Chapter 129: Michelle's "Death" (Part I)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Michelle turned around and glanced at the troops that were chasing her.
The Cleaners have always been the fastest. From moment she pushed Benjamin off the carriage, after rolling down the slope for about ten minutes, these men, like hungry hyenas, have already caught up. Michelle turned around and could see a bunch of horses on a distant hill in the dust.
But... at least they caught up.
After thinking of this, Michelle, who sat in the carriage, took out a white handkerchief to wipe off her makeup.
The freckles and all were wiped off with a few movements. But for the double eyelids that were glued together, there was no tool for her to use, so she just tore it apart. Right now she could not feel any pain, so it did not matter.
After rubbing her eyes open, she blinked a few times, after making sure that her eyelids were not torn, she took out the front teeth she knocked out and installed them back in.
Hair which was dyed red and cut short... she could do nothing about it, she could only let it cover part of her face like leaves that dried up under the autumn sun.
After doing all this, she used her hand to feel her face to make sure nothing was missing.
"How troublesome..." While doing all this, she could not help but mumble.
Why did she need to do all this?
Her enemies were close by, perhaps she should face the situation seriously rather than trying to make sure she was looking alright. To be honest, she is not the kind who would care much about her outer appearance, but under these circumstances, she wanted to face her enemies in her original appearance.
The meeting that was about to take place was something new even though she has already experienced a lot.
But she was not nervous.
----She was already numb to everything a long time ago.
Turning back, she could see the Cleaners were even closer than before. Michelle could see their faces now. Thus she could see that the one leading them was not a knight, but a familiar face in red clothing.
Aquiline nose, deep eye sockets, hidden with unknown joy and rage in the wrinkles.
... The bishop.
After taking a few more glances, Michelle started to feel disappointed.
Were there only these men?
Two squads of Cleaners and the bishop of Saint Peter’s cathedral, was that all the Church could afford to send? Michelle did not know why the Church did not recognise the power that Benjamin Lithur demonstrated on the day of his execution.
They will pay for their underestimation of Benjamin. She could not help but think of this.
But... it was not the time for her to feel relaxed.
After making sure of the distance between herself and the Cleaners, Michelle thought for a while. Suddenly, she grabbed her left wrist with her right hand. With a pull, she ripped off her left arm.
She looked at her left arm nonchalantly. Then, she turned around and threw her left arm with great strength at the troops that were chasing her.
Under the afternoon sun, the shape of the left arm became blurry, then it exploded and turned into a pool of eerie blood.
Under the influence of a great amount of dark mental energy, the blood that was spilled condensed mid-air, came close to the Cleaners’ heads, and slowly turned into a brown and pungent rain.
The Cleaners saw this and quickly stopped in their tracks.
The bishop saw the incoming blood rain and said an incantation. A golden screen appeared and sheltered all of their heads. The blood rain hit the screen, made sounds of popping like beans being fried, and made the holy lights on the screen go on and off.
But finally, the whole duration of the blood rain was walled off.
Seeing this, Michelle nodded satisfyingly. She turned around, used her only hand left to whip the horses, and continued to drive along the mountainous road.
The left arm served to help her buy time, it should be enough to keep the distance between them for a while longer.
If she could, she did not want to use so much effort, but the slope that Benjamin rolled down just now was still quite close to her. If the Cleaners catch up and find that Benjamin was not on the carriage, they would search in the surroundings.
They will definitely find that lad.
This area, Michelle was familiar with. Benjamin rolled down a hill that was not that steep, but there was a hole at the bottom. If Benjamin could roll down that cave, he could probably roll to someplace far away. If his luck was not bad, he would probably not fall to his death.
But she could not risk it.
The Church has been careful all this while, she had to lead the Cleaners further and misguide them, only then could she guarantee Benjamin Lithur’s survival.
Actually, with some proper thought, the whole chance of this plan working out was less than ten percent. If Benjamin was seen being pushed off the horse carriage and rolling down a slope, if these filthy members of the Church were not devoting all their attention to chasing the source of her mental energy... if anything went wrong, Benjamin Lithur, that teenager with unbelievable talent in magic, would die here today.
But she still did so.
She was probably used to living life on the edge, when she thought of the success rate, she had to seize it, and so she stuck her head in and could not bother about other stuff anymore.
Thinking of this, Michelle could not help but laugh coldly at herself.
This was probably why she ended up having to walk this path here and now.
