If I think about it, it makes sense that this shrine is here, right? Ordinary people can’t touch a Saintess’s relic, and if I remember what I've read correctly, it’s seen as bad luck to remove one very far from its resting pce. Sure, they bury the Saintess’s bodies back at the main church of whatever country they ended up dying in, but those are just empty shells; The soul of a Saintess is believed to reside inside of the relic they leave behind, and their relics are seen to be the Saintess’s final good act upon the world, considering they usually output some continuous beneficial skill. No wonder a shrine and town sprouted up in the middle of such a secluded area to pay homage to such an important thing.
Too bad it did nothing to protect them in the end.
Makes me wonder why no one stuck around in the safety of this [Consecration] barrier; I mean wouldn’t it be the safest pce that there could have possibly been? It’s only been two days, so there’s no reason that anyone couldn’t have camped out here… Besides religious ones, I guess.
Oh, but it’s odd though, isn’t it? Why did Inaiah even die here? I’m sure from what I’ve read that I’m not the only Saintess that has come back to life before their timer ran out. Even if she was a much higher level than me, I’m sure with all the healing and assisting that she was doing that she must have at least leveled up once in all that fighting, right? From what I saw of her life she couldn’t possibly have been more than level 40, so I highly doubt that her timer ran out within the next two days… So then did she just die because she gave up? Or maybe the Goddess was simply done with her and didn’t have a reason to keep her alive anymore?
“...Saintess?”
Oh right, I’ve just been staring around in a daze, haven’t I? I’m sure Kale must be concerned about what happened to me just now, considering the weird way I’m acting, and, you know, the oh-so-very missing relic.
“Don’t worry Kale, I’m-”
Oh my good lord, where did all these pop ups come from?!
When I turned to look in Kale’s direction, I finally noticed the stack of notifications that was practically smothering me. My various screens have always been a bit see-through so that they wouldn’t get in the way of me seeing something possibly important, but for some reason there were so many built up in one spot that I almost couldn’t see Kale behind them! Of course, I already had one or two that I’d been ignoring purely because we’d been on the run and I’d needed to always be focusing… And I was so exhausted st night that I didn’t get a single moment to really care about them, either. But from the looks of things, just me touching that relic gave me a handful more pop ups than before!
Ugh, are any of these going to be important? Should I maybe just move them out of the way and keep saving them for when all of this is done? But what if one of them has to do with why the relic disappeared…? From what I recall, I don’t think there’s any mention of a relic going away when a Saintess touched them like this…
Well, maybe it’s not such a bad idea to give the first few a quick peek.
{[One Who Redeems] has activated, creating the subskill [Incarnation: Inaiah].}
…Huh?! What? That’s a thing?! That’s possible?! But I still don’t even know what [One Who Redeems] is! How can it be generating subskills for me when I don’t even have enough access to it to view what it freaking does?!
Hmm, but judging from the name of that subskill, I bet I can make a few guesses at what the two of them are…
Oh, wait, it actually lets me view this new one!
{[Incarnation: Inaiah]: Channels the spirit of the Saintess Inaiah, enabling the use of her strength. (1000 energy per minute)}
Okay, that sounds pretty cool. Two guesses what that ‘strength’ of hers is gonna end up being, considering her relic has been doing a certain skill since she died. You know, it’s probably actually a really strong and costly skill just to use [Consecration] as it is though, right? If it already costs 1000 just to bring Inaiah out, then would it also cost me however much [Consecration] does to use on top of that? And what if it allows me to use her other abilities, too? …Idunno, if that’s the case then maybe it’s a little too early to consider using it.
Well, at least it’s another neat thing that I got added to my arsenal. Maybe it’s expensive as hell, but I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to be able to get [Consecration] until around my mid-thirties, so having a bit of an extra cost isn’t too bad of a bargain to get it so early. Kinda makes me wonder how Inaiah was able to do it straight out the gate, though… From what I saw of her life here, she actually started with that skill, didn’t she…?
Eh, I guess it doesn’t matter too much for me to figure it out right now. Alrighty then, thanks for that news, pop ups! What else do you have for me? This one can wait, this one can wait, this-
{A zone effect, [Consecration] is ending in 5 minutes.}
Oh.
I… I guess I should have expected this.
I did get rid of the thing that was causing it, after all.
“Um… Have you been keeping an eye on the dregs outside, Kale?”
“Yes, Saintess. Their numbers haven’t changed; There’s still around forty of them pressed against the barrier.”
“Oh great.”
So you’re telling me that around 40 dregs are about to storm in here and kill us in less than 5 minutes? …Perfect. You know, I’m really starting to kick myself for fucking with this relic before I took care of our little dreg problem...
Alright, well… Considering that this pce is completely surrounded and covered, escaping before the timer runs out isn’t going to be a very viable pn. Is there any way I could kill enough of them in the next few minutes to bst a hole between them that we could escape through? Nah, that’s still way too risky… They might not be the fastest going from point A to B, but I’ve seen how quickly they can move short range; There’s no way we’d be able to get past them unless there’s a wiiiide gap between them. Yeah no, in 5 minutes I’m not gonna be able to take enough of ‘em down to manage that… Maybe I could pull off some real damage if I had more time to work with, but it’s basically pointless otherwise.
Is it finally time for me to try my Pressure or [Soothing Bell] on them? Have we gotten to that risk-taking time? Maybe we have, since I don’t think-
Oh, well hey, I guess if I’m just gonna try something out anyways, then wouldn’t it be a smarter idea to just become Inaiah for a minute and use her [Consecration]? I mean, it was already the thing that’s been keeping us safe, why not sink 1000 energy or so into keeping us that way for a bit longer? It honestly seems like the best way, all things considered. And even if it costs a bit extra to use, so long as it can stay up for at least a couple of minutes, it will have been worth it. Who knows? Maybe the Goddess will be kind to me and the [Consecration]’ll stick around for 30 minutes. Maybe it’ll even behave like my other skills and stick around for an hour!
“Okay, Kale. The barrier on this pce is about to go down. I’m gonna try something to protect us, but stand back and keep yourself safe just in case, alright?”
“...Yes, Saintess. But what should I do if things go awry?”
“Get yourself out of here, obviously! If you see a chance to escape without me, take it.”
“But-”
“Nope! No buts! You surviving is what’s most important to me, Kale!”
Kale looks like he doesn’t agree… Honestly, that disapproving look of his is just like the Kale I know…
Well, my old Kale would have never listened to me so easily though, displeased or not.
“Hey, don’t worry; Even if they get me, I promise to come back for you.”
Alright, maybe that’s a lie. There’s absolutely no guarantee that the curse from these things will let me resurrect once two days are up. But hey, if it’s enough of a lie to keep Kale safe, then I’ll tell him it as many times as it takes.
Besides, if this goes well, then there’ll be no reason for it to be a lie anyways, right?
“[Incarnation: Inaiah]!”
As soon as the skill left my lips, my body immediately felt like it had turned into a miniature sized sun. Laser-like heat burned through every single pore of my being, making me feel like I was soup about to explode in a microwave. It was agonizing, unbearable, the kind of pain that made time feel like it would stretch on for eternity. And then, just when I felt like I would pass out from it all, suddenly it felt like there was a pause in the universe, and my body wasn’t my own anymore.
My eyes scanned around frantically, desperately searching for something-
-and paused once they nded on Kale’s face.
“...Saintess?”