The holy priest burst out an angry roar and pointed its gold scepter toward the Saint"s Gate. s.h.i.+ning lines quickly lit up on the gray stone gate, outlining the strange shape of a beetle.
Suddenly, the Saint"s Gate burst out strong light like a small sun. The light was so bright that the high priest had tears in its eyes. For a second, it could not see anything.
In the bright light, the gate slowly opened. The boiling black smoke was suppressed.
...
Lucien suddenly became very alert when he heard the gate opening. He had no idea what had happened, but he was certain that the sphinxes had somehow figured out that there was someone in there.
Should he activate the level nine scroll? Lucien was still holding Pale Justice in his one hand and in the other hand the scroll from Fernando. When his brain was working very hard to come up with the possible solutions, Lucien looked around in the palace. When he saw the gold coffin in the middle, he got an idea.
At that specific moment, it was still not necessary for him to waste this precious scroll.
The gate slowly opened, and bright light cast in.
Lucien used his left hand, the one holding the scroll, and took out another item from his magic pouch. In the middle, there was a cross, surrounded by sunlight rays. It was Maskelyne"s Sun"s Corona!
Since Finks had gone back to sleep, hiding in the gap of the World of Souls was less dangerous now!
The warm and soft feeling from the divine power soothed Lucien, although the s.p.a.ce gap connecting to the World of Souls was just above the gold coffin.
The black winding gap was hanging above the coffin as if there was a sharp sword hanging over Finks.
Holding Pale Justice, Sun"s Corona, and the scroll, Lucien jumped in the gap dragging his heavy body.
When the holy priest walked in and scanned the entire palace with its spiritual power, it found nothing there!
"Filthy desecrator!" Hrotos roared angrily, and all the sphinxes outside lay prostrate on the floor again.
Although the holy priest found nothing there, it did sense the smell of a stranger. Hrotos thought that the intruder had escaped.
Raising the gold scepter, Hrotos released a creepy roaring. One of its eyes turned as s.h.i.+ny as the sun, and the other was as bright as the silver moon.
In his creepy eyes, the scenes repeated. The holy priest saw the mysterious man wearing the black hood sneaking into the palace, hacking at the gold coffin, and when he jumped forward, the s.p.a.ce twisted.
The ninth-circle spell, Retrospective Sight.
Although Hrotos could not see the details, it could tell that what the man did there.
The intruder had prevented Finks, their greatest king, from coming back to life!
"Your Holiness Hrotos, where is the intruder now?" asked the high priest using a lot of courage.
"He has escaped," said the holy priest coldly, whose voice sounded from h.e.l.l, "He tried to ruin the body of our king to prevent him from coming back to life."
"Then…" said the high priest in panic.
"The greatest king"s power is beyond that tiny bug"s imagination," said Hrotos, staring at the gold coffin, "I can still feel that our king is watching us. I can still feel his overwhelming power."
Then Hrotos raised the scepter and tried to find more clues.
The light of sun shone, but it went dim suddenly. Hrotos was shocked, "He"s not in this world?!"
No… that was not accurate. Hrotos could feel the man"s existence, but it could not find him!
At least, the mysterious man was not in any dimensions that Hrotos knew.
...
After jumping through the heavy curtains at the entry of the World of Souls, Lucien felt the familiar deathly stillness. There was only black, white, and gray in this world.
However, he was still in the same palace, and the only difference was that it had been deprived of all the colors.
No, it was not all the colors. Lucien was shocked when he saw the dim red lines covering the gray-colored gold coffin. Those lines extended to all the magic circles in the palace.
Although the brownish-red color was rather dim, it still easily stood out in the black-and-white world, and there was no way that Lucien could ignore it. Above the gray coffin, there was also a b.l.o.o.d.y, dark-red light ball. It was beating like a heart in that very creepy world.
Closing his eyes, Lucien noticed that he could not feel this light ball at all with his spiritual power, however, when he opened his eyes, the light ball was just over there!
And there were many more things changing inside of the light ball.
Lucien wondered what that light ball was, and, in his eyes, these lines were drawing Finks" power. He tried his best not to spend some time there for any investigation, including collecting one of the lines, or taking a closer look at the light ball, after all, a senior-rank specter could be there at any time!
Putting back the sword, Lucien dispelled the spells for strengthening his power and cast a series of new defensive spells on himself. Then, he pushed open the Saint"s Gate from inside.
There were no level eight or nine undead creatures since all of the holy priests and the highest priests could build their own tombs.
Beside the gate stood two sphinxes as well. They were the underworld guards wrapped in bandages.
