---21st September 4:21a.m.---
"Quick! Search over there!"
"I think I heard some noise over there!"
"Check there, they could be hiding there."
Ester and Oriana were still in hiding behind a few wooden crates as the nuns and that one single priest tried to find them.
They had to be careful when moving as one single movement could give out their location.
Why?
Because the floor was made of a crystal-like object that resembled ice, so when the moonlight was shining, it basically lit the whole floor up so their shadows could possibly give their location out. There were a few times when the nuns were standing just right beside them, but they didn't pay too much attention to the details on the floor. So they had to keep relocating themselves so they were closer and closer to the door which supposedly led to their rooms.
When they weren't looking, Ester plucked one piece of wood from one of the crates and flung it far away from where they were standing and into the ocean. Which drew the attention away from their location.
It made a huge splash sound as if someone had dived into the water, and they all started to make a ruckus because of it.
Using that opportunity they quickly opened the hatchway linking the deck to the inside off the ship and they ran into the nearest room. The moment they opened and closed the hatchway, the nuns started to run around the area and supposedly inside the hallway.
The place where the both of them were hiding should have been the fort as evident by a row of cannons that were arranged on the wall of the ship.
There were several chairs in front o the cannons, a shelf on the wall, and some large buckets. these were all made out of a white translucent material. From the inside walls to the furniture, the entire body of the ship was glowing. As the texture was the same, it gave a sense of slipperiness. Light was everywhere, but it was hard to read in this situation. It was truly an abnormal space.
They didn't know where they were, and Oriana too didn't know where they were because when they looked outside of the ship through the small gaps beside the cannon, they could only see the dark-blue waters of the sea.
"Tch, and now we're stuck here. Where are the other ships that idiot mentioned about?"
"Maybe they're waiting for us at shore?"
"Nnnghh..."
Ester gritted her teeth as she looked on at the blue sea.
As if on cue,
*BOOM*
An explosion could be heard from the surface of the sea. With that sound, an ice ship, similar to the one they were riding, emerged from the water. After that, 5, 10 translucent ships also appeared. They could only view it from one point, but it was likely that the same thing was happening all around.
The empty horizon of the Adriatic Sea was now covered with numerous ships.
The dark-blue surface of the sea was now illuminated by the white light which protruded out from the ships.
"Bingo."
Ester cheered silently as she watched the ships slowly sail together.
"I guess we know what we're supposed to do now, Oriana."
Oriana looked surprised as Ester said that.
"Wow, you're very confident in our skills huh, Ester-san."
"Of course. Numbers doesn't mean anything when there is such a huge gap in the difference between our magic prowess and theirs."
"Wow, your first compliment for me. I must be very grateful for that now, mustn't I?"
Ka chang.
At that moment, the handle of the cabin door twisted.
Ester and Oriana who were both standing beside the door, were shocked. Oriana turned towards the door as Ester pulled her knife out.
Numerous doors were being opened. It was likely that all the doors on this level could be automatically opened at the same time, as the sounds could be heard from right to left.
There was nowhere to hide inside the room, and so they resorted to fighting.
The nun opening the door had pencil-thick braids of red hair. She had the cheeky expression of a naughty child with a body even more petite than Last Order. Though she was wearing a similar nun's habit as the other nuns, her outfit revealed a lot more skin, like a mini-skirt. The thing that Ester recognize her was the pair of 30cm thick sandals.
"Agnese?"
Ester blurted out.
Agnese Sanctis.
The battle nun who had led a company of Roman Catholics to try and assassinate Orsola Aquinas because of the incident involving The Book of the Law.
"..."
Agnese was in full view as she stared at Ester and Oriana. She could not believe who she was looking at. The outcast, Oriana Thomson, and Accelerator's helper, Ester Rosenthal.
"Ohhhh Agnese-chan~!! Come give Nee-chan a hug!!"
"Urk?!"
Oriana closed the door behind Agnese as she gave her a big hug, snuggling her face right into her large breasts that could almost rival that of a watermelon.
"Ooomphhff!!! Get off me, Oriana!!"
"Ohh, feisty one aren't you?"
Oriana teased her as Agnese slowly made her distance between the two of them.
