Saintess? Not Anymore! I'd Rather be a Destroyer-Chapter 64 - 51: Dead

A man with a plain shirt, a bright red coat and plain trousers walked into the guild hall, his fair flushed face giving away how drunk he was.

"Cira, Hena, Lararthius, Mirke I’m back!" he yelled.

The people lingering in the halls turned to him, shooting nervous glances of pity as if providing him with their condolences. The adventurers looked at Gein as they would look at a dead man.

"Sorry if I’m late guys, I just went to this super cool tavern to get some drinks, so don’t be angry." Gein added, but there was no response. "Guys this isn’t funny."

"Young man," a man in the gathering throng stated, pointing. "You might want to check the battle room."

Gein felt a wave of dread rush through his body, spreading its cool touch that even the alcohol could not save him from . He walked through the halls anxiously, the people around made way for him as if he were a coffin. He finally reached the battle room and his eyes stared in horror at his comrades. Four bodies all lined up, some were extremely disfigured and unrecognizable. Lararthius did not even have a body, just a suit of armor that was coated in jam-like blood. Gein slumped to the ground and stared at his fallen allies. The arena was completely empty. The fight had concluded some time ago, and no one wanted to see Gein slaughtered either.

"This can’t be real..."

"Hahaha, the faces they displayed when I killed them were priceless!" A cute voice echoed through the empty room.

Aurianna sat beside the dead bodies, balancing herself on her hover gun. She smiled and Gein quivered in anger, a primordial rage building up inside of him that his drunken stupor did not let him stop.

"How do you like my present Gein?" Aurianna asked, tilting her head.

Gein looked up at her. He seethed, anger and hatred consuming him like wildfire. Spittle began flicking out of his mouth from his heavy breathing.

"You bitch!" He growled.

His gray eyes were full of rage, a bright yellow aura flared around him as his anger grew, but Aurianna stared without fear. She looked at her fingernails and picked something out from underneath them. This act of disinterest made Gein even angrier.

"Why do all this, you fucking petty brat?"

"Forgot what you did earlier today did you? Those who dare to stop the princess’s carriage are to be sentenced to death, and I, Princess Aurianna Vanluad, shall do the honors." Aurianna beamed with a light bow and Gein slowly got up.

"Damn you!" Gein yelled.

He dashed toward her unveiling his two sabers, using both of them to slash at Aurianna. She easily dodged them, while creating distance between herself and the attacker.

"My, my... speaking so rudely to a princess is like courting death, not that you don’t deserve it. However, I’m not done with my punishment. You have two options Gein; kill me, and you’re a dead man, or I kill you and my revenge for what you did earlier today shall be forgiven." Aurianna explained with an eerie smile.

"I’m going to make you pay for killing my friends!"

Aurianna chuckled cynically.

"I’d like to see you try." She said with a devilish grin. which sent shivers down his spine but didn’t stop his advance.

’I don’t care about the consequences, but this devil of a princess is going to pay, for killing my friends!’ Gein thought.

He approached her at an alarming speeding and made his move, slicing down vertically with all his might. His sabers clashed with Aurianna’s sabers. They stood locked in place, their sabers grinding on one another.

"So you’re also a Blade Dancer," Aurianna observed.

Gein immediately dodged the incoming attack of Aurianna’s foot slash, that sent a wind blade sliced through the air striking the wall of the arena. Debris flew everywhere, small chunks pattered against his back harmlessly while the larger pieces fell with a thud a fair distance away. He stepped a few meters back, planting his feet and letting himself adopt a stronger stance. Aurianna did not falter and dashed again. She slashed at him in a flurry, but he dodged every single attack. Seeing this made Aurianna frustrated. She replaced the sabers in her hands with her revolver and shot at him, but Gein continued to dodge.

’It’s like he can predict my attacks.’ Aurianna thought, losing focus.

