“9...” A faint voice pierced through the layers of whispers, reaching Goodwin’s ears. She snapped her head towards the source of the sound and saw the dried-up, corpse-like girl chanically opening her mouth.
“1...” A phantom image of an exquisite silver watch face materialized behind the girl. The second hand rapidly spun backward 10 seconds.
Click—
The phantom watch began ticking again. And the girl, previously resembling a dried corpse, rapidly filled out with flesh and blood. Even the dagger embedded in her chest was squeezed out by the newly generated flesh.
The terrifying summoning ritual began rotating once more. Goodwin, her last hope shattered, descended into infinite despair and completely lost her mind.
...
“Cough, cough...” Ciel coughed lightly at this mont.
She put away the pocket watch, wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, and looked at the now almost tangible blood-red vortex before her.
Good thing she had started the stopwatch. This summoning array nearly sucked her dry into a corpse.
She was supposed to recover in ten seconds, but getting stabbed by a throwing knife at the end, and not even dying from it, almost broke Ciel’s composure.
Fortunately, she had felt little pain by then; the knife stabbing her felt almost like nothing, as if she were already a corpse.
The blood-red vortex before her finally showed so movent.
The originally massive vortex was rapidly compressing, soon shrinking to about twice human height. The initial blood-red color condensed into a dark red, almost black hue.
“Why did it shrink?” Ciel frowned slightly.
Using just Kitty’s corpse alone had summoned a terrifying monster nearly large enough to break through the exchange area ceiling.
But after adding the corpses of so many transcendents and cultists, this massive array actually resulted in sothing smaller?
Ciel had expected to summon sothing terrifying enough to at least break through the roof of this huge underground sanctuary.
After all, bigger is better, bigger is stronger.
As Ciel pondered, tiny specks of shimring dust began to drift out from the dark vortex.
The dust particles glittered, appearing like stars in the cosmos against the backdrop of the lightless, dark red vortex.
These starlight dust particles drifted about. Ciel couldn’t tear her gaze away until they floated before the relatively intact pink-haired corpse, paused slightly, and then began to settle onto the body bit by bit.
The pink-haired corpse instantly began to decay. The original wounds closed and bulged into pustules. Dark purple pustules continuously swelled and overlapped, completely enveloping the body, resembling a cluster of distinct grapes.
Gradually, the constantly pulsing pustules began to stiffen, as if frozen, their surfaces covered in white frost.
Crack, crack—
The giant, insect-egg-like sphere shattered. A human hand erged from within.
Crack—
The egg split in two and dissipated with the wind. A half-human, half-insect “thing” was fully revealed before Ciel.
It was a monster with the physique of a young girl.
Its head had short, dark red hair, but its face was devoid of any features. Its body was similarly seamless, like a sheet of human skin wrapped around sothing.
Six pairs of translucent insect wings unfolded from its back. Four pairs of white, sharp insectoid legs were attached to its rear shoulders and waist, all slowly stretching out.
Four pairs of chitinous black horns curved and twisted on either side of its head. Viewed from the front, they resembled two symtrical church emblems – a circle encompassing a semicircle.
Ciel: “...”
Ciel took several steps back consecutively.
The mont she saw the highly symbolic horns, Ciel felt a sense of foreboding.
The system had said that the summoned spiritual being depends on the items sacrificed.
Could it be that by sacrificing too many cultists bearing the “Sadhana Mark,” these marks attracted a spiritual being related to “Sadhana” that also held goodwill towards her...
Moreover, the insectoid limbs and wings of this human-insect creature... sowhat reminded Ciel of the appearance of “Radiance Bishop” Hugh she had seen during her monts of ntal instability...
Hiss, hiss—
The sound of skin tearing echoed. The featureless human face began to split open. Lipless mouths filled with sharp teeth opened irregularly across the face.
Just as Ciel considered committing suicide to eliminate so cultists and try again, an ethereal voice sounded in her mind.
“Mother... God... Sadhana...”
The spiritual being lacked complex thought. It simply acted on instinct, staggering towards Ciel and slowly kneeling down before her.
Ciel looked at the terrifying half-human, half-insect spiritual being kneeling before her, montarily unsure what to do.
She... seed to be able to communicate with it.
It was also calling the Mother Goddess’s na, indicating its connection to “Sadhana.” It was highly likely a creature created by “Sadhana,” or perhaps even its offspring.
But its voice didn’t seem to affect Ciel, and for so reason, it mistook Ciel for the Mother Goddess.
Considering spiritual beings generally weren’t very intelligent, it probably just recognized the summoner, Ciel, as its master.
