Sifting Through The Remains

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 13, Post Number 301

-Outside the gates of Silent Cemetery, 12:04 A.M.-

Wearing her green, white, and gold outfit with bike shorts on underneath the skirt plus Argent Gloves on her hands, Leona landed a short distance away from the cemetery gates on the back of Winged Lion. The moment the summon came to a halt she climbed off of its back and dispelled it, then looked above. In the night sky was a waning crescent moon and numerous clouds that looked like they were about to cover the moon and cut off the moonlight. The temperature was also a little chilly, but it was not unbearably cold. walked over to Athena, who was waiting on her roughly three meters away. The orange-haired cleric greeted Leona with a smile and a wave of her hand.

"Hey Leona!" Athena cheerfully greeted the Wizard Saint. Leona waved back with her right hand. The cleric's eyes went over Leona's outfit and a look of mild disappointment crossed her face.

"I kinda wish you were wearing a tube top again, but that can wait until we go to the mall!" Athena stated, causing the blonde to blush a little. The cleric laughed for a moment before stopping.

"All right, here's the deal. Our scouts have been watching Silent Cemetery for the past two days and no one's gone in or come out. The local zombies are also out in force, but that shouldn't be anything new. There are so many of them that our scouts couldn't get very far inside the cemetery to search for the cult's base, but the first section should be clear. However, 'were gonna have to fight our way through the rest of it." Athena told Leona what the Order's scouts had learned, which was that the cemetery had not been visited by anyone the past two days. There were also plenty of walking corpses about, but that was not news to the Wizard Saint. She had brought Shoki and her Scout Laser Pistol, so she was more than prepared to deal with the undead.

"OK then. I'm ready to go when you are." Leona informed her partner. Athena pointed towards the gates with her right hand.

"I'll lead the way." She stated. Leona drew Shoki and followed Athena to the gates. The orange-haired mage opened the left gate and entered, leaving Leona to follow behind her and close the gate.

-Inside the cemetery, 12:07 A.M.-

Leona shut the gate behind them and looked around the immediate area for zombies but did not see any that were alive. There were over twenty scattered on the ground throughout the area with holes in their foreheads consistent with a stab wound from a sword. There were also piles of dust scattered here and there that were the remains of zombies who had been on the receiving end of a Holy spell.

After getting a look at the area around her Leona faced forward and saw that Athena was looking at her as if she had been waiting to talk to her. The Wizard Saint made eye contact with the cleric and waited for the latter to speak.

"I'm really not sure which direction we should go, Leona. The scouts couldn't get much further than the entrance because of the opposition they would have to face, so we'll just have to find the cult base ourselves. There's only two directions we can go, so we're bound to find it sooner or later." Athena told Leona what they would have to do.

"OK." Leona responded laconically. The cleric raised a hand for silence.

"Do you hear that?" Athena asked. Leona listened and heard moaning on the wind. There was also more than just one moan... it sounded like multiple moans.

"Yeah, I hear it." Leona replied in the affirmative. The moaning sounded like it was coming from the right, but that was not all. It sounded like the noise was getting closer, which meant that the sources were heading for them. Leona spotted the first zombie about the same time Athena did.

"There they are!" Athena called out. The first zombie was an older man wearing a golden monocle over their right eye and wearing a tattered black three-piece suit. Behind them was a procession of other male zombies dressed in similar attire. They numbered roughly forty, which prompted Leona to bring in a summon for help. She put Shoki on the ground and channeled magic into her body, then raised her hands to the sky.

"TEMPEST AVIAN!" Leona called out. The metallic owl soon arrived and landed to the right of Leona, who picked up Shoki again.

"Take to the sky and help us fight those zombies!" Leona commanded. Tempest Avian flapped his wings and flew straight up, hovering overhead for a few moments before flying towards the incoming zombies. Just as the metallic owl got in motion the two mages heard multiple moans from the left.

"We'd better hurry and deal with these guys first!" Athena urged Leona.

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Leona would do as Athena suggested, but before she went into action herself she would call in two more summons to help out. Leona channeled magic into her body, raised her hands into the sky, and called out the phrase "GRIFFON SUMMON!" The summon appeared overhead and waited for instructions.

"Help me with the enemies on the right! Fly right and wait for my instructions!" Leona instructed him. He was not going up against Medeia tonight, so he would be able to survive this battle. He would also be able to contribute more than just being a distraction since he was fighting zombies, not a Warlord.

"Of course." He said before flapping off to the right and joining Tempest Avian. Once he was on his way Leona brought out one last summon.

"GUARDIAN LION!" Leona called out the third summon she needed the help of. The metallic lion appeared in front of her on all fours but soon stood up on two.

"Take care of those enemies on the left!" Leona instructed him. She was going to use his longing for battle to her advantage by letting him distract all of the zombies in the group coming from the left. Since he was metallic he had nothing to fear from being bitten... if any of the zombies could bite him, that was.

