The Ghost of Vermil-Chapter 48: Diana V

She turned her gaze away from her enemy towards the Tribunal that appeared behind her. It was in the figure of a huge muscular man dressed in flimsy fabrics of light, clasping a mallet even bigger than itself. Its blue form was slightly transparent, making the pews behind it visible, the students sat there staring in awe and fear.

Indeed, the Tribunal was a thing to be feared. For its size alone dwarfed the coliseum. Should its mallet fall, it would cover the entirety of the arena now barricaded by unbreakable bars. The blue spectre stared down at the ground with eyes clouded by rolling strips of light. The Ghost of Vermil stared up at it, his beret knocked off his head as the wind of the Tribunal's voice reached him, "LUCAS OF VERMIL! YOU. ARE. JUDGED."

The timbre of its voice was both ominous and sprightly. There was an edge of thrill as though meeting out punishments made the spectre excited. It stirred Diana's heart too, leaving it throbbing, slightly anxious but for the most part exalted for the appearance of the Tribunal itself was proof. It was irrefutable evidence that the crime she accused the Ghost of doing was true. She was so relieved it almost made her teary.

Something began to happen. The brilliant strips that shielded the Tribunal's eyes parted, revealing hollow eyes, unblinking, glaring towards the antlike figure from several feet away. Lucas lurched involuntarily, the sword falling out of his grip. He strained to move but an invisible force kept him from budging. He was frozen in place, unable to charge nor escape. Nothing shall stand in the way of justice. Nothing shall stand in the way of the Tribunal's punishment.

"No! Stop it, Diana!" A shout came from Marco Vermilon's direction. He held the bars, banged against the barrier of light, imbued it with his own holy energy, pushed it with all his might, chanted his Inviolable Edict, yelled and shook the bars some more — all to no avail. It was futile. The Cage of the Tribunal had the absolute power of Archangel Michael, the Warrior of Light, the Champion of God. Vermilon's mortal power was no match to it. "Lady Diana, please! Listen to me."

She loved the sound of him begging. She called to the Tribunal that loomed above her, "Wait. I shall listen what his brother has to say first." Diana was not sure if it would heed her order but it did. She stopped it but she must not delay for longer for even now it drained her reserve of holy power. The triangular pendant absorbed her energy in volumes.

It had required a profuse amount of holy energy to summon. She had let a tide of power leak out in order to activate the artifact. Now as the Tribunal stood unmoving, blood started dripping from her nose. She brushed it away and turned to Marco. "What do you have to say? Do you still deny it? After seeing the Tribunal appear, do you still think your brother is innocent?"

He looked defeated now, his shoulders hunched as he panted, tired from all the pointless struggling he was doing. Behind him, Catherine Ashwood stood up, perhaps as a form of support. He can call his army here, but none of them can breach the Cage, Diana thought. Look at you, Ashwood. You think you could never be wrong. But your affection for a delusional lordling had made you stupid.

Marco said, "I had hoped he would be innocent of it. But now, I see you were right. The people were right. Yet, a life was already lost, Diana. Should another life be taken again? There are other forms of punishment, my lady. But leave him his life, he had suffered enough for his crimes. For half his time on earth, he had already been punished for it."

"Not enough yet," she snapped at him. Does he think I'm stupid?

"He was just a child then!"

"So was David. And your family let him die. You let this monster kill him."

"How can we pay for that debt? Tell me. Just... don't take his life now."

"No. Life is to be paid just as life was taken. There is no compromise. Your devil of a brother shall meet his end here. And House Rupert shall earn its justice."

"Banish him, Lady Diana. He shall never appear before you, or your family, or your children or before anybody in Araya. Not even before me. But spare him. Please, I beg of you." He was about to get down to his knees. Diana would not be made the villain in this story. She was the heroine, triumphing in her quest of retribution.

She shook her head, starting to feel nauseous as her reserve of holy energy became nearly halved. "You think your words bear more weight than others just because you're more powerful than most. But in the eyes of the angel, at least we are all equal. You, me, the rest of the people outside of this Cage — all of them helpless against the power of the Tribunal."

"My lady..."

"I shall hear no more nonsense from you." She infused the artifact with a surge of energy, letting out more of her reserve than she intended. She brushed the blood off her nose.

The Tribunal glowed intensely, straightening itself as it grew impossibly bigger than it already was, raising its massive mallet into the air, nearly touching the clouds. "LUCAS OF VERMIL. YOU. ARE. GUILTY. OF. MURDER."

That pronouncement tugged at Diana's heart. It made the spectators gasp in shock. They had heard the rumours, yes, but they were still just rumours that Diana and her friends propagated. But now, every soul in Demach heard it with their own ears from the very mouth of the Tribunal itself.

Its hollow eyes kept the Ghost in place. The mallet began to descend. From over the top of the Coliseum, the Tribunal brandished it down onto the unflinching pallid figure of the Ghost of Vermil, his strands of hair stirring from the gust that the mallet brought down along with it. At last. At last, I'll have my peace...

Just then, the triangular artifact pulsed with a glow. Suddenly, it became a disaster — for her.

