“Oh~ I had only heard of such things before; I didn't expect to see it with my own eyes!”
The maid sighed softly, while Shade's face was full of smiles
“It's even better than I thought. The original ability to observe blood is still retained and is even clearer. But more importantly, the attributes of [Echo] have been enhanced. For living people, I can now drop the blood or blood-like components of a specific individual into my eyes or inject them into my body, allowing my eyes to see the other party's trajectory of movement for a certain period of time.”
He stood up while holding the cat
“Tifa, you just dropped blood into my eyes. Therefore, for approximately one hour, while my occult art is active, as long as I go to a location where you have appeared within the last 24 hours, my eyes will be able to see your blood-colored phantom. Those glowing shadows will describe your continuous movements and actions in space. This is not only the echo of blood, but also the echo of time and space.”
The maid thought for a moment
“Blood, time, and space... although the occult art has no attacking power, this effect is simply too useful. What about corpses?”
“The corpse doesn't need to be intact. As long as I drop the corpse's blood into my eyes or inject it into my veins, I can see the blood-colored halo formed by all the movements they made one hour before death and one hour after death. Yes, combined with my spiritual ability [Soul Echo], no dead person can hope to keep secrets from me now... Of course, I have to find the location of death first.”
Shade nodded, controlling his smile
“Not only that, I think I roughly understand how to obtain this occult art through normal means. I am definitely the first Ring Warlock to possess this art. First, one needs the spell [Blood Echo], then the power of time, space, and blood, and must have had contact with at least one deity related to these. Without the red potion I used, one would need to perform a ritual related to the restoration of sight, though I still need to think through the ritual details myself—my ritual studies aren't very good. Perhaps I should change the name of the occult art. How about [Shade's Blood Echo]?”
Shade was joking, but although he made it sound simple, obtaining this occult art was quite difficult. The mere requirement of having had a significant connection with a deity possessing the powers of blood, time, and space was almost impossible in itself.
And an occult art so difficult to obtain was naturally rich in utility and powerful.
“You certainly have the right to name it. Congratulations, Mr. Hamilton,” Tifa said with a smile.
“You can just call me Shade from now on.”
Shade waved his hand. Seeing that he had used half of the red potion and only a quarter remained in the bottle
“The remaining potion belongs to you.”
“How can I do that? To be able to evolve occult arts and spells without a price—even if the type of ability is limited—the remaining liquid is still worth...”
She shook her head, intending to refuse.
“I plan to keep that ring relic for myself, but you also put in effort to repel the demon and obtain these things.”
Shade picked up the restless cat
“How about treating it as a souvenir for being a detective's assistant today? I imagine Miss Galina doesn't give you vacations often enough to do things for yourself. I hope today's activities in Tobesk leave you with memories worth cherishing. Just take the potion; it was a free gain for me anyway.”
Tifa hesitated, pursed her lips, and whispered her thanks before stuffing the small bottle into her skirt pocket.
She brushed a stray lock of hair from her ear and spoke softly to Shade
“Mr. Hamilton...”
“Hmm?”
The maid smiled and shook her head gently
“I misspoke.”
She spoke again
“Shade, today's memories are indeed a lifelong treasure to me.”
A breeze blew through the window into the second-floor living room of Number 6 St. Delan Square. In the wind, Shade looked at the maid beside him. For him, today was another ordinary day.
(Iluna is praying...)
“Isn't this a bit too fast?”
Early Thursday morning, a carriage passed outside the window, and the morning light shone into the second-floor room on Silver Cross Avenue. Luvia squinted at the black iron ring Shade had placed on the table, and after a long while, she asked
“You only had me divine this relic on Monday morning, and yet you already got it by Wednesday afternoon.”
She touched the slightly cold ring. Because she already knew the relic's properties, the voice in her ear immediately reminded her what it was
“Moreover, this wasn't encountered by coincidence, but obtained because of a commission you postponed for nearly two months... Is that detective, Spyro Hamilton, really just an ordinary person? Why do the commissions he left you always have such serious problems?”
“No, no. First, Detective Spyro is not an ordinary person; he might have had the identity of a Carsonrick, but that's not important. Second, not every commission has a problem. Three commissions have already been solved. Although the mistress stalking and the ophthalmologist caused some trouble, look, Mia was fine, wasn't she?”
Shade poked the cat lying on the table; the latter stood up, gave him a look, and then lay back down.
“And although Miss Mia Gaud complained in her letter that her family had declined, she's living quite well,” Shade emphasized.
“When I have time, I'll go to Mr. Spyro Hamilton's grave and divine things about him,” Luvia said helplessly. However, she wasn't sure if this coincidence was due to one of the two detectives or because of that house. From the current situation, even if Detective Spyro hadn't met with an accident, he likely would have died due to other commissions later.
“Didn't I translate that parchment? This was a Ring Warlock from hundreds of years ago who accidentally discovered the [Relics] of the Third Epoch Demon Hunters. The seal will appear in the hands of those capable of fighting demons due to the ties of fate; this is one of the seal's characteristics. It is the conviction passed down by the brave ones of antiquity... They were true heroes.”
“I know, I know. You plan to look for that sword when you have time, and you gave that bottle of potion to that big-chested beautiful maid.”
She used a very unrefined way of speaking. Shade was unwilling to discuss female body shapes, so he proactively changed the subject
“The [Demon Hunter's Seal] is obtained, the [Weakened Angel Potion] is obtained, and I've encountered the Secret Servants. The problem now is, if the location where we confront Darkness is not in the city, but inside the out-of-control Angel-level relic [Dark Domain] outside the city, how do we contend with those eerie Secret Servants? A single one is easy enough to deal with, but there isn't just one inside the relic.”
