This Ascent to Divinity is Lewder Than Expected

Rosalie considered the offer.

"Like fucking shit we will," Delta growled. She took a menacing step forward, making both parties flinch. But, thank the heavens, the fight didn't break out again.

Rosalie, the woman with a functioning brain, recognized the offer was more than acceptable. They had far too little to gain from victory, and victory wasn't even guaranteed. The fight was much closer than Rosalie preferred. Which was also why Dog-Mask had pulled back and called a ceasefire in the first place; this should have been easy for them.

Perhaps a victory meant Rosalie and her party could take prisoners, but for what purpose? Zoey and Delta already said they didn't think the Church had significantly valuable information, much less these four individuals in particular. Only the hourglass had any relevance—both the item itself, and their knowledge of it, and corrupted items in general, since the cultists had apparently experimented.

"Give us the hourglass," Rosalie said. "And you have a deal."

"Like hell we're going to—" Delta started hotly.

"Shut UP!" Rosalie nearly screamed, spinning on the woman. "Don't you realize the situation we're in?"

The heat in Rosalie's voice actually managed to make the woman's teeth click shut. While Delta's rashness was annoying at the best of times, it could easily be lethal, here. Reasonably, Rosalie was infuriated at her lack of common sense—or control, or whatever it was that made the woman so incapable of acting rationally. After keeping the glare locked on Delta for a long moment, and the woman remaining silent, seeming like she'd been slapped, Rosalie faced back to Dog-Mask to continue negotiations.

"Can't," Dog-Mask said, not sparing a comment for the interaction; she was as concerned over the tension in the room as Rosalie herself was. "It's locked in his hand." She gestured with her dagger. "Even the Headhunter himself couldn't rip it out. You can try, if you want."

Rosalie wasn't a woman to take people on their word. She cautiously approached, keeping her spear at the ready and eying both of their standing opponents. She nudged the hourglass with the tip of her spear. Oddly, the entirety of Goat-Mask tilted, like they'd been fused into a statue. It seemed, at least on quick appraisal, that Dog-Mask was telling the truth: the status effect had rendered the hourglass as effectively 'part' of him.

"How do you undo it?" Rosalie asked. She was worried, of course, about Lucinda.

"Just happens. Length varies. No more than half an hour. Can't do anything about it till then."

"And how can I believe you?"

"Look," Dog-Mask said. "I really don't care about all of this—whoever you four are. Came in as a hired mercenary. Him too." She jabbed a dagger toward the golem. She sounded pissed off, perhaps because she'd been given incorrect information on what she'd been hired for. The ostensibly genuine reaction gave Rosalie some confidence she was telling the truth, but again, she wasn't a woman to take people, much less enemies, at their word.

But it also didn't seem like Rosalie had much choice not to. Obviously, the woman wouldn't let the hourglass's effect expire. They recognized Lucinda was the strongest wayfarer here, even if they had no idea who she was. If she unfroze, the encounter was over—Rosalie's team would win. So insisting that they simply wait at a standstill until the effect wore off, proving her claim, wasn't an option. And neither could Rosalie take the hourglass; it was fused with the lead cultist.

"Leave him here," Rosalie said, gesturing at the man.

Dog-Mask considered that. It took a second for her to respond, but when she did, she seemed reluctant, but firm. "Nah, that's not happening either. We have standards. He's on our team."

The two of them stared at each other. The fight was too close for the woman to be too intimidated by Rosalie, so she didn't have much negotiating power. Rosalie hadn't much expected her to agree to the request—either of them, for that matter—but it'd been worth trying.

"I'm not lying," Dog-Mask said. "We'll take him, and our friend," she eyed the downed woman, bleeding profusely, "and leave. She'll unfreeze at the same time he does. It's how the artifact works. I swear it." Her eyes lingered on the collapsed woman. "And thanks for not killing her. Stomach shot. You could've done worse. But she needs a healer as soon as possible."

Rosalie grunted. The explanation was more than plausible. She had no reason to believe the hourglass's effect was permanent; that would make no sense for a shard item. She met eyes with Zoey and Delta. Delta, visibly fuming, eventually nodded, showing she did have at least some common sense remaining. Zoey, far more disoriented from the encounter, did the same, though probably, she was just ceding the decision to Rosalie.

Rosalie noted that Zoey was the only one of them who wasn't bleeding. Delta had done a good job guarding her—and otherwise keeping her opponent's attention. Maybe she was an idiot, but she was competent. Fighting a full advancement above them, even two-on-one, wasn't easy.

Rosalie faced back forward. "Go," she grunted, gesturing at the door with her spear.

The bulky golem stepped up and grabbed Goat-Mask's elbow, then started dragging him. He stayed frozen like a statue as he was pulled; it was an odd display. Dog-Mask likewise grabbed Bird-Mask, then dragged her out into the hallway, before throwing her over her shoulders. It left a smear of blood across their floor. The stomach shot had, of course, left the woman bleeding profusely.

Rosalie stayed in place, but tense, since any movement might be taken as an opportunistic attack while the two had their guards down. She honestly did consider using the opportunity, but discarded the idea. Again, there was too little benefit to be had in victory, even if everything worked out. She just wanted them gone, and the conflict ended.

And so, they were left alone, the sudden, intense chaos leaving as suddenly as it had come.

Rosalie wiped a hand through her hair, letting out a long breath. Her head was still ringing from both the headbutt and the golem's punch—and the general adrenaline of the bout against the much stronger wayfarer.

"Remember when I called you two idiots for gallivanting around with some random cult?" Rosalie said. "That's why."

Delta's expression didn't suggest that she disagreed, but neither did she look particularly happy about everything. Again, for all her inability to control herself, she seemed self-aware: Rosalie assumed she was blaming herself for this whole debacle. Rosalie felt vindication at that, but also some guilt—she had been rather insulting in how she'd spoken to the woman, however much it had frankly been deserved.

