The Noble Lady of Lust

Chapter 437: Lifeline

"Ah! B-big sister, my doppelgänger!" (Alice)

"Huh? What happened?" (x2)

Alice’s voice rang out; she too seemed confused by something, and that caught the Seraphinas’ attention, as they couldn’t make any connection with the other side.

"I-I don’t know. I was talking to Rosy and suddenly I was surrounded by light... and then darkness." (Alice)..

"Is it destroyed?"

"What was that light?"

"No, it wasn’t destroyed. I don’t know what the light was, but I feel a lot of pain. I think I’m injured, but now I only see darkness." (Alice)

"I see."

"The fight may still be ongoing."

That confused them both, and they didn’t really understand whether their original had died or not; they could only believe she was still alive, or else neither of them would still be here.

"Ah... well, it’s almost done... we can’t waste time. Astrid, we’ll help you. Girls, get started."

Both looked around and, realizing the situation, approached Astrid, who was almost finished with the long-distance teleportation spell.

"Honey, what’s going on? What happened?" (Astrid)

"Ugh... I don’t know, this isn’t the time for that. Ugh... I didn’t give you the coordinates; it’s lucky I made it back. Okay, almost there... just—"

RUMBLE!... BRRRRRAAAAM!!, GRRRRMBLE!!!

"Damn it, now what?"

Just as the Seraphinas were about to join together, complete, and activate the spell, the ground began to shake.

And it wasn’t just a simple tremor; it was so strong that even the ground cracked. That damaged the magic circle.

Seraphina tried to keep everything in place so the circle and the runes wouldn’t be damaged, but until that sudden earthquake ended, it didn’t seem possible to activate it.

And in the current situation, every second counted.

"Shit, wait!... Is it our fault?... Did we destroy the sprouts?... what happened there? Did we really use our last resort?"

"Damn it, we provoked that damn tree."

Both Seraphinas seemed to understand the origin of the earthquake; the timing and the phenomenon didn’t seem like a coincidence.

A situation they wanted to avoid seemed to have occurred, but it wasn’t entirely a bad thing, since it meant they didn’t die from the attack coming toward them—they were still fighting.

GRRRRMBLE, RUMBLE... BRRRRRAAAAM!!!!,

Even so, the situation made them feel helpless; casting the spell now that everything was shaking violently didn’t seem like an option, and they were starting to get really nervous—or so it was until the connection suddenly came back.

"Huh? The connection’s back... what?Did I win? My alternate self? Another demonization? Shit, it rank up! Was it you who did that, Qetes—why do demons talk like that? Huh? New skill? From Oryx? Dying! I get it! I’m coming..."

One of the Seraphinas began talking to thin air, and just as she finished, she vanished, and in her place appeared a golden spear.

"Girls, start casting healing spells—anything will do."

The remaining Seraphina stopped worrying about maintaining the teleportation spell and, realizing what was happening, urged the rest to start casting healing spells.

Before anyone could figure out what had happened, replacing the golden spear, the other Seraphina reappeared, but with another Seraphina in her arms.

The latter didn’t look well: she was wounded all over, blood was pouring from her chest, her right arm was practically hanging limply and mangled, and many other parts were in bad shape; she also seemed unconscious.

The two conscious Seraphinas didn’t hesitate for a moment and began casting healing spells.

The rest, seeing Seraphina’s condition—some experiencing déjà vu—also sprang into action and began casting and hurling spells at Seraphina; even Eirlys, with her meager mana, did so.

During their club activities, Christian had taught everyone that even as warriors, they should know how to heal themselves in an emergency.

So they all knew at least one or two healing spells.

A barrage of spells cast by everyone present rained down on Seraphina, closing the smaller wounds and beginning to heal the larger ones.

"Ugh... I get that you... she? is really hurt, but is it okay to do this?" (Aurora)

Aurora asked, feeling a little unsure about what they were doing—not out of malice, but because she knew that healing spells weren’t without risks, and there were some serious risks for those receiving them.

Most spells are usually tied to elements different from the person receiving them and are also cast using another person’s mana, so everyone who receives healing has to endure that slight incompatibility and clash, even if they’re non-elemental spells.

Most of the time, this wasn’t noticeable enough to be a concern, and recovering from injuries quickly made it worth it even if there were problems.

But now, with so many people casting them on a single person, it was obvious how bad things could get; it could cause chaos and even worsen Seraphina’s condition.

Casting healing spells carelessly would also cause wounds to heal improperly, resulting in scars at best and, at worst, deformities that could become irreversible.

That’s why casting healing spells requires a certain amount of knowledge and control. Everyone here already had that, but with everyone casting at the same time, it was impossible to keep everything in order.

"Don’t worry about that, just keep casting."

Number One understood what Aurora was asking, but given Seraphina’s condition, the most important thing was to keep her alive.

Besides, her blessing eliminated the first problem, and everything that entered her body was purified and easily assimilated by her; it removed everything harmful from the spell and left only the beneficial restorative effects.

