The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)-Chapter 700: Five Minutes

The first person who spotted the ball of fire exploding in the sky was actually the holy knight acting as the tour guide for the Hero’s companion.

"What’s that?"

Zarfa, who immediately caught the fire as a signal from Ignis, grabbed Aina and Ian’s shoulders before whistling loudly.

As if they had been waiting--which they were--Zarfa changed places with Aina, putting the girl in the middle of the group. Ian cast a circular barrier around the group--something that he had been diligently perfecting since Valen returned to the demon world.

The whistle and the barrier alerted Fatia and Renna, who immediately raised their staff and whips. Naturally, it also alerted the holy knight who guided them and the paladins sent to catch them should the Pope give a signal.

"Hey! What are you do--"

The paladin’s words shoved back inside his mouth as a leather whip hit his face with full force. Instead of being thrown back, the paladin was swept to the side and hit the other paladins before they had any chance to react.

"Ugh! What--"

Once again, Renna fiercely brandished her whips, striking the paladins so they had to take a defensive stance. But in its full force, the whip was akin to a hammer swung by a raging blacksmith, and for people in armor, it was way more devastating than a sword strike. The blow created vibrations that assaulted their internal organs and made them lose their balance.

At the same time, Fatia conjured up a little magic bird and released it to the sky as her eyes, while Ian took out his new shield and mace as the holy knights pulled out his sword and swung it toward them.

"You here--"

"Not so fast," Zarfa threw her fan, parrying the holy knight’s sword. She curled her lips as the holy knight stared at her with shocked, widened eyes.

But the shock did not stop there, because the fan was returning to its trajectory and hitting the holy knight on the face--or at least it would be, if the holy knight did not react quickly and used his sword to defend his handsome face.

But that was enough distraction.

"It’s done!"

Aina, who had been fiddling with her trinkets, threw them toward the holy knights and the paladins. Each of them was made of three small balls with cords connecting them. The moment the device latched into the paladins and the holy knights, the cords instantly moved to snare them in an inescapable hold. At the same time, the three little balls sent out an electric current that paralyzed the captives.

"Yeah!" Aina jumped up as the paladins and the holy knight--who wore a set of the perfect conductor--convulsed on the ground. She stomped toward the holy knights and proceeded to kick and stomp the writhing holy knight. "And how dare you call us heretics?! You’re the heretic! Hmph!"

"Ooo~" Zarfa covered her grinning mouth while fanning herself with her weapon. "You’re into bondage play, girl?"

Aina giggled and Fatia had to remind them that they were on a mission. "Girls!"

"Sorry, sorry--but what now..."

Just then, a blaring sound filled the church ground, prompting them to cover their ears in surprise. "Is that...an alarm?" Aina winced.

"Yes," Fatia looked up, sharing a vision with her magic bird. "We need to move."

"But where?"

"That’s..."

Should they go to where the fireball was? That seemed to be a bad idea, since it should be where the Pope was. The safest option was for them to escape from the church grounds so they wouldn’t be a liability, but that would betray their effort to stay there by taking this extra expensive tour guide.

Weren’t they there to help Jin and Valen?

But then...where should they go? They looked at each other in confusion. Fatia bit her lips while scrutinizing the place from above. It seemed like they were on the northwest side of the church, and the fireball was all the way on the east.

Tsk--they were so far from where Jin was supposed to be.

As if hearing their plight of confusion, the communication orb in Zarfa’s coat pocket vibrated. She gasped and took it out, eyes lit up as she realized that it was the trans-realm one.

"Valen?"

[Hello]

"Oh, it’s Madam Great-Aunt..." Zarfa grinned sheepishly, feeling slightly embarrassed.

But there was no time for her to dwell on that because the Madam immediately delivered a message. [The Plaza] her elegant voice came to shed light on their plight. [Valen said you should go to the Plaza]

Zarfa blinked. "Uhh...the one with the statue? In the open?"

[Yes]

"Uhh...okay..."

[Valen is teleporting to your side]

"Ah, right--it needs five minutes," Zarfa snapped her fingers, finally realizing why it was the Madam who called them and not Valen.

Wait--that meant the relic was real! They got the relic!

"What about Doc--umm, I mean...what about Lord Natha?" Zarfa asked hurriedly because finding the relic meant they would go straight to their finale.

[He’s not here yet] the Madam gave them a disappointing answer. [However, Valen had given the order to mobilize the army to the border of the Holy Empire. Please coordinate yours accordingly]

"Understood," Zarfa unconsciously straightened her back. Just like Valen, she always got a headmaster vibe from Lady Nezja. "Thank you, Madam."

The call ended shortly, and Zarfa turned toward the others. "You heard, right? We have to go to the Plaza," she said, putting away the communication orb and pulling a different one. "I have to call my agents, so I’m in your hands, okay?"

"Let’s go," Fatia nodded, looking up at her magic bird. "Thankfully, everyone seems to be going for Jin, so we have some leeway."

