Cornelius Graham remained a small incognite in Velvet’s mind. Of course, back then, she had other things in mind, and, of course, back then, she couldn’t do an autopsy of his body, nor did she have any idea of what she should be looking for.
Why was his Esca still not fully open, despite being a noble, having access to vast knowledge from birth? That one had already been partly answered by Nebura. “Deityless” mages had a more difficult time dealing with their Esca.
Which didn’t seem like a problem for Siberina, though. Not that that was a concern for now.
But what she suspected the most was that Cornelius never was a selected for the Mergifari. A deduction that came for the lack of high ranking, first born or family successors, noble novices. Like Syon, who was an Idhirian prince, caught in a bit of a crossfire between a possible royal succession.
But, Syon was an exception for the same reasons, not a rule. And much less a ruler.
And Ethra, Cornelius’ brother, got caught in the middle. If Velvet had killed Cornelius sooner, then he wouldn’t have gone to the Mergifari, staying at home. But, what happened was that his death was too sudden, and Adeline Graham couldn’t change things without looking desperate and panicky, which wasn’t an ideal look in her situation, resorting to let Ethra continue towards the Mergifari.
What an unlucky family. Or, that’s what she would like to think, if she didn’t know better, and, if the messed up Frenese summon hadn’t been a thing.
Sometimes things happened by luck, good or bad, yes, but too many coincidences made things look more planned than a simple coin toss of fate.
Siberina had planned to kill Cornelius before she met Velvet. Her presence only changed the how and the why, but not the when.
There remained too many holes for her to really deduce it completely, and she wasn’t in a hurry to meet the head of the Graham family, nor the Ropperti’s. Ethra and Alrai might have known something, especially the latter, but she doubted it.
Plus, her only way to make Ethra speak was forcing it out of him, which probably would just worsen their more than bad relationship. Not that she minded, but, with a big part of Arhontissian novice mages having beef with her, there was a thing as poking too many hornet’s nests at the same time.
Maybe Alrai was more talkative, and she doubted he was still mad for losing.
That loss saved his life, so he should be grateful. She mused, her attention going back to the blood recreations.
She had waited until the scales stopped bleeding, the thirteen novice mages forming a ring ending their formation.
Velvet wasn’t worried about them. Unless one was a witch, magic needed a clear mind and intent to be useful, which they lacked. And, since the real version had been unable to fall into corruption, even when the state of their minds was more than broken in some cases, it should be impossible for the recreation to become a witch.
As much, they could be annoying to keep in check while dealing with Cornelius, and she didn’t know if his Orders would work on them.
Could he even Order someone so deep into their pain that communication was hardly possible? Velvet herself had only been able to communicate with Vina, and that was because she had the Tarius bloodline, the same one that sealed Frenese. The others were just barely aware, yet unable to converse to her, only babbling in simple words.
Speaking of Vina’s recreation, or, at least of her face, its eyes were closed, a big contrast compared to Cornelius’, which, even with the pride mage composed face, were completely red, aside from the black dot forming the pupil, blood dripping from them like tears.
And he was looking straight to her.
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Which was fine when she was at the start of her journey, and didn't know many things. Now, like with most knowledge mages, making eye contact was a way of transmitting information, even if it was deeply corrupting, as the formation holding the Chained Man hostage was.
So, once their eyes met, Velvet overloaded Cornelius’ brain with knowledge.
He groaned, holding his head and averting his eyes, breaking the connection, the moment that Velvet used to throw three of the chaining charms towards the ring of flesh, targeting the faces with more blood.
The portal was unable to move, so chaining it was just for distraction.
Unlike information mages, mages without skills to record details would forget them with time, the more complex the information sent was, the less time they would need. Cornelius was already recovering, now a thin metal line covering his eyes.
But she already expected that. Her plan wasn’t killing Cornelius with a mental collapse, but gaining some seconds to build distance.
Like when fighting Nebura and Ethra, she wasn’t going for close combat, yet, thanks to Dianthus flattening the surroundings, she couldn’t also hide behind a three, instead choosing to climb on top of her broom and fly further away.
She remembered Cornelius’ fighting style. Against her, he had used some knives, but, against Siberina, he used a whip made of bones. There was also the metal armor he possessed, that could tank explosions.
The leash was the biggest problem, since it was an offensive magical artifact, but, as long as Velvet was out of its range, it was avoidable.
Thin, silver-like lines shot towards her, that she stopped by blowing them to pieces, spending two more charms.
They were like knives, but their blades were twisted in a spiral.
From the explosion’s smoke, six long vines popped out, dashing towards her from different directions.
Spaced just enough so that I’m only able to take down one per charm… Right, we did get information about them, so they also got info about us. Too bad Frenese made all their preparations useless.
Without their magic being directed towards his book, they can use it… Making a quick change of plans, Velvet maneuvered between the vines, trying to not get too surrounded.
Of the fourteen mages, there were two of the Lust Paradigm, and-
A vine slammed way too close to her, making her waste a charm into blowing it up.
They are slightly faster than me. Readying two charms, one for each lust mage, she flew to the side.
“Careful with your left.” Hyde said.
She moved her body instantly, a sharp pain crossing her arm. The wound wasn’t deep, not as deep as it could’ve been.
I didn’t see that attack, and Cornelius doesn’t- Ah. Crafty even in death, aren’t you?
Not only the invisible knife, but the vines too. All six of them were exactly the same, down to the last detail. Remembering Vina’s blood-less eyes, she made the connection.
Both the vines and Vina’s face were illusions. It wasn’t a lust spell, but a delusion one.
Well, thirteen connected brains think more than one, I’ll give you that, but… Grinning, Velvet plucked one of the black balls on her bracelet, letting it fall down. They don’t run faster.
A paper figurine appeared next to the small pearl, and exploded, breaking it.
And a forest fell down, its second time, crashing against the ground, where the flesh ring made by the thirteen novice mages stood. Three of them being chained down wouldn’t change the outcome, since none of them could move from the start.
The Strangler Humming Figs, now mutated due to their previous release in a similar situation, their roots and leaves now a flesh-like color, started humming its dissonant song, yet Velvet was far away enough to be able to block it with two charms.
Once it realizes there’s no danger, it will calm down. Now, Cornelius… huh. Flying down, she approached Cardomos, who was looking at the Strangler Humming Figs, an unreadable expression on his face, and not because half of it was frozen.
He is not thinking about passing trial on the trees, no? Mages are quite unreasonable at times, so… Stepping down from the broom, she looked up at him. “So… Cornel- my first murder, well…”
“He ran away.”
No wonder Siberina chose a train to kill him. Even in death, he IS crafty.
“Do I need to like… chase him down?” When he looked back at her, she confirmed her previous sentence.
It really was an unreadable expression!