Chapter 309: Lixia’s Killing Order
Elvass had personally witnessed how the Fifth Tier Earthbound Spirit was easily sealed into a small Tarot Card. Sherlock, who was watching from the side, was extremely astonished, almost dumbfounded.
“…How exactly did you do that?” Sherlock couldn’t fathom it. It completely defied his common sense—in the Path of the Extraordinary, the suppression of the higher-tier over the lower-tier was very obvious. Many abilities would become significantly weaker when crossing one tier, and completely ineffective when crossing two. Those so-called cases of the weak defeating the strong either involved avoiding suppressed abilities through some means or the weaker party actually possessing fragments or inheritances of a stronger individual, making them stronger than the opponent in a specific domain.
However, Elvass’s ritual seemed to avoid both scenarios. “This is clearly a ‘ritual’ that transcends the Path!” Elvass hadn’t used any power stronger than the Earthbound Spirit to suppress her… Elvass had prayed to Amber, but Amber couldn’t possibly help him personally, could she! Even if the Earthbound Spirit was willing to leave, it was almost impossible to perfectly contain its power. All its existence and power were condensed into this ordinary card, with no leakage. This was an incomparably perfect seal—the power of the Path of Wisdom allowed Sherlock to keenly analyze that as long as Elvass didn’t actively dispel the complex seal on this card, the Earthbound Spirit would absolutely not be able to escape. And judging by Elvass’s proficiency, this was clearly not his first time.
“How many such cards have you obtained?” Sherlock couldn’t help but ask. Elvass said with a smile, “That’s a secret. And it’s not obtaining, it’s crafting.” If Sherlock didn’t know he only had four cards, he would appear incredibly powerful and extraordinarily mysterious.
“Just as I gifted you the transfer ritual for the Mitra Worshipper. You also said that I have an affinity for the Path of Wisdom. But even though I know such rituals, I haven’t used one on myself… That’s naturally because I have better professional choices.” Elvass said seriously, “Haven’t you been curious about my transcendent profession for a long time? Sin Scholar—this is my profession.” Although Elvass wasn’t one yet, he could strongly borrow from the future. He only needed to advance twice more.
“…Sin Scholar, it sounds very similar to Demon Scholar, but also different,” Sherlock murmured. “You don’t have a 본명악마 (original demon), but you have the ability to craft cards. That card is the Death Tarot Card. By this reasoning, you probably can only have twenty-two such cards… Summoning twenty-two Phantom Demon followers that you captured yourself? The potential of this profession is so powerful…” Although he couldn’t see the attributes of the [Follower Card: Earthbound Spirit], judging by Elvass’s previous conversation with the Earthbound Spirit Alice, he could roughly guess that Elvass intended to take the Earthbound Spirit with him. And seeing his proud demeanor now, he knew he had succeeded.
However, Sherlock breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that Elvass was not a Demon Scholar. He was increasingly recognizing Elvass. When he was investigating Edward before, Sherlock hadn’t felt the thrill of gradually approaching the truth. Instead, there was an inexplicable annoyance… It was as if something was instinctively warning him to stay away from this truth. At that time, Sherlock relied entirely on the persistent belief of a newborn calf fearing no tiger, and a defiant, willful mentality—the more uncomfortable he felt, the more he was determined to solve this matter. Only then did he forcibly uncover the dark history and criminal evidence of the Moriarty Familymatter. But he wasn’t happy then. Sherlock believed that emotion was called regret.
And now, he was unwilling to investigate Elvass further. However, Her Majesty the Queen had shown him great kindness, and his family had been loyal to Avalon for generations. Both for personal reasons and for duty, he should ensure that Elvass would not become the next Minister Dross… And now, he finally had an investigation result that could convince himself and be presented to the Queen. Elvass had not hidden anything from Sherlock when preparing the ritual materials, and even the process of collecting the swamp exudate was done in his presence. Sherlock saw clearly that Elvass had not used any Human materials throughout the entire process. Compared to the evil and depraved Demon Scholar and the dangerous and mysterious Ritual Mage, the Sin Scholar seemed to be a cleaner profession on the transcendent path. Compared to this, capturing Phantom Demons was not a difficult task.
“Next time,” Sherlock said softly, reaching up to adjust his Newsboy hat, “I mean in the future—if you need it, you can always come to me. I can help you capture the… Und you desire? Or I can also help you investigate the information you want.” He wasn’t sure about the scope of Elvass’s capture capabilities. Based on the results, Elvass could at least capture Und. Elvass’s eyes lit up: “That would be great!” He didn’t refuse at all, but happily agreed. Rather, he shared his secret with Sherlock precisely for this purpose. Although Elvass occasionally seemed smarter than Sherlock due to his broader vision and information advantage, Elvass knew his own limitations. His ability to analyze based on existing information was much weaker than Sherlock’s. Moreover, Sherlock would further increase his level on the Path of Wisdom, and his brain would become more effective… The smarter and more capable his secretary was, the less work Elvass would have to do.
