Chapter 74: Devil's Memory Fragment
"Our guess is right. Charles is a shadow Guard series Class Mystic." Willy Pickton finally said in a loud voice.
Nodding, Luke took out an elegant-looking green bow from his void pouch and took out a metal arrow from his quiver.
At that moment, the Holem's Crown finally sensed the anomaly in its inner world and soon shouted in his mind.
'What the f*cking hell did you do to my Inner World?'
A while ago, the Holem's Crown saw a massive crystalline star appeared in the deepest part of the inner-world and became completely stupefied. From the crystalline star, multiples strings spread towards its inner-world and appeared to be controlling its every movement!
Not only that, it even noticed that the other two Abyssal marks also nowhere to be seen!
'This is not an equal contract… Hmm, I smell the presence of 'Time' in it. An absolute contract?!'
Upon hearing those words from the Holem's Crown, Charles froze for an instant and soon revealed a mysterious smile on his face.
'Hehe, do you understand how powerful I am?' He teased with a laugh.
Meanwhile, the Holem's Crown's mind went blank for a moment.
'The strange language you spoke from time to time is not from this world…Abnormal rise in strength… Are you a Plane Traveler? No, you didn't choose the Space Observer class… A reincarnated soul! Are you a reincarnated soul? How did you manage to trick the Eternal River of Life when reincarnation? Transmigration? Is that due to the 'Last Miracle'? No, that shouldn't be possible. You know nothing about the class system…Who are you? Are you an ancient mage from the Era of Primordial Beings? Or, a Fallen God?' Even Charles went dumbfounded as he heard a lot of new terms and soon said mysteriously.
'Only the 'Time' will answer your questions. But don't worry; I will definitely release you after 100 years.' Without even waiting for the Holem's Crown to start nagging him, Charles glanced at Emilia while decapitating another red-skinned Chaos Being and asked.
"Do you have any plan to-?"
He stopped his talking in the mid-way as he saw a blurry future vision and ducked his head.
A second later, an arrow made of silver metal tore through the air, passed through the area where his head was before, and soon landed on another Chaos Being's forehead!
Before Charles could move to the next target, another three metal arrows passed by and landed on three Chaos Beings' foreheads!
'What is he doing?' He got deeply angered by Luke's action and soon saw that Luke had already released another five metal arrows in different directions!
Charles instantly realized his plan and spoke.
"Team Leader, they are yours."
Saying so, Charles hurriedly cast [Crimson Robe] and [Crimson Steps] spell on himself and started walking towards Daniel's twitching body at an unimaginable speed. Unlike before, Charles also saw a small fleshy thing began to protrude out of the neck region and seemed to be growing into a fleshy head!
Although there were still eight Chaos Beings standing on the battlefield, he didn't even glance at them and completely turned his attention towards Daniel. He felt that it was necessary to finish off the twitching body now.
In the meantime, Emilia didn't respond to Charles's words.
Instead, she heaved a deep sigh, put her hand into the void pouch, and disappeared from where she stood before.
An instant later, she appeared behind Luke Clark.
"You made a mistake, my friend." She whispered in his ears as she took out a scarlet knife from her void pouch and directly thrust it towards his back!
Noticing the dangerous situation, Luke wore a solemn look and activated his force-field defensive shield.
But soon he realized that something was wrong.
An instant later, the scarlet knife directly tore through his superficial skin and entered deep into his abdomen from behind.
Shock and confusion dawn on Luke's face as he couldn't understand why his defensive artifact went inactive!
At that moment, strange energy filled with pure evilness entered his bloodstream and soon started invading his heart.
"What is this!?" He cried out in shock.
A second later, Luke's body trembled all over, and soon he fell on his knees!
His face then soon landed on the stone floor with a thudding sound!
Emilia didn't stop there, though. She turned her face towards Willy Pickton and started walking without minding the broken stones with an icy look.
Although Willy became stunned by Luke's sudden defeat, he swiftly made a decision and directly placed his hand on his chest.
An instant later, his figure suddenly turned watery and soon disappeared from there, leaving a barrel of water to fell on the concrete floor.
"He escaped?" Andrew ran towards the area where Willy stood before with a regretful expression on his face and soon asked.
"It appears so. Well, we captured our friend, so let not bother searching the fake believer." Emilia waved her hand, turned around, and soon locked her gaze on Daniel, whose head was now grown completely.
But unlike before, a single horn was protruded on his forehead, and he appeared more maniacal.
At this moment, Charles also appeared in front of him and directly cast [Incinerate] spell.
The ray of crimson fire directly landed on Daniel's chest and directly tore the flesh. But Charles saw that the wound on Daniel's chest began to heal at an unimaginable speed and grew heavy.
"Futile." An unfamiliar hoarse voice came out from Daniel's curve-like mouth as he patted the dust on his black suit and shifted his gaze towards Charles.
A second later, Charles noticed that something was invading his mind!
No, not only that, he even saw that the surroundings suddenly turned completely dark!
'Daniel's skill? He can use Daniel's skills now?' A look of astonishment appeared on Charles's face.
At that moment, Charles felt deafness, smell blindness, blindness, and numbness.
He felt that the time seemed to be stopped for a moment!
"Do you fear the dark?" An eerie voice filled with malice suddenly reached his mind.
Upon hearing those words, Charles used his wisdom power and stopped the mysterious power from blocking his sense. Although he was still in the dark world, Charles instantly regained his senses.
Then, the corner of his lips suddenly rose as he let out a chuckle and spoke in a calm tone.
"The one in daylight fears dark, Devil." He paused as he searched the surroundings through the wisdom power and soon added,
"But I lived in the dark, and this was my home ground once."
Saying so, he waved his hand and broke the dark world with a smile on his face.
This time, it was the possessed Daniel's turn to be surprised!
"You already entered your soul realm?" Daniel said in the same hoarse voice.
Charles chuckled.
"You ask too many questions,"
He appeared right next to the possessed Daniel after saying those words, stabbed his dagger below the sternum, and rammed him to the ground.
Although the Winged Devil's memory fragments possessed Daniel's body to take revenge on him, it didn't have any other skills other than Daniel's ones.
Without minding's its futile attempt, Charles then ripped his abdomen wall muscles open and plunged the dagger towards his heart. He didn't stop there, though. Gripping his Ghost Dagger, he then ruptured both of his lungs, liver and even tore the diaphragm!
After that, he made a vertical line above the sternum, opened the rib cage, and then studied the human body's internal structure with a calm look on his face.
'Oh? Humans' internal organs look the same as humans from the Earth. But why is he still alive?'
"How come his body is still twitching?" He asked out loud and soon noticed a strange tattoo above the right lung.
Only then did he saw that Daniel's right lung's outer pleura was emitting a strange green light, and that light seemed to be spreading to the nearby organs, including the heart, left lung, and even moving below!
Frowning, Charles then ripped the rib bones and directly extracted the right lung by cutting the bronchial tube.
At that moment, a cloud of black smoke came out from the right lung and soon formed into an illusionary figure of a Winged Man. No, it was a Winged-Man Devil!
Upon seeing the shadowy figure, the corner of Charles's lips curled upward.
"Is this your original body's lung?" His tone was cold as ice as he squeezed the organ a little and soon widened his smile.
He saw pain and agony on the Devil's face.
"Mortal, return my organ to where it belongs." An ancient voice filled with pure rage echoed in the gloomy city center.
Charles didn't even glance at the shadowy figure, though. Instead, he stared up at the dark cloudy sky and asked in a gloomy voice.
"What is your relationship with the Red Prince?"
Simultaneously, he squeezed the lung organ and returned his deadly gaze at the shadowy figure.
"Is he your servant?" He probed.
In the meantime, the shadowy Winged Man groaned a little and soon said with a wicked grin on its face.