"What are the two of you doing here?!"
"Do you know her, Oriana?"
"Of course I do! When I was still training under Sister Lidvia, she was the talking point of the church! About how she lost the battle to a mere kid and how she faced off against a priest and lost!"
"Urk! Don't mention that!! Aren't there any other stories that you have heard of me?!"
"Hmm...not that Nee-chan can remember..."
Agnese felt so defeated after that one comment that her head tilted so low to the point no one could see her lips.
But Ester did not want to waste anymore time and so dared ask her.
"Are you here to fight us?"
That one question killed the vibes in the room as Agnese stared her in the eyes while Oriana did the same to her.
They weren't playing any games here, the two of them were on a mission to destroy the Roman Catholic's plan, but what was Agnese going to do?
"What I plan to do depends on what the both of you want to do. If you came here to fight, we can cause a huge ruckus and have the whole crew inside here. Or, you can choose to help me instead."
Agnese smirked as she folded her arms, fortifying the amount of dominance she had on them.
Which was none.
She had absolutely 0 dominance on them as Ester furrowed her eyebrows with her lips still showing no signs of sympathy, she spat out: "We don't necessarily need to cause a huge ruckus here. You don't even have a weapon on you. And what I have..."
Ester pulled her knife out as Oriana also realized Agnese didn't have a weapon.
"Ah, I understand what happened to you. Because of your failed mission to kill Orsola, the Roman Catholic Church has sent you and your group here to do labor work."
"Ek..."
Agnese only made a small yelp as she realized how exposed her plans and how instead of threatening them, they were the ones threatening her.
"You are...correct, Oriana."
"So? Why threaten us?"
Ester questioned her as she ambled towards the small nun. To Agnese, Ester was definitely scarier than the #1 esper in Academy City. Her demeanor and tone were ruthless, as if all sorts of sympathy she had held for others were gone.
Agnese felt it as the bright-blonde haired girl stoop to her. She was not playing around.
"Hey hey, are-are you sure that's how y-you want to treat me? I'll scream for help you know?"
Agnese feared for her life as she cowered into the corner. Ester placed her knife at the small nun's throat and in a low voice...
"I dare you. Scream one single word and I'll make sure your windpipe is gone."
"Gh?!"
Then she felt a sudden tug at her wrist and then an arm wrapped around her neck and she immediately knew what was going to happen.
However, before Ester could react, the arm squeezed tight, cutting her of all sorts of air and she was held in that position for 10 seconds. She could not even break out as the knife dropped to the floor, and all the strength in her body was gone.
The moment her body went limp, Oriana released her grip on Ester as she took a deep breath.
"The both of you met before I presume?"
Agnese was still trying to catch her breath from being put in that position as she placed her hand on her small chest.
"Yes...during The Book of the Law incident. But she did not play a big part during that time..."
Agnese paused for a second to think about what she wanted to say and then she remembered.
"Speaking of which, where is that boy?"
"He's not here. He didn't get the invite from the girl."
"The girl sent you here?"
"Yes~ she had plane tickets to Italy, how could I not reject such a gracious offer to come back to my country~"
Oriana squirmed around out of happiness, of course it was a fake type of happiness.
"If only he was here, this situation would have been much easier."
"Why? What do you need help with, Agnese-chan~"
Agnese bit her lip as she clenched her fingers.
"Sister Angelene and Sister Lucia were taken hostage on this ship. They tried to escape the Queen's Fleet but failed and were recaptured. My group isn't allowed to use their magic as well, which is the worst part."
Agnese held back tears as she choked on her words.
"My group is forced to work 18 hours a day, doing basic chores around the ship. They are like slaves at this point. I don't want that. And if we don't save Sister Angelene and Sister Lucia in time..."
"Their brains get fried, is that correct?"
Oriana finished the last line for her as she had a bitter look on her face.
"Yes...that's why...I need your help, Oriana. Please...save me."
"...You don't even need to ask."
Oriana's face showed a bright smile and she had a very sincere look.
"I'll help you get out of this place."
"Thank you..."
For the first time, as proud as Agnese was, she threw away her pride just to kneel down to Oriana. However, Oriana didn't want her to do that. She simply lifted her up and hugged her again.
