The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 409

Chapter 409
Great Sin Card: Night Demon (Two Chapters in One)
As Eivass chanted, the space around him instantly fell into complete silence.
Colors as beautiful as oil paints spread through the space. Eivass’s “contrast” suddenly began to rise sharply, making him appear vibrant and prominent.
In the next moment, beautiful red appeared on Eivass’s right neck, left chest, and abdomen.
This was not the dark red of blood, but more like tomato sauce, or liquid fire.
In an instant, Eivass’s entire being shattered, and his style and tone returned to normal, along with his voice.
His entire body was now covered in shallow cracks that were about to split. An ethereal and void-like aura from the Twin Mirrors seeped out from the wounds all over his body, and the cracks were all infused with white radiance.
Those three wounds were three doorways.
Like three moons with different phases, they exuded clear moonlight as they revolved.
The dark and cold aura of the Fallen Heavenly Envoy seeped in from below Eivass, constantly intertwining with the moonlight and filling the outline of the ethereal purple card.
The black and purple auras entwined, constantly harmonizing, condensing, and gathering.
Eivass softly called out the Night Demon’s name: “Night Demon… Viness, my little crow.
“I call your name now, and bestow upon you the brand of envy.
“From this moment on, my life shall be your life, my fate shall be your fate…
“—Obey me, phantom demon of the Transcendent Path!”
Eivass, in his Child of the Moon form, had a soft and hoarse voice, like a whisper in the night.
Then, Eivass and the Night Demon simultaneously froze. The surroundings once again became silent and gradually darkened, with only the colors of Eivass and the Night Demon becoming clear and vibrant. It was like jewelry reflecting in the moonlight under a completely dark night sky.
Eivass’s pupils were a similar scarlet to the Night Demon’s. The moment they met each other’s gaze, a black, ethereal chain emerged from Eivass’s heart and pierced into the Night Demon’s body.
This was a chain constructed from Eivass’s “soul” and “fate.”
It was not something sturdy. Quite the opposite… it was an extremely fragile chain that needed to be carefully nurtured.
If the Night Demon struggled with all her might, simply breaking this chain would be enough to heavily injure Eivass instantly.
But she offered no resistance; instead, she stood still, allowing Eivass to connect with her soul and achieve resonance.
In an instant, Eivass’s vision went black, and his entire being plunged into the empty depths of space.
When Eivass opened his eyes again, he found himself on the familiar yet unfamiliar streets of the Empire.
But standing on the street was not the Beyad that Eivass knew, but a black-haired girl even younger than Yulia.
The young girl walked alone in the rain. Her wet pupils were clear and soft, trembling like an abandoned puppy. She wore a thin but delicate white dress and a wide-brimmed straw hat. She held out her hands to press down on her hat, yet her long hair was still getting wet from the rain.
People coming and going would naturally avoid Beyad when they saw her.
She walked forward in confusion. Those much taller than her formed two human walls, blocking the entire world in the misty rain. The street seemed endless, and no matter how far she walked, she couldn’t reach the end. The figures on both sides seemed to stretch to the edge of the world, and no matter how she looked up, she couldn’t see the boundaries.
The only sound in the entire world was the rain, and no one spoke to her.
The girl walked and walked, and at some point, she transformed into a lady with a stern face and elegant demeanor. It was still raining heavily outside. The streets on both sides changed subtly.
She wore a long dress, with a servant holding an umbrella behind her. She still walked among the crowd, and the crowd still parted to form two human walls on either side.
But as she walked on the street, no one still responded to her.
She walked further and further, then stopped, transforming into the Child of the Moon with scarlet pupils. The servant behind her disappeared. Her slender, fair fingers were placed by her mouth, silent.
At some point, the rain around them had turned into blood rain. The dense crowds on the street gradually thinned, and the shops on both sides of the street became dilapidated.
Just then, a shadow suddenly rushed from behind her, grabbed her, and pulled her forward.
That shadow was like her, contaminated by shadow, with two-thirds of her body becoming a black silhouette. On her originally fair face, only one eye remained. The other eye had turned into a dangerous red light shining in the black shadow.
It was another self!
She stumbled forward, following the rapidly moving shadow, but a rare smile appeared on her face.
She happily chatted with the other party about something… but the shadow walked faster and faster, and she gradually couldn’t keep up. Then, smiling, she chose to give up and let go.
