Chapter 408
Great Sin Ritual
“Damn it!”
Eivass’s face changed as he suddenly realized a huge oversight.
Or rather, his desire for transcendence had clouded his mind, making him forget a crucial detail.
The contract he had originally signed was with the [Shadow Demon].
Because of this, when the Shadow Demon was promoted to [Night Demon], Eivass’s contract had already ended!
The contract ended, dissolving on its own, and the invisible chain between Eivass and the Night Demon would vanish.
According to the normal process, the Night Demon would be expelled back to the Dream Realm by the apostles of the Hourglass.
Afterward, Eivass would only be able to temporarily summon the Night Demon back to the Mortal Realm by using a ritual targeting the Night Demon and expending a large amount of power—and this was still under the condition that the Night Demon actively responded to the summoning.
In the terms of Xianxia, the Night Demon had already passed its heavenly tribulation and was forcefully ascending.
The trait suffix of an Upper Phantom Demon, [Priority +1], is “divinity.” In a sense, Upper Phantom Demons are gods, or at least demigods. Their power far exceeds the limits of the world, and they can only remain in the Material Realm for a very short time. Otherwise, they might incur the hostility of the Hourglass.
The Heavenly Envoys pulled down by the Ouroboros Ring ritual can be considered victims. However, even so, their existence would still be targeted by the Hourglass; let alone those scattered Upper Phantom Demons who are neither apostles nor Heavenly Envoys, have no “establishment,” and dare to descend on their own.
Eivass now only has the Third Tier Demon Scholar profession, and it is absolutely impossible for him to successfully sign a contract with an Upper Phantom Demon.
The Demon Scholar, a low-tier profession that can at most reach the Third Tier, does not possess that level of power!
This is basically equivalent to signing a contract with a god!
The Night Demon, possessing three domain abilities, can indeed be considered a god in a sense!
—However, a Demon Scholar cannot do it, but a Sin Scholar who can seal true gods can!
“I don’t want to leave, Master…”
Viness hugged Eivass tightly from behind.
Her ethereal and hoarse voice, like the murmur of a doll, said, “Seal me…
“Like the Butterfly, seal me into a Tarot Card!”
Eivass looked at Viness’s face… her expression was like a child engrossed in playing a game, only for their game console to be suddenly taken away and lifted by their parents.
Her delicate and pale face lacked expression, but her eyes were already filled with intense unease and fear.
The scarlet blood patterns on her face looked like shattered porcelain, radiating a strong sense of brokenness.
“Don’t worry, I won’t let you go.”
Eivass didn’t smile; he said with utmost seriousness, “I’ve already said it… you’re my little bird.
“And I… am your birdcage.”
—No one can take you away from me!
Eivass turned on the light and relit the candles.
He quickly began preparations for card making.
If he let the Night Demon go now… and Viness encountered a Fallen Heavenly Envoy, Eivass might not be able to summon her back!
—After all, the Fallen Heavenly Envoy was almost brought down by the previous generation’s “Shepherd”!
She must harbor extreme hostility towards the Art of Pasturing.
And the Shadow Demon had directly advanced to Night Demon without the Fallen Heavenly Envoy’s permission. If she felt even a little curious, she would realize what Eivass had done.
It was too late to summon the apostles of the Candlemaster now to ask what Tarot Card was suitable for the Night Demon.
…Of course, even if Eivass had summoned the apostles of the Candlemaster before the beast evolution ritual, he probably wouldn’t have gotten an answer. Because the card suitable for the Shadow Demon at that time would surely be different from the card suitable for the Night Demon later.
The contract within Eivass had disintegrated, and the Night Demon was now masterless. She could be repatriated to the Dream Realm by the descending apostles at any moment.
“Viness,” Eivass quickly shuffled the remaining cards and said in a low voice, “It’s up to you now.
“Draw them with me… the two cards that belong to you. The two most suitable cards for you.”
This was the closest to “Divination,” choosing the most suitable cards for the Night Demon solely through a perception of the unknown.
The Night Demon placed her hand on Eivass’s. Her sharp, claw-like black hand gave Eivass a sense of unfamiliar coldness and slipperiness.
It was like the damp wind on a beach at night.
“The first card, representing your own being. Draw it yourself.”
Eivass said softly, and together with the Night Demon, they forcefully pushed aside the Tarot Cards horizontally.
The Night Demon, relying on instinct, chose one.
Lixia immediately leaned over to look, and Janis also saw the card Eivass had chosen from the painting. Only Yulia remained sitting by the bed, looking somewhat unhappy but still worriedly at Eivass.
“—The Devil, reversed.”
Lixia said in a low voice, “It’s reasonable.”
“Next is the second card, the card representing the Pillar God that can suppress your power…”
Eivass said with some nervousness.
There were only nine cards representing Pillar Gods, and one of them had already been taken by the Butterfly. The probability of precisely drawing a Pillar God’s card among the remaining ones was not very high… unless this was truly a skill of “Divination” triggered by their spiritual connection.
Then, Eivass flipped over that Tarot Card.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
“…The Lovers, upright.”
