“You mustn’t go back to Robert’s villa. That painting has now completely transformed into a terrible disaster…” Angelina said solemnly. “I’m going to see someone. Perhaps only he can solve this!”
“W-why do you want to help me?” Nietzsche asked.
“Perhaps… because we’re the same kind of people…” Angelina smiled bitterly, revealing a mark on her arm. “We are destined to be sacrificed to the Evil God!”
“Sin Imprint? Yours seems a little different!” Nietzsche’s pupils shrank, but he believed it immediately. “I’m coming with you!”
“Hmm, the police and the Investigation Agency will handle the issues here… You, come with me!” Angelina pulled Nietzsche’s arm and then rented a carriage to head to the slums of Kimbert City.
Nietzsche was very familiar with this place.
The houses were short and dense, encroaching the roads, and the gutters emitted a foul smell. Most of the residents here were unclothed and had sallow skin, numb eyes, and sometimes a hint of madness.
This place was the poorest area in Kimbert City and also where elites pretending to be from high society did not dare to step foot into at all. Otherwise, they might just become a corpse rotting in the gutter the next day.
Angelina clearly knew her way around here. She tore through the streets and walked to a river, to a row of small shacks.
The smell was even more unbearable here because of the many textiles and chemical factories upstream. The entire river was painted black, and many corpses were floating in it.
Nietzsche frowned. “Who are we looking for?”
“A wizard… Have you heard of the term Mandala?” Angelina’s expression became extremely grave.
“I know. Vincent’s most important archaeological discovery is related to the Mandala tribe on the Black Continent…” Nietzsche answered.
“The Mandala is an extremely old tribe in the tropical rainforest. It’s rumored that they still retain the custom of cannibalism. Moreover, its the birthplace of wizardry!” Angelina stated in a calm voice. “Thousands of years ago, they had a brilliant civilization, and the wizards could even communicate with the Gods of the Dream World and obtain their blessings! The Mandala wizards are the best people to talk to about occult powers!”
She ducked into a black tent while speaking.
The space in the tent was huge, and it seemed connected to the other tents. Two expressionless black men with bulging muscles were guarding it.
The feeling they gave Nietzsche was that they were stronger than the Resurrected Corpse made by Simon previously.
“It’s me! I want to see Gegehu!”
Angelina clearly knew the other party. After her little announcement, they were invited to the largest tent.
The light was dim, and Nietzsche stepped backward subconsciously and hit a wooden stand.
He grabbed at it wildly and found that his hand had landed on a white skull, his fingers inserted deep into its eyes. There was no trace of flesh on it, but there was still a lot of hair tied into different braids.
“Ahh!” Nietzsche covered his mouth hurriedly before it turned into a full-bodied scream.
Whoosh!
Right at that moment, aquamarine flames burned from the braziers around, reflecting a person sitting cross-legged in the center.
He was simply too old, as though he was merely a skeleton with a layer of skin on him. He had no beard, no hair, and the light in his eyes looked like ghost fire.
“Gegehu!” Angelina pulled Nietzsche down and knelt in front of the surreal figure.
“We meet again, the girl who bears an imprint!” Gegehu turned his head and made a crunchy sound, as if it were an old piece of equipment that had gone without oiling for some time.
“And you, the one who danced with ghouls! Looks like we have some common topics on cooking and ingredient selections… Hehe…” Gegehu chortled.
“You… know everything?” Nietzsche’s face turned white, and he felt his stomach churn yet again.
“True ghouls are generally indistinguishable from us. Moreover, they have a certain contamination on the psyche. When you are with them, you’ll think something out of the ordinary is normal. For example, your neighbors and colleagues reducing in numbers…” Gegehu laughed.
“All right, he’s already feeling bad enough. Gegehu, I came to see you today about two things…” Angelina took a deep breath. “I’ll pay the price.”
“Okay, tell me about your difficulty!” Gegehu picked up a green teacup filled with a green paste that was emitting an inexplicable smell.
“This ghoul escaped, but I found a phrase when I searched its living quarters—Feast of Meat, what does it mean?”
Smack!
Gegehu’s hand shook, and the teacup fell to the ground.
He did not bother about it, and his voice became low. “This is the beginning of a ritual! A very evil ritual involving the ancient legends of this planet—the Ancients and the Outer Gods!
