Debauchery of a Soul-Eating Wraith

For a few seconds, silence fell upon the hall and then spiritual pressures began to flare up from certain individuals. Not in a threatening way but rather in a gentle sort of acknowledgment that told the Knights who in the hall they should pay the most attention to.

Dolan raised his head with a smile,

"This young one greets the Holy City's Cardinal Priests."

Those who had flared their pressures were, in status, individuals who were only surpassed by the post of Pontiff itself. Of course, among their ranks, there was a hierarchy determined by time of appointment into the role of Cardinals but essentially, they all had equal rights.

Evian's eyes roamed them all and in their eyes, he could feel a depth of age and a wealth of experience but he quickly looked away to search for someone else and he found her quickly enough.

Daria was dressed, as usual in black, but this was of a much more expensive and mysterious material that told that she had taken care to dress for the occasion. Their eyes met and she gave him a wink that he responded to with a smile that caused certain ladies in the hall to hold their breath. Evian didn't notice though because, at that moment, a pressure bore down on him.

He immediately felt rooted to the spot and unable to move even one of his limbs. It felt like snakes were coiling around his body and he could even hear the hissing. It caused his body to shiver as cold sweat began to appear on his forehead. And then, things took a step further.

The snakes he could feel became visible.

They were made of a strange ruby-red hue of spiritual energy and their slitted eyes glinted with a deep red stare that caused his blood to heat up in his body.

Evian strained against the hold, against the pressure that had struck him but physical might was useless against this sort of intrusion. At least not physical might at the level he currently was in terms of Martial strength. If he implemented Eldritch energy he might have had a better chance but he had a feeling that that was what his oppressor was hoping for.

An outburst of Eldritch energy in the presence of Arcane Cardinal Priests might as well be him seeking a death sentence.

[Calm your breathing...]

The voice of his Decadent Assistant in his head, took Evian by surprise. It was rare that it would offer advice, and Evian couldn't help himself but ask,

"Huh?"

[It's all an illusion. A powerful one because of who is casting it but it's merely a tease you can break free of. You don't need Eldritch energy. You just need to calm your breathing and remember none of this is real.]

"Feels pretty real," Evian said through gritted teeth while the snakes wrapped around him snapped their fangs at him.

[Well, it's not.

Currently, your mind has been pulled into a mental realm controlled by your oppressor. It's similar to what you do when you want to brand someone with your seal.

Calm your breathing and break free!]

Evian did as he was told.

He stopped resisting. It took a while but he succeeded in getting himself calm. His breaths came out in a steady uniform rhythm and then he let his authority as a Wraith Lord envelop him. The process didn't involve Eldritch Energy, just a mental affirmation of who and what he was.

Suddenly the snakes melted away. His body felt normal again and he realized he was back in the hall. His Decadent Assistant had been right, it was all an illusion and his first clue should have been how everyone around him seemed to have been frozen.

That said, although he broke free, Evian was hit by a backlash of energy that struck his mind and subjected him to a painful ache that caused him to stagger on his feet.

"Young master Evian, are you alright?" Sir Armin asked with a hand across Evian's front to stabilize him from a possible fall.

Evian had a hand on his head and it was then he realized the cold sweats were real. His ordeal had only lasted a second or two but that had been enough to leave real signs.

"Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry about me," Evian said as he gently moved Armin's arm away from his front but his eyes were on someone. A woman standing beside Daria whose haughty red eyes were staring at him with a supreme, almost innate confidence but in those eyes was a bit of surprise.

She was undoubtedly beautiful. Black braided hair down her back, glinting red eyes, and a magnificent rack but when had Evian let looks intimidate him?

Arlene had not expected this upstart to so quickly break free from her illusory torment but even more annoying was the fact that he glared at her like he knew she was the culprit and dared she do it again.

'If that's what you want,' Arlene thought with a smile as she began to twiddle her fingers in preparation to cast a stronger rendition of her spell only to stutter when the upstart did something she was not expecting;

He smiled at her, broke away from the rest of his colleagues, and approached her with assured and confident steps. He gave her a small bow but when he looked up to her face, he did it in such a slow suggestive manner before holding out a hand,

"I'm Evian Stygian. Who might you be?"

*Gasps*

The shocked sounds came from the Arcanists in the hall who knew the identity of the one Evian just approached and asked to introduce herself to him while most of his Knight colleagues smacked their foreheads with their palms in frustration because he was doing it again. Drawing attention to himself by doing something impetuous.

Meanwhile, Arlene looked at the hand held out to her,

"What's the meaning of this?" she asked in surprise.

"It's common courtesy, is it not?" Evian asked, "If you're going to attack me the very first time you lay eyes on me, the least you can do is tell me your name."

"Evian," Daria took one step forward from being at Arlene's side with her eyes wide in worry while holding out a palm to inform him of the importance of caution.

She knew Arlene had struck at him. As the closest to the Priestess, she had felt the fluctuations of Spiritual energy others had not but this was not a battle Evian should start.

"Daria," Arlene called out with a smile, "Relax. He's a rude young fellow but I'm not so unreasonable as to strike him down right now."

Arlene let those words settle in the air. Like Evian, she didn't seem at all bothered to have all eyes on them or to have brought a pause on the night's activities.

Her gentle smile became a wicked grin,

"I can wait," she added before holding out her hand and placing it on Evian's.

"High Priestess Arlene Lorient," she said in introduction.

Evian kept his eyes on Arlene's beautiful face and took in the 'agelessness' in her eyes that hinted at having spent at least Seven centuries living. Maybe even more.

And then his eyes flicked down, taking a brief but much better look at what she had on —A beautiful Crimson red and silver gown— as well as the body it wrapped around. Specifically, the peaks that stood high and mighty atop her chest.

His gaze was fleeting enough to not be seen as lustful but as perceptive as Arlene was, every split second his eyes spent on her body was very clearly felt.

Then Evian raised the hand in his hold and leaned down to plant a gentle kiss at the back of it, raising his head after that to flash a brilliant smile,

"Nice to meet you. Again, I'm Evian Stygian, 6th Rank Knight of the Martial Temple. Proxy of the Golden Child who unfortunately could not be present herself."

This time, there was even more of a reaction in the hall. Even from the Cardinal Priests themselves who so far had furrowed their brows at Evian's conduct but kept mostly uninterested expressions all the while.

The reason was of course not because Evian was a lowly 6th-rank Knight but rather because he had made the claim that he represented Astrid Renan. The only asset of the Martial Temple that the Arcane Church had ever craved.

The fact that there was someone so naturally attuned to Spiritual energy and its implementations within the Martial Temple, 'wasting' away amid all that aggressive swordplay irked them all to no end.

Evian felt the energy shift in the hall. He even saw the look on Arlene's face shift from haughty disapproval to disbelief.

"Do you have a way to prove this?" she asked the question that was on the lips of the Cardinal Priests but could not bring themselves to ask so as not to acknowledge the presence of this rude Knight who didn't even rank high in that crude nemesis of their Faith.

"As a matter of fact," Evian said as he gently let go of her hand, flicked his wrist, and retrieved his official 6th-Rank Seal.

It ascertained his low Rank but that wasn't the point as Arlene realized when she saw Astrid's special symbol etched on it.

She stretched out her hand and charged Spiritual energy into it. The Seal reacted and vibrated in Evian's hand before projecting the symbol outward with a flavor of Spiritual energy Evian instantly recognized.

A flavor that filled him with a strange ease he didn't quite understand. The 'flavor' was the unique signature of Astrid Renan, the Golden Child which she had put into the Seal herself.