The two guards released silent scream and attacked Lucien in a rigid way, like two cold statues.
Lucien calmly touched the corona that he was wearing in front of his chest, and a holy halo rippled out.
Affected by the warm light, the two guards suddenly became very stiff and they were trapped still. Then they were turned into two piles of ashes as if they had been weathered for thousands of years.
The six-level divine spell, Exorcist Halo!
Lucien quickly ran downwards along the corridor, and the halo was still around him.
The tomb behind the gate sensed the incompatible brightness and a great stir suddenly happened. In the world of black and white, the many underworld guards holding the spears came back to life and chased after Lucien with innumerable black little bugs like flood waves.
The entire tomb slightly trembled when the halo touched the edge of the insect waves and further spread out. The black bugs burned in smoke, and the gray and white guards were instantly demolished into ashes.
The corridor had been cleared out. Lucien ran fast through the corridors and he was already very close to the entrance of the tomb.
Suddenly, a tall and big guard whose eyes were s.h.i.+ning with white light jumped out. Surrounded by a death halo and holding a giant sword, it directly rushed at Lucien from the corner.
Lucien did not try to avoid the attack, instead, he activated Sun"s Corona before the layers of protection on him were cut open.
A thick light pillar shot down from the ceiling and directly hit the underground guard. The guard was instantly decomposed into many black light spots and they evaporated very quickly.
When the light pillar was gone, there was only a deep hole left on the floor. The black pieces were the remains of the guard.
The level eight divine spell, Sunburst!
Seizing the chance, Lucien ran out of the tomb and saw the gray sky of the World of Souls and the faded desert.
However, what Lucien just saw in the palace, including the dark-red lines, the hidden magic circles, and the dim light ball, still lingered in his brain. It seemed that they were all drawing Finks" power, and probably Rhine was stealing the power as well.
Lucien wondered who set up everything at the very beginning. He had some guesses, but the rust-colored light ball was still a great mystery to him.
However, he dared not to waste too much time there. Lucien activated the transformation mask and turned himself into one of the most common undead creatures in the World of Souls to find another exit.
...
In Viscount Nour"s castle in Province Marimburg, Gusta Empire.
The viscount closed the door tight and activated all the magic traps, then walked into the secret chamber in his study. In the chamber, there were rows of beautiful females at different ages lying there, with their faces flus.h.i.+ng like roses. It looked as if they were just sleeping.
The way that the viscount looked at them was sick and crazy. As if he was appreciating a piece of delicate artifact, Nour reached out his right hand and gently stroke one of the little girls" faces, who was just about thirteen or fourteen. He felt the coldness from her skin.
"They never understand… Bodies are the best in this world. Women with intelligence, they betray, they lie, they cause troubles… Only bodies are perfect! The coldness you feel when you touch them, and the soft muscles… This is art!" murmured the viscount crazily.
After being transformed into a vampire by a countess, Nour had developed necrophilia. Other vampires disdained him strongly, thus he needed to hide in human society to enjoy.
Suddenly, he sensed a certain stir in the air, and to his great shock, Nour discovered that he could not move anymore. In the mirror at the other end of the room, he saw a mysterious man wearing a black robe standing there.
"What… do… you… want?" Even his throat became very stiff.
Nour was very afraid. He knew that the man must be a senior-rank sorcerer as the third-circle necromantic trapping magic was very powerful.
"I was about to borrow a bit of your blood from you, and let you sleep for a while," said Lucien disgustedly, "but now… I have to say that I"ll take your head."
After leaving the World of Souls through another gap, Lucien tried to find the vampires hiding in human beings society. Since Prince Dracula was still chasing after Rhine, turning himself into another vampire and returning to Night Highland was Lucien"s best way out.
"No!" shouted Nour bitterly, but the sound he made sounded somehow ridiculous.
The bright light overwhelmed Nour and the beautiful bodies behind him.
...
Antiffler, Holy Heilz Empire, the grandest city in the world.
Standing in the corner and staring at the magnificent city wall built to prevent the invasion of the giants, Beaulac Von Anjou, the immediate member of the Gorse family, looked rather gloomy.
"Young Master, we shall go now." A thin man in a black jacket walked to him.
Beaulac turned around and slightly nodded, "I hear you, Giz. Hopefully, we can get something this time."
"Master Beaulac, the duke is still going to last for a while." Giz looked at the young man who was quite anxious, smiling.
