Fractured God

The man standing before the group was drenched in sweat while he was giving a sermon of some sort.

"My brothers and sisters gathered here today rejoice for it is because of our lord that we stand here. We are here, not because of Gabriel or Michael nor Uriel or Raphael. We are here solely because of L-"

However, while giving his speech to his congregation he was tapped on the shoulder by a plain-looking man. The man giving the speech looked annoyed but decided to be cordial. The people continued praying as if nothing had happened.

"Brother Leo, what might be the reason for this interruption? As you can see I am busy with these believers."

"I'm sorry to bother you Father Daniel, but we received a letter about the activity of the adventurers." He responded to him nervously.

"I see. This is earlier than expected. How long until they find traces of our presence?"

"About half a week, Father."

A smirk appeared on the man called Father Daniel's face. He started chuckling

"They sure will be taking their sweet time."

"Excuse me Father, but will that really be enough time to escape their clutches?"

"Fear not, Leo, even if they were to arrive tomorrow we would still have enough time to relocate." The Father said full of confidence. "I've been expecting to relocate for some time now."

"I see. The father is well versed in the art of caution." The man named Leo said as his worry soon left his face.

"All you need to know is, as long as I'm around you and all my beloved clergy will never have to worry about where we will relocate."

The father avoided using the word flee as that would have suggested they feared the adventurers. Unfortunately for them, he was not avoiding it for fear of spoiling the mood. He had a hidden ace up his sleeve that would guarantee that the adventurers wouldn't be able to touch him.

"Now Leo, I have to get back to preaching."

"Understood Father." He said before promptly leaving.

For being the hideout of a notorious cult it was rather tame. There were no hanging bodies, or skeletons that were being displayed.

If you didn't know better and stumbled here, you might be inclined to believe it was some niche harmless religion. One would not know this group had created mountains of bodies in their spare time.

It was now sunset at the Wisteria manor. Tibaut was (again) lying on the dirt. This time however he was fully healed. It seems as though Elizabeth's ability to restore stamina with her healing had a limit and Tibaut was busy gasping for air.

"Well, this session wasn't too bad. For a month of training, you did alright. You did serviceable enough adjusting to the weight. We can work more on your footwork next session."

"Huh?" Tibaut tried his best to respond while not being able to push a coherent word out.

"You see because I didn't have access to healing magic of this level while I was training, so I'd get this amount of training done in a month during my first year with my master."

In his mind, all Tibaut was hoping she would be lenient after this. She had just subjected him to in her own words a month's worth of training within half a day.

"(There's no way she'd want to give me a year's worth over these coming days right? She's human, right? Surely she'd know that'd break me right?)" He begged and begged on his own mind.

"Hey Elizabeth, so how much of this are we gonna do?" He asked hoping for a reasonable response yet being prepared for her saying it'd go on for two weeks.

"I guess we can do it on weekday afternoons." She responded while holding her chin thinking.

"For how long exactly?" Tibaut said while bracing himself.

"Until you leave obviously."

At that moment Tibaut looked as though he had just learnt he had been sentenced to life imprisonment.

After Tibaut had accepted the torment he was going to have to go through he eventually picked his ass up off the ground. Elizabeth was long gone by this point and it was now the middle of the night.

On his way to the entrance, he noticed Vanessa talking to someone.

"Is that really true about his hair?" She then noticed Tibaut approaching and called to him. The woman she was talking to decided it was time to leave and went on her way.

"Who was that?" Tibaut asked.

"Oh that was Lily, she's in Ezekiel's guild. She was just here to deliver a letter to Liz. Actually, since you came by-"

"Give it yourself." He quickly told her before making his way inside.

"Well, I would but," she then started scratching her head and looking away.

Tibaut sighed and responded

"For someone who can't fight, you sure do like pissing off Elizabeth." He then held his hand out.

"I really do need to learn how to control my mouth around Elizabeth." She then handed him a letter.

As he searched through the mansion he eventually found Elizabeth in her room. Vanessa not returning here was definitely to her benefit. Elizabeth looked like she was about to explode. "I didn't even get to wear it yet." She said to herself while she gritted her teeth. On her bed was a panty.

It didn't take much brain power for Tibaut to realise what likely happened. For his own safety, Tibaut quickly turned his head away from the bed and gave Elizabeth the letter.