236 Blood Ritual [1]

Clap, clap

Stepping out of the shadows, the Archbishop's muddled white eyes scanned the surroundings before pausing on Kaelion.

".....I was a little skeptical at first, but you really did fulfill your role."

Kaelion merely lowered his head in acknowledgment.

"What?"

"W-what's going on? This can't be true, right?"

The others looked at the scene dumbfounded. They could hardly believe what they were seeing.

This was especially so for Evelyn who stared at Leon's decapitated body.

'H-how could it be...?'

Her mind was a mess and she could hardly think.

Those from the Aurora Empire were no better as they looked at Kaelion, their idol, in utter shock.

Of all the people that could betray them, this...

"Why did you do this!?"

"You were given everything!"

They all shouted at him in protest. They demanded answers, and they soon received their answers.

"Why did I do what I did?"

Kaelion looked at them in disgust.

"....Isn't it obvious?"

The atmosphere froze at his words.

His voice. It was cold. So cold that everyone in the room found themselves staring at him as if he were a foreign person.

"We live in an Empire where the strong rule and the weak die. But do you know what's the most important thing?"

Kaelion raised his head to look at everyone as his sharp gaze pierced through the darkness that encircled their surroundings.

"Your life is what matters the most. How can you be strong if you die?! You ask me why I took the offer. It's simple. It's because I want to live. I don't need to die in such a place."

"Fool."

Kiera mumbled from the distance.

Kaelion's gaze turned towards her. His brows furrowed slightly as he recalled her. Just as his mouth opened to say something, she cut him off.

"What makes you think he's going to let you go after everything is done? And what makes you think people won't find you suspicious when you come out of this as the sole survivor? You will obviously be kept in the Empire. You're a fool."

Kiera made sure to emphasize the last part.

Her words held truth to them as Kaelion's expression changed slightly, but as he glanced at the Archbishop, his face twisted.

".....My value is not something that you will understand. The Empire will do everything in its power to bring me back. I'm certain of it. And what does it matter if they find it suspicious?"

Kaelion's lips slowly pulled into a smirk.

"You'll all be dead by then. It'll all end in suspicion. Of course, that is unless your Empire wants to wage war with mine."

"...."

To that, Kiera didn't have many words to say.

In the end, the group was slowly surrounded by the people in white. Kiera, Aoife, Evelyn, and the others huddled together as they warily looked around while they talked with one another, trying to think of ways to fight back.

Unfortunately, they were all too exhausted.

They could only look around them with pale faces as they tried to channel their mana.

"This shit again..."

"Can you stop swearing?"

"What?"

"....You two."

Standing in the middle, the Archbishop looked at all of them as he smiled kindly.

"I'll see you soon."

These were the last words they heard before the people in white rushed at them.

Thump!

It didn't take long for their world to turn black.

***

The map was rather detailed.

With just one glance, I understood exactly where I was and where I needed to proceed in order to get out of the place.

<nulli>'So this is where I am.'

My position on the map was somewhat clear.

Labeled as 'Study Room', it was fairly obvious. I circled it with my finger and traced the path to the exit with my finger.

I thought about going out immediately, but I stopped myself.

<nulli>'...I need more information.'

In particular, I wanted to know more about this 'Ring of Nothingness'. In case I were to be subjected to that again, I wanted to know of a way to get out of it.

Flip! Flip

I flipped through multiple papers in haste, but there wasn't much information with regard to the ring.

"Nothing here too...?"

I put one of the papers down and exhaled.

'I can't waste too much time.'

Time was running low, and I knew that within a few moments, someone would find this place.

I was sure Owl-Mighty also knew this and was just about to turn to face its direction when from the corner of my eyes, I spotted a certain drawing.

"Hm?"

Hiding behind a stack of papers, it was hard to notice at a glance, but its color stood out.

It was entirely red.

Instinctively, I reached out for it and grabbed it.

"This is...?"

I didn't understand what I was seeing. It looked like a magic circle, but it was filled with all sorts of runes that I could hardly comprehend.

For some strange reason, the runes seemed to pulse into life as I glanced into them.

It would alternate with each blink that I took. It would pulse at one blink, and be totally normal at the second glance.

.....But that wasn't the creepiest part.

I felt my blood boil as I looked at the strange circle.

As if pins and needles were stabbing from within my veins, every part of my body started to tingle as I felt an uncomfortable sensation run down my body.

'What is this?'

The sensation was so weird that I almost dropped the paper in my hands.

I was just barely able to keep myself from doing so as I looked around and eventually found another paper.