Ciel saw that the six pairs of giant insect wings on its back were beginning to dissipate; its ti in this world seed limited.
Its... combat prowess?
Ciel had summoned it primarily to fight the third-tier “Radiance Bishop” cultist. If it couldn’t defeat that cultist, the effort would be wasted.
How could she test its strength?
Fight it herself?
Ciel ntally shook her head.
Although she hadn’t fought it, she felt she would be instantly killed.
There wasn’t enough ti now to let it run into the city and catch transcendents...
Oh right, wasn’t Nia still outside?
She was a third-tier “Crown Guard,” probably quite durable?
Sorry, Nia. Please bear with in this simulation, let test its abilities.
Just need to make the spiritual being be careful, not deliver a killing blow.
This debt, I will definitely find a chance to repay in reality.
Seemingly sensing Ciel’s thoughts, the monster before her slowly turned and began walking towards the spiral staircase.
“Hey, wrong way, over here.” Ciel walked ahead of the spiritual being, guiding it.
Ciel didn’t notice that her own body had begun to distort erratically, flashing strangely at tis. The negative status “Temporal Disorder” had started to take effect on her...
...
An hour has passed... what exactly happened inside?
Nia took out a bronze pocket watch, checked the ti with so irritation, then clipped the watch back onto her waist.
Instigators truly couldn’t be trusted. Said she’d finish everything before the Lady woke up, but went silent after entering, and no one was seen running out.
The entire Deton Manor was eerily quiet, like a haunted house, exuding an aura that warned the living away.
Voom—
Suddenly, an abrupt buzzing in her mind put Nia on high alert. She quickly drew the sword and shield from her back, faint fluorescent blue light flickering within the gaps of her armor.
Under Nia’s tense gaze, a figure slowly walked out from the entrance of Deton Manor.
Is that... Ciel?
In Nia’s vision, the mask Ciel had worn was gone. Her red curly hair, slightly past shoulder length, swayed with her steps. Beside her followed four illusory black shadows identical to Ciel.
Nia: “?”
No?
Can “Instigator” switch to “Judicator”?
Ciel just drank the “Instigator” potion, right?
What’s with those black shadows? Aren’t those...
While Nia was puzzling over this, she suddenly recoiled sharply, thrusting her right shield forward. A honeycomb-patterned, fluorescent blue light shield materialized before her.
She saw, behind Ciel and the four black shadows, followed a terrifying creature whose form constantly distorted before her eyes.
Screaming whispers shrieked in Nia’s mind. As Ciel slowly raised her hand and pointed towards Nia, the terrifying phantom behind her flickered and vanished.
200 ters...
150! 100! 5...
In just a few flickers, less ti than a single breath, the terrifying phantom materialized right before Nia’s face.
Nia stood stunned for a long mont. The fluorescent blue glow on her body gradually dimd. After an unknown period, she supported herself with her sword and shield, slowly sinking to one knee before Ciel.
“Mother Goddess... above...” tallic buzzing resonated from within the armor representing Nia.
Ciel’s black shadow subrged into the ground, erging like a fish from Nia’s shadow behind her. Then, the black shadow solidified, and Ciel’s figure appeared behind Nia.
She looked at the kneeling Nia before her, her face showing a thoughtful expression.
Is this... like a super-enhanced version of a “Radiance Bishop”?
Regardless, Ciel felt it was worth running another simulation to try confronting that “Radiance Bishop” head-on...
Before the spiritual being dissipated, Ciel had it remove the Sadhana mark from Nia. It easily eliminated the “Sadhana Mark” on Nia.
In that case, she could also try removing the mark from the “Gambler” save file...
Anyway, in future simulations, as long as Kitty was still at Deton Manor during that tiline, she could co here and sacrifice so cultists to help herself.
Deton Manor in Berren City had effectively beco Ciel’s secret farming spot.
For the remaining ti, Ciel dragged the unconscious Nia into the bushes to hide her, then left Berren City, heading towards the surrounding towns, patiently waiting for ti to pass.
Finally, the 24-hour limit expired, and Ciel was transported to a silver-white space.
Saving the “Instigator” file to No.1, overwriting the original “Avenger” save, Ciel exited the save space, engulfed by silver light...
...
【Reality】
【Saint Year 741, June 20, 16:20】
【Evaluation: You’re still incredible】
【Even the Divine Advent Church doesn’t know how to summon a divine servant, but you do. You’re even more hardcore than the cultists.】
【A pity. If you had taken down one more third-tier, I could have given you so more rewards ^^】
【Take it, you deserve this based on your performance.】
【Reward: Fate Points × 27, 【Art of Conversation Lv.3】】
【Fate Points: 153】
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