Battle on the bridge
[ACMI2: Amakusa-Style Remix of Church]
GV moved with the formation, though he was careful to avoid stepping in the way of any of their movements. While he did, he watched Itsuwa clash with Acqua.
As Acqua complemented them on their preperation, Itsuwa mentioned the fact that her spear's strength was due to the resin and a spell to do with plantlife.
"Why is she giving that away so freely?" GV asked quietly. One of the members beside him grunted to make sure he got out of the way of their formation before explaining.
"three reasons, first is that it acts as an amplifier for Idol theory. Imagine two magic swords, both being made to replace a legendary sword. Each of them can draw on the legend of the sword to some degree, but if one of them is more ornate and it's own describes the spell linking it to the original then that bond becomes stronger as the idol gets a greater link to that one, instead of its twin."
As they moved again, the man continued his answer "Second is because it doesn't matter. Acqua already knows the spear is being strengthened with magic because he would have just broken it otherwise, it didn't break and because of that Itsuwa knows she can exploit the first rule safely. Third is that spells in general become more powerful when explained, they are forbidden knowledge that infects and spreads in minds so it just loves to be spread further."
So it wasn't something like explaining your ability like in those anime that Joule watches. The spell only gets explained once its not a surprise and doing so makes the spell stronger. GV wondered if there were mages that just didn't explain their spells to keep the element of surprise, or if there were mages that specifically prevented their enemies from talking to stop them from getting the power boost.
"You're still too slow!" Acqua yelled out, overriding GV's thoughts as he slammed his mace into Itsuwa to stagger her before bringing it down on top of her. Another member of the church stepped in to deflect the blow while another pulled Itsuwa out of danger.
The bridge rumbled as Acqua's mace hit the place Itsuwa had been just a moment before. Dust flew up and GV's senses told him something was going on inside that dust cloud. Amakusa members darting around with their boosted speed and reflexes.
Metalic wires, thin ones but still strong. Something felt wrong about them though, it was a feeling he'd had while fighting Carrera back in his home world. An "overlap" with his powers and something else. It was only a passing sense, nothing concrete. Maybe Joule would be able to explain it better if she was here.
The dust cleared and Acqua was trapped within a cage of those threads which soon pulled taught, the members of Amakusa standing around the bridge had the wires tied between things like the structure of the bridge and their fingers. Their movements closed the net upon Acqua but the saint snapped them with a swing of his arm alone. As the threads tried to bind his legs they snapped as soon as he took a step, such was a saint's power.
Although-
GV watched, as the cables snapped the strange feeling left them. The snapped ends of the thread fell to the floor but left an image behind of red smoke, still standing but disturbed by his movement.
The red mist expanded and engulfed his body, forming a cocoon.
Itsuwa stepped forward to explain the spell, which as far as GV understood at this point was just another step in using it properly.
"In case you haven't guessed, the form of this spell is 'the punishment of a killer.'"
As she continued though, one of the Amakusa moved up to block GV's ears. He scowled but didn't stop them. They'd let him hear the last few spells be explained, why was this one an exception? Maybe because he's seen the cause and the result, if it was also explained how it was done, it might be enough to count as magic knowledge. He already knew of how it could badly hurt Espers. It seemed they didn't want to take a risk.
His ears were uncovered as puffs of fog began being blasted away by Acqua's struggles within the spell and he caught a bit of Itsuwa's explanation, presumably it was safe at this point?
"It's very strong, and there is no defensive spell from any cultural region can stop it."
"Why wasn't this your ace in the hole then?" GV asked, before he got an answer, the mist burst apart. Well, that is a sort of answer on its own.
Acqua explained how it had happened, so by earlier logic this would also make it next-to-useless to try it again.
"Let me tell you about my attributes." He noted "My primary attribute is Gabriel and due to its link to The Child, I can also use the secret ritual of the Divine Mother."
Even as he talked though, members of Amakusa were falling away using the haze of dust thrown up by the spell's release. As one passed GV they muttered quickly.
"Escape route two."
...They weren't waiting for Acqua to finish? No, of course they weren't. It didn't matter that it was heard, just that it was said. They were using his explanation of his power as a chance to get working on the next step of their plan.
With them, he fell back. The shoes they'd lent him letting him run silently. Not as good as his own, the lack of metal limited his ability to dash or fly but it did let him slip away as easily as they did.
Escape route two then? Fair enough.
End of chapter:
Right, I think it's in this next stretch that GV will be more than a spectator. There's water coming up and Amakusa dealing with Acqua's movemnt spell.