"How many of them do you want me to kill?" He asked.

"All of them. And be sure to go for the head." Leona gave him permission to take on the entire group by himself. She heard deep laughter.

"Gladly!" He exclaimed before bounding off to do battle with the horde shambling towards them from the other side. Seconds after he sprinted off to do his thing Leona hurried off to help Athena fight the enemies on the right.

"A little help, please!" Athena called out before raising her left hand and firing a bolt of golden magic that hit a zombie in the torso, disintegrating it on the spot. She then activated the spear in her right hand and stabbed another one through the head with it, disintegrating it as well. She then took a few steps back as the horde continued to surge towards her with their arms extended.

"On the way!" Leona called out as she ran. She then gave telepathic instructions to Tempest Avian.

"Tempest Avian, use Steel Flechettes and don't hit the orange-haired mage! She's on our side!" Leona telepathically instructed the metallic owl to thin out the crowd a bit. She watched as he flapped his wings and sent out a rain of ten steel flechettes down at the swarm approaching Athena. Nine of the ten projectiles found their mark in the heads of the zombies, killing them on the spot. The tenth was hit in the right shoulder and lurched onward without slowing down.

Leona reached Athena's side and saw that zombie do a quick stagger towards her with its arms extended. She quickly stabbed outwards with Shoki and punched through its skull, finishing the job that Tempest Avian started and scoring an instant kill as its arms went limp and its head wobbled. She kicked the corpse off of the blade and it fell to the ground, then disintegrated in a burst of blue fire that somehow did not ignite the grass beneath the dead zombie.

The enemies in front of her now numbered twenty-eight, but Leona was about to lower that number further with another command.

"Griffin, use Blade Storm on the zombies! Aim for the head!" Leona telepathically instructed the waiting summon. Moments later a rain of nine silver crescent blades of wind descended diagonally on the walking corpses, hitting nine of them directly in the head. The blades cut through and the heads of the zombies hit by the ability separated; one side of it fell away and fell to the ground shortly before their bodies followed. Now the two mages were facing twenty-one zombies, a number that would soon drop further.

Leona spotted another one heading right for her and she took a step forward, stabbing outward with both hands and hitting it right between the eyes. She quickly kicked the zombie off of the blade and it crumpled to the ground before its body disintegrated in a flash of blue fire. Athena's right hand glowed gold as she swiped outward in a left-to-right motion, sending a visible horizontal wave of golden magic that hit ten of the enemies in front of her and destroyed them instantly.

"Get back, Leona!" Athena commanded. Leona obligingly jumped back two big leaps and Athena's spear tip changed into a single-edged golden blade shaped similarly to a glaive's that shone brightly. A moment later Athena performed a wide horizontal swing from left to right that cut through the waists of the remaining zombies, cutting them in half and turning them to dust before their torsos even hit the ground.

With the last of the zombies approaching from the right gone Athena and Leona turned their attention to the commotion behind them. They spotted Guardian Lion surrounded by zombies lying on the ground with their heads either caved in from the powerful swings of his metallic paws or sporting deep parallel gashes inflicted by his sharp claws. The zombies that remained standing were all too focused on closing in on the summon in front of them to think of breaking away to go after Athena and Leona.

"Do you think he needs our help?" Athena asked Leona. The blonde shrugged her shoulders.

"Probably not." She laconically replied as he continued to fight the zombies around him. Leona telepathically instructed Tempest Avian and Griffin to watch behind her and Athena so that the two mages would not be surprised by any zombies who arrived late to the battle. Once the two summons were watching her back she stood back and watched Guardian Lion do some of the fighting for her.

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-Silent Cemetery, 12:17 A.M.-

Guardian Lion had finished the last of the horde on the left roughly four minutes ago and was standing at the entrance to the left path. The metallic lion's paws were caked in blood and there was a circle of dead zombies lying at his feet, but the summon looked restless and ready for more because he was slowly looking back and forth for any more enemies to go after. True to what Leona had thought the summon was able to do the job without any need for her intervention and now the path was clear for the time being. Leona looked at Athena.

"The left path is clear now." Leona remarked to her orange-haired partner.

"You said it." Athena replied. Leona looked up and Tempest Avian and Griffin were still hovering overhead and waiting for orders.

"Tempest Avian, Griffin, follow us and help us spot zombies!" Leona instructed the two summons aloud. She was going to keep them out as support for Guardian Lion and as an early warning system for herself and Athena. If she was feeling particularly lazy she would send the three summons ahead of her and let them clear the way... Guardian Lion would fight from the ground while Tempest Avian and Griffin would attack from the air. After giving those orders she turned right to face Athena.

"OK Athena, let's get going. We'll go left first." Leona said to her partner. Athena nodded.

