Ficool

Chapter 40 - The Magic Name

---21st September 5:30a.m.---

"Heh, it seems like you have employed some help from the Anglican Church, Sister Agnese."

From the bottom of the ship, Biagio Busoni looked up at the ceiling.

"Really, to work so much just to destroy a city. 'Queen of the Adriatic Sea'...before the end, I'd like to reexamine this place from an antique point of view, and not on practicality."

Biagio was a forty-plus year-old Caucasian man who was wearing a luxurious Holy robe. All the clothing gave off an upstart presence. The four necklaces on his neck were overlapping each other like age rings and there were ten crosses on each of them. The crosses were shining really brightly and were likely made of highly polished gold or silver. The shine of these crosses was really persistent, like thick fat that seeps into meat.

The both of them were in a 20meter side perfect square with the four wall tilted inwards to form a pyramid-like structure. Looking up at the walls which gave off a white light, one could see the tip high up in the ceiling. Though the depth from the sea to the deck was only 20-meters, the ceiling looked like it was over 100-meters.

The male caretakers of the 'Queen's Fleet' were different from the nuns in the Agnese's Forces: They were not suited for combat. It was not because they were not suited for it, but because of their job scope. No commander would hold a weapon and stand on the frontlines, so because of this, there only some supervisors.

Up till now, though it was acceptable limits, what made it a bit harder was that the nuns, who were used to working with their hands and feet, weren't used to ship-to-ship combat. They had only come here on the premise of being laborers, and they had never been trained on the ships. For things to turn out this way was to be expected...

"(That's why I requested for a special force different from the supervisors...and yet this request was rejected!!)"

The higher-ups only focused on the capability of the 'Queen's Fleet', and made such a judgement," No need for more troops; there won't be any problems with this fleet". They didn't consider everything completely, and may have caused this battle situation to change.

This factor was what made it easier for Ester to infiltrate the ships one by one without having so much trouble. Without even so much as having a scratch on her body.

"(The higher ups are as useless as the subordinates, huh? Trash.)"

Biagio glanced aside.

"So exciting. The barricade surrounding you, isn't it not so thorough?"

"..."

The one being asked this was a girl in the same room.

There was an iceball-like structure that was 7 meters in diameter in the middle of the room. Though the middle was like a soap bubble, when the 'Rosary of the Appointed Time' activated, the inside would be filled with ice. This was to freeze the nun who was suitable for the task, and destroy it magically together with the ball. This nun was now leaning on the outer curved surface of the ball.

Her name was Agnese Sanctis.

This nun was wearing a torn and tattered nun's habit that was somewhat revealing.

She didn't answer Biagio.

Or was she unable to answer? From her expression, one could tell that she was wondering why there was a need to fight, who were they doing this for, and for what reason? She completely didn't care about what was happening outside.

"It's this expression."

Biagio continued.

The four necklaces and the numerous crosses on him made some sounds.

"So irritating. So far, you've been making a shameless expression as if you're waiting for others, as if you're waiting for others, as if you're standing in the light. You have no right to make that expression. You're a sinner, and yet you look like you're enlightened; that look infuriates me!"

"Maybe I am."

However, Agnese said it confidently in a low voice.

"You can say all that right now, but when Academy City's warrior is here, you're going to regret it. So I'll give you a suggestion."

"?"

A smug appeared on Agnese's face as she stared down the high priest.

"Run while you still can."

However, it turns out that Biagio was the one laughing.

"HAHAHAHA!! What can a mere soldier of Academy City do to me when I have the power of god by my side! Nothing. God rules over all and that mere soldier won't be able to do anything to me."

"We shall wait and see."

And so the gamble began.

---21st September 5:45a.m.---

Ester landed on the deck of the flagship. It was a huge deck. In the middle of the 'Queen's Fleet', where the ships could easily be over 100 meters in length, this ship was easily twice the size of the other ships. The ice walls were a lot more glamorous than the other ships; the entire ship looked like white gold basking under the moonlight. In terms of decorations, if it could be said that the other ships were heavily focused on military functions, then this ship was more like a magnificent palace. Even the door handles and pillars had an artistic sense to them, and on the edge of the ship, there were figures of angels and the Virgin Mary.

