Capítulo 21: Chapter 21 Celebration, the Ceremony Went Extremely Smoothly
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Upon hearing the content of the Cult Priest's prayers, Duncan immediately stopped the action of severing his soul projection and returning to the Homeloss.
He looked at the mask-clad priest, who had just finished his frenzied praying, as if he were looking at a fool. He watched as the priest raised the small knife, seemingly carved out of obsidian, high into the air. He watched as the Believers surrounding the altar grew excited, chanting in unison the name of their "Lord," a "True Sun God" who, according to legend, had fallen long ago and shattered into pieces.
Their intention was to offer him, their "sacrifice," to the Sun God by presenting the heart of the sacrifice.
Now Duncan finally understood the horrific scene within that cave, comprehending the mad, sinful deeds of these Heretics.
Then, he saw the masked priest step towards him, and the obsidian knife in the other's hand suddenly manifested a layer of pitch-black flames.
This eye-catching supernatural phenomenon immediately aroused Duncan's curiosity. He wondered if the knife was some kind of "abnormal" object, if the priest before him was a "special human" capable of wielding transcendent powers, how many of such special humans existed within the civilizations of this world, and what kind of social roles they might play.
Meanwhile, he watched expressionlessly as the knife, ablaze with black flames, stabbed down into his chest, piercing through several layers of tattered cloth with a hollow thud.
The flames burned inside for a moment, and nothing was burnt.
Behind him, the totem pole suddenly emitted a series of disconcerting pops and bangs. Amidst the bursting sounds, there seemed to be a dizzying, rending noise as well. Duncan faintly felt as if something was emanating from the Fireball, a cold but frenzied "touch" that he struggled to describe. Not solely because the senses of the body he was currently occupying were dull, but also because the sensation was beyond any experience he had ever known—he only knew one thing for certain: in this world where transcendent phenomena undeniably existed, the Cult Priest's sacrificial ritual had undoubtedly gone terribly awry.
The anomaly that appeared in the "symbol of the Sun" on the totem pole immediately caught the attention of the nearby Believers. With several suppressed cries of alarm, the scene quickly quieted down from its frenzy. Even the two hooded figures who had been tightly gripping Duncan's arms seemed frightened into releasing him, kneeling in fear toward the totem pole, while the knife-holding priest froze in place. He still grasped the blade but stared fixedly at the face of the "sacrifice" before him. Through the openings of his mask, Duncan could see a pair of eyes sinking into confusion and chaos.
Duncan, forcing his stiff mouth into a semblance of a smile, finally managed to squeeze out a sinister grin. He slowly raised his right hand and placed it on the priest's hand that was tightly holding the obsidian knife. Thin threads of green fire curled and flowed like water, slowly wrapping around the knife.
Almost instantly, Duncan felt a "feedback" from the knife, but strangely, the sensation of this feedback was weak and hollow, as if the knife was some kind of inferior imitation housing just a speck of "borrowed power."
But whether the knife was an imitation was of no importance to him.
He smirked at the priest and said in an unhurried tone, "I have two things to say."
In the next instant, the priest felt the connection between himself and the obsidian knife abruptly disrupted by some external force. His fervent devotion to the Sun God was as if it had collided with an indestructible barrier, cut off directly.
"Firstly, I am a very broad-minded person—see, this broad."
Duncan ripped off the already tattered cloth, now also cut by the knife, to reveal a shocking hole. Through that frightening gap, the priest presiding over the ritual could even see the scene behind Duncan clearly.
"Secondly, try to avoid offering your master expired food."
Duncan gently pushed the priest's hand away. For some reason, after he had wrapped the obsidian knife with the green Spiritual Body flames, the priest before him seemed to have lost most of his strength, allowing Duncan's frail and powerless body to easily push away this tall and sturdy priest.
After being pushed away, the priest seemed to suddenly come to his senses, enveloped by immense surprise and rage. His muscles quivered as he lifted his hand to point at Duncan, seemingly about to shout loudly to restore order to the ritual site: "A reanimated abomination! This is a reanimated wraith! You have profaned this sacred ritual! Abomination... What audacious Necromancer is behind you?! Aren't you afraid of the might of the Sun?!"