"Works for me. If we don't find what we're looking for we'll just retrace our steps to the entrance and go right." The orange-haired mage agreed to the idea. Once the Wizard Saint had secured the cleric's agreement she faced forward and made eye contact with Guardian Lion's back.

"Guardian Lion, go ahead of us and clear the way of zombies. Just don't damage any of the tombstones, burial vaults, or mausoleums if you can help it." Leona ordered him to do what he did best but added the warning to not damage any of the cemetery's monuments to the dead or their resting places if he could help it. The metallic lion gave another deep laugh.

"As you wish!" He said before running forward to look for more enemies to kill. Leona and Athena followed behind him as their aerial escort flew overhead, momentarily blocking the moonlight as they passed.

-Silent Cemetery, down the left path, 12:49 A.M.-

Leona and Athena had passed through two sections of cemetery that had been cleared by Guardian Lion and were now standing in the middle of a third that had just been swept clean of the undead. The metallic lion was busy fighting a trio of zombies who had staggered out of the area that was eight meters ahead and he was winning handily. The Wizard Saint felt like she was taking the easy way out by letting her summons do the fighting, but she figured that she would get a chance to do her own fighting if she and Athena found the cult base that was said to be located in the cemetery.

"Man, look at your summon go!" Athena said with a tone of admiration for Guardian Lion's endless longing for battle. In the distance the summon had just bashed in the head of one zombie with a single powerful swing of his right paw and was repeating the process on another. The attack hit its mark and the two mages winced simultaneously when they heard the unmistakable CRUNCH of bone breaking all the way from where they were standing. They watched the third and last zombie meet a similar end and when the fighting was over Guardian Lion began turning left and right in search of new enemies.

"If you think this is impressive, you should see him going up against werewolves. Let's just say he doesn't need a silver weapon to deal with them." Leona remarked on Guardian Lion's fighting ability. The summon could hold his own against werewolves and kill them without needing a silver weapon thanks to his strength. All it took for the metallic lion to kill them was a few blows to the head or a slash to the throat with his sharp claws.

"Thanks to him we should be able to save our strength for the raid on the cult's base... if we find it here." Athena stated that the summon was enabling them to conserve their energy for the important task of fighting their way through an unknown number of cultists... if their base really was in Silent Cemetery. Leona had faith in the Order's scouts and believed that their information was accurate.

"Don't worry, Athena. I'm confident that the info's good. We've just got to search this place carefully." Leona said to her partner. The cleric gave a small smile.

"Yeah, you're right. We just need to keep going." The young woman replied optimistically.

"Let's go see what's waiting for us in the next section." Leona suggested. She then began walking towards Guardian Lion and Athena followed close behind. Tempest Avian and Griffin flew quietly overhead, maintaining their quiet watch over the two mages.

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-Silent Cemetery, at the end of the left path, 12:49 A.M.-

Guardian Lion had done his job to perfection because the two mages had reached the end of the left path without having to lift a finger to fight. Again Leona felt like she had taken the easy way out, but she managed to ease her conscience by believing that she was saving her energy for the tougher task of fighting the cultists who might be inside their hidden base. At least that was what she kept telling herself... in truth she was a little bored by not getting to fight herself, but she might get to make up for it soon enough.

Now Leona and Athena were standing in a section of cemetery with a mix of tombstones arranged in neat rows and small crypts, but the most distinctive feature was a large granite statue of a winged angel positioned in the approximate center of the area. It was a statue of a female angel looking towards the sky with her arms raised above her head and her hands stretched upwards as if appealing for aid from a divine patron. It made Leona feel uneasy for some reason... perhaps that unease was due to how well-made the statue was. The robe was so detailed that she could see the folds in it, the wings had perfectly made carvings of each individual feather, and the face of the angel had easily distinguishable eyebrows that matched the serene facial expression it was sporting.

Leona was not sure why someone would put so much effort into creating something that was going to be placed in a cemetery, but she did not question it. She instead focused on Athena, who had made a beeline for a small crypt in the top left corner of the area and was peering intently at the stone slab. Leona walked over to the orange-haired cleric and stopped at her left side, then made eye contact. Athena returned it before speaking.

"This crypt's open." Athena laconically reported her findings to the Wizard Saint. The cleric then grabbed the edge of the slightly open door with her left hand and began pulling. Leona put Shoki back in its scabbard, then helped out by pushing from the other side when there was enough room for her to get in and push and soon the door was open. The crypt was as dark and uninviting as one would expect it to be and the darkness made it look like she and Athena were about to step into a void from which there might not be any return.

"There's no telling what's down there, Leona. Be ready for anything." Athena advised Leona to be prepared for danger. The Wizard Saint was not daunted by what she was about to do.

"I'm ready." Leona laconically assured her partner. Athena raised her right hand and created a glowing golden ball of magic which lit an area of fifty meters around them and followed Athena's movements. Leona dispelled her summons and followed Athena into the inky darkness below.

