Grimoire

Landing at the base of the altar, a teenager looked at the scene with an unreadable expression. He had messy black hair, his bangs were accented with red highlights. He wore a maroon shirt, black dress pants, boots, and a bright white long coat. The most striking thing about him were his eyes. They were dark red, almost like a blood moon.

“You're Damien Blackwell right?" The intruder looked at the priest indifferently. His focus went to the decapitated head, he had a mixture of sympathy and disgust for her. "I wonder if I should kill you now and save myself some time."

“Back away from Master Blackwell!”

Two men rushed at the intruder. One with a long sword, the other using a branding rod. As they rushed him at the foot of the altar stairs, the boy glanced at them with disinterest. The first guard received a hit to the chest with his fist. Gasping for air, the guard dropped his poker. Ducking under the other acolytes sword swing, the intruder immediately followed with a kick to the throat. In a fluid motion, he knocked them into one-another before striking them both into the floor. The guards laid there unconscious. Meanwhile, the rest of Blackwell's followers backed away out of fear.

“Playing God? It seems you’re mistaken about my church's teachings. I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.” Damien offered with a cordial smile. “My duty is to cleanse the sinners of the world. That girl in particular served directly under that demon King of Easenna.”

Damien sized up the boy. He didn’t look threatening, in fact he seemed quite young. He wouldn't have come here without a plan. Not only can he use his Aura to create barriers from a distance, he also dispatched my two best guards with ease. Damien knew he'd make for a strong ally. All it would take is some enticing.

“You seem to be strong for a kid, you could serve Ardna well. If it’s the girl you're after, you're welcome to take her for yourself." He said with an arrogant smile. "Although, You might have more fun with her friend. Unlike that one, she has a large pair of-"

BANG

Before Blackwell could finish his sentence, Espoir put a bullet in his head. Rather than dying, the priest placed his hand over his bloody face. His skin began regenerating at an inhuman speed, the otherwise fatal wound was completely gone. Damien Blackwell cautiously stepped back as Espoir walked towards the center.

"You would be wise to stay silent." Espoir said, disgusted by Blackwell's 'offer.' Glancing at the altar, he recognized the circle and symbols. It was the same kinds used to sacrifice people. Looking at the dead woman, Espoir assumed she was used as a sacrifice for the ritual. “Firstly, I’m not a kid, I'm eighteen. Secondly, what exactly is your plan here? Since she's from a nation Albion was at war with, you’re going to torture, rape, or sacrifice this girl for that grimoire of yours?”

Aria wasn't sure if the stranger was here to help her or here for Blackwell. Regardless, he didn't seem like an enemy. Yet.

“An egalitarian?” Damien let out a small laugh. "I’m sure the military would love to find out that a traitor is aligning with our enemies.”

“I think they’d be more interested in learning how some priest has been coning an entire region with fake miracles.” Espoir countered. Ignoring the priest for a moment, His eyes turned to the bubbling liquid on the floor. "So that's whats going on."

“Watch out!” Aria yelled out.

Out of the corner of his eye, Espoir saw Blackwell had summoned his aura tendril once again and attempted to impale him. On reaction, Espoir sidestepped the attack and slashed Blackwell across his face with a dagger. Faltering back, Damien attempted to attack once again, his face dripping with blood. This time Espoir grabbed the appendage. Planting his foot on the priest's chest to prop himself up, the darkened appendage wriggled in his grip. Using his other hand, Espoir made a finger gun with his middle and index fingers, he aimed the gun right at the priest's face.

“You little shit!” He cried out as he tried to stab Espoir with another blade.

“Ignite.”

A small flame formed at the base of Espoir's fingers before turning into a ball of yellow and orange. The attack exploded in Blackwell's face. Knocking Espoir across the altar, he slid to the center beside Aria. Pulling out his small dagger again, the blade's outline glowed with a light aura. In a clean motion he sliced her shackles off. The strange boy seemed to notice her 'dress'. It was more of a thin piece of cloth than an actual dress. Without thinking he threw his coat at her. He's helping me? Aria didn't understand him but he didn't seem like an enemy.

Noticing the girl was both confused and on edge by everything going on. Espoir could only offer a kind smile. “I’m Espoir, by the way.”

Damien emerged from the flames, his skin still crackling from the intense heat. Part of his skull was exposed as a result of the explosion. His body seemed to heal, unnaturally. The onyx ring he had on was glowing a bright purple color.