On the other hand, the scars and physical deformities ceased to be a priority when Number One activated the "Eyes of Lust."

Originally, it was meant to fix the deformities and such, but she noticed a few slightly disconcerting things: the first was that there were still remnants of chaotic mana in her devastated magical nervous system.

Click!

So she switched the ability and tried to get rid of it, but...

"What the hell? Why is it so sticky?"

Number One thought that a purification imbued with her blessing would suffice, but the chaotic mana wouldn’t go away and kept wreaking havoc, clinging to her.

"Exaltata Purificatio"

So she got serious and added a spell, making the purification even stronger.

When this kind of resistance occurs, it means there’s a divine factor at play, but as far as she knew, that mana should have been hers—a remnant from when she became a demon.

Number One didn’t understand what this was all about, but she put her all into the purification, and on the third try, with an even stronger spell, she finally got rid of that annoying mana.

’Alright, now then... Qetesh... you can help me, right?’

[[Of course, my dear host, I am at your service]]

’Damn it, don’t talk like that... no, just help me control the spear, give me two scalpels.’

She didn’t know what had happened to Quetesh or why she had suddenly started malfunctioning like that, but this wasn’t the time for that; it was good that she was cooperative, and that was what mattered.

She quickly grabbed the two scalpels and, reactivating her Eyes of Lust—

Slashh!

"Ah! I-is that—?" (Eirlys)

Her actions startled Eirlys, because the first thing she did was cut off the dangling arm.

Keeping it wasn’t a priority for her, and it would heal in that hanging position anyway, so it was better for the girls’ healing spells to focus elsewhere.

The arm could grow back later.

The next thing she did was fix the second problem, so even though it sounded contradictory for the situation, she used the scalpels to reopen and cut.

The goal was to cut parts of her magical nervous system that were, for some reason, deforming—something that had never happened before when she demonized.

The situation was very similar to what had happened to Aurora.

But she was human, so all these distortions were extremely harmful.

The problem was that she had to exercise extreme caution and maintain near-perfect control.

Her body was in a precarious state, and her magical circuit—on top of the distortions—was so damaged and worn out that the slightest mistake or failure could leave her crippled and unable to use mana ever again.

It was a miracle she wasn’t crippled yet

And, in fact, that wasn’t the worst of it; even with the healing spells, it didn’t seem to be enough, and she was getting closer and closer to death.

She had to fix everything that was wrong with her body just to give herself a chance at survival.

’...Two, make the repairs; I don’t know how this will end.’

’Okay.’

It was a high-risk situation, and her personality made her prepare for the worst.

Number Two stopped casting spells and approached Astrid.

"Astrid, stop casting. I need you for something more important. First, help me and create a barrier to shield us from the tremors."

"Y-yes! Sanctum Stabilitatis" (Astrid)

"Okay, listen, I don’t know what’s going to happen; and if I die, it’s likely that this doppelgänger and the other one will disappea—"

"Honey, you can’t die!" (Astrid)

"Wait, calm down. Even if I do, it’s not the end. Memorize this spell: it’s soul magic to capture my soul and force it back into my body. It only works within a minute of my death, but it’s a taboo spell that uses part of your soul as fuel—which is the same as taking away your life expectancy—but I swear I’ll find a way to give it back to you later."

"No, I don’t care about that. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you from dying." (Astrid)

"Alright, just remember to only use it if my doppelgängers disappear, since that means I’ve died."

"Yes." (Astrid)

Yes, Seraphina was already ready to die. Even so, for her, that wasn’t the end; there were still alternatives.

There were things she hadn’t told Astrid about that spell—like the fact that it would affect not only the caster but also the target—but staying alive made that a small price to pay.

After that, Number Two took out more items and continued giving instructions to Astrid.

"Also use the liquid from these bottles as a catalyst and create a barrier—it doesn’t matter what kind, whether it’s a concealment spell or something like the one you just used; the only thing that matters is that it has the separation runes that isolate the area."

"What is this for?"

"This will prevent Aeloria from noticing the situation."

"Why do you want to prevent that? I’ve heard that the gods help their chosen ones in times of crisis—isn’t it better to pray for her to help you?"

"No. In cases like this, it could be dangerous; she might arbitrarily decide that I’m beyond salvation and take my soul before you can even try to bring me back to life. "Astrid, the gods are colder and more calculating than you think."

"Oh! I didn’t think of it that way."

"Well, that’s it, Astrid—you’re my last hope!"

"Ugh! Honey, the pressure is intense, but I’ll do it no matter what—I’ll start getting ready."

Seraphina steeled herself. Now, with everything prepared for the worst-case scenario, everything depended on their own will and tenacity.

’As the old woman said, we’re cockroaches; if I don’t want to die, I won’t. Damn it!, I’m definitely not dying here.’

Asking the gods for help would never again even be an option.

..

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