A few months ago, when she mistook Benjamin for Grant Lithur and kidnapped him, she would have never even thought of all the things she has experienced in these few months, and that she would end up doing all she could just to save that lad.
Did she do so willingly?
Of course not.
...Was it worth it?
It was well worth it, and it was equivalent to hitting the jackpot.
When she was in the ruins of the "Soul’s Fire", she saw herself lying lifeless in a puddle of blood, she already thought things through ---- if it was anything that could make the Church uncomfortable, or even have the slightest chance of obliterating the Church, she was willing to give it all and become that first straw on the camel’s back.
This was her obsession, and a curse she had to bear.
Even though the ending was unfortunate, she never felt the slightest regret. She never regretted in becoming a mage to stand against the Church, this was something she had to do. Even though she hated words like "fate", and she thinks that all these are just depressing stuff the Church would normally say, she could never deny that this was her destiny. She had to accept it.
She did not regret in chasing after the ruins of the "Soul’s Fire". She never thought that this mage before her had such a strange personality, and set up thousands and hundreds of strange challenges. She was not prepared and barely made it through two of them, but ended up dying on the third one.
But if she did not pass all those trails and gain recognition, her normal level of talent as a mage would make it almost impossible for her to overthrow the Church.
Who could she blame?
She did not believe in that divine talk given by the Church, thus, she could not blame all of this on "God’s Will". If she wanted to blame someone, she could only blame herself for not being talented enough, smart enough and strong enough. Because of this, after becoming a mage, she could only helplessly see herself walk down this road, and helplessly watch herself fall.
Natural talent... What a thing a person could want but never have.
People who do not have it pursue it endlessly, but those with it do not know how to cherish it.
Just like Benjamin Lithur, he never knew that whatever has happened to him was incredibly precious.
She hated that boy.
From the moment that nobleman kid conjured that water ball, every time, Michelle felt like all she knew about magic was just basic knowledge. Just by hearing Annie say an incantation, he learned the water ball spell; just in the short time of a few months, he could already conjure a water ball that was half the size of the capital... this kind of growth could not just be described using the word "monster".
She hated him so much.
She hated the fact that why did she not have this kind of natural talent? If it was only half of the talent he had, it was enough to make her reach a higher level of magical skills, maybe... maybe it was enough to annihilate the Church already.
Sadly, after throwing away the halo the Church gave her for unknown reasons, she became just a normal mage.
Ordinary to the point that even if she did all she could ever hope to do, she would only become a stepping stone for those "geniuses".
Which was exactly what she was doing right now.
How could she not hate Benjamin Lithur? She started to regret, why did she shove him off with her arms instead of kicking him.
Hopefully that kid will cause more trouble for the Church.
Thinking of this, Michelle turned around and looked at the troops behind her.
After being delayed by Michelle’s "left arm" for a while, they have regained distance, and was closer. At this moment, they were nearly close enough to launch an attack. The thirty plus Cleaners all raised their longswords. The surrounding holy light reacted to their summoning and gathered together.
Seeing this, Michelle nodded.
This distance was almost enough.
She has led them far enough already, there was no point in continuing. She could not continue to remain in this horse carriage. Otherwise, when the giant holy light sword slices down, she has no idea what would happen at the current state she was in.
Thus, with the final whipping, Michelle readied herself and jumped off the horse carriage. She rolled a few times on the ground and stood up. She stabilized herself and stood in the way of the Cleaners and the bishop.
With this, the horse carriage behind her sped off at an even greater speed.
The troops chasing her all held their reins and stopped in their tracks.
A few of the Cleaners looked at the slowly disappearing horse carriage with great panic, as if the person they were looking for was in the carriage, and they wanted to chase it right away. But the when bishop stretched out his hand and gave a signal, they could not help but stop.
In reality, if they were not behind the bishop, maybe they could see the shocked expression of the bishop that they have never seen before.
"Ch, Christine?"
The bishop was stunned and opened his mouth slightly. His brows that looked like that have been nailed in place was also raised, forming wrinkles on his forehead. His eyes looked shocked and at loss of the situation as he looked at Michelle, who was not far away. When he opened his mouth, his usual calm voice was not there anymore.
Michelle glanced at him sideways, and showed a smirk.
"I never thought that we would meet under these kind of circumstances." She rolled up her empty left sleeve, stood right, and spoke in a tone that betrayed familiarity yet dripped of nonchalance to a point of sarcasm, "My beloved…...uncle."