Chapter 249: INTERLUDE. The vicious circle

Rey, but still just God of Rogues for all but Ashe, appeared on the dirty street of the charred city almost the last. Only Goddess of Rangers didn’t come yet, and she had a great excuse of her recent death. If Rey knew anything about Devourer, it must’ve been quite gruesome, too.

All the others already gathered around the spot where blots of still fresh blood showed the place of said demise. The mood among gods ranged between grim and furious.

“He just came and went. Came and went, and where? Where, I ask you?” Goddess of Wizards got no response from the surrounding gods, and from that her cheeks grew even redder. Her anger transformed normally composed ice queen into a seething hag that snarled at everyone and shook her fists in the air. “Useless! What you were doing all that time? Especially you, God of Rogues!”

“I don’t understand it. I thought we came here to find Devourer, not to throw accusations at each other. Besides, what gives you the right, hm?” Rey inclined his head with an unfriendly, thin smile. “From all I know, the only thing you did was interfering with my work.”

“If there was anything to interfere with! How much time had passed? Where are the results?”

“Almost there, goddess. You can scream at me some more, that won’t bring them any faster. But while you wait, why won’t you do the one thing you are good for and look into the past of this place? Maybe we will find out where Devourer went after finishing here.”

“And do that silently, if you can—if I listen to your voice for any longer, I’m afraid I will go deaf,” Ashe, but still Goddess of Sorcerers for all but Rey, supplied with a cheeky smirk and a cocky tilt of her hips.

“They are right, Goddess of Wizards, in that this isn’t the time for arguing. First, we must find out the truth and the way.” Goddess of Clerics nodded. Her expression was that of peaceful sorrow, which fit really well in the surroundings, but not much with what Rey knew of her personality. Though it wasn’t rare for her to fake it.

“Of course. I was overly hasty in my words… Though they were still true.” Goddess of Wizards opened her book and leafed through the pages. “Please, step back.”

Rey watched the ghostly images, knowing that if Devourer was as smart as he appeared, they won’t find anything important in them, even though following them required them to fly after him for a short while. After all… he just found out that Devourer got rid of both the tracking mirrors in his possession. He must’ve found out their secret somehow.

During that time, Goddess of Rangers joined them with a new bow in hands. Or more precisely, an old one pulled out of a storage. Despite all the reasons to be angry, she was one of the most collected people present, and only the spark in her eyes and the tight press of her lips showed the depth of her desire for avenging her death.

Either way, just like Rey expected, soon after Devourer left the city, his ghost image disappeared, to Goddess of Wizards confusion and frustration.

“What happened? Is there a fault in your magic?” God of Paladins asked. “Where did the fiend went?”

“I don’t know… This, this…” Goddess of Wizards cracked her fingers. “He must’ve teleported. Let me try a normal search spell.”

After it showed no result, the goddess dropped her hands. “He’s gone, just like before.”

“How could this be? Surely, the fiend possesses many abilities we may consider to be unnatural, but he never before used magic of that scale!”

Everyone else had the same question. Rey knew the answer, but he wondered if Goddess of Wizards will come to it, and if she will, will she share the knowledge?

She thought for some longer before speaking again. “I think the answer was before me for a while now, but it was something I feared to imagine… It could be that he caught a draining curse somewhere, but instead of being consumed by it, entered a state of symbiosis. As you all know, draining curses grow by consuming EXP of their host. Most creatures cannot generate EXP as fast as draining curses eat it and eventually grow too weak to defend from enemies. But Devourer’s main ability is to develop faster than anyone. He’d be able to survive a curse’s presence, and who knows? Maybe the curse decided that living in Devourer will be profitable for it somehow. And another thing curses can do is to use magic.”

“So you say, Wizards, and let me say that slowly… that one of your no-good curses now helps Devourer with the magic you built in them in the first place? Gee, I always knew your ideas were one better than another, but this is beyond imagination!” Ashe’s words dripped with sarcasm. “So all that time his symbiont-curse was teleporting Devourer away from our patrols whenever he wanted, and thanks to whatever hides him from our searches, good old magic still is useless in finding him. Seems like a hopeless situation for me.”

“I also would like to note for all people present,” Rey spoke up, smirking. This was just perfect, “that when Devourer killed Goddess of Wizards, he took her magic book, too. While we assumed that he simply ate it, could it be possible that he now uses it for himself?”

Goddess of Wizards paled, but Goddess of Rangers slowly shook her head. “I don’t think so. It wasn’t anywhere on his person when I fought him.”

“Exactly! You all saw the projection. It’s not an item one can hide in a pocket, not that Devourer has any,” Goddess of Wizards eagerly agreed. “Even if he used a folded space to hide it, he would’ve had to pull it out to use!”

Rey shrugged. “Well, that doesn’t mean he didn’t hide it somewhere to peek at your spells, goddess.”

“This is terrible news, siblings,” Goddess of Clerics spoke. “But once again, let’s not let the discord finish what Devourer started. While we speak, his hordes wreak havoc on our world. We must decide what to do quickly.”

“Yes! Something has to be done with that scourge.” God of Paladins raised his fist. “I shall immediately recall my angels and send them out to burn it with holy fire, and so must you!”

“What about us? I don’t think going anywhere separately is a great idea with how the current score of wins and losses. I’m unsure about pairs. Either way, eleven isn’t a number that divides by anything… Maybe one of us should just stay in Heaven?” God of Bards thoughtfully tapped his lip. Not a splotch of blood was on his pristine clothing despite the messy fight he just was in. If not for Goddess of Rangers’ words she sent out, Rey wouldn’t have known.

“And disappear like Monks? No, thanks, Bards.” Ashe snorted. “Or is that your cunning plan on making our number even again?”

“Please, don’t throw such words left and right, Sorcerers! In the current state of things, they are dangerous. I was just making an innocent joke! The odd one out will just have to get together with someone.”

“We still didn’t find the traitor, so splitting in pairs is dangerous. There have to be at least three people in each group,” Goddess of Wizards thought aloud. “For example, myself, Goddess of Warlocks and God of Paladins…”

“I will not travel with that… foolish woman!” God of Paladins threw a scornful glare at the Goddess of Warlocks, who replied with the same. “Goddess of Clerics will be a much better pair—we will be a holy union…”

Rey shook his head. These people were killing each other as they spoke, and over what? Just because Goddess of Warlocks called God of Paladins a prig once. That was centuries ago, and they still fought, though the true reason was that God of Paladins despised Goddess of Warlocks’ fascination with demonic and dark…

The argument grew more and more heated, and nothing was being done. With a tsk, Rey grabbed Ashe by the elbow and pulled her aside.

“Let’s forget about pairs and trios and just leave while they bicker. Maybe we will finish with the demons by the time they will split up.”

“Great idea, partner.” Ashe grinned at him. “Let’s drop by Heaven first, mobilise angels, then go see if we can spot Devourer again.”

“Yeah. You know, I think that this is also just the time for the traitor to reveal themselves… I’m still not one hundred percent sure who that is, but this is a great opportunity to find out. We will just have to be ready.”

“I’m readier than anyone! They won’t know what hit ’em!”

No one said much about Rey and Ashe’s leave besides that they were idiots—and that now the amount of gods could be evenly split in threes.