Chapter 85: Moon Mark |
The yellow, red, and silver moons hung high in the night sky, with no clouds above Lakeside Manor. The brilliant Milky Way seemed to suspend overhead, giving the illusion that one could reach out and touch the starlight.
At the time of the incident, the aftermath of the god-summoning ritual caused the banquet guests to fall unconscious, so no one witnessed the unusual blood mist and ensuing battle that followed.
This turned out to be a convenient way to explain the night's events. The host of the banquet, Young Crowen, had conspired with followers of the Master of the Blood Banquet, lacing the food and drinks with sedatives. Fortunately, the righteous True God Church arrived in time to thwart their plans. As for the earthquake earlier, it was purely coincidental and unrelated to the events here.
Now, Lakeside Manor was surrounded by a joint force of Tobesk’s military garrison and police. The awakened banquet guests were politely escorted to the manor's main building by the True God Church for rest and questioning. This served both to shield them from the sight of the Moon Trace in the manor courtyard and to screen the guests for suspicious individuals who didn’t belong.
The Ring Warlocks from the Church of the Sun and the Church of Peace, who had participated in the battle, remained in the courtyard. Meanwhile, the police maintained order in the mansion, and reinforcements from the city’s Ring Warlock support teams conducted a thorough search of the manor. They documented and dismantled the ritual known as the "Sunlit Month Divine Descent Incident, Sixth Epoch—1853", and also collected the grotesque blood-red flowers growing on the manor's walls. These were considered valuable materials.
Miss Iluna Beas, a young woman with brown hair, stood with her companions in the courtyard. She was positioned near the fearsome "scar", which still emanated a silver radiance.
The Moon Trace ran almost perfectly straight from the front door of the manor to the manor's gate, splitting the property along its central axis. Its residual power lingered for an extended time, and even thirty minutes after the event, no one dared to touch the carved ground directly.
Miss Lannia Green, a Ten-Ring Warlock from the Church of the Sun, was the first to arrive at the scene. Wearing a long blue dress, she stood beside the glowing groove in the ground, toying with the relic [Ring of Metamorphosis], which had fallen from Madame Lasso after her death. She listened as the Sun Church’s Ring Warlocks recounted the earlier events.
Miss Iluna Beas had no authority to speak and could only listen to her captain, Mr. Robinson, relay the details. After he finished, she added to the Ten-Ring Warlock of her church:
She was very confident in this observation.
Miss Green nodded at her with a smile. After confirming that her team had no additional leads, she lowered her head to study the glowing trace on the ground.
“Was he strong?” Miss Beas asked uneasily, clutching the hem of her dress.
“Judging from the remnants of his aura, stronger than me at least.”
The others present couldn’t help but frown. In the current Sixth Epoch, Ten-Ring Warlocks or higher, while not unheard of, were still exceedingly rare.
“Miss Green, who could it be?” Mr. Robinson, a man Shad had described as strong enough to punch him and Mimia to death, frowned as he posed the question.
“There’s no way to confirm. It won’t be someone from the True God Churches, nor from the Arcane Academies. Those professors rarely set foot in the Old Continent. We’ll need to send inquiries to the three academies—perhaps they know who it is. How could it be such a coincidence that Mr. Sari Pirot, the ‘Iron Right Hand’ from the Church of Creation, left Tobesk just last week, and now this happens…”
The female Warlock turned to the Peace Church's Ring Warlocks, who had gathered with their Eleven-Ring Warlock. This elder looked even older than Father August, with white hair and a plain white priest's robe. He could have passed as an ordinary cleric if encountered in a church, but his immense power was undeniable.
“Mr. Modero, what’s your take on this?” Miss Green asked.
The old man crouched down, directly touching the glowing scar on the ground with his hand.
“Oh, this is quite something!” he exclaimed, pulling his hand back immediately. The silver radiance on his cracked palm slowly faded.
“Similar to your conclusion… at least Twelve Rings, possibly Thirteen. The absence of a Ring of Fate during the attack indicates it was likely just a casual strike.”
The group collectively gasped, and the Eleven-Ring Warlock marveled,
“Impressive. This person must have known from the start about Mercury’s Blood and the cultists' plan to summon an evil god here. Not only did they eliminate the Church-overlooked ‘Heart Collector’, but they also monitored our Warlock teams’ actions from the shadows. After confirming the Church couldn’t defeat the opponent and that city reinforcements wouldn’t arrive in time, this individual destroyed the ritual alone in an incredibly precise manner. They severely injured the Silver-Eyed One with a casual strike before quietly departing… Could it be one of the Twelve-Ring Warlocks returning from the New Continent? Or perhaps, a newly ascended Thirteen-Ring Warlock?”