In front of her was a door just like all the escort ships, but when she took a closer look, she realized that the door was much more fortified. The keyholes of the doors and the walls were all stuffed with ice. This was basically just like part of the wall.

However, to Ester it was just a small problem. She took out a talisman with the word "轰"(boom), moved back a few meters and threw it at the door.

Immediately upon impact, the door exploded and bits of ice started flying around in the air.

"Easy..."

However, she knew that it was almost too easy.

The ice blocks rose up from below the deck, surrounding her from left, right, and behind. The ice blocks immediately adjusted themselves, removing the unnecessary parts, transforming into 3 meters tall Western golems.

And it was not just one or two.

20 to 30 of these ice sculptures surrounded her instantly.

But instead of running away or cowering in fear, she simply grinned as she took out another talisman with the word "光" and placed it on the floor with her index finger and middle finger together placed right in front of her face.

"Spell of binding light!"

Immediately, a bunch of lines emerged from the ground around the talisman and they acted like tentacles as they stretched themselves out to grab hold of every golem around her.

Once they were all caught, they couldn't even swing their weapons. While having her hand on the talisman below her, she used her other hand and reached in for another one, this time with a word "火" and she placed it on top of the talisman.

Immediately, the tentacles around the golems were engulfed in flames and they slowly melted away into water right in front of her.

The moment she let go of the talismans, they disappeared into thin air, leaving nothing but her on the deck.

"Now then, I have to keep moving!"

Ester was running about in an aisle of the flagship. From the outside, the flagship looked more than 2 times larger than the other escort ships, yet the width of the pathways didn't seem different...but that wasn't the case. There were ordinary statues of angels on both sides of the path, and even a door was intricately carved in the form of a fairy tale scene. The huge number of art pieces suppressed the originally wide aisle.

Not even a deluxe palace and majestic palace were enough to describe this scene. Only an exaggerated comparison like a palace made of gold or a diamond pyramid would be suitable in describing it.

After running for a while, Ester reached the entrance to a staircase.

The staircase led both up and down, yet Ester ran downstairs without hesitation. Why had she ran down? Because the answer was simple.

Since prisoners were kept all the way at the bottom, she just had to assume all the other prisoners were also at the bottom. Including Agnese.

The stairs were extremely long as if they were surrounding a large tower and after running for a while, she finally made it to the bottom.

In that overly spacious area, it was like a grand hall, bigger than the dining hall that they went to on their vacation.

Ahead of her were double doors that were twice the size of her. It was unknown how thick the doors were. However, the entrance of the hall didn't just link to the staircase Ester had came from. There were numerous staircases linking here, as if all of them were linked here.

When she walked towards the door to push it open, on the floor around her, there were ice pillars that were larger than humans. There weren't just one or two, but 10-20 of them. The ice pillars started to form shapes as if an invisible blade was carving them out.

Besides the ice golems, there were two carriages with cannons on them. The golems and even the cannons were slowly aiming at her.

"Tch, I knew it would come to this."

Ester didn't want to waste too many of her talismans before the boss fight so she did the simplest solution to her problems.

She pulled out one of her talismans that read "力" and swiped it over right arm, immediately, he right arm had a thin bluish glow around it as she clenched her right fist.

For her, a necromancer needed support spells ready to back up their dead avatar in case it ever got into a pinch and so she prepared support spells that specifically focuses on the dead, but because she didn't have her avatar at the moment, she had to fight them alone.

So she rushed up to the one in the center, and swung her right fist down. Immediately, the center of the ice golem was blown right open and she had to twist her whole arm facing upwards to throw an uppercut that destroyed it completely.

Next, the cannons started firing straight towards her eye level, however she simply ducked down so that cannonballs hit the door behind her. And she took that opportunity to destroy one more golem.

"Two."

