Chapter 806
The Ritual to Seal Heavenly Envoys
Hearing the old Lich’s words, Alistair felt a strong sense of relief.
Previously, Mathias’s Fear Aura could even penetrate the Night Demon’s defenses, and Mathias himself was only a Fifth Tier extraordinary.
Even if the Lich profession was a “Hidden Profession” in the current version, akin to the Sin Scholar, it couldn’t cross two energy tiers to break the resilience exemption of a Sixth Tier high-level Phantom Demon’s Night Demon.
This meant that the empowerment of such great power either came from the buffs of a rare Path Trait or from equipment that could grant priority. Whether the former was true was debatable, but for the latter… Alistair was certain he had it.
To put it more clearly, it was the Spirit Tower itself.
As the true master of the Spirit Tower, Mathias could definitely obtain a portion of its power. And at the core of the Spirit Tower was the spine of the Amber Heavenly Envoy.
Mages in the Daffodil Duchy could often exert power more than one energy tier above their own within their mage towers. And the Spirit Tower, with its thousands of years of inheritance, undoubtedly contained far more power than such mage towers.
It was a power capable of threatening even descending Heavenly Envoys, which was why the Fallen Heavenly Envoy did not attack the First Generation Black Phase.
The First Generation Red Phase and Black Phase of Star Antimony were only defeated in the version where the NPC Eivass obtained “Lord of the Great Beasts.” The “Thousand Year Vow of Hatred Spirit Tower” was the main storyline dungeon belonging to the First Generation Black Phase.
This meant that in the version where the Fallen Heavenly Envoy descended, both of them were unharmed—at peace with the Fallen Heavenly Envoy.
With the old Lich explicitly intending to protect Alistair, even the Red Phase Pomanach would not dare to act rashly here.
Thus, Alistair finally relaxed and followed the old Lich Mathias, with Lily and Selene behind him.
Although this was considered Mathias’s office, it didn’t look much like a laboratory.
It was exceptionally dark and eerie, like a black-hearted factory—
Under the dim green light, the sound of rotating gears could be heard.
A complex machine, about three to four meters tall and over ten meters wide excluding all the winding pipes, was operating stably. Tall vats were inverted on top of the machine, filled with transparent liquids that were gurgling and bubbling, with various biological tissues floating within them.
It gave off a “backyard biochemist cultivating clones” vibe, eerie, terrifying, and with the unprofessional feel of an underground workshop.
However, neither the gears nor the machine were made of solid metal… but of bone.
Alistair reached out and gently touched a nearby pipe.
The pipe suddenly twisted, trying to avoid Alistair’s hand, like a cat being tickled.
A nearby exhaust vent coughed violently, and the entire machine trembled intensely, with the pipes resembling trachea constantly writhing.
An incredibly strange feeling suddenly arose in Alistair’s heart—it felt as if the machine was scolding someone, and quite rudely at that.
“If she wants to touch it, let her touch it,” Mathias’s cold and hollow voice echoed. “Will you die if she touches you lightly?”
The low echo from the skeletal frame caused the machine to fall silent.
“…The machine spirit has been appeased,” Alistair murmured.
It was only then that she realized one thing clearly—
This office of Mathias’s was not originally like this underground factory.
Instead, when Mathias was “preparing the ritual,” he had used necromancy on-site to create a dedicated machine!
—Everything in this room was undead!
Whether it was the pipes, the vats, the gears and the machine… or even the glowing, “operating” dim green lights, all of them were undead beings!
Alistair rode Helchin the Heavenly Stallion, and the round trip took less than two hours.
—In just these two hours, Mathias had directly constructed a complete machine for completing the ritual out of thin air using necromancy!
“Is this… the ritual to solve that problem?” Lily murmured.
She subconsciously dared not utter the words “Grey Heavenly Envoy.”
Ever since she realized the source of her abnormal talent and her murderous impulses, she had been worried about her future.
It wasn’t that she was afraid of becoming someone else… For a girl of common birth who had been a personal maid since childhood, she didn’t have a clear sense of “self” to begin with.
In fact, Lily somewhat detested her intense “abnormality” because it brought her a sense of unease. It was like an animal in nature wearing bright red fur.
—This was also the source of her strong aversion to Selene.
It was like looking at one’s dark past from youth after growing up…
“I have been researching the ritual to seal Heavenly Envoys for a long time,” Mathias did not get angry at being questioned, but patiently explained, “Cyril also knows about this, which is why he recommended you to me.”
“…Seal, Heavenly Envoys?” Alistair murmured lowly.
Even she did not know that Mathias had such a past.
Since Cyril knew about this, it meant… this happened before Mathias embarked on the Twilight Path.
Before he became a Necromancer, he was already thinking of sealing Heavenly Envoys?
“…Such ambition, I thought only Transcendent beings possessed it.”
“That’s why Cyril and I became friends,” the old Lich’s voice was calm. “We are of the same kind.”
“May I ask?” Alistair looked at the old Lich. “Since your initial goal was directed at Heavenly Envoys… does that mean you have a clear target?”