Eivass said softly, “A card belonging to the Twin. Reasonable.”
As the Shadow Demon of “Beyad,” it had lost the Mark of Wrath because it had devoured itself as the Child of the Moon; and it was precisely because it had re-devoured its past self during the Ascension Ritual presided over by the Twin Mirror that it had regained the Mark of Jealousy.
And the Night Demon, as the upper demon of the Mirror Demon, had a slight conceptual connection to “mirrors.”
Suppressing the Devil with The Lovers!
Eivass immediately began making the card using the remaining ritual materials in the room.
Because he had already prepared the materials for the Great Sin Card that the Shadow Demon was supposed to use, Eivass made it very quickly.
But while making it, Eivass’s brow was deeply furrowed.
He remembered that his dark attribute Mana Pool had a maximum of only 44 points.
Because he hadn’t considered at all that the contract would become invalid after the Shadow Demon transformed into a Night Demon… Eivass absolutely had to obtain the remaining six points of dark attribute Mana immediately.
Each Path had ways to recover Mana.
The Path of Devotion was prayer, but dark attribute Mana could not be recovered through prayer—the Mana used for Pasturing·Flesh and Blood in the Path of Devotion was the Priest profession’s Mana, and the attribute of Mana that prayer could recover was the same.
As for dark attribute Mana, Eivass had basically never used it up.
Besides the initial card making, he had only used it when using Pasturing·Essence for Lily.
The method of Mana recovery for the Transcendent Path was sacrifice. By sacrificing other people’s lives to recover his own Mana.
But Eivass would never trigger heavenly retribution—he had sworn an oath.
And at this moment, the Night Demon was already feeling uneasy. The world was rejecting Her, and the Hourglass had already noticed Her existence.
…Damn it, what should I do?
At worst…
Eivass gritted his teeth and gripped his left wrist with his right hand.
Lixia seemed to realize something, her pupils suddenly constricted.
…Offering his left arm to gain a little extra Mana… might work.
After all, there should be ways to regrow it later; he could think of several methods right now…
But the problem was, was one of his arms worth six points of Mana? To whom should he sacrifice it?
But at this moment, Eivass looked up at the “The Lovers” card that had just been drawn on the table and then glanced at the floor-to-ceiling mirror in the bedroom, and suddenly paused… realizing that another, better solution was within reach.
—Was this also within your calculations, Twin Mirror?
Therefore, Eivass first offered a prayer to the Candlemaster with utmost piety, quickly recovering the Mana consumed in the recent Ritual of Pasturing.
Although it hadn’t consumed much, it was still quite a bit when combined with the healing from Fire Worship Magic. Fortunately, he could use his last prayer of the day to restore his status.
After his Mana was replenished, Eivass rushed to the mirror in two steps and simultaneously prayed loudly:
“I implore the Twin Mirror! God of Sacred Number Two, God without eyes and without self, God of pure beauty and flawlessness—
“I am you…”
As the mirror surface emitted a radiant glow, Eivass directly rushed into the mirror.
The other Eivass in the mirror rushed out, and the two voices overlapped instantly: “You are me—”
The shadow turned into reality, and the body turned into a bubble void.
An alternate Eivass with scarlet pupils appeared from the mirror.
—It was mentioned before that the three attribute Mana Pools of the Child of the Moon form are not one-to-one with Eivass’s human form. Instead, all of them are added together and then divided by three.
In other words, after Eivass switches to the Child of the Moon form, the remaining Mana of the other two attributes that he hasn’t used up can be balanced out to supplement the missing part.
Eivass’s Mana Pool was 52 points of Light attribute, 44 points of Dark attribute, and 55 points of Fire attribute.
Averaged out, it was exactly enough to fill it!
Then Eivass placed the two Tarot Cards face down together, with their faces touching.
Dark attribute Mana poured in like a vortex… After exceeding five points of Mana, the cards were completely torn apart. This was also why overly precious card-making materials were not needed.
And a dark purple, faintly visible card outline was held in Eivass’s hand.
Then Eivass began to chant again, summoning the Twin Mirror for the second time:
“I implore the Twin Mirror! God of Sacred Number Two, God without eyes and without self, God of pure beauty and flawlessness—
“Please watch over my soul, keep it pure like a mirror surface…”
“—I respectfully summon the Fallen Heavenly Envoy!”
Eivass declared loudly without hesitation: “Heavenly Envoy of Great Sin, Fallen Heavenly Envoy!
“I have clarified my sins, and I am willing to bear the Mark of Jealousy!”
The prayer terminated on its own due to the error, but two distinct auras had already surged into Eivass’s hand in the Child of the Moon state—
Update complete!
Six thousand characters are not finished yet… I originally planned to finish it all at once today and ask for leave tomorrow. It seems I can’t ask for leave tomorrow. It’s not good to ask for leave here, so I won’t ask for leave tomorrow and will continue updating.
I’ll ask for leave after finishing this section!
Then I’ll sacrifice a book. It was written by a book friend. To extend Cat Cat’s life!