However, before leaving, Elvass still reminded Sherlock to try not to tell anyone about his profession—Sherlock understood that “try not to” meant he could tell, but shouldn’t spread it around carelessly. This was probably why Elvass hadn’t hidden anything from the Gryphon Liz herself. Although Liz couldn’t speak yet, she would soon fully develop. By then, if she knew what happened, Haina would probably know too. After capturing Alice, Elvass took Sherlock and flew back to Eagle Cape Village on Liz. He originally thought he would have to retrace his steps to enter the village, and that it would take until Twilight to get in… But he found that he could fly directly back to the village. They made no delays on their journey, and it was only noon when they flew back.
“Perhaps it’s because a villager invited us to stay overnight, or simply because a villager accepted us,” Sherlock analyzed softly. “So we were recognized as belonging. That’s more normal. Otherwise, it would be difficult for messengers to deliver mail here. Every time they deliver it at Twilight, the abnormality would always be noticed, and they might encounter the King of the Wild Hunt. Haina too; she clearly didn’t return home at Twilight, otherwise, she wouldn’t have specifically bought a train ticket to arrive in the early morning.”
“That’s right,” Elvass agreed. The materials for the New Moon Ritual were much harder to gather than those for the Full Moon Ritual. Although they could be substituted, they couldn’t be just any random items. The standard New Moon Ritual required a live petrel, the heart of a deer that died today, a miniature statue of a philosopher, a snake, a handful of black salt, a horse’s phallus, a well-fed mouse, an oyster, and a mirror. The petrel could be substituted with a pigeon or a sparrow, as long as it could fly; the oyster could be replaced with a pearl oyster or other shellfish. The horse’s phallus could also be dried; the snake didn’t have to be alive, but it had to remain flexible… Therefore, Elvass also bought several snakes pickled in wine and brought them along. The most difficult item to find was undoubtedly the deer’s heart. However, the deer’s heart also had a substitute: a lamb’s heart. Lily and Haina had gone to Windpipe Town to buy sheep—and to catch some mice, as there weren’t even mice in Eagle Cape Village. As it turned out, Elvass returned slightly faster than them. Before they returned, Elvass and Sherlock began to draw the magic circle required for the Ascension Ritual in the room on the second floor of Haina’s house.
This New Moon Ritual involved three people advancing—Elvass and Lily were advancing from Tier Two to Tier Three, while Haina was advancing from Tier Three to Tier Four. Advancing from Tier Three to Tier Four meant transitioning her profession. Haina was going from Supervisor to Arbitrator. Elvass had also tried to dissuade Haina, suggesting she wait for them to advance together. It wouldn’t take too long anyway… However, Haina reluctantly stated that it was her teacher’s wish. Lixia had required her to pass a New Moon Ritual alone to be considered officially assessed. Before this, Haina had always performed Full Moon Rituals and had never experienced a New Moon Ritual.
But Lixia believed that the difficulties Haina would face were far more dangerous and much more sudden. She had to have the ability to confront sudden difficulties and solve them. She also had to survive unscathed in the schemes and fierce battles between people. At that time, Haina didn’t quite understand what she would do in the future that would be more dangerous than a Tier Three to Tier Four New Moon Ritual… But now, she was gradually understanding. If Haina was the successor of the “Grand Arbitrator,” then she truly needed to possess such qualities. If she couldn’t even protect herself, how could she protect an entire country without immense stress? Faced with such responsibility, simply advancing to the Fourth Tier from a New Moon Ritual stage by herself… seemed insignificant. Haina needed even stronger, far stronger personal abilities.
Originally, Elvass thought it might be very difficult. But when Elvass realized that Haina was the future leader of the “Hyena Gang,” and even possessed a small fragment of Lancelot I’s soul… he felt that Haina might be able to do it. Old Meg’s judgment was indeed sharp; she could see this. Haina had such talent, she just lacked the pressure to bring it out. Facing the unprecedented New Moon Ritual alone this time could provide her with that pressure—the punishment for a New Moon Ritual was typically one tier higher than that of a Full Moon Ritual. Advancing from Tier Three to Four could frequently result in “Death” as a price, with the lightest being soul damage, making it impossible to advance to the Fifth Tier in the future.
In other words, Lixia was sending Haina to kill. Not for righteousness, not for the Queen, not for Avalon, nor in the name of law and protection. There were no excuses to shift responsibility. Instead, it was openly for her own growth and self-interest, in a New Moon Ritual without any partners, to ruthlessly kill others—and to kill as many people as possible. The future Grand Arbitrator could not be a soft-hearted or indecisive person. She had to be ruthless, possess an iron fist and cold blood, to quell internal and external turmoil. Elvass was looking forward to it. He wondered how much Haina, who survived this Ascension Ritual and emerged with the rising sun tomorrow, would have grown.
