Lord of The Mysterious Realms-Chapter 47: Sacrifice
"Frost Punch!"
With everything falling into place, a new ability manifested!
He slammed his fist into the levitating statue, but the immense recoil sent him sprawling to the ground. The statue seemed to freeze for an instant, only to recover a moment later.
A low whisper slithered into his ears, and strange, nonsensical thoughts began to seep into his mind. By the time he snapped out of it, Jenkins found himself lying at the feet of the phantom.
"Sacrifice!"
Captain Bincy's voice, along with many other anxious calls, reached him from afar, as if piercing through a dense fog. The sounds were muffled, but they triggered a memory—a conversation he'd had with Papa Oliver.
He reached into his coat and, with a trembling hand, drew his ritual silver dagger. On the soft, rain-soaked earth, he carved the holy emblem of the Goddess.
"May the Legacy Sage protect me. I offer the divinity of this false god to you. May your light illuminate the path before me."
The words had barely left his lips when Jenkins, his head still bowed, felt a gaze descend from the heavens, as tangible as a physical touch. It was as gentle and vast as ever, but this time, it seemed to carry a hint of joy.
Jenkins lay on his back in the rain as the statue fell from above, landing on his stomach. It was completely dark, its light extinguished.
"Are you alright?"
Captain Bincy appeared over Jenkins, shielding him from the sky and the rain.
Jenkins shook his head and took the captain's offered hand to pull himself up. A circle of figures, each glowing with an inner light, cautiously surrounded the desiccated corpse. The ritual had been interrupted, and the cultist seemed to be clinging to life.
Jenkins even spotted Mr. Barnard, whom he hadn't seen in ages. He appeared to be unharmed.
"I think I know what part of the file on A-01-2-0198 they couldn't tell us," Jenkins murmured. "I don't dare to think about where those three white flowers I ate actually came from."
Bincy just smiled and pressed a finger to his lips, signaling for Jenkins to say no more.
"Is it over?"
"It's over. What a long night it's been."
Bincy smiled, patting Jenkins on the shoulder. More and more Enchanters from the Orthodox Churches were appearing along the street, and the heavy rain finally seemed to be slowing the spread of the fire.
"What time is it?"
Jenkins asked suddenly. Bincy just shrugged.
"I always thought that after the main villain is defeated, the hero gets to smile at the rising sun and a rainbow."
"Is that thing's influence still scrambling your brain? Don't be ridiculous. The night is far from over."
Captain Bincy was exasperated.
Indeed, the long, dark night still shrouded Nolan City.
The fire at the Church of Knowledge and Books nearly sparked riots across Nolan City. However, that night, thanks to the tireless efforts of our dedicated firefighters and the comprehensive, well-coordinated response of the Nolan municipal government, the flames were quickly extinguished, and countless innocent lives were saved.
Certain individuals with ulterior motives—namely, cultists of a false god—attempted to use the chaos to incite a riot. Their plans were naive and their actions laughable. The Nolan City Police Department seized the opportunity to apprehend the notorious criminal Brute, who had a three-thousand-pound bounty on his head. He is currently being held in a secure, undisclosed location, awaiting judgment under the laws of the Kingdom.
The above was the summary of last night's events that Jenkins read in the newspaper. Very objective.
The days of rain did not cease in celebration of the cult's foiled plot. The next day, Nolan City was still beset by a light, persistent drizzle.
Captain Bincy, having been up all night, had gone to get some rest. Accompanying the reinforcements from the royal capital was James Hurt of the Special Items Office.
The section of the street where the false god's divinity had been awakened was completely sealed off. The police, who knew nothing of the true events, merely maintained a cordon around the perimeter.
Stepping out of the carriage, a middle-aged woman holding a crystal ball and Mr. Smith, who held an umbrella, nodded to the silent, Church-employed coachman. They then made their way toward the disheveled street.
"Thank goodness Mr. Jenkins Williams reacted so quickly. Otherwise, it wouldn't have just been two buildings destroyed by the aftershock."
Hurt gazed at the collapsed apartment building, a casualty of the previous night's golden light, a look of relief on his face.
"You mean to tell me you didn't detect the false god's divinity within that statue beforehand?"
The woman was not nearly as optimistic.
"Miss Orlando, if a false god's divinity were that easy for us to detect, it wouldn't be called divinity."
Hurt gave a wry smile.
"I know last night's events will tarnish the Holy See's opinion of our diocese, but our main forces are tied up overseas. Otherwise, that so-called 'weakest Level 8,' the Ice Messenger, would never have broken into our church so easily, wounded a Keeper of Secrets, and stolen a sealed artifact."
"Are you trying to boast? A Scribe from your diocese offered divinity to the Sage. The Holy See must have already received the message through their ritual arrays. A lower assessment? Hah."
Hurt shook his head, offering no comment.
"I hear that Scribe was a Level 0 rookie, wasn't he?"
"Oh, yes. Mr. Williams only became an Enchanter after an encounter with a Mysterious Realm. But he's Level 1 now. It seems last night's events triggered a breakthrough."
"From sacrificing the divinity, or from absorbing the flowers of A-01-2-0198?"
"I don't know."
In truth, it was from destroying that Cursed Item.
As they spoke, the pair arrived at the spot where Jenkins had performed his sacrifice. Despite the continuous rain, the holy emblem carved into the ground remained clear, like an ancient sigil that had stubbornly endured the passage of time. A young woman, her face hidden by a white veil, stood there. Beside her, a nun, a mixture of nervousness and excitement in her posture, held an umbrella over her. The veiled woman wasn't looking at the emblem of the Legacy Sage; her gaze was fixed on the collapsed apartment building at 431B Queen's Avenue.
"This is Miss Evegarden, from the local Church of the Starry Sky and Equilibrium."
Hurt introduced.
The two women nodded to each other. Miss Orlando, crystal ball in hand, knew full well how powerful the woman known as the "Diviner under the Starry Sky" was. With the Church's forces in Nolan City so depleted, and not counting the reinforcements from the capital, Evegarden was likely the most powerful Enchanter left in the city.
And the most powerful diviner.
"Would you like to go first?"
Miss Orlando gestured politely.
"No, I have already seen what I can. The false god's divinity has left a powerful influence on this area. It's shrouded in a fog, and even with my Lord's aid, I cannot see the truth that lies beneath it."
Evegarden shook her head, her voice ethereal and otherworldly.
Orlando nodded and handed her umbrella to Hurt. Biting her own finger, she let a drop of blood fall onto the crystal ball and began chanting in an unknown tongue.
"I see it now... so the octopus that's been plaguing this area... it actually came from a painting?"
She laughed. "The recent s sent to the capital made no mention of this."
Hurt looked ashamed. The Office of Special Item Management was created for precisely this sort of thing. This could be considered a serious failure on their part.
.
!
Chapter 47: Sacrifice
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