A girl walked along the dirt road. Above her head was a pink halo, an effect attached to her due to her promise to him.  On her head was a nun's veil which was teal with a gold band and the symbol of the rune knights imbordered in the center. On the back of the veil, which fell to her waist, was the symbol of Illumin in gold letters. Her golden hair was tucked into this head piece with not a single strain poking out.  She wore the typical rune knight attire under her rainbow cloak. Beside her was her new partner in justice, Ikanbi the not page.

"So do you know anything about this church we are going too?" Tempris was well experienced in this place so it was important that she understood what her partner, her good friend, was on the same page. "I often followed dozens of sinners who tried to hide behind the haunted unholy rumors about this place... it's most unfortunate."

WC: 166

The girl from Desierto had to admit that travelling with Tempris had been enlightening. She could feel Illumins light shining through Tempris when she spoke, in ways that were, how would one say, holy? The words didn't seem made up, they seemed real, the things Tempris said just lead Ikanbi believe that she was otherworldly, and, after some investigation and asking around at the Hunting Party, she had the revelation that Tempris was in fact a Nephilim. So, not quite an Angel, she supposed, but pretty darned close.

A worthy friend and mentor to have. Their holy conquest to purge the lands of evil together would be one bathed in fire, truly. When Tempris asked her what she knew, she figured she would be surprised with her answer. "Yes, my sister came here and purged ghosts once with the sinner Erebus." She continued, "She said the ghosts never seem to really go away, they always come back, it's a neverending fight to banish them."


164

Tempris held her mouth for a moment and pondered on the woman's words. Surely ghost where on the edge of mortality. They did not quite exist as mortals but they were not with illumin. They were stuck in that in between, something that would never happen had they gone through a baptism of fire when they were alive. She never thought of purifying a ghost but at the same time... where ghost... sinful? Surely if they had a physical existence here that would be one thing. It was so complex but she preferred her original younger self's answer.

"I suppose that is one course of action but... I deem that too heartless for me at least. Ghost represent the soul still bounded to the mortal realm, at least in my belief. I'm sure other scholarly sinners or priest will have varying opinions. Either way, we will not be bring such action to these... souls today. No, our duty is to cut out the irritation of sin that is anchoring these souls to this mortal plane." The girl pulled out a poster. "Ika, this is the infection we are dealing with today. These heathens are taking refuge here and bringing suffering to this sinful place. Because of them, spirits are struggling to move on tainted by their the gathering of excess sin."

WC: 221

For a moment, the soul trapped within Ikanbi purred with excitement as Tempris spoke to them in their becoming and zealous sort of way. Ikanbi listened and nodded along, she would take her mentors words to heart. She wasn't entirely sure how best it would be to deal with them then, she supposed running them out of the area would work, but would it really be effective? Would it not be better to instead to just kill them perhaps? Perhaps that was hasty thinking, perhaps it was too cruel. "Are we killing them or just scaring them off?" Ikanbi asked Tempris blankly. "I'm not sure which would be more efficient, but perhaps you could enlighten me." She said with a bit of a chuckle.

"Sorry, I'm not used to trying to do things the right way, but I think with your guidance I'll move along just fine." Ikanbi added whilst they walked together.



381

It was so cute seeing Ika being enlighten. She was like a lost sheep seeking the truth to saving the world. The confusion was only showed her limited thinking. "Well my not page," Tempris held out her hand and a spark shot out of her necklace and formed into her holy sword which impaled itself beside into the ground. "We will simply forgive them from their sins." The girl lifted her sword out of the ground and walked toward a seemingly boarded up cellar. "It's here where they are probably hide... though, I wonder if anything had been stirred up.

Tempris gave a hearty kick to wooden patch completely breaking it and revealing much older wood underneath. This made it clear that the hatch was recently place there but it also showed the cleverness of the criminals there. Tempris then gave a cheeky smile to Ika before jumping down. "Ready or not sinners. The Rune Knights are here. You can give up peacefully and stop agitating these lost souls or we can do this the hard way. The girl held her sword forward lighting to immediate area around her. Sure it was great for not tripping but she doubted she could see more than 2 feet in front of herself. It would not be hard for the bad guys to jump her but then again, she did not really care.