"Sister Agnese is so cute, aren't you~!!"
"Ooomhphhfff?!! Stop doing that!!"
Her cries were muffled as her face was up inside Oriana's breast yet again.
"Don't you have to get back to work?"
Agnese's face recomposed itself as she looked at Oriana with a confused look.
"I don't have to work because most of the people doing labor in this ship are my captured squad. I'm only a psychological safety mechanism that's meant to prevent this from happening. Say for example, like how a leader amongst the prisoners is meant to control all the prisoners."
Agnese smiled sarcastically.
"In the ex-Agnese's forces, I'm the one with the most influence. If I submit completely to the 'Queen's Fleet', my squad members will think 'I can't do it if she can't'...this is basically just a mistaken view."
Agnese sighed gently.
"Even though, I'm imprisoned, I still have the luxury of choosing coffee or fruit juice after a meal. Not bad, huh? In order to maintain this comfortable life, I have to make everyone work."
"..."
"As for Sister Angelene and Sister Lucia, they thought they could save me if they had broken out and rebelled against the Roman Catholic Church, but were they so naïve to think so. I didn't even need to work, and once everything was over, setting up The Queen of the Adriatic Sea and blasting Venice with it, they could have soundly gotten out of this hellhole. But they put my safety as their priority and ended up getting caught."
Agnese then looked at the door and back to Oriana then to the sea.
"If you're thinking about escaping here, you might need their help. I'll be going to the flagship to perform my duties now. In the meantime, please save them."
Before Oriana could answer, a ruffling sound could be heard from below them, and it was coming from Ester who had just woken up after being passed out.
"If you know where the flagship is, bring me there."
"My, Ester-san. You woke up pretty fast."
Ester glared at Oriana who had put her in that state, and then looked back at Agnese who had her hand at the door handle.
"I could bring you. But I want you to save my friends first."
"No."
That simple answer shocked her as Ester got back on her two feet as she took a deep breath.
"If we're going to end this, we have to kill the leader first. Once he's been killed, we can establish the amount of control we have over the other nuns here and we can safely go back."
"Kill? Were you sent here on an assassination mission?"
Agnese glanced at Oriana and Ester, but Oriana didn't know the specifics so she just shrugged her shoulders, clueless to what their original plan here was.
"The Chairman didn't specify how we should take him out, so I suggest we kill him so that he never pulls this type of stunts ever again."
Oriana and Agnese looked at each other with a worried expression. They knew this was not the path they wanted to walk. Oriana wanted the bloodshed to stop, while Agnese just wanted to protect the ones she cared about. They did not hold on to any sort of religious beliefs anymore.
That was the point.
There was no religious beliefs holding them back.
"Killing should be within your jurisdiction, no?" Ester questioned as they looked at each other with a feeling of uncertainty.
This was not right.
They both knew this wasn't right.
Even if the enemy was going to destroy a part of the country, this was no way to deal with them. Agnese learnt after facing off the saint on that fateful night. The saint could have came up with any reason to kill her but instead she was spared.
And Oriana could have been killed by the Accelerator, but he chose to give her another chance to turn over a new leaf.
But Oriana knew a fight with Ester would only lead to the both of them being caught, and Agnese having her two beloved friends killed so she could only suck it up and submit to Ester.
"Alright, we'll do it your way. On the condition that we save Agnese-chan's friends first."
Ester gave her a reassuring smile as well as a nod and said," Sure. Glad we can come to an agreement."
---21st September 5:18a.m.---
Ester and Oriana were both walking carefully but quickly down the corridors of the ship. Different from a normal ship, the corridor was extremely narrow. This should be a characteristic of a warship. It felt like if people gathered, it would be so packed that nobody could move about.
"No one's here just like Agnese said."
Just as Ester had said this, they walked out of the corner and onwards.
Agnese had said," The fleet's control, operation and attacks all rely on magic. More than half the people on the fleet are originally from my company, and there's a danger of them revolting if the fleet relies only on them. The squad has about 250 company, and the number of ships totals about 100. After calculations, there are only a few people controlling many workers. Of course, they would have done quite a lot of work. But because of that, there are loopholes."