Gein seemingly teleported, reappearing many times at different locations all around her. Aurianna felt her head spin trying to focus on him, she stared at the images of Gein, completely confused.

’I can’t sense him!’

She panicked and started to shoot randomly until she felt a sharp pain in her right arm.

She looked towards the ache and started panicking. Her arm had been cut off. Blood spewed from her shoulder in waves that were in sync with the rapid beat of her heart that still thumped with adrenaline.

She tried to conceal her panic by closing her mouth. She sensed an incoming attack and spun around, using her heels to fend off Gein’s sabers. Gein stepped back, his face was full of determination, a hint of satisfaction tugging at his mouth.

"My arm! My fucking arm! How dare you cut off my arm! Don’t you know how important they are?" She yelled hysterically.

"If I’m going to kill you, I may as well cut them off." Gein retorted.

"You bastard! I’m going to make you pay, you’ll regret it, I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!" Aurianna screamed.

A bright white aura flared around her. She stared at Gein, wishing death upon him. His legs quivered in his fear but the fierce look of determination and rebellion was unwavering. Much to Gein’s distaste Aurianna stood up. A blade appeared in her hand, she clenched the blade tightly, her knuckles glowing white. She disappeared and reappeared in front of Gein. Their weapons clashed and the noise made his ears ring. He jumped a few meters back, lessening the impact of Aurianna’s strike. He panted, sweat dripped down his face. He could taste salt in his mouth and his eyes stung slightly, he wanted to rub the sweat from his eyes but even a momentary distraction could foretell his immediate doom.

Aurianna’s body launched forward like a bullet, spinning around at a high rate. She landed a hard kick on Gein’s abdomen. His flesh was pierced by the spiked heel. Gein’s body folded around her foot causing him fly back a bit. He managed to gain his momentum once again and raise his sword, making a feeble swing but Aurianna evaded by springing off of him. Gein put his feet back on the ground, dust flew into the air as he came to a grinding stop.

’She’s gonna attack!’ Gein warned himself and readied his weapons once more and approached Aurianna making multiple slashes that looked like thousands of white arcs that flurried sped around the room. Aurianna watched the incoming blades and whispered;

"[Dancing light]"

She immediately felt like the world slow down around her and all the incoming blade attacks came into focus. She jumped toward Gein, twirling mid air avoiding most of the attacks, and only receiving a few cuts. Each one made her hiss at the pain, she kept her target in sight, approaching swiftly. She crashed down on Gein with her shoes.

"These sabers of yours are a pain!" Aurianna grunted.

Her platinum shoes had clashed with Gein’s sabers again.

"[ Crystalline Rose ]" Aurianna mumbled.

A rose appeared before her, and it fell harmlessly toward Gein. Gein sliced the rose in half and it disappeared.

’What was that skill?’ Gein asked himself incredulously. He noticed Aurianna’s ominous grin. Feeling something was off Gein looked at his sabers and noticed crystals creeping along it.

"What the hell?!" He gasped, throwing the sabers onto the ground. The crystals covered them entirely and a large rose the size of a small child sprouted. The rose twisted creating spikes all over, before the weapons shattered.

"I guess it will be easier to kill you now." Aurianna said gleefully.

"Unfortunately you won’t gain that pleasure, because I’ve got spares!" Gein declared boldly.

A light flashed from his ring and two sabers appeared in his hands. However the glimmer of the saber’s blades could not be compared to the ones he had been using.

"Well, they aren’t gonna be effective anyway."

Aurianna grinned, dropping her blade. She balled her fist and tightened it as much as she could. Gein felt pain shoot throughout his body, immediately coughing up blood.

’Seems infecting the area around him with [ crystalline tears’ ] particles was a good idea. His body has accumulated enough to suffocate him and kill him from the inside," Aurianna thought.

"What did you do to me?" Gein asked, his eyes blood shot. He bent over, clutching his stomach. His eyes became heavy and a gush of viscous blood escaped his mouth. The veins in his neck and head were popping, throbbing intensely. He looked up at Aurianna, he had blood around his lips and his eyes were bloodshot.

