The Hated Hero: Sigil-Powered Warrior-Chapter 30: Starseeker

Immanuel reached the smoke-filled hallway and slowed down. It was possible that whoever... or whatever crashed into the dimly-lit space posed danger to him, and by slowing down, he would not elicit a sudden reaction.

This would have been a good time to use the Mouse sigil, but I feel that I only have enough mana for one more fight.

Every step he took carried caution. That someone or something crashed through a solid stone surface meant that the stone floor was likely compromised. With every step he took, he first put down weight on the leg ahead of him, only bringing the rest of his body forward once he was certain that he had stepped on a stable surface.

He had the smoke to cover him. In the absence of combat, he could take all the time he needed to find out who or what crashed through a solid stone surface.

In time, he found out who crashed through a wall—Hierophant Arthur Hawking. He was just as bloodied as earlier.

And still alive somehow. Perhaps he had clerics heal him mid-fight. That, or he healed himself mid-fight.

Hierophant Hawking lay on the floor, in the middle of the smoke-filled dim space, with his arms and legs spread wide. Somehow, he could breathe without even the slightest hint of struggle and keep his eyes fully open. His mace, covered in blood, was on his right hand, while his shield was strapped to his left arm. His armor seemed mostly intact.

The Hierophant’s speech and the way he turned to Immanuel confirmed one thing he suspected. "Maier," he spoke, his voice tone normal, with only a slight hint of strain.

"Your Beatitude," Immanuel responded, his voice muffled due to having covered his face with the collar of the cleric’s robe he was wearing. "Where is the enemy? Why is there silence all throughout?"

My mask lets me breathe even with smoke all around me. If I had it on now, talking would have been easier.

The Hierophant rose to seated position and pointed in front of him. "I’ve cast the Dome of Restriction in such a way that, even if I die, it stays. Hierophant Hargrave is trapped in there with three vicars."

Immanuel thought to peer into the hole in the wall, but Hierophant Hawking planted a firm, heavy hand on Immanuel’s shoulder. "Don’t. Hargrave still thinks I’m dead. Same with the vicars. Rest a while. We fought well. We can join them when we have rested enough."

With all the smoke around here, this does not look like a good place to rest my body. I’ll just stay still to recover my mana, then. Maybe he’ll remove the Dome by then.

Immanuel sat next to Hierophant Hawking, facing the direction he pointed to moments back. He lay the massive axe next to him. The smoke that enveloped them was still thick, limiting visibility, and in the absence of his mask, Immanuel set his hands over part of the robe covering his face to keep much of the smoke from entering his nose.

Immanuel leaned closer to Hierophant Hawking. "I heard someone talk about a document that they are also after. Would you know what that would be, Your Beatitude?"

Hierophant Hawking straightened as he breathed deep. Then he turned to Immanuel. "Access privilege to the depths of the Kingdom’s libraries, where all information about the nobles and royals are kept."

Immanuel raised an eyebrow. "Wait, don’t your monks in black keep historical records, being archivists?"

"Something was off when, a day after the wedding, the Grand Baron drove the black monks off his library, with Hargrave’s approval. The reason? An alleged renovation of the library in his manor. Months pass, and even to this day, renovations are still ongoing. I leave it to you to connect the dots, Maier."

Documents... so what needs documentation? Then he ran through what he could remember. Birth, death, the purchase of a house, training in the guilds or as a soldier or religious soldier...

Divorce.

Marriage!

"I see. The Grand Baron is hiding the truth about his marriage to my wife. And the truth can be found if we use the privilege documents."

The Hierophant nodded. "You’re fast."

He could have asked someone else to find the marriage and divorce documents—

"I tried, Maier, to get yours and your ex-wife’s divorce documents, but we found neither," Hierophant Hawking began, as though he read Immanuel’s mind. "One of us was caught asking about them in one of the libraries far away from here. He was tortured, then freed after he divulged what’s been happening here."

"So it’s not Baroness Blackwell who’s behind all of this?"

"I suspect she is also involved, but nothing beyond coincidence seems to point to her being a part of this. So far, that is."

"Would it not have been easier to just hide those records elsewhere, rather than cause all this trouble?"

Hierophant Hawking looked down, and it seemed the question pushed him into deeper thought. "Yes, but also no, Maier," he said after the brief pause.

"Care to explain?"

"Well—"

Someone clad in armor similar to Hierophant Hawking’s armor interrupted the explanation just as it began. They flew into the hole and crashed onto Immanuel, knocking him down head-first.

His vision spun wild upon impact, which worsened when he turned to get Justus’s axe. But with the axe still within his reach, he fortunately did not need to deal with the world spinning around for longer.

With Immanuel unable to recognize the armored cleric that was on top of him, he shoved them off and rolled to standing position. He then readied the axe for a one-handed swing.