When the shadow suddenly felt a lightness in her hand and turned back, she had already turned into a pool of blood, melting into the blood rain.
Those two human walls had completely disappeared. The world became so clean.
The blood rain fell to the ground. The Shadow Demon remained in a posture of looking back, bathed alone in the blood rain.
The street was empty. The once prosperous street was now nothing but ruins after a war.
Pure smoke, like black dry ice, emanated from her body. Two lines of blood slid down her face, whether tears or rain.
At this moment, she rubbed her eyes and looked up at the sunless, moonless night sky, shielding her eyes with her hand.
She opened her mouth, but in the end, she said nothing.
Because it was unnecessary.
There was no one around her. No one cared about her existence.
More tragic than rage was that even rage had turned into nothingness.
Just then, someone gently patted her shoulder.
The Shadow Demon turned back, half alert, half expectant, and saw the white-robed priest holding a black umbrella.
The hem of Eivass’s robe was soaked in blood, like waves. The shadow cast by the umbrella revealed only his lower jaw.
His lips revealed a slight upward curve. He lowered his head, chuckled softly, moved his mouth to say something, and slightly shifted his umbrella forward.
—It was just a tiny bit.
Without getting himself rained on, he made a small space.
When the Shadow Demon turned back, she quickly began to transform back into her previous appearance.
Shadow Demon, Child of the Moon, Lady, Little Girl…
Finally, she transformed back into that trembling girl in the white dress and turned back to hug Eivass.
Eivass did not reach out to hug her back, but only lowered his gaze, compassionate and gentle.
“Viness, my little crow.”
Eivass’s voice, for the first time, was clearly heard from the blood-soaked night.
In the next moment, a curtain of red seemed to fall again.
The entire world was submerged in a sea of blood.
When Eivass woke up again, he found himself in a labyrinth of layered mirrors.
Countless shattered mirrors surrounded him, and in each mirror was a fragment of Viness, or rather, Beyad, from different periods.
They all looked at Eivass, smiling with different degrees of sincerity.
Eivass raised his hand.
Not reaching forward, but held high.
A giant, horizontal black magic circle instantly formed on the ground and rapidly rose upwards.
Under the projection of the magic circle, the illusory images in the mirrors instantly disappeared.
The magic circle rapidly flew towards the sky, and a crow pattern materialized in the sky.
A black circular stamp was imprinted on the central circle, covering the crow.
In an instant, the magic circle began to collapse from the outermost ring.
It shrunk ring by ring, until only the black ring, about one person tall, remained in the center.
The crow pattern inside spread its wings slightly, raised its head, and let out a silent, excited cry.
Eivass opened his eyes again, only to find that the Night Demon had disappeared at some point.
The crow ring, now only a palm in diameter, hovered horizontally in front of Eivass, parallel to the ground.
And two brand-new Tarot Cards, one above and one below, were slowly imprinted from the void and appeared above and below the ring.
Black lightning connected the two cards, like some magnetic force drawing them closer together.
The original Lovers card depicted a naked man and woman drawn together under the guidance of an angel, with two trees symbolizing fertility and taboo behind them.
The newly born Lovers card depicted an Emperor and Empress, like puppets, approaching each other under the strings of a white-robed wizard. The card faces were mirror images, similar yet opposite. Countless overlapping doors opened around them, and a shining, illuminated path appeared behind them.
The Devil card originally depicted a long-horned demon with red skin sitting on a throne. It looked at the slaves bound by chains and controlled by it, with a cruel smile. The slaves had grown the symbols of the demon—horns and tails.
The newly born Devil card, however, was simply a three-eyed white goat standing on a giant phallus. Its spiraling horns resembled two DNA strands, pointing towards the sky.
Finally, as the two cards gradually formed and became clear, they slowly moved closer together.
The moment the two cards combined tightly, they suddenly erupted with brilliant radiance.
It transformed into a thin card like black crystal.
On the card face, a crow shape was drawn in blood-red.
Cold, cruel, mysterious.
It spun, then obediently stopped in front of Eivass.
Eivass extended his right hand, gently tapped the card, and wrote his name on it.
Its attributes immediately appeared.
[Great Sin: Night Demon (The Lovers, The Devil)]
[Level: 50]
[Transcendent Path, Attribute: Dark]
Sixth Tier, High-level Phantom Demon.
