Nneka frowned deeply. "So that's what's making them so confident... They are using forbidden arts... It must be a forbidden Totem." Nneka thought to herself, her mind quickly running different speculations.
Forbidden Totems were Totems that possessed unnecessary destructive power, Totems that were corrupted.
The masked figure took one step forward. "Now, hand me the boy."
Nneka shrugged, standing in front of Obi. "He's right here. Come at me!"
The masked figure paused, sighing in a low tone. "Very well then."
He placed his hand on the floor, holding up the Totem with his other hand. Nneka frowned at the sight of it, it was indeed a forbidden Totem, looking black as death.
A black mist twirled out of the Totem, hovering around him. The next moment, more masked figures started forming from the black mist, standing beside him.
But these new people coming from the mist looked lifeless, their eyes pitch black inside of the bone mask.
Nneka clutched her blade tighter. She couldn't sense any life or energy coming from these things. "Did he call for help?"
The masked fellow stood up slowly, taking his place at the middle of the eight new people.
"Behold... My Undead Clones."
Nneka's eyes widened.
"Undead clones..."
But before she could ponder it, the masked figure moved. "Attack!"
The eight undead clones surged forward, flying towards her. Nneka furrowed her brows as she moved too, clutching her blade tightly.
Water seeped out of her totem, shrouding her.
Obi stared on in awe. "So this is the Priestess' battle form...?"
The water covered from her neck down to her heels, acting as both a suit and a shield.
She weaved through the undead clones like she was performing a ritual dance and, a few moments later, they were all on the floor, unmoving.
Nneka towered over them, panting slightly.
The original masked figure jumped, throwing a dagger at her.
Nneka spun immediately. She used her frozen water blade to block, but the impact was tremendous, and her blade was knocked away.
Nneka frowned as she faced him. She blitzed forward, arriving in front of the masked figure immediately. She swung her hand at him, but the masked figure suddenly seemed to smile out of his bone mask. It was an unsettling smile.
Nneka suddenly noticed that she couldn't move. "What did you do?"
The figure in the bone mask responded. "I called them Undead Clones... didn't I?"
That was when she saw it. Hands, multiple hands had grabbed onto her, pulling her backwards and stopping her from moving any further.
She immediately reached for the water that clothed her. She reached into it, dragging out crystallized water like a sword being unsheathed from its scabbard.
However, the clones weren't going to wait for her, they spun her around, and the next thing she knew, she was plummeting from the air at high speeds.
She landed heavily on the floor.
Another clone jumped down at her, but she quickly raised her blade, stabbing it into its neck. She pulled out the blade, and another clone lunged at her.
Nneka stepped back, then suddenly, the other blade which had been lying around moved on its own, stabbing into the clone's head.
Nneka heaved slowly. "That's it... I crushed its brain, it shouldn't be able to..."
Nneka's pupils constricted in horror as she slowly took a few steps backwards, the clones were resurrecting again.
The masked fellow laughed, it was almost maniacal. "I told you... they are undead!"
Nneka paused, staring at the clones which were getting up again. There had to be a way to kill them. Or at least, immobilize them.
"It's futile! Feel the power of the undead!"
The clones started moving towards her again, very quickly this time.
Nneka frowned, these things were not running out of stamina, but she was already burning out, her totem too, was nearing its limits. She had to end this quickly. Nneka's eyes lit up as she stumbled on an idea.
"So that's it...!" She muttered to herself.
Nneka closed her eyes as the clones approached. The water around her body disappeared, eight small blades hovering in the air instead.
She focused, channeling her powers and converting the water.
"Mmiri-Nso...!"
Nneka's eyes fluttered open as she roared her attack, all eight of the blades flying out at once.
They all struck their targets, lodging deep into the hearts of the undead clones.
The masked fellow started to laugh again, but he soon stopped immediately.
He felt it, all the connections were severed, all eight of them at once.
"W-what did you do!?" The masked man roared, not believing it at all. One by one, his clones started falling to the floor.
Nneka spoke, her voice was calm, smooth like a stream. "Did you forget that I am a… priestess?"
The masked figure gritted his teeth. "So? What does that have to do with anything?"
Nneka nodded. "Oh, plenty. There was one thing I was sure of, the undead doesn't exist... not in this realm. So that left me with only one possibility, your clones... are evil spirits, binded to you with blood arts, trapped inside those poor vessels."
The masked figure glared at her, his eyes bloodshot with pure anger and hatred.
Nneka continued. "What better way is there to kill evil spirits than to exorcise them? My holy water was perfect for the job."
The masked figure gritted its teeth, glaring at Nneka.
"I'm not done yet!"
But Nneoma soon dispersed into water, only rematerializing behind him.
"You are."
The masked figure's eyes widened as a frozen water blade pierced his back, coming out from his chest. The masked figure dropped to the floor, then it collapsed, its face going rigid.
Nneka breathed heavily, she took a few steps forward, then she stumbled.
Obi scampered to her side, holding her firmly.
Nneoma spoke first, "We need to prepare everyone. If that just now was an ordinary member, then the elite members would be even more difficult to handle."
Obi nodded, understanding her point. The Priestess was a very powerful individual, even though Nneka was still young and had not yet reached her peak, it was clear that the masked figure had been very powerful.
***
The fight between Nneka and the masked figure from Ncheta-Oji had just ended in a screen conjured from blood arts.
Two people stared at it, shaking their head in disappointment as Nneka and Obi walked away, back into the town hall. They wore the same bone masks on their face.
"The first one spoke. "Not only did Adighije fail to bring back the kid… he also lost his life."
The second one seemed to grin beneath the mask. "You can't blame him, he was up against the Umu-mmiri Priestess." After a while, he continued. "Hey, Onuma, what do you think? Should we attack them now and seize the child?"
The first man who had been identified as Onuma responded with a sigh and a subtle shake of the head.
"No, let's let them be for now, instead let's go get Adighije's body."
The second figure looked a bit reluctant. "Can't we just let that moron experience death a little? Then maybe he would be more careful with his life."
Onuma shook his head. "No, Ozi, there's no time for that. Our plan has already commenced, we can't afford to dawdle now. We need as many people as we can get."
Ozi stood up, dusting himself. "Let's go get him then."
Onuma nodded, then almost immediately, they were both swallowed by something that looked like a pitch black portal, it was the same thing Adighije had appeared in.