Then when she was cornered from all four angles, the golems were ready to strike, but she simply smashed the ground in front of her, causing all four of them to be thrown backwards, and she used that opportunity to punch one of them in the head, delivering a direct kill.

"Three."

The cannons fired again but this time it was at her chest level and she dodged yet again by jumping to the side. The shot landed on the door again and it seemed as if it was on the brink of breaking.

She quickly delivered three consecutive punches with her right hand in front of three golems, aiming for the head and they were immediately destroyed.

"Six."

However, because her spell required her to constantly clench her fists, and it hardly provided any sort of shield for her fist, her fist was already bleeding. She clenched her fist harder as she started to prioritize durability over effectiveness.

She punched another one of the golems back, causing it to fall on the another one and just like that, she threw her right fist so hard that it broke both of them at once.

When the cannons fired again, she immediately crouched down, just for both shots to hit another golem behind her.

"Nine."

At this point, she was starting to lose her breath as her panting just kept getting harder and harder.

That was when she loosened up her fist, causing the spell to immediately disappear as she picked up the ice blocks on the ground from the earlier fights and threw it straight at the golems.

Because they were made of the same material, it was easier for them to crack and break. And once they lost a fragment of their head, it was K.O for them.

"Twelve."

Only 8 more golems were left with the addition of the cannons and Ester sped it up after learning the pattern.

She ducked just as two golems were about hit her from the front and back and they wound up hitting each other instead. And the cannons fired again, cracking both of them consecutively.

"Fourteen."

After that, she picked up a few more ice blocks from the floor and threw it at the openings of the cannons. Because they were on auto fire, they fired again but then it backfired on them, completely destroying both of the cannons.

And then with six golems left, she picked up any sort of blocks that were left on the floor and threw it at them with whatever strength she had left in her right hand.

"Twenty."

After everything was done, Ester dusted her hands off from that battle as she took the time to catch her breath.

However, she heard the cracked door behind her start to open slowly and there, Biagio revealed himself to Ester.

"Wonderful skills! Wow, you sure know how to use my weapons against themselves. Well, I did warn the higher-ups to at least put down a bit of reinforcements on this mission but they couldn't care less."

Biagio smirked as he slowly walked out of the prismatic room that he came from.

"Heh, way to show yourself. Did you come here to surrender?"

"No, I came to propose an offer to you."

"?"

"I saw what you can do, you know using my weapons against themselves and what not and I see your potential as a deadly assassin! More so than Oriana Thomson herself, the betrayer of the Roman Catholic Church."

Biagio felt the urge to vomit as he spoke about Oriana. She was the defect of the Roman Catholic who betrayed them to follow the Anglican Church. But that was not the case in fact.

"Heh, I know I'm better than her. But you got one thing wrong old man. She doesn't serve any sort of church that you know."

The expression on Biagio's face showed that he did not believe what she was saying and if she didn't join any sort of religion he would be shocked.

"In fact, she's only working for someone. That someone happens to be the man that ruined your Church's plan on multiple occasion."

"Cheh, you talk as if he's not working for the Anglican Church even though it is quite evident that whatever he is doing is what the Anglican Church wants for us."

"Maybe so, but he's not that type of person who likes to follow others. You see..."

Ester pulled out her knife as she got into position.

"He only follows himself."

Then that was when she rushed at him, knife in hand. However, he did not even budge. He stood there as he held two crosses around his neck.

He then tossed one cross in front of him.

"This cross indicates the rejection of immortality."

The cross expanded and turned gigantic as it anchored itself onto the floor, it was three meters long and four meters thick. Ester wasn't fazed by it as she jumped on the cross, but Biagio was prepared as he faced the cross on top of him.

And it expanded once more.

The sound of impact echoed as Biagio took a step back while Ester was sent flying back from an uppercut from the cross. Her stamina still had not fully recovered yet so her reflexes were a bit slower this time round.

The fact that the floor was made of ice did not help Ester with the landing as she landed on her back, feeling the sensation of pain running down her spine.

