Chapter 188: The Saint Offered to Save Me by Killing Me

Raven had expected an escort.

None came, and that was the first thing that bothered him.

The second was that Elise Veyra was smiling.

Not much. Just enough to look like an ordinary woman approaching along a country road instead of a Champion sent by the Church to decide whether Raven Ashford should be allowed to continue existing.

She arrived shortly after noon, alone, with platinum hair partially gathered behind her head and white combat clothes detailed in gold and pale blue. Her boots were clean except for road dust, and a longsword rested at her hip inside a white sheath.

Mercy.

Valeria had recognized the name before Elise ever arrived.

Raven noticed something else.

A small patch of dried blood stained her left sleeve.

Not hers.

Elise crossed the final stretch without putting a hand anywhere near her sword, and Predator’s Instinct remained almost completely silent.

That bothered Raven more than an alarm would have.

He was accustomed to people who intended to kill him showing something: tension, preparation, a shift in breathing, a shoulder held too rigidly, fingers resting too close to a weapon.

Elise showed none of it.

FORGE reacted when she came close enough.

[Human Biological Signature Detected.]

[Threat Evaluation...]

[Saint Elise Veyra.]

[Estimated Level: 60.]

[Existence Rank: CHAMPION.]

[Direct Confrontation Risk: EXTREME.]

Raven dismissed the window.

He had expected that much.

Valeria stood several meters behind him, leaning against one of the posts bordering the inn’s side yard, while Roland remained near the building. Neither had listened when Raven suggested they wait inside.

That was becoming a habit.

Elise stopped roughly eight meters away and looked first at Raven, then at the partially covered corpse of the Penance Hound, and finally back at him.

"Raven."

"Elise Veyra."

She looked mildly surprised.

"You know who I am."

"I was warned."

"That was the point of the notice."

"They also sent me a dog."

Her eyes returned to the corpse, and something shifted in her expression.

Not much.

Raven still caught it.

"I didn’t send it."

"I concluded that before you arrived."

Her attention returned to him.

"Who told you?"

"No one. It was an inference."

"Why?"

"If you had sent it, coming here alone after I killed it would make less sense."

Elise considered that for a moment.

"That proves nothing."

"No."

"Then?"

"It improves the probability."

Elise looked toward the Hound again.

"May I see it?"

Raven didn’t answer immediately.

Predator’s Instinct remained quiet. He didn’t trust Elise, but he also detected no immediate intent to attack.

That mattered.

"Yes."

They approached the table, and Valeria pushed away from the post.

Elise recognized her immediately.

"Lady von Nacht."

"Saint Veyra."

The courtesy between them was flawless.

The temperature wasn’t.

Elise inclined her head.

"I didn’t expect to find you traveling with him."

"I’ve heard that several times."

Then Elise looked toward Roland.

"And you must be the tracker."

Roland blinked.

"That sounded considerably less insulting than I expected."

Raven pulled away the covering.

The Penance Hound lay across the improvised table, and several missing internal structures made the dissection obvious.

Elise stopped.

Her eyes moved over the opened chest, the cuts, the missing tissue, and then Raven.

"You dissected it."

"Yes."

"It’s missing parts."

Raven raised an eyebrow.

"I hadn’t noticed."

Valeria closed her eyes.

Elise seemed to wait for him to elaborate.

Raven didn’t.

"What did you do with them?"

"I studied them."

She continued staring at him.

"Raven."

"Yes?"

"What did you do with them?"

He considered lying.

There was little point.

"I ate them."

Roland turned his head away.

Valeria pressed two fingers against her forehead.

Elise didn’t move.

For approximately three seconds, Raven thought he had finally managed to produce hostility.

Predator’s Instinct remained silent.

Elise merely looked confused.

"Why would you do that?"

"They were useful."

"It was a consecrated creature."

"It was also useful."

Elise opened her mouth, closed it, then took a breath.

"Did you know what it was?"

"Yes."

"And you still consumed parts of it?"

"Yes."

"You felt no resistance?"

"Quite a lot. I’m used to that."

That stopped her.

"What kind of resistance?"

Raven didn’t answer.

Elise studied his face and noticed the faint marks still remaining along the inside of his lip despite Predatory Regeneration.

"It burned you."

"Yes."

"Are you injured? Do you feel ill?"

"No."

"And you continued even after it hurt you."

"Yes."

Elise looked toward Valeria.

Valeria raised one hand.

"I tried to stop him."

"Not very hard."

"Harder than you deserved at the time."

Elise turned back to Raven, and for the first time her expression became something other than simply kind.

There was concern in it.

Real concern.

Raven hadn’t expected that.

"That confirms part of what I was afraid of," she said.

Raven rested one hand against the table.

"What were you afraid of?"

Elise took a moment before answering.

"That you may no longer be able to distinguish between what you want and what that Authority wants."

Raven’s attention left the corpse.

Now she had his interest.

"Explain."

"Predation."

The word changed the atmosphere immediately.

Valeria stopped smiling.

So did Roland.

Raven’s expression didn’t change.

"You know the name."

"Not exactly. But I know what kind of thing it appears to be."

"What kind?"

