Gate Guardian - Song of the Frozen Soul

PHASE 72 - BURN THE WITCH!

PHASE 72 - BURN THE WITCH!

“Tiara?” I muttered as I scanned the room.

The room is so clean and empty. Not even the trace of her sleeping mat is here. It’s as if I was sleeping alone in this lonely room in the first place.

I looked at my watch, and it’s a quarter past three in the morning. The sudden surge of adrenaline makes my drowsiness fade away. I need to find Tiara! Where is she?

“Tiara!”

I interrupted the silence of the night. But there’s no answer at all. I stood up from my sleeping mat, but then, my head started to feel an excruciating pain.

Whenever I blink, I see an endless sea of static. My ears can hear some radio buzzing too. It can’t be!

“No no no no… Why is it always like this!?” I cried. “It’s too early for my <Presage>!”

The image of a silver-haired, red-eyed Tiara entered my mind. The bloody scenery of the shrine, the smell of the burnt corpse, and the evil voice of the witch… I can even feel some kind of painful itch around my neck as if it is being squeezed by cold razor claws!

“Darn it!” I screamed as I materialized my Weapon Gem into a katana!

Swoosh! I made a circling hack to make sure that there’s no invisible force playing at me. I only hit nothing but wind. It seems that all those painful sensations are just in my imagination.

“Tiara!!!”

I called her name over and over as I ran around the hallway. I looked around every room, every hall, and every corridor but nobody’s there. It also seems that the mysterious shrine maiden is not here in this very place! What the heck is happening!?

I went outside the shrine and ran around it, to make sure that I have thoroughly checked on this place. But there’s no sign of any soul in here.

As I gaze around the town on a tall cliff located at the back of the shrine, I saw bright lights in the main street of the town. From here, it looks like it was a parade of some sort. There are flames lined up and there were torches lit at the center of the main square.

I wish I’m wrong about this…

“<Magnum Boost>!!!”

Golden electricity surged upon my body as I sprinted forward, leaving nothing but dust on the trails. With this spell, I can run as fast as a formula one car! I will reach that parade in no time!

<>

As I thought, there is a grim cult activity down here! There are about a hundred ladies wearing black wedding gowns holding a candle. I traced where they were going, and it led me to a surprising commotion.

In front of the main town hall, is a hill of combustible materials such as twigs, branches, and hays. On top of it is a wooden cross. And there’s someone in it. It was an unconscious woman tightly restrained my steel chains!

“Tiara!!!” I shouted. But my loud voice won’t wake her up. Instead, the townspeople turned their attention to me! These are not your regular people! They all have hollow eyes and it was oozing with black blood!

I can feel a strong presence of an Eidolon nearby!

“Don’t bother the Gate Guardian! We should burn the witch now!” One of the townspeople announced!

“Burn the witch! Burn the witch! Burn the witch!”

All of the townspeople shouted in unison as they raised their torches. Then they all threw it to the pile of hay, and now the flames are spreading!