"When the evil dragon swallowed Saint Margaret, she, too, is said to have caused her

cross to grow and rend its body from the inside. The crosses standing atop church roofs

also have the role of annulling enemies without and creating a safe space

within...Something like this."

Biagio hurled four more crosses at her just as she was standing up and she could not muster the strength to jump as the huge crosses came flying at her. So she could only take it head on.

The crosses slammed against her torso, knocking her to one of the pillars behind her and she spat a bit of blood out.

The combination of attacks were too much for her to handle.

"Fuck!!"

"You should have taken up my offer to join the Roman Catholic Church. What a shame, someone like you throwing your life away like this."

Biagio stood in front of the cross that was anchored earlier with arms stretched out as he preached to her about his religion.

"On the other hand, the cross's weight is able to cure people of their pridefulness. Saint

Lucy, maiden of light, though one thousand men and two cows pulled her with a rope,

moved not a step. The young Saint Christopher, known for his fantastic strength, nearly

buckled under the weight of the Son of God whom he shouldered...Something like this,

once again."

Biagio threw two more crosses above her and that was when the adrenaline in her started to kick in. She forced herself out of the pin from the pillar and the cross as she dived forward, barely avoiding the striking force of the crosses above.

"Just shut up already. Whatever you say won't convince me to join your pathetic religion!"

"What a pity. I was hoping to grant you salvation, but I see that you have rejected my offer. So be it then. I'll just have to kill you right where you stand. Oh, may the lord forgive me for my choice of words."

Biagio threw the crosses right at her again, but he was aiming for her chest level like just now but she knew, seeing from how the crosses were traveling towards her.

She got up in a position on all fours as she ran towards him like an animal and when the crosses expanded, it brushed her hair momentarily.

Once the crosses flew past her, she immediately got on her two legs and continued running at him.

"Simon carries the cross of the Son of God."

The moment Ester heard those words, her vision began to spin. And she felt her back being pushed down by an imaginary force.

"Hah look who's struggling to get up now."

Ester could not lift herself even one inch off the floor. The pressure from whatever spell he was using was pushing her down to the point where she felt the joints of her knee being crushed with her as well.

And this time Biagio walked even closer. He didn't even need to walk quickly. He took his sweet time to slowly approach her that was how weak Ester was.

"Insolent fool. Had you taken up my offer earlier, you could have at least hit me once from the back, but I guess now it's quite the wasted opportunity really. You even made a mess on the deck, cleaning up is going to be difficult."

A sinister smile lit up on his face.

"But if that was the price to pay for this treat, then I shall humbly accept the god's gracious gift."

He kicked Ester in the face and she could not even get out of that. He then stomped on her head as every stomp abused her cheek on the ice flooring.

A loud thud rang out in the room every second as he enjoyed the abuse he was giving her. Then he would switch it into a kick at her stomach.

This time, she vomited a lot of blood as the abuse persisted.

Finally, Biagio delivered the final blow in a form of a leg driving towards Ester's temple, knocking her head back and finally she could lay to rest.

"After all that talk about killing me and you still could not accomplish it. I hope you may repent your sins in hell."

Biagio turned around and slowly walked away from her lifeless body and when he was just one more step from entering the prismatic room, an explosion occurred in front of his foot.

He was sent flying back on his rear and when he turned around, he saw the sneaky seductress standing at the bottom of the staircase. The Roman Catholic defect, Oriana Thomson.

"My, you dare show yourself in front of me, Oriana-chan?"

"..."

Oriana did not stop to reply him as she took out her one of her flashcard and bit it off with her teeth.

The one that she had pulled out had the symbol of earth written in blue and she threw it at his feet. Biagio quickly got up, thinking it was another explosive spell, but to his amusement, nothing happened.

"Hah! Is that all you have? Nothing?!"

However, he would soon realize the effects of the flashcard once she threw another one directly at him. This one had the fire symbol written in blue.

"The cross indicates the rejection of immortality."

He threw the cross in front of him, acting as the shield again. When the flashcard came into contact with the cross, it was immediately set on fire.

However, this time it wasn't anchored to the floor like he thought it would. Instead, it came crashing down on him. He was quick to react as he jumped to the side, barely avoiding the burning cross.