Luvia told Shade not to be nervous. During the time Shade had been idling in Tobesk, she had found more information
“Killing demons requires specific methods. The Church has already mastered this method, and our President went to assist in handling this matter a while ago, so the Association also has data. Simply put, inside the Dark Domain, those evil spirits and demons that spread darkness fear light.”
“But my Flash spell is useless.”
“You actually still think that was a Flash spell... it is indeed useless. Specifically, their nemesis is [Light] and the derivative spirit runes of its upper and lower concepts.”
At this point, Luvia lifted her chin confidently
“And by a great coincidence, both Iluna and I have the corresponding spirit runes.”
“So that means I'm the only one who cannot kill those Secret Servants.”
Shade nodded, an idea already forming in his mind
“Then how do we kill the demon on Darkness's body? What spirit rune is its nemesis?”
“Why kill it? What we need to deal with is Ivan Darkness. Moreover, the other party hasn't been dealt with for thousands of years. Your Twelfth-Ring friend in Coldwater Port, who might even have the ability to kill Darkness, didn't dare to for fear of releasing the demon. So, there's a high probability we cannot kill it either,” Luvia said.
“Then if we kill Darkness, doesn't that mean we've let that Human Pus Demon escape?” Shade was very worried.
“Even if we cannot kill the demon, the Church will act. And even if the Church is a step late again, we can still seal it. Shade, that box you're keeping...”
Reminded by Luvia, Shade thought of the [God's Gift Box]. That box could seal divinity and contain out-of-control relics; there was no reason it couldn't seal a demon.
Although this would mean Shade couldn't receive a gift every week, considering the uncertainty of those gifts, the loss didn't seem too great.
“Then it's no problem. Kill Darkness, seal the demon...”
Shade took out his notebook and scribbled
“Among the difficulties of confronting Darkness, his power as a Sixth-Ring Warlock is suppressed by Iluna's [Balance] talent; the power of the palm demon is countered by the seal and the potion; the darkness talent is still countered by [Balance]; even if he turns into that state where half his body is entwined by black pus, I can use my moonlight to dispel the erosive influence that absorbs negative emotions.”
He looked up and thought for a moment
“Looking at it this way, Darkness has already been completely defeated.”
He laughed to himself; he naturally knew this was impossible.
“A prepared battle like this, especially one where we have intelligence on the opponent, will naturally be simpler, just like when we dealt with the 'Silver-Eyed One'.”
Although Luvia's expression was serious, she didn't seem worried that the three of them would fail
“Once Darkness is discovered in the city, we act immediately. We cannot delay; we must kill him at the first opportunity.”
“Exactly. But if we truly cannot contend with him, there's nothing wrong with letting the Church take over the battle,” Shade reminded her. The Orthodox Church's attitude toward the second Chosen was also primarily focused on "killing." The [Darkness] talent wasn't much of an issue, but he should not be wielding an eerie existence left over from the Third Epoch.
The Church had a zero-tolerance policy toward intelligent anomalies left over from past eras.
After bidding farewell to Luvia, Shade intended to use his free time to complete the final commission—helping Miss White find her missing sister. However, when Shade visited the apartment of Ms. Black, who was superficially "missing" but actually just had run away from home, he unexpectedly learned that the lady had gone to the Tobesk countryside for a vacation and wouldn't be back for at least half a month.
“This is for the best; it avoids another accident. Detective Spyro really is something—why does he always take such strange commissions?”
Thus, Shade could only set the commission aside again and patiently wait for Darkness to appear.
Thursday brought no news. Shade spent the day reading at home with no income. In the evening, he took the cat for a stroll in the university district and happened upon Iluna, who was executing a mission. Shade waved to her across the street, but because Iluna was with teammates, the two did not converse. At night, Shade summarized the specific data for [Shade's Blood Echo].
Friday brought no news. Shade spent the day reading at home with no income; the ritual to enhance [Time Perception] failed again.
In the evening, he visited Priest Augustus at the Dawn Church and was dragged into the church's nightly prayer activities. After sneaking a rather sumptuous late-night snack with the cat, he discussed some political topics with Bishop Owen.
The Bishop seemed intent on using Shade to probe the subsequent movements of the Kingdom's New Continent Expeditionary Force after Prince Sax was arrested.
Saturday still brought no news. Shade spent half the day reading at home with no income. In the afternoon, he attended Dr. Schneider's study group. At the meeting, Shade submitted the data for the evolved occult art [Shade's Blood Echo] to the library.
After comparing the data, the academy library accepted the naming of [Shade's Blood Echo].
He had thought the academy would only give him a few coins to brush him off, but unexpectedly, the academy was quite generous this time, giving him a reward of 100 pounds. He had originally thought he'd have no income this week, but in one go, he earned an amount that an ordinary working-class family might not see in three years.
“Since when did the academy become so generous?”
Holding the money, Shade wondered if he was currently in a dream.
“This shows that the academy believes the occult art information you provided is very useful,” the doctor explained, looking troubled as he read the notice in his hand.
The summer practice had been canceled, and one winter off-campus practice was added to this academic year. The academy seemed to believe that Tobesk was still unsafe, but in Shade's view, it was that St. Byron had also realized Darkness's whereabouts.
After the study group ended, it was customary to have dinner with Dorothy and then begin the evening lessons. Unexpectedly, just as he boarded the carriage at the intersection, the blonde girl lowered her voice and said
“Shade, tonight's lesson is canceled. Lacia will find time to leave Yodel Palace to see you tonight.”
(End of Chapter)