CHAPTER 144: VIVIAN’S TRAP

Beatrix stood face to face with Vivian, Isabella, and Edith, but despite all that was happening around her, all Beatrix was focusing on was Vivian.

In her trail, many house guards appeared with swords and pistols, but Vivian simply raised her hand, causing everyone to halt.

"She broke through the front gate, your ladyship," a guard reported.

"She’s my friend, Mr. Crane. Thank you very much; you can go back now."

Vivian said so with gentle expressions, a clear contrast to the shocked faces displayed by Isabella and Edith.

The guard carefully retreated, looking down at the line that girl made in the gravel path with her magic alone. It would take time to fix, but since there was a Morgan Magic Knight at the carriage stopped outside the mansion, they could be "convinced" to fix what their lady did.

"Beatrix of the Great House of Morgan, I welcome you to the humble mansion of House Moore," Vivian spoke, looking with grace and nobility at her torturer, who looked at her with nothing but anger and hate.

The two girls, two years apart, stood against each other, pain riddling every fiber of their beings. For three days, they had bonded together over that pain, and without rest, the two of them were in the sorriest state they could find themselves in.

"Vivian Moore."

Beatrix spoke and parted from her stone-like stance, stepping on the white marble steps, climbing the three at the front, and taking a couple of steps in Vivian’s direction before stopping and raising a bloodied item in her right hand.

It was simply a white handkerchief with blood on it, but not just any blood; it was wiped from Edmond’s saber, and it belonged to the Blood Swan.

Beatrix’s magic would establish a bond, and the closer it was, the clearer it became, so clear that even the magic-dunce Vivian felt and understood it.

"Bloody Swan."

Beatrix did not need convincing otherwise. She felt something off with Isabella and Edith; she told her coachman to wait for their carriage to pass and follow it, and the connection kept getting stronger and stronger, and just as Vivian opened the door herself, the signal reached its peak.

Edith was somewhat terrified right now; Isabella was reaching out to the dagger she had in her dress, but Vivian decided to take two steps ahead just to be ten paces away from Beatrix all by herself.

Looking left, looking right, there were no onlookers just yet; now was the time to act.

"Bloody Swan, you are under arrest... or I can just harm you like you harmed Dear Ian and take you away."

With anger and rage that could not be any clearer, Beatrix raised the bloodied handkerchief and spoke:

"DOLORIA!"

Vivian immediately aimed her gun at Beatrix, finger on the trigger, ready to strike her heart, just as the terrible pain of the Curse of Pain enveloped her entire body.

"Stop, Beatrix. No!" Edith tried to intervene, but Isabella held her arm and shook her head.

"You won’t get away from me!"

On the other hand, Beatrix was ruthlessly applying her spell with anger. Still, Vivian had a smile drawn on her face.

"All I see is just another one chewed in and spit out," Vivian said, causing Beatrix’s anger to spike, "Been there, seen that."

"I’ll break you!" Beatrix spoke, her voice reverberating and gurgling as all her emotions were now visible on her face.

"Give me a break! I’m barely holding my finger off the trigger. You pressure me more, you die," Vivian replied with a fall filled with endurance.

The two girls were shivering from the pain they were feeling, each of them feeling like knives were forming under their skin and digging in their flesh. The spell DOLORIA was but a mere cantrip, not even a specialized torture spell; for starting-level sorcerers, it could not do more than the feeling of hitting a foot’s pinkie against something hard.

Beatrix, however, could amplify that spell almost tenfold and spread it all over the body with her specialized magic, not even needing to touch her target, as any DOLORIA caster was supposed to. The condition of this quirk, however, was to experience the pain herself, and she was used to the pain of the body like nobody else.

But even with all that anger, she was not willing to die, not just yet. She knew that Vivian’s endurance to her magic had grown terrifyingly, almost standing on equal footing with her, and without Matilda’s healing, she would not last long.

Immediately, she stopped the spell, falling to her knees along with Vivian, but immediately rushed the ten paces at Vivian.

"We must stop her!" Edith shouted.

"Wait!" Isabella still held Edith, fully knowing what would happen next.

The anger and sadness on Beatrix’s face were clear, and she pushed her poor physical limits to reach Vivian before she recovered. Then, she put her hand on Vivian’s head, and with her willpower and sanity at their limit, she shouted:

"DOLORIA!"

Her plan was simple: touch Vivian, cast the spell traditionally, and since she was experienced with this cantrip, she could amplify it without suffering the consequences of remote casting.

But right then and there, Vivian smiled, and no pain was felt.

Beatrix looked at her own hand, then at Vivian; the sneer on Vivian’s face sent a terrible feeling through her, as her magic was no longer activating.

Then she remembered it, this feeling; it was the very same feeling of being bound by Coral Stone shackles.

But there were no shackles on her hands; unless there was a large deposit of coral stone nearby, this strange feeling would not make any sense.

Coral glows when magic sparks; that is a universal law. So if she could detect what was glowing, to get away from it.

"It’s everywhere."

Beatrix heard Vivian’s voice as the latter slowly stood up and towered over her. She was taller, stronger, and way meaner than Beatrix would even hope to be. Vivian’s pinky toe had done more atrocities in its lifetime than what Beatrix ever did.

"Look at the pillars," Isabella followed.

Just now, Beatrix had passed those pillars when she rushed at Vivian, and by doing so, she entered the No-Magic Zone of the Moore Mansion.

"Pillars? Coral?"

Beatrix looked at the pillars that extended all around the palace and inside it.

House Morgan was the House of Magic alright, but as House Moore was forbidden from magic, it had taken that notion to the extreme, constructing its mansion and conglomerate headquarters with coral stones.

The cost was astronomical; coral is sold for its weight in gold due to its anti-magic effect, so building a house with it is basically building a house with gold. The pillars that surround the house had their coral exposed to give a coral glow feedback when magic is used, and Beatrix could clearly see it.

"Miss Beatrix Morgan," Vivian smiled with terrifying glee as she whispered, "Welcome to House Moore."

Beatrix turned and ran, but she was instantly seized by a rope that Vivian launched from a crossbow-like device, causing Beatrix to tumble and fall on her front.

"NO! ARGH! LET GO OF ME!"

Beatrix struggled, but Vivian used her superior physique to drag Beatrix by the rope of her grappling hook as the latter struggled, kicked, and shouted.

Edith was especially nervous, but it seemed that Isabella was aware of the magic trap of House Moore from the beginning, and it was clear to her that Vivian was aiming to catch Beatrix like that.

Now with Beatrix at Vivian’s mercy, and three days’ worth of torture as debt, Vivian had a lot in mind for Beatrix.