Like Immanuel, Hierophant Hawking was up and his mace and shield were ready for another clash. But he faced the hole where the armored cleric came through, bracing himself to either attack or counterattack. The smoke was still thick within.

So this one’s an ally. They were armed with a silver bow. Their face fell away from the direction where Immanuel stood, keeping him from identifying them at that moment.

Sorry about that. Something disturbed the smoke, and, out of instinct, Immanuel lunged to meet it with the blade of the axe. The clash of weapon against what Immanuel thought was armor rang throughout the space, with the opposing force somehow knocking him a few steps backwards.

The head of a halberd stabbed through the smoke. "Come out of there, you!"

Shit! The roar was familiar. The halberd swung side to side, its wielder probing for enemies.

Immanuel took a cautious step forward, axe swung back and ready to swat the halberd aside. But, just as Immanuel was about to strike, the halberd was pulled back out of the smoke.

Hierophant Hawking hissed the loudest hiss Immanuel had ever heard in his life. "Halt!" he mouthed, startling him. The command felt slightly magical.

The Hierophant had raised his mace horizontally. Even with another armored cleric between them, as well as another gap between the fallen armored cleric and Hierophant Hawking, Immanuel understood the gesture to be a signal to stand back.

"Listen," Hierophant Hawking hissed another time. It was then that Immanuel noticed that everything had fallen silent once again.

Someone must have pulled him back into the Dome.

"What are we waiting for?!" Immanuel hissed back the loudest he could, but it didn’t quite have the same effect Hierophant Hawking’s had.

"Sound," Hierophant Hawking replied, his voice normal this time. Right away, the clash of multiple weapons and the grunting of combatants could be heard ahead of them. The restrictions have been lifted.

"Now, Maier. Go first, I’ll follow you in time," came the hiss of the Hierophant. And just as the signal was given, the cloud of smoke was beginning to dissipate, revealing the true size of the hole and the combatants ahead of them.

Fighting the halberdier are two clerics similarly armored as the halberdier. Two black monks aid them. The four moved with smooth coordination, allowing them to attack the halberdier and counter his every move and special ability with unpredictability while avoiding accidental clashes with each other.

The black monks, as soon as they had the right timing, summoned magical chains out of a small portal. These chains wrapped around parts of Hierophant Hargrave’s body. The monks then pulled on the chains in an attempt to spread his limbs and make him vulnerable to attack, but Hierophant Hargrave was able to resist the monks.

At the same time, the two armored clerics stood in front of Hierophant Hargrave, channeling bright white energies on their hands. From the looks of their faces, the energy channeled must be intended for an attack.

They have him locked in position. I’m taking it from here.

Immanuel appeared from out of thin air behind Hierophant Hargrave, axe raised high, ready to strike the enemy’s uncovered head. But just as the axe was about to strike Hierophant Hargrave’s head, an irregularly-shaped piece of metal darted towards the axe from nowhere and struck it with such great force, knocking it aside and throwing Immanuel off-balance.

More irregularly-shaped metal pieces flew into the scene after the first one. Together with the piece that knocked the axe aside, the metal pieces encircled Hierophant Hargrave as he continued to resist the monks pulling his limbs outward. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Some pieces are smaller than others, but none were larger than half the axe’s blade. Just what is he trying to do?

Despite the threat, the black monks persisted with their pulling. But this time, they moved a few steps forward, almost within orbit of the floating metal pieces. To counter this, they took the portions of their chains just dangling loose and wrapped arm and fist around them.

Hierophant Hargrave turned his head the most he could and addressed Immanuel behind him. "You very nearly had me there. Too bad I sensed you through the eyes of these weaklings!"

BANG!

Immanuel’s ears rang. His vision faded to white. He waved the axe around as he backed, but there was no one in front of him.

I’m left with no choice but to use this, even if I’m about to be out of mana!

Immanuel assumed shadow form, and to his surprise, his sight and hearing were restored, allowing him to see how the others nearby fared. Just like him moments back, they shut their eyes and had an arm or two outstretched in front of them. They also groaned in pain.

Immanuel recalled the light burning deep into his eyes. It’s not just me... did a third party do this?

"Shit!" came distant cursing. It was the armored cleric that crashed onto Immanuel. On her lowered hands was the bow that lay next to her while she was passed out. The arrow nocked on it emitted a blinding white light.

Hierophant Hawking stood next to her. "No need to be hard on yourself, Vicar Starseeker. I can fix that."

So that one who landed on me is Vicar Starseeker.

"Go get the document he’s looking for and get out of here." Hierophant Hawking leapt down to the library floor.

Vicar Starseeker raised the bow, pulled the string back, and took aim. "Got it. But first, let me try to hit him again."

"Go ahead. But if he still stands after that, then I’m taking it from here."