Chapter 154
You Came, Now Don’t Leave
Falling Night, No. 14 Ronin Street. Lights finally went out after half-past ten.
Two hours later, when the campus fell silent, a group of people quietly approached the vicinity. They hadn’t been staking out Eivass’s door beforehand. These Demon Scholars didn’t even bother hiding; they simply entered a bar and had been drinking until now.
No one would suspect that four drunken men posed any threat—besides, this wasn’t their first time. For over a week, they had been coming here almost daily to drink and play cards, even becoming friendly with some students.
But this time was different. After leaving the bar, they found a small alleyway and used a partially prepared sobering ritual to dispel their drunkenness.
“Prepare to move,” the leader, a blond man dressed in a white suit with slicked-back hair, looking like a lawyer, said in a deep voice. “Jim, you’ll set up the curse. Briden, you’ll cut his phone line. Perot and I will set up the ritual to summon us two demons first. Then, you two will come over and summon your Demonic Hounds.”
“Are you sure we only need the Sleep Curse?” the shortest and youngest, Jim, asked. “The Sleep Curse can be nested with a Weakness Curse… Didn’t you say that Cripple has excellent Swordsmanship? I still think nesting the Sleep Curse with the Weakness Curse, and adding an Asphyxiation Curse, would be enough to kill him. That would be the safest, and we could report back.”
“I’m sure,” the leader replied with certainty. “If Moriarty’s dorm only had himself, it would be fine… but his Maid and his Sister are there too. Three people, the curse’s power will be diluted significantly. They won’t be able to sleep too soundly. The Weakness Curse will make them realize they’re cursed. If one of them sleeps lightly, they might wake up due to a sudden sense of powerlessness and wake the others. Don’t overdo it, Jim. More curses aren’t always better.”
“Then how about…” Jim spoke up again. “Or we could cast the curses, and then fill his bedroom with poison gas. That way, no one would even realize he was murdered; they might think it was gas poisoning… That way, we won’t be investigated by the authorities.”
“Do you think the dormitory of a rich young master is the same as your shabby little house?” the fat Perot scoffed. “How could his bedroom be connected to his kitchen? Use your brain.”
“…I just feel a little uneasy, Mentor,” Jim murmured. “Will it be too smooth?”
The leader shook his head. “It’s smooth because we’re fully prepared, it has nothing to do with him. You’re overthinking it.”
About half an hour later, preparations were almost complete. The Sleep Curse had taken effect correctly, the phone line had been cut, and two demons and two Demonic Hounds had been summoned.
Although Jim felt uneasy, the leader believed it was just because he, an apprentice, was too timid. Jim was only sixteen this year, even younger than Eivass, whom they were to assassinate. He hadn’t even graduated from middle school and had joined a gang instead. Because he was quick-witted, he was noticed by the Lloyd Society, and due to his Adaptability towards the Transcendent Path, he became the leader’s apprentice.
Powerful Demon Scholars were always accompanied by their apprentices. Curses and rituals were, in a sense, like cooking—the actual cooking time wasn’t long; the most time-consuming parts were the preparation of ingredients and the subsequent cleaning. These apprentices were specifically there to do this meaningless, repetitive work in place of their mentors. They were essentially assistant chefs.
But the leader didn’t particularly like Jim. Demon Scholars generally needed a slightly unrestrained, devil-may-care attitude. Otherwise, it would be difficult for them to advance. Jim was too timid; he was always pessimistically predicting things… At first, the leader would pay some attention, thinking perhaps this kid was truly a fit for his Path Adaptation, and his words might hold some prophetic quality? But after many times when Jim’s predictions didn’t come true, the leader finally determined that he was simply too cowardly.
—Aren’t we cautious enough already? We ambushed a week in advance, deployed four Extraordinary individuals, two of whom were Third Tier elites. We also have the incredibly powerful Blade Demon, capable of confronting a Fourth Tier Extraordinary head-on, and the Scourge Demon to assist it. We even cast a curse on Eivass beforehand and cut off all means of him contacting the outside world—
For an Extraordinary of the First Tier, following the Path of Devotion, the leader felt he was ridiculously cautious. It was only because Eivass could instantly kill a Deformed that he took him so seriously. Although Eivass’s own strength wasn’t high, he was still a member of the Moriarty Family and possessed powerful Extraordinary items, and perhaps other items as well…
So their plan was to incapacitate Eivass with a sleep curse that he couldn’t wake from, then infiltrate and assassinate him. Eivass had class tomorrow. So at one in the morning, he would certainly be asleep. Since he was asleep, he wouldn’t perceive that he had been cursed with sleep. This would only make him sleep deeper and more soundly; even if a thief broke into his house and took everything, he absolutely wouldn’t wake up.
If everything went smoothly, it would be best to finish him with a single shot. This would appear more like a killer skilled in curse arts, making it harder to track them. The demons they brought were only meant to counter any potential hidden ambushes, helpers, or bodyguards.
What a shame. The leader thought. It was an away game this time, and many of the ritual items he prepared couldn’t be used. Otherwise, he wouldn’t need to be so careful. For instance, there was the Cursed Infant [Spellbound Infant] made from an infant who died of a curse, capable of a guaranteed, powerful strike capable of directly destroying the opponent’s heart; the Nightmare Illusion [Nightmare Illusion] made from the scalp of a person suffering from migraines, which could drive someone mad with uncontrollable intense pain; and the Hanging Corpse Decoy [Hangman’s Decoy] made from an old man who was hanged, which could chill everyone nearby and slow their movements… These were all consumable items that allowed him to kill Extraordinary individuals of higher tiers. But because they had to be preserved in specific environments, they couldn’t be used in a surprise attack like this.
