Eva, on the other hand, looked to be both sick and deep in concentration. Her wards were blood based, using a combination of Arachne’s blood and her own. Nel wasn’t certain on the specifics, but the wards must be tied to her far deeper than any standard thaumaturgical ward scheme. She had never heard of standard wards causing discomfort when taken down.
Taking a deep breath and letting it out as a slow sigh, Nel started up her rapid glimpsing once again.
First the map. It was largely unchanged from her previous glimpse. The few ghosts near the wall had vanished and the nuns were nearing the four undead outside their camp.
Nel switched her view to the soon to be ensuing battle.
Two of the undead were knight types. One wielded a mace while the other carried a massive sword in both hands. The other two carried guns. One looked fairly new, perhaps as late as the second World War.
They crested a small hill overlooking a waiting group of inquisitorial nuns. Three of them had a single gold bar over their shoulders while the fourth had triple stripes. While that did not automatically mean that nun was more powerful than the others, it did mean she had a good deal of experience.
The slaves seemed close enough to vampire slaves that her experience was probably not going to waste.
Nel shook her head and focused.
The nuns wasted no time opening up with lightning. To Nel’s surprise, and the surprise of the nuns, the lightning did nothing. The armored knights continued their forward march without any reaction. Both soldiers did stop walking, but they didn’t appear any more injured than the knights. The only real difference was the smoke coming off their bodies.
Rather than continue forwards, both soldiers dropped to a knee and took aim. Nel wasn’t flickering her glimpse fast enough to spot any bullets, but she did catch the shields flaring up around the nuns. As expected, none of them looked concerned about the guns.
“Wards gone,” Eva said, interrupting Nel’s glimpsing.
Devon gave a small grunt. “Just another minute.”
Where there had been a steady stream of blood or magic or whatever the nuns were siphoning from the wards, there was now a dying trickle. Only one of the four was actually siphoning. Two stood around, watching for threats while the last one was missing completely.
Checking the command center, Nel found the missing nun. She was giving a report to one of the high inquisitors.
“We’re going to have incoming soon,” Nel squeaked out.
“Just a moment. Almost got it.”
Everyone inside the command center stumbled forwards. They recovered in short order and all save for the augur sprinted outside. The poor augur was in the midst of a seizure that looked far more intense than what Nel had suffered.
Again, Nel was glad she hadn’t connected to the source.
The fractal demon stood where the altar once was. Or what was left of it. Both legs and one wing were missing entirely, much of the rest of it was in scraps. And somewhere, Nel couldn’t pinpoint the exact location, it held a statue made of petrified wood between a set of teeth.
Nel watched with a small hint of sadness as the idol turned to dust.
“Unless they have other surprises, we should be clear. I’ve released the demon, so they should be distracted for a few minutes at least. Both of you get to Ylva’s domain.”
“And you?”
“I can’t enter, but between the abdoth and the ruax, and any other demons I summon, I should be fine.”
Eva gave Devon a dubious look, but nodded anyway. She gripped Nel’s hand tight enough that, under other circumstances, Nel might have been worried her bones would snap. Together, they started running towards the door. The shield turned back into a few balls of blood as they left.
Actually moving, Nel discovered, was troublesome. The first several steps were less steps and more stumbles. Eva actually wrapped one of Nel’s arms over her shoulders for support. Every step seemed to bring a pounding headache. Nel would have suspected the headache demon, but it wasn’t even facing them.
It was simply from overusing her ability.
A good number of slaves materialized around them and escorted them out.
It wasn’t far to cell house two, but the nuns weren’t going to stand by and watch as Nel made her escape. The inquisition’s augur
Eight black-robed inquisitors teleported in just as the thought crossed Nel’s mind. They raised their arms and fired lightning with a speed only matched by Eva reforming the shield around the two of them.
Nel’s eyes widened as the black orb in front of Eva shrank noticeably. Their shield was hanging on by a thread by the time the slaves engaged with the nuns. That, at least, stopped the lightning. For the moment. For every body that turned to ash in white flames, another slave ran in to close range.
