Those words spread like wildfire inside the city of Notre Dame. The people from the Walking Death area could not be shut down completely as they were already rioting and sending out words that the Temple had taken the Goddess ambasador by force. Unlike Glenda Shaw, the story about Maria was a mixture of good and evil, while the citizens offered the story of a beautiful and angelic young woman saving the life of a dying boy by her divine magic. The Temple sent out spies and spread that she was some kind of demon or succubus. However, this time the Temple story could not blind the eyes of all those who followed them as some had witnessed her action and Maria's appearance did not give them the vibe of a witch like the way Glanda Shaw did. They in fact believed that she was an angel and ordered the Temple to release her.

“That little bitch, I can’t harm her now, not before I can make the people believe that she is a demon” The High Priestess said. She was in the meeting room in the Temple, surrounded by high members of the Temple.

“Well that is not true, we just can’t hurt her as badly as some of the others. But she will be far from having a pleasant stay in our hand”. So spoke Gabriel, a high ranked priest in the Temple and the High Priestess’s right hand.

“What are you suggesting ?” she asked him.

“Well we just can’t do physical harm, that does not mean that magic can’t help us. Especially mind bending magic, we could mess with her head until she went crazy, after that, it would be much easier to set her up as a demon's vesal” Gabriel spoke.

“That is a charming idea Gabriel, so I'll take that you will lead this task, just like always. But remember, don’t touch her, I want her to be in perfect shape before we sentence her in front of the people. After that, well, I guess you could have fun with her later.” the High Priestess said. Everyone applauded and cheered.

“All for the good of the Temple and the safety of our followers.” they all spoke out loud.

“I can’t wait to get my hand on her later,” Gabriel said to himself.

*******

Allan and Lian quickly got out of the city and escaped the Temple hand. But Maria had to stay behind and they both knew there was not much time left. They move as fast as they could to the abandoned house where they assume that Kyle and Luna were staying, it took them until dark to get there and what they found was like a punch in the stomach. They were both gone and only a letter was left behind, telling the other that they were heading out to finish the quest and it would take them one day to get back. But one day was too late for them right now.

“Fuck !! fuck Fuck this stupid quest” Liam screamed as he punched the table so hard that it made a hole on the wooden table. Allan was no better, he did not express as much as Liam did but his inside was boiling with anger and fear. Liam after a minute or two took a deep breath and said. “Fuck this, it;s no time to freak out now. We need to do this on our own then”. He looked at Allan and saw that he agreed, but it was easier said than done. They were heavily overpowered and both also injured as well, Kyle and Luna were not there and as such they needed to think of a plan of action by themself to go against this giant cult.

“Maybe we should just head back right now and take her away by force. Once we heal our injuries I think we can out run them with her haste ability”. Allan said.

“No, it’s too risky, they might just kill her before we could get to her anyway. I don’t really think that they want her to live so our actions such as those would only make them want to kill her off faster.” Liam said.

“So how about we do it like the last time in Casablanca. We head back, spread out good rumour about Maria and bad one for the Temple, forcing them to let her go or at least not to harm her inside before they make that ‘trial’ of them” Allan spoke. Liam thought about it long and hard, he really could not think of a better plan right now and it was truly the only way for them to buy sometime and keep her safe.

“Fuck them crazy stupid Temple, if they hurt Maria, be a sure that I will cut down all of their head by myself” Liam said.

“Trust me you are not alone with that. So it's a yes” Allan replied.

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“Yes. But we must leave a note behind for Kyle and Luna as well. So when they get back we will get immediate reinforcement.” Liam said. They both heal themself with all the healing potions they got left, checking the status paper all the time to see if Maria was still ok (Her passive skill affects everyone, regening the team mana point by the second.). And within the midst of the might, they head back to the city fully disguised. And with their help, the news about Maria spread fast and the people in the city demanded to see Maria out in public all the time. The Temple tried to spread stories of their own but Liam and Allan shut them down.