Again, Elise hesitated, not because she seemed unwilling to tell him, but because she was choosing her words carefully.

"A predatory Authority. There are sacred records describing Authorities with similar characteristics."

Raven waited.

"I already knew it was an Authority."

"That doesn’t concern you?"

"Not particularly."

"It should."

"I’ve heard that before."

Elise stepped closer.

Predator’s Instinct remained silent.

Raven didn’t move.

"Some Authorities don’t behave like ordinary Skills," she said. "They don’t simply consume mana and remain separate from their host. They integrate themselves into the body and mind."

"Predation does that."

"Which is exactly why you should be concerned."

"Interesting."

"Raven."

"Then we still haven’t advanced very far."

Elise ignored his tone.

"An Authority like that can alter the body, perception, desire, even identity. At first, the host believes it is only a tool. Eventually, they begin rationalizing whatever the Authority needs in order to feed."

Raven glanced toward the partially dissected Hound.

"I assume this is the part where eating it is supposed to make your argument especially convincing."

"Yes."

"Convenient."

Elise showed no reaction to the sarcasm.

"I’m not trying to insult you."

"I didn’t say you were."

"Then listen."

Raven folded his arms.

"I am."

She drew another breath.

"I believe you’re contaminated."

Valeria pushed completely away from the post.

Raven raised one hand without looking at her.

She stopped.

Elise continued.

"I don’t think you’re a monster."

"That’s generous."

"It wasn’t a compliment."

"Understood."

"I think you’re a person bonded to something that is changing you too quickly."

Raven watched her.

She was completely serious.

No hatred.

No disgust.

No visible fanaticism.

That was considerably more uncomfortable.

"And you think it’s destroying my soul."

Elise didn’t hesitate.

"Yes."

Valeria spoke.

"That’s a serious accusation."

Elise looked at her.

"I know."

"Do you have proof?"

"Not enough yet."

Raven intervened.

"Then you came here to ask something of me before you have it."

"I came because if I wait until the proof is undeniable, it may already be too late."

Raven almost smiled.

"That sounds circular."

"It isn’t."

"Then explain it better."

Elise accepted the criticism without offense.

"If Predation can still be separated from you, we can study the boundary between the Authority and your soul. If there is still a clean separation, I may be able to purify only what doesn’t belong to you."

Raven held her gaze.

"And if there isn’t?"

Elise didn’t look away.

"Then the contamination may already be integrated too deeply."

"That still doesn’t answer the question."

She understood.

The silence lasted only a second.

"You would die without pain."

Valeria went completely still.

Roland stopped breathing for a moment.

Elise continued in the same calm voice.

"I would stay with you."

Raven stared at her.

He had heard more creative threats.

He had also received better offers.

"That is one of the worst recruitment arguments I’ve ever heard."

Elise blinked.

Actually blinked.

"It wasn’t a recruitment argument."

"That doesn’t improve it."

"I’m offering you a chance to live."

"With an undetermined possibility of execution."

"Purification."

"If the process ends with me dead, the distinction is mostly administrative."

Roland coughed.

Valeria lowered her gaze to hide something dangerously close to a smile. Coming from Raven, that was almost a joke.

Elise looked genuinely confused.

"It wouldn’t be an execution."

Raven looked at her.

"Who makes the decision?"

"I would participate in it."

"Could I refuse?"

Elise took too long to answer.

There it was.

"You can refuse to come voluntarily."

"That wasn’t my question."

Elise remained silent.

Raven continued.

"If you decide I’m too contaminated, can I refuse purification?"

She looked at him.

The kindness remained, but something harder appeared beneath it.

Doctrine.

"That would depend on whether you were still capable of making that choice freely."

Raven nodded slowly.

"So you decide whether my decision counts."

"If an Authority is altering your will—"

"You decide."

Elise didn’t answer.

She didn’t need to.

Raven had found the center of the problem.

Valeria was watching Elise much more carefully now, and Roland no longer looked amused.

Elise glanced briefly toward the road before speaking again.

"I’ve seen people beg to be left alone while a curse spoke through their mouths."

"I’ve seen people justify terrible things by saying someone else wasn’t capable of deciding for themselves."

She looked back at him.

"I’m not trying to justify cruelty."

"I didn’t say you were. I think you genuinely believe you’re being merciful."

Elise frowned.

Raven continued.

"That doesn’t make you less ruthless. It just makes you polite about it."

"Then stop talking as though I came here wanting to kill you."

Raven tilted his head slightly.

"You just told me you might."

Elise opened her mouth, then stopped.

"If it becomes necessary."

"That is exactly what I said."

For the first time, frustration appeared.

Not anger.

Frustration.

As though Raven were making something unnecessarily difficult.

"I don’t want to hurt you."

Predator’s Instinct remained silent.

Raven believed her.

That was the unsettling part.

"I know."

Elise looked surprised.

"You know?"

"Yes."

"Then why are you treating this like a threat?"

Raven studied her for several seconds before answering.

"Because someone can sincerely not want to hurt you and still decide that killing you is the right thing to do. Those two things don’t contradict each other."

Elise went still.

Valeria turned slightly toward Raven.

Silence followed.

Elise’s expression changed by only a fraction.