A Tale of One Deviant (Book One)

Chapter 164: What An Exhausting Night

"...what?"

     I glanced upward at the roof of the balcony above us. It was just a stone thing, meant to block snow and rain and likely attacks from descending on whomever stood there. It couldn't block my sight as I stared up at the apostles directly above, ones that spoke such unexpected words and at such an unexpected time.

     The viscount stopped chanting to look up at the two hovering just above the roof, seemingly not aware of the five people clustered just below them.

     Ah...when did I cast a [Presence Negation] spell?

     I would've been proud of myself for having such smooth thoughts, casting such an important spell without even thinking about it, if I wasn't immediately upset by what they'd said.

     "What?"

     My aura dropped a few shades lower, and those with me trembled slightly. My teeth bore themselves just a little, only a little, since the blood in the air was making my brain do some funny things.

     I didn't even think. My subconscious put the pieces together for me while churning out the spells, pulling the two apostles through the roof and making the bricks come down in front of us. They hadn't expected the hard crash at all, or the mana I'd wrapped around their necks while glaring from the side.

     "What...did you say?"

     "A-Apostles," Blondie noted, pulling Anastasia back away and trying to retreat down the steps. Brownie reached out to Blondie, shaking his head.

     "The safest place is here."

     I snapped my fingers as the spells took effect. "Don't move from here. If you do, I will not guarantee that I'll take you back to Koraco."

     Protection spells on them, my "dealing with traumatized and tortured slaves" spell package on the sacrifices below while moving them to a pocket dimension, and restraints on the viscount who had tried to run away on the spur of the moment when feeling presences much stronger than his own.

     "Hey." I stood in the air in front of the apostles, watching them writhe in place from the lack of air. "Who did you say you came under the authority of?"

     "Ugh-!"

     The other one simply silently turned colors in the face as one was gasping out for air.

     "I said-" and I released them, letting them try to scramble away with rabid fear in their eyes "who on Tasega did you attempt to borrow the name of?"

     And I pinned them down again, leaving their throats free so they could get enough air to speak. Apparently, apostles were not free of the need to breathe.

     Nice to know.

     Tears came from the girl's eyes, while the boy only shivered lightly, cheek to the ground. Well, it was a woman and a man, but to me, they looked like infants with how they so desperately wanted to curl into the fetal position. Their power wasn't very much, and the whole apostlehood attire with the flashy silver epaulet, white robes, and weapon, was getting on my nerves. My patience was already thinned out from that bad dream I'd had earlier, and the for some reason bad mood I'd put myself into when seeing the way my father looked at me as my mouth moved thoughtlessly on its own.

     "Speak, or I send your bodies back in a thousand pieces each to your deities."

     "G-Godslayer-"

     "Order," the woman chirped, clearly looking angry with those hot tears but unable to make her voice match the same. I would've been embarrassed if my voice had cracked like that. "We are not your enemy."