Oriana prepared another one just as he was falling, this one had the symbol of earth written in the color of red.

The flashcard quickly burnt out and transitioned into a 3 meter ice wall as it rushed towards him. He could not react in time so while he was on the floor, he threw 4 crosses at it.

"These crosses indicates the rejection of immortality!"

The crosses expanded and it broke the wall and immediately slammed on the floor, shaking the whole ship yet again.

This time there was a follow up flashcard behind it with the symbol of water written in brown color. The moment it hit him, the ice floors around him rose up to trap him inside a four sided wall. Oriana slowly walked towards him as she threw another flashcard at him, this time with the symbol of fire written in brown color.

The flashcard hits the wall and it immediately set the wall on fire.

When Biagio had not made a move in 5 seconds, Oriana quickly used that opportunity to run inside the prismatic shining room that he was previously in to set Agnese free.

When she got to Agnese's ice sphere chamber, the ice was almost closing in on her, as it covered her all the way up to her chest level.

"Sister Agnese, why didn't you tell us you had to play such a dangerous role in this operation?!"

Oriana wasn't playing games as she referred to Agnese as a Sister.

"W-What are you even doing here?! You should not even be here!" Agnese shouted as she pulled her head back, refusing to look at Oriana.

"Unfortunately, this is not the kind of world I want."

Oriana pulled out a flashcard and immediately, an ice sword appeared in her hand. Using the sword like a tree cutter, she slammed it at the spherical structure. Even though, the recoil was painful to her arms, she didn't mind it.

"Stop, Oriana...you don't have to do this..."

"Oh, Agnese-chan, don't say it like that. If I don't stop this, Academy City will be destroyed and the one person who will show me a new world would be gone."

Silence lingered in the air as Oriana continued hitting the structure and Agnese quietly said...

"It's that boy, isn't it?"

"Yes...that boy promised me a new world where no one would have to get hurt anymore."

"You know what he's saying is fake right?"

"I know."

"Then why are you buying it?! A world without conflicts is impossible. He won't be able to change that fact!"

"I know. But what other path do I have now? All the other churches are fighting over one another, the Roman Catholic Church is hurting innocent lives as an excuse to make them pay for their sins. The Anglican Church is sending people like us to do their dirty work for them."

And as she was almost reaching the core, she continued.

"This world..."

And the cracks were starting to show.

"Is just full of..."

And then it broke.

"CORRUPTION!!"

Agnese was freed from her stronghold as she fell into Oriana's arms. The ice sword in her hand disappeared as she hugged Agnese tightly.

"I explored my options, you could say and ended up with him."

Agnese was pulled into such a tight hug that her face was just getting sacks of meat thrown at her cheek every second.

"Okay! Okay! I get it! Now get off of me!!!"

She pushed Oriana back as she dusted herself off.

"I see where you're going now."

"So, why don't you join me as well once we get out of here."

Oriana reached out to Agnese for a handshake deal, and Agnese stared at her hand, as she considered her options as well.

However, a male voice echoed throughout the prismatic space.

And at the entrance of the door, Biagio was standing there, sweating profusely.

"Ha...ha...ha... I see you've managed to escape..."

Oriana held on to her flashcards tightly as she faced off against Biagio again who was having difficulties with breathing due to lack of oxygen inside that ice box. They must not have heard him escape because of the sound of ice clashing against each other.

"I have to say...you are truly impressive, Oriana Thomson. To be able to outwit me without moving so much. You really are a magician of pure skill!"

"Thanks, old man. But now that I've secured my target, would you be so kind as to let us walk out of here peacefully?"

"Heh, unfortunately...I cannot allow that!! The plan was almost perfect if you two had not stuck your nose inside of the Roman Catholic Church's business!! You had your freedom, now I'm going to take it away from you."

Biagio limped towards the both of them as he held on to his crosses on his neck and wrist. He was ready for round two.

However, just as he took a step closer, he heard ruffling sounds behind him and he could not believe what he saw next.

