Agnes completed washing up rather quickly using the Cleansing Crystal. Well, she was mostly clean; her power allowed her to devour and disintegrate all the blood and grime that fell on her person—this was actually something Warden was so envious of.
There were multiple times she thought he was checking her out, but on all those occasions, his gaze was envious of how efficiently her power worked to keep herself pristinely clean. However, there was one thing the master runesmith wasn't aware of: although her darkness kept her clean, it couldn't stop her from feeling disgusted.
On that note, devouring that filthy blood only increased her inner disgust, which she could only alleviate by washing up. Of course, she was never going to mention that to him. Let the guy be envious.
She was near the stream but decided against dipping into the corrupt water for the same reason she had given Warden. However, before she was going to leave, she noticed something noteworthy: a couple of figures moving on the other side of the stream suspiciously.
She narrowed her eyes and flew to make their acquaintance. Even if she didn't recognise the soldiers personally, she could alert them about the problems with the forsaken.
But as she drew closer, Agnes lost all her goodwill towards the fellows. One of the fellows was actually carrying an unconscious girl, whose clothes were all wet and torn, her appearance haggard, hair dishevelled over her face.
Increasing her speed, she landed before them as panic ensued between the two soldiers.
"What are you doing with the girl?" she asked, and then her eyes lingered on the girl's slender form. The girl wasn't very tall, half a head shorter than her, with black hair and rosy fair skin, but more importantly, she recognised the girl. It was Jenni, one of the Adepts, and Warden's temporary assistant.
"Um, we found her near the river, contorting in pain, asking for help," the free man said, hesitating. "It might look like something else, but... as fellow humans, we only tried to help her."
Agnes didn't remain to argue with him, as Jenni's condition looked extremely serious. She pushed her way to seize the girl from the suspicious-looking soldier.
"Hey, we were just going to help her," the carrier complained.
Agnes shot him a sharp look.
"Shut it, dock, this is Captain Agnes, act within your station," the other man reminded his friend, recognising her.
Before they could embark on a spree of apologies, Agnes asked, "What are your names and posts? Better yet, show me your badges..."
She couldn't leave a couple of potential offenders unpunished.
Both fellows exchanged glances, swallowing hard.
"If you're only here to help Jenni, there will be no consequences," Agnes told them, her eyes shining with a cold glow. "Now, your badges?"
"A few minutes to get her out of danger," she replied. "As for the rest, I'm not sure how long it will take."
"You do your thing," Warden nodded. His palm glowed with golden streaks of light as he infused them into Jenni. The darkness within her began to thrash wildly, agitated by the light. Warden was prepared to cease his intervention if necessary.
"Don't stop," Agnes urged him. "Your light attribute can drive away the dark essence; it can even cleanse, if only it wasn't too weak. Regardless, continue what you're doing, push the dark essence out of her channels... it will make my job easier, and her pain less severe."
Warden nodded. With the combined effect of light and dark power, they began to cleanse Jenni of the twisted essence. Agnes absorbed the essence within her, her expression tight with concentration. She wasn't concerned about digesting it right then, as her entire focus was on aiding Jenni.
Warden's radiance power significantly calmed her struggle. She wailed in pain, tears streaming down her closed eyes. She even coughed up dark blood a few times, her skin turning pale and pink.
After Jenni was out of danger, the process became easier. Warden no longer had to hold her tightly. He supported her gently as she wailed and moaned, subconsciously surrendering to the process.
After about half an hour, with sweat on her forehead, Agnes lifted her palm from Jenni's abdomen. The skin there was already an angry red, all swollen.
"Is it over?" he asked.
"From my end, at least," she replied, the sweat disappearing from her body automatically. "I have drained at least 70% of the dark essence, but the rest has already intermingled with her essence. A good healer can take care of it in due time. Maybe you can too... though it will take longer."
Warden nodded. He took out a handkerchief to clean the blood from Jenni's lips and face. He hesitated to do more and looked up at her. It didn't set right to him to help when Agnes was there.
"Change her clothing and clean her," he said, standing up.
Agnes nodded. "You're actually more tender than you appear, huh..."
Warden didn't respond.
"She'll be fine," Agnes reassured him. "I mean, it will take her some time to regain her strength and lost potential... She has lost a significant amount from her attributes, I reckon. Such things are never easy..."
But considering Jenni's father was a master runesmith and a Grandmaster Blacksmith, any resource needed to improve his daughter's condition would be inconsequential. He would likely call all his favours and get the best healer to heal her. Unfortunately, Jenni was inside a subspace where her father had no knowledge of what went through her.
Hopefully, Agnes would find someone trustworthy from the 16th infantry to help Jenni out of the subspace, because both her and Warden would be occupied with other things.
"I know," he said and sighed. "I'll be outside."
She stared at the girl's face. SHe wouldn't have a nice sleep, but it should be nicer than before.