-At the bottom of the stairs, inside the crypt-

The pair reached the bottom of the stairs to find themselves looking down a hallway glowing with a sinister red light from blood red torches in metal sconces lining the walls. Neither mage was daunted by the sight, but Leona noticed that the blood red light clashed with the golden light of Athena's spell as if the two light sources were engaging in a small-scale battle of good versus evil. She focused on the hallway ahead and drew Shoki as the cleric took the lead and began walking down the passage. When they reached the door Athena opened it and the pair stepped inside the next room, which was lit with the same torches and reeked of death and decay.

-Inside the next room-

Athena and Leona entered the next room to find blood red lanterns illuminating the room, cult banners hanging on the walls, and several sacrificial altars with the bodies of young women lying on top of them. Leona held her breath as she approached one of them and was disgusted by what she saw. A young woman with red hair in a hairstyle much like her own with green eyes that were almost the same color as hers was lying on the stone altar with a giant opening carved in her chest where her heart once sat. Leona took a step back and looked at Athena, who was busy examining two robed corpses that had been placed next to one of the altars.

"Someone's done a bit of the work for us." Athena reported. Leona looked at her to wait for an explanation and the cleric turned around to face the Wizard Saint.

"These cultists have a single bullet hole to the forehead apiece. My best guess is they were caught by surprise, which explains why there weren't any signs of a struggle." Athena announced her findings. Leona walked over to her partner and glanced down to see that the claim was true... there were two dead black-robed cultists lying on the floor with a single gunshot wound to the head of each one. She looked up and looked at Athena.

"My next guess is that the gunman didn't stop with just two cultists. I'm thinking that we'll find more bodies deeper inside this place." The cleric surmised.

"All right then. Let's keep going and see what we can find." Leona suggested. Athena turned and walked away from the bodies, heading for the hallway that would take them to the next area. Leona followed close behind the cleric while keeping an eye out for trouble.

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-The next room-

After passing through the hallway Athena and Leona now stood in a large open room with red lighting and were looking at quite a few dead cultists lying on the floor in front of them. The cleric folded her arms across her chest.

"It looks like someone's done more than a little of the work for us." Athena commented dryly. Leona walked forward to examine one of the bodies and stopped at the first one she came across. It was a brown-robed man who had multiple bullet wounds to the torso... Leona was no doctor, but even she could tell that several vital points had been hit and that the man did not get up after being hit in so many places.

"Who could have done this?" Leona asked Athena. She knew of one person with the firepower to gun down so many cultists... the gunslinger Mordecai. While he was certainly capable of such a feat Leona was not certain that this was his handiwork because he had mentioned an "employer" who wanted her dead and the Wizard Saint suspected that the cult was the one who had hired him to kill her. Unless they did something to turn Mordecai against them she doubted that he would bite the hand that fed him.

"I have a suspicion that a mage who's worked with us several times in the past did this. They carry a lot of firepower and aren't shy about using it. I've never met them myself, but Cleric Serena and Cleric Amberlin have and they told me that the mage I'm thinking about is a walking arsenal. However, they're always up for a fight against the cult and they've helped us out a few times before." Athena answered.

"Did the Order call them in to help clear out this base?" Leona asked. Athena shook her head, a response that surprised the Wizard Saint.

"No. The two of us were supposed to clear it out, but you see what happened. They beat us to it." Athena said, sweeping her right hand towards the dead cultists littering the floor. Leona glanced over them before looking towards Athena again.

"I don't know if our mystery gunman got every last cultist here. I say we keep going and see if anyone's still here. If not maybe we can find something to take back to Father Morris like some tomes of occult lore or something to make this trip worthwhile." Leona suggested to Athena. The cleric nodded a few times.

"OK. We'll keep looking then." Athena stated. She took the lead and Leona followed behind her. Both mages carefully stepped over the bodies and made their way towards the door on the far end of the room, then opened the door and proceeded into the next hallway, which had a few dead enemies lying scattered throughout it.

-In the next room-

"Man, that mage certainly went to town here." Athena remarked upon finding the bodies of more cultists. The new batch was riddled with bullet holes just like the previous batch was, but Leona also noticed that a few of them had been killed with a single shot to the head just like the first two she had seen earlier. Whoever had made the shots had a lot of skill with firearms because Leona could only consistently score headshots on zombies and this person had made several of them on living people who were fighting back... or had tried to, anyway. Some of the bodies were lying farther away from the others, which suggested that they were brave enough to go after the mage despite the risk. Those bodies were close to each other like they had made a group effort to move towards and attack whoever was shooting at them.

"I'd say." Leona concurred with her partner as she glanced at the wounds the bodies were showing. The enemies here had been dead for some time, so it was safe for the pair to keep moving forward. After stepping over all of the bodies in the room the two mages continued onward.

