Shepherding: Shadow Essence

When Art of Shepherding in the Dedication Path, it manifests as prayer and sacrifice.

But when this mystical art is used with power that Path of Transcendence, it becomes a ritual—

The Ritual Array was once again inscribed on the ground by Iver and Lily. But unlike before, this time the Eight-Pointed Star Array did not bear the names of any of the Nine Pillar Gods. Instead, it was filled with Iver's name and its various variations in different languages.

They prepared a glass of fine wine in the early hours of the morning and soaked cinnamon in it. After soaking for half an hour, they brought it to a boil over low heat and then removed the cinnamon.

Then, Lily added the most important element.

It was an amethyst that Iver had sculpted into an eight-sided die.

Amethyst is the Guardian Gem of the Path of Transcendence. This is because it can balance discordant elements in various rituals, and the core skill of the Path of Transcendence is ritual itself.

A ritual that was almost completed but failed due to a subtle imbalance can now function properly after being harmonized by amethyst, thus increasing the ritual's tolerance for error.

The Shepherding Method is inherently taboo, like trying to make water flow backwards or a flame burn indefinitely. Without the use of amethyst for balancing, the ritual itself will inevitably fail.

After the Amethyst Octahedral Dice was placed in the container, Lily allowed the liquor to cool naturally. Once the liquor had cooled to room temperature, the ritual could begin.

Lily knelt before Iver, Iver sat in a chair with a backrest placed in the Ritual Array.

He stood with his feet firmly on the ground, and the Shadow Fiend spontaneously flowed into Iver's body. This made Iver pale and cold, with a faint black smoke emanating from his body. His eyes were also completely filled with black mist, and his hands looked as if they were wearing black silk gloves—the limbs and orifices are the most easily exposed parts of a demon.

"I am your Shepherd, and I will ensure that you will not want."

"Iver said softly."

As he spoke, he took out the Ritual Knife he had used to feed the Shadow Fiend.

He cut his finger with the blade and used his bloodied index finger to write his name, excluding his surname, on Lily's forehead. Lily, meanwhile, stared up at Iver the entire time, as if pleading for a blessing.

After writing his brief name, Iver let the blood flow downwards. A trace of the Shadow Fiend's aura seeped into the blood, making the droplet exceptionally thick and black. It even carried a faint, sour stench, like rotten wood.

Lily lowered her head and raised the ceremonial wine glass with both hands.

Amethyst is a symbol of God of Wine, and also signifies loyalty and love. It also represents two other characteristics that Path of Transcendence —rebellion and contract.

"Here I give you grace, I give you hope, I give you bliss."

Iver dripped blood into the wine, and his voice, merging with Shadow Fiend's, proclaimed. "No reward is sought."

Lily raised her head and downed the drink in one gulp. She then put the eight-sided dice inside the drink into her mouth.

Then, she placed the wine glass at Iver's feet and carefully spat out the eight-sided die from her mouth.

If the ritual is successful, regardless of the probability of rolling any other side, it will only display the number 8.

8 signifies infinity and endlessness, cycles and transcendence. It is also the Sacred Number symbolizing the Serpent Father.

Sure enough, the die rolled once in the glass and then lay flat. The tilted face was engraved with the number 8, which, to Iver and Lily, appeared to be lying flat. Therefore, it looked more like "infinity".

The instant the dice stopped rolling, an infinite black mark suddenly appeared beneath Iver and Lily's feet. Two rings were placed around them, one for each of Lily.

Iver's Dark Attribute Mana drained away rapidly, and the Shadow Fiend instantly overflowed from Iver, flowing onto Lily before flowing back.

A few seconds later, as Iver's mana ran out, the amount of black mist emanating from the two of them became balanced.

Iver clearly sensed that another person had joined his contract with the Shadow Fiend— Lily's relationship with the Shadow Fiend had become extremely intimate, as if they were each other's other half. Lily's authority resided in the Shadow Fiend, while the Shadow Fiend's authority resided in him.

It's like buying the "family version" of Shadow Fiend and then sharing its child-friendly permissions with Lily.

"The ceremony was a success."

Iver replied happily.

"About half of the strength was taken away."

Before Iver could ask, Shadow Fiend switched back to Chloe's voice and said softly, "But if you give me a little more to eat, I can slowly replenish it..."

Where is Lily?

Iver asked his maid.

Lily lowered her head, sensing the shadowy aura that had suddenly appeared within her. Like ink falling into water, she blurred and vanished from the Material Realm for a moment. Then, as if time had reversed, she coalesced again in an instant.

She looked up, her voice filled with joy. "My relationship with the shadows has suddenly become so intimate! I feel like I can now sneak into the shadows!"

"Of course."

The Shadow Fiend's voice suddenly became stern. "You are now half a Shadow Fiend, but you need to start practicing all the skills a Shadow Fiend possesses from scratch. But if you can fully unleash your power, you will be like a Shadow Fiend who has gained a physical body... Do not fail your master's gift."

The Shadow Demon was also surprised by the mystery of this Shepherding Method. However, it didn't want to appear too astonished in front of Iver and Lily. Therefore, although it was surprised, it acted as if it were perfectly normal.

After the ritual was established, a mysterious and strong connection was formed between Shadow Fiend and Lily.

