Chapter 68: Servants of the True Fate
Charles then thought of Anderson Black's incarnation and asked,
'Mr. Runeth, can you tell me more about Incarnations? How is a Rank-4 Mystic able to create incarnation?' After he saw Anderson's illusionary image, he suddenly felt curious. How could such an illusion have the strength to battle against a Rank-3 Mystic? He was indeed surprised inside.
The Holem's Crown also seemed to be enjoying the flight ride as it let out a weird shout and answered,
'Hoo, an Incarnation is basically a pure form of energies with some consciousness of a true soul fused with it. Although they don't have a true physical body, they have their own consciousness. To put it simply, they are more of a condensed memory with some will of the true soul and energies.'
'Can you tell me how strong these incarnations are?' Charles asked with keen interest.
'If the real body has the strength of Rank-4, their incarnation should be around Rank-3. But unlike the true bodies, the incarnations have some weaknesses. If you grasp the weaknesses correctly, you can even kill a God's Incarnation.' The Holem's Crown said in an exciting voice.
'Do you have some life-long grudge against these Gods? Ah, never mind.' He suddenly remembered how this Holem's Crown was created and changed the topic.
'Then, can you able to kill an Incarnation of God?'
'If my Dark Spell star is in a recovered state now, I might kill a God's incarnation using some underhand methods.' The Holem's Crown said in a proud tone.
'But I'm asking about your current Dark Star spell's strength.' Charles clicked his tongue and asked while holding the chains on Derrick's body with both hands.
'I can kill a Rank-4 incarnation without much difficulty. But against a Rank-5, I will face some difficulty.' The Holem's Crown suddenly paused for a second and soon added.
'Although killing a Rank-5 Incarnation is difficult, it's not an impossible thing for me.' Without waiting for Charles to ask more questions about it, the Holem's Crown took the initiative and continued.
'If I attack my opponent sneakily, the chance of me assassinating a Rank-5 incarnation is very high.'
Charles nodded his head and then asked another question in his mind.
'Are you able to enchant my Luck? I have a feeling that I'm might not make it out alive if I don't take the necessary precautions.'
Actually, Charles felt that his [Prevision] skill was warning him about the impending danger.
The Holem's Crown didn't reply, though. It pondered for a whole ten seconds and then said.
'I have a way to enchant your luck using the 'Luck Divinity.' But-' It purposefully paused for a moment and asked,
'What would I get in return?'
Charles instantly knew that this sneaky old man had already started to scheme and asked in annoyance.
'What do you want?'
The Holem's Crown didn't take too much time to reply, though.
'I want to see the real content of the contract I signed earlier.' Before Charles could refute, the Holem's crown spoke solemnly.
'Lad, the contract is already signed. Even if I see the contents now, I can't change anything in the signed contract. Although you are my real owner now, if someone played some trick on the contract before we sign, the chance of getting into trouble is very high. A mere illusion even tricked me, so it would be better to check the contract for our own good.'
The Holem's Crown's sudden words made Charles furrow his brows in suspicion.
'I already checked the contract with my [Inspect] skill, so there should be no loopholes in it.' He thought for a moment and soon made a decision.
'I will show it to you once we land. But you have to do the 'Luck Enchantment' on me now.' Charles didn't dare to delay any longer as he sensed the urgency from the [Prevision] skill and said.
'Hehe, so be it then. For the next 24 hours, you will be a lucky guy. But be careful. When the 'Luck' ends, you will face unlucky retribution for the next two months, and that will be one hell of a ride. You once again altered your fate now.' The Holem's Crown's words made Charles almost lose his concentration on flapping the wings.
'You stole my luck to enchant for a short amount of time?' He glared at the red-gem embedded bracelet.
'Humph, do you think that's a simple matter? Changing one's Luck itself will cause some deep variation in the future, and I will also receive some backlash in return.' The Holem's Crown said in a solemn tone.
'Then, why did you enchant my 'Luck' now? Moreover, what is the backlash?' Even Charles couldn't understand what this old man was thinking and asked in doubt.
'If I didn't enchant your 'Luck,' the chance of you surviving this absurd mission is almost none. Humph, you are now walking into a dragon's lair, so how could I let you die so easily and face a huge backlash?' Upon hearing those words from the Holem's Crown, Charles suddenly widened his eyes and soon felt a change in his emotions.
As he was about to think further about his abnormal behavior, he felt an aching feel from his shoulders.
'Damn, this is my limit. I can't fly any longer while carrying this *sshole.' He slowed down his speed by flapping forward and paused in mid-air.
"Team Leader, can we land now?" He then asked while turning his head towards the right side.
Meanwhile, Emilia also nodded her head and spoke.
"We should land near the bank of the swampy river. After interrogating Derrick, we can follow the river and directly reach the City ruins in an hour or two." She said before flying in a circle and then descended towards the Swampy river bank.
Flapping the wings, Charles and Emilia slowly reached the sandy ground and landed on it with light footsteps.
After that, Charles threw the chained Derrick on the river bed sand and started panting heavily,
"I didn't expect that casting a single darkness spell would cause them to show that much hostility towards us."
In the meantime, Andrew freed himself from Emilia's hands like a sneaky cat and said while shook his head.
"After the unruly Mages destroyed a kingdom using a curse spell, those curse spells became forbidden in any kingdom. So, when you used a curse spell on Derrick, it's not surprising for them to show such hostility. It's not the dark mages that masses hate; it's the curse spell. If a Dark Mage didn't learn any curse spell, the masses would treat them nicely. Even one of the Arc Kingdom's Royal Mages is a Dark Mage, and he is a noble character with the highest reputation among the masses."