"It’s simple, I just infected you with my skill," Aurianna answered with a smile. She summoned her shotgun and pointed it at Gein’s face.

"Do you regret what you did?" Aurianna asked.

"Even if I were to go back to that time I would save the boy again and protect him from you. I do not regret what I’ve done." Gein replied

He gave a light chuckle and looked at his hand. He stared, mesmerised by his hand slowly melding into crystal.

"Wrong answer."

She braced her arm and let her finger pull the trigger back. The gun let off an extremely loud bang, Aurianna’s arm flying up into the air from the recoil. She gasped from the pain of firing with one arm but made sure she watched the impact. Gein’s face caved in on itself, the edges of it flinging to the sides while the rest of it was slammed onto the ground with a splat.

Blood splattered Aurianna’s clothes and a few chunks stuck to her. Geins body slumped to the side, sending the spurting blood to the side to spray over the corpses of his companions. The new corpse went into a cadaveric spasm, the limbs tightening suddenly. After a moment, his body ceased all movement and Aurianna could only hear the trickle of blood as it continued to pour from the severed neck.

Aurianna turned around, satisfied with Gein’s punishment, and walked to where her dismembered arm was. She picked it up and walked out of the arena. Shialor hurriedly attended to her, trying to bandage her bleeding arm while Aurianna continued striding through the halls of the guild. The guild members parted before her, muttering to one another at the sight of a wounded Princess. Aurianna scoffed at them, what worthless creatures that would find fatality in dismemberment, they weren’t worthy of defeating her. She would never let herself be defeated by such scum. She then walked out of the Guild and was escorted by Shialor and her knights to her carriage leaving the adventurers with many thoughts.

_________

Aurianna’s carriage drove through the city for a while till they reached a huge wide and tall building with a large cross window made of pink glass. From its size, it was as big as a football stadium. On top of the building was a large statue of a woman holding a pink cross. Aurianna’s carriage parked outside the building and she walked inside with her knights and one of them carried her slashed-off arm.

"I welcome you princess to the church of beauty once again," a young blonde lady in pink robes greeted and Aurianna bowed respectfully.

"Thank you for the kind gesture. As you can see my arm," Aurianna stated and pointed at her arm.

The young lady look unfazed at the sight and smiled, "I shall call for the priest Hotron immediately. So I’ll call someone to escort you to the priest’s lounge."

Aurianna curtseyed and smiled politely, "Thank you."

"Did the gods fall from the sky? Because the princess is not acting like the princess! You all are seeing this right?" Shialor blurted, surprised by Aurianna’s polite behavior. ’Throughout my few months of working with the princess, I’ve never seen her act so politely!’

"Shialor if you don’t want to lose your bald head of yours, I’d advise you shut up," Aurianna stated with an eerie smile and Shialor gulped as sweat dripped down her face and they began to walk through the halls of the church, being escorted by a teenage boy in pink robes.

"You guys saw it right? She was unusually polite today," Shialor whispered to the golden knights.

Remi turned to Shialor and looked at her, "Yes, the princess is only nice to the church."

’My she’s a tall one,’ Shailor thought as she looked up at Remi.

"It’s strange that she’ll be nice to the church and not her people. Do you know why?" Shialor added.

"I have no idea," Remi shook her head and shrugged and Shialor just watched Aurianna.

After some time of walking, they finally reached a door which stood two knights in pink armor and the door was opened for them.

Aurianna and her knights plus Shialor walked into the room and she slumped on the white couch, blood staining it.

A fair man with brown hair bangs and the rest of his hair straightened walked in. His bright blue eyes stared at everyone with a smile that gave him the air of a kind soul, till he noticed Aurianna sitting on the couch and her bloody shoulder was dripping on it.

