《Lone: The Wanderer [Dropped Version (includes original draft of the rewrite's first volume)]》Book 4 Chapter 16: Lies and Retribution
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Lone was surprised to see Johnathon Bright waiting for him at the Mystopolis' southern gate.
Ignoring the crowds that were here to see the rare Seeker as well as the people who were giving his own group a lot of attention, Lone approached the heavily armoured man and raised an eyebrow. "I didn't expect to see you so soon. I can think of a few reasons why you'd be waiting here. I'm hoping the actual one is a good one?"
Johnathon smiled warmly. "Shall we talk inside of the city walls? I'd feel more comfortable in there."
"Sure, in a minute. I've got business with the gate guards here first. In particular, a certain B-ranker," Lone said as he started scanning the surroundings for the mentioned man.
Johnathon chuckled a bit nervously. "Ah, well, I also wanted to talk to you about that."
"Hmm?" Lone cast a sceptical gaze on the XXX-ranker in front of him. "Whaddya mean?"
"Well, as it would so happen, it's not every day that a group of fifty kidnapping and sexual assault victims are dropped off at one of Mythopolis' gates, so as a member of the Church of the Primals, I naturally sought to help them, but that peculiar orb of yours tried to stop me. It and the women are currently in the main hall of the cathedral along with the guard that you put in charge of them, so I was wondering if you could come with me to deescalate the situation? It's to my understanding that the orb is under your command," Johnothan asked as nicely as he possibly could.
Hazel scowled at the incredibly handsome man. "He's lying."
Lone wore a surprised look on his face. "Oh?"
Johnathon frowned deeply. "It is a serious crime to claim that a Seeker of the Chruch of the Primals is not telling the truth, Hazel McCullen."
"You know her?" Lone questioned as the cogs in his head started spinning. 'He lied and he knows Hazel? Still, I wonder why Hazel even bothered to say anything? Is his lie a white or black one? Was it really so serious that potentially exposing her unique skill was worthwhile? Regardless, I feel like she has ulterior motives...'
"Of course. Due to her holy magic aptitude, she has been a fairly hot topic amongst the higher-ups in the church. As a sign of respect considering that she is your companion, Lone, I shall forgive her for this transgression." Johnathon's warm smile returned. "Now then, shall we head to the cathedral?"
Lone blanked the heavily armoured XXX-ranker and turned to face Hazel. "What was he lying about?"
"It's true that the guard is at the cathedral, but not by choice. Apparently, he was trying to go to The Adventurer's Guild to see what they could do about those woman after getting permission from his captain," Hazel explained, making Johnathon narrow his eyes slightly.
"If you go on from here to make things up about the church and myself, Miss McCullen, then I will be forced to punish you in the name of the Primals," the seeker stated.
Lone practically laughed in his face. "You can fucking try, but I wouldn't recommend it."
Worry washed over Johnathon's face at Lone's remark. Hazel was confident since her brother was on her side, so she began explaining what she'd learned from the XXX-ranker's thoughts.
"Members from the Church of the Primals saw Saturn and stupidly claimed that it was a holy relic because it uses Primal energy. They reported this to Archbishop Samson, who then, in turn, ordered Johnathon to reclaim it, but he got his ass kicked. If he takes off his armour, you'll see that there's a massive unhealable wound on his chest." Hazel greatly enjoyed the disorder that the Seeker's mind was in right now.
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Johnathon couldn't figure out how she knew all of this. He had perfectly suppressed the incident and hidden his injury, so it should have been impossible for Hazel to have this information. Perhaps some form of mind-reading might have been considered by him if he didn't keep a mental barrier up at all times. Unfortunately for him, Hazel's passive unique skill was an unblockable one.
"After that, he noticed that Saturn was only protecting the women, so he pressured the guard and the women to return with him to the church's cathedral where seekers Liza and Micah are keeping watch while Archbishop Samson is trying to wipe Saturn's ego. The man's been cycling through various spells in the attempt, but each one fails," Hazel stated.
"Oh? Well, I'm not overly surprised. I'd be more shocked if some nobody could wipe Saturn's ego. I doubt even I could do that at this point without hundreds of millions of mana points," Lone said a bit jokingly.
He then narrowed his eyes as he stared at Johnathon. "If this is true and not some sort of elaborate fuck-up on your end, Johnathon, then you're going to need to hire a new archbishop soon."
