Hidden Sage

The malice from the eerie eye was incredibly blatant; even though Luther did not meet its gaze, it glared at him fiercely, like a petty, narrow-minded villain. If it were a person, Luther could easily ignore such a stare, but coming from an evil and terrifying entity, such a gaze was extremely dangerous.

Luther only felt his head buzzing, and blood instantly gushed from his nose.

The illusory sound of the sea tide echoed within his mind, shielding him from further harm, but the injuries already sustained continued to worsen. Blood dripped over his lips and chin, landing with a rhythmic patter on the floor of Old Neil's home.

Luther knew he didn't have much time. He took a deep breath, looked at the flickering candlelight, and prayed in a low voice.

"The Creator of all things,"

It was only after taking lessons from Old Neil that he realized this strange language he was speaking was actually the Hermes language.

Following the first line of the prayer, the world outside the Spiritual Wall suddenly turned pitch black, to the point where he couldn't even clearly see the figures of Dunn and the others standing right beside him. The blood-drawn patterns on Old Neil began to look vivid; under the reflection of the candlelight, they seemed to come alive as if they had gained their own vitality.

"The Master Behind the Shadow Curtain,"

Within the darkness, some great existence was quietly rising. The world grew darker and darker, with only two candle flames remaining, casting light no larger than beans. Distorted whispers began to emerge, overlapping and layered, making one feel uncontrollably irritable and anxious.

The blood patterns quietly sank inward, as if devouring Old Neil's skin and superficial flesh, branