Chapter 649
Fed by Light, Born of the Moon
Eivass pushed open the unlocked door and, following the flow of magic within the room, found Lily kneeling in the bathtub.
Misty white vapor filled the bathroom, accompanied by waves of heat. This was the ritual known as the “Egg of Lightlessness.” To avoid disturbing Lily’s ritual, Eivass did not directly interfere.
Eivass touched the emerald jewel on his chest, and his entire presence dissolved into nothingness. His body instantly turned transparent. As he stepped into the bathroom, the moonlight passed through him, shining directly onto Lily’s back.
Shattered glass lay on the floor beside the bathtub. Intricate and ancient patterns were carved into Lily’s pale back. A few drops of blood trickled down her back, staining the entire bathtub. It seemed as if there was no water in the tub, only the immense sea of blood from the New Moon Ritual. It emitted visible heat, and the evaporating mist made Lily’s skin turn crimson.
Moonlight, like frost that freezes everything, attempted to cover the wounds and stop the blood from flowing further. She whimpered softly, emitting tiny, almost inaudible cries of pain. Her hands seemed to be washing something, grasping in front of her, yet unable to hold onto it.
Eivass leaned in a couple of steps before he saw what it was. He was instantly startled. It was an “infant” about to be delivered from Lily’s body. It wasn’t the appearance of a human infant but a bloody mass of flesh, with a vague human shape. Lily’s hands weren’t trying to wash anything or to strangle it. They were trying to pull the infant out of her body.
Under normal circumstances, such severe difficulty in childbirth would likely result in the infant’s death. However, the life force within Lily was continuously absorbed by the infant. Its bloody surface was rapidly growing skin, and it was visibly enlarging. Lily’s overwhelming weakness left her powerless, and the infant became stuck midway. If this continued, the “infant” would likely drain Lily’s life force completely and crawl out of her withered husk. Such wickedness, yet it possessed a strange divinity. Was this the Secret of the Ovum Moon? The New Moon blooming, then withering and decaying, transforming into a second New Moon…
But Eivass knew he couldn’t let Lily continue like this. This ritual, involving something so secretive, explained why she didn’t want Sherlock to guard her.
“…You could have told me,” Eivass slowly materialized from the void, feeling a sense of helplessness at Lily’s stubbornness and silence. “If I had known, I would have asked my sister to come. Or Madam Grace could have watched over you… Do you need me to help pull it out?”
He was hesitant to heal Lily at the moment. A blessing might interfere with the ritual, and his healing abilities were too strong and might heal the Ritual Array on Lily’s back as well. This could also disrupt the ritual and bring unnecessary danger to Lily.
Eivass’s sudden appearance did not startle Lily. Perhaps she had sensed his arrival long ago, or perhaps she had always known Eivass would come. She merely lifted her head feebly to look at him, her body drenched in sweat. Her dry lips parted, revealing half her tongue. Her scarlet pupils showed a hint of unspoken longing. Was she… thirsty for water?
No, that wasn’t it. Eivass sensed a familiar feeling from Lily’s scarlet pupils. It was like the craving of a Shadow Demon. Perhaps it was because Lily had once made a contract with a Shadow Demon. Lily now reacted exactly as the Shadow Demon had on their return journey from Eagle Cape Village. Was it… a phantom demon transformation? Lily had mentioned wanting to drink Eivass’s blood during the ritual. This might work.
Thinking this, Eivass picked up the blood-stained Ritual Knife that Lily had dropped. He grasped the Ritual Knife directly with his right hand. The blade pierced his skin, revealing bone, and blood dripped down. A strange, intoxicating scent, like fruit wine, filled the bathroom. Even Eivass himself was momentarily lost in a daze.
He saw Lily’s pupils instantly turn hollow, her body trembling and convulsing violently. Eivass brought his hand close to Lily’s mouth. He gazed at Lily with gentle, motherly eyes and whispered, “Drink, drink… Drink my blood, and do not speak of it.” He softly murmured, “This is our secret, a mark of sin…”
Eivass’s life force was too strong now. The wound he had made healed visibly, and his blood dried up first. So, he simply flipped his right hand over, palm facing upwards. Eivass picked up the Ritual Knife, plunged it into his palm, and then slowly dragged it upwards. Blood splattered, flesh tore open. Crimson marks spread like a tree, creating diagonal wounds and patterns. And the blood flowed downwards, forming dew drops, falling. It landed on Lily’s prominent nose, then dripped into her mouth.
Lily quietly licked the blood drops falling from Eivass’s hand, like a young lamb. Eivass took a deep breath, infused it with his mana, and recited the sacred words passed down in the Shepherd’s Secret Method: “I am the holy communion… — This is grace.”
As Eivass chanted, the already vibrant red patterns on Lily’s body became even more alluring. The infant connected to Lily, which had been watching Eivass with its peculiar dark gold eyes, struggled hard and clawed its way out of Lily’s body. After completely separating, it began to grow rapidly—growing skin, growing hair, growing in the wind.
It drank greedily from the blood in the bathtub. When it grew to the size of a seven or eight-year-old little girl, it immediately latched onto Lily. Lily remained silent, her eyes vacant. Like a kitten vying for its mother’s milk, it pushed forward with its eyes open, making sharp, cat-like cries, devouring Eivass’s blood. Its pupils gradually elongated, becoming more bizarre. Their umbilical cord remained connected, and life force flowed back and forth between them.
Soon, she grew into a thirteen or fourteen-year-old black-haired girl, and Lily’s blood-red pupils gradually faded, returning to their original gray. The little girl’s eyes, however, became blood-red, rectangular pupils. But what made Eivass uneasy… were not human pupils, nor the bestial vertical pupils. They were the pupils of a sheep being shepherded.
“Master, I am…” The little witch of the Path of Love, mumbled unclearly, emitting her first words in her young voice: “I am… Selene. “I am your little lamb.” …Huh? Wait… Did the ritual go wrong after all? Or is this situation normal?
Looking at the still-silent Lily, Eivass’s uneasiness reached its peak.
(End of Chapter)