It seemed to be that way.
However, even if they confirmed that no one was in the aisle, they couldn't get rid of the nagging insecurity that they may be ambushed and surrounded from both sides.
According to Agnese, Lucia and Angelene had been taken to the 3rd level. The place where they kept the useless workers should have been a cabin near the bottom of the ship.
The duo went down the steep cliff-like stairs. Part of the corridor on the 3rd level consisted of windows. As they were walking, Oriana looked outside and saw a small figure walking on an arch bridge.
"No doubt, that is Agnese-chan."
"Tch, seemed like she got impatient. But at least we know where she's going."
The place which Agnese was moving to was most likely the 'flagship' that she had talked about. In the middle of all the ships, several hundred meters in front, a larger ship was surrounded by many ships. The length and width was three times as large as this escort ship. It felt like looking down at a city from the top of a castle.
However, they placed it at the back of their minds as they rounded the corner and suddenly, there was someone, or otherwise something guarding a room.
It was a giant rock-like 'thing' that was blocking the door. It was a 3-meter tall golem made of ice. The sculpture was giving off a light-bulb like color, and the transparency level was rather low. The golem was wielding a pole of ice and it just stood there, without a care in the world that the two girls were just 10 meters away from it.
"So, how will you deal with this using a knife, Ester-san?"
"..."
Ester thought for a while before finally crouching down to touch the somewhat crystal-like floor that resembled ice.
"I'll support you from the back. All you need are your fists."
"Huh?"
Oriana looked confused for a second but she trusted Ester, so she did as she was instructed. Then, Ester chanted a spell.
"O' great beast, protect me from my foes and grant me strength. Enforce!"
A pentagram formed around her as the spell took effect.
The crystal-like object that Ester was touching formed around Oriana's fist as she clenched them. They weren't heavy. In fact, they didn't have any weight to them as Oriana casually lifted her arms up and down.
"That's a very nice support spell you have. But are you sure this will do anything?"
"Shut up and fight. The enemy is approaching."
Ester still had to force her hands on the floor to keep the spell up and running.
And just as Oriana turned around to face the golem, the golem was rushing at her at an incredible speed. She put her guard up just as the golem swung the ice pole diagonally from the bottom and she was knocked back, but only slightly due to the guards of the ice block.
"Heh, this is really helpful after all."
Oriana charged at the golem as she pulled her arm back. The golem tried to defend itself by putting it's pole in front of it, but Oriana simply smashed the pole into two before following it up with a straight punch from her left fist. The golem was knocked back, but was still standing and that was when Oriana realized the golem didn't have any feet. Almost as if it was merged with the ship itself.
Oriana then rushed at it again and delivered a hard right hand to it's face, shattering it apart before having a go at it's lower body with her left hand, and that was all it took to destroy the ice golem.
The moment it was destroyed, the ice surrounding her fists broke apart at the same time and Ester walked past Oriana and stood at the door it was guarding.
"Come on, pick up the pace." Ester ordered and Oriana slowly walked towards her.
"Geez do you have to be so mean like that boy."
Ester glared at her and she immediately flinched as a small and light smile formed on her face.
"Okay, okay, I get it. Calm down, okay?"
While grabbing the handle of the door, Ester noticed that the door wasn't locked.
And so, with her knife in hand, she opened the door and a loud sound echoed throughout.
It was a neat room, it looked like a doctor's clinic. Even so, the beds were made of ice as well.
There were about 7 people inside the room. 2 girls and 5 men. The girls were wearing habits with yellow sleeves and skirts as they were chained up on the wall. They were Lucia and Angelene. Both of them were wearing fold rings that were secured tightly on their cloth headpiece. The 5 men were unhealthy priests that were skinny like needles. And on the ice table nearby, there were many metal rods, and these were the only things that weren't made of ice. The tips of the metal rods were as sharp as a pencil.
And of the 5, 2 of the priests were sexually assaulting Sister Lucia as they groped her breasts with lust-filled eyes. And Sister Lucia could not stand their actions as she had a face of disgust as she looked up at the ceiling.
However, the moment they saw Ester and Oriana at the door, they were shocked beyond their minds.