"Uhh...would he be alright?" Ian asked worriedly.

"Are you kidding me?" Zarfa scoffed while activating her local communication orb. "He has the mighty Salamander with him."

"Yeah, we better worry about ourselves more," Fatia chuckled. "I’ll find us the quickest route."

Aina whispered after giving the fainting holy knight a last bonk in the head. "The quietest too, if you can."

"That’s asking too much," Fatia rolled her eyes.

* * *

Time is relative.

Jin still remembered that from his school on Earth. How many years ago was that? It felt so long ago. Compared to that, five minutes should be nothing. It should be easily passed.

But why--why did it feel like forever?

It was easy at first when they could jump from wall to wall that Ignis melted. The priests were reluctant to follow because of the leftover flame after the first guard following them had to suffer a severe burn which his armor couldn’t stave away.

That helped Jin focus on running, following the straight path that Ignis created for him. Sometimes, there would be priests and guards inside the room they breached, but he either just rushed through, taking advantage of their surprise, or knocked them unconscious with his dagger and moved on.

But when they got out of the baumkuchen-like building and entered the garden before the gate to the outer sanctum, the many priests and guards hearing the commotion had gathered there.

This time, Jin couldn’t just run through. He had to stop and fi--

"Aaaaagh!"

"Barrier! Barrier!"

Jin blinked as an even larger firestorm ravaged the garden. Ignis jumped off his shoulder and landed as a full-grown Salamander. It stomped on the ground and incinerated the paved stone, as well as the grass and the garden.

Of course, the priests and the guards too.

The priests were busy extinguishing the fire on each other’s robes or running to the artificial lake. Those who managed to erect their shields were busy fighting the fire, who seemed to be alive.

"I’ll apologize to Valen later, but we have to hurry," the Salamander growled and pranced toward the gate, did not even bother turning small anymore.

Jin grimaced and followed the smoky path of devastation in the wake of the Salamander’s stride. Even with his high constitution and magic resistance, he still had to cover his face from the stifling fume. It was no wonder that the priests couldn’t easily catch up to them.

But well...that was only the regular priests.

Soon, the troops made of the paladins and the holy knights directly under the Pope, the First Order, marched toward them from the inner sanctum. They had already received directions and warnings from the Pope, so they already cast a holy barrier around themselves, and soon catch up to Jin and Ignis.

Gritting his teeth, Jin slid through the hole Ignis made in the gate, running toward the outer sanctum. "Ignis--we can’t hurt the civilian!"

The Salamander clicked its tongue and turned back into a small lizard, hopping on the Hero’s shoulder. "Hurry up, then! They are right behind!"

The tail kept flicking the air, sending dancing flame to eat the incoming arrow and swat any magic coming toward them. It was getting harder, however, when they started to use water magic instead of their signature light one.

Ignis clicked its tongue, but Jin had a better outlook on things. "I don’t think they’ll attack too fiercely once we get to where a lot of citizens are--"

As if mocking him, a barrage of magic beams rain down the garden and the outer edge of the outer sanctum. A series of screams and cries from the devotees filled the air as walls collapsed and pavilions were struck.

"You were saying?" Ignis flickered its light blue eyes.

Jin groaned and cursed at the same time. If it was like this, he couldn’t stop. He shouldn’t stop. If he stopped, perhaps the barrage of magic missiles would cease, and people wouldn’t get hurt. But if he did not reach his destination, more people would get hurt in the future.

Thus, he ran. He ran as fast as he could. He had to jump over people running in panic and pushing people away. He had to look away from the people getting injured along the way.

But this time, he persisted. He gritted his teeth and used every movement skill in his repertoire--blink, flash steps, haste...he burned the precious mana he had to save for the impending fight, but what would be the point if he couldn’t escape first?

Two minutes--two minutes of running through the outer sanctum might feel like nothing. But doing it while cranking up his mana, avoiding civilians, and defending from attacks made everything feel like it was in slow motion.

The Plaza felt so, so far away. Even after he managed to exit the outer sanctum and arrived at the plaza, the statue of the Goddess also felt so, so far away.

"Do you think you can get away on my turf?!" the Pope’s voice roared as he raised his staff high from the stairway leading to the Plaza.

Dozens of magic missiles gathered into one, big ball of light, hovering in the sky above the plaza. There were still a lot of confused and panicked devotees running around from the chaos, but the old man on the large staircase did not hesitate to slam the sphere to the ground, as if he wanted to evaporate everything.

Perhaps he did. No one would know, since the sphere of light was suddenly swallowed by a magic force--or rather...absorbed.

"Yeah, I think I can get away," a calm, melodious voice rang out as a man with long hair suddenly appeared behind the running Hero; his deep green eyes staring sharply at the old man on the stair.

"Valen!" Ignis jumped off the Hero’s shoulder to its contractor, feeling its body filled with vibrant mana from their connection.

The five minutes was up.