-In the next room-

After going through a hallway that did not have any dead cultists for once, Athena and Leona were standing in a room with three doors and four more dead robed men lying about... one was not too far from the left door, two were lying just in front of the center door, and the last was lying in front of the door to the right.

"I could be wrong, but it looks like this is where the trail of bodies ends." Athena surmised to Leona. Leona did not reply right away because she was too busy looking at the heads of the enemies, which all sported a single gunshot wound to the head except for one. The exception had three wounds to his head.

"We have three doors to choose from, Leona. Which one would you like to go through first?" Athena posed a question to the Wizard Saint.

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"Let's go left." Leona suggested for lack of a better option. Athena gave a thumbs-up with her left hand.

"OK." She said before walking past the body of a dead cultist with a gunshot wound to the forehead and opening the door for them. The cleric went in first and Leona followed right behind her.

-Inside the room-

The pair found themselves standing in a room illuminated with red lanterns hanging on the wall. The room also featured multiple open metal doors on the right. Athena and Leona peered into the closest one and soon discovered that it was a prison cell just big enough to house one person. Inside was a set of iron chains hanging on the wall and a small but noticeable bloodstain that clashed with the grime on the floor. The two mages looked at each other for a moment before Athena spoke.

"Looks like we found the cult's holding cells for the young women they intended to sacrifice." Athena announced grimly.

"It also looks like one of the sacrifices wasn't pulled from her cell without a fight." Leona commented on the bloodstain and pointed to it with Shoki's blade. She was not sure if the blood had belonged to a young woman or a cultist, but it still told a grim story. Leona began to feel a sense of hopelessness permeate the room where several young women who were around her age had spent their last days or hours alive before being hauled off to a sacrificial altar.

"We've seen enough. Let's go, Leona." Athena suggested to the blonde. The Wizard Saint nodded in agreement.

"Yes. Let's go." Leona verbally agreed to the idea. Together the two mages left the small prison and returned to the central room to choose where they would go next.

-In the central room-

"OK, where do we go next?" Athena asked Leona. The Wizard Saint pointed to the right door.

"Let's go right." Leona suggested. The pair walked towards the door and this time Leona was the one to open it. She let Athena pass through before shutting it behind them.

-Inside the room-

Leona and Athena found themselves in a room that was completely dark and roughly the same size as the one to the left, but this one was not a cell block. Instead it was a storage place for the crypt's previous residents. Within the golden light provided by the hovering sphere the two mages saw skeletons lined up in neat rows lying on the floor in the back of the room. Lining the walls of the left and right sides of the room were stacks of wooden coffins that were stacked six high.

"Well, at least they weren't just thrown around the room or put in one big pile. There's a tiny bit of respect for the dead. A TINY bit." Athena commented on what they were seeing. Leona had felt a sense of hopelessness in the last room, but in this one she felt a sense of foreboding. It felt like that any moment now one or more of the coffins on top of the stacks were going to suddenly open and their occupants were going to emerge to do battle with the mages. Leona was not afraid, but she was more than a little concerned.

"There's not much to see here either. Let's go and check out what's behind the last door." Athena suggested that they move on. Leona seconded the idea.

"Yeah, let's move on." She voiced her agreement. With that the two mages left the room and returned to the central room.

-Inside the hallway-

The pair had returned to the central room and opened the door in the center, then went inside. Now they were standing in a long hallway festooned with blood red torches in metal wall sconces and cult banners, but in the empty spaces not occupied by cult banners were phrases scrawled in dried blood, presumably that of the sacrifices. Leona did not recognize the written language used in the phrases, but that was not the most important thing. What really concerned the blonde was the lack of enemies.

"How come there aren't any dead enemies in this hallway?" Leona asked Athena. The orange-haired cleric shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess the mysterious mage didn't make it that far into the cult's base, but I doubt that the cultists stopped them. They must have stopped for another reason." Athena gave the best answer she could. It was Leona's turn to shrug her shoulders.

"Let's see what we can find on the other side of that door." Leona changed the subject, using Shoki's blade to point towards the wooden door waiting on the far end of the hall. Athena nodded.

"Good idea. Maybe it'll have something we can take back to Father Morris so that we can make this trip worthwhile." Athena agreed to the Wizard Saint's suggestion. Leona took the lead and the cleric followed close behind her.

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-Inside the great hall-

After going down the hallway Leona and Athena had reached the door and opened it, passing through into a large room that was lit by blood red lanterns and festooned with cult banners. On the left wall were numerous bookcases full of books lining the walls. To the right were wooden weapons racks that were mostly empty except for a few longswords and greatswords. In the back of the room was yet another wooden door. Athena's eyes were drawn to the bookshelves on the left and she began walking towards them.

"I guess the cult didn't have time to set up a separate room for a library, so they just lined up their bookshelves against the wall." Athena announced as she walked. Leona walked briskly to join her and stood at her right when the cleric stopped in front of a bookshelf placed against the middle of the left wall.

