Chapter 406: First Meeting, Night Devil (Two in One)
After it was completely dark, Aiwass put on the priest's uniform that he had not worn for a long time, and solemnly lit three brand new candles from his bedroom.
In front of Aiwass was a silver basin on the table, filled with salt that was consecrated by Aiwass during the day.
Yulia and Ligeia sat side by side on the edge of the bed, while Janice peered into the room from the landscape hanging on the wall.
Aiwass closed his eyes to the candlelight for a long time, brewing his emotions.
The sacred and faint candlelight shone on Aiwass. Behind him cast a shadow that twisted and squirmed like a living creature.
"I would like to worship Si Zhu, the god whose holy number is three, the god who binds the body with sin thorns, the god who burns the body to chase away the darkness..."
Aiwass murmured in a low voice and closed his eyes repeatedly to pray: "Please look after the fire of my heart...look after me like the candlelight in the corner...
"I would like to invite Si Zhu, the god whose holy number is three..."
His solemnity also made Yulia become nervous and tense her back unconsciously.
She had always known that her brother had the ability to strengthen the Shadow Demon and the Flame-Contrary Butterfly through self-sacrifice.
But Aiwass never showed it in front of her.
Aiwass had many things that he did not show to Yulia. Some are to prevent her from worrying, and others are to prevent her from coming into contact with anything too dangerous.
Yulia knew this very well, but she couldn't argue with it. After all, this comes from Aiwass' care and love for her, and the root is the persona she constructed in front of Aiwass - in Aiwass's perception, Yulia is weak and needs to be taken care of. girl.
There are no emergencies now, and Yulia can't suddenly change herself.
After chanting three times, Aiwass plunged his hands into the salt basin in front of him that had been consecrated with the blessing technique.
He scooped up the salt with both hands, spread out his arms, and sprinkled it around casually.
Like sparks flying upward. These white salt powders are flying and circling as if they have come to life.
They gradually shone with a faint light - slowly lighting up like stars in this dim bedroom.
The shoulder straps wrapped around Aiwass's neck moved automatically in the wind, twisting and flying like two slippery sea snakes.
He lowered his head, gently stroked the salt in the basin, and sighed in a low voice: "My child, the fleshless daughter I feed...
"—Arise, and return from the flesh of all things."
Salt symbolizes physical flesh and blood.
After hearing Aiwass's call, the Shadow Demon, who had lost consciousness and fell into a dream, emerged from the shadow in the salt basin in front of him like a puppy that had been called by its owner.
It was an indistinct shadow. Like silt, like a swamp.
Under Aiwas's caress, the salt in the basin flows autonomously, making the sound of waves like the ebb and flow of the tide.
"I am your totem, I am your father, I am your god."
Aiwass chanted in a low voice: "You must not touch my holiness, you must not harm my body——
"However, when I die, you should be sad; however, after the day of my death, you should celebrate!"
Aiwass said, taking out a short gun from the shadow formed by the salt.
He raised the salt gun high, and then fiercely inserted the gun into his abdomen!
Yulia suddenly shivered in shock and almost screamed.
But at this moment, a pair of cold hands stretched out from behind her and covered her mouth.
"Don't be afraid, child," Yanis's voice sounded softly from behind her, "This is how sacrifice works."
"... Do you have to hurt yourself to sacrifice?!"
Yulia lowered her voice and said in a somewhat anxious and frightened voice: "Could something go wrong?"
"correct."
Yanis said softly: "This is the ritual. The essence of the ritual is to imitate, and the purpose is to transcend."
Ligeia on the side also nodded.
Today, she has also deepened her understanding of the path to transcendence through study.
The white-haired dragon girl replied softly: "There is a desire in the human heart, which is the unstoppable and inevitable instinct of 'imitation'. It is the most essential thing of human beings, and it will be repeated with external sounds. And strengthen.