Rosalie wiped away the blood dripping down her arm, flicking it irritably to the side. She inspected the wound briefly; it wasn't that bad. All things considered, the fight had gone swimmingly.

"Are you … okay?" Zoey asked, watching her with concern.

Rosalie paused. She looked at her incredulously, then back down at her shoulder. "Don't be ridiculous. This?" Even Rosalie could hear the incredulity in her voice, bordering on derision, and at Zoey's flinch, she immediately felt horrible. "I'm fine, Zoey," she said, forcing her voice into moderation. Her emotions were running hot. A lot had happened in the past hour. Too much. "We're third-advancement, and I'm still standing. If I had a hole in my stomach, then you could be worried. This is nothing."

It was, once again, a reminder that they came from different worlds. Both literally and metaphorically. Why was Zoey worried for her when all she had was a few scrapes? Rosalie had had training incidents ten times closer to being lethal.

Rosalie pulled out a health potion and downed it. Delta did the same, and Zoey too, though after a small delay. Rosalie wiped her mouth, body tingling as the magic did its work.

"We shouldn't stay here," Rosalie said. "Time to relocate." She rubbed her forehead, eyes flicking again to Lucinda. "And I have a lot to explain."

What a mess.

***

They got themselves cleaned up and dressed while waiting for Lucinda's stasis effect to wear off. Rosalie would rather vacate the room earlier than later—as to not be easy for the Church to approach a second time—but she found immediate retaliation highly unlikely, and so, there was no enormous rush. Also, Rosalie didn't want to lug around a frozen statue of the Sentinel of the Sable Spear. While her armor and weapon didn't immediately identify her—and indeed, neither Delta nor the mercenaries had recognized Lucinda—she was still a distinguished figure. Rosalie would rather play things safe.

She also had explanations to give Zoey and Delta. In broad strokes, she caught the two women up. That Lucinda was a prominent officer of the Deepshunters guild—a comical understatement—and that she had come to Treyhull with the intent to drag Rosalie back. Rosalie explained she didn't have much choice in the matter: with her arrival, their timeline had been forcibly accelerated.

"So, what?" Zoey said. "We have to track everyone down?"

"As quickly as possible," Rosalie confirmed. "At the very latest, Lucinda won't delay past midday tomorrow." And even that was optimistic.

"I'm not sure Sabina is even ready to leave."

"We'll have to figure something out." Sabina, as well as Adrienne, could, of course, make the trip to Mantle at some later date, but it would be easier and safer if they came with Rosalie and her party. That'd been the plan since the start. "Besides, the cultists have made it clear they're willing to move against us. They tracked you down. They know your names and faces, possibly habits. Is it unreasonable they'd go for your acquaintances, now that a direct confrontation failed?"

Zoey paled at the idea, and Rosalie wondered if she genuinely hadn't considered it. To be fair, she was rattled from the fight: not everyone had the upbringing Rosalie had. She was more worried for Lucinda than anything—who'd had a corrupted artifact used on her.

"Yeah," Zoey said slowly. "I guess not."

"So we want to get moving quickly because of that, too." Lucinda's instruction to get Rosalie to Mantle as fast as possible was honestly of second concern. Rosalie wanted out of Treyhull herself so that they didn't have to worry about the Church, who, especially after this encounter, they had made stalwart enemies of.

"We need to get in touch with Fe, too," Zoey said. "To get back the item we gave her."

Rosalie grunted. "Seems like they're usable. Some of them, at least." Though their stability concerned Rosalie. Did the cultists really know what they were doing, using a corrupted item? Rosalie doubted it. She glanced at Lucinda, still frozen in time.

"You think they lied about how it works?" Delta asked, also looking. She'd been uncharacteristically quiet throughout the discussion.

"No." Rosalie felt confident in that. But obviously not with complete, utter certainty. "How long has it been?"

"Fifteen minutes?"

"They said the duration varies."

Almost by divine timing, the stasis effect chose that exact moment to break.

Lucinda, who had been frozen mid-lunge, instantly regained her forward momentum. Rosalie had recognized the possibility; they were standing well out of the woman's warpath. In a black streak, Lucinda's spear carried forward, her weapon punching through the wall with less than zero effort. Rosalie could tell she'd pulled the strike; it would've obliterated the whole side of the room at full strength. Or a decent portion of the Guild quarters.

Lucinda yanked her spear out, turned, and vanished her weaponry and gear in as smooth a process as she'd donned it, returning to her more casual outfit. Rosalie blinked at the fluidity Lucinda reoriented herself; she didn't even seem disturbed.

"I could still see and hear," Lucinda explained, seeming irritated. "I was just frozen."

"Oh?" Rosalie said. That explained that.

"Good fighting," Lucinda continued gruffly. "That could've gone worse. You handled yourself well. You two as well." She nodded at Zoey and Delta.

Despite seeming in control of the situation, mostly unbothered by the unexpected—impossible—way she'd been disabled, Rosalie knew her mentor well enough that she very much was disoriented. Her eyes were furious, even if her words were only mildly irritated. Perhaps she'd even been shaken to some extent. Part of the benefit of reaching the prestigious heights of seventh advancement was that she shouldn't have to worry about lower-level opponents. Lucinda should've been all but immortal and unstoppable against the caliber of wayfarers Rosalie and her party had just fought. The corrupted hourglass had thrown that assumption on its head.

"Thanks?" Delta said.

"But let's skip the chit-chat," Lucinda said. "I'm Lucinda, yes. Good to meet you, Delta, Zoey. Now, let's find those friends of yours, handle whatever bullshit you have left in this city, and leave." Her eyes flicked to the doorway. "It's not safe, anymore."