Chapter 500
I Am the Holy Communion, This is Mercy
As the Ouroboros Ring ritual unfolded, Eivass felt his consciousness gradually being drawn out.
The Ouroboros Ring ritual, after being supplemented by the Shepherd’s Method, felt as if it had completed a crucial missing piece. The Shepherd’s Method within him automatically circulated, constantly drawing mana and life force into the void.
Eivass felt a strange sense of dizziness, as if he had fallen asleep in a bathtub.
When Eivass awoke again, he witnessed a peculiar sight—
He was suspended in the chaotic, dark void, his feet not touching the ground.
In front of Eivass, a strange door, gradually lighting up, appeared.
It was a circular door formed by a scarlet light flow. It resembled a sunset with its heart scooped out, or a golden-red sun mostly obscured by an eclipse. It was slowly and steadily rotating, its edges emitting intense heat, evaporating golden-red flame streams.
—Just like the ring that appeared on Lancelot’s chest.
Eivass gazed at it, but always felt as if something was missing.
In an instant, Eivass had an epiphany and turned to look behind him.
Behind him, there was another “door.”
It was a crystal snake, biting its own tail, forming the symbol “∞” through its coiled form.
Judging by its oval-shaped head, it was likely a non-venomous snake. The crystal snake was overall breathtakingly beautiful purple, translucent throughout, with a slight gradient of cyan, red, and yellow.
“…Void Fire, and the Infinite Serpent?”
Eivass murmured.
The Art of Pasturing was a Mystical Art that originated from the Ring Heavenly Envoy.
The power of Devotion and Transcendence left behind by the Transcendent Path Heavenly Envoy…
Thinking this, Eivass reached out his hand, nervously yet resolutely, and touched it.
As his hand touched the crystal snake, ripples spread out as if his fingertips had lightly touched a lake. The snake seemed to recoil slightly, its beautiful crystal scales contracting and expanding; its rotation sped up slightly.
Modifying the parameters of a ritual while it was in progress was extremely dangerous. A slight misstep could result in being torn apart by the uncontrolled ritual. Eivass dared to do this because, after obtaining the Book of Law, the knowledge of the Ouroboros Ring ritual was etched into his brain, as if he himself were its inventor.
Before Eivass “took it out,” he would not forget a single iota of it.
The color on the surface of the giant purple snake changed slightly—it had been changed by Eivass from an Envoy pointing towards the Path of Love to an “Apostle pointing towards the Path of Authority.”
The Ouroboros Ring was a forbidden ritual capable of pulling down Heavenly Envoys. However, pulling down an Apostle would require a much smaller price, and the ritual’s stability would also improve. At least it shouldn’t cause Lancelot to drop dead on the spot…
But as Eivass was focused on modifying the ritual.
He suddenly heard a voice.
“I am the secret serpent, coiled in a snare: and within this coiling, there is delight.”
…What?
Eivass was momentarily stunned.
These were words from the Shepherd’s Secret Manual.
—Even though he had never heard it before, he immediately felt… that it must be the voice of the Ring Heavenly Envoy!
It was a strange voice, different from that of a Sacred Entity, one he had never heard before.
And His voice continued to resound:
“Red is one extreme, and purple is another. My eyes gleam with red light, and my raiment is purple.”
Hearing this, Eivass suddenly realized what the red “door” was.
It was the snake’s eye!
It was the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s eye!
He was currently meeting the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s gaze. Turning back, he saw Its body. Undoubtedly, this was not a complete and continuous space.
Then, Eivass heard a soft chuckle.
—Or rather, he assumed it was a chuckle.
“When the world changes and cycles, worldly affairs remain eternally unchanged.
“The righteous shall remain righteous, the defiled shall remain defiled. Kings will always be kings, and slaves will always be slaves.
“None shall rise, none shall fall, and all things shall remain unchanged. The universe is already solidified, like an Amber Egg; the world shall cycle eternally, just like the Ouroboros Ring.”
The Ring Heavenly Envoy’s voice softened, as if narrating something.
But then, Eivass suddenly felt an immense sense of crisis.
Because the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s voice abruptly became high-pitched and passionate, a strong sense of intoxication permeated Eivass’s body.
The voice continued, “When the serpent ascends into your heart, the kiss of the stars shall pour into your body.
“Sacred Number eleven, this is the variable! Elevate yourself! Your body shall rise above the stars—”
Hearing this, Eivass panicked, and his fingertips, in contact with the crystal snake, suddenly released.
