Lost Fantasy-The Flowers of Stelis (Arc 2) [Hiatus]

Chapter 13

Sheriel also worked alongside Kaz, but not as close to the entrance to the cave. She was a few paces back in the large clearing in front of the cave, setting up magic traps. These were traps that would either slow the Behemoth down, combust, or shock it with lightning when stepped on. These shall be the main distractors when the Behemoth has made it past the mouth of the cave and onto the open field.

The next step in the preparation came in the form of blessings and buffs that Marilin shall cast on all her party members. Since casting on each individual allows for the buff to last longer, she first went over to Tetsuya and casted the spells of blessings and protection. Then, she went over to Loganel.

"Ready?" she asked with a concerned expression on her face as she held up her hands and readied herself to cast the spells.

"Hold on," Loganel responded.

From his storage ring he summoned out a piece of cloth, which he shoved into his mouth as a gag and bit down on. This way, if the blessing spells were to cause him pain, he will not scream out and alert the Behemoth.

Loganel looked into Marilin's concerned eyes and nodded. He then prepared himself for the pain as he watched as the warm light yellow light of holiness gathered around her hands. Then, as the light shined onto Loganel, he felt the worst pain he had ever felt inflicted on him. He bit down hard on the piece of cloth, as the excruciating pain almost seemed to gnaw away at his flesh and piercing every square centimeter of his skin with needles. 

He could hardly contain himself as he allowed the sacred light to shine down on his body. His hands trembled from the pain, and beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he forced himself to suppress the urge to cry out. Tears began to fill his eyes and he bit down on the cloth even harder.

Finally, when the ritual was over, Loganel breathed heavily as he recovered from the pain. He took the gag out of his mouth and was puzzled by the taste of blood. With his tongue, Loganel checked on each individual teeth and discovered that the source of blood wasn't from there.

Weird...Loganel thought as he let go of the cloth and allowed it to return into the storage space within his magical storage ring.

Loganel then decided that he should notify Marilin of how he was feeling so as to not cause her to worry. When Loganel first started his lessons in Holy magic, he had consulted Marilin for tutoring. However, as his knowledge in the field advanced in the past year to the point that it even surpassed Marilin, their roles reversed and Marilin came to Loganel for tutoring, which caused the two of them to get to know each other quite well. In addition, ever since the blessing and protection spells had started causing him pain, Marilin was reluctant when asked to cast it onto Loganel. However, she compromised when Loganel himself asked that she do it for him, but ever since, whenever the spells had to be casted, Marilin would always look apologetically at Loganel with great sympathy as her spells of protection and blessing somehow caused Loganel great pain and suffering. Often, she would blame herself for such side effects and would always try to find a solution. However, despite her best efforts, none had been discovered.

"Marilin," Loganel began to speak and realized that his voice was quite weak. In addition, when he looked over at Marilin, he discovered that she gazed back at him with a terrified yet also concerned expression in her trembling eyes.

"A-are you alright?" she asked with tears forming in her eyes. "The blood..."

"What do you mean?" Loganel asked and immediately, Marilin produced a small mirror for Loganel to look into.

Staring into the mirror, Loganel's eyes widened as he realized what the spells had caused him. The Loganel that he saw in the mirror was pale, with a trail of blood running down the left side of his cheek from his left eye. In addition to that, blood ran down from both nostrils of his nose and was also evident in the corners of his mouth.

"What the hell?" Loganel immediately summoned a clean towel and began cleaning his face of the blood.

"What happened?" Tetsuya immediately walked over and grabbed hold of Loganel's wrist so as to stop him. Then, Tetsuya's eyes widened in shock as he discovered the terrible condition that Loganel was in. "What's going on with him?" He looked over at Marilin. "What happened to him?!" He shouted but in a suppressed voice that only the three of them could hear.

"I don't know," Marilin sobbed as she responded. "I really don't know."

"Are you sure you're using the same spells for all of us?" Tetsuya questioned as he shifted the blame of Loganel's condition on a possible ominous intent from Marilin.

"I am, I swear!" Marilin shook her head in denial at Tetsuya's accusations.

"Stop!" Loganel intervened so as to prevent the conflict from escalating any further. "I'm fine."

"Fine?" Tetsuya glanced over at Loganel with an almost angry glare. "You call that fine? What the hell happened to you?"

"I don't know," Loganel suppressed a cough that brought blood into his palms as he tried to cover it. "But it's not Marilin's fault though."

"But this isn't normal," Tetsuya shook his head and clenched both hands into fists. "You've been studying Holy magic way more than any of us. You know what it might be?"

"Don't worry," Loganel shook his head. "But I'll be fine."

"B-but..."

"Now's not the time, Tetsuya!" Loganel surprisingly condemned Tetsuya for his actions. "We got to focus on the Behemoth. Get back to your post and get ready for this. This is your plan after all right? Who's gonna lead it if not you?"

"Fine..." Tetsuya finally agreed and walked off to where he originally stood. However, before he left the proximity, he turned and looked into Marilin's eyes. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. Please forgive me."

"It's fine," Marilin nodded. She was unable to smile after knowing what had happened to Loganel because of her spells. "I know it was just the heat of the moment."

"I'll be fine," Loganel said to Marilin, "so go ahead and cast the blessing and buffs for the others."

"Are you sure you're fine? Do you know what's wrong?" Marilin asked.

"I'll be fine," was all Loganel said, and no matter how much Marilin pressed him to reveal more, Loganel would only repeat those three words.     

Marilin left Loganel's side and walked over towards Kaz and Sheriel who had finished setting their traps. As she walked away though, she would glance back and gaze at Loganel with a worried look in her eyes. She eyed her mysterious friend who was concealing something from her. She felt as if with Loganel's knowledge in the divine arcane, he surely knows the reason why these sacred spells of blessing and protection were causing him pain. However, for some reason he would not reveal it to her, and all she could do was watch as he suffered from the pain as it grows worse each and every time. This inability to do anything for Loganel pained her gravely.

Holy magic, spells that grants the divine protection and blessings to those the spell is casted on, will not do any harm to humans, Loganel stood there with a solemn expression as he felt the wind blow by, moving the ends of his long battle coat in the air. It will not cause harm to humans, and there exists only one species that will be harmed by the sacred arcane: demons.

Author's Note:

We are slowly moving into the main story. The Demon King's daughter that was hinted at in the last book will soon show up in one of the later chapters. Be excited!!!

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