Penitent, heed our call…

Remove this stain from the Radiants' Creation!

 

Rel blinked off the message and stared upon the illatrian once more.

I'm not imagining it… she thought, her eyes wide.

There was a very fine and crimson mist swirling around the undead monster, and since none of the others had mentioned it, it could only mean that she was the only one that could see it. And she knew exactly what it was, just as Aedina had warned her to look for it.

The presence of unwashed sin...

Somehow, in some way, the illatrian standing before them had sinned against the Holy Crystal and the Radiants, but she didn't understand how! Aedina had warned her yes, but she was only supposed to see that red mist around sapients… But this was a monster, a being that wasn't even supposed to be sentient of the gods, much less capable of sinning against them. However, there was no mistaking the certainty of the monster's crimes, as staring at that red mist was akin to being reminded of her own actions, and of what she was, as the screams of the innocent she had doomed echoed from the dark memories she would never be allowed to forget…

Plus, there was that message as well, and the illatrian had called Children of the Radiants…

Remove this stain, Rel thought, and she shook her head from her stupor. Alright… Alright!

"Kur," she called. "Kur!"

"What?" Kur asked, halting mid giving orders.

"I think my debuffs will work on him!" Rel said. "All of them! The curses!"

Kur's eyebrows shot up his face. "You mean…"

The wargs howled, and the sudden screaming charge of the spear goblins told them the fight was on.

"Change of plans!" Kur shouted. "Nar get the warg on the right! Viy, the one on the left! Tuk, keep those spear goblins on their toes! Mul and Jul you need to get up to those goblins and warg on the left! Cen shot at those goblins up there and keep that caster busy! And Gad… You will hold that thing back. Everyone, let's focus on the ads first!"

The others shouted their confirmations and exploded in a frenzy of activity to do as their party leader commanded, no hesitation even in the face of the cold impossible.

"Now, what are you talking about?" Kur asked, reaching out to hold Rel's arm, just as aura shone behind him from Cen's staff, even as ice began pelting all around them. "Is it your [Arrow of Redemption]? Is it active?"

"No, I'm sorry… But that thing is a sinner, Kur!" Rel said, eyeing the red covered illatrian as it attacked Gad. "I don't get how… But I got a notification, and I-I can see it! There's a red mist around it… The mark of unwashed sin! It's not as good as my [Arrow of Redemption] but, I can use my curses on him!"

"You sure?" Kur asked, glancing back at the illatrian now pommeling Gad's shield with freeze trailing and eardrum splitting blows.

"I am!"

Kur looked back at the boss.

"Then maybe we might still have a chance…" he whispered to himself. "He won't bleed, so forget about that. Instead, try to get your [Affliction of Guilt] and [Marked by Transgression] on him. But do the affliction first! If you can do that… Yes. This is going to work! Can you do it?"

"I will!" Rel promised him.

"Good! I believe in you, Rel. You can do this!"

And a surge or warm energy flooded through her mind, and down into her body, through her pathways, and seeped deeply into her core, nestling around it as surely as though Kur had reached inside her to give her aura a reassuring squeeze.

"Did you just… Buff me?" she asked, wide eyed.

"I thought the occasion called for it," Kur said, beaming at her. "And 5%? Thank you, Rel."

She blushed at the implied words. "Well, you are a great party leader."

Kur grinned."I try… Now go! It only lasts a minute, so go get that affliction on him!"

"On it!"

Rel sprung forward, heading for the left of the cave, where Viy and one of the wargs were embroiled in a snarling match, encased in dark blue-purple aura. She had spotted a rock to the left side of the battlefield, and though it wasn't very tall, it would at least grant her a better position and higher ground over the fight, even as it made her more susceptible to be target by the archer and the casters. But she was firm in her decision, and trusted the others to keep the ranged enemies occupied, and so, she quickly reached her destination.

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She stored her bow and jumped up, pressing her fingernails into a crevasse atop the rock, and hoisted herself up. Her fingers screamed in pain, but she barely acknowledged it. Pain was her existence, and something as small as that was unworthy of even noticing.

Once atop the rocky outcrop, she lowered one knee to the floor and took out her bow, not because she needed it, but because holding it helped her focus.

At a quick glance, across the floor of the cave, Nar and Viy fought the two wargs, Tuk seemed to have somehow already downed two of the spear goblins and was chasing after the remaining two with his aura rings, and Gad was doing her best to hold the illatrian's monstrous glaive at bay. But she didn't have time to check the rest of the party, given how evidently Gad was struggling against the boss, and Kur's [Words of Encouragement] was now down to 29 seconds.

Hang in there! She thought. Here it goes!

And she called upon what Aedina had taught her.

"Your debuffs are a mix between your aura, and a calling upon the Radiants' authority to bear judgment upon the sinful and the impure," the priestess had told her. "There are those within the Church, hunters of sin, who follow your path of penance, calling upon the spirits to judge the unworthy. One day I will tell you more of them, but for now, know that a day may come when you are called to exact the judgment of the Radiants… And yes, even as an auramancer you will be called, especially given the heavy curse emphasis in your skills. You can, and will of course, use your skills as you want, in the hopes that they might work, but, and this is a big but, there might come a time when you come face to face with something that you will know for sure your skills will work on. A red mist shall mark the presence of unwashed sin, and there will be no doubt then. If that time comes, you must call upon the Authority of the Radiants, and know that Someone will answer. So, call upon your aura, your sins, and the Authority of the Radiants… And strike the sinful down. This will likely never happen in a dungeon, but it would be remiss of me in not telling you about it… After all, in the Endless Labyrinth, the odds of something are never zero."