"This is the one."

I knew it was the right paper since it also contained a diagram of the circle.

The only difference was that it wasn't red.

[Blood Absorption Circle]

Just by reading the first few words I started to have a bad feeling.

My eyes darted across the paper as I quickly read through the paper. It took me no more than a couple of minutes to completely read the paper, and once I was done, I placed it down softly as I drew in a cold breath.

"Huu."

In essence, it was a circle designed to absorb the blood of all those who were within the circle.

The paper provided a step-by-step guide on how to operate the circle and what was required of it.

I didn't need to be told who the sacrifices were.

'Looks like we're the sacrifices.'

This much was obvious.

.....But there was something else that I was curious about.

"Why?"

The paper only detailed how to operate the magic circle. It didn't exactly say what its use was for.

"To live longer."

"....?"

Turning around, Owl-Mighty dropped a book on the table. I squinted my eyes to look at the title of the book.

[Door of Divinity]

The title stood out at a glance.

"The human wants to absorb your blood."

".....Yes, I know."

The circle was clear enough for me to understand.

What I wanted to know was why?

Why did he want to absorb my blood?

"You said to live longer? Are you saying that this circle extends someone's life?"

"I don't know."

Owl-Mighty shook its head, and I felt my left brow twitch slightly.

"....But I do know about that."

With its wing, Owl-Mighty pointed at my left hand where a vial appeared. I stared at it for a brief moment before coming to a realization.

"You know what this is?"

"Yes, it's in the book."

Owl-Mighty began to explain.

"According to it, this belongs to Mortum, the God of Immortality."

"Mortum...."

I pondered over Owl-Mighty's words.

'So there are gods in this world?'

Considering everything that had happened, I didn't even find this to be strange. It made sense and a thought crossed my mind.

'....Do they know of a way to send me back home?'

Indeed, I had died in my previous world and my body was probably not in the right state, but was it possible for me to go back with a new body?

Ba... Thump!

The thought made my heart skip a beat.

"....It looks like the human wants to absorb the blood from within your body."

"Ah?"

My thoughts were broken by Owl-Mighty's words.

"The Archbishop wants to absorb my blood?"

I blinked my eyes several times. That didn't quite make sense. Was my blood unique? I didn't think so. Or perhaps it was, but since this was an unfamiliar body, I didn't know.

Nonetheless, I still didn't think there was anything special to this body.

The only thing that I could think about was the fact that it wanted to absorb my blood that was mixed with God's blood.

But why would it want to do that when he could just directly absorb the blood by himself?

Considering how he had given it to us, surely he could've absorbed it by now.

There was something that I was missing.

Something impor

"Oh."

Realization suddenly struck me as my eyes widened.

"Diluting."

Right, this was God's blood we were talking about. If the Archbishop's desire was to live longer then he needed to completely replace his entire body with Mortum's blood.

Or at least, that was what I initially thought.

But upon thinking about it further, I came to a realization.

'The blood is too powerful to be consumed in large dosages. It needs to be diluted.'

And who else did he want to use to dilute the blood?

"Haha."

I laughed at the absurdity of the situation.

"So that's the situation."

This crazy bastard of a cultist was waiting for us to slowly absorb and dilute Mortum's blood with each of our deaths before completely absorbing our blood into his body and extending his life.

".....Fucking sickening."

It was merely a hypothesis, but the more I thought about it, the closer to the truth it was.

There were still several things that didn't quite make sense.

For example, 'Why us?'

The Archbishop had plenty of people at his disposal for the blood ritual, why did he select us?

'Maybe, he's already done it to them.'

If so, it would make sense.

"Ugh."

I ruffled my head as more questions started to appear in my mind.

Nonetheless, I knew that I didn't have much time to dwell on the matter.

<nulli>'I need to get out of here.'

My eyes fell on the blueprint in front of me.

Tracing my finger over the path that I needed to take, I looked towards the door and then to Owl-Mighty who seemed to be staring at me, waiting to see what I'd do.

"Let's go."

There was no hesitation in me.

We needed to leave this place as soon as possible. Looking around, I searched through every nook and cranny of the place in search of anything important.

Finding nothing, I quickly darted out of the place with the map in my hand.

"This way."

Finding the right direction, I hurried my speed and sprinted forward.

At the same time, I closed my eyes and imagined the rocky surface of the cave. My mana started to drain, and when I opened my eyes again, my skin changed completely.

It looked exactly like the surface of the cave.

Well, not exactly but it was getting there.

".....This should do."