"What?! Who invited 2 more playthings for us?" Said one of the priests.
It seemed like they could speak Japanese as well as compared to the other nuns who could only speak in their native language.
Ester gripped her knife tightly as she used that opportunity of confusion to slice one of their throats. Her movement was so fast that she was already behind all of them in a single instant. Or maybe it was because they were distracted that they couldn't see her running at them.
However, one thing was clear. Blood started oozing out of that one priest's throat as he held his throat as if he was choking.
"What the?!"
Ester didn't stop to say anything. She followed it up with a stab to the remaining two who were watching right at their stomachs and one of them was unlucky enough to have the blade shift up and sliced up all the way to his chest.
The other had a follow up stab to the side of his throat.
"Wait!! Wait!! Spare me please!!"
However, that did not waver her desire to kill.
She rushed at the both of them, stabbing one of them at the side of their neck while pushing him so the other priest could be pushed down as well. And when she took out the knife from his neck, she immediately guaranteed the kill by stabbing his brain.
As for the last one, she basically sat on his chest with a demented smile forming on her face as she pulled one of her arms back and slammed it into his skinny face followed by the other fist.
It was a ground and pound attack. And the sound of thuds rang across the room repeatedly before transitioning into a sort of mushy sound as if someone was beating meat. And by the end of it, he became a beautiful piece of artwork as Ester wiped the sweat off her face using her bloodied hands. His face was distorted and any form of identity he had was gone from his face as his eyes bulged out, lips torn apart and nose squashed inside his face like a tomato.
It was a horrifying scene, needless to say.
Meanwhile, Oriana took the time to release Sister Lucia and Sister Angelene from their prison and escort them outside the room. They both had just witnessed something scarring. This wasn't the same girl as last time. That much they knew.
When Ester came out of the room with her knife still dripping blood from the earlier attack, she was smiling at the both of them.
"So, we're here to save you as instructed by Agnese. Let's not beat around the bush here. She told us that the both of you knew where the flagship was and the only way she was going to allow us into the flagship was if the two of you were set free. So, do me a favor and get out of here this instance."
The two of them were too frightened to speak. Angelene was blue with shock, her teary eyes staring over, grabbing Lucia's waist. In contrast, Lucia's white face was slightly blue as well due to the horrifying scene that had just occurred. She placed a hand on Angelene's shoulder, while Angelene was clinging onto her tightly.
"B-But we can't escape d-due to our nun's habits..." Although Angelene was the more timid one, it was Lucia who had instead said it.
It took Ester a while to think, but when she looked at the men on the ground, she placed her smile back on her face as she told them to...
"Strip."
"..."
There was a long silence lingering in the air as the three of them processed what she just said.
"I said strip. Once you're stripped of your clothes, just cover yourself with this black robe."
Ester went inside the room and grabbed the bloodied black robes and tossed two of it to Lucia while keeping one for herself.
"You want one, Oriana?"
"Thank you Ester-san, but I'll pass..." She replied with a tinge of uneasiness in her voice.
"Suit yourself. Don't come to me when you start feeling the cold."
"But...there's no where to change..." Sister Angelene said in a low voice.
"What are you talking about? There's a room right beside us, or are you scared of seeing some dead people?"
"Eek!!!"
"It's okay. They won't bite so get in or change right here, right now. I don't want to waste anymore time."
And so, the Sisters had to make a decision.
-----------------------
When they got out of the room, the robes that were covering their hair was pulled back, revealing their bright golden hair and the robes covered them all the way to their toes.
"Good. Now we can get on to attacking the flagship. The both of you can leave now."
Ester's tone was calm and cold. She made it clear that she didn't need their help and that he objective was clear.
"But how are we supposed to get out?"
"?"
At that moment, Ester and Oriana looked at them with a puzzled face.
"We can't get away from the security of the 'Queen's Fleet'. And once we're found out, we'll be the target of many huge cannons."
"Excellent. I'll have more people to use for distraction then, is what you're telling me."
Ester said with a pleasant smile.
"What? Wait, why are you even doing this to us?"
"What do you mean? I'm doing nothing to the both of you. In fact, you should be grateful that I saved you from those priests. Did you want the Sister beside you to suffer the same fate as well?"
