Benjamin stared at the well as though he saw the Gates of Hell opening.
"You..."
"What are you worried about? It’s not a real plague. It’s just a curse," Michelle looked weak but her voice was just as cold as ever. "What we need now is a diversion. Those who are cursed will show plague symptoms. Alongside with that huge Water Ball you’ve created, the capital will be in complete turmoil. Under the public pressure, the Church would not be able to hold the borders down and we would be able to escape then."
She intentionally paused and smiled sarcastically, "You weren’t thinking that I would spread a real plague into the city, right?"
"..."
Benjamin let out a sigh of relief.
He knew clearly that Michelle is a person who would do anything to achieve her goals. However, she wasn’t the type who was bloodthirsty. She wouldn’t kill the whole capital and bring harm to a city of innocent people just to reach her goals.
Benjamin had only limited understanding on curses. Commonly, curses are casted face to face. If a curse were to spread through water, it would be a hard thing to do. Unless there were a special method, otherwise the impact of the curse would lessen even if it was successfully casted.
To spread a curse with blood must be one of those special method. But no matter how special it was, she should not be able to cause a mass massacre, right? If that were the case, this would be a hell of spell.
Well, if it was only going to cause the emergence of symptoms and not death, he found it acceptable.
But...
The manifestation of Michelle’s Spiritual Energy didn’t sit right with him.
Benjamin hesitated for a while but decided to ask, "How did your Spiritual Energy grew that strong? You weren’t like this the last time I saw you."
Michelle didn’t seem to mind the query and answered, "This was what I obtained that from the mage’s hidden treasure, including that peculiar way to cast a curse. I wouldn’t have been able to use something like that otherwise."
Benjamin was stumped.
The mage’s hidden treasure?
It was that... thing that was left behind by the "Soul’s Fire" that he and the System looked down on and didn’t thought would amount to anything?
Oh, fuck...
Benjamin was kicking himself with regret now.
How could he have handed over such a great item to Michelle? If his Spiritual Energy had heightened to one similar to Michelle’s, the massive Water Ball he had unleashed would not put him in this condition. Even his Water Rune had exploded.
Sigh...
Benjamin who was filled with regret, instantly recognised another concern.
"Now that you’re this powerful, you wouldn’t need to be afraid of the Church. You could have just break through the barricades. There wasn’t a need for casting such a curse, no?" He queried.
"I have only improve on my Spiritual Energy and not my affinity with particles," replied Michelle. "My magic has not increased that much. To be able to stand against the Church, merely the strength of my Spiritual Energy would not suffice."
Benjamin nodded as he thought it through.
That explains it...
The affinity of particles was most important to mages. It decided how much a Mage could control particles and it determined the strength of their magic. The Spiritual Energy was more of a supportive role.
Nevertheless, the mere increase of the Spiritual Energy was shocking enough.
After all, it wasn’t just an up skill of a point or two, it had multiplied in ten to twenty times in strength.
It really was... unbelievably powerful.
Benjamin still had a lot of questions unanswered. It was a shame that Michelle returned to blabbering nonsense in return. Benjamin couldn’t proceed with his enquiries any further.
Benjamin had to give up.
There wasn’t any point of badgering if the other party refused to speak.
From the looks of things, Michelle seemed to be genuinely wanting to help him escape the capital. If that was the case, he did not want to nitpick on her actions.
As long as he made it through a month or two, he would be able to fill up the crack in his Space of Consciousness. Once he has gotten his powers back, no matter what tricks Michelle pulled, he wouldn’t be afraid anymore.
And before that, Michelle could just do whatever she pleases. It was out of his hands.
After casting the curse, Michelle was wary enough to eliminate traces of their existence left behind. She then led Benjamin out of the abandoned yard and into a hideaway where it would become their new hidden base.
During the process, Benjamin returned again to his Space of Consciousness and continued with the repairs.
He did not notice that at the moment of departure, Michelle’s face started to reveal a sinister expression. With that, the days of their hide and seek began.
It would require time to fertilise Michelle’s intended chaos. During this time, they could only change bases to avoid detection.
Benjamin had also been trying to hatch a plan to learn more about the Lithur household. Oddly enough, the Church had only launched an investigation against the household and that was all. The family was still living comfortably at home and was not captured under the charge of conspiring with a Mage.
Benjamin did not quite understand this but it did put him at ease to focus the problems at hand.
He wasn’t in the best position. They had moved to over ten locations in a span of seven days to avoid the Church’s arrest.
Most of the moving was done during the night. There were other circumstances whereby they would disguise as ordinary citizens and blend in the crowd during the day as they traveled to their next destination.
Benjamin did not understand what she based her judgments on. Although, she was once part of the Church and had dealt with the Church with a different identity, Benjamin was more at rest to let her handle it all.
Evidently, Michelle really knew how to avoid the Church as despite the Holy Knights were in plain sight trampling the streets up and down, investigating house by house. It’s been seven days and yet they still did not have a lead.
The bloody seed that Michelle had sown, was beginning to bud in that seven days.
The curse, with the flow of water, spread through the households. By the second day, many fell ill. They were feverish, twitching, and unconscious. From that day onwards, there were no vacancies available in the many hospitals.
A few days had gone by, and yet the medics were helpless as the number of patients increased and yet they were unable to treat any of them.
A sense of terror, slowly built within the city.
There were all kinds of rumours spreading through the streets. Some said it was a punishment from God. Others, a conspiracy by the Mages... The public’s imagination went wild, especially when they put together the Water Ball incident that happened a few days ago, the stories were getting out of hand.
No matter the rumours, they all pointed to one direction.
The Church.
After the execution and the descent of the Water Ball, the Church made a huge announcement that "Grant" had sinked to becoming Satan’s lackey. The Water Ball demonstrated on the day was black magic. Therefore, the city gates were closed off to capture "Grant".
Although the civilians felt inconvenienced, but it was understandable.
— That was before the "plague" swept the city.
Once the "plague" erupted, the citizens were running around like headless chickens. They were afraid that the ‘plague’ may be contagious and wanted to take cover elsewhere. However, nobody could leave the city as the Church had the gates closed off. Hence, their frustrations grew day by day towards the Church.
The public were able to bear with it on the first two days. As the doctors’ effort appeared futile and the number of patients increase, there were people who couldn’t take it any longer.
On the fifth day, the rebels started to ram through the city gates. The number wasn’t impressively large and ultimately, they failed. The Holy Knights that were guarding the gates killed them all and the restlessness that lied in the city temporarily stopped.
It was, the calm before the storm.
As long as the "plague" did not cease, the city would not be at ease. Under the guise of silence, the people’s dissatisfaction and will to live brew within.
Finally, on the eighth day, there was a turn of events.