That night, after hiring a freight carriage to transport the wood and wooden frames to the foot of a leeward mountain in the suburbs, Angel set up his own burning rack with his own hands, opened the delicate wooden box that could isolate Spirituality, and carefully counted the Beyonder Characteristic and Spiritual Materials inside.
After confirming that everything was correct, she looked at Klein next to her. The latter had a solemn look on his face, holding an amethyst suspended by a gold chain in his left hand. The chain was rapidly rotating counterclockwise, which meant that the answer to his divination - that this promotion could be passed safely - was no.
Before purchasing the wood and ordering the torture rack, Klein learned about "Affliction" Demoness's Promotion Ritual from Angel, and he has maintained this expression since then.
"Rapid counterclockwise rotation indicates a strong negative answer. Your Promotion Ritual is very dangerous and has a high probability of failure."
His eyes moved from the amethyst to Angel's purple pupils, and Klein said slowly.
"But now is the best time. We will leave Pritz Harbor by boat later. It is impossible to set up a fire rack on the ship, and the situation at the destination Bayam is unknown. It may be more dangerous there."
Angel replied with a smile, opened the wooden box he brought, took out the materials and utensils and started to configure his own Potion.
"Furthermore, haven't you confirmed the correctness of the Potion formula and the ritual itself in your previous divination? The danger is based on the method of the ritual. How can it be dangerous to be burned by fire?"
She carefully poured 50 ml of the critically ill patient's blood and 30 ml of Painted Bat's blood into the small iron pot, letting them submerge the tail tip of Two-Tailed Black Snake inside. Finally, she added 10 drops of Blue Eucalyptus Essential Oil with a dropper, filling the pot with a strange smell of fishy smell and fragrance.
Finally, she opened the bullet box sealed with Wall of Spirituality, took out "Affliction" Beyonder Characteristic, and slid the dark green crystal from the edge of the pot into the dark red liquid.
The dark red liquid began to emit bubbles of different sizes, and soon began to boil like a boil. The ominous dark red color gradually receded, and finally the change stopped, forming a small pot of dark green liquid, the color of stagnant water covered with moss.
What a weird color, is this really successful... Angel took out a penny coin with some hesitation, did a simple divination by himself, and got the information that "Affliction" Potion has been configured successfully.
Klein on the side also confirmed with Pendulum Divination.
Only then did she safely transfer the dark green potion into a specially purchased glass bottle that could withstand high temperatures, then put away the other utensils and placed them slightly away from the torture rack.
After doing all this, she began to take off her clothes, fold them one by one and put them on the wooden box. After all, it was not a real burning torture. She would have to return to the port later, so she couldn't burn all her clothes.
Klein took out his pocket watch with his left hand and held the lantern in his right hand. He looked at Angel's fair skin that was gradually exposed, and he didn't know where to put his eyes for a moment.
It wasn't until the latter took off the last of his underwear and slowly walked to the torture rack that he took a deep breath and followed, his eyes chasing Angel's extremely sad silhouette under the crimson moonlight.
"Let's get started."
Angel stood on a simple wooden frame, surrounded by dry and flammable wood. She did not let Klein help tie herself up, because according to her understanding, the purpose of the ceremony was not to be a "fire torture", but to use severe pain to reduce the probability of losing control.
Besides, the purpose of tying them up is to prevent the tortured person from escaping, and I won't run away... She was thinking wildly, watching Klein walk to the wooden frame, raise the lantern, and his face was dim under the shadow of the top hat.
"If you can't hold on, just..." He ordered in a low voice, but he stopped mid-sentence. As Beyonder, both of them knew that once the ceremony started, Potion would either succeed in promotion or die on the spot... or turn into a mindless monster, and the latter was unacceptable to Angel.
This is also the reason why she arranged Promotion Ritual in the suburbs. This can prevent the fire from spreading to urban buildings, and also allows Klein to solve the problem as soon as possible after she loses control, so as not to hurt innocent people.
Under Angel's determined eyes, Klein took a few steps back, threw the lantern onto the pile of wood next to the wooden frame, and snapped his fingers. The flames in the lamp exploded before it hit the ground, igniting Whale Oil that had been spilled on the wood.
The cracks in the baked and dried wood absorbed enough grease and were instantly ignited by the high temperature. The thick smoke enveloped Angel standing above before the flames, blocking her sight and making everything she could see dark.
Then, starting from the toes, the stinging pain licked by the flames quickly spread up the legs, passed through the body, and reached the brain. Angel gritted her teeth and took a gentle breath. The thick smoke flowed into the trachea and entered the lungs along with the hot air. The strong stimulation made her cough, but she inhaled more hot air.
Cough - cough -
She coughed briefly but violently, holding the Rose Necklace on her chest with one hand - this was the only Mystical Item she currently carried. The other hand held the glass bottle containing Potion, carefully protecting it in the palm of her hand to prevent the liquid inside from spilling out when her body shook violently.