It had initially thought that Iver had only taken a portion of its power, which Lily would need to replenish after she ran out. But that wasn't actually the case—a more apt analogy was that it had expended half of its power to grant Lily a racial talent.

In a sense, they share a kinship—a connection even closer than the possession by a demon.

... just like a mother.

Lily had a vague feeling that the Shadow Demon, whom she had been somewhat afraid of before, was now becoming affectionate.

She could even vaguely sense the Shadow Demon's thoughts and ideas.

For example, right now, Shadow Fiend is somewhat confused about the power of the Shepherding Method.

So Lily said to the Shadow Fiend, "I feel like I can bear your presence now..."

As Lily spoke, she gently pressed a finger onto Iver's shadow.

Immediately afterward, the Shadow Fiend moved from the shadow cast by that finger into Lily's shadow and hid securely. It was even more stable than under Iver's shadow—at least there was no situation where Iver remained motionless while his shadow trembled incessantly.

"Wow, that actually works?"

Iver somewhat surprised.

"It can't be too far, and it can't be too long."

The Shadow Demon's voice came from beneath Lily: "And I feel like I can't unleash my full power when I'm with Lily..."

"We can do an experiment first. You go out with Lily and see how far we can go and how much power we can exert."

As he spoke, Iver stood up from his chair. "I'll tidy up the house first. If I see Oswald, I can tell him the good news about Yulia's recovery."

At this moment, his shadow finally stopped trembling. He seemed to have returned to normal.

Lily nodded and left silently with the Shadow Fiend.

After Shadow Fiend left, Iver murmured with a sigh, "I can finally feel the touch of a cashmere carpet again..."

This was the first time Iver had been able to stand and walk normally since he regained his memories of his Previous Life.

When he stands or walks, no matter what kind of ground he's on, he always feels like he's stepping on some kind of soft, elastic surface. In fact, that's the Shadow Demon's body.

The Shadow Fiend feels like slightly soft rubber when you step on him.

The advantage is that Iver can run normally on rough terrain—even in swamps or sand. The disadvantage is that it's not very comfortable to run on.

It even felt a little sticky on my feet... like half a bottle of cola had been spilled on a rubber floor.

That's because Iver was wearing priest's cloth shoes, not leather shoes or boots. At least he wouldn't be too clingy.

Iver sighed a couple of times, then began skillfully tidying up the ceremony.

He had cleaned up the Ritual Site three times that night... Iver was even thinking about whether he should just build a basement or some other room that no one ever goes into and convert it into Ritual Room? Of course, his own bedroom was definitely out of the question; the smell would be too strong.

Even now, Iver could faintly smell a bloody stench, like that of a slaughtered chicken. He didn't even know where the smell was coming from, because the room had been exposed to blood so many times throughout the night. The floor was probably even soaked in blood.

If you sprayed some luminol, Iver's bedroom would probably be as bright as a slaughterhouse.

When the Shadow Fiend returns, let it wander around the ground and corrode the blood.

... It's just that there's this strange, subtle feeling, like having a puppy clean up food scraps it's dropped.

So as not to wake Yulia, Iver moved very quietly. He quickly tidied up the Ritual Site, and a shadow swiftly passed across the ground, disappearing into his own shadow.

After a while, Lily returned and gave her report.

"It should be able to reach as far as Young Master Edward's room, and it will automatically return after that. However, when Miss Shadow Demon was with me, it could only extend outwards by five or six steps."

"A parent-child router, huh? "Iver thought to himself.

And how did she become a prostitute?

Was it Chloe's voice that made the Shadow Fiend, who has no fixed form or gender, mistaken for a woman?

Oh well, it doesn't matter anyway. Iver was too lazy to correct Lily.

"If she can reach Edward... that means there's a radius of about fifty meters, and Lily's five or six steps are only about three meters..."

Iver muttered to himself.

With a radius of three meters, the Shadow Fiend can at most provide protection and cannot exert much destructive power. However, this characteristic can also be used to allow the Shadow Fiend to accompany Lily to explore the outside world.

Without the "Field Card: Shadow Cellar", Shadow Fiend would be restricted.

It can only appear on Iver's own shadow; other shadows cannot enter. Otherwise, it could go anywhere at night.

For example, when Iver stands in a corner, Shadow Fiend cannot move out of the shadow cast by the corner; when Iver is with other people, it cannot enter the shadows of other people.

That's why Shadow Fiend spreads out Shadow Domain like a fungal carpet to directly increase the size of Iver's shadow.

But now Lily can also serve as a temporary vessel for Shadow Fiend.

If there's a three-meter radius, Lily can basically use the same techniques that Iver used in the ritual.

In a sense, this is equivalent to indirectly increasing Lily's offensive capabilities!

Moreover, Iver realized that this had one major advantage—

"Let Lily raise her hand."

Iver said to Shadow Fiend in his mind.

He wanted to conduct an experiment.

Sure enough, after about two seconds, Lily raised her hand, somewhat inexplicably.

Iver's eyes lit up. It really worked! If Shadow Fiend was his contractor and Lily was Shadow Fiend's contractor... then Iver could now use Shadow Fiend as a relay station to remotely issue precise commands to Lily without even opening his mouth!

In appearance, it's like a slightly delayed telepathy. Or rather...

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