Ester stood up from the ground weakly as she took a deep breath.

"H-How?! How did you recover so fast from that?! The weight of the cross cures pridefulness!!"

Biagio threw a cross at her as he chanted that, and it transformed midair as it expanded into the same massive crosses that he had been using so far and this time it was moved quick. But she simply dodged it with her head down and it scraped past her hair.

"Hnk?! The cross--"

"Ahhh...I've had it with pretending."

Biagio stopped his chanting as a look of fear enveloped him.

"I guess I do have to reveal it now."

"W-What other tricks do you have?! Did you fake your injuries or what?!"

"No...I only faked..."

Ester looked at him with one eye opened and her eyes pierced his soul.

"My magic name..."

Even though Ester had denied her magic name to Accelerator, it was because she felt that she had no use for it and she also kept her word to him of not playing with the dead anymore.

"?!"

"B-But what's so special about it?! Everyone has a magic name!"

"I only made a promise to a man that I would never play with the dead, but now that it has come to this. I guess I do have no choice."

Ester straightened her back as she laughed for a bit.

"My magic name is...Death004 - Remember it as you are under my command now. Head of the Rosenthal family and the last member of the Rosenthal family here to bring you back from the dead!!"

However, nothing happened. She didn't throw any spells or anything and she had not made a move either. A cold silence was left in the air as everyone watched in anticipation at what was going to happen.

But nothing happened still.

One thing was clear though. A black aura surrounded her as what was supposedly a bright room turned dark. Almost as if there was no lighting in the place at all. But that did not stop Biagio from attacking.

"S-Simon carries th-the cross of-of the Son of God!!"

Immediately, the same pressure hit Ester on the back as she fell to all fours yet again. But this time, she was smiling.

"Hah!! All that talk about a magic name just to have nothing to show for it. Talk about gas lighting. I'm appalled that you can even smile in this embarrassing situation that you are in right now."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Hm?"

"Let me ask you something then."

Ester shocked Biagio as she slowly got back on her two feet.

"How many people do you think die at sea from the time this earth was created until now?"

"Huh? Why ask such a stupid ques--"

Before he could even finish, the floor beneath him shook. Actually, the whole floor was shaking as if an earthquake had occurred in the middle of the Adriatic Ocean.

Suddenly, two skeletal arms grabbed his feet and he immediately fell to the floor.

"AHHHH!!! WH-WHAT IS THAT?!?!?!"

"Heheheheh....HAHAHAHAHA!!! Get ready, because they have just arrived."

Ester said as she stared at his grimace.

Skeletal arms poked out from the floor, some even having flesh in their body still, and some...were even nuns and priests.

"W-WHAT THE HELL?!?! Y-YOU ARE A LICHT!!"

"Wrong, I am a necromancer and this is my army."

Ester smiled sinisterly as the priest tried to get away.

"S-Simon carries the cross of the Son of God!!!"

Even though he chanted that, it was no use as more and more arms rose up from the floor and some were already climbing out of their holes.

"It's useless and you know it, Biagio." This time it was Agnese who gave the holy priest the bad news.

"The weight of the equipment on the ship is being shared by all of the undead here. So, it is pointless for you to even cast that."

He then looked at Oriana and Agnese who stood there with an unnerving expression.

"P-Please help me!! I'll do anything you want!! You want money, you want freedom? I'll...I'll give it to you!! Or do you want me to serve you instead? Oriana, you said that you were serving someone right?! I'll-I'll serve him as well, please!! JUST LET ME LIVE!!"

But the both of them looked away as he was pulled into a crowd of the undead. Their wet soaking hands stripping him of his overalls. And then they stopped to look at him from above. And he wondered why they stop just to look ahead to see that they were making a pathway for Ester to confront him.

His crosses were stolen from him, so he had no way to use his magic anymore. He quickly got on his knees and begged Ester as she slowly approached him the same way he had approached her.

"Please!! I beg of you!! Let me live!! I...I don't want to die!!"

Ester placed her foot on his head as he continued begging for his life. She spat on his head and placed her foot in front of him.