Veins popped up on his face and he immediately took a whip and swung it at her but Aurianna dodged all of his attacks.

"How many did I tell you not to stain my lovely couch?!!" Hotron yelled at Aurianna furiously.

"Hehehehe," She laughed mischievously.

"You brat you just don’t listen!!" Hotron pouted and it looked as if he was gonna cry.

Aurianna waved her hand in a dismissive way, "No need to worry Hotron the couch fabric and materials are so cheap that my butt aches just sitting on it. So I’ll just buy you a new one." She gave a thumbs up.

"It’s not about the money!!" Hotron yelled and his whip turned to a flash of light and entered a ring on his finger. "A believer gave it to me so I must cherish it," Hotron said dramatically and wiped his fake tears.

"Don’t worry, I’ll still buy you a new luxurious couch," Aurianna gave a thumbs up again and winked.

Hotron yelled, his fair face turning red, "Are you listening to anything I’m saying?!!!"

"Not really ┐⁠(⁠￣⁠ヘ⁠￣⁠)⁠┌," Aurianna shrugged, "I still feel an expensive couch is better ಠ⁠◡⁠ಠ."

"Whatever, I’ll call someone to clean it later. If this conversation keeps on going I’d die from stress," Hotron face palmed and Aurianna sat on the couch again.

"So now then...." Hotron paused and stared at Aurianna’s arm.

"You injured your body to this extent again?" He asked calmly and everyone nodded.

"Well I’m not dead," Aurianna winked and Hotron’s face turned dark.

Hotron clasped his hands together and prayed, "Goddess Paige, please grant me the strength to deal with her personality."

Once he was done he walked up to Aurianna and pulled her cheeks, "What the hell have I told you about keeping your body safe?!!"

"I’m paying you a bunch so stop complaining and stop pulling my cheeks!!" Aurianna complained and Hotron let go leaving a big red mark on her cheek.

’Damn you, High Human Priest!’ Aurianna cursed in her mind.

Hotron placed his hands on his waist and pouted, "It’s not about the payment you brat, you just have to take care of yourself!"

"As you can see I’m fine so there’s no need, so just heal me."

"Fine." He walked up to the golden knight with Aurianna’s arm and picked it and walked back to Aurianna. He placed the cut-off arm on her shoulder and raised his left hand.

"[ Restore ]" Hotron said and a light pink light covered Aurianna’s shoulder and arm. Her arm floated towards her shoulder and the flesh began to attack itself together. After some minutes Aurianna’s arms were back to normal.

She rolled her shoulders and opened her closed, her palms.

’The pain still lingers huh? [ Passive Heal ] active,’ Aurianna thought and the pain in her arms disappeared. ’If I was a Saintess the pain wouldn’t linger,’ a smile curved on her lips, ’I guess that’s what makes a Saintess better than a Priest.’

"Princess please be careful you may feel some pain for a while," Hotron warned.

"I know," Aurianna replied and jumped off the chair.

"I will warn you Aurianna don’t injure yourself too much, you’re just a child yet you’re pushing your body to its limits," Hotron advised looking at her.

"No need to worry about me, and stop acting like my mum," Aurianna said with a cheeky smile.

"So what if I’m a bit worried, you’re the princess of our kingdom. What’s more, with your beauty you may join the church one day," Hotron said with sparkling eyes.

"I may consider one day. Bye Hotron," Aurianna waved at him and left with her knights.

Once they were gone the blonde lady from before walked up to Hotron and asked, "Priest I know this would be rude but someone as cruel-hearted as her wouldn’t it be bad if she joins Paige’s church?"

"As a church, we welcome all sinners with open arms and forgive them for their sins. We do not judge people on their past, but reform and advise them for the future. The church doesn’t choose," Hotron said with a kind smile that touched the lady’s heart.

"I’m sorry Head Priest," she bowed.

"No need to worry, I can understand your reasons," Hotron said with a smile and walked away.