Chapter 839
The Death of Eivass
“Such a thing as pride…”
Noel subconsciously wanted to retort.
But after a moment of silence, she took a deep breath, bit her lip, and nodded: “Perhaps you’re right…”
To this day, there was no point in self-deception.
She was merely avoiding the problem, or rather… she was simply seeking death.
Upon realizing her mistake, Noel did not continue to evade.
“…Perhaps I’m not just running on courage.”
She said in a low voice, her words cutting like a sharp scalpel to her own vital point: “Rather… quite the opposite, I’m seeking courage through this method – if I can survive even this life-or-death crisis, perhaps I can persist through despair until dawn. After all, dull knives cutting flesh are always more painful than sharp blades.”
“Hmph, it’s good that you understand.”
Eivass looked at the re-energized Noel, his lips curving slightly. “However, this is a New Moon Ritual. Let me state clearly, I will not—I will kill you when it’s time to kill you.”
“No matter. It should be so. But let me state clearly, I will never submit to slaughter. When you say ‘I no longer need to cooperate with you,’ we will fight. But I swear, I will never sneak attack you… and I equally hope you will not do so to me.”
“I swear in the name of the Candlemaster,” Eivass nodded and replied seriously.
After speaking, he turned back to the guests.
After Andrea was petrified by him, the guests had regained their composure. However, their expressions had shifted from “joyful” to “unjoyful,” and they no longer danced on the dance floor.
It was evident that the painting had tilted towards “Friends Who No Longer Laugh,” and the music had returned to its initial sorrowful and slow melody.
And an anomaly of this degree was itself a hint—
If allowing the banquet to proceed as usual and completing the [Celebration and Revelry] would correspond to “Laughing Friends” or “Endless Feast,” meaning the story would be defined as “everyone revels together, celebrating the Banquet Master’s ascension to Disc”; then, if everyone was killed, completing the mission [Madness and Slaughter] would correspond to “Friends Who No Longer Laugh,” meaning “After the death of Zagreus, those who killed him or those who came to celebrate were drawn in and all slaughtered”…
—Then what would [Funeral and Sacrifice] correspond to?
“Wait, sacrifice…”
Eivass suddenly looked at the pure white bust of the Candlemaster, his pupils narrowing slightly.
He realized what that choice entailed—
If Cain was fake and Sasha was fake, yet they both appeared at this banquet together… apart from this being a “ruse to lure everyone in and kill them,” there was another, opposite explanation.
Sasha’s appearance also differed from Sister Sasha… this could be interpreted as her not being Sasha at all, but rather “an actress playing Sister Sasha”!
Then, following this line of thought, it could explain why Cain was so weak.
Because this was originally a grand ritual.
The essence of Transcendent Path Mystical Art—Ritual Arts—was to use the weak to represent the strong. By means of a low-ranking “symbol,” information was confused within a specific domain, thus serving as a substitute for the high-ranking entity within the Dream Realm, which only processed information!
[“—Imitate what others do, until others do as you do, and the spectators cannot distinguish between them.”]
Eivass remembered that this was the basic principle recorded on the title page of “Ordinary Ritual Studies.”
Although he could already perform grand rituals, and a Sin Scholar had amplifying abilities for rituals, Eivass actually had few opportunities to use them. Basically, the rituals he initiated were either Ascension Rituals or auxiliary rituals to seal Phantom Demons. This was because he did not have the need for “using the weak to overcome the strong.” If he truly did, the Phantom Demons he had sealed would have been enough to contend with them, allowing him to become “the stronger party.”
Now, Eivass’s mind recalled much of the knowledge of Ritual Studies.
A funeral—was itself a sacred ritual. Through this method, immensely powerful souls could find rest. Even the dead of the Fifth Tier or Sixth Tier could be sent off by completing a funeral.
The question then arose… a ritual that could influence the Sixth Tier in the Material Realm, what was it imitating? And what was it confusing? Where did the sleeping ritual meant to prevent the birth of the undead originate? Who was the first dead person to be buried? Why could its soul rest? Why could the earth contain its soul?
“…Amber.”
Eivass murmured.
—The first to be buried in the earth was “Taboo.”
The so-called earth that allowed souls to rest was [Amber]!
If that were the case… the winged little girl curled up and slumbering within a crystal of amber might not be Amber at all.
But rather, [Taboo]!!
The shell wrapped around her was the amber!
Even Taboo remained silent when buried, so how could mortal souls resist this natural principle?
Given that the sacredness of “funerals” could extend to the domain of Pillar Gods—or even be a reenactment of the Pillar Gods’ affairs—it meant that rituals concerning funerals could themselves involve Pillar Gods…
Thinking of this, Eivass glanced once more at the pure white bust of the Candlemaster, with its strange smile.