Lucia bit her lip as the sudden realization hit her and she just kept quiet.
"We need an escape route though. If there is no escape route from here, we're not going for Agnese. We have to come up with a plan in case anyone here messes up."
"W-We have a w-way out..."
Sister Angelene softly spoke as she continued tugging at Lucia's priest robe.
"Show me."
Lucia and Angelene crouched down and raised their hands that were on each other; it looked like an international dance. After that, their fingertips touched the icy floor that was giving off a white light glow.
Like a pupil in the eye expanding, a large hole 1.5 meters in radius appeared on the floor.
"This is one of the spells that uses the ice ship. It can be used to open such a hole, and through this hole, the seawater can be solidified to form an underwater pathway down to the bottom of the sea, and escaping from here. However, we need to be at the bottom of the ship for it to be effective."
"Good. Looks like I could use your help after all." Ester said as she sinisterly smiled at them, a fierce aura had surrounded her as Oriana looked at her in displease.
"Now, we go and save Agnese."
Lucia had a concerned look on her face.
"Was she not with the both of you?"
Ester and Oriana looked at her as they raised one eyebrow.
"What do you mean? She said she had to go on board the flagship for reporting duty. Maybe she might come back or maybe she might drop the bridge for us. Who knows?"
At that moment, Lucia and Angelene had a shocked expression on their face.
"What...she went to the flagship?"
There was a cold silence that lingered in the air. Was it because of the temperature of the ship? Or was it because they were heading deeper out into the sea?
However, one thing was for sure, and that was Lucia was furious at Ester.
"QUIT JOKING AROUND!!! WHY DO YOU THINK WE RATHER RISK OUR LIVES AND THINK OF A WAY TO ESCAPE FROM PRISON? IT'S TO PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING! IF YOU'RE SAYING WHO'S IN THE MOST DANGEROUS SITUATION, OF COURSE IT'S SISTER AGNESE!!"
"Don't you dare shout at me."
Ester rushed her as she placed the knife at her neck.
"Show me some manners before speaking, bitch."
"You foul-mouthed fiend. How were you sent here to save us? You're more like enslaving us. This is no different to what the Roman Catholic Church is doing!"
"I think there's a misunderstanding here. I'm just teaching you some manners. Was it so hard to even speak to me properly?"
"N-No..." Lucia stuttered as she looked at the ground.
"Good girl. Now, as you were saying?"
"I don't know what you have been told, but the 'Queen's Fleet' is only the preparation phase of this huge scale attack. But it required one more component. The 'Rosary of the Appointed Time'."
Upon hearing this, Oriana's eyes widened in shock.
"I heard about this spell just recently. It was said that this spell was used to remove the targeting limit on things. But I never once heard about it being mentioned from Sister Lidvia."
"I don't know too much about the details of this spell. All I know is that they're going to destroy Sister Agnese's brain just to activate this and we can't let that happen!!"
Ester took in everything they had just said and she processed it for a while and she found the answer to what they were planning to do already.
"In other words...by removing the targeting limit on Venice, they're going to target something else. And that something else is..."
"...Academy City!!"
Oriana and Ester both shouted as they realized the dire situation that they are in. Even if they were to fire it, would that boy even be able to stop it? They knew he could pull of some sort of bullshit miracle from his ass, but they didn't know whether this was even possible to stop.
But one thing was clear, it was up to them to stop Biagio from firing it.
"We have to hurry. NOW!"
The four of them ran up to the deck and when they got up to the deck. They saw a whole group of nuns and a single priest in the center.
"So you've decided to show yourself now huh?! Get ready for a--"
Before he could even finish his sentence, something sharp pierced his throat and it made a sound that sounded like someone was chewing on an apple. He tried to look at what had hit his throat but his throat was being blocked by something that resembled a tree from his perspective.
When he realized what it was, he tried to scream but he couldn't and that was when blood started to escape his throat and he dropped to the floor.
All the other nuns were frightened by what happened. It was not everyday that someone gets stabbed.
"You all saw what happened to him." Ester said as she slowly walked forward.
"I reckon you don't try and fight us if you don't want the same thing to happen to you."