True destructive power—a powerful helper to defeat the Fallen Heavenly Envoy!
Eivass took a deep breath, suppressing his excitement, and examined the card’s attributes.
Great Sin cards cannot be “burned” to restore usage count, but their front and back can be used once each per day.
Typically, the upright position has an effect close to a spell, while the reversed position summons the main body.
As expected, the front effect of this card was a spell effect—
[Upright Summon: Nightmare Mirror]
[Cost: Dark 5]
[Instant, Non-contact, Immediate Effect]
[Effect: The Night Demon’s power invades the target mirror surface, creating a mirror image of oneself; the mirror image can cast spells, has an independent Mana Pool, but cannot make sounds, move, use items, or cause any type of damage; the mirror image lasts for one minute. When it shatters actively or is shattered by others, it will deal Shadow/Corruption/Curse type damage to its surroundings or the one who shattered it. The damage type can be switched at will, defaulting to the type with the lowest resistance of the target.]
[Reverse Summon: Night Demon]
[Cost: Dark 5]
[Maintenance: Dark 5 * Daily]
[Action, Summon]
[Effect: Summons the Beast of Envy, Night Demon, to fight for you. The Night Demon is considered a summoned creature. In non-combat state, the Beast of Envy, Night Demon, can transform into a night crow and enter follower mode. Only one Beast of Sin can exist at a time simultaneously.]
Like other Great Sin cards, its mana consumption was a steadfast five points.
The reverse effect was a normal summon, just like calling the little butterfly.
As for the upright effect… Eivass glanced at it and found it interesting.
If Eivass understood correctly, this skill meant it could create a spell-casting totem.
Although it couldn’t “cause damage,” it could heal!
It could heal and buff. It could also draw cards with Eivass, which, when rounded up, was equivalent to dual-line operation… except the mirror image couldn’t cause damage and shattered at a touch.
But even if it shattered at a touch, it didn’t matter—because if someone attacked it and it was shattered, then even if that enemy was far from the mirror image, they would suffer a counterattack!
If you don’t interrupt it, it stands there healing people, dispelling, or buffing; if you interrupt it, it launches a powerful adaptive counterattack!
And looking at the “independent Mana Pool,” it seemed the mirror image could cast spells without consuming Eivass’s own mana!
Triggered actively, it could also be detonated directly to cause area-of-effect damage!
“…This is a PVP skill.”
Eivass’s eyes widened, and he exclaimed with satisfaction.
Unlike the Flame Butterfly, which could be used repeatedly like the little butterfly provided, it leaned towards extreme bursts of power.
Its only drawback was probably that the mirror image couldn’t move.
And if used well… for example, combined with “Shadow Cloak” for control removal and invisibility, it might even mislead enemies into thinking he had used teleportation. This way, it could absorb damage and act as a decoy…
Anyway, the effect of this spell was an “instant” effect “non-action” spell. This meant Eivass only needed a thought for it to take effect, without needing to point at any mirror.
It was just that the little butterfly would have to be slightly wronged.
Eivass couldn’t have the Flame Butterfly in its travel form and the night crow follow him at the same time… he could only have one travel-form Great Beast follow him.
Compared to the little butterfly, the Night Demon, whose combat power was already established, was more suitable for following.
Not to mention, Eivass still lacked a constant supervisor like the Shadow Demon. The little butterfly lacked vigilance, and the night crow could supplement this.
Before summoning the night crow, Eivass first took out his Book of Law and sent this card into it.
The count in Eivass’s “Book of Law” immediately jumped up by two notches, reaching (7/21).
Eivass’s “card burning” usable count also changed from once a day to twice.
Just then, the Book of Law suddenly underwent a change—
It suddenly bloomed with gorgeous radiance, and the extraordinary characteristic that originally read “Unlocked after registering seven Phantom Cards” suddenly appeared.
[Extraordinary Characteristic: At the cost of one registered Phantom Card that is not in cooldown, the effects of Great Sin Cards with the same attribute will be strengthened.]
This is…
“Great Sin Enhancement!”
Eivass’s eyes widened in surprise.
—As expected of my Book of Law, every entry is top-notch!
Update complete!
At least the ritual is finished. I think I’ll need to take a leave tomorrow. My body can’t hold on any longer. I need to restore my sleep schedule…