The Defeated Saintess Is On A Journey To Tame The Evil God Book 01 Chapter 08.06.1 - Late September's Whispers

When she heard the words “Angel’s Tear,” Alice looked mildly puzzled, but Xing Mo’s reaction was sharper. She was secretly startled.

A mad Wizard had taken hostage an entire family, for the Angel’s Tear?

Under normal circumstances, the sacred artifact was little more than a ceremonial relic, occasionally used in rare rituals, and known to only a handful of people.

Why would a deranged Wizard want that?

Xing Mo felt a thread connecting, something slipping into place. She stepped forward: “How long has this been going on?”

“Two hours. Our negotiators are keeping him stable.” Laura replied, “Heh. Little detective, thinking of talking him down? He’s not just some thug, but a Wizard. Claims to be four-string.”

A four-string Wizard? Alice and Xing Mo exchanged a glance, then pressed.

“What’s his name?”

“No clue. Nobody knows. All we’ve got is his word about the four-string bit.” Laura shrugged, “Wizards are nuts, anyway.”

No confirmed strength. No clear motive. Just a void of unanswered questions…

Xing Mo nudged Alice, motioning her in close, “This guy might be tied to Bishop Freyr Sunlight’s disappearance. We need him alive.”

Alice’s eyes glinted with interest, “Things are complicated. Usually, I’d aim for the head, the quickest way to secure the hostages...”

“We could get close, use string of shadow magic to restrain him.” Xing Mo offered, “I’ll handle that. Senior Alice, focus on the hostages.”

“Alright. No problem.” Alice nodded.

“Hey.” Laura cut in sharply, “Don’t go cooking up plans without us. How can we help?”

Annoyed as she might be with Alice, Laura knew when to set personal matters aside for a case.

“Secure the surrounding block.” Alice said, “If he has accomplices or tries to escape, stop them.”

“Got it.” Laura nodded.

With a quick motion, Laura lifted the police tape and let Alice and Xing Mo through.

But then, Xing Mo’s instincts flared, “Get down!”

She reacted instantly and strummed strings, and a golden barrier shimmered into place.

Boom—

The apartment building’s staircase exploded.

Two negotiators were thrown from the blast, hitting the ground hard with groans of pain.

“Pull them back! Get them to safety!” Laura barked, “Everyone else, with me. Rescue the hostages!”

“Wait!” Alice shouted, “The hostages are still safe!”

Her eyes, now tinged with a deep, dark hue, stared into the building. Within that darkness, she saw blurred figures inside.

Laura froze mid-step.

Then came a loud voice from the staircase: “Sheep! Sheep! Useless sheep!”

“No more talk! I want the Angel’s Tear! Give it to me!”

“Five minutes! You hear me? Five! Then I blow you all to pieces!”

The hysterical shriek scraped down their spines like nails on glass.

Xing Mo lowered her wand, a troubled frown settling across her face.

“He’s completely lost it…” Her voice carried a shadow of helplessness.

With just five minutes left, there was no time for a better strategy. They had to neutralize him fast and make sure the hostages were unharmed.

She thought of using the power of the Tree of Life’s brand to interfere with his mind, but… a four-string Wizard’s spiritual force was formidable. The odds of success? Uncertain.

If she failed, the hostages could die.

And with so many officers nearby, calling on Aurora would draw too much attention. That wasn’t an option.

No matter how she weighed it, only one path remained: rescue the hostages first.

A shame. She had hoped this lunatic would lead her to something more…

Xing Mo sighed inwardly and turned to Alice: “Senior, let’s go.”

“Mhm.” Alice nodded.

They were just about to move when a familiar voice called from behind.

“Not so fast. Isn’t there still another way?”

Xing Mo turned and saw Aurora approaching, a small parasol in one hand, twirling her wand between the fingers of the other.

“A way to both stop him and make him talk.”

“What way?” Alice raised an eyebrow.

Aurora smiled faintly, then murmured: “Six-string magic—Soul Cage.”

Xing Mo’s pupils shrank. She reacted instantly.

“But none of us—”

“Don’t forget about me~” Aurora chimed, her eyes crinkling with a mischievous grin, “Three-person ritual magic. We can handle it, right?”

In fact, even lower-string Wizards had a way to execute higher-string magic spells.

As a five-string Wizard, Xing Mo could manage a six-string magic with the right assistants and ritual support.

The real concern was whether her spiritual force could endure the strain.

“We’ll dump the spiritual force strain on you.” Aurora said cheerfully, “Think of it as your promotion test. If your soul can withstand six-string spiritual force, we’ll be able to hold your promotion ritual early!”

“But if she can’t handle it…” Alice began, frowning.

“Relax, I’ll be monitoring everything.” Aurora said with a wink, “It’s just six-string magic.”

Alice paused, recalling the time Aurora shattered a String Harp with a mere touch. That memory eased her worries quite a big.

But Xing Mo still felt uneasy. She glanced at the dilapidated staircase, her voice low: “I’m not sure he deserves that kind of end…”

Soul Cage was one of the few widely-known high-string magic spells, largely due to its infamous association with a string of brutal murders years ago.

The original perpetrator had been a deranged sixth-string Saint. Through ritual magic, he orchestrated a wave of death across villages and towns within the Academia Territory.

The victims’ bodies were untouched—no wounds, no signs of struggle—yet every one of them was lifeless, their vital signs extinguished.

By the time the Bellkeepers assigned to the case tracked him to an underground cave deep within the mountains, they found only a nightmare.

He was already dead.

His body had been torn into pieces, the walls and floor smeared crimson. Swirling around the carnage were ash-gray vengeful souls, clutching at what remained of him.

This was the end he had chosen for himself: to seize the souls of his victims, and then let those very souls rend him apart, as a final tribute to an Evil God.

This was the essence of the sixth-string magic Soul Cage, a magic spell that forged spiritual force into an invisible blade, shredding a victim’s mind and forcibly stripping their soul.

Unlike normally, when a soul without a vessel quickly dissipated, a soul stripped by Soul Cage did not vanish. It was absorbed into the caster’s body.

Through this grim magic, the caster could temporarily access the resonance string of the victim, until their spirituality finally dissipated.

And before that dissipation, the soul could be interrogated. After all, in soul form, it was impossible to lie.

In short, Soul Cage was a spell built for slaughter and domination, and could be classified as black.

However, in extreme situations, Bellkeepers were sanctioned to use any means necessary to protect the Citadel.

From that perspective, this was indeed an option.