guess correctly. The Alternate body was not 'killed'. The spell was simply canceled by the Main body and although there are still backlashing consequences, they are negligible and it will be 'up and about' again soon.]

Evian had a hand on his jaw, stroking while deep in thought,

'If I had killed the Alternate body, how many Soul Points would I have gotten!'

[You would have received over One million Quasi Eldritch Essence]

The edges of Evian's lips twitched. 'One million' sure sounded good but knowing what Quasi Eldritch Essence was thanks to his 'entanglement' with Karenssa and her creations, he knew of the significant exchange rate.

'The 'Alternate Body' Spell sure is impressive. It even locks your killer out of real gains despite how much of its main body's powers it has access to.'

[You can give it a try too. Might even get a limited-time discount offer from the Decadent Store…]

'It seems useful as some type of 'Extra life' but being locked in dormancy is not exactly what I count as fun. Could be useful to mess with people though but I'll rather hold off on it.

As for that discount, I'll just use it for something else…'

[There's no discount]

'You just said…'

['Limited time offer'. That's gone now.]

'Tsk, shame on you for getting me all excited. But hey, you were pretty useful today. You gave me tips even without me asking.'

[I was feeling particularly generous…]

'Can I hope that will always be the case?'

[You can't.]

'Tsk. Again, shame on you. But, thank you, though.'

[You're welcome… Boss.]

The moniker the Assistant used, whether meant as a joke or not, reminded Evian that he was technically in charge, and in the realization that this had hardly been the case so far, he simply chuckled to himself, shook his head, and pulled himself out of his thoughts to focus on the party hall.

Every single one of the summoned Beasts had been vanquished and the Cardinals had brought down their Array so those on the outside, ready to assist, could flood in. Those who had been under the Eldritch influence for an extended period were temporarily taken aside and quarantined in case of any residual effects and the dead were being cleared.

Evian saw the Martial Temple Knights stride over to where the bodies of the Dead Knights had been laid and with Armin taking the lead, he joined them.

Olivia, bruised from her battles with the Abyss Beasts, led them in salutes to the sacrifice of the dead while reciting sacred words from the creed of the Martial Temple that was meant to lead their spirits to places of rest.

Evian didn't know the words to the creed so he just remained in solemn silence and while he did not believe in the prayers or the Martial faith, he tried to unite his heart with that of his colleagues.

When it was over, the Knights stepped back and let the attendants of the Arcane Church take the bodies away to be tended to in case of a return trip to their families.

Meanwhile, Callum Lorient continued to frown at the crack he caused in the wall,

"I can't shake this uneasy feeling I have," he said in a low voice, "Arcanists, troop out and search every inch of the Sanctorum for even the slightest trace of our enemies."

"As you wish, Cardinal!" A squad leader said before he led his Squad to carry out their Superior's orders.

"A waste of time," Cardinal Vorden said, "No one who did this will stay behind. From the moment the dark veil was brought down to this moment in which we speak, they have had more than enough time to get a head start on any search party."

"So you suggest we do nothing?" Callum asked while the other Cardinals rolled their eyes.

They had all just faced an ordeal; One that left them shame-faced at how uselessly they fared in the face of tribulation and what were these two doing? They were battling for their insufferable goal of becoming Pontiff.

"They act like they are the only two in the running," Cardinal Krion mumbled with a frown slightly creasing her beautiful face.

The other Cardinals agreed but both Callum and Vorden ignored everyone besides each other.

"When did I suggest we do nothing?" Vorden asked, "But rather than set our sights outward, we should rather direct our suspicions to the inexplicable group that brought down the darkness.

I am referring of course to your Sister, her protégée, and Evian Stygian."

"Haha, now I know you have lost your mind," Callum said with a laugh, "You'll accuse the ones who saved us?"

"I'm not accusing them of anything. Yet," Vorden said with a look of a man pained to even suggest yet and yet had to for the 'greater good'

"You have to at least acknowledge that it's a bit odd. Who here can boast of having stronger perceptions than us? But even then, what was so thickly shrouded from our senses just happened to be unearthed by these three.

I think it's wise to at least assume they are connected to all this in some way."