“Of course,” Mathias replied. “It’s the Amber Heavenly Envoy.”
“…Amber Heavenly Envoy?” This made Alistair pause.
—Isn’t that your own boss?
Before the Winter Maiden took over Necromancy and Undead, Undead and Necromancers belonged to the Amber Heavenly Envoy’s domain.
When Cardinal Cyril met Mathias, even the Star Antimony Kingdom had not yet been born… People at that time could not have possibly known that the future Father Serpent would trigger a wave of “Great Ascension.”
If he intended to seal the Amber Heavenly Envoy, how could Alistair have walked the path of Necromancy?
She had even transformed herself into an undead… If the Amber Heavenly Envoy were to lose its position, her own power would also diminish!
“The first time I met Cyril was because I was researching Amber Conjuration…” Mathias briefly mentioned, without elaborating further.
At this point, the old Lich changed the subject. “My research back then allowed me to obtain a part of the power of ‘Amber Conjuration.’
“When Heavenly Envoys and Apostles descend to the Material Realm, they become incredibly fragile themselves, but their souls still contain divinity. However, killing them at this moment often sends them back to the Dream Realm… Therefore, to keep descending gods in the Material Realm, sealing is the best option.
“It might sound incredible, but the principle is very simple—much simpler than what you imagine as a ‘Heavenly Envoy-level ritual.’ You can think of it as diluting wine with water. To purify the wine, you need to heat it until it evaporates… Divine souls are also ‘lighter’ than mortal souls. Because they contain fewer impurities, they are easier to separate from the body…”
As the old Lich spoke, he had Lily and Selene sit in the opened vats on either side of the instrument.
This giant machine looked like a massive bull’s head.
And the positions where the two girls were seated were at the base of the two spiraling horns.
The King of the Wild Hunt’s position was inside the bull’s mouth.
Lily sat down on the chair with trepidation.
When the door closed, she was surprised to find that she wasn’t trapped in a pitch-black room.
Although she was sitting on the chair, she felt as if she was sitting in the center of a frozen lake.
The lake had cracked into a thousand fragments, each identical in shape to the others. They were like a mirror shattered into thousands of pieces, reflecting her image layered upon each other.
Lily watched as thousands of herself simultaneously looked at her, feeling a strong sense of dizziness and drowsiness. A powerful suction emanated from the myriad mirror surfaces.
She felt as if she had fainted, or was dreaming. Her consciousness was half in reality, half in the dream realm.
Meanwhile, outside, the old Lich’s voice continued to echo:
“…People believe that shining mirrors can capture souls. This is not entirely wrong, but normal mirrors do not possess such abilities. People believe this because extraordinary beings of the Path of Beauty can freely pass through or seal souls through mirrors…
“The machine was constantly rumbling.
The transparent vats swirled with colorful liquids, mixing their contents violently.
A strong emerald green aura permeated the surroundings.
“This is… the power of the Path of Beauty?” Alistair felt his consciousness blur. He felt a sense of weightlessness, accompanied by colorful, vibrant illusions—this made her feel as if she had returned to the Fey Realm: “Fey magic?!”
The use of Fey magic requires the caster to still possess a childlike heart!
Once a child fully grows into an adult, no longer believing in fey, fairy tales, and miracles from the heart, they will forever lose the right to use Fey magic.
—Because if all the children in the world lost their innocence, the “Fey” race would cease to exist.
“As expected, you are well-informed.” The old Lich did not deny it, but acknowledged it.
“The profession most skilled at sealing souls is the ‘Mysterious Painter,’ promoted by combining the Path of Beauty with the Twilight Path. They can usually capture souls by drawing portraits, creating statues of their targets, or even taking their photos with cameras.
“And if this ability is cleverly utilized, combined with Fey magic for soul filtering… ‘lighter souls’ can be absorbed. I have created a thousand such mirrors. When the combined soul of either of the two young ladies is heavier than the other, the excess soul will be absorbed, and this cycle will repeat… The power of balance will protect their souls. Then, through a circular ritual, the heavier souls will be collected, and I will replenish them from the dream realm…
“For those ‘lighter souls,’ the Amber Conjuration technique needs to be used to solidify and deposit them. But even if they are sealed and fall into slumber, only sufficiently powerful undead can accommodate these residual souls—because they are undead, they will not be controlled by these divine wills, and the Twilight Will can continuously freeze them, preventing them from being awakened by strong path impulses.
“I once sealed an Apostle with a Fifth Tier undead. At that time, I determined that Sixth Tier undead would be required to seal a Heavenly Envoy.
“If undead are made into amber containers, it can become an energy source for their own power, which fits the concept of ‘Amber’—the twilight object that encloses life…”
As the old Lich spoke, the King of the Wild Hunt, standing quietly at the center of the ritual, saw wisps of grey smoke spreading towards him.
Alistair clicked his tongue—
Although the old Lich explained it simply and understandably, in actual practice, this was a complex operation involving rituals, Fey magic, soul-snatching techniques, necromancy, soul repair techniques, amber craftsmanship, and alchemy!
(End of Chapter)