"Look at this, Leona. They left all of their books. All of their tomes of occult lore. Not a single book's missing." Athena said in amazement. Leona looked and saw that what Athena was saying was true. There was nothing missing from it, not even a single page out of any of the books.

"I guess whoever came after them scared them so badly that they ran for their lives without bothering to take anything with them." Leona surmised why the shelves were still full. Athena looked at the blonde for a moment, then turned away and walked towards the center of the room.

"I'm gonna need to call some help to gather everything. Don't go anywhere, Leona." Athena ordered. The blonde obliged and stayed where she was as she watched her partner pause in the center of the room before closing her eyes, starting to glow gold, and chanting in a language she did not understand. After a few seconds she held her arms out in front of her and a thin golden circle appeared on the floor in front of her.

Order Cleric Amberlin, Order Cleric Serena, and Order Cleric Amanda materialized inside the circle. As soon as they were visible the circle disappeared and the trio stepped forward to speak to Athena.

"What is it, Athena?" Amanda inquired. The orange-haired cleric gestured towards the bookshelves Leona was standing close to. The newly arrived clerics looked towards the waiting Wizard Saint and then looked at Athena.

"When we entered the base we found a lot of cultists who had been shot to death, some of them with bullet holes in their heads. Leona and I found this room and I noticed that the surviving cultists had not taken any of their books with them when they fled. That's why I called you three here." Athena reported on how she and Leona had come across the treasure trove of occult lore. Amanda walked over to the bookshelf the Wizard Saint was standing in front of and did not even pay attention to the latter, instead reaching out and grabbing a book with a black cover. The cleric opened it and began to peruse its contents for just a moment before shutting it in disgust.

"This is a manual on various sacrificial rites." Amanda announced. She placed the book in its place back on the shelf and picked out another one, then opened it. Moments later she closed it and frowned.

"And this is a tome on various demons the cult can summon after making sacrifices to their patron." Amanda stated the contents of the second tome. Serena and Amberlin walked over to the shelf and Leona moved to the center of the room so that she would not be in their way. Athena faced the Wizard Saint and stood in front of her, then made eye contact.

"I know this job wasn't the most exciting one since someone took care of the enemies for us, but I appreciate the help on this job, Leona." Athena thanked the blonde for helping the Order of Lightbringers. Leona had a sneaking suspicion that her work was not over just yet because they had not seen what was behind the door in the back of the room. She jerked the thumb of her left hand over her left shoulder and towards the door in the distance.

"What's behind that door, Athena? Do you think it's the cult's living quarters or do you think there's something else?" Leona asked the cleric. Athena looked over Leona's shoulder and got a glance at it, then looked back at Leona.

"You know, that's a good question. Let's check it out." Athena said. She and Leona walked towards the door and soon reached it. Athena reached out for the door and the moment she touched the handle she was repelled by a powerful translucent red barrier that launched her backwards and sent her flying for almost two meters before she landed on her back. Leona sheathed Shoki and sprinted over to the orange-haired mage, stopping just to her right.

"Athena, are you all right?" Leona asked the cleric. Athena turned her head towards Leona and nodded.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just winded." Athena answered in clipped sentences before extending her hands out to the blonde. Leona reached out and grabbed her hands, pulling her back on her feet. The orange-haired mage stood up and faced the door again.

"The cult's left something behind that door they don't want us to get. Otherwise they wouldn't have gone to the trouble of setting up such a powerful barrier to protect it." Athena told Leona that something special was being kept behind the door.

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Amanda, Amberlin, and Serena must have heard Athena talk about the barrier or have seen its effects on her because they walked over to the orange-haired cleric and spoke to her.

"Are you all right, Athena?" Amanda inquired. Athena nodded in response.

"I'm fine now, thanks. I'm more curious than anything. Just what exactly is behind that door?" Athena asked her colleague. Amanda looked towards it for a few seconds before turning back to face the other cleric.

"I do not know, but like you, I suspect that there is something the cult did not want us to get our hands on." Amanda answered. Leona looked towards the door and wondered what could be so valuable that a magic barrier needed to be set up to protect it.

Was it something like a special weapon or a tome containing knowledge deemed too dangerous for the average cultist to know?

Or was it something even worse?

"We must break the seal on the door." Amanda announced what needed to be done to gain access to the room. She turned her head to face the two younger clerics, who were waiting off to the right.

"Amberlin, Serena... we will need to combine our power to break the seal." She stated that the aid of the other two clerics would be required. The blonde cleric faced Athena and spoke to her next.

"Your aid will be required as well." Amanda stated in a tone that made the statement more or less a command. Finally the blonde cleric made eye contact with Leona.