Lone ignored the peanut gallery that had gathered around his and Hazel's group as well as the XXX-ranked Seeker while he walked through the city gate - not even bothering to stop and have his ID checked. He was pissed off and he could always do that later.
Eolande chuckled as she floated past the frozen-stiff Johnathon. "Foolishness knows no bounds. You all knew that Saturn belonged to Husband, but you still chose to try to steal it. I pity the church."
Swind didn't say anything, but he did have some thoughts of his own as he followed Lone. 'How curious. Why on Earth would the Church of the Primals not worship Lone instead of acting like they currently are? he is the master of four of the Primals, and will no doubt gain dominance over the other five with time. I have to agree with Miss Eolande. How foolish and pitiable.'
Johnathon had to fight every instinct in his body which wanted to attack Lone and stop him. Thankfully for him, he valued his life, so instead, he chose to think over how best to deal with this situation as he followed the mysterious foxkin through the city towards the cathedral.
The fifteen-feet-tall and heavily gilded doors to Mystopolis' Cathedral of the Primals slammed open as a very upset foxkin strolled right on in.
What he saw was the fifty woman and the gate guard standing in a corner with Liza and an unfamiliar XXX-ranker who must have been Micah stationed on either side of them to prevent them from fleeing, no doubt.
Lining the pews were servants of the church all donning their holy robes as they channelled power towards the room's heart.
There, at the centre of the hall, was Saturn peacefully floating without a care in the world as an aged and very wise-looking man in a robe with a large hat on his head chanted word after word, presumably in an attempt to strip Saturn of its will. The power from the worshippers collected at the tip of his cane which was clearly fueling his spells.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing to my property?" Lone yelled towards the man just as all eyes had started to turn towards him.
A few seconds passed before Lone's friends and Johnathon entered the cathedral. Archbishop Samson paused his chanting and he smiled. "I see that Seeker Johnathon has brought you here, Ninetails."
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Lone crossed his arms over his chest and didn't look very happy. "I'll only ask you one more time. What the fuck are doing to my property?"
Archbishop Samson looked very confused. "I'm not sure what you mean, Ninetails. Anything that can harness Primal energy belongs to the Church of the Primals by law, as it was decreed by the Primal Element of Life aeons ago."
He could clearly tell that Lone cared very little for his explanation, and he recalled how powerful this SS-ranker was, so he chose to compromise. "We do not normally do this, however, I am willing to compensate you for the loss of this tool since you seem to be quite attached to it."
"Hahaha!" Lone's sudden laughter surprised the archbishop as well as the three Seekers. The gate guard was about to keel over from all of the things that had happened to and around him today when Lone decided to reply. "Like I give a flying fuck what a single Primal said ages ago! In fact, I wouldn't give a fuck even if a Primal told me that Saturn belonged to you right this second!"
Gasps of shock ran throughout the room as the worshippers were suddenly overcome with an unended hatred towards this insolent demi who was practically denouncing their gods to their faces.
"Listen here, I'm not 'quite' attached to it, I built the damned thing!" Lone's yell made Archbishop Samson question the foxkin's sanity, but Lone couldn't care any less about that. "You're going to do two things for me, okay? One, you'll stop trying to mess with Saturn. Two, you'll tell your dogs to fuck off and leave those women and the guard alone. Do that, and I'll forget that this ever happened. I'm a firm believer of second chances."
Lone then sneered. "If you don't, then I'll do both of those things for you, but trust me, it will not end well for you if you decline." He diverted his attention to Liza and preemptively said, "If you raise your hand against me here, you are dead. I already gave you a second chance, so don't push your fuckin' luck, 'kay?"
Liza was paralysed with fear. She couldn't help but recall her duel with Lone this morning and how easily he had defeated her despite the massive difference in their ranks.
Micah, on the other hand, was very carefully using one of his skills as secretly as he possibly could. Unlike Liza and Johnathon, he had yet to see Lone's powers, so he felt confident that so long as he wasn't noticed, he'd be able to dispose of this demi the second Archbishop Samson gave him the order.
The archbishop himself was having very different thoughts. "You created this holy relic?"
Lone shrugged. "It's not a holy relic, but yeah, I did. About a month ago. I needed a good weapon so I could kill an Ancient. Saturn saved my life and was infinitely useful during my fight against Ythmagobla."