Rel took a deep breath. It wasn't hard to cycle her crimson aura, and within it, churned the memories of what she had wrought… Faces appeared within her aura core, hands reaching out for her covered in the deep red that flowed in her very veins, as though their very souls were trapped within her aura.

Why Rel…

I trusted you…

He ate me! He ate me! He ate me! He…

Rel grimaced at the screams and clawing hands, and breathed through her clenched teeth. This was what she had done, Yearning or not, and this was what she would spend her whole life atoning for… However, the monster below, assaulting Gad with a mind-blowing [Speed] and [Strength], was not a penitent. It cared not for forgiveness, or to make up for his sins, whatever they were, and it was time for punishment.

"Oh, Great Holy One and Radiant Gods, Great Creators of All That Is," Rel intoned, following the prayer Aedina had taught her just in case. "I, who follow the Path of the Penitent, call upon Your Wrath and Divine Justice…"

The illatrian suddenly froze in his tracts and glared in her direction, baring her teeth at her in a high pitched and unholy hiss.

"You're fighting me!" Gad shouted. And something rushed out of her, a blur in the air, forcing the illatrian to focus back on the tank.

The wargs howled and tried to attack Gad as well, forcing Viy and Nar to struggle to block them, and on the left side of the cave, the goblins and the warg suddenly tried to get past Mul and Jul. The ranged fighters on top of the rise tried to get out from cover, where they hid from Cen's stream of projectiles, to also attack Gad, but Cen had them well pinned.

Was that a taunt? Rel wondered. Even she had felt the tugging of something, drawing her towards Gad, as though she was being…

Rel shook her head. Focus!

"Come, oh Most Holy Ones! Smite the sinner before me! Wipe this stain from your Creation, and make pure what has been tarnished!" she shouted, her voice rising above the chaos of the battle. "[Affliction of Guilt]!"

The illatrian stumbled, clutching at his chest with his bony fingers, and his wargs howled as they too faltered.

Rel swayed and collapsed against the wall as a terrible presence rose from within her very core, one that spread from her and grew over the entire battle. For a moment, she felt a deep-seated hatred towards the undead monster, and her breath choked on her throat, but then the pain came… And she screamed as her aura turned to thorns within her, ravaging through her body.

Below, a circle of thorns appeared around the illatrian's throat, and a second later, two more manifested on the wargs as well, who strangled with pained yelps as the thorns tightened around their necks, drawing red crimson from them.

Then, the presence vanished, and Rel dropped to her hands and knees, gasping for air and coughing, blood dripping down her nose, eyes and ears as she shook in cold sweats.

Was that a god? She wondered, her mind reeling from the skill she had unleashed and the presence that had come to her. It was so… Horrifying.

And she had almost used the word monstrous… The presence had been so vast within her, so terrible, so horrendously beyond her comprehension in its nature and hatred that just thinking about it caused her head to pound and her sight to dim.

"Are you okay?" Viy shouted up at her.

"I-I'm okay!" Rel managed, struggling to get a knee back under her. "It-It worked!"

"It fucking did! And it got the wargs too!" Viy shouted. "What in the Pile did you do?"

"I cursed the boss!" Rel said, tasting metal, and glancing down at the choker of thorns that now pierced the illatrian's throat. As Kur had predicted, no blood leaked out of the illatrian's many neck wounds, however, how had her curse spread to the wargs as well?

"It's a Companion Bond!" Kur shouted, as though he heard her thoughts. "They must be his companion beasts! Whatever debuffs or buffs he gets, the wargs get it too, and it's the same way around. Tuk, finish that last goblin and then go help Mul! Jul, come back down to help Gad when he does! Thanks to Rel, that thing's susceptible to all debuffs now!"

And having said so, he squared his shoulders and sneered at the boss. "You're not so scary after all, uh? We're going to take you down, you little shit!"

Despite the pain, Rel almost burst out laughing at Kur's performance, his face comically serious, but the illatrian stumbled once more, and she saw that next to the thorny icon of her [Affliction of Guilt], the mocking grin of Kur's [Sneer of Contempt] had also taken hold, and the boss' HP started trickling down.

My Crystal… We can do this! She thought, grimacing against the pain, and the feeling of many, tiny wounds and cuts across her body. We can actually do this!

And Kur was not done yet.

"And I, I believe in my party!" he shouted. "We've Climbed up from the fucking darkness! Through guardians, and cannibals and things far worse than this shit! So, fight, everyone, fight and get us out of here! This is not the end of the path for us!"

The party roared as [Words of Encouragement] buffed them all, and Rel had no doubt that like her, their effect was also set to the maximum 5%. Smiling, she notched an arrow on her bow, and looked up at the caster, who Cen had thus far kept out of the fight.

Time to make myself useful, she thought. 2 minutes before I can use [Marked by Transgression] on the boss. So let's help Viy with that warg!

The tide was on their side, and she was going to do everything in her power to keep it that way. No matter how painful it was, she would walk her path, and do the Radiants' will…

Still, the question remained, why had she been unable to use her [Arrow of Redemption] since the Ceremony of Final Atonement? Was wanting to save her party not a good enough deed, or was there something underlining the skill that she was unaware of… A hidden requirement she still did not understand?

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