In other words, it was precisely because the ritual items he relied on couldn’t be used that the leader was so cautious. Once one adapted to the powerful strength obtained from using ritual materials made by their own kind, leaving them would feel exceptionally uncomfortable. It would feel as if one had suddenly become weak… even if this “weakness” was their true level.
Just as Briden, who originated from being a thief, was picking the lock, Jim, who was looking around, suddenly pointed at the sky. “What’s that, fireflies?”
“That should be some kind of butterfly,” the fat Perot commented, hands on his chest. “What a shame, if only we had a net. That thing looks like it should be quite valuable.”
“Jim, focus…” the leader said irritably. But at this moment, he unconsciously looked up and suddenly saw a butterfly fluttering slowly towards them. It was so beautiful, trailing sparks of fire as it flew. Like scales. The leader suddenly raised his right hand and pointed at the butterfly with his index finger. He didn’t speak, nor did he expend any mana. The beautiful, spark-like butterfly seemed to be pierced by some dark, invisible object, split in half, and suddenly extinguished. He wore a smug and pleased smile. Not because the butterfly had any significance, but simply because he destroyed something beautiful and found pleasure in it.
“Your mentor’s curses are truly powerful…” Jim flattered. Perot shook his head regretfully. “It looked quite valuable, you didn’t need to curse it to death.”
“What valuable butterfly can fly in the city?” the leader retorted. “At most, it escaped from the school’s laboratory… That means it can’t be resold. Just curse it to death.”
Pointing is the simplest form of curse. When someone pointed at you from behind, you sometimes felt a sharp sensation; this feeling was the same as being pointed at with the tip of a knife. And the leader’s Third Path Trait, [Harmful Curse], was an incredibly powerful purple Path Trait. It allowed all curses he cast to inflict physical damage—this was also why he had his apprentice curse the target. Because if he personally cast the Sleep Curse, it would turn into a Nightmare Curse, making it easier to awaken others; if he used the Poisoned Food Curse, besides corrosive damage, it could also inflict a continuous, slight cutting wound on the esophagus; and if he used the Foul Blood Curse, it would cause continuous bleeding from the uterus.
He could even casually point and make the target bleed profusely, as if stabbed by a small knife. The damage wasn’t very high. A healthy ordinary person would need to be pointed at forty to fifty times before dying from blood loss. He had personally figured this out. The leader had killed quite a few people in the Lloyd District when he first obtained this Path Trait, and meticulously summarized its rules. After all, he could only see cryptic words like [Harmful Curse: All Curses Can Inflict Harm]. The specific effects had to be discovered through personal experimentation. However, this wasn’t troublesome for him. Just like a child getting an interesting toy—what new effects would the curses he was familiar with have after this trait was attached? He was curious and conducted experiments accordingly. It was this unbridled joy in harming others with Extraordinary Power that allowed him to successfully summon and tame the Blade Demon.
But just then, the leader’s peripheral vision suddenly caught a glimpse of fire. In the dark night, it was so eye-catching. He turned his head and saw that it was indeed a ball of fire in the air—the butterfly he had just destroyed had regenerated from the flames after falling, from a position close to them! As the butterfly slowly flew towards Jim, and Jim curiously reached out to catch it, the leader’s face suddenly changed, and he felt a strong sense of crisis. He leaped up, tumbling awkwardly to the side.
The fat Perot, who also felt something was wrong, couldn’t escape due to his overly plump and clumsy body. He wanted to flee but couldn’t. As Jim touched the butterfly, a fierce flame erupted from the butterfly as the center, expanding in all directions to form a giant fireball about three meters in radius. The fireball didn’t explode but spun continuously, swallowing Jim and Perot into it, pulling them in and making escape difficult. Their shrill screams pierced through the flames and echoed in the silent night.
“—What the hell is that?!” the leader’s face changed drastically.
The next moment, the bodies of a Demonic Hound and a Scourge Demon suddenly blurred. They collapsed and disintegrated at a visible rate—this was the expulsion phenomenon caused by the death of the contractor. In just one encounter, Jim and Perot were engulfed by the flames. Jim was one thing, but Perot, a Third Tier individual, should not have died so inexplicably in this place—he was completely killed by Jim! Only he, who had dodged the butterfly, and Briden, who was picking the lock, survived.
Just then, the same butterfly flew towards him again. The leader did not hesitate this time. He condensed a ball of dark magic emitting an ominous chill and shot it out directly. It shattered the butterfly again… But this time, the leader saw clearly. After the butterfly was shattered, it quickly regenerated in the flames. And when the leader shattered it again with a different spell, it regenerated once more.
What the hell was this thing?! The leader became extremely wary; he had never heard of such an ability.
“It’s open, it’s open!” Briden shouted joyfully, pulling open the door.
“Let’s go in and hide!” the leader said without hesitation. But the next moment, Briden let out a cry of alarm and scrambled out, rolling. However, as gunshots rang out, his calf was hit, and he directly knelt to the ground with a scream.
As the door opened, Eivass, who should have been asleep, walked out with a dangerous smile. His left hand was behind his back, and his right hand was held in front of him, naturally bent. A butterfly made of flame rested quietly on his index fingertip.
“You’ve arrived, Guest…” Eivass said, smiling. “Since you’ve come, don’t leave, alright?”
Updated an hour in advance!