"You must stay out of the way, Leona. As strong as you are you lack the magic necessary to help us." Amanda commanded the Wizard Saint to stay out of the way during the attempt to remove the barrier. Since she was aware of the limitations of her magic, Leona did not object to the command. She stayed where she was and watched Amanda begin a ritual by clasping her hands together in front of her as if praying before her body began to glow gold.

The other three clerics present followed suit and as soon as all of them were glowing Amanda unclasped her hands and held them outward, firing a golden translucent beam of Holy magic at the door. The other clerics copied the gesture and five beams of Holy magic were hitting the red barrier. For about three minutes it looked like the barrier was actually pushing outward as if resisting the Holy magic, but on the fourth minute of sustained magic it retreated to its original boundary and began to absorb the magic of the clerics until it pulsed gold.

Moments later the barrier shattered like a pane of glass and the four clerics lowered their hands. As soon as they did Leona felt a surge of dark magic that was so strong she involuntarily took a step back. The four clerics also stepped back and looked at the door like they knew something sinister was lurking behind it.

"Did you feel that too, Leona?" Athena asked the Wizard Saint.

"Yeah. I felt it. Whatever's behind that door has some really strong dark magic." Leona answered before walking towards the clerics. Amanda made eye contact with the Wizard Saint and threw her right hand out.

"Do not come any closer, Leona! Stay where you are!" Amanda sternly ordered Leona, causing the Silver Wolf mage to stop in her tracks. Amanda then turned towards the door and began walking towards it along with the other three cleric. The green-clad cleric opened the door and recoiled for a moment, then strode inside followed by Athena, Amberlin, and Serena. Leona stayed right where she was and looked around the room in case any demons were summoned by the breaking of the barrier.

-Thirty minutes later-

Leona was starting to wonder if the clerics were all right when Amanda walked out of the room looking visibly exhausted but holding a large black book with both hands. The book was black with jagged blood red letters in a language she could not read running down the spine and it was encased in golden magic. The Wizard Saint made eye contact with the green-clad cleric, then with Athena. Remembering the orders she had been given, Leona stayed in place until Athena, Amberlin, and Serena walked over to her.

"What Amanda's holding is some seriously bad stuff." Athena gave Leona a bit of information on what the quintet had found.

"Amanda found a tome of incantations for demon summoning, Leona. It's a comprehensive list of demons the cult can summon, including some really powerful kinds that haven't been seen in centuries." Amberlin added a little more information about the tome. Leona was starting to understand the significance of the tome, but she was still missing what was so special about it that it needed to be put behind a strong magical barrier.

"The tome allows high-ranking cultists to summon demons instantly without needed to do human sacrifices first. It also allows them to keep summoned demons on this plane until they're killed or dispelled, but there's a very high price to pay for that kind of power." Serena told Leona exactly what it could do and hinted that the power it offered did not come for free. Wanting to have the full picture, Leona made herself ask the question that came to mind.

"How high's this price you're talking about?" Leona asked the brunette.

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"To use its power one must offer their soul to the cult's patron." Amanda replied in a grim voice. The Wizard Saint's face paled when she heard that.

"Their... their soul?" Leona asked with audible dread. Amanda nodded once.

"Yes, their soul. They must make a contract with the infernal patron by signing their name in the tome using their own blood. Once the contract is made they gain the power to summon demons instantly and those demons will stay on the physical plane until killed or dispelled by the summoner, but as Cleric Serena said, the price is very high." Amanda explained more of what the younger cleric meant by her statement about what it cost to use the tome's power.

"The contract lasts for the rest of the signer's life no matter how long it is. The moment they die the cult's patron gets their soul for all eternity. As you can probably imagine there's an unpleasant afterlife in store for the signer." Amberlin told Leona, adding another piece of a grim puzzle.

"The contract can't be broken at all. Even if the cultist has a change of heart and manages to survive leaving the cult they're doomed. No matter how good a life they live afterward their soul belongs to the cult's patron the moment the blood touches the page." Serena added that once the bargain was made there was no way out. Leona felt her stomach turn just thinking about that sort of thing, but the clerics were not finished laying out the dangers of using the tome.

"And if the book's ever destroyed, anyone who's made a contract dies instantly. And you know what happens from there." Athena filled in the last piece. That revelation took Leona's breath away. It took her a full minute to finally breathe again after giving a little thought to how doomed the cultists who had elected to tap into that kind of power were.

"Are... are there more than one of these tomes around?" Leona asked hesitantly. Amanda nodded.

"The cult has multiple tomes just like this one. And that will be their undoing." Amanda informed Leona. The Wizard Saint began to see where this was going and she did not like it.

"When we get back to Holy Castle we will destroy this tome with Holy magic and reduce the power of the cult by taking out some of their strongest magic users." Amanda outlined the plan. Leona's mouth went dry and her facial expression showed serious apprehension even though she had not made an infernal bargain. She watched the clerics form a square around Leona and begin to chant, forming a thin square of Holy magic around her.

