The Oracle Priest and Harlequin stood facing each other, their eyes locked in a fierce stare-down. The air around them crackled with energy as they prepared to unleash their magic upon each other. The Oracle Priest was a master of holy magic, while Harlequin was a dark mage who wielded the power of the shadows.
The Oracle Priest raised his hands, and a bright light shone forth from his palms. It was a holy spell, one that would purify and cleanse any darkness it touched. Harlequin sneered and countered with a blast of dark energy, which collided with the holy spell and caused a massive explosion. The force of the blast sent both combatants flying backward, but they quickly regained their footing and continued the fight.
The Oracle Priest summoned a powerful beam of holy light, which he directed at Harlequin. The dark mage responded with a wave of shadowy tendri
Harlequin stopped abruptly and dispelled all of his illusions, leaving only one standing casually as he stared at the Oracle who struggled to stand up straight."Are you feeling sorry for me, Oracle?" Harlequin scoffed."It's not interesting at all," he continued, emanating an overwhelming aura that forced the Oracle to shield her face and take a step back.Harlequin became a bit more serious and revealed that he had only been using one-third of his strength in his non-grimoire mode. "Come forth, Dimension Linker," he muttered.As Harlequin muttered, a tome suddenly materialized in his hand, emanating an ominous aura. The Grimoire, named "Nexus Arcanum," was bound in black leather with golden clasps that formed intricate patterns of interconnected lines and symbols. The
Archie and the two Clowns, Akhem and Harlequin, were not here by chance. Harlequin had a grand plan to perform a world-changing ritual from this very dimension."It's going to take a long time to extract a Grimoire-type power from a bloodline. Plus, I need a large amount of holy power to do it," Harlequin explained to the others."That's why I've been ordered to hunt down owners of above-average holy power. It can't just be any priest or fake priestess. Their level of holy power would distort the purity that Harlequin requires," Akhem added from behind.As they discussed their plan, Archie watched on, observing the situation. He remained indifferent to the Oracle's screams of pain as they grew fainter. Though his human heart may have struggled with the sight, Archie had steeled his mind from the start.
Harlequin made a dismissive gesture. "Never mind. Akhem made you a promise, didn't he, Archie? Well, here it is." With that, Harlequin strolled over to the Oracle, which was now fully wrapped like a mummy.Suddenly, a bright beam of light shot out from the chest of the mummified Oracle and stopped in front of Harlequin. "This is the third ownerless grimoire," the Oracle declared. "It is the key to all our plans."Harlequin reached out and took the grimoire from the beam of light. He opened it carefully and flipped through its pages, nodding in satisfaction. "Excellent," he murmured to himself. "With this, we can finally move forward."Archie and the other members of the group looked at Harlequin with anticipation. "What's our next step?" Archie asked.Harlequin didn't re
Harlequin admonished Archie for his desire to resuscitate a woman whose powers they had once taken, but then handed him a grimoire that emitted a bright white light - the same light that had previously appeared from the mummy Oracle's. Without moving any closer, the beam seemed to be directed towards Archie. "How do I use it?" he asked."You'll find out," Harlequin replied cryptically, before returning to his two light grimoires, one of which flew towards Akhem. "Each of us will possess one of our own and one owner-less grimoire. Note that this does not come to you for nothing," he warned.Although an owner-less grimoire was the same as having the full power of the grimoire itself, it was still somewhat useless without access to maximizing the grimoire. But Archie was hopeful that the owner-less grimoire of the Light might fill the void in Lady Elashaa and his
As they continued on their way, a sudden gust of wind and a bluish-white light descended from above, catching the attention of the guards, bandits, and everyone else. It was Archie, who had slowed down so he could be seen clearly. Upon landing, Archie flung some of the bandits that were attempting to attack the guards, sending them flying a considerable distance."We have a bigger enemy to face than these crooked bandits," he advised. "If you want to capture a criminal without killing him, that's your choice. But keep in mind that while you're playing around here, there are countless innocent civilians who will become victims. There will be hundreds and even thousands affectedThe guards and bandits stared at Archie in surprise, unsure of how to respond to his words. But before anyone could speak, a deafening roar echoed through the city.
As Archie completed the rituals, he felt his mana and life force drain rapidly from his body. He fell to the ground, feeling weak and exhausted. Layla rushed to his side, checking to make sure he was still breathing."Archie, are you okay?" Layla asked with concern.Archie weakly nodded, "I'll be fine, just need to rest for a bit."Layla looked at Elashaa's body, which was now breathing and showing signs of life. Tears streamed down her face as she held her mother's hand."Thank you, Archie. You've brought my mother back to me," Layla said with gratitude.As Archie cast the magic that Akhem had given him, purplish-black spirals materialized around them, appearing as if they were about to consume them whole.
The situation at the church had not been much different since Archie had left it some time ago. The bandits and guards were still squabbling and attacking each other while occasionally cooperating when the demons attacked them. Even so, it didn't seem like it would make their fortunes any better.Archie still has a somewhat blurry look in his eyes, the effect of a ritual that somehow he could do. He thought, it seemed that indeed the holy power was intertwined with each other, or, Elashaa Whitehall's body which was empty of holy power, still had traces of being able to receive the holy power from the Grimoire of the Light.Occasionally, and not infrequently, earthquakes still occur wherever they are. Everyone just thought they were facing a natural disaster, but no one would know that this was one of The Clowns' plans. “Like I said before, we just need to buy time until the time limit for summoning these demons runs out.”"How long?""I don't know. It could be days, or even months.”"That's crazy. We can't possibly last that long,” Dannais was frustrated to hear that.Naturally, even though Archie only exaggerated a little, it doesn't mean that the potential for it to happen doesn't exist at all. If the demons existed and survived by absorbing things from this world, then they wouldn't be able to continue to defend against it and the humans would definitely be wiped out in a few days.“I'm just exaggerating. Since I fought them first, they haven't gotten stronger or weakened, it seems my thinking in that directIsekai Grimoire System Ch. XVII: The Raid (V)