"When we are still children who don't understand anything and don't know what 'self' is, we will instinctively imitate people in the outside world. Imitate their language, imitate their expressions, and imitate their every move. That comes from the snake The Father's compassion allows people to transcend the beastly path of love.
"——Thus, we changed from beasts to humans."
On the other side, after Aiwass penetrated the salt spear, the blood flowed out along the priest's uniform and leached to the ground at an extremely slow speed.
The shadow in the salt pond instantly began to boil violently.
It's like adding some kind of reagent - Yulia thought.
And Aiwass was still chanting the secret words from the "Shepherd's Tantra":
"You shall celebrate my death, you shall sing my holiness. You shall inaugurate celebrations, you shall hold high the scepter."
Aiwass said this and took out the second salt gun from the salt pond.
He turned his head slightly and inserted the salt gun directly into his collarbone from the side of his neck!
The severe pain caused Aiwass's pupils to contract and relax, and his lips trembled violently.
He choked and coughed up pink foam.
And a line of dark red blood gushed out from his neck and soaked into the pure white priest uniform.
The thin blood gas instantly spurted out in all directions in a ball shape, and the candlelight around Aiwas seemed to dim a little, reflecting the dark red blood light.
On the other side, Ligeia was still whispering: "Some children are too good at imitating, too focused on those "imitate me" orders, and enthusiastically follow the shadows cast by those lights. So they become "good children" and "smart children"... But what they imitate are not holy and flawless holy images, but people with bad roots.
"So this incompleteness will also be reflected in the imitation. In the end, they will eventually encounter problems that cannot be solved by just imitating the people around them-and the more enthusiastic the children are to imitate, the more intense the stimulation they will suffer when they hit the wall for the first time.
"Young children have no right to refuse in front of adults. Therefore, every "no" from the people who issue the order to "imitate me" is so thunderous, insurmountable, and unrejectable.
"The inevitable failure faced in the process of imitation will strengthen the desire to imitate. This cycle goes on and on, falling into the abyss of being controlled.
"And in this process, if the seeds of evil thoughts grow in their hearts, they will want to escape this cycle. This desire is [transcendence], and that seed is [degeneration], [change], and [violence]. And this violence is also an extension of authority.
"—— Among the many acts of transcendence, the essence of 'sacrifice' is violence."
Ligeia said softly, as if she was missing someone or remembering someone.
Julia looked at her as if she was looking at another person oozing out of her.
That was another person who had told Ligeia... or rather, had told Meg about these "secrets about sacrifice". A person who belonged to the path of transcendence.
"Whether it was because of fear of drought, or wanting to prolong life, or seeking a scapegoat, or for a peaceful sleep after death, or seeking victory in war, or enjoying the intoxication of carnival... Ancient humans all over the world ultimately chose 'sacrifice' without exception. Whether the victim is a human or an animal, it is a kind of group violence, a kind of group-approved violence.
"——The essence of ritual is imitation, and the essence of sacrifice is violence. Imitation is the proof that humans are the sons of the snake father, and sacrifice is the degenerate instinct of the human soul that is tainted with desire."
Ligeia paused slightly when she said this. She subconsciously clenched her fingers.
She whispered: "The extraordinary people who transcend the path will have such self-destructive tendencies to some extent. They will regard themselves as a vessel, and the vessel is a shackle. Those who seek transcendence will eventually have the desire to smash the shackles.
"They will hurt themselves for the sake of their goals... not for greed, but for the purpose itself.
"...I once knew a transcendent who had transcended the path. He completed a self-sacrifice before a battle that was almost certain to end in death. At that time, even if they won, they could not return, so this could not be considered a sacrifice for survival; they had a high probability of not winning, so this was not for success; no one valued their death, so this was not for honor.
"I also thought about it for a long time, why they were like this...until not long ago I realized that the purpose itself is the purpose, and the extension of desire is still desire. Transcendents are always like this. "
Watching Aiwass raise the third salt gun, the shadows in the salt basin suddenly became silent. Ligeia's voice became hoarse.
