The nun activated her shield.
And promptly used her own fists on the man. He went flying over the counter and into the back wall. The landing was not soft, but Eva could see he wasn’t seriously injured. He collapsed and didn’t make the effort to get back up.
Huh, Eva thought as she quickly covered up all the rune papers with homework from Alari Carr’s class. I did not know the nuns possessed enhanced strength.
Eva tried to pretend she had nothing to do with anything when the nun turned her harsh gaze in Eva’s direction. She could tell that the nun’s eyes were blazing with their white fire.
“You…”
“Now let’s not be–”
Eva was lifted out of her seat and flew against the wall. The lightning hit her and crackled around her, but it didn’t hurt nearly as much as Sister Cross’s attack. Lower power?
No.
It hit Arachne.
The spider tore herself through Eva’s shirt as she launched at the nun. Arachne twisted into her humanoid form and had her claws out and around the nun’s shield by the time she landed.
Blood leaked out of a massive gash that ran all down her back.
Eva shuddered. If the lightning could damage Arachne that much, Sister Cross was definitely holding back. She did not want to get hit by a full power blast.
“You,” the nun growled again. “You’re the one who killed Sister Stripe. I banished you.”
“You have my thanks for that. Now you are going to die.”
“Arachne!” Eva shouted. This was bad. “We can’t kill her. Too big of a mess. The man behind the counter might wake up. Someone might come in.”
“You’re worried about inconvenience rather than preserving human life?” The nun let out a loud scoff. “So glad I wasted my time being nice to you.”
Eva frowned. She couldn’t remember any nuns being nice to her in any sense of the word. It clicked. “You’re the one from the lunchroom. The one who told me to go kill myself.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“No. Your exact words were ‘I hope you go off yourself. You’re a blight on humanity.’ Then you proceeded to tell me that doctor assisted suicide would be the right choice.”
The nun grit her teeth. “I didn’t say that,” she ground out.
Apparently, Arachne did not believe the woman. She renewed her efforts at puncturing the nun’s shield.
Her efforts abruptly ceased as she went flying across the room.
“You cannot beat me.”
“Empirical evidence shows we can beat you. We just don’t want to,” Eva said as Arachne grew to her full size and charged the nun once again.
Tables, chairs, and food all went flying as Arachne barreled over it all. Eva had to grab her notebook before it got run over.
The nun staggered back within her shield as Arachne rammed into it. She pulled herself back to her full height with a brush at imaginary dust on her shoulder. Her heart rate didn’t even pick up.
“You are not convincing.”
“Arachne! Stand down or you’ll be back in prison for the foreseeable future.”
The spider-demon let out a loud growl. She swiped against the nun’s shield one last time before taking half a step back.
“Now, let’s all just calm down. I’m sure it would be bad for your order to have attacked a schoolgirl unprovoked. Again.”
“Unprovoked?” The nun wiped a finger across her upper lip, pulling away some blood that dripped from her nose. “You call this unprovoked?”
“I don’t remember giving you a nosebleed. Arachne? Did you punch her in the face?”
“I’ll tear off her face.”
Eva sighed and shook her head. “We didn’t touch you.”
“That man,” the nun said with a gesture over the counter, “was perfectly courteous when he served me food. You–”
“You didn’t even think the service was bad and you still threw him over the counter? Is he even going to be okay?”
That was more or less a genuine question. He still hadn’t gotten up. Nothing appeared wrong–his heart was still beating and all the blood flow appeared normal. But he hadn’t gotten up. Eva wasn’t a brain surgeon, there may be some trauma to the brain that caused him to fall unconscious without her being able to detect it.
He was an excellent example of why she didn’t want to test anything in a place she liked. If the man remembered anything, the nuns would assuredly be banned. Possibly Eva as well.
“You know what? Fine. Sister Cross wants you constantly monitored? She can do it herself.” The nun started to walk past Arachne and towards the exit.
“What, just like that?” Eva knew she shouldn’t be questioning the woman. Stopping her might invite further attacks.
But she didn’t attack. She sneered over her shoulder. “Our magic is designed to fight undead. We know how to banish a demon. We’re not trained to fight them. If Sister Cross continues to occupy this abominable little town under the pretense of finding a necromancer–a necromancer who has fled by all evidence–then I’ll be happy to accept my promotion when she is excommunicated.”
A small smile grew across Eva’s face. “So, you are saying that you wouldn’t mind if Sister Cross–”
“Do not seek to tempt me into your heretical ways.”
With that said, the conversation ended. The nun walked out with her head held high.
“Well,” Eva said with a turn of her head towards Arachne, “it was worth a shot.”
“You should have let me kill her.”
“Far too messy. We’d be found out too easily.”
“She’s going to run back to the nuns and tell them that I was the one to kill their other member.”
“And that,” Eva said, “is the main reason I wanted you at the prison. You just had to come back.”
“I couldn’t leave you here with nuns and demons running amok.”
Eva didn’t bother to bring up that Arachne didn’t help much with the latter. She’d been angry enough about being tossed halfway across the Infinite Courtyard. Jokingly bringing it up the first time ended up with Eva wrestled to the ground.
That Arachne returned on the verge of panic about Eva’s encounter with the pillar had her feeling slightly guilty.
Eva merely sighed as she pulled out her notebook to strike out the partially written success. She made a short note detailing a few changes for the next version.
Far too many pargon runes.
Testing would be harder without a nun following her around, but she’d manage.
“I’m amazed by the elegance you displayed in handling the nun.”
Eva turned towards the most sarcastic voice she’d heard. In recent memory, at least. The lesser succubus sat in one of the few upright chairs. She casually took a small sip of a drink that she had acquired from somewhere in the ruined restaurant.
“Catherine.” Eva tried to smile. It came off a bit strained. At least Arachne wasn’t trying to take her head off this time. “How are you today?”
“I’d be better if you wouldn’t leave large messes for me to clean up.”
“All in the name of progress.” Eva nodded her head towards the ruined counter. “Is he going to be alright?”
Catherine shrugged. “I’ll drop him off at the school’s medical facility. If he doesn’t remember anything, we’ll say he slipped. If he does, well, we’ll fix it.”
“And the nuns?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem provided that you come through. We want you to be finished by Tuesday.”
“Tuesday?”
The succubus sighed and rolled her eyes. “I spoke clear enough for you to understand.”
“That’s just–I mean…” Eva ran her gloved fingers through her hair. “You mean next Tuesday, right?”
There was a sudden rush of blood to her eyes for the briefest of instants before they returned to normal. If Eva had to guess, they would have flashed red–perhaps even turning her pupils into the typical demonic slit. Her polite smile turned somewhat mocking.