Chapter 72: Another Option
The idea of rankers being separated into classes like mages, paladin, ranger and so on did not come into existence because it was discovered that people could only engage in a specific way of using mana, no.
The idea came about because it was discovered that many people tended to be really good at using mana in a specific way and also because of how vast the field of magic was.
There were so many fields of magic that one could learn from and depending on how fast one progressed as a ranker, they had lengthened but limited lifespans they could use to further study.
Of the several warrior category classes that existed, the paladin, fighter, battle mage, warlock and knight were the most popular and strongest of them, and of these classes, Hannah fell into a complicated case.
You see Hannah wasn't a woman born in riches and luxury, everything she had, she had worked to the bone and hence never been a fan of drawing powers from a higher source or some more powerful entity, which is why she had followed the path of a fighter until recently.
After becoming a third-order being, with her lifespan drastically increasing, Hannah developed a desire to possess far more deadly firepower, something that would heavily require the use of magic, and so she diverted to the battle mage class.
Now a battlemage while truly a powerful and envious class amongst a few minor shortcomings, it had a very glaring one, and it was the restriction that only a priest could buff them up.
With Hannah's dislike for borrowed power, taking up this class meant that the woman would lose the benefits of buffs from clerics and other classes and for a time she lived like this, her own power being all that he could rely on till she met Rachira, a woman with fierce dedication and drive, a woman who reminded Hannah of her younger self and one who had saved her once when she was on the brink of death.
Rachira was the only person who Hannah allowed to buff her and together they had developed a couple of techniques, like for instance the one which she had just used to defeat Blatimore, a teleportation technique.
Though to tamper with the law of space one needed to have at least reached the fourth order, with Rachira's strong faith, she could call upon the blessing to manipulate space and though the woman's body and mind were too lacking to handle this power she could bestow it on Hannah who for some reason despite just being at the third order could use this blessing to perform a technique.
"Rachira, while I'm happy to see that you finally returned from whatever hole you ran into, is there any reason you are openly walking up to me like this" Hannah asked her gaze on the woman hard.
"While I was able to hide my presence from the sovereign demon, I can't say the same for the infernal one," Rachira said without much emotion, her veil back on her head and rosary in hand, not a single sign of the carnal pleasure she had been engaged in some minutes ago on her body.
At the moment, Rachira had on a holy look, but the sudden coldness in her tone was not lost on Hannah.
"Rachira is there a problem," Hannah asked with a narrowed gaze, wary of suddenly attacking the only priestess she had ever trusted in her life or even showing any sign of aggression towards her, after all the last thing she wanted was for her soldiers to think there was disunity amongst their leaders.
"Could she be the spy" Hannah wondered the woman not letting her feelings come in the way of her judgement at this time when she had a fourth-order demon to somehow defeat.
"No, I just came here to prepare you for your next battle and say a few things" Rachira said and before Hannah could say a word she clasped her hand in a praying gesture, her clasped hands glowing while a beam shot out from the cross hanging from her neck and hit Hannah covering her in a white light.
As the light from Rachira hit Hannah, the commander felt the fatigue, pain and aches within her begin dying out and a whole new surge of energy filling her and with this, she calmed her wariness against the woman, after all this same woman had just helped her defeat Baltimore.
"The only way a battle between you and him will end is with him tearing you apart," Rachira said looking to the demon who nonchalantly sat upon a black iron throne, his gaze not even on them or the battle taking place as he had his eye closed at the moment.
"Then what should I do, turn around and run," Hannah said with a snort, not appreciative of Rachira's dispiriting words despite how true they were.
The last thing Hannah needed at the moment was someone weakening her resolve after all she had already begun imagining a glorious death.
"Of course, fleeing is the best option, because while you may have defeated that sovereign demon and the battle between the two forces seems to be at a standstill, the truth is that this is all just the calm before the storm.
For now, soldiers have stopped coming out of the rift, and trust me, it isn't because there are no more soldiers to send. Other than that, there is also that guy on the throne, and I don't need to tell you what will happen when he decides to get active.
"Well, you're beginning to annoy me now Rachira, out with it, what other option is there."
"External help. I have a technique that would let me summon a divine being to battle that demon, but for that I need you to keep it busy.
Hannah looked at Rachira incredulously finding her words unbelievable but when she saw the priestess maintain a serious expression, she knew that she also had to take this seriously.
"You're a second-order priestess Rachira, you can't summon a divine being, even a third-order priestess would have extreme difficulty in doing that."
"True, but I can if I sacrifice my life."
"Absolutely not" Hannah rapidly said but Rachira simply gave her a bland smile.
"If I am going to die after that demon defeats you, what difference does it make if I sacrifice myself to ensure we win against it."