Yulia suddenly turned around and noticed that Ligeia's pupils were shining with a bright purple glow.
Watching such a transcendental ceremony, the transcendental path resonated. Just as an artist will feel beauty when appreciating the works of others, Ligeia's originally stable physical state was also deviated by the resonance of this pastoral ceremony.
The dragon scales on her body squeaked, and it seemed that there were worms crawling under her flesh and blood. The whole person was growing slowly at a speed visible to the naked eye.
And Aiwass's low and hoarse voice still sounded in the bedroom:
"Who will be sacrificed? What will end? What kind of words will be passed down forever?
"——I offer you my sacrificial song!
"My love, my son, my flesh, my inheritance, my altar, obey me——"
The salt particles suspended in the air turned into brilliant stars, and at this moment, Aiwass seemed to be standing in the Milky Way.
He raised the salt gun and aimed it at his heart.
At this moment, the shadow under Aiwass and the shadow in the silver basin in front of him had completely subsided. There was a strange tranquility.
Yulia clenched her palms and wanted to rush forward. But Ligeia grabbed her arm.
She turned her head almost angrily, but saw Ligeia's face cracked like broken porcelain, bleeding. And this time She looked about four or five years older than before, and now she looked the same age as Yulia. Ligeia's eyes were shining with a strange purple light, but her face was expressionless.
——Just listening to the secret words of the Shepherd's Secret Scripture made her body begin to grow.
Ligeia felt a strong thirst - the thirst came from Aiwas standing in front of the salt basin, his body soaked in blood.
But her extremely tenacious rationality easily suppressed this desire, and by the way, suppressed Yulia.
Aiwas looked down at the shadow demon with pity, and whispered: "I offer you...
"-My instant death. "
When Aiwass's voice fell, the salt gun wrapped in shadows pierced Aiwass's heart like the stake that killed the Moon Child.
It was not just a simple injury of the heart being pierced... That kind of injury was not enough to kill Aiwas instantly.
This was a self-sacrifice, a holy ritual, and a pure devotion.
Aiwass offered himself as a sacrifice on the altar, completely dedicated to his demon -
In an instant, Aiwass's pupils became dim.
It was as if he was pierced through the heart by the shadow demon on the giant's cauldron.
All his vitality dissipated instantly.
Aiwass died immediately, and his body fell backwards weakly. The shadows that restrained the salt guns leached out from the three wounds like living things, wrapping Aiwas around.
He fell into the shadow egg. Countless shadows spread everywhere like spider webs, shaking and extinguishing the three candles dedicated to the candle master. And then these shadows were dyed bright red, and the whole room was reflected in a terrifying blood red.
It is not just a sacrifice of blood and mana like before. It is a complete sacrifice of one's life, soul, and will.
If the Shadow Fiend does not respond, it is equivalent to a completely selfless sacrifice without any request.
Aiwass will die. His life and his soul will become part of the Shadow Fiend.
"...... Alas."
However, the "Shadow Fiend" sighed.
This is not the sweet voice of Miss Assassin, nor the cold and intellectual mature voice of "Bayard". It is a brand new voice that is ethereal and hoarse, like a whispering dream:
"- I am willing to give everything I have in exchange for my master's return from nothingness."
That is the last step of the pastoral method.
Pastoral care must be selfless, so no reward can be sought.
In other words, the other party must never be constrained in any form to "repay the favor".
Then the sacrifice of everything including the contract, life, and soul is the most selfless sacrifice. A very risky act of transcendence.
Only if the other party responds can they get back everything that has been offered.
In an instant, the shadow egg dissipated as if time had gone backwards.
After the Shadow Demon returned Aiwas's sacrifice, Aiwas emerged from the blood-stained body. Although the wound of the pierced heart still existed and his vitality was weak, he was still alive.
Behind him, there was another strange existence.
