Eli walked slowly to approach in front of the bounded Carolina, her eyes coldly looking down at her.
There was searing anger in her heart over the chaos and sins that the woman committed, and yet, when she looked at her, Eli could feel that her anger was targeted toward the fragments that were in Carolina's body.
It must be the mask or her own powers as the Subject of the Oracle, but Eli could clearly see what's inside Carolina's soul.
A corrupted heart that was already blazing with purple fire and in her veins was the curse power circulating all over her body. She could also see the spirit fragment in her body that was now melded as one, and at the center of the fragment was her soul.
Her soul looked at Eli haughtily, there wasn't a trace of innocence in her eyes. Eli could also see that her soul was bound by the purple chains from the spirit fragment and yet, the soul did not seem to care. In fact, Carolina's soul seemed to have willingly let herself bound by the chains.
"No remorse… not even a sign of guilt…" Eli was in disbelief, she had always been a believer that no human is born evil in this world, but looking at Carolina's soul… how come?
'Is there really no saving with this kind of soul?' She asked herself. Then she remembered the Great One's words when they first met in the heavenly realms, 'man had their own free will…'
That meant that it was a person's decision to be righteous or evil. Even if the circumstance or their upbringing can influence their decisions, their nature is completely decided by themselves.
The choice to stay righteous even while living in a dark situation was always there, and so was the choice to succumb to the evil one.
Just like Kazimir, whom Eli was distantly checking.
Kazimir's body had channels of the curse mana, but the rejection of his soul was strong enough to give the fragment a hard time controlling him. And when his soul was really unable to defeat the fragment by sheer willpower, the blessing of Ignis appeared, bringing it new hope.
Contrary to what Kayden diagnosed, Eli saw that the bursting of his vital organs was the power of Ignis cleansing the tainted Vesala's blood in his body.
"Stay put… when you wake up tomorrow, the power of the Vesala blood will no longer torment you…" Eli bent to touch Kazimir's furrowed brows and injected her spiritual mana to support Ignis's blessings inside his body.
Everyone saw the pure white light come out in the tip of her fingers and sink between Kazimir's eyebrows. Instantly, Kazimir's contorted face started to finally relax and his breathing became normal.
"W-who are you!" Carolina couldn't care less about Kazimir's well-being and only focused on the figure that had suddenly appeared and overpowered her with this mysterious array.
Just who is this person? Where did she come from? How was she able to bind me here without any difficulty?
Countless questions rang in her mind as she saw the figure move towards her slowly, dignifiedly.
Empress Carolina looked up with great difficulty as the gravitational pull of the ground was almost crushing her bones, to her dismay, she was not even able to figure out the other party's identity with a full face mask on her face.
She could not even see her eyes as the mask also covered it with a colored mess, but she could feel that the other party was staring at her like a jury.
"Someone who would make you unable to do any of this…" The other partly replied while waving her hands showing the ruins and the vast casualties that the Empire suffered.
"No, you couldn't!" Empress Carolina replied with protest.
Her cursed power cannot be wiped away. As long as she had the grimoire and she was able to kill some people, her power will always be there. As long as there are people to steal life force from, the curse power will remain for those who ever use it.
"I can… Believe it or not… I can see everything… Even that black heart that you have… and the fragments that you absorb… I came here to take it away…" Eli answered as she watched Empress Carolina widen her eyes in shock.
Perhaps only she herself knew that her heart had already blackened, a clear sign of a witch.
When the Temple heard Eli's words they didn't show any signs of shock or surprise, for they had faced Carolina long enough to figure out that she had already succumbed to evil and had become a witch, with a blackened heart.
The only thing that hurts them was the fact that Carolina had once stayed in the Temple and served for a year, a witch among all people! They were so unaware that they even bestowed her with a holy relic as a way to award her other good deeds.
But look at her now… A person who wouldn't hesitate to kill her family, her people. Someone who was ruthless as she was once a person who was seen to be kind and righteous.
"Hahaha! Go on and try it! Let's see how marvelous of a power you have hidden within your holy robe!" Empress Carolina let out a crazed laugh as she taunted Eli continuously.
Eli stood still with no intention to rebut her taunts.
As soon as she came out to the array monument wearing what the late High Priest Caleb left for her, she started to receive various amounts of information in her mind, coaching her on what to do.
'To exorcise a strong spirit fragment, the person in question must be bound by the holy chains activated by the Paladin…
The Paladin must lift her hands and touch the person's mouth and pray and proclaim the Creator's Sovereignty…
When the spirit fragment separates in the person's soul, the Paladin shall destroy the fragment using heaven's holy powers."
Step by step, Eli followed the instructions in her mind.
Even as Empress Carolina taunted her, she stretched her hands forward and touched the corners of Empress Carolina's mouth. As soon as her fingers touched her, Carolina's body became frozen, and her eyes widened in shock, seemingly unable to accept the fact that she was at Eli's mercy.
She uttered her proclamation of praise and prayer as she saw the spirit fragment get out of Empress Carolina's mouth without much resistance.
"AAAAAAAHHHhhhhhhh!" Both Carolina and the spirit fragment cried in pain, but Eli didn't stop.
For she still had to take out that sinister thing deeply melded inside Carolina's core.
It looked like a book that came from the heavenly realms… But on a closer look, it was not exactly like her book.
She continued her prayers and forced the book out of Carolina's soul.
"The Great One is great and mighty, awesome in wonder!
Who is like Him sovereign and powerful yet, with love unfailing?
Leading the people who as been redeemed,
Guiding them to your holy dwelling."
"No…" Carolina's soul gripped the book hard, trying to resist Eli's powers which were forcing the grimoire out.
But Eli's holy powers proved to be the nemesis of the curse power and even the grimoire…
"The Holy One is Sovereign and His dominion will never perish!
The evil one will tremble and hide at His presence,
And their powers lay no weight in his eyes.
See them crumble and perish in heaven's sight!
The Great Redeemer's glory will reign forever and ever!"
With her last proclamation, the resistance from Carolina's soul was immediately defeated and the grimoire was forced out of her body…
"Nooo…" Carolina could feel the immense strength leaving her at that moment… That power was all she had. She had just lost everything now… What will become of her in the future??
Eli looked at the sinister things that came out of Carolina and inspected it.
Sure enough, the book was a poor imitation of the book that was given to her by the Great One.
'How shall I deal with this?' She wondered, but the next moment she heard Celeste's voice ring in her head.
"My dear Eli, can you keep the book safe and bring it to us, when you fetch Little Han? The Great One orders us to retrieve the book… It seems like it is only us who could destroy that thing…"
"Alright…" Eli immediately responded to Celeste's voice, she could also feel that even though she could suppress the book's power, she was not strong enough to destroy it.
And so she waved her hand and kept the grimoire, while she single-handedly destroyed the fragment in a matter of seconds.
Whoooooosh!!!!
The moment the fragment disappeared, the skies cleared and it revealed the bright morning sky that was now filled with salvation and hope.
As the lighting of the array disappeared, the people who witnessed everything started to shed uncontrollable tears.
They looked at their comrades and wailed harder upon seeing their fellows share the same kind of emotion.
Weapons were dropped down, their armors taken away, and they hugged each other and cried out loud despite being known as the strongest people in the capital.
In their hearts were the words their mouth were not able to say because of their crying -
"Ah… finally we are saved… the enemy has been defeated and the Empire has survived!"