Devouring an Ancient Evil Being with a human body should have been absolutely impossible. Yet this strange body of his seemed as though it had been forged for exactly this purpose.
The bottle completely entered his body, and his aura grew powerful once more. Behind him, the cracked Brass Destiny Ring reappeared. Then countless tiny black hands emerged from its center, filling the cracks in the ring, though making it look even more eerie in the process.
"I am using my body to suppress the power of the Door in a Bottle. As long as you defeat me in this state, it will be equivalent to defeating it, weakening it without having to confront that terrifying evil being directly."
As Laplace Howard spoke, he was still struggling to suppress the twitching in his face. He truly was using his body to contain the Ancient Evil Being, but even so, Shade and Sister Devlin could see that its power was gradually affecting his body and eroding his mind. Thump, thump, thump—sounds continuously came from within him, but this time they were not heartbeats. They sounded more like a door being battered.
The flames surged viciously, as though they too sensed fresh kindling that could be ignited. But with a mere opening of his mouth, the diviner swallowed the rushing flames, making the twisted and bizarre aura around him even stronger.
"I have locked this evil being within my body. Come and defeat me."
He clutched his chest and spoke to the two before him, but at some point, his eyes had already turned pure white.
"Of course, if I defeat you, then it means my path has not yet reached its end."
"You were planning to bring Maze Demon-Yaru here at the end and lock it away too, weren't you?"
Shade