"I don't understand what you're talking about," Duncan glanced at the obsidian knife that he held in his hand, feeling the faint resonance of power from it as he casually spoke. Then, he looked up at the priest before him, listened to the crackling noise coming from the totem pole behind, and suddenly, a bold and intriguing idea popped into his head, "But suddenly, I'm feeling quite curious."
After he finished speaking, he suddenly lifted the obsidian dagger in his hand, and, under the watchful eyes of a group of black-robed believers still trapped in chaos and terror, pointed at the masked priest and loudly proclaimed,
"O most high and holy Sun God! Please accept this sacrifice upon the altar! I offer you the heart of this offering, may you be reborn from blood and fire!"
The next second, he saw flames violently erupting from the obsidian dagger, while the icy touch that drifted from the totem behind him abruptly converged and directed itself toward the masked priest nearby. Duncan saw a look of shock and horror emerge in the priest's eyes. He seemed to want to leave the altar immediately, but the dagger was faster—
The dagger flew straight out of Duncan's hand, drawn by some invisible force, carrying roaring black flames and faintly entwined green fire, and pierced directly into the priest's chest. Amidst the priest's piercing screams, the leader of the cult had his chest punctured, and his heart turned to ashes in an instant.
The next second, the dagger returned to Duncan's hand. In this brief exchange, it seemed that the bit of power contained within it had finally been exhausted.
It was known that within the sacrificial range of the cult altar, there were two people, one with a heart and one without. And today, a certain Evil God was determined to have a taste of a human heart—the question was, who would lose their heart?
That would of course be the one who had a heart.
Despite this logic holding true, the smoothness of the entire affair still exceeded Duncan's expectations. He hadn't imagined that his wildly speculative "trial" could actually work. It wasn't until he saw the cult priest fall that he turned his head to glance at the now tranquil totem behind him and muttered oddly, "So as long as the words are right, any offering will do?"
Of course, the fireball atop the totem pole offered no answer to his query, but at this moment the heretics around the altar were evidently coming to their senses. A great panic was inevitable, but amidst the chaos, the more fanatical believers erupted in anger—a fury that even exceeded the fear brought on by the earlier anomaly at the totem!
Several of the heretics closest to the altar were the first to react. Shouting the name of the Sun God, they charged toward Duncan. These most daring believers quickly incited more people, and a flood of robed figures rushed at him with a mindless ferocity. Some even pulled out short swords and daggers they carried beneath their robes.
Duncan had intended to shout out "I offer the hearts of all those upon the altar to the Sun God" to test the peculiar appetite of the evil deity, but when he saw that among those rushing heretics, some even took out revolvers from their clothing, he immediately abandoned the idea. Considering the time it took for the sacrificial ritual to take effect and the "within seven steps, both accurate and swift" rule, he simply gave the heretics the finger and severed the soul projection.
Let these madmen continue their frenzy—he was going back to the Homeloss.
Meanwhile, on the vast Endless Sea, a rhythmic beat of footsteps echoed on the deck of the Homeloss.
The doll, Alice, dressed in an extravagant Gothic long dress, left her room and approached the captain's quarters.
This time, the ornate wooden box did not follow behind the little Miss Doll but was left inside her room.
The captain had told her that she was free to move around in the cabins below the deck, as well as walk on the deck, and if there was anything she didn't understand, she could come directly to the captain's quarters.
Alice remembered clearly.
(Book recommendation time! The first recommendation for this book, coming from the Daoist from below the mountain, "The Salted Fish Prince of the Great Ming Dynasty," just pasting the synopsis:
The grandson of the Zhengde Emperor of the Great Ming, the son of Empress Kangning, Zhu Yijing looked at his proud and complacent older brother, his other brother who understood sacrifice and choice, and his expressionless mother he couldn't see through... Hmm, it seems like there's nothing to do with him, right?
Thus, the fellow righteously donned the hat of shame for all transmigrators and started a salted fish life of idleness and waiting for death.
Until the arrival of a bowl of chicken soup.
"Ahaha! Here comes the chicken soup!")
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