The ropes of light that surrounded the Tribunal constricted, reducing its size, pulling it away from the frozen Ghost of Vermil. It was but a hair's breadth! Yet it withdrew.

"What is going on?" She screamed at it. The Tribunal glanced at her with its hollow eyes, now becoming covered by rolling laces of light, hiding it from her view. The artifact in her hand throbbed again, attempting to pull back the Tribunal into itself. Fortunately, the Cage held.

Diana channelled more energy into the artifact. She found it was a mistake. As soon as her tendril of light connected, the artifact gave off a chime; then she fell back as the power of the artifact flowed back into her in a sudden rush. It brought her to her knees. Blood dripped down onto the sand. Her nose had bled again.

The spectre of the Tribunal faded as the crowd gasped. She threw her head back as another wave of holy energy streamed into her, uninvited. She ought to let go of the artifact, but the moment she did, the invocation would end and the Cage would disappear then she would have lost her chance again.

She glanced at Marco Vermilon. He looked confused, and astonished, his face pale with shock. He turned his gaze from her to his brother who was now able to move freely. He was panting in short breaths but he could move. He picked up his borrowed sword and began to step closer to Diana.

As he did, the artifact pulsed with light again. With it burst an assault to Diana's senses, overflowing her fragile reserve of holy energy. Earlier, she feared of running out of holy power. Now the artifact seemed it could drown her, throwing her twice more holy energy than she had given it. It was as though the holy energy was filling up every nook and corner of her body but she did not have enough space for it. Her whole body began to stiffen, her lungs constricting, her heart painfully beating as though they were all resisting bursting.

Marco Vermilon's voice pierced through the hullabaloo that had become of the Coliseum, "Lucas. Stop. Surrender now. You don't need to continue. She's unable to fight. The artifact has failed."

Diana looked up at the approaching figure of the Ghost of Vermil. He looked so calm as he dragged the point of his sword against the sand. He gave his brother only a second of wordless attention before he trudged toward her again. She could feel no malice from him, yet she had never feared for her life as much as she did now.

PEERLESS LUCK! She activated her talent, pulling out the DIE OF FATE and imbuing it with as much holy energy she could muster. It also alleviated the drowning sensation. The DIE gave off a glow inside her hand as it gluttonously devoured her energy. The Die of Fate. An artifact that could turn into any random object. The more energy imbued, the better the item would be. Under her peerless luck, it always gave her the best weapon she could use to overturn the battle.

"What?" She blurted out. What came to appear in her hand was a bouquet of white roses. No! No! Why now of all times? The Peerless Luck had one main drawback. Once in a blue moon, her luck would run out completely.

"DIVINE PROVIDENCE." She raised a shield. It was the best she could do for now as she tried to withstand the overflowing energy from the triangular pendant.

The Ghost slowly walked up to her.

"You could have defeated me, my lady, if only you didn't rely on the Tribunal too much," he said.

Speaking took every effort. "I can kill you right now, with my bare hands."

She saw the slightest shadow of a grin. The devil was at last showing his true colours before Demach. Her eyes couldn't have fooled her. "Aye, you say you can, but seems to me you'll kill yourself first unless you let go of the artifact."

As soon as he said that, the Cage of the Tribunal glowed again, pouring into her a deluge of holy energy. Her reserve was fragile. Anytime it could break. And with the artifact pumping energy into her much more than she could handle, it could lead to her early demise. A depressing end to a heroin like her.

"I won't let you escape," she spat at the sand inside the barrier just in front of his feet. She tasted some blood with it. "Even as I bleed myself to death, I'll hold you here until the holy officers come. You're an abomination. Finally, the whole of Gallenport knows."

"Give me the artifact, my lady."

"Or what?"

"Do you wish to die so young? The artifact will overwhelm you until your body breaks!"

"You only want to escape. Stop pretending to care. You killed my brother. Don't you deny it."

"I've never denied it, my lady. But I can't remember it. I can't remember your brother at all. How can I refute or admit something I can't remember."

You insolent bastard. Even after the Tribunal had exposed his crime to the whole of Demach, he still denied it! "VIRTUE OF COURAGE!" She poured out a stream of holy energy to summon a halo above them that turned an angry red. Teeth started growing all over its circumference. The pallid Ghost stepped back, gazing up at the churning halo that was about to slice him in half.

She was about to throw it at him when the pendant in her hand radiated with an intense searing light. It was a deluge of holy energy that she didn't ask for. But she would persevere. She could not dispel the Cage until the officers arrived to take him.

She had promised the director she would prove his guilt without doubt and execute her justice. She accomplished the former but failed ultimately at the latter. Every single time. She began to doubt if she ever was lucky.

She stiffened, every muscle hot and soar, her bones akin to flaming hot coals, burning with a passion unknown to her. It was like she was being roasted from the inside. Her eyes were not spared. The internal fire crept up to them, blinding her vision. Am I dying? Am I dead? She could not be sure. For mortals, death could only come once. How was she supposed to know how death felt like?

Her ears could still hear, she found, as she could make out the sound of her barrier breaking, and the muffled footfalls on sand, then the touch of something cold close to her heart.

Visit freewebnoveℓ.com for the best novel reading exp𝒆rience.