As the notifications stopped, Chronos blinked twice without moving at all while she comprehended what in the hell just happened.
“Fucking… Rude!” She scoffed sarcastically.
“Next time we meet her, you’ll get to vent your frustration with me.” She spoke to herself.
As annoying as someone coming in stealing her kill was, Chronos didn’t lose anything out of it so how mad she could be was limited but that didn’t mean she didn’t get that girl back whenever she found out who they were.
Nell on the other hand, didn’t share Chronos’ carefree attitude and didn’t even hear her partner talking to herself.
“Who is she? Why is there a sentinel here already? Even if Sora notified others, it’d take at least a week for them to start arriving…” Nell continuously mumbled to herself. Possibilities of how or why there was a Sentinel here when prior, none ever revealed themselves.
“Is she not someone you know, Nell? She seemed to know you.”
Hearing this, Nell snapped out of her own world and shook her head.
“Unsurprising. There are hundreds of Sentinels around the world. Sora and I were quite famous among them… And even before that, I was… A little Infamous before we Agents came to earth. I think every Agent knows who I am because of how much public attention the Operators got.”
“Mmh, that’s fair enough. Well, whatever! If they’re hostile I’ll just beat them until they either forget how to walk or submit and give me undying loyalty. The longer we sit here and think about it, the longer it’ll take to see Sora!”
Nell nodded in agreement before the two walked into an alley and left the shadow world, Chronos transforming back into Lucy shortly after.
The area was starting to get rather rowdy as a report of Invaders would quickly make it to the ears of the police. While guns are generally ineffective against magical things without any enchants, enough well-placed bullets into anything and it’ll eventually be pierced.
With all that said, the duo left the site before anyone could really notice them. They would continue in the shadow world but that was a little dangerous since an unknown Sentinel was running around and Lucy was relatively low on Mana.
“Status.”
===
Name: Lucy Elliot
HP: 2113/4666
MP: 3780/9470
Candies: 7570
Fame: 35
Race: Witch
Specialization: N/A
STR: 48
VIT: 54
DEX: 50
RES: 43
MAG: 58
DEF: 43
Sentinel Skills: Sentinel's Source lv 2 | Third Eye lv 2 | Regeneration lv 2 | Rampart Breaker(Lucy Ver) lv 1
Personal Skills: Martial Arts lv 1 | Silver Veins lv 2 | Tenacity lv 2 | Demonize | Soul Gathering lv 2 | Magic Apprentice lv 5 | Magical Reinforcement lv 1
Magic: Manamancy | Chronomancy | Electromancy | Demonic
===
“Oh… Never mind then…” Lucy chuckled in defeat.
“What? What’s wrong?” Nell, who was now hiding in Lucy’s bag questioned.
“My stats… Once again, they’re almost as high as they were when I was transformed… For the second time now. Actually, I think the first time they were just higher.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
Lucy shrugged.
“It’s annoying. I’m not someone who likes fighting when I don’t know how strong I am. Well, I don’t really like fighting in general all that much but that’s beside the point.”
Stolen novel; please report.
Nell thought about it for a moment but eventually agreed. Lucy was growing far faster than any other Sentinel she had ever seen. It was certainly not bad, but growing this fast tends to lead to… Complications down the road because of a lack of foundation.
She was sure that Lucy was competent enough to not fall into a trap like that as Lucy herself was aware of the possibility but the chance was always there.
“We should take some time to figure that out. How does spending the weekend practicing sound?” Nell asked.
Tapping her index finger against the side of her chin, Lucy gave a thumbs up.
“Sounds like a plan. I’d also like to spend that time exploring the area surrounding the base.”
Seeing Lucy being proactive about her position as a Sentinel caused Nell to smile proudly.
…
An hour or so later Lucy and Nell arrived at a large hospital that was placed towards the center of the city called Sacred Heart Clinic.
Before the duo could walk in, they both looked at each other in contemplation.
“Sacred Heart… Yeah, I was right. Could it be a coincidence?” Lucy mused to herself.
“What do you mean? Is this a known place in the world of Witches and Priests?” Nell asked half-jokingly.
