Thud! Hikari's heavy boot knocked against the stone ground. The captive cultists rattled their chains in their cages as she walked past.
It was a repurposed warehouse. All of the windows are open to allow sunlight through which seemed to irritate the cultists.
Thud! Thud!. Hikari reached the cage at the end of the warehouse. There was a skinny bald man in tattered robes. His body is covered in Eldritch symbols. Over each symbol, his previous torturers have sliced the skin several times to ensure that they break the flow.
The jailor caught up to Hikari, he placed a tray with a piece of bread and soup at the side and unlocked the cage, before quickly scurrying away.
The Abbot slowly lifted his head. On seeing the pair of humongous boots outside his cell, he began laboriously crawling out of his cage.
Slowly, he made his way to Hikari's boots and pressed his dried lips towards the wyvern skin.
An invisible force pushed him back.
"Eat first"
"Yes… Great Avatar…. "
The abbot obeyed. The other cultists watched and rattled in their chains. As he ate slowly,
Hikari studied the runes on his body. Illenium, the stone which mana crystals are made of, inserted directly into his flesh.
Their shapes are completely gibberish as runes typically are. They were found by simple trial and error to see which ones best facilitate a particular mana form.
She studied the abbot's body.
"A normal man. No ability to generate mana. But he has volunteered himself to be a flesh conduit. Must be extremely painful."
She looked around at the other cultists.
"Common grunts. The same tattoo on their forehands. And needle marks on their arms. Nothing else of note."
She looked back down at the abbot, who was finishing up his meagre portion of bread.
Then, she noticed something.
"A RazenHeir rune. They tried torturing him."
She channeled her mana into the rune, it began glowing with her power, burning the flesh around it. The abbot's body stiffened in pain.
Once he recovered, he crawled back to HIkari's boot and attempted to press his lips on Hikari's boot.
He was pushed back again.
"You wish to worship me?"
"Great avatar… true of flesh… pure of flesh… your command is absolute… "
Hikari pushed him back again.
She lifted her boot and stomped it in front of him. A wall of sand splattered all over the abbot's face. The abbot crawled towards it again but was pushed back.
Once she lifted her foot, there was a visible set of boot prints in the ground.
The abbot crawled towards the boot print, lowered his head, sticking out his tongue and attempted lick the crevice.
He was pushed back again.
"I didn't say you can lick. You disgust me. You don't deserve even my boot print. You only get to worship it. Now bow."
The abbot bowed his head before the boot print. He lift his head and bowed again.
"Aarrgghh" he groaned as the rune on his back glowed. The other cultists rattled.
"Continue" He bowed and he bowed.
"Aaaarrrggghh!" The rune glowed.
He couldn't lift his head anymore, his forehead red as the skin teared.
"Aaaarrrggghh!" The rune glowed and then fizzled out as the flesh around it was completely burnt.
"Now tell me. Where is the cultist stronghold?"
"Your servant answers… North of here… The port city of Carla…"
"In Herdial?"
"Yes."
"Hrmp. That was easy"
"True of flesh… We are at your command… "
"Why?"
"True of flesh… Pure of flesh… The day of reckoning is close…The skies will burn… Legions of untold horrors will stalk the earth… Our feeble mortal strength is woe to stop it… There is only one path to salvation… We gather enough faithfuls to summon the avatar… true of flesh… pure of flesh… that would deliver us all… "
"That's just bedtime stories."
"How foolish we were… The avatar… true of flesh… pure of flesh… has already been summoned into this world… All we had to do was follow… "
"I don't understand."
"Consume flesh… that would become your own… Purify the imperfect flesh… mold them in your image… pure of flesh… true of flesh… "
Hikari scratches her cheeks.
"I'll be going now."
Thud! Hikari turned around and left the warehouse.
Hikari returned to Ria who was having a discussion with the officers.
"I'm done."
"Holy Silora's tits! How did you just appear like that without a sound." The officer jumped.
"Oh, she's pretty adept at stealth as well."
"Oh I see. So- " The officers looked up at Hikari. Her cotton inner shirt takes the shape of her voluptuous blossoms. As they stared , their noses started bleeding as their pants starts bulging.
Hikari ignored them and started putting her armour back on.
"So Hikari? Did you manage to gather where the cultist stronghold might be?" Ria asked.
"Carla"
"Hmm that sounds reasonable. Did he tell you anything else? Anything perhaps sinister or anything at all?"
Hikari thought for a bit.
"Hmm.. he did talk about eating and body building"
"Sure… Anyways, Port Carla is mainly a zeppelin pumping station now as it's difficult to move large quantities of goods overland through the dense swamps that flank it. It also happened to be a delving spot in the past but was abandoned due to its high casualty rates. Quite fortified too due to its natural geography and from when it was at its peak."
"Good observation lady Ria. Our scouting reports regarding the direction of flow of their convoys corroborates this. I would have picked the darn place for my base of operations. Looks like we are gonna need a lot of enchanted ammunition from your house."
Ria rolls her eyes and begins to work out the numbers in her head. She stood up.
"Better get started then."