The vines had been successfully summoned. Sprouting flush against the Titan's scalp, they imdiately shot downwards, but to Jenkins's surprise, they failed to break its skin.
"Roar!"
Sensing the danger, the Titan thrashed violently. Huge chunks of bone splintered off the bone giant's body, and the sound of shattering skeletons filled the air once more.
Jenkins wiped the rain from his face and roared:
"Can't you see the wound over there?"
He pointed to the gash left by the sword. Just as his cat seed to understand him, so too did his vines. They sward forward like a nest of vipers, slithering into the wound. But instead of the familiar gurgling sound of suction, a sharp 'clang, clang!' of tal on stone rang out.
As if insulted, more and more vines poured from the spatial rift, until the Titan's crown looked like a writhing patch of turf. Yet even then, they couldn't penetrate its skull through the sword gash.
"They can't get through the skull, so they can't drain it, is that it?"
Jenkins realized. He could only pray the vines would bore through the bone faster than the Titan could break free from its cage.
But the Titan now understood what was happening. Though it had slumbered since before the epoch of the Lord of Blossoms's reign, it still recognized this unique type of power.
"You're draining my sin! Who are you? Which great being sent you to purge ?"
Jenkins remained silent, wishing he could pry open the gash on the Titan's scalp with his own hands and help the vines smash through its skull.
"Impossible. You are rely a mortal. Why can a mortal wield a divine power? That is the sole privilege of..."
A portion of the sentence was lost to Jenkins. It wasn't that the Titan's voice lacked volu, but the sound dissolved into static as it reached his ears.
"I will not yield! Not even the masters of other worlds can stop from claiming my freedom! Raaagh!"
The Titan thrashed again, and the skeletal fra imprisoning it began to crumble even faster. Even with the support of that strange sword, the bone giant couldn't contain a Titan that had survived since an ancient epoch.
The Corpse Gentleman spoke calmly, black liquid now oozing from all seven of his orifices. This fluid was a manifestation of the evil the Titan had absorbed from the depths of the earth, present in both the Titan and its creations.
"ow."
The cat sized up its opponent, while the people behind it wondered if they could ever live down the sha of being protected by a feline. The battle playing out on the table was a clash of titans, far beyond their ability to interfere. Still, they could do sothing to help the struggling Mr. Candle.
"I can't tell you anything. I'm under the control of the main body's mind," the Corpse Gentleman said, coughing. "While we aren't one and the sa, we rise and fall together. Why would I ever harm my own interests?"
The Corpse Gentleman said this while continuing to cough.
"You're the ones who should be worried. Even with that cat protecting you, how many can it shield at once? I will kill and torture you, one by one. This plan, tens of thousands of years in the making, will not be foiled by a re cat."
The viscous black liquid on the floor had pooled to a considerable depth. Unnoticed, it had crept past the table and was now closing in on the four people behind the cat.
"Mrow!"
Vanilla had noticed the threat. As it cried out, vast black shadows surged from the corners of the room. The firelight from the hearth and the lightning outside no longer dictated the play of light and dark; the power of the shadow realm was encroaching.
The black liquid and the shadows soon t. Where they touched, they sizzled and corroded one another, like acid and base reacting. Both forces had their own inexhaustible source, allowing them to rally instantly from any setback. For a mont, the shadows and the black ooze were locked in a stalemate.
"A cat can now go head-to-head with a demigod Enchanter. Perhaps I really am getting old," Mr. Hood said with a touch of lancholy, unaware that the cat was holding back for fear of frightening them.
"Is this really the ti for jokes?"
Magic Miss snapped.
"Then what are our options?"
Mr. White Cat asked.
"Of course there is," Magic Miss declared. "I can't face a demigod-level Enchanter alone, but there are four of us, and our opponent is distracted by the cat. Work with . We'll perform a ritual together. I have a way for us to win—and even a way to end Mr. Candle's struggle."
Magic Miss's tone was resolute; she had clearly made a montous decision.
"Is there really such a ritual?"
Hathaway asked, perplexed.
"There is," Magic Miss replied. "So ti ago, an angel descended, which sparked my interest in angelic lore and rituals. I later chanced upon an interesting chain ability, purchased from a man who made his living robbing ancient tombs. I realized this chain was remarkably similar to an ancient ritual, so I adapted it."
Magic Miss answered.
"What kind of chain ability?"
Mr. Hood asked, his voice filled with anticipation.
"'Angel's Halo.' I can't share the specifics, or the knowledge will slip from my mind. But I know of the two other abilities in the chain. Unfortunately, they're both lost to ti. Together, the three form the most primitive version of the ancient god-summoning ritual."
Magic Miss spoke quickly, her words tumbling out.
Hathaway felt a sense of déjà vu. The words sounded incredibly familiar, but she couldn't quite place where she had heard them before.
"What? Summon a god? Magic Miss, have you lost your mind? Don't you know that recklessly calling a deity down to the mortal plane never ends well?"
"Mr. Hood, please don't interrupt ," she shot back. "Do we have any other choice? Are we supposed to rely solely on Mr. Candle and his cat? As formidable as they are, that is a Titan from the age of myths. Do you truly grasp what that ans?"
Magic Miss's tone was sharp. She then added:
"Furthermore, the ancient priestesses—that is, pure female clergy—used a set of three chain abilities to call upon their deities: 'Our God is Here,' 'Energy Shell,' and 'Angel's Halo.' The first ability provides the coordinates for the god's arrival in the material world. The second allows a mortal body to temporarily contain the power of a great being. The third transforms the user's body to be more suitable for wielding divine power. The foundation of these three abilities shares common ground with both ancient and modern god-summoning rituals. We may lack the necessary components, but during the angel fall a while back, I collected so plants that grew from the blood of a malevolent angel that dripped onto the earth. That should be enough."
"Yes, this might just work!"
Braving the wind and rain atop the Titan's head, Jenkins unfurled the oil painting of the angel he'd acquired from the studio's Mysterious Realm. The situation had reached a critical point; if he held back now, there might not be a future.
He ripped the canvas in two. The fragnts dissolved into a streak of black light that shot into the stormy sky, flying higher and higher against the gale.
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