The elder’s voice trailed off. He didn’t reach out again, instead remaining crouched, staring at the glowing soil.
“Perhaps divination could provide answers later, but the evil god’s descent tonight has likely disrupted the traces of fate.”
“An evil god…” Miss Green raised her head to look at the third floor of the manor, where the Masked Figure under the Silver Moon had appeared.
“But at least they’re not an enemy. They stopped the Master of the Blood Banquet’s descent and even attacked the Silver-Eyed One and their companions… The headless corpse found in the garden earlier has been confirmed to be the ‘Heart Collector’ of Mercury’s Blood. This person seems to know a great deal about Mercury’s Blood, the cultists, and our teams’ movements. Their actions tonight appear to have specifically targeted Mercury’s Blood, and they operated with remarkable efficiency. Could their presence here be related to…”
She didn’t finish, but the Eleven-Ring Warlock Modero understood her implication.
“Regardless, investigating the banquet’s attendees to identify any suspicious individuals is a priority. Even if a guest skilled in divination had an accomplice within the Church, there’s no escaping. By the way, did anyone leave the third floor before we arrived and before the Silver-Eyed One escaped?”
“No,” replied Mr. Robinson. He pulled a small notebook from his pocket and flipped through it.
“We checked the second and third floors earlier. Only guests trapped on the second floor left the manor after the battle. A few had sensitive identities and vouched for themselves and their servants. We verified they were ordinary people.”
“Sensitive identities? Which member of the royal family was here tonight?” Miss Green asked.
“Duchess Galina Cavendish. She arrived in Tobesk a few weeks ago from her territory,” answered a Peace Church Warlock. The group seemed to trust the duchess and her entourage, raising no suspicions.
“A suspected Thirteen-Ring Warlock won’t be easy to find,” Miss Green remarked, gazing at the three moons and the stars above.
“Issue a bounty—hunt down Mercury’s Blood members and cultists of the Master of the Blood Banquet worldwide. This incident cannot go unresolved. Although the Iron Right Hand is temporarily absent from this diocese, the Five True God Churches can surely dispatch another Thirteen-Ring Warlock to deal with the cultists and Mercury’s Blood. As for that man…”
She hesitated, prompting Mr. Modero to add,
“Use the code name ‘Masked Figure under the Silver Moon’. Notify the Church of Dawn, Church of Nature, and Church of Creation, who were uninvolved in this operation. Since they stopped the evil god’s descent, there’s no need to treat them as an enemy for now. Until their next appearance, we’ll observe cautiously. In the meantime, thoroughly investigate unidentified Ring Warlocks arriving in the Tobesk diocese. Silver Moon… Could it be the ‘Great Witch of the Silver Moon’ from the Witches’ Council, a Twelve-Ring Witch?”
He shook his head and laughed at himself.
“Foolish of me. The Witches’ Council doesn’t have men.”
Miss Green mentioned the latest intelligence:
“Not long ago, we learned that group of women is active in the Tobesk diocese.”
“They’re not the only ones stirring trouble recently. Do you really not know what they’re after?” Mr. Modero replied, glancing at Miss Beas, who stood to the side, oblivious to their conversation.
“In any case, the world is on the brink of chaos again. Tonight’s events could very well mark the beginning of a series of upheavals. How many years has it been since an evil god nearly descended successfully?” The elder sighed with concern.
“Sir, why would chaos erupt? Aren’t we still in a time of peace?” asked a young priest in the Peace Church’s Warlock squad, the same one who had once handed Shad a relief food flyer.
Miss Green sighed.
“The Great Prophecy left behind by the Witch Emperors…” She glanced at the clueless Miss Beas, who looked back at her in surprise. Shaking her head, Miss Green continued,
“No, it’s just a prophecy. Regardless, those who believe in the prophecy will gather in Tobesk soon, completing the first stanza of ‘Whispering Verses’. The city will see an influx of peculiar individuals. I suspect the Masked Figure under the Silver Moon is also drawn by the Old Gods’ revival prophecy and has incidentally targeted Mercury’s Blood. A Twelve-Ring or even Thirteen-Ring Warlock… who could they be?”
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