Chapter 57: Misunderstanding Ambush
The stone stairs of the scholar escape passage led directly into the quiet, carpeted corridors of the upper residential wing. Leo Vance walked with heavy, steady steps, supporting Saintess Seraphina against his broad shoulder.
The Saintess was completely exhausted from the brutal battle against the Subterranean Crypt Titan. Her pristine white church robes were soaked with dark subterranean water, clinging damply to her slender waist.
The hem of her skirt was torn from the collapsing basalt pillars, and her silver prayer beads hung loosely around her trembling fingers.
Lady Elara Snowveil and Duchess Celestia Raine walked on either side, their refined mana calming the cold subterranean drafts. "Just a few more steps, Seraphina," Celestia murmured softly, brushing damp golden hair away from the Saintess’s pale forehead.
"The suite is warm, and the tea is ready," Elara added, her glacial aura keeping the damp chill from chilling Seraphina’s bones. Seraphina rested her cheek against Leo’s chest, her breath coming in soft, grateful sighs as she inhaled his warmth.
As the group turned the corner into the grand pavilion archway, two figures suddenly emerged from the connecting hallway.
It was Knight Captain Valerie and Spiritist Maya.
Valerie stopped dead in her tracks, her hand dropping instantly to the leather-wrapped hilt of her massive dragon-scale greatsword. Her sharp crimson eyes widened in pure, volcanic shock as she took in the sight before her.
Saintess Seraphina, the sacred symbol of imperial purity, was soaked, disheveled, and leaning weakly in the arms of Leo Vance. To any outside observer who did not know about the subterranean Titan breach, the scene looked entirely horrifying.
"Seraphina!" Valerie’s voice roared through the vaulted ceiling like rolling thunder. Her dragon-blood mana flared with violent crimson sparks, cracking the air around her heavy plate armor.
"You filthy, lowborn monster!" Valerie shouted, her face twisting with righteous warrior rage. "You trapped her in the dark! You violated our Saintess!"
Beside her, Spiritist Maya’s dark blue robes billowed with chaotic psychic energy. "His aura is stained with dark heat and her pure essence," Maya gasped in horror, reading the ambient mana fluctuations.
"Valerie, stop him! He must not leave this hallway alive!"
"Valerie, wait!" Seraphina cried out in a hoarse, desperate whisper, trying to raise her arm to explain. Valerie did not wait for a single word.
Boom!
The polished marble floor exploded beneath Valerie’s armored boots as she lunged forward with blinding, sonic-boom velocity. Her massive greatsword tore from its scabbard, drawing a blazing arc of crimson dragon-flame aimed straight for Leo’s collarbone.
At the exact same instant, Maya clapped her delicate palms together, summoning four razor-sharp astral spirit blades in mid-air. The psychic blades shot forward with whistling speed, aimed to sever the tendons in Leo’s arms and legs.
Leo did not take a single step backward.
With calm, effortless grace, Leo gently passed the breathless Saintess into Celestia and Elara’s protective embrace. "Stay back," Leo said in a calm, steady voice.
As Valerie’s earth-shattering downward slash descended upon his head, Leo raised his bare right hand without flinching.
Clang!
A deafening metallic ring echoed down the entire corridor. Leo caught the heavy, razor-sharp edge of the dragon-scale greatsword between his index and middle fingers.
The massive kinetic shockwave tore through the surrounding carpet, blasting a spiderweb of cracks into the marble floor tiles. Yet Leo’s arm remained completely motionless, anchored by the unyielding gravitational density of his Fourth Ascension Black Sun.
Valerie’s eyes widened in sheer, disbelieving terror. Her full-strength strike, capable of cleaving an armored carriage in half, was stopped by two bare fingers.
Before she could pull her weapon back, Leo gave his wrist a sharp, casual twist. The immense torque ripped the heavy hilt right out of Valerie’s armored gauntlets, sending the greatsword clattering across the stone floor.
In the next fraction of a second, Leo stepped inside her guard. His left hand shot out like an iron clamp, locking firmly around the steel collar of Valerie’s dragon-plate armor.
Boom!
Leo slammed the fierce Knight Captain against the nearest stone pillar with overwhelming physical force. The stone pillar groaned under the impact, and the breath was violently knocked out of Valerie’s lungs.
Above them, Maya’s four astral spirit blades closed in on Leo’s exposed back. Leo did not even turn around.
He simply released a single, concentrated pulse of energy from his core. A dark gravity wave erupted around his body, instantly swallowing the incoming psychic blades and dissolving them into harmless blue sparks.
The psychic backlash struck Maya’s mind like a physical hammer, dropping the delicate spiritist to her knees on the carpet. In less than three seconds, the two elite protectors of the Holy Hero Party were completely neutralized.
Leo stood tall against the pillar, his fingers firmly pinning Valerie’s armor while his dark, predatory eyes looked down at her flushed face.
Valerie gritted her teeth, struggling desperately against the iron grip, but the heavy gravity pressing on her chest made it impossible to move. "Kill me then, you brute," Valerie hissed through clenched teeth, tears of warrior humiliation gathering in her crimson eyes.
Leo leaned in close, his calm voice dropping to a low, commanding baritone that vibrated straight through her steel breastplate. "Raped her?" Leo asked with a cold, mocking smirk. "Open your eyes and look at her face, Captain."
Valerie looked past Leo’s shoulder. Saintess Seraphina was standing between Elara and Celestia, looking at Leo not with horror or trauma, but with pure, glowing devotion.
"Leo saved my life from the ancient Titan," Seraphina said in a firm, tearful voice. "My robes were torn by falling rock, not by his hands. He protected me when no one else was there."
Valerie’s breath hitched in her throat, her warrior mind spinning in utter confusion. Leo’s dark eyes narrowed, his gaze piercing directly into Valerie’s trembling soul.
"I can do whatever I want with your Saintess because it was her own choice to come into my arms," Leo said with icy certainty. "She chose me over the hollow prayers of your church."
Leo released his grip on Valerie’s collar, allowing the Knight Captain to slide down against the base of the pillar. "Before you point your weapons at me in blind loyalty," Leo added, turning his gaze toward the dazed Maya on the floor, "why don’t you go check on your precious ’Hero’ first?"
Valerie clutched her bruised throat, staring up at him in dazed shock. "What are you talking about?"
"Go to Noel’s private bedchamber," Leo said with a calm, predatory smile. "See what your holy savior is doing with the recording crystal while his Saintess was bleeding in the dark."
Without waiting for their reply, Leo turned on his heel. He gathered Elara, Celestia, and Seraphina close to his side, leading them through the heavy oak double doors of his private luxury suite.
The heavy suite door closed with a firm, resounding click, locking the two bewildered protectors out in the cold corridor. Valerie sat on the floor beside her fallen greatsword, her heart pounding with a sudden, sickening knot of dread.