Chapter 108: Ritual begins (Seeking monthly votes)

Lu Mi saw that the black-robed person had a face exactly the same as his own, but there were slight differences in the details:

Deep in the other party's light blue eyes, there was a faint feeling of silver-white mixed with black, and the skin on his face, whether due to the influence of the hood's shadow or originally like that, was slightly darker.

"Who are you!" Lu Mi blurted out in shock, but was blocked by the cloth ball in his mouth, leaving only a blurry sound.

The black-robed person smiled, didn't introduce himself, turned his body, and walked toward the position where the assistant priest was standing.

Lu Mi tried to chase after him, urgently wanting to figure out who this person was, why he had come, and why he had appeared in the tomb of the dead wizard earlier.

For him, this was very important.

The fact that the assistant priest could retain memories in the cycle, although it made him both surprised and astonished, and he hadn't anticipated it at all beforehand, was something that could be established and explained when placed in his various guesses about the nature of the cycle. It wasn't contradictory at all; after all, there was the example of Madam Pualis before.

And the appearance of this black-robed person was incredibly abrupt. It wasn't that his existence itself was abrupt—Lu Mi had always known that in the dead wizard's tomb, besides the owl and the one lying in the coffin, there was another person, suspected to be the mastermind behind the various abnormalities in Cordu Village.

What was abrupt was that this black-robed person actually looked exactly like Lu Mi, suspected to be another him.

This was something that couldn't be explained by Lu Mi's various guesses about the nature of the cycle and was difficult to accommodate!

There must be some problem here! Lu Mi tried hard to lean forward, but was bound by ropes, and fell onto the altar with a thud.

This fall caused his already solidified nosebleed to flow out again, and the injuries that were swollen to purple became even more obvious.

Lu Mi didn't give up. Even without his hands and feet, he relied on the powerful flexibility brought by "Dancer," twisting like a snake toward the black-robed person, crawling forward with extreme difficulty.

His mind was filled with only a few similar thoughts:

Must figure out who this black-robed person is and why he appeared here!

This must be some manifestation of the nature of the cycle. Once this secret is solved, there is hope to use the cycle to escape the current predicament and finally solve the various abnormalities in Cordu Village!

Drip, drip, the blood on Lu Mi's face fell onto the ground, leaving a bright red color, and his subsequent struggling body rendered this color everywhere, a mess, full of the smell of blood.

He tried hard to get closer to the black-robed person, but couldn't make a sound from his mouth, his expression twisted to a terrifying degree due to pain and urgency.

The black-robed person, who looked exactly like Lu Mi, looked down at the ground and said to the assistant priest Guillaume Bénet:

"Start the ritual."

"Okay." Guillaume Bénet said to the shepherd Pierre Berry at the edge of the altar, "Lift Lu Mi onto the altar."

Pierre Berry walked over, grabbed

No! Lu Mian struggled with all his might, like a fish just pulled out of the water.

He was so "slippery" that the shepherd Pierre Berry almost lost his grip.

The gentle emotion in Pierre's eyes faded rapidly, and a fierce, brutal feeling became prominent.

His strength suddenly became immense, and he forcibly controlled Lu Mian's body, throwing him onto the altar.

Immediately after, Pierre Berry looked at Lu Mian and laughed in a low voice:

"You had better hope that you die directly during the ritual, rather than living until the end.

"I guarantee that you will regret it if you do."

Is this a response to my previous "provocation"? As soon as this thought flashed through Lu Mian's mind, he saw Aurora, dressed in a simple white robe, walk to his side.

She leaned against the altar filled with cloves and tulips, looking at her brother with hollow eyes.

All the villagers in the church surged toward this side, semi-encircling the altar area.

The parish priest then took out two grayish-white candles and placed them in the positions corresponding to Aurora and Lu Mian, respectively.

Then, he placed an identical candle at his own feet, forming a pattern of two high and one low on the altar.

After a few seconds, the parish priest used his spirituality to light these three candles in order from top to bottom, left to right.

A faint sweet scent drifted into Lu Mian's nose, making him suddenly feel somewhat dazed, as if this scene were inexplicably familiar.

…………

Ryan, Fors, and Valentine took the tan suitcase and snuck to the side of the Eternal Blazing Sun church.

They hid in the shadows and looked inside through the stained glass, seeing that the altar of the Eternal Blazing Sun had changed its appearance, seeing Lu Mian tied up and placed on the left, Aurora standing on the right, and seeing the parish priest facing the siblings, with the lit grayish-white candles at his feet, and the faceless black-robed figure and Pierre Berry on either side.

Witnessing this scene, Valentine's fists clenched instantly, and golden light seemed to flicker in his eyes.

Fors tilted her head and glanced at him, very worried that this companion would lose his mind in anger.

Fortunately, Valentine was also a "Purifier" who had carried out many missions and knew what should and should not be done now.

Ryan withdrew his gaze and said in a suppressed voice:

"We will circle around to a place closer to the altar, smash the glass, launch a surprise attack, and strive to snatch Lu Mian and Aurora out within a minute and retreat outside the village.

