abcnovels
Chapter 55 - The Truth Behind the Ritual
Chapter 55 - The Truth Behind the Ritual
Chapter 55: The Truth Behind the Ritual
Duke Simon, whose heart had been pierced, suddenly took a step forward and tightly strangled Cass.
The terrifying lightning on his body was transmitted to the swordsman through Judgment 4.
Cass wanted to break free, but he was restrained by a powerful force and couldn’t move at all. All he could do was watch the lightning spread throughout his body along the knight’s sword.
“Congratulations, Cass Durant, the last bloodline of the Black Swordsman. Congratulations on successfully defeating the tyrant living high above and stabbing his heart…”
Duke Simon whispered into Cass’s ear. At this moment, his voice no longer carried the might of thunder from the high heavens. Instead, it became extremely illusory and ethereal, like the whisper of a dying person.
Then, intense pain came from Cass’s body. The lightning that clung to his entire body began to gather into countless fine rune patterns that were imprinted on his skin and fused into his flesh.
A feeling that even his soul was dyed by lightning surged into his heart.
Upon seeing this, Simon said excitedly, “Congratulations, you will be crowned the new God King of the Sky, Oka, and wield the authority of lightning!”
Duke Simon then took off the crown made of lightning and solemnly placed it on Cass’s head. With this action, the lightning all over his body began to surge toward Cass.
When all the lightning on Duke Simon’s body fused with Cass’s body, he pushed the exhausted Cass onto the throne and pulled out Judgment 4, which was in his chest.
There wasn’t a drop of blood on the pitch-black knight’s sword.
The dragon-snake patterns around the tomb became even more saturated. The rich Undead magic power that filled the space was attracted to the King and Rebel’s devouring nexus before gathering on Duke Simon, who was in the middle of the ritual.
The phantom of a huge snake began to appear behind Simon, and fine snake scales began to appear on his skin. A pitch-black aura spread around him as he looked at Cass on the throne and said fanatically, “As for me, Simon Walde, as the tyrant you defeated, I will fall into the Netherworld and become the new Death of the Underworld, Vera!”
They were in the Tomb of Gods, the entrance to the Netherworld in the ancient Blackwater myths. Under the effect of the Eternal Gift constantly guiding the Undead mana from the Astral World, this place had almost completely turned into a miniature Netherworld.
In other words, all the conditions for Death Vera’s rebirth were met.
This was the true plan, the truth behind the King and Rebel ritual!
The authority over the sky and lightning wasn’t what he sought because an incomplete God King’s power was far from enough to establish the Blackwater Kingdom.
Therefore, Simon didn’t seek the authority of God King Oka, but the authority of Death that could allow him to control the Rotten Moon Tide of the Undead.
For this, he had planned for more than 20 years.
The King and Rebel ritual was like its original ancient myth. It had always been a two-way transformation.
The king and the rebel, the God King and Death, one killed and devoured the other to turn into the other.
This wasn’t only about the rebel killing the king to become the king; there was also the part where the old king was killed and reduced to become the next rebel.
However, because the trigger of the King and Rebel ritual was when the rebel stabbed their sword into the king’s heart and wasn’t allowed to use any spells to cheat during this process, no one had ever tried the other angle of King and Rebel Conversion.
After all, no mortal could survive being stabbed in the heart without taking any precautions.
After Simon prayed to the Moon Realm and sought the Void Sovereign’s wisdom, the Whispering Empress, Beatrice, replied to him and pointed out a feasible path for him.
Sealed under Thorn City’s ancient Holy Sepulchre is a sword. It can stab deep into your heart but not injure you at all.
Behind the curtain, a woman in a black muslin dress and six arms sat in front of a textile machine. She told Simon in a whisper that reached the depths of his soul how to bypass the restrictions of the King and Rebel ritual.
As for Simon, he crawled on the spiderweb-covered ground and asked in a humble tone,
“Your Majesty, what kind of gratitude do I need to offer you to repay your gift today?”
Bring me that sword.
From then on, Simon spent more than ten years and used countless resources before finally finding the descendant of the Black Swordsman and secretly nurturing him to become the leader of the Bramble Mercenaries.
To bring Cass closer to the status of the Death rebel, Duke Simon planned on letting the Bramble Mercenaries he led enter the Silverstream Mine. He wanted his comrades to be killed one by one in front of him, filling his heart with hatred for the mastermind behind this matter.
All of this was to guide his state of mind and emotions closer to the evil Death in Blackwater mythology, Vera, who risked everything to overthrow the tyrant.
Of course, there was also the most important step—to make him a true member of the dead.
Through the dream fog created by the Nightmare Maid, Simon designed and guided a kind and innocent little faerie to find the dying Cass. Just as he had expected, the faerie named Liz used Life Scale Powder to connect their lives.
Cass became a dead person who relied on the vitality of another.
Simon planned on getting his Stumbling Demon to pull Cass up as a zombie, but this would make the final rebirth stage of the ritual extremely troublesome. Therefore, he only got Grayrash to hide to the side as a backup plan.
The last step was to let them “coincidentally” arrive at the venue of the King and Rebel ritual…
“There’s no need to lie there any further, right?”
Duke Simon turned around and said to ‘Nizemar,’ who had been charred by his lightning.
“Gosh~ You were too heavy-handed. Aren’t you afraid that I’ll be expelled back to the Moon Realm by you?”
Under Cass’s shocked gaze, the charred humanoid that had collapsed on the sarcophagus stood up complaining.
As she… No, as it stood up, charred fragments constantly peeled off its body, and disgusting pus-yellow liquid slowly flowed down the cracked parts.
“A poor act won’t give him too much pressure. Moreover, with Night Locust’s support, this won’t cause you any serious damage, right?” Simon, whose eyes were already pitch-black, replied.
“But it hurts…”
The charred object continued to complain. Its voice wasn’t as cold as before, but one couldn’t tell its age from the voice.
“You… Why…”
Upon seeing this scene, Cass was at a loss for words.
The thing that once looked like Nizemar walked in Duke Simon’s direction, scattering charred fragments and a trail of pus-yellow liquid along the way.
After walking to Duke Simon’s side, it turned its head which had the outline of a skeleton, and smiled at Cass. The withered eyeballs in its eyes fell out with a plop.
“I have to say, the adventure I took with you was really interesting. I finally understand why Our Lord insisted on spreading Her gospel in Currere.”
It happily said, “Because this reality is a true nightmare.”
With that said, it grinned with its torn mouth.