As one of the most famous and long-living families in Holy Heilz Empire, the Gorse family today still had two gold knights and was in charge of its own order of chivalry - The Order of the Gorse. Since the eldest son of the old duke pa.s.sed away many years ago, Beaulac had become one of the most promising contenders for the t.i.tle because of his pure blood. However, for some reason, he had not awakened his Blessing yet, thus right now his compet.i.tor, Arthen, a level three grand knight, was having a great edge over him.
Thinking of how arrogant Arthen was and all the n.o.ble pleasers around him, Beaulac felt very humiliated.
He had sworn in his mind that one day he would make all the people who had once abandoned him feel extremely regretful!
Realizing that the magic potion from his family would not be helpful to him, after experiencing the great inner struggle, Beaulac finally made up his mind and came to the black market to seek for an amazing magic item that could do the job.
Led by Giz, Beaulac walked into an ordinary-looking villa. Under the villa, in a bas.e.m.e.nt way more s.p.a.cious than it would seem, hid the biggest black market in Antiffler.
Picking up magic items one by one and then dropping them down, Beaulac looked very disappointed.
At this time, a white-haired old man walked to him.
"Young man, I"ve seen your destiny in the crystal ball. Do you want to know it?" The mysterious old man smiled.
Beaulac"s eyes suddenly opened wide, and he looked at the crystal ball in the old man"s hand. How dare the sorcerer just show up like this in the black market?
"I don"t believe in fate. Everything is a blessing from G.o.d." Obviously, Beaulac would not easily trust a stranger.
The old man wearing the black robe did not mind it, "It"s fine. One"s destiny is always changing. If you are desperate, come to me."
And then the old man left.
Shaking his head, Beaulac continued to look for the magic item he wanted. It was already the ninth time that he came there. As a quite stubborn person, he believed in the power of number nine. Beaulac was convinced that it was most likely for him to find the thing he wanted this time, and if he failed, the hope would become slim to none.
Right now, he was becoming more and more disappointed.
Maybe… maybe he could never defeat Arthen. Beaulac was beyond depressed.
"Young master… maybe we can try… I mean, the divination…" Giz suggested.
After a long silence, Beaulac nodded.
They went to the old man"s booth and sat down, "Please."
The old man grinned as he gently stroke the crystal ball. It quickly became turbid inside.
Spots of light shone in the crystal ball and soon disappeared. The old man looked up and said, "You"re expecting a great s.h.i.+ft in your destiny."
"What is that?!" burst out Beaulac nervously.
The old man said slowly, "What I can see is that it will happen in the remote villa left by your father when the darkness arrives."
Beaulac was shocked that the old man had seen the remote villa belonging to his father. His father"s mistress once lived there, and most of the family members did not know.
After paying the old man two Thales, Beaulac left the booth. Somehow, when he looked back, the old man had disappeared together with his tiny booth!
In the entire black market, they never found the black-robed old man again.
"Where did he go?" Beaulac and Giz exchanged a look filled with shock.
...
When night arrived, in the remote villa, Beaulac had dismissed all the servants. He tried to find something special in the house as indicated by the old man, but found nothing.
Beaulac became even more confused as he murmured to himself in the study. It was already mid-night, and the silver moon was hanging high in the sky .
When he was totally desperate, he saw that a beam of moonlight fell on his father"s portrait. Under the moonlight, Beaulac saw the index finger of his father"s right hand slightly distorted, pointing inward.
Inward?
Inside!
Beaulac jumped up from the couch and took out the portrait from the frame. After checking the portrait carefully, he discovered a piece of parchment behind it.
The parchment reminded him of his father"s words that he was told a long time ago, "When you feel beyond desperate, come and see the portrait to find your power."
Beaulac"s memory was rather vague. He hurriedly unfolded the parchment excitedly.
A piece of white paper fell out from the parchment roll, and he saw the familiar handwriting from his father.
"Beaulac, when you have lost all of your hope, you may want to borrow power from the compact. However, you cannot sell your soul to the demon, nor can you rely on it."
His breath became very heavy. The parchment was written in the ancient language of Sylvanas:
"The rule of demon: you pay when you want to get! Are you willing to accept it?"
Beaulac bit his lips tight and he gripped the parchment in his hand. After a while, he nodded heavily.
A line of words appeared on the parchment. Although Beaulac did not know the language, somehow he could understand it,
"You, who wants to sign the compact, shall follow the steps to summon the most powerful demon: when the clock strikes twelve, light a white candle in front of a mirror. With your hair disheveled, peel an apple. If the peeling goes all the way from the beginning until the end, and the candle does not go out, you will summon the demon!"