Emilia also nodded her head in approval and added.
"These types of curse spells not only harm one's body, but also harm one's souls, Charles. If you harm one's soul severely, then that soul might get rejected by the Eternal River of Life and would perish for real. It means that they won't be able to reborn in this Universe and disappear permanently."
"It's not. Who said this kind of nonsense to you?" The Holem's Crown instantly disagreed and continued as an expert historian.
"These curse spells really can harm one's soul, but when the injured soul enters the Eternal River of Life, it will go into a hibernation state and would reborn only after healing completely. Humph, even chaotic souls will get purified by the Eternal River of Life, much less some injured souls."
Charles got stunned by the Holem's Crown's words and soon nodded. Although he knew that the dark mages had a bad reputation in this world, he hadn't thought that the churches had altered the basic information about dark mages and their spells.
In the meantime, Emilia was also stunned by the new information and soon chose to check further when returning to Riverdale City.
"Thankfully, you made a swift decision otherwise; things would have gone in a different direction," Emilia turned her attention towards Derrick and said in a solemn tone.
Unlike before, Derrick's mahogany eyes were wide opened, and tears could be flowing out constantly from the corner of his eyes. Although he was still smiling foolishly, one could see that the [Touch of Idiocy] skill's effect was almost over.
"It's already more than five minutes. Release the chains now; otherwise, Derrick's soul might become damaged permanently." Emilia said while taking out a wooden stick from her void pouch and slashed at his buttocks.
A second later, Derrick woke up suddenly, cried out in pain, and then started crawling towards the opposite side.
If it were before, he would have used his full strength to escape from this situation. Unfortunately, his body had already weakened, and he trembled all over due to some unknown pain in the soul. He didn't even have the time to shout out a word as he sensed the tearing pain from his buttocks.
After a few minutes of lashing, Emilia threw the broken stick and cast [Hypnotism] skill on him.
After that, she made him kneel on the sandy ground and cast [Discern Lies] skill before questioning him.
"What is the name of the organization you are working for?" Her slightly wrinkled face turned cold as ice as she asked that question.
Derrick instantly turned his face serious and uttered three words.
"It's Devils' Lair."
Confusion drawn on Aces Team member's faces as they heard the new organization name and became more interested.
"How many members are there in Devils' Lair?" This time, Charles took the initiative and asked.
"Including our boss, there are still seven members," Derrick said truthfully.
"Who is your leader?" Charles nodded his head and questioned him further.
"He is the Devil of Fate." Upon hearing Derrick's words, the trio glanced at each other and soon grew solemn.
"Devil? Why did he call him the 'Devil of Fate'?" Charles questioned.
A strange smile appeared on Derrick's face as he raised his hand towards his mouth and tried to wipe his mouth…
His action startled them greatly. When Charles and Emilia were battling against Addie Baker, Charles remembered that Addie also made a ritual sign and tried to wake up from the [Hypnosis] skill effect!
Noticing the seriousness, Charles instantly grabbed his hand and stopped him from finishing the ritualistic sign.
At that moment, Derrick's face showed unwillingness as he bit his lips and spoke in a rough voice.
"He is the 'avatar' of Devil Lord of Fate."
'Avatar? Does he has multiple personality disorder, or is he really a Devil Lord's avatar?' Charles furrowed his brows for a moment and soon asked.
"Can you tell me the names of your companions?"
Upon hearing his question, Derrick nodded his head and said in a calm tone.
"We usually call ourselves as servants of the True Fate. The first servant is 'Evil,' but most of us knew nothing about him. He is a blonde-haired old man and always looks mysterious. The second servant is the 'Devil,' and he is your former teammate 'Luke Clark.' The third servant is 'Twilight,' and his name is 'Daniel Baker.' He is also your current escort mission employer. The fourth servant is 'Sea,' and his real name is 'Willy Pickton,' the fake Arbiter of Storm. The fifth servant is 'Twister,' and that is 'me.'" He stopped for a moment and suddenly raised his other hand to wipe his mouth!
Thankfully, Emilia caught his hand in mid-air and swiftly twisted it back to break it. Even after hearing a cracking noise, Derrick made no sound and continued with the same unwillingness look on his face.
"After the death of 'Mind' and 'Coward,' Sixth servant's and seventh servant's seat remains empty."
"Mind and Coward?" Emilia raised her voice and asked in confusion.
"'Addie Baker' is 'Mind,' and 'Jeffery' is 'Coward,'" Derrick said in a flat tone and then continued.
"The eighth servant is 'Night,' and he is the underworld boss, 'Night-Eye.' The ninth servant is 'Black,' and his name is 'Anderson Black.'"
Charles became stunned for a moment as he realized that he had met almost all of them in the past few months.
'It seems Derrick still didn't know anything about Night-Eye's death. Moreover, Evil and Red Prince, huh… Except for their nicknames, I knew nothing about them.' He pondered for a moment and soon frowned as he recalled Jeffery's death,
"But when we interrogated Jeffery Dahmer, he hadn't said anything about him being as the servant of a Devil… Why is that?"
"Because of his cowardice nature, he always relied on Addie Baker's ability to change his real memories in fear of exposing our secrets."
'Heh, so that's why they named him coward, huh.'
Nodding, Charles looked into Derrick's eyes and then asked another question.
"Why did you try to kidnap the [Historian] Max and his friends?"