"We're teleporting you with us, Leona. Just stay still!" Athena explained what was going on. Leona obeyed and once the spell was complete the quintet teleported out of Silent Cemetery.

-Outside Holy Castle, 2:05 A.M.-

The quintet arrived outside the castle and Leona watched as Amanda, Serena, and Athena set out for the castle right away while Amberlin remained behind with the Wizard Saint. Seeing Amanda carry the tome to the castle made Leona's heart sink and her stomach turn flips. Now that she knew what awaited those who made pacts with infernal powers she saw a collection of lives about to be taken, but there was nothing she could do about it.

"I see that you don't like what's going to happen, Leona." Amberlin observed. Leona looked down at the diminutive cleric and shook her head.

"I don't." Leona answered bluntly. She expected Amberlin to attack her with a Holy spell or summon Clerics and Knights from the castle to deal with her since she sounded like a cult sympathizer, but to her surprise the pink-haired cleric gave Leona a sympathetic look.

"Neither do I. That's why I always stay outside the castle whenever one of those tomes is taken inside." Amberlin confessed. Leona did not say anything as she watched the three clerics go inside and saw the castle doors close behind them. The booming sound of the doors closing was a loud proclamation that judgment was nigh for the cultists who had signed their names into the tome.

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-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Leona's Room, 12:00 P.M.-

Leona had parted ways with Amberlin around 3:00 A.M. and returned to Silver Wolf Guild Hall on the back of Winged Lion around 7:05 A.M.. After that she went to her room and slept until 12:00 P.M. When she woke up she began to think about what she had learned earlier and felt a brief flash of dread over the fate of the cultists before she managed to suppress the negative emotion and avoid the downward spiral she had almost went into earlier.

Leona got up and changed out of her green, white and gold outfit and changed into a black tank top, olive green khaki cargo pants, and white tennis shoes in order to go to the office and do the paperwork that was likely waiting on her. Unable to sleep for the time being, she left her room and set out for the office to fulfill her responsibilities as the Guild Mistress. Maybe when she got back to her room she would be able to sleep again.

-Leona's Room, 1:55 P.M.-

The paperwork had been surprisingly light and as a result Leona was able to finish it all in under two hours and return to her room to try and sleep again. The moment she entered her room she found an envelope on the floor next to her right foot. Leona bent down, picked it up, and opened it on the spot to find a message from Athena. It was a request to meet her outside of Capital Crocus. The Wizard Saint set the envelope on her desk, then went over to her closet and grabbed her olive green jacket out of it before leaving her room.

-The Outskirts of Capital Crocus, 4:59 P.M.-

Leona landed on the outskirts of Capital Crocus as a passenger of Winged Lion. She climbed off of the summon's back and dispelled it, then faced Athena, who was dressed in the same casual outfit she had worn during the first casual meeting not too long ago. The orange-haired cleric walked over to Leona and greeted her. Leona returned the greeting and the conversation started.

"Thanks for the help earlier, Leona. You were a big help." Athena started out. Leona waved off the praise.

"I was just doing what the Order hired me to do." The blonde stated plainly.

"And about the tome..." Athena started another sentence.

"You're doing what you have to do, Athena. There's no need to apologize just because I couldn't handle what I was told." Leona informed the cleric that she had come to terms with the unpleasant truths from earlier.

"The moment the cultists sign the tome their lives are bound to it and to their patron. In the past we tried to undo that bond in an effort to just take away their power, but every attempt was a failure and we just can't do it." Athena explained why destroying the book killed the cultists and also added that any attempt to try and remove their power while leaving the cultists alive was doomed to fail. Leona did not question that explanation because she trusted Athena.

"Well, if you guys tried to avoid killing them but just couldn't pull it off, there's really nothing that can be done about it." Leona said calmly. The orange-haired cleric gave a light smile to the blonde.

"Anyway, destroying that tome will definitely hurt the cult and buy us a little breathing room." Athena assured the Wizard Saint that the job had a positive result after all.

"Until we can find their main headquarters and catch the entire cult in one place before making a raid we'll just have to chip away at them whenever we can." Leona expressed her willingness to accept that result despite not getting a chance to fight the demon worshipers herself.

"Moving on... did you still want to go to the mall with me some time soon?" Athena changed the subject from the aftermath of the trip to Silent Cemetery to their upcoming trip to Capital Crocus Mall.

"Yeah, sure." Leona confirmed that the trip was still on. Athena's smile grew larger.

"Great!" The cleric exclaimed. She waved goodbye with her left hand.

"See you around!" She said before she glowed gold and disappeared in a burst of gold light. Having concluded her business with Athena for the time being, Leona summoned Winged Lion, climbed onto its back, and took to the air shortly after boarding. The moment she was clear of the treeline she set a course for Silver Wolf Guild Hall and began to fly for home.

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