So when she felt a heavy strike hit her head the girl stepped forward. It hurt but she could only smile.

WC 251

She nodded as she listened to Tempris explain the situation to her. So the objective was a little different than what Sia had described to her when she had gone with Erebus, how interesting. She wondered exactly what type of ruffians and ne'er-do-wells might take residence in such a place. Bandits? Marauders? Or just the poor and down on their luck sort of folks. She wasn't sure, but truthfully it didn't particularly matter. They were unwelcome and would need to be purged, but maybe not quite by fire. Tempris sword shown the way only slightly and Ikanbi reached into her bottomless pouch and produced a knife and a torch. In her left hand she waved the torch around slightly and began to scan the room with it, immediately turning her attention to a source of commotion in the near corner.

"You never should have come here." Ikanbi said audibly enough for those within the vicinity to here, then chuckled to herself lightly. Who was she kidding? She didn't look threatening in the slightest, and surely had not the most threatening manner of speaking, even when she tried. She found some extinguished torches along the perimeter of the wall and one against a pillar located more middle of the room. She lit them with her own torch, providing greater lighting for them to see what was going on in the area. That's when she saw them, the spirits. There were many of them, far more than she had been expecting. This would be a considerable amount of work, probably. It would definitely be easier to simply vanquish and slay the spirits than to try ad help them pass along peacefully, but, with Tempris as her mentor she knew they would work through it just fine. She would certainly learn a lot from Tempris in time, she could already tell, and this was the first step in that direction. 

"So what do we do, Tempris? How do we forgive them of their sins? Is that something we are even capable of?" Ikanbi asked politely as she gazed at the numerous restless spirits. Perhaps it would be a little more in line with the information Sia had given her after all. As far as she could see, there were no bandits or bad news folks here. No, just spirits that were latching onto the material world for one reason or another. Some of them were even children, which was really a damn shame Ikanbi thought to herself before the words escaped her mouth anyway. "Oh no...some of these ghosts appear to be children, that's so sad." She said to Tempris. "Do children die a lot in this area?" Ikanbi asked Tempris, thought she wasn't entirely sure Tempris would really have an answer. Tempris wouldn't have all the answers all the time, but it didn't hurt to see what she knew.

Ikanbi stepped further into the basement dwelling and began the work. She communed with the spirits and asked Illumin to help guide them into the afterlife. "Please forgive them, they were only humans." She said to the higher power and wondered whether or not it would actually do any good when one of the spirits suddenly disappeared entirely from Ikanbi's line of sight. "Well that's a start I suppose." She said out loud before she continued on to the next one. She put her knife away, instead reaching into her bottomless pouch and producing a sort of prayer necklace. It was beaded and had a prominent and clearly displayed holy symbol upon it. She moved to the next spirit and prayed over them. "May the afterlife treat you better than this one had." She said, trying not to tear up. It was sad work in a way, for she knew these spirits would not be here if they hadn't been slightest in some way, if they hadn't had some sort of unresolved business, something dreadful or spiteful to tether them to the mortal realm. 

Such was life she supposed, things weren't always happy and go lucky. Maneki, Ikanbi's feline friend swooped out from her cloak and began to run around the area a bit to explore freely. "Oh, do you want to go on a little adventure?" Ikanbi asked them with a chuckle. Ikanbi stayed by Tempris side for a while and then watched her work, but stepped off to the side every once in a while to light another torch sconce whenever she did happen to notice one. It would make life easier to be able to see more clearly, truly. She continued the work, she moved on to another spirit and prayed for them and watched as they dematerialized from the mortal plane.