However, they could only do so much. As the Temple sent out their announcement there will be a trial in one day's time. “Dear God, please help us,” Allan said. “Come on, where the hell are you?” Liam said. Time was ticking off, 8 hours before trial.

******

Journey to the forest of Anima Perduta was pretty much straight forward for Kyle and Luna. They had to rush as time once again they were racing against the clock, but they must also be vigilant as they did not know when or what might come at them. Kyle suggested staying off the main route and went on by going through the hill and forest themself but Luna said it would take too much time so they had to take that risk. And fortunately for them, the only encounter they made was against a bunch of low level dendroid guards (Tree like mythical creatures with high HP but very slow. They camouflage themself like dead trees and attack passersby when they did not notice them, they had strong bodies that were made of enchanted wood and arms that look like tree brands). Kyle and Luna made quick work of them, Luna attacks also made them slow so they could kite (hit and run basically) them very easily as Kyle showed her how to do it.

Finally, they reached their destination, the forest of the Anima Perduta. Immediately Kyle could sense that there was something different about this place. Their air was so much thicker here than compared to the other forest they had been through. By that time, half a day was lost and it was high noon, however, it seems as if the sun cannot touch the ground of this forest. It was almost as if there was some higher power preventing them from entering. “Kyle look at this” Luna spoke as she pointed to an old wooden board with a warning “For those who value their life, go back or the black bride will take you away”.

“How much do you want to bet that that is the one we need to find?” Kyle replied. There was literally no time to waste if they wanted to save the cursed child and unbeknown to them, their time was even more valuable now. Luna and Kyle head into the unknown forest by themself and to say that the forest was creepy was an understatement.

As the two walked inside, strange noises started to echo through the forest. It sounded like children crying for their mothers, and sometimes, it sounded like mothers desperately calling for their childs. Inside the forest, darkness still covered most of the time as the sun barely reached them as dark clouds always blocked the sun. The two stuck together and made their ways through the seemingly endless forest of shadow.

****

Inside the Temple of the Goddess of Healing, Maria was awaiting for her punishment. She might act tough in front of them before but her heart was pounding like a horse, of course she was afraid of what was to come, who wouldn’t be. Time passed by ever so slowly, no one had come to see her for an hour or so by now. However, what must come, had come, entering the dungeon cell was a tall and mischievous looking man wearing the Temple rope.

“Miss Maria am I right” He said “My name is Gabriel, I shall be the one who interrogated you today”. He spoke with a chilling smile on his face.

“You should set me free now, before my friends get here first, trust me there is someone that you do not want to cross paths with.” Maria replied.

“Haha..hahahaha” Gabriel laughed “I love witches like you, so strong willed and have a big attitude. That just make what happen next even sweeter to me”

“I am not a witch you sick ass hole !!!” Maria screamed at Gabriel.

“Hmm... hahahaha.. Oh you are my dare, you just haven’t known it yet” Gabriel said “or you wish you were”. Gabriel then activated his power Nightmare. The moment Maria looked into his eyes, she had fallen into a prison inside her own mind. Second later, Maria screamed from the top of her lung, she was in so much pain as it seemed based on her reaction. However, Gabriel did not touch her and she was still unconscious. In Maria's mind however, it was a different story.

In her head right now, she was being tortured by Gabriel. Inside that prison in her head minutes turned to hours and hours turned to days. Gabriel tortured Maria by any means he wanted, he controlled her mind now. Maria was just screaming helplessly as Gabriel used ice magic to frozed her skin then ripped them off slowly, next he used an old and un-sharpen knight to cut her flesh bit by bit and then countless more insidious ways Gabriel used to torture poor Maria. She had seen herself getting killed countless time and it just restart again, making her to go through the torture all over again and again. In real life, Maria was screaming and visibly shaking from pain. But once again, her body showed no signs of injuries, however, the pain that she felt was very real, Maria had just experienced tortured and death thousands of times by now. Gabriel then walked out of the cell and laughed.

“I will come back later, when you are finally broken” he said as he just left Maria there being imprisoned by her own mind.