“Sacred Heart is an Artifact of the highest grade. Do you remember the Grimoire from the Candy shop? It’s said to be about as powerful as that. The fun thing about the thing aside from it being among the few mythical grade artifacts is that nobody actually knows who, where, or what it originated from.” Lucy explained.
Nell’s eyes seemed to widen at Lucy’s words.
“How is that possible? The where and what aside, the creator should be easy enough to track. Even just by seeing what type of Mana it had on it would tell you if it was made by.”
Lucy scratched her cheek with a muffled chuckle.
“That’s the thing. The records say it has traces of Holy, Demonic, and Attributeless mana…”
Walking through the first automatic door, Lucy shook her head.
“It’s probably just a coincidence, to be honest. You should wait in the base.”
Nell promptly nodded and vanished.
Entering through the second door and entering the main waiting room, Lucy immediately felt eyes on her from all directions.
“Or not a coincidence at all…” Lucy muttered, glancing around to see that the eyes of quite literally everyone in the lobby were on her.
Not only did their eyes reach her but so too did a faint trace of mana which she simply couldn’t be bothered to track. She had a feeling these people would attack her the moment she revealed that she could sense mana.
“Ah! You must be Miss Lucille! S- Young lord Brande told us to show you the way to your sister, is that correct?” The cheery voice of a young woman called out, forcing Lucy to snap out of her thoughts.
This woman seemed to be 18 at the oldest. Certainly not old enough to be working at a hospital.
“A-ah! Yes!”
‘S? Sir? Sire? Superior? No, that’d be redundant since she called him Young Lord anyway… Just who the hell is that hot priest?’ Lucy wondered behind her words.
The young woman signaled for Lucy to follow her which she obliged with while constantly channeling Mana through her arm.
This was very stupid. If she screwed up and accidentally blocked her mana channels then her arm would be blown straight off but in this closed-off space it was the only realistic way to defend herself if they decided to attack her.
Luckily, she was plenty confident in her control over mana, even with her having excessively more mana than she did just a few days ago.
Through the halls, all was well at a glance. It was simply a normal hospital which confused Lucy.
‘This is worrying. I can't sense anything aside from the girl in front of me. These walls are blocking my senses somehow? Should I ask the priest? No, it's not ideal to reveal the extent of my abilities to him... Ugh! How annoying!’
Lucy could only let out a sigh while she mulled over her thoughts.
“Is everything all right? Are you nervous?” The girl asked.
“Mmh. I guess. That idiot got injured for me.” Lucy answered casually, quickly leaving her thoughts behind.
The girl staggered for a moment.
“She must really love you. Amongst the attacks from Invaders, even familial bonds seem to fail quite often.”
The cheery tone of the girl faltered, changing to a tone Lucy was all too familiar with.
Despair. Subtle as it was, to someone like Lucy who had felt It before, hiding it was impossible.
“Ah, I see… I apologize for bringing back such memories.”
“Ah, no! It’s completely fine. I’m just lucky to have made it out alive. All thanks to the Young Lord.”
Another tone shift occurred. This time to one of admiration. For this to happen, this lass was either bipolar or her admiration for Utopia far outweighed the trauma from whatever happened during that Invader attack.
“Oh? It seems We’ve been graced with meeting a young hero.” Lucy chuckled.
It's not like Lucy was any different. She too suffered a great deal that day years ago but when she thinks about all she can remember is the feeling of relief and safety from meeting the Magical Sentinel.
'That being said though. Does this guy actively search for Invader attacks? The questions continue to pile.'
Even for Lucy who had actively searched for events related to Invaders and Sentinels, prior to becoming one she has only been involved in two her entire life. You never hear of people getting attacked by Invaders a second time.
Or at the very least living if they were attacked a second time.
“We have arrived. They are waiting for you inside.” The young woman said.
Standing in front of a door to a particularly lavish hospital room, as lavish as one could be while still feeling like a monotonous cell, Lucy wanted to laugh at how pointless such things were but managed to hold herself back as she walked in.
“Am I intruding on anything?”
“Eh? Lucille? Is that you?”