"I was under the impression that it was the late king of the eastern world tree, Ele'hunda, who defeated the Darkness Dragon, no?" Archbishop Samson asked.
Again, Lone's shoulder expressed his disinterest. "What Ele'hunda did was save my life. Yhtmagobla was going to die regardless after my fight with him," he said before sighing. "Look, I'd rather not discuss this. Stop your spell right now. It's not even going to work. Do you really believe that someone as weak as you can erase the ego of an item so powerful that the system doesn't even know how to rank it?"
"Of course," Archbishop Samson replied with a smile. "Micah, would you be so kind as to help me?"
Hazel's face distorted into one of anxiety. "Lone! Watch out!"
Soph could sense the flow of mana inside of the hall shifting and warping dangerously as something was fired in Lone's direction. She didn't give him time to react and instead chose to grab his hand and teleport him twenty-feet away, back to the cathedral's entrance.
The next second, a massive pillar of holy power eviscerated the spot that Lone was previously standing on, leaving nothing but a seemingly endless hole in its wake.
"Soph, who'd that come from?" Lone asked calmly.
She raised her free hand at pointed at Micah. "Him. It was hard to tell, but it was definitely him."
"Okay." He rubbed her head lovingly, making the girl grin from ear to ear. He then looked at his younger sister. "Hazel, was Micah acting alone?"
Hazel pointed at the archbishop. "He was secretly ordering Micah - the one who attacked you. No one else knew, though."
"I see." Lone approached the newly-created hole and held his chin. "Damn. It's a shame you teleported me away. I could have tanked that. I'm sure it's a nice skill to have." He turned to look at the profusely sweating Micah. "Hey, can you use that skill again?"
"I... I do not know-"
"He can't," Hazel interrupted. "He can only use that once every week, and only after he's collected enough ambient holy magic, which could take anywhere from a month to several years."
Lone shook his head regretfully. "Oh well. You've got a choice. A physical death or a mental one?"
"What?" Micah didn't fully understand.
Lone looked at him like he was an idiot. "You just tried to kill me. Both you and this dick-licker over here fumbling about with my weapon are both going to die. Your first chance was wasted on fucking with Saturn and trapping these women and the guard against their own will. I'm asking you if you want me to physically kill you two, or if you'd rather I do what I did to Cross? Either way, it'll be quick."
Liza was grinding her teeth loudly enough to be heard. She was incredibly close to jumping on Lone and trying to kill him despite the stupidity behind doing such a thing.
Archbishop Samson was heavily regretting his impatience upon seeing Saturn. Had he not been so keen on adding it to the church's very bare collection of tools that could harness Primal energy, perhaps things wouldn't have escalated to this point?
He had believed that Lone could be bargained with, but he had now come to realise that the foxkin before him was uncompromising in several regards. Thankfully, he did still have a single card left up his sleeve.
"As much as I'm sure we deserve your wrath, I feel it would be wise to not end our lives," Samson claimed as he finally cancelled his spell and endured the backlash from doing so.
Lone chuckled. He waved his hand to motion for the elderly man to continue.
"Sigmund, the Grand Templar of the Church of the Primals and one of the most powerful Divines in existence who is on the brink of Ancientness, he is on his way to Mystopolis now. I would not advise killing us. Doing so will only anger him further," the archbishop explained.
Lone found himself laughing once again. "Fucking idiot. Do I look like I give a fuck? I'd welcome a powerful Divine's anger. Imagine how many levels I'll get from killing him?"
The worshippers were in the same boat as Liza and were mere moments away from attacking Lone for his blasphemous words.
Hazel didn't wholly agree with her brother's line of thinking, but she still thought it'd be smart to expose something to him. "That knight, Sigmund. He's heading here to capture you on the Archpope's orders anyway, so no matter what, he's still your enemy."
"And there you have it," Lone said with a smug grin on his face. "Mental Destruction."
Archbishop Samson's body slumped to the floor as his facial orifices oozed his own blood.
Lone turned to look at Micah whose profile had turned a deathly shade of white. He opened his mouth to plea for mercy, but Lone muttered those two words again, and the Seeker's body then mirrored Samson's.
Liza, Johnathon, Reginald the guard, the fifty women, and lastly, Alisa, were all incredibly emotional. Some were scared, some were horrified, one in particular, however, was enraged.
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