1163

Though it hurt, Tempris could not stop smiling. Not only where these people sinful and just plain despicable to the public, they were dumb enough to instigate against the captain of the rune knights. Now she had no reason to hold back. Now she could act with absolute freedom and that was what she intended to do. However, before she acted, it seemed that Ika had not noticed the enemies around them. It made sense given how dark it was but it was a bit disappointing that she would not get to watch and learn more about how Ika would act in a conflict.

"Its... very simple" Tempris grunted while trying to contain the pain. "First you find the root of the suffering... say some sinners lurking wear they did not belong. Tempris held her hand in the air and snapped. A magic circle appeared below her and then a wave of fire fanned out and latched onto the three criminals that threaten her. "Your sin burns so bright, so warm, there so much of it." The girl then swiped her sword forward cleaving the first man in half. His dissected body quickly burned to ash before he could even feel anything. "That's one saved."

The other two quickly realized that the flame attached to them did not burn. It was warm but it was not a threat. It only revealed their location to Tempris and Ika. The girl charged at the next guy but she was met with an club to her head. Blood dripped from the girl's hair but she did not cry out in pain. She bared it all, knowing the suffering these people must have been going through. "Its okay... Your suffering... is... going... to... end. The ghost which you chain down here will soon follow you to Illumin."

Tempris quickly grabbed on to the club which struck her and crushed it under her grip. Then she thrusted her sword through the man's chest. The holy flames quickly spread across his body and devoured him whole like a swarm of starving piranhas. That made two people saved. and their was only one left. The man fell to the ground and begged for his life. He did not attack her. He did not even want to be here. Lie after lie, the man spun in order to get the girl to let him stay in this realm and continue to suffer. The thought was too cruel but maybe she should show him why before sending him off. She kicked him in the face, sending him to the ground with a broke jaw. Then she stepped on his arm and held her blade to his face.

"Why do you want to live with all this sin, all this misery, all this pain." Tempris stomped on the man's arm, breaking it. The she moved her foot to his head. "See, you're suffering. Just let me free you from it all." Before the man could respond, Tempris impaled him.

With all the men dead, the ghost were free to return to their slumber. Tempris retreive Ika and led her out. This was how you helped the souls pass on. For only once the chains of sin have been severed can one return to the creator.

WC: 500

(exit)

She listened very carefully to what Tempris had to say and took it to heart. Tempris' holy presence had become more known to her now, she had done some digging, some research, some information gathering. She knew now what Tempris was, she had known before they started this little venture together. It didn't bother her in the slightest, Tempris could appear human all she wanted, Ikanbi supposed it was probably better that way. Probably safer for her, safer for Ikanbi too. Being unhuman was an easy way to have a targe painted on you for life. Ikanbi knew that all too well, being a hunter of such devious things as werewolves, vampires, and demons. 

But a nephilim? Ikanbi had suspected her as an angel at first, but she digressed. Tempris could keep her secrets for now, even though they had become mostly public knowledge at this point. As far as partners in purging the world of evil went though? Tempris was the perfect mentor for Ikanbi.


Ikanbi stepped forward and began dealing with more of the spirits. She spoke to some of them in earnest, listening to their stories with an amount of care that she hadn't expected to give to them but was delighted to find that her heart strings still ached for the damaged and hurt. She dispelled ghost after ghost, continuing the work in earnest until she rounded a corner and found even more ghosts. She smiled to herself, why would it ever be so easy. Some of these were rather poignant, even malicious in a way. Ikanbi didn't bother even asking them what was wrong, the ones that attacked her on sight anyway. She immediately skewered them with her knife, blessed in holy ointment from the laboratory in the guild hall. She purged them quickly, moving from one to the next in a swift fashion. She purged one, then another, then another, and she kept up her quick pace as spirits continued to flock towards her from the dark corner of the area. Eventually she had gotten rid of the rest of them with some help from Tempris and then the two of them made their exit from what lies beneath. In a days work, she felt they had done a rather good job.

1541/1500 for B-Rank Into S-rank valentines rewards