"If we fail to achieve our goal within a minute, we will abandon this operation, flee to that river, and actively trigger the cycle."

"Okay." Valentine and Fors replied, one in a deep voice, the other with a nod.

Ryan then added:

"Valentine, get the 'Sunlight' ready; we cannot hold back anymore. We must use '2-217' now."

"No problem." As Valentine responded, Fors took out a box of matches.

She controlled the silver bells on her veil and boots, circled the square of Cordu village at high speed, and threw a few matches in different places.

This was to preset a path for the subsequent retreat.

A "Magician" does not perform without preparation.

After Fors finished these things, the three official investigators carefully circled to beneath the stained glass on the side of the altar.

Valentine looked up at the inside and said to Ryan:

"The ritual is about to begin; we must act immediately."

Ryan was also observing the situation inside the church, frowning as he said:

"Have you noticed anything wrong?"

Fors quickly reviewed the scene she had just seen and replied in an urgent tone:

"I can't hear any sound from inside!"

They had already reached a distance of less than three meters from the nearest villagers, yet they could not hear any sound coming from inside, even though those villagers were clearly conversing enthusiastically!

Ryan's eyes tightened, and he instantly had a guess.

He stood up, disregarding being discovered by the cultists inside the church, and slammed into the stained-glass window in front.

A clanging sound echoed out, but the supposedly fragile glass remained intact, and the villagers inside the church seemed completely unaware of the movement outside.

As Ryan condensed the "Armor of Dawn" and the "Sword of Morning Light," Fors began running in circles outside the window.

This time, not a single one of the silver bells, which were not being deliberately controlled, rang.

Interpreted from Fors's perspective, this meant there was no danger at all, but looking at the scene inside the church, how could there be no danger?

Therefore, she believed the correct answer was:

Extremely dangerous!

So dangerous that the silver bells, this sealed artifact, were completely interfered with or dared not react!

Bang!

The "Sword of Morning Light" condensed from light slashed onto a piece of stained glass without producing any effect; the entire church seemed to be wrapped in an invisible, terrifying force, and outsiders could not enter.

A pure pillar of light wreathed in flames descended out of thin air as Valentine opened his arms, but it did not appear inside the church as he had expected; it only landed on the outside of the stained glass, sending ripples through it.

The inside and outside seemed to be completely isolated.

Ryan made a prompt decision and said to Valentine and Fors:

"Try that sealed artifact. If it doesn't work either, we'll go outside the village to trigger the cycle."

The reason Ryan did not suggest retreating immediately and still wanted to try to break in and rescue Lu Mian and Aurora was that he suspected that once the ritual truly began, the cycle might be affected. At that time, they might neither be able to leave Cordu village nor be able to restart everything here.

Valentine did not waste time and directly summoned those illusory golden flames.

With two pops, Ryan opened the suitcase and pulled out the "Tanago Scarecrow," whose body was already half-covered in skin.

He pressed the front of the scarecrow against the stained glass and then unwrapped the thick black cloth.

A pair of eyeballs that seemed to come from a human suddenly appeared on the face of "2-217." They were embedded in the brownish-green straw and held no emotion.

The two eyeballs turned and saw Poncet Bennett standing at the edge of the altar.

This thug froze instantly and turned to run toward the window.

As he ran, his body disappeared, and his clothes fell lightly to the ground, covering his leather shoes.

A piece of flesh covered in skin appeared on the neck of the "Tanago Scarecrow," and it merged with the straw below.

"It works!" A feeling of joy welled up in the hearts of Ryan and the others.

This meant that the church was not impossible to break into, and it meant that the altar's protection was not impossible to break!

…………

"The constellations are changing!"

"It's finally coming!"

"..."

Amidst the villagers' enthusiastic discussion and the scent of gray amber, clove, musk, and tulip permeating the surroundings, Lu Mian, with a weird sense of déjà vu and relying on the flexibility of a "Dancer," forcibly propped up his upper body while tied up.

The next second, he saw the parish priest open his mouth and shout in Ancient Hermes:

"Great 'Circle of Inevitability'!"

As soon as this name was uttered, the interior of the church suddenly became dim, and the villagers instantly fell silent.

The orange flames on the three candles were compressed to the size of peppercorns, all stained with a silver-white and black color.

Lu Mian's mind buzzed immediately, and his chest felt that familiar burning sensation again.

His vision then began to sway strangely; the magnificent golden dome high above, the hollow-eyed Aurora at his side, the solemn-faced parish priest in front, and the hooded black-robed figure all appeared in his eyes simultaneously in a layered form.

His head throbbed with pain, and he felt as if something deep in his memory was being dragged out, which was abnormally similar to the scene he saw before him.

A sense of familiarity and déjà vu welled up in Lu Mian's heart again, dozens or hundreds of times stronger than before.

Thump, thump!

He heard the sound of his own heartbeat.

PS: Seeking monthly votes~

(End of chapter)