Saintess Summons Skeletons-Chapter 825 - You played and you lost

I’ll play dumb.

Sofia had only froze for a fraction of a second, decisively she continued, ready to transpose herself away to the statuette of her Pareth carried if need be. She took a step in the air, over the skeleton.

The swirling curses around the sword latched onto Sofia, seeping into her armor, melding with her mana. The philosopher’s stone felt slightly cooler inside of her glove.

Seeing the skeleton was still perfectly still, she reached for the claymore’s hilt, and touched it with the tip of a finger.

Faint whispers echoed in Sofia’s ears, muttering in a soft language she couldn’t understand. Now wasn’t the time to act surprised, she knew they came from the sword, she ignored them.

Her mana expanded into the sword, penetrating it like she had returned its curses, spreading into its dark steel, pulling and prodding at every detail like invisible eyes. Under Mr.Scribe’s control, the mana returned, and Sofia retracted her finger right away, the whispers in her head abruptly stopping.

The result was not quite instant, produced in real time, the sword’s description appeared in a new system window, character by character.

[Cursed blade]:

Composition:

Attributes unknown.

Most enchantments could not be deciphered.

Uses user and stabbed creatures as power sources.

Inflicts user with [Possession],[Hysteria],[Bloodlust],[Hatred of Dragons],[Mind Control], plus eight undeciphered effects.

Damage dealt is doubled against winged creatures.

Contained curses are constantly emitted by the blade.

Curses (5):

Sofia pulled away and jumped back off of the altar as the description wrote itself.

She looked at the blade and at the Phoenix, wondering how much the blade’s user must have despised the fiery bird to use that blade against it.

Bringing Bookie with her, she retreated to the previous room. If the Phoenix was indeed playing dead, she hoped that might make it panic and react at the prospect of its ticket out of here leaving. It also allowed her to take a second to fully digest the blade’s description.

That’s with most effects not deciphered?

The laundry list of debuffs for the user… It’s like the Leviathan’s aura. Hatred of dragon and double damage against winged creatures… Made with dragon nerves… God slaying and forced undead status curses. And the jewel is a close Nigredo match? That was the [Spell Decay] crown jewel if I remember correctly.

Lords, whoever forged this had some serious issues.

It wasn’t specially designed to kill this Phoenix, which is interesting, but it certainly still does the job. The divinity penalty and soul severing are both effects that weaken its ‘immortality’ since the feathers span all planes.

… I would actually be in deep shit if I wasn’t curse immune and someone hit me with this. It might slice straight through my unlife runes and kill me.

Surprising that I didn’t feel the bones. I guess my aura was overwhelmed by the fiery skeleton right underneath.

Now what? It’s safe to bet the Phoenix will immediately ‘resurrect’ if I pull out the sword. But Bookie said the sword is in the way. And even without the sword he wouldn’t be able to get the skeleton.

Because it’s not dead.

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I need to weaken it. Like Pestle’s original soul was weakened.

But pulling out the sword would only strengthen it…

This is a complex one…

… My aura and passives might have strengthened it just by coming up close. The reversed healing of the curse wouldn’t work on my aura that specifically heals skeletons.

Through the hole in the wall, Sofia glanced at the burning skeleton.

No reaction so far. Maybe it’s less conscious that I was giving it credit for.

Bookie, Unsummon. I might accidentally hurt you otherwise. You might get an opportunity to eat. Stay ready.

Sofia returned to the altar room. Pulling a thick string out of her own bones through her armor, she started circling the altar. With her bones she drew a large ritual circle around the altar, the ghostly ward she had learned from Scripture’s necromancy grimoire. It repelled and weakened ghosts that entered it, with the Phoenix’s soul currently being partly split from its skeleton by the blade’s curse, it would be vulnerable to it.

Sometimes complex problems require a simple solution. Sofia thought as she prepared to use a low level ritual to mess with a legendary creature.

She summoned a bunch of blood as the last step to activate the ritual. The ambient heat disintegrated most of it before it could even activate the ritual, but by now Sofia could summon it by the ton without breaking a sweat.

As the ritual activated, she heard a shrill blood-curling cry. A tattered fiery ghost arose on the altar as the temperature suddenly climbed to unbearable levels as the little air present became blinding plasma.

Sofia smiled. Now she knew why she couldn’t feel the ghost before, it had been truly playing dead, fooling her senses.

The ghostly Phoenix attacked, Sofia let it come, activating her avatar form. Her health tanked from a hit she couldn’t see, and shot right back up from her transformation, the avatar of Zeus’ immunity to lightning also gave great protection against plasma, so Sofia wasn’t bothered by the environmental change.

If she had any reservation about possibly killing a peaceful prisoner before, they were all gone now that she knew it had been playing dead from the beginning. She could only imagine the disaster she would have brought upon herself had she pulled out the sword.

Now the plasma was too blinding, she could not see or feel the ghost anymore, and could only stand and take its attacks.

The infuriated ghost practically threw itself at her. That was all she needed.

A harsh and cold melody echoed throughout the ruins, drowning out the Phoenix’s cries.

Sofia almost died from an attack she could not see. Her head and right arm, protected by her armor, was all that remained of her, it had been instant and almost painless.

Remia’s melody of Winter reflected the harm as soul damage.

The ghost’s pained wailing shook the ruins as Sofia healed and stood back up.

“You did this to yourself,” Sofia said, still unable to see anything. The Phoenix would not understand her, but if her voice could goad it into attacking again, that was enough.

Could a half-dead bird infer the workings of [Sixth melody] in a single strike and know to stop attacking?

This one did not. Enraged to hear that hostile weakling still alive, the ghost struck again. Once again, most of Sofia’s body disappeared. She could hear a slight charred smell this time, and guessed that she had probably been burned to a crisp.

Ready to keep her upper body flying with her aura this time, she only felt that the Phoenix was a bit pitiful. Imprisonned for countless years, blinded by rage, playing tricks, and now hurting itself.

Had it let Sofia know from the get go that it was ‘alive’, peaceful, and tried to negotiate, she might have legitimately freed it, if it could just tell her how to escape the loop.

That possibility was gone.

Can you feel it, Bookie?

Tell me when it’s weakened enough.

The phoenix blasted Sofia several more times. Sometimes in such quick succession that she could barely heal at all in between, letting her helmet take the hit. Had it been something else, she might have died a few times, but heat and fire? Her resistances and the helmet’s enchantment were enough.

After an ultimate hit, as the attacks of the ghost were starting to weaken, Sofia felt Bookie pulling on her mana.

She understood.

The melody of winter died down.

Without her wings or legs, she could only use her aura to push her remaining head and arm forward. Coming closer, she could feel the bones in front of her. A cold chill spread through her flesh as she flew through the ghost. Her arm leisurely reached for the blade. Her other senses overwhelmed and useless, she could feel the bones in the blade now. Her hand closed around the handle. The voices, cold whispers, rose in her head again. Curses spread through her body, the sword’s mana assaulted her mind.

It was all pointless in front of the Philosopher’s stone.

We cannot afford to miss.

Are you ready?

Three.

Two.

One.

Sofia pulled out the black claymore. The ghost roared. The temperature rose again, even under the helmet, Sofia could feel her flesh burn and her bones melt.

Bookie flew out.

Sofia heard strange, ethereal sounds, overlapping with the sword’s murmurs.

Then it all stopped. Peace. Calm. Even the sword’s voices momentarily stopped, as if shocked into silence.

The source of heat had disappeared, quickly the air stopped burning, and Sofia could see again. A flaming bone book rested contentedly on the old altar.