"Worship my foot you little dog."

"Agh?!"

He looked at her foot right in front of him, stunned.

"If you don't do it this instant, I'll kill you right now. Slowly."

Ester smiled as she looked down on him, the feeling of over dominance was too good. And when she said that, he immediately started kissing her shoe and licking it all over with his hands on the floor beside his head. However, in a fit of desperation, he pushed her down with his weight and while on top of her, he tried to use his fists as a last resort assault.

But it didn't even come close to an attempt as his arms were held back, and slowly the group of undead which ranged from 50 to 60 surrounded him. They pulled his arms while holding on to his body, and so his arms were slowly being pulled out. The sound of tissues and flesh slowly being ripped apart could be heard throughout the room followed by his screams.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!!!!!!"

But it was futile. Oriana and Agnese were already gone from the floor as they used that opportunity to get out of there. Leaving Biagio with the group of undead.

His arms were slowly coming apart as they ripped it out slowly, ensuring he gets the full experience and it was torn to the extent that his skin was revealing the flesh underneath it, followed by the ligaments holding his joints.

And then...

*SPLAT*

Both of his arms were completely pulled out as Ester pushed him away. He screamed on the floor as he wriggled around like a worm, with only his legs left.

He could not even thrash about properly because he didn't have the support of his arms. He looked so pathetic as he screamed in pain.

"PLEASE!! STOP THIS!! I-I'M SORRY FOR HURTING YOU JUST NOW JUST STOP I'M BEGGING YOU!!!!"

"Heh, you should have said that when you were beating me down. Maybe then I would have felt a little bit of sympathy for you. But it's too late."

Ester looked at him from the top yet again as she was thinking of ways to torture him. Then it hit her.

"Since you like to step on others and enslave them, why don't I make them step on you?"

The realization hit him when she said that.

Immediately, all of the undead were stomping on him as if they were marching on a carpet. Even after walking past him once, they continued to go back and forth, leaving him with only his legs to squirm about.

The constant marching on his face made it nearly impossible for him to scream anymore as his entire body got a very uncomfortable massage from the skeletal feet and half rotten feet.

The marching only stopped when Ester snapped her fingers.

The undead army stopped and got back into formation again as she inspected her little piece of artwork that could rival any artworks made by Leonardo da Vinci.

His face was all bruised and battered up as red spots were visible on his body. He was passed out already and that was when she got bored and gave them the final order.

"Eat him. He may repent for his sins in hell."

She said as she turned around to face the staircase leading out of the flagship. Immediately, the whole ship started to shake as bits of ice from the ceiling started dropping down.

"It's...breaking apart..." Ester mumbled as she looked back at Biagio.

"I guess all good things will have to come to an end."

As she stepped out of the sparkling room, it seemed like she had one last job to do. At the bottom of the staircase, her final obstacle was there.

Her final battle before the end of the mission.

Oriana Thomson.

"I knew it would come to this. There can only be one person standing beside him after all."

"Ester, you know this is wrong as well."

"Do you know what else is wrong?"

"?"

"Accelerator, he had been taking every single obstacle that came to him even if he didn't want to. He suffered and suffered even when he had to rest. Every blood shed from him hurts me as well and I can't stand it. What's worse is he won't even ask me for help! I've offered my hand to him, but he doesn't even want it! I don't want him to get his hands dirty, even I know that path is wrong. That is why..."

Ester glared at Oriana as she raised her hand up to command her undead army.

"That is why I'll shed the blood for him. So he won't have to resort to killing anymore."

"Unfortunately Ester, I can't allow that as well. We don't have to kill everyone who is bad. Those nuns on the deck, they didn't deserve that fate."

"Too bad, who knows? What if we had let them live and they find a way to counter us? We have to kill all witnesses on the opposing side to ensure Academy City still lives. I'm doing this for him."

"And so am I. But I never resort to killing them."

"Well then, let's settle our differences."

And so, Ester with her horde of undead and a knife against Oriana with her flashcards, the battle of righteousness began.

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