The chaotic sounds in his ears instantly disappeared.
However, his right arm’s skin, where it had touched the crystal snake, now bore a few fine amethyst snake scales.
“…You want my body?”
Eivass’s lips curled slightly, “I won’t give it to you.”
Although he roughly understood the motivation behind the Ring Heavenly Envoy becoming the Ring Heavenly Envoy… it had nothing to do with Eivass.
Yet, he also felt confused—this was just an Ascension Ritual, everything was just a simulation. Even if his body were taken, what then?
Or perhaps, this was the Ring Heavenly Envoy simulated by the Lord of Scales and Feathers? Was he revealing some secret to him…
At this time, Eivass had already finished modifying the ritual. After he could no longer hear the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s voice, he was instantly kicked out.
When he awoke again, he saw Lancelot I kneeling on the ground, his face contorted in pain—almost infinite power was continuously pouring into his body.
His forehead was covered in fine sweat, but this founding knight’s gaze was resolute and silent, without a single complaint.
This power was too vast, even capable of breaking through the limit of energy levels. But Lancelot’s body seemed to be overloading within the ritual…
White smoke was rising from his flushed skin, and liquid power flowed within him like flames.
It was as if a luminous creature was moving beneath his skin, occasionally forming a large bulge that moved rapidly before sinking back into his body.
“Shepherd… I don’t know if I can call you that…”
Suddenly, Lancelot, enduring the pain, spoke, “I’ve seen your portrait… I’ve also heard the secret of the Art of Pasturing. I know your soul can enter the body of a Phantom Demon…”
Upon hearing this, Eivass looked down.
Lancelot slowly stood up, his voice becoming slow yet clear, “I feel it, the one pulled into my body by this ritual… is not a Knight of the Crown Lord, but an Apostle of the Bear Heavenly Envoy.
“It would be troublesome if my body were given to her, so…”
“—I give my body to you.”
“That’s impossible, isn’t it.”
Eivass laughed helplessly.
Of course, he didn’t want the Bear Heavenly Envoy’s Apostle to descend either—he himself was still marked by the Bear Heavenly Envoy. If It descended, Eivass would be the first to be beaten.
However, Eivass wasn’t particularly afraid. After all, Isabel had likely received the message he sent and was heading to the Church at full speed.
What he needed to do was stall for time—stall the completion of the Ouroboros Ring, as well as the destruction caused by the descent of Heavenly Envoys or Apostles.
Although both the Shepherd’s Method and the Ouroboros Ring were powers of the Ring Heavenly Envoy, and the Shepherd had once pulled down a Fallen Heavenly Envoy…
“…Wait?”
At this moment, Eivass suddenly froze.
—Speaking of which, how did the Shepherd pull down the Fallen Heavenly Envoy?
Within the Art of Pasturing… was there a capability to bring down a Heavenly Envoy to the mortal realm?
Suddenly, Eivass recalled what the Ring Heavenly Envoy had just said:
“—When I ascend into your heart, the kiss of the stars shall pour into your body.”
Suddenly, Eivass thought of his first Ascension Ritual again.
After Eivass committed suicide during the ritual, he did not die. His soul still attached itself to the Hooked Demon Corpse, which had evolved into a Deformed, and he could even control its body to act.
The Shepherd could indeed transfer their soul into a Phantom Demon’s body.
If one died during the Art of Pasturing ritual, they would…
Thinking this, Eivass’s pupils contracted sharply.
The Shepherd of that year…
Did he really die?
If the one pulled down was not the Fallen Heavenly Envoy, but some other ritual, not the Art of Pasturing or the Ouroboros Ring?
The Ouroboros Ring ritual was to stuff a Heavenly Envoy’s soul into a Material Realm body; because of this, once pulled down by the Ouroboros Ring ritual, one could not be reborn from the Dream Realm before death, and even if reborn, one would lose their authority. But the Fallen Heavenly Envoy could successfully return, which indicated that It was pulled down in a Phantom Demon body, which was clearly not the same ritual.
…And if pulled down in a Phantom Demon body.
The Shepherd’s Method could insert the Shepherd’s soul into a Phantom Demon body.
In the end, was it truly the Fallen Heavenly Envoy who returned?
Why couldn’t it be the Shepherd?
—Why was the Ring Heavenly Envoy so targeting the Fallen Heavenly Envoy? And insisted on pulling it down with the Ouroboros Ring ritual?
The Ring Heavenly Envoy went to such lengths, plotting for hundreds of years…
The Shepherd was a believer of the Ring Heavenly Envoy.
