Jenkins and Magic Miss couldn't figure out where the sound of the waves was coming from, but they didn't have ti to dwell on it. With most of Femishue's n tied up in the gunfight, the two of them only needed to deal with the few in the backyard organizing ammunition.
They broke down the back door and entered the house, coming face to face with one of Femishue's fourth-level Enchanters. A blinding white light erupted, followed by a flurry of thrown talismans. A damp patch appeared on the wall, only to be instantly evaporated by a burst of orange fla.
The first-floor window shattered, and several gunshots rang out from inside. A freshly killed corpse suddenly rose, charging into the house as an undead creature. Monts later, an explosion rocked the room, and Jenkins hurled both its body and that of the pirate Enchanter out into the open.
"We need to be quick! I don't know if another group is targeting Femishue!"
Magic Miss cried urgently to Jenkins, reaching for the door behind the staircase that led to the basent. Jenkins imdiately yanked her behind him and tackled her to the ground. A shimring, bluish toxic mist drifted out from behind the door, missing them completely.
"Mist of Death! Why is this in the city!"
The disheveled woman scrambled to her feet, letting out a hysterical complaint. Without so much as a thank you to Jenkins, she ripped the hexagram pendant from her chest. At its owner's command, it began to radiate an alarming power.
"My Lord, grant your blessing! You who master all the world's mysteries, may the glory of the God of Rituals last for eternity!"
The divine ritual, channeled through the necklace in her hand, caused a complex hexagram to materialize at her feet. A soft white light spilled from the pendant, dispersing the deadly mist.
"Follow !"
She beckoned to Jenkins and charged through the doorway onto the stairs. Jenkins forcefully stuffed the cat inside his coat, clutched his sword, and followed right behind her.
The mont he stepped through the door, he heard the sound of waves crashing against a shore. A damp, salty, seaside sll washed over him, and Jenkins missed his footing, nearly tumbling down the stairs.
By the ti he hurried down the stairs and reached the basent, Magic Miss had already dealt with the other Enchanter on guard duty. She stood motionless at the basent entrance, her back to him, only stirring when Jenkins softly called her na.
Jenkins walked up beside her. Before them, dozens of desiccated corpses hung from the ceiling like slaughtered pigs. A series of interlocking circles covered the floor, confining ancient runes within them, creating a complex system of checks and balances.
In the dim light of the basent, the runes gave off a faint purple glow. And there, at the far end of the room, stood Femishue, the pirate king known as "the Destroyer," whom Jenkins hadn't seen in six months. He was barefoot, his eyes closed, and at his feet, water gurgled up from a small spring.
The flow wasn't strong, just enough to soak the ground around his feet.
"Don't take another step."
Magic Miss held out a hand to stop Jenkins, even though he had no intention of recklessly stepping forward.
"I can't believe I'm seeing this. It's rare. Extrely rare."
"What's rare?"
"Most rituals used by Enchanters are derived from their supernatural abilities, with so being simplified versions of those powers. Therefore, you can categorize supernatural rituals the sa way you categorize abilities. Among all the abilities, the purple destiny-type are the rarest and most peculiar. Consequently, rituals corresponding to destiny are also the least common. If you exclude the general abilities from the Church of Destiny and Order, the average Enchanter will almost never encounter a destiny-related ritual."
"So what does this ritual in front of us do?"
"I don't know. I can only barely make out that it has sothing to do with the ocean. 'Never, ever interfere with a ritual related to destiny.' That was the very first thing my guide—my teacher—told when I first stepped into the world of the extraordinary."
She reached out, her finger tentatively prodding the air in front of them. With a ripple of distorted light and a fluctuation in the air's density, a strange, shimring mbrane of light covered the basent.
"What you see with the naked eye is an illusion. This is the basent's true form. Do not step in there. I have no idea what would happen if you did."
"If we don't step in, can we just shoot at him from here?"
"I imagine Femishue has prepared for that kind of threat. You can give it a try."
Magic Miss said with a frown, pausing for a mont before speaking again. "This ritual is tied to the destiny of the ocean. He possesses the Heart of the Ocean, which allows him to control the power of the seas to so extent. Candle Mr, I recall your Soul Trait Ability is purple, isn't it?"
"It is."
"That makes things easier. Only destiny can suppress destiny. A sufficiently important thread of fate can even twist the lesser ones it touches. Here, take this."
With that, she shoved her hexagram pendant into Jenkins's hand. The cat in his coat imdiately poked its head out through a gap between the buttons, craning its neck in an attempt to bite the pendant, but it couldn't quite reach.
The pendant felt warm in his hand. A few seconds later, the call of the Bestowal reached him, a sign that Magic Miss had temporarily relinquished her ownership of the item.
"Summon your emblem and activate the pendant's power at the sa ti."
she instructed, then added, "I know you're highly compatible with this Bestowal. I could sense it the first ti we t. That's why I pretended not to know what a purple ability signifies—I was testing you."
"And you still dare to give it to ?"
Jenkins murmured as he absorbed the pendant into his Spirit. When it reappeared in his hand, it had been dyed a regal purple. In Magic Miss's possession, the hexagram pendant had been nothing more than a simple, colorless crystal.
"See? I knew this would happen."
Magic Miss shrugged.
Jenkins nodded, took a deep breath, and summoned the pentagram emblem representing The Unknown Path. The small emblem floated before his chest, and Jenkins raised the hexagram pendant in his right hand, overlapping the two.
For a split second, even though Jenkins was now the Bestowal's owner, he couldn't feel its presence at all. But before he could determine if it was an illusion or reality, he watched as the non-corporeal pentagram emblem and the physical hexagram pendant fused together, forming a strange new symbol with eleven points.
The familiar purple line abruptly appeared before his eyes. This ti, however, it wasn't guiding him anywhere. Instead, it lashed out like a whip, striking the air in the basent ahead. The sound didn't register in his ears, but resonated directly in his mind.
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