”To think a capable mage would come here.” Damien clutched his ring to draw more power but let out a cry of agony. “What? What's going on?!” His skin began to bubble like boiling water. Collapsing to his knees he cried out in pain.

What came next was truly disturbing. His skin began to split apart. The man's shape twisted and transformed from human to what can only be described as a column of flesh with a color that was closer to a green-dark purplish hue. A smell of burnt and decaying flesh filled the hall as two heads began to form at the top of his mass, the sockets of its head were husk-like. Meanwhile multiple human arms and dark spines split out of its abdomen. The rows descended down like a centipede. Protruding from the upper half of its mass were a long pair of semi-solid appendages. The tendrils were the same as Damien Blackwell had used for combat. Their shape was constantly changing from a blade to a tentacle-like mass.

In an instant, the monster had formed a claw and tried to slash the duo. It managed to close the gap between them in an instant. Despite that, Espoir managed to react in time with a barrier. The creature's slash effortlessly shattered his barrier. Pushing Aria back, his other arm was grazed by the creature causing it to bleed. Espoir's eyes widened, the Eldritch was stronger than he expected. Not sparing a second, he kicked the creature in its center of mass, sending it smashing into the back wall.

“Ah!”

As the creature emerged from his kick, Espoir scooped up Aria into a bridal carry and jumped off the elevated platform. Quickly dashing across the chamber, he wanted to get some distance between them and the Eldritch. Luckily, it seemed to be distracted by consuming the unconscious acolytes at the foot of the altar.

“What are you?” Aria asked, embarrassed by her position. If not for her injuries she’d have hit him for holding her like this.

Aria had known Albion to have incredibly strong magic users, it was what made them so powerful militarily. Yet this boy seemed completely different. He not only was proficient with aura, but he seemed to be able to use his magic like it was second nature. Only top soldiers were this skilled.

“Are you an inquisitor from the church? Or maybe you’re with the Mage Corps…” If it was the latter then he'd likely kill her once he learned who she was.

After putting a bit of distance from the altar, Espoir set her down gently. The Eldritch threw a nearby pew at them as it approached the duo. Espoir redirected it with a quick wind spell, smashing it through the roof. The moons glow acted like spotlight in the center of the church.

“Mage Corps? Inquisitor?” He cocked his head at the question before letting out a genuine laugh. Aria could only look at him confused. Does he take anything seriously?!

Stretching his bloodied arm, he looked at the creature trying to kill them. It was several meters away. Analyzing their situation, Espoir knew he wouldn’t be able to delay any longer. Returning back to the girl's question, he thought about it for a moment.

“I’m neither! I’m just a traveling magician who specializes in grimoires and Eldritch.” He beamed. “The reason I came to this town was to investigate the rumors of a grimoire user in the region.”

Grimoires were said to grant abilities that, while powerful, require the user to forfeit their humanity to an Eldritch to use them. While she never encountered one until today, Aria knew that those practices were punishable by death in both Easenna and Albion.

“The reason this place believed Damien Blackwell was divine was because he used that Eldritch's power to fake his miracles.” The girl realized. Her eyes narrowed at the mass approaching them. She knew Blackwell was a fraud, but to use something like that to trick the city. How could someone willingly forfeit themselves over to something like that? Just looking at it made her sick.

How many people did he sacrifice for that Eldritch? Was his ritual going to turn me into something like that as well? Seeing that 'thing' made Aria wonder what would've happened had Espoir not shown up.

“Correct!” Espoir said excitedly. “There's been a rising number of both grimoire users and Eldritch across Albion. Of course, grimoires are a lot easier to deal with since they’re still human, very powerful, but still human. Eldritch are difficult to handle if they fully form, even the military only uses their best mages to handle Eldritch. The average person would die against them, if they don't go insane first.”

Aria shot him an incredulous look. He was her age and he was going to fight that thing? ”How could you possibly defeat an Eldritch?”

“While grimoires and Eldritch are dangerous for most people, I won't lose.” Espoir answered her skepticism with a confident smile. “After all, the best way to counter poison is with poison.”

As the creature twisted its shape for combat, the nights glow landed on Espoir. Faced against the thing that Damien called a god. Espoir walked forward and extended his hand outward. His confident smile remained on his face.

“Appear! My Grimoire between light and darkness!”