Chapter 81: Hound of Light |
"This is bad."
After adding a spell to the priest, Shad struggled to retrieve the small book. Using it came at a price, so he dared not write anything too excessive. Instead, he dipped his finger in the blood he had spat out and wrote on a blank page:
"Even if savage and evil forces plunge me into slumber, I will awaken at the right moment."
This precaution was to ensure he wouldn't pass out, leaving no one to lead the group to safety. Using such a precious relic this way was certainly wasteful, but it was the safest statement he could write with a Secret-Keeper grade relic.
Of course, he could have written, "Shad defeated the Evil God," but the price of that might have sent him straight to meet Detective Sparrow.
Meanwhile, Dr. Schneider, battling Madame Lasso, retreated to the banquet hall's doorway, his boots crunching on the shattered red carpet from the explosion. Behind him, a brass-toned pentagonal metal ring rotated at unprecedented speed. Four glowing runes floated around the Fate Wheel, yet despite this display, the doctor continued to retreat, struggling to hold his ground.
“What are you doing here?”
Surprised by Shad’s sudden appearance, and seeing all his allies down, the doctor gritted his teeth and blocked Shad’s line of sight with his own body.
“Shad, I’ve never told you about the strongest power of a Ring Warlock. By rights, you shouldn’t know about it yet. But there’s no other way now. Watch carefully... my power. After using this, I may fall unconscious. If I succeed, remember to take us all...”
“Watch closely, detective! This power isn't something used lightly. Ascension Words for a Ring Warlock are far from simple!”
Dr. Schneider suddenly shouted, and with a burst of repressive energy, a new figure emerged from the fiery steam mist behind him.
Shad’s eyes widened.
“This is…”
【...his ‘other self.’】
“What is the doctor doing? Wait!”
Shad twitched his nose, catching the scent of sulfur amidst the bloody fog. He seemed to hear maniacal laughter and faint sobbing, though at the same time, he heard nothing.
“Sulfur? Wait, didn’t Professor Sanchez say that the doctor might have…”
Shad never expected to encounter the truth like this.
A figure emerged behind the doctor, obscured by the steam mist, standing symmetrically opposite the doctor across the Fate Wheel. Together, they raised their right hands. Their voices overlapped, one speaking Drarian and the other in a strange, sinister tongue, yet Shad understood both.
Howling winds roared through the corridor, dimming the light. A new power surged from the doctor, reshaping the surrounding space.
The two figures shouted in unison:
"Hound of Light..."
Shad’s eyes widened further. Behind Dr. Schneider, the golden Miracle rune 【Light】 and the brass-colored Enlightenment rune 【Hound】 detached from the Fate Wheel, drifting to its center.
Their voices deepened, and the last half of their statement was like a dying whisper:
"...running through the malicious dream."
The iron-black 【Whispers】, silver 【Blasphemy】, and the doctor’s core rune 【Dreams】 gathered at the Fate Wheel’s center. The five runes fused, emanating a uniform silver glow.
At that moment, all light vanished. Darkness fell.
Shad’s vision blacked out entirely, as if someone had dragged him from the illuminated corridor into an abyss. Icy winds blew around him, accompanied by countless whispers and murmurs—more terrifying than even the runaway 【Box of Darkness】.
He felt like he was sinking into a mire of darkness, countless hands pulling at him. Suddenly, pure white light appeared. He looked toward Dr. Schneider, who seemed to stand in the black mire. The figure became hazy; while Shad saw the doctor, his pupils reflected the image of a hound bathed in holy light.
“So this is Ascension Words?”
The radiant hound sprinted down the dark path, charging toward the enemy within this malicious dream. The sheer power of the moment defied the comprehension of an outsider like Shad, yet he sensed a familiar, decaying aura—eerily similar to that of the dying Old God, the 【Creator of Innocence】.
It was a grand aura of endings, far beyond mortal power.
“What exactly are Ring Warlocks’ Ascension Words?”
Drawing strength from the earth below and the sky above, the Hound of Light tore through the darkness, charging at Madame Lasso, who revealed herself amidst the malicious dream. The luminous hound struck her directly.
“Damn it, Ascension Words! Where the hell did a lunatic like you come from?!” she cursed, her makeup smeared. As the hound collided with her, her body burst from within, vanishing into the holy light.
The surrounding darkness receded, the icy winds and whispers vanishing. Shad could again smell the thick, blood-like stench in the air and saw the blood mist floating in the corridor like curtains.
Looking ahead, the hound had disappeared. Dr. Schneider, unconscious, collapsed onto his back before Shad. The usually composed psychologist looked utterly battered, his pale face resembling that of Detective Sparrow Hamilton a week before his death. But at least, he was still alive for now.
Reaching out, Shad touched the doctor, amazed that his greatest contribution to this battle turned out to be this simple gesture.
“Why isn’t Miss Anat back yet? Should I touch her too?”
If the spell effects didn’t reject non-serious injuries, Shad would’ve healed himself first.
Struggling to his feet, he tried to gather the doctor, priest, and female writer together, intending to wait for Miss Anat to return and take them away. But just as he moved, a sound came from the wreckage of the banquet hall door.
Looking up, Shad saw Madame Lasso crawling out of the debris. Her head was bloody, and she looked like she was clinging to life.
“Your friend is insane,” she hissed, her deranged eyes locked onto the masked Shad. Her voice was chilling.
Shad noticed her mangled, nearly charred left hand holding her severed right hand. Pressing the severed hand with her chin, she removed the pebble ring from it with her left hand and kissed it lightly.
“Oh no...”
