BXBX NOVEL Chapter 87 87 - A Colossal Mess [Part 1]
Threatened by the lie-catching staff, Haruki wanted to keep the meeting as brief as possible. However, the priestess on the other hand had some different plans entirely. Crawling out from beside her white gown, were two dollish servants who usually carried the excess of her dress. Puffed up with excessive powder, they appeared in the same images as that of their master.
"There's no need to fret duke, my skin, my eyes, and even my hair they're all but the fruit of a rare condition," resting her chin atop the back of her hand, she beamed an eerie smile. "It's not infectious so you have no reason to worry."
"I'm not worried," the staff screeched like glass shards brushing against each other.
The sound was so loud that Haruki could feel it grinding against his teeth and even Serena's servants had to cover their ears to escape the awful screeching.
"Can you stop that?" Haruki requested, glaring right at her.
"Sure," she replied before tapping on the staff to make it stop the screeching. "May, June, can you step outside for a moment please?"
Referring to her servants, she turned around to beam yet another smile at them. Their faces devoid of emotion simply glared at her with their giant dollish eyes.
"But your holy highness, who'll carry your dress then?" Asked May, the one with dusk violet eyes.
"We cannot leave you alone with a man alone your highness," squinting her golden dawn eyes, June glared at Haruki.
Saying not a word, Serena gracefully moved her arm over the two. As her transparent sleeves passed over their heads, they both disappeared one after the other. With just as much grace, she turned to face the duke. Her eyes twinkling with the hollow gaze of the night sky, she kept on smiling while peering at Haruki.
"Now, where should we start?" Tapping her nails against the desk, her eyes widened further while glaring at him.
"What is this, priestesses? Has the bishop sent you to question me about the change in policies?" Presuming that bishop Clint had sent her, Haruki wondered if he was trying to rebel against him.
"The bishop? I'm afraid not, on the contrary, he advised me not to meddle with you," grabbing the staff in her hands, she picked herself off of the chair. "But! How can I ignore the crimes, the bloodshed, and the indulgence in the street even if the bishop won't condemn it?"
'She knows too much, the whole thing with Razor must've blown up like wildfire through the cities.' Having slaughtered all the criminals working under Moriyana, Razor had left the streets reeking of blood and filth which attracted the attention of the otherwise blind guards. 'Fuck…what am I supposed to do? Lie to her?'
Activating moral corruption, Haruki decided to try and woo the women of the cloth. However, just a single look into her hollow eyes, stripped his tongue of mana making the ability completely useless.
"What was that, Duke? I can taste something funny in my mouth," she mocked, gradually making her way toward Haruki. "Do you happen to garner a hint of dark magic? I swear I can taste it spreading through my mouth."
'I can't answer or that damned staff…' Glaring at her staff, he strained his mind trying to come up with a solution.
"Answer me!" She screamed, stopping her staff in anger.
Being pushed to answer while he was already pressed for time, Haruki was ready to abandon all facades and try to subdue the priestess. However, as he got off his chair ready to use hypnosis, a sudden announcement rang inside his head.
'Temporary status Mistress of darkness status granted!' befuddled as to what exactly was happening, Haruki quickly closed his eyes to check the status change. 'What…the fuck?'
Listed under his names were pages upon pages of abilities, spells, and curses, and the section which once held his level as well as overall status was emptied leaving but a blank.
"Is something wrong?" Asked Serena standing right in front of Haruki. "Did something get in your eyes?"
She chuckled assuming the young man was intimidated by the display of her abilities. Running her hand down over Snow's white hair, she turned his face upward so she could get a better look at him.
"Ebwim maose gabre," as soon as her eyes met hers, a jumble of rambling incantation left his lips. He had no clue what it all meant, but his mouth kept on rambling.
'I don't feel her, but this must be her power.' Although the mistress had pushed herself into a deep slumber, still hoping to aid Haruki to stay alive, she'd temporarily entrusted him with her powers.
"Wha-what? A-are…youuuu…?" Entrapped by Haruki's defense mechanism set up by Asmodia, Serena found herself slowly drifting off until her mind was but a mush.
Falling into Haruki's arms, she began lightly snoring. Swiftly catching the falling staff after it's been unclutched by her hand, a phantom hand caught it before it could hit the ground. After bringing the staff to Haruki, another pair of invisible arms took Serena from his light embrace.
"Where is he?!" Before he even had the time to wrap his head around everything, a loud voice from outside the hall flung the door right open.
The moment the door opened up, the hands let go of both Serena and her noisy golden staff. Standing in front of him was sweat-ridden Moriyana. Following soon after, Fay came rushing in and crashed against Moriyana's back.
"Ouch!" Yelped Fay, brushing her forehead.
"Mister! Help me!" Although he could hear Riana asking for help, he didn't see her anywhere at all.
That is until she came rushing in from the door, and wrapped her hands around Snow's body. Having seen all of his disguises, she was well aware of who she was going up to for safety. Not even a second later, the wolves from Fay's scarf came running in followed by a hefty line of guards.
"You didn't talk to her, did you?" Ignoring everyone and everything, Moriyana came rushing to Haruki with crazy in her eyes. "Tell me you didn't talk to her, please!"
'Why did I even get up today?' Having not a clue about anything throughout the chaos, Haruki cursed the morning itself.