Could it be that those who were burned at the stake were all choked to death... As soon as this thought flashed through her mind, the thick smoke in front of her was replaced by more intense flames. A strand of blond hair hanging from her bangs was instantly ignited by the high temperature and disappeared with sparks.
After that, the pain caused by the high temperature suddenly spread throughout her body.
"Woo..."
Angel As soon as a whimper escaped her lips, she swallowed it back into her stomach.
Can't... let Klein worry...
She pursed her lips tightly, closed her eyes, and resisted the urge to summon ice to extinguish the flames. She squatted down on the narrow wooden frame to reduce the area of contact with the flames. The Rose Necklace on her chest tried to repair every part of her body, especially the skin surface. She was burned, but the fresh tissue that had just grown was swallowed up by the flames in the next second, and the new lungs were scorched by the high temperature before she could take a breath. Only the strong stimulation was transmitted to Angel's brain through the nerves, leaving only one word in her brain.
pain!
Surrounded by flames and severe pain, Angel huddled tightly, anticipating the duration of the ceremony.
Perhaps his hearing was damaged in the high temperature, and the "crackling" sound of burning wood beside his ears disappeared at some point, which made Angel lose control of time.
Knowing she couldn't wait any longer, she brought the glass bottle that was also burning hot to her mouth and drank all the Potion in the bottle in one gulp.
A cold feeling flowed from her mouth into her abdomen, making her feel a little refreshed as she persisted in the flames. But the next second, the coldness turned into a more intense heat wave, starting to burn her limbs from the inside of her body.
"Boom——"
The burning torture rack collapsed, Angel felt his body lightened, and all the severe pain in his body suddenly disappeared, as if the previous burning torture was just a scene in a dream.
She opened her eyes in confusion and found that just like the last time she was promoted by forcibly taking Beyonder Characteristic in East Borough, Spirit Body left her body and floated above the fire.
Below, all hair was lost, and the charred body stood up slowly from the flames. He opened his eyes, and his expressionless face turned to the side, Klein, who was holding his pocket watch tightly, and stretched out a hand.
The latter looked surprised and took a step forward, as if he wanted to pull Angel out of the fire, but gritted his teeth and held back.
No, that's not what I thought!
Angel in the air suddenly discovered that the eyes opened by his "body" were not purple, but rich black, as if blackened by flames.
She recalled the feeling of her last promotion, and soon felt the Affliction transmitted from her body to Spirit Body. With this heart-wrenching feeling, she quickly controlled the Spirit Body that was gradually rising and almost leaving the scene of the burning, and returned to the body below.
After taking control of her body, she immediately retracted the hand that stretched out the flames, hugged herself, knelt and sat in the ashes, feeling the temperature of the flames that were constantly licking her body, and kept this Affliction firmly in her heart.
Watching anxiously as the minute hand of the pocket watch reached the predetermined position, Klein quickly kicked over the Bucket next to it. The cold river water flowed onto the fire, completely extinguishing the smaller flame. The huddled, charred body among the ashes slowly fell down.
There was a heart-wrenching pain in his chest, and he quickly took off his windbreaker, rushed to Angel in two steps, carefully wrapped her up, took out the ashes that shone with Star, and placed her on the clean ground aside, with her head in his arms.
"Angel?"
He called softly, finding that his voice had changed slightly due to nervousness.
"Angel!"
Repeating it again, he became more and more panicked.
The person in his arms moved slowly, and with difficulty he opened his eyelids that were almost stuck together. The cloudy eyes inside gradually became clear, and the purple pupils showed a calm, not a crazy look.
At least it's not the worst case scenario... Klein breathed a sigh of relief, gently helped her up, and let Angel sit on the windbreaker with the help of his own strength.
"..."
She opened her mouth to say a word, but instantly frowned, stretched out her hand, which had peeled off the burnt black skin and gradually started to grow new tissue, and touched her neck.
"It's okay, don't talk." Klein comforted Angel whose vocal cords were damaged in the flames, took out the Healing Potion that had been prepared, and helped her drink it to speed up the effect of "Rose Necklace" in repairing the injury.
Under the crimson moonlight, Angel's body gradually faded away as if by a miracle, and its new skin was rosy, as if it could be broken by a blow.
She also slowly regained her strength, climbed up from the ground on her own, moved her limbs and joints, and felt the joy of surviving the flames and the new changes after her promotion.
"Wait... why is my hair so short?"
Angel suddenly discovered that although his long pale golden hair that originally reached his waist had grown back under the influence of Rose Necklace, it had stopped growing at his shoulders and was only about one-third of its original length. His face, which had just revealed its joy, instantly became a little ugly.
"Is there something wrong with this necklace?"
She touched Mystical Item on her chest and murmured.
This sentence made Klein, who had always been sullen, also smile. He slowly hugged Angel, who had survived the ceremony, feeling her body become stiff in his arms, and said with a smile:
"It's okay, the short ones are cute too."
"It doesn't matter, long ones are cute too"