She hugged Aiwas from behind to prevent him from falling to the ground.
The demon had a human upper body, and his appearance was like Bayard and Aiwas. The shrill scarlet wolf eyes made people feel intense fear.
The long, soft black hair was scattered to the middle of the thigh, and was now fluttering wildly behind her. And a pair of illusory black wings made of shadows grew from her back. The silhouette was like the wings of a crow.
She was naked, and invisible shadows were wrapped around her key parts. But from her cheeks to her waist, there were strange but charming dark red bloodstains. From the waist down, there is an amorphous gaseous body that spews black smoke. The skin of the arms from the elbows down is also completely matte black transparent hands. The claws look very ferocious, but when she hugged Aiwass, she did not hurt him at all.
When she appeared, the whole room was filled with blood.
That is the Night Demon, a superior demon that will bring a bloody night when it appears.
As a superior demon that controls the power of the path of love, it also controls the power of shadow, blood and curse.
It is rumored that the Night Demon will satisfy the wishes of jealous people, give them power, and seduce them to revenge.
And people who make deals with the Night Demon have a common feature, that is, they will lose their shadows during the day. After night falls, their shadows will control their bodies and do things they dare not do.
After satisfying the deal, the Night Demon will extract the other party's blood and soul in a bloody night. In the end, only someone will remember the bloody night coming, but no one will remember that someone once existed.
In many places, it is worshiped by the foolish as the "blood god".
The Night Demon is not on the evolutionary tree of the Shadow Demon at all.
This is one of the highest-ranking demons extended from the Mark of Jealousy, and its status and power are equal to the Punishment Demon.
The Night Demon is the "executor" who helps the Fallen Angels to reap the souls of sinners, and is also the "debt collector" of those who have made promises to the Fallen Angels but arrogantly violated the promise.
The Night Demon stared at Yulia coldly, and her scarlet, malicious pupils were full of undisguised, almost crazy jealousy.
That look was enough to make anyone timid, but Yulia was just stunned for a moment, and then her eyes suddenly became cold.
"Shadow Demon... No, I should call you Night Demon."
Aiwass's weak voice sounded.
Seeing Aiwas regain consciousness, the Night Demon immediately handed the candle to Aiwas.
Aiwass lit the candle and clenched the candle flame. The fire ritual began to heal Aiwas's injuries, and his body began to recover slowly.
He raised his head in the arms of the Night Demon, and looked at the Night Demon, who was at least two meters tall after floating.
"Long time no see, Shadow Demon."
He smiled and said softly: "Nice to meet you, Night Demon. How should I call you?"
"...Call me Bayard... No, call me Vines."
The ethereal, hoarse, echoing voice sounded from behind Aiwass: "Vines Emile Zola Bayard...that was my former name, my master."
Unlike her past days as a shadow demon, she openly admits to her past.
Devouring all of "self", this is now her most complete form.
The corners of Aiwass's mouth raised slightly.
"It's such a pity that you can no longer become a snake, a puppy, or a kitten..."
Aiwass said softly: "How about I call you little bird?
"My loyal, loving... little crow who took my life and soul back into its mouth?"
When Aiwass's voice fell, Vignes behind him dispersed into a ball of smoke and turned into a shadowy crow with scarlet pupils, and quietly stopped on Aiwass's shoulder.
"As you wish, my lord."
Like an elegant young lady, she whispered softly.
Two chapters in one, finally caught up——
I'm super, the temperature has dropped so much recently. I slept for more than five hours yesterday, and this morning I suddenly cramped under the quilt. I had severe cramps without even kicking my legs, which woke me up directly...
Because I didn’t sleep enough, I went to take a nap right after breakfast. When I woke up, it was almost six o’clock, and my schedule was completely messed up (sad)
The good news is, I’m finally back to eating three meals a day. The bad news is that the third meal hasn't been eaten yet.
Eating 3 → 2 and sleeping 3 → 1 are yes.