"Su?"
When Miss Maria, walking quickly, saw Su again, the turncoat who had defected from the evil camp wore a sunny expression, his clothes neat and pleasant. Thanks to his appearance, with an innate hidden attribute of considerable Charm, Su had been getting by rather well during Maria's absence by leveraging his strengths.
At the very least, he hadn't been cut in half by that Paladin who shouted that all evil must die.
"Good day, Sister Maria. To see you safe and sound is truly wonderful." Su smiled happily; in fact, he had really been somewhat afraid that this benevolent NPC he'd latched onto might suddenly vanish.
There are no walls that the wind cannot pass through.
Word of Sister Maria's hometown, Seth Town, being burned to the ground overnight in a tragic fire had already begun spreading through the Radiant Cathedral with the return of the advance squad. Su couldn't help sighing, good deeds go unrewarded. The reputation of Sister Maria's kindness was well known, and yet she had suffered such a thing.
"Did you need something?"
Maria's eyes casually swept the surroundings. To be honest, the unruly ways of early Fractured players, daring to scam, kill NPCs, and plunder their gear and materials, still unnerved her. If it weren't for the strength of Fractured's enforcement mechanisms, she feared that by the time of official release, chaos would have run rampant.
"Ah, ah, nothing particularly important. Just-"
"Alright, hold it. Don't say it now." Maria lightly cut him off, glancing toward the direction of the Clocktower. "I have something to attend to. If it truly is important, write it on paper and have a squire pass it on to me."
And with that, the black-clad nun hurried off, for she did indeed have urgent business.
Just moments ago, Archbishop Mark had sent a squire to summon her to meet him as soon as she was settled. As the greatest extraordinary faction in Fractured, the Radiant Church still retained barely enough capacity to operate even after many of its key figures had been reassigned.
Naturally, it kept informed of unusual events within its territories.
For example: Chaos.
The tragedy of Seth Town had been born of Chaos. Though the presence of Maria and Gehrman had prevented further spread and snuffed it out at its source, that did not mean every place struck by Chaos would be so fortunate.
Even if the Radiant Church did not yet know what Chaos truly was, it had already discerned from gathered reports the dangerous nature of this strange power.
What's more, there was the oracle of Gwyndolin, the Dark Sun…
Thus, those like Maria, who could quickly and effectively contain and handle outbreaks of Chaos, became people of interest to the Church of the Sun. Partly out of doubt, and partly for observation.
When Maria met Archbishop Mark again, she found the old man the same frail figure, seemingly on the verge of death. For some reason, she felt as if she had returned to the moment she first came to the Cathedral, before anything had happened.
Sensing her step upon the Clocktower, the Archbishop squinted as though rousing from slumber.
"Sister, what time is it?"
"It will soon be the hour of Vespers."
"Have I slept so long? …Ah, ah, age catches us all; so many things are beyond me now." Shifting slightly in his chair, the Archbishop gave a self-mocking smile. To Maria's eyes, he looked more like a true old man than ever before.
Her thoughts turned; she recalled the notable bosses from version 1.0 of Cinders of the Last Flame. As far as she could remember, there had never been an Archbishop Mark among them, she had joined too late to recall every name.
The Archbishop straightened and stretched.
The creaking of his joints made Maria's scalp prickle; she half-feared he might throw his back out with such a motion. Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened. Trembling, he rose from his chair and beckoned Maria to follow.
From the top of the Radiant Cathedral's tallest Clocktower, they could feel the whistling wind and behold with the naked eye most of bustling Torrent City.
"I recall, a hundred years ago, the city was nowhere near so prosperous. The port was barren wasteland."
A hundred years…!?
Maria, listening to his reminiscence, roughly gauged his age,and found it stretched beyond what she could fathom.
"I watched Torrent City grow with my own eyes. I watched people draw near to the gods, and watched all things become better. Sister, can you understand such a feeling?"
"I cannot," Maria replied honestly. "My experience does not match yours. Perhaps if it were destruction, I could understand."
Her hometown had just been set aflame by her own hand, reduced to ashes. The pain of irretrievable loss stabbed at her heart like a knife. Who could understand this anguish? If Torrent City were burned down, perhaps then she could grasp his sentiment.
A shadow crossed Maria's expression.
It was as though the Archbishop had eyes in the back of his head. Still gazing down at bustling Torrent City, he suddenly said something that made Maria's heart skip a beat.
"Sister, you are well-versed in Chaos, aren't you?"
"…"
Impossible, he knows of Chaos? Maria's crimson eyes flashed with rare, dangerous light. As Cainhurst's pure-blooded princess, when she sensed events were spiraling beyond her expectations, an instinctive aura of vampiric menace unfurled around her.
And she could hardly afford not to be cautious. Before she crossed over, the world of Fractured had been one where Chaos was the sworn enemy of Order. Even in the Abyss or the Hells, domains of the old evil gods, any trace of Chaos meant purges. To be discovered linked with it was more than enough reason to fear.
"Chaos. The Warp. Demons. And… those whose names may not be spoken. Am I wrong, Sister Maria?" Each word from Archbishop Mark fell heavy, leaving Maria speechless.
"…You are not."
"Do not be surprised. My knowledge comes from divine mandate. From the Sun's warning, I understood that certain recent events in the province were most unusual." Clearly, his understanding was shallow compared to Maria's, but enough. This was divine revelation, a warning of a profound malice assailing the world from beyond.
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