She went into the center of the nuns as she reclaimed her knife.
"Be afraid. Make one single move, and I'll kill you."
One of the nuns started to shiver in her voice as she panicked.
"H-Help!! Some--"
Right after, an ice block was thrown to the back of her head and as she fell to the floor, blood started to flow out of her black nun's habit.
"You see what happens to you if you don't listen?"
Ester crossed her arms behind her back as she walked back to the front as if she was a general commanding an army.
"All of you line up. THIS INSTANT!"
And they all did as they were told. They all lined up in front of her in a straight line.
"Let's play a game of eenie meenie miney mo. The one who is mo, will get killed and this game will carry on until I AM SATISFIED."
They all shivered in their habits as Ester immediately started the game.
"Eenie...meenie...miney..."
And when she reached the nun who was supposed to be the 'mo', she stopped and said...
"miney...miney...miney..."
"MO!"
She grabbed the nun by the neck, pulling her back as she stabbed her stomach multiple times.
"UNFORTUNATELY FOR YOU!! HAHAHAHA!!!"
Every stab was ten times more painful than the previous one and she didn't stop until the nun stopped breathing. By the end of it, the nun's stomach contents were visible. It seemed like she had a good meal for dinner.
"Those who are wearing the gold bracelets, please stand behind Lucia. Those who aren't..."
"Will play a game of tag with me!!"
At that instant, the black hooded figure rushed towards a few nuns, delivering a stab right at their vitals in a quick and easy motion. Wasting no time for a follow up attack.
The nuns tried to run, but they couldn't as Ester was too quick for them. She was having fun because they couldn't even fight back.
"So this is what a bully feels like!! It feels goddamn amazing!!"
She was going crazy, as if this wasn't crazy enough. She was losing it.
When the last of them had been taken out, it was a bloodbath. The once luminous ship was transformed into a slaughterhouse. The white lights on the floor were gone, replaced by a rather darkish red appearance.
Every corner of the ship had blood.
"Alright. You guys are free to roam around now. Anyone knows how to pilot the ship? I want to go closer to the ship. No? No one knows? What a shame."
Ester kept asking around like a maniac, as if whatever she had just did was perfectly normal for her. Like it was routine for her to just kill. Like it was so simple to take one's life.
"If no one knows how to pilot it, I'll get there myself. Oriana, you following?"
Oriana looked like she was going to vomit just from the sight of the bodies as she held back a vomitus.
"I-I'll catch up with you later..."
"Hm...suit yourself."
From the robe, she pulled out a talisman and threw it on the ground. The moment she jumped on it, she was launched up and landed on the next ship. Where the second round of slaughter began.
Oriana watched on from the other ship as Ester elegantly moved around like a ballerina flipping her body around, throwing kicks and punches at the same time while utilizing her weapon to incapacitate the enemies. She was basically unstoppable. The nuns and the priests could not do anything to stop her rampage.
"..."
"Is this who Academy City sent to stop us?" Lucia questioned Oriana as she stood beside her watching the ongoing slaughter on the other side.
"Unfortunately so. It seems like Academy City has decided on the decisive action to end this war for so long."
"Tch, if this is the type of people Academy City are sending in, I'd rather be a slave here than to have them win."
Lucia had an unpleasant taste in her mouth after she said that.
"You are only mistaken, Sister Lucia. It's only her that decided to do this. That boy, he would have done it a different way."
That was when Sister Lucia felt chills running down her spine.
"Wait...by that boy, you mean the white haired boy?"
"Yes, I believe the two of you have met before?"
Lucia's shoulder shuddered as Oriana reminded her of the meeting she had with the Accelerator.
"Please no, he did some things to me that I don't want to remember..."
"Oh? And what might that be?"
"Please no..."
"?"
Oriana did not think Lucia was the type of Sister who would do anything weird seeing as how she's like an older sister to Angelene.
So what did Accelerator do?
As Oriana pondered over that thought, she looked across to see Ester finishing the last one while making the nun beg as she held the knife to her forehead.
"Hahhhh....This is not going to be good..."
When Ester finished, she used the jumping talisman once again to hop on to another ship, that could lead her closer and closer to the largest ship in the center of the whole fleet.