“I understand…” Eivass took a deep breath, feeling a momentary palpitation for this Ascension Ritual.
He suddenly took a few steps forward, standing beneath the statue of the Candlemaster, and addressed the silent guests:
“The Host is dead… I will preside over the funeral now.”
The young Pope said, his voice resonant.
Upon hearing this, smiles bloomed once more on the faces of the guests.
Eivass looked at Crown Princess Noel. “Please give me a silver knife.”
“A Ritual Knife? All right…”
Noel, though she didn’t quite understand what Mr. “Sun” intended to do, reached for the silver dinner plate on the table. Her pupils shone with a bright yellow light, and the silver dinner plate melted into a sharp, silver ritual knife in her hand.
Eivass examine it from left to right, then used it to cut open his own wrists.
Upon seeing this, the guests grew excited. They gathered around Eivass, while Noel completely failed to grasp what was happening.
But the next moment, she suddenly let out a horrified shriek—
—Only to see Eivass plunge the ritual knife into his own eye sockets, gouging out his own eyes!
“As the Banquet Master, I offer my merciful eyes…” Eivass’s voice became compassionate and ethereal. His right eye suddenly sprouted branches, blossoming into a white flower.
“And we, as the Banquet Master’s subjects, offer our flesh and blood.”
The people echoed in unison: “To the Endless Feast!”
Someone knelt before Eivass, guiding the sightless Eivass and placing his hand on their neck. The next moment, Eivass slit their throat with a single stroke.
His blood did not fall to the ground. Instead, a wisp of golden Divine Blood flowed backward and upwards—drawn out and sprinkled upon the white bust of the Candlemaster!
The sacred statue of the Candlemaster, stained with a few drops of blood, began to emit a radiance. This was certainly not achievable by mortal blood.
Noel’s pupils trembled violently. “This… why?”
“Because they ate the flesh and blood of the Banquet Master,” Eivass replied, continuously beheading people mechanically, “It is now time to repay.”
This was the Candlemaster’s ritual.
“The Banquet Master wished to ascend to the Dream Realm, so he mercifully convened his final banquet—distributing his flesh and blood to the guests.” Eivass replied, at the same time narrating his understanding of this painting. “He held a dragon-slaying ceremony and died in battle. In accordance with his dying wish, his flesh and blood were consumed by the dragon-slaying heroes. That was the dragons’… ‘Hero’s Feast.’ They bore no enmity towards the Banquet Master; on the contrary, they admired his magnanimity. Therefore, after Sister Sasha completed her self-sacrifice and ascended to the Dream Realm, these friends who had tasted dragon blood and dragon meat gathered together. In order for them to ascend to the Dream Realm together and participate in the ‘Endless Feast’ convened by the Banquet Master, they prepared a ritual—imitation and reenactment of Sister Sasha’s ritual. A sacred funeral… a sacrifice of self-offering. And since it was imitating Sister Sasha’s ritual, someone had to be the blind Host. She was not here to host a dance party, but to lure the souls of the guests into the banquet…”
In this way, the Banquet Master would become whole again. All the flesh and blood offered in the past had been returned, and He would become even more sacred than before.
Only one aspect was different. A piece of the Banquet Master’s liver had been secretly hidden by one of the guests, which was why He had never been complete.
—That was not the “Liver of the Fool,” but the “Liver of the Banquet Master”!
“This is not a painting with flawed details, but truly ‘history’ that has occurred… I was too arrogant.”
By the time all the guests were killed, the Candlemaster’s statue was still not fully smeared with blood. The guests killed by Andrea did indeed affect Eivass—without that strike, it should have been just enough.
Eivass sighed. He handed the blood-stained ritual knife to the Crown Princess, who was already somewhat stunned, and said calmly, “Have you ever skinned anything? Do me a favor.”
“…No… no…”
“It’s alright, it’s not difficult. Cut off my hands, cut off my feet, peel off a piece of skin from my back, and then kill me—the remaining blood should be enough. My divinity should be sufficient for this ritual.” Eivass said gently. “Don’t worry, this isn’t you betraying me… this is my own request.”
“…Are you preparing to… resurrect?” The Crown Princess clutched the ritual knife, her hands trembling uncontrollably. “Kill me to… resurrect?” The little rationality she had left could not comprehend Eivass’s insane actions. “Do you… want to win this badly?”
“Without the determination to win, how can you face all the hardships of this world?” Eivass retorted.
He gave an encouraging smile. “If you don’t want me to crawl out of your corpse, then just live on. —If I cannot wake up, I will bless you in the Dream Realm, Madam.”
(End of this Chapter)
