Chapter 984: The Four Cardinals


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    As the inquisitor dragged Arad on the steps to the stage, the women started ulting, cheering her victory.


    Thud! Arad smacked his hand on the steps, standing up with a quick punch toward the inquisitor''s lower back. Her eyes shifted back, jumping up to dodge the punch. She had realized why Arad wasn''t knocked out, it was therge muscles of his neck, that dampened the impact to his skull.


    While mid-air, she swung her sword down at Arad''s shoulder, aiming to cut him open. But Arad lifted his hand, catching her de mid-air with one hand. She gasped, "By the sword?!" Arad''s arm was reaching its limit, but with how he was hunched, he could lift the inquisitor by her sword. "Do you drink oil?!"


    Not having time to figure out where Arad''s raw power wasing from, she swung her leg at his open face. But just before her foot could kiss his face, he disappeared.


    nk! The inquisitornded on the ground, looking in front of her, Arad was nowhere to be seen. At the tip of her sword, she could see the fairy lying on it, clipping her nails. With a bewildered face, the inquisitor cried, "The hell you are?!"


    "Never seen someone like him." The fairy smiled, "I can''t let you have him, he''s mine." She had shrunk Arad just before getting hit and allowed him to run toward the guillotine. As the inquisitor faces the fairy, Arad returns to his true size and lunges at the knight holding the guillotine''s rope.


    The inquisitor swung her sword, shaking the fairy away before striking at her. "Get out of my way!" Like a fly, the fairy easily dodged the shes. "You get out of my way." The fairynded on the inquisitor''s nose, ring straight at her eyes. "He''s interested in that witch, but I''ll still not allow anyone to get between him and me."


    The inquisitor wasn''t clueless, with a single look at the fairy''s face, she knew what she wanted. "So you''re helping him get with another woman? Yeah, get out of my way." She tried to punch the fairy but missed.


    The fairy flew around the inquisitor andnded on her head, "He''s cheating on me...cheating... another woman... Well, the more the merrier." She grabbed the inquisitor by the hair and red down from her forehead into her eyes, "Care to join as well?"


    The inquisitor was getting tired of this fairy, her kind is known for being unpredictable. Wherever they go they leave a mess that no one can clean.


    Her body sparked with lightning, and the fairy got jolted. The spark forced the fairy to fly away, smoking from her wings. Taking that chance, the inquisitor swung her sword at the fairy''s head. She must stop Arad before he releases the witch.


    As the inquisitor''s sword neared the fairy''s head, it nged, sparks flew everywhere as a massive figure entered the scene. "My guts are always wrong...they told me to stay away from this mess, so I came to help." Balon red at the inquisitor with a smug smile.


    "Baldy!" The fairy gasped, "Did you grow a brain?!"


    Balon deflected the inquisitor''s sword and blocked several of her swings before she got him in the face with a punch. "Sadly no, as you can see, I''m here picking a fight with an inquisitor."


    The knight in the back had released the rope and the de was racing toward the witch''s head, Arad had no way of stopping it besides one move. He clenched his fist and threw a punch as hard as he could, pinning the de right above the witch''s neck with a straight punch that applied force to the side.


    Arad immediately swung a kick at the guillotine''s de, ripping it from its frame, and jumped over the witch. "Can you cast curses?"


    "Not in those shackles, remove them." She replied as he tore the ropes holding her down.


    Arad looked at the steel shackles, he couldn''t break those with his bare hands now that he was a human.


    "Can''t now, we must get the keys." He looked around, the knight had jumped at them, swinging his sword.


    Arad punched the knight''s wrist, forcing him to drop his sword, and dropped him with a kick.


    "Use magic! That''ll be easier." The witch stood stuck to Arad''s back. "The inquisitor is capable ofrge storm magic, she can st this whole vige but won''t do it. Use your magic to kill her here where she is forced to not use her magic."


    This world had severalws, but one of them forbids the use of powerful magic inside cities. Since the inquisitor would be endangering the people''s lives, she wouldn''t break thatw even in a situation like this.


    "I too don''t want to kill anyone. See, all the knights are still alive." Arad was still keeping his promise to Mira.


