Bound and Broken: An Isekai Adventure Dark Fantasy (Melas Book 1)

it was, I couldn’t let my mom deal with it alone.
I raced towards the village as fast as I could while limping. The entire time I did, I prayed. I didn’t know who I prayed to, but I just prayed. Whether it was the fake god or this world’s Goddess, it did not matter, I prayed to them all. I just hoped that whoever it was, they would answer my prayer.
Please don't let my mom die.
 

Chapter 8: Fall
Aria felt the mana flowing through her right hand. A violet magic circle, about the size of her open palm started to form over her forearm. Thousands of lines began to weave into an intricate design within the circular shape as she stood up.
The Inquisitor charged at her, raising his maul over his head as it doubled in size. Stepping to the side, Aria dodged the attack as the man swung it down towards her, destroying the wall, and bringing down the roof over their heads.
Aria ignored the whimperings of the girl hiding under the bed, and stepped within arms reach of the Inquisitor. The mystic circle on her arm shifted, it morphed from a two dimensional circle into a three dimensional blur as the lines continued to intersect. The Inquisitor pulled his maul back, trying to catch Aria from behind as he immediately tried to put distance between the two, but it was already too late.
The spell was complete. Aria felt something in her hand. She pulled, and the magic circle vanished. A large scythe, longer than herself, appeared out of thin air. She held it high above her head, the curved edge pointed downwards in a hook, half the length of its body. The head was translucent and glowed pinkish white, completely spectral in its form, while the shaft took the form of a curved charred wooden pole.
Aria swung the ethereal scythe down vertically at the man, slicing him in half and ignoring his armor. The man split into two parts from the head down, but did not separate inside of his untouched suit of armor. It looked like someone took some red paint and drew a line straight down his body. He was dead in an instant.
Aria was about to walk over the body, when she heard a strangled cry from behind her. Finally taking pity on the girl, she grabbed the dead Inquisitor by his plate armor, dragging the corpse behind her as she exited the house. She took a step out of the hole in the wall, and was immediately ambushed by the rogue.
Aria swung up, parrying the rogue’s black dagger with her very own scythe’s darkened shaft. The rogue’s face turned to a grin, fully expecting the woman’s weapon to decompose. But that did not happen. Instead, as soon as his dagger came into contact with the scythe, it burst into flames. He recoiled, dropping his weapon on the ground as it was eaten away by a crimson fire.
The rogue was left unprotected for a moment. Aria saw this, and was about to bring the scythe back down on him, when a greatsword came at her from behind. She barely managed to block the attack with the dead Inquisitor's body, as the sword sheared straight through the corpse’s armor. The red haired Inquisitor immediately followed up with another swing as she allowed the rogue to quickly retreat. Aria grinned, as the Inquisitor got caught in her trap.
Aria let go of the body. It gave her back the freedom of movement, allowing her to duck under the greatsword. She did not even look at the follow up strike as she turned and chased after the rogue, putting her in between both Inquisitors.
The rogue looked like he wanted to strike at Aria, but he knew that with his dagger’s ranged enchantment, he could hit his ally, so he did not. The red haired Inquisitor took a step towards Aria, when she saw the ground beneath Aria’s feet begin to glow. She took another step forward and called out.
"Don’t let her escape—"
She didn’t get to finish her sentence. The corpse behind her exploded. The redhead was blasted into the air, her body landing on the ground in a bloodied mess. A voice from a distance away screamed.
"Fria!"
It was the Saint.
***
Saint Theron could not suppress the cry that came out from his mouth. He spent a moment taking in the body of Fria, clearly distraught. He was not sure if she was dead, and that unnerved him.
Fria was new. A recently promoted Inquisitor. She showed great promise with how young and talented she was, so eager to prove herself she even went as far as to volunteer for this mission. Theron promised her that he would protect her, and now she was probably dead.
Theron knew of the magic the Fiend just used, or at least, he knew a variation of it. It was one of the powerful spells used by the Demons during the Holy Wars. Magic circles pre-prepared on set locations in battlefields. Traps set to explode when stepped on. Even with armor enchanted, enchanted by a Superior mana crystal, the explosion would still wipe out dozens of soldiers.
But the Fiend’s spell did not work that way. The ‘mines’ used in war always required a physical trigger, even if it wasn’t stepping on it. The Fiend’s spell however, was clearly altered to activate whenever the Fiend wanted it to. And that it did. She must have casted the spell on Leon’s corpse when she was dragging it out. Leon that idiot.
Theron couldn’t help but blame the man for his, and possibly Fria’s, death. He charged in after the Fiend by himself, thinking only of glory. Theron knew that Leon thought he had injured the Fiend, and wanted to kill her by himself, so he ran in without any backup. And he did injure