"I'm his servant."
As the words ended, the green-colored lung filled with strange viscous fluids suddenly bulged a little and soon exploded, splashing the viscous liquid on Charles's face.
"You are a mere worm in 'His' presence." The shadowy Winged Man's figure suddenly paused for a second and soon added with a devilish grin on its face.
"Run and hide like a worthless worm." After saying those words, the shadowy figure turned blurry and soon disappeared into a cloud of smokes.
"Hide?" Charles paused in surprise as he wiped the viscous liquid off his face and then turned his attention towards the remaining Chaos Beings.
Charles then stepped forward towards the nearby Chaos Being and stabbed his dagger into its neck.
…
Two minutes later, the ritual ceremony area returned to complete dead silence.
'I got a total of 2340 Exp from these Chaos Beings. Not a bad reward.' He nodded with a pleasant smile on his face and soon turned his gaze towards Luke Clark, who was already woken up from the unconscious state.
But unlike before, Emilia and Andrew squatted beside him and even shackled him in iron chains.
Heaving a deep sigh, Charles went near the headless Winged Man's statue and looked at the ritual circle in puzzlement.
'Mr. Runeth, can you decipher these words and tell me what is written in this circle?' He asked.
The Holem's Crown replied by emitting a dim light and soon started to speak.
'It is written in the Devil's tongue. Hmm, they were planning to summon the 'Will' of Hell Plane and appeared to be doing some sacrificial ceremony.'
'Sacrificial Ceremony? For what?' He suddenly thought of the azure gem and soon widened his eyes.
'So, they planned to steal the Holem's Crown divinity using the Azure gem and then sacrifice it to the 'Hell' plane, huh. For what purpose?' Puzzlement appeared on Charles's oval face.
'Once you sacrifice something valuable to a plane, it will fulfill your wish.' The Holem's Crown seemed to have already started comprehending some English words and said in a deep tone.
'What the f*ck? You already started deciphering the meanings of English words?' Shock appeared on Charles's face, and soon he realized that this artifact had the [Recall] skill!
Groaning slightly, he used his wisdom power to shield the dark space and soon checked whether the Holem's Crown could hear him or not.
After getting no response from the Holem's Crown, Charles breathed out a sigh of relief and started to think about the current situation.
'So, they created this ritual ceremony to get a wish, huh.' Charles instantly thought of Eddie's request about creating an ultimate miracle and soon guessed.
'That explains everything.' He nodded his head in enlightenment.
'But where is Eddie Nightwind? If this ritual ceremony is for him to form his true soul, then why didn't he appear here even after the failure?' Puzzlement crossed on Charles's face and soon widened jade his eyes.
'Could it be that he can't enter this world willingly? Now that I think about it, he never did show his appearance in Edhen World, right? When he told me about the real Eddie's death, he said that Eddie's other incarnations and avatars started to disappear one by one, and he survived by absorbing the other creatures' memories. Wait.'
'Memories can even form into physical beings with the power of 'Imagination' in the Dreamworld. But that wouldn't be possible once he left that area. But that doesn't add up about his appearance when he released the prophecy… Was there another helper? No, there must be something else.' He furrowed his brows for a moment and soon made a bold conclusion.
'When he made that prophecy, he solely isolated himself in the Wind Villa and never went anywhere. Could it be that he made a gateway to connect the Wind Villa and our house to the Dreamworld? Could it be that there is a time limit for him to stay in the Edhen World?' The more he thought about it, the more he became certain of that possibility.
'If my guess is right, he must have known about the failure of this 'ritual ceremony.' But due to some circumstances, he couldn't enter this world.' He nodded his head in understanding and soon thought of the robed skeleton that appeared in the Dreamworld.
'Did it create through my Imagination? Or, is it also summoned by Eddie to probe my strength?' Doubt appeared in his mind.
'Does that mean Eddie won't appear here? No, l can't let him live any longer. He is a very dangerous person.' Charles's face turned serious.