    "Damn it! We''ll all die and this would be for nothing, kill her and be done with it." The witch smacked him on the back, and he sighed. "Fine."


    The moment Arad lifted his hands, putting them together everyone froze in ce, sensing something horrifying. As if everything went dark, the witch who stood beside him couldn''t even breathe, in that fraction of a second she regretted asking him to use magic.


    [Elemental Expansion:..] magic sparked inside Arad''s chest, but immediately stopped as a voice called, panting for air. "Wait....for... me..." Mary arrived on horseback, waving her hand for everyone to stop.


    "The priestess?" The inquisitor red at her but Mary was too exhausted to speak, only waving her hand.


    "We need to talk...Lady Cryptman." Mary stood with tired legs, she didn''t run a lot, but that was enough to drain all of her energy.


    The inquisitor, Mesharra Cryptman. Her family is a prestigious one that spanned tens of generations of grave keepers, they operated the massive graveyard of the region for centuries since the days of their grandfather who was nicknamed the Cryptman.


    But instead of taking on the family''s business, Mesharra who was blessed with powerful magic went on and became an inquisitor, hunting criminals and heretics to bury them in her graveyard.


    Mary looked back at the people, "I''ll inform you of detailster...but the witch''s execution is postponed until further notice."


    After getting all the people to leave, Mary approached Mesharra. "I know you want a lot of things exined...but believe me, I got a reason. Not a good one, but at least an


    understandable one."


    "So she?" Mesharra red at the witch who was mocking her.


    "She lives for now...as long as he wants her to remain alive." Mary''s eyes shifted toward Arad and Mesharra''s face rxed, a deep sigh escaping her lips. "I got a guess..."


    Balon cracked his neck, "I guess, this is all for me." He looked at Mesharra, "I hope you won''te for my headter. Will you?"


    "Depends on her exnation. The crime of interrupting an execution is death, the crime of resisting an inquisitor is death, and the crime of jumping into a judgment stage without permission is a fine of at least ten thousand gold coins." She looked at him with a passive face, "And since you''ve done it in front of the whole vige, there is nothing I can do about it


    if her exnation doesn''t help you."


    "So I''m fucked..." Heughed, looking at Mary, "Say, am I fine?"


    "Well...my exnation doesn''t include you... so yes." She replied with a worried smile.


    "Wait! Are you serious?" He looked scared for a moment, but when Arad''s voice came from the back, Mary smiled, "Let him be...he was helping."


    "Now it includes you." Mary giggled.


    Relieved, Balon walked away, waving his hand, "I don''t if you''re a rich noble, a general, or a member of the royal family, but nice to meet you."


    As the knights cleaned the ce, Arad and the rest retreated to the inquisitor''s special carriage. It was enchanted with magic to be bigger from the inside and had severalyers of sound and light-blocking magic. No one can see or hear anything that happens inside it, a perfect ce for secret meetings, interrogations, and anything that must be kept a secret.


    Arad sat alone with the fairy sitting on his hair, facing him were Mary and Mesharra, the witch was forced to sit on her knees on the ground, her neck only a hair strand away from Mesharra''s


    sharp de.


    "So, care to exin who is he?" Mesharra asked, looking at Mary. Arad removed his cloak and she spoke, "Arad Orion, the one the goddess spoke about."


    "Guessed it..." Mesharra sighed...the moment she saw Mary rushing in was the moment she guessed that the intruder might be Arad.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Really! I hit the jackpot!" The fairy flew to Arad''s face, "I knew it, your magic felt nothing


    like anything of this world."


    "Wait! What?" The witch cried, looking at Arad, "What such a holy being want from me?"


    "To use you as a test rat for his magic." Mesharra red at her. "The goddess gave him the freedom to experiment on people, but he''s indeed a holy man, opting to use criminals instead."


    "No." Arad said, "Mary can use holy magic, the fairy..." He looked at her. "Plum Rosa, the twisting spiral beauty. Nice to meet you, darling!" Plum replied with arge smile on her face.


    "Plum can use size magic, and this witch can use curses." Arad finished his sentence. "I want ess to those types of magic in my journey as they''ll be useful."


    "I have a name, Echidna. The witch of thorns." The witch growled.