According to the Shepherd’s Secret Manual, the Shepherd, in line with the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s plan, raised demons in the Material Realm and finally sacrificed all his followers, pulling down the Fallen Heavenly Envoy. He attempted to sacrifice the Fallen Heavenly Envoy to himself, and was thus backlashed by the Shepherd’s Method, losing all his power…
But what if this ending was false?
Or rather, from an outsider’s perspective, it was like this… but in reality, he didn’t sacrifice the Fallen Heavenly Envoy to himself, but sacrificed himself to the Fallen Heavenly Envoy, his soul thus returning to the Dream Realm along with the Fallen Heavenly Envoy.
So was the Shepherd a traitor? Or perhaps it wasn’t an active betrayal, but a plan that failed… or maybe it succeeded? Was this the outcome the Ring Heavenly Envoy wanted?
If that was the case…
“…No, I might actually be able to do it.”
Eivass said in a low voice.
At that time, when he touched that purple ring, the Ouroboros Ring suddenly turned red. If the Shepherd’s Method was the special condition to activate the Ouroboros Ring ritual…
Just like his first Ascension Ritual, he could enter the body of the Heavenly Envoy pulled down by the Ouroboros Ring!
However, if it failed… he might truly die. If one truly died during an Ascension Ritual, they would suffer severe damage in reality.
Because whether it was Lancelot I, or some Apostle pulled down, they might not be able to be identified as Phantom Demons…
Thinking thus, Eivass looked at Lancelot I.
He suddenly realized another thing.
From Lancelot’s perspective, he didn’t know what was going to happen next.
He didn’t know if he would be annihilated, or serve as Eivass’s nourishment, or if his soul would rise to the Dream Realm, or if he would be unharmed. He had watched over hundreds of years in the dark Shadow Realm, only to return to the human world. And now that he had just returned, his body was being taken away…
Even so, he had no complaints. No madness, no weeping, but instead voluntarily gave his body to Eivass. Only to prevent the Bear Heavenly Envoy’s Apostle from using his body to harm the citizens of Avalon, whom he now completely didn’t recognize or understand.
The Ascension Ritual was indeed a simulation. Because in terms of results, it was a fabricated story.
But everyone within it, from their own perspective, was real. Their sacrifices, all their resolve, were real. And Eivass, conversely, hesitated because “it was fake”… even though the risks he bore were far less than Lancelot’s.
If Lancelot, who was not of the Path of Devotion, could do it, then why couldn’t I?
…How ridiculous.
Could I, like this, be considered a devotee?
—In a trance, Eivass gained a deeper understanding of the Path of Devotion.
The essence of the Path of Devotion was sacrifice, but sacrifice did not necessarily have to be meaningful.
It was a strong fire, burning eternally fiercely.
When something happened before his eyes, even if he knew he couldn’t stop it, even if he knew he could do nothing, he had to step up.
Simply because he could not bear to witness a tragedy unfold before him.
Clearly, from the very beginning, Eivass was such a person.
When he initially saved Isabel and Sherlock from the Ascension Ritual, he had no idea what would happen if he died. He wasn’t familiar with them either; they were just a group of strangers. And at that time, Eivass could have sacrificed his life for them without hesitation.
When did it start… that he began to pursue “sacrificial efficiency”? That his sacrifices and devotion became timid?
Now his Transcendence Heart grew stronger, but the Devotion Flame, which was bright from the beginning, gradually dimmed.
He was becoming selfish.
It would take multiple moments of recapturing the initial inspiration to allow his Path to temporarily return to balance.
Now, this was a “trial.”
Eivass picked up the dagger and slowly clenched it.
“…Feast in silence, my lamb.”
Taking a deep breath, Eivass said in a low voice.
He gripped the Arondight Dagger, aimed it at his own heart, and waited for the Ouroboros Ring ritual to end.
Seeing his action, Lancelot finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He slowly gave up his resistance and finally nodded at Eivass, “It’s up to you…”
Eivass watched as Lancelot’s black pupils gradually turned a frenzied scarlet.
With the resolve to die, Eivass slowly pushed the dagger into his heart.
Feeling the cold blade cutting through flesh, he trembled in pain, his voice hoarse and low:
Gazing at the intensifying killing intent as he looked at him.
Eivass enunciated each word of the Shepherd’s Secret Manual’s secret incantation:
“—I Am the Holy Communion, This is Mercy.”
(End of Chapter)