“In the ancient past, it was the Ancients with extraordinary powers that ruled this planet. They are all descendants of Outer Gods! We wizards learned our craft from them. Some of them turned toward crazy and bloody rituals and became Dark Sorcerers! However, there were also extreme lunatics among these Dark Sorcerers who researched the Outer Gods! Most of them destroyed themselves…
“But contamination comes hand in hand with extraordinary power. The Outer Gods are the source of everything! They are unpredictable and extremely powerful, and they would bring about terrible changes even if we were to so much as see their true bodies… Whenever we mention them, we must use different names to refer to them because any fragment of their true names mentioned would often carry contamination…”
From his words… Nietzsche frowned… it seems as though this Gegehu is the crazy type who researched the Outer Gods like he mentioned…
“What does all of this have to do with the Feast of Meat?” Angelina asked.
“I said it already, this is the beginning of a ritual. Its full name is ‘Sacrifice to the God of Darkness’. It uses sacrifices of flesh, blood, and soul as a start to pray for power from the God of Darkness. According to the legends, after the completion of this ritual, it would at least send a Son of Darkness, one of the Ancients that used to rule this planet!” Gegehu replied. “The Feast of Meat is the beginning of the Dark Ritual. It points toward the Master Living Above the Lonely Star, the Astral World Traveler, the Ruler of the Planet of Demon Insects, the Lord of Chaos and Madness, the Darling of Darkness!”
With that said, Gegehu glanced at Nietzsche. “The mark on your body is the mark of this master’s sacrifice!”
“So that’s it!” Nietzsche touched the back of his neck, his whole being shaking.
The mystery hidden within his bloodline finally unveiled a little.
“The Feast of Meat is only the beginning, right? They’ll need blood and soul next!” Angelina said. “Would we destroy the entire ritual if we were to stop the other two?”
“The power of darkness is far more powerful than you imagine… Once a Son of Darkness descends, it will truly be the disaster of this entire planet!” Gegehu’s eyes turned pure white all of a sudden. “The Ancients liked to rule their countries high-handedly, and their appearance represents slavery and disaster… The dark minions will make sure the rituals succeed at all costs.”
Nietzsche felt like he could not breathe. I’m just a small peripheral member, so why am I suddenly related to a global-level disaster?
After calming down, Nietzsche gritted his teeth and asked, “Is there no other way?”
“Only the power of an Outer God can resist an Outer God!” Gegehu’s voice became unsteady. “The Master Living Above the Lonely Stars has an archenemy as well. It’s the serpent from the Astral World, the snake with rainbow scales shining all over it! The master of the Dream World!”
Gegehu’s eyes were suddenly on Angelina. “You have Vincent’s power left in your body, and Vincent originally faced the Astral Serpent directly, which was why he became an Abyssor!”
“Abyssor?”
“Those that face the abyss are the Abyssors. They are extremely powerful, even among the wizards! A wizard just starting out can only be regarded as a Contaminator with extraordinary power! Then comes the Controller who can control their own extraordinary power. However, this is only an illusion. After advancing again, we will realize that we have always been staring at the abyss, and the abyss has been staring back at us at the same time…”
“The second matter is that a painting that Vincent left behind has lost complete control…” Angelina said with a deep breath.
“I can do nothing if the power of an Abyssor is out of control…” Gegehu waved his hand in a gesture that signaled he was seeing the guests off. He left them with a final note. “Boy, I just obtained a revelation from the Dream World. You have long met your hope…”
…
Until he walked out of this slum, Nietzsche still looked as though he was in a trance. “Contaminator, Controller, Abyssor? The three levels of Extraordinaries? I’ve long met my hope? What does that mean?”
“I didn’t think that there was such a secret behind the Feast of Meat…” Angelina bit her lip. “Let’s part ways here. I have to go home and think about it calmly!”
She was also just a girl under the pressure of a mortgage and had nothing to do with Evil Gods and the fate of the world.
“All right, Miss Angelina!” Nietzsche’s eyes were still hazy after they parted, and he wandered around on the streets aimlessly.
When he finally stopped, he found himself standing in Parasol Street.
“Is this a sign from destiny?” Nietzsche grimaced as he walked into the convenience store.
He immediately saw that black-hearted, profiteering boss and his cute servant girl.
“Yo, it’s been such a long time since we last met, Little Mister!” Fang Yuan put down his newspaper and raised his eyes. “Have you saved enough money?”
“Money? What money?” Nietzsche was stunned.
“Of course, the money to purchase Vincent’s painting! Please let me introduce to you… the treasure we just received, the masterpiece of the late Vincent—Dream!”
Fang Yuan pointed to the twisted starry sky above the wall, and Nietzsche looked as though he just saw a ghost.
