"Haha, now just stay there and wait your turn," Agenon said with a maniacal chuckle, "It won't be long now."
"You underestimate our might too much, I fear," Cardinal Lorient said and as one, he and his fellows radiated energy so pure, it felt holy. Backed by forces that seemed beyond human and yet that was their might. That was one of the spells primarily required to be qualified to become an Arcane Cardinal;
The Glow of Sanctity!
The energy they gave off melted away the tendrils and freed them all and without missing a beat, the Cardinals charged the spells that had been interrupted and shot it all toward the Wraith King.
"Useless," Agenon said as he called forth Beasts of the Abyss to once again intercept an attack aimed at his life and even they shattered into Eldritch mist from the impact, even more arose. Equalling the numbers of the Cardinals in seconds and outnumbering them in a minute before charging at them all with bounds that shook the Party hall.
"Since you won't wait your turn," Agenon said, "I'll just bring it forward!"
"Nghh," the Cardinals groaned as one. All were powerful experts in their own right but the environment was not in their favor.
They were up against a creature whose Eldritch Energy seemed so close to rivaling theirs and had taken the preemptive step of steeping the hall in the energy of its natural Habitat.
For as long as the Party Hall was surrounded by the darkness of the Abyss, Agenon the Wraith King would only get stronger while every wielder of Spiritual energy would feel a continuous drop in strength and overall capabilities.
Meanwhile, now that Evian had freed his Knight Colleagues and ascertained that they would not again fall prey, he cast his eyes around and quickly found Daria wrapped tight in a red restraining spell which she raged against while still driven by the Eldritch energy that had corrupted her.
Evian dashed toward her— Even using Phasing to push through the agitated crowd and no one noticed because they were too busy trying to fend off rabid Arcanists.
Those who had been corrupted far outnumbered the few Priests/Priestesses who had managed to resist and with the environment causing steady weakness, they had no upper hand against the horde they were battling.
Anyway, Evian got to Daria in seconds. Arleen's eyes widened when he was suddenly a foot away. She seemed most surprised that he had not gotten corrupted like the others. She refused to believe he was so Spiritually inclined, like people such as herself, to have resisted on his own merit.
"Stygian, what are you doing here?" Arleen asked.
"Let her go," Evian said.
"What?" Arleen asked like she couldn't believe the words coming out of Evian's mouth, "She's a danger to herself."
"Let her go, and I promise you she'll be fine," Evian told her. He couldn't risk 'healing' Daria so close to Arleen. There was no way she would not sense the Eldritch Authority he planned to use or the Eldritch energy he would require to brand her protégée with a temporary seal.
"Your promise means nothing to me, boy. Now off with you," Arleen said.
Evian groaned with exasperation and right then, Sir Armin pushed through the crowd of battling Arcanists and, probably for the first time ever, Evian was happy the Knight liked to stick close to him.
"Young Master Evian..." Armin started.
"Perfect timing. Fight her," Evian immediately ordered.
"What?" Armin asked, surprised.
"What?" Arleen asked as though stunned by Evian's audacity.
"Fight her!" Evian repeated his order.
"Oh."
"And when I met that Wraith, I didn't hate him because he was a Wraith, I hated him because of what he did. I don't care what you are... I know WHO you are and I'll do anything you ask of me."
"You don't care what I do too? You must know or at least have guessed how I get stronger. Am I that much different from that Wraith you met?" Evian asked.
Daria was now in front of him, her hands on his Black-robed shoulders and she grimaced at the memory of that night before shaking her head,
"No, you're different from that monster. But Yes, I know how you get stronger and I've never felt disgusted... Never detested it. Maybe that makes me a bit of a hypocrite..."
"Maybe," Evian said with a chuckle.
"But I don't mind," Daria said, "Now, We have a serious matter to deal with outside and our bodies and very prone to attacks so brand me already.
Make me yours in the only other way you haven't already."
Daria drew closer then, her face starting to pull under the darkness cast by the hood over Evian's face but it was then that he seared her with his unique Seal.
With a groan at the feeling and with her very Soul tied to Evian's, Daria's lips stretched into a grin as she moved to close the rest of the distance between Evian and herself only for them to exit the valley right then. Even so, Daria refused to be at a loss, and with her hand grabbing Evian's shirt, she pulled him close to seal their lips together.
Not too far away, Aren Vorden looked over while fending off a corrupted Arcanist. She frowned at the sight and glared at the snogging pair before she was pulled back to reality when the attack from a corrupted Arcanist almost proved fatal.
*BANG!*
Following the sound of an explosive impact, Evian pulled free of Daria's lips to look over and saw Armin blasted away and sailing toward his side of the Party hall where he made impactful contact with the wall.
"STYGIAN!" Arleen yelled with her red eyes glowing with malice.
"Priestess!" Daria called out in an instinctive move to defend Evian from attack.
"You—" Arleen paused when she saw the Darkness of corruption absent from Daria's eyes, "You're back to your senses."
"So I am," Daria said with a smile.
"I told you she'll be fine," Evian said.
Arleen drew closer looking into Daria's eyes,
"Indeed you did. But how?" She asked pointedly.
Evian acted like he hadn't heard her,
"Armin?" He called.
"I'll live," The Knight called out as he stood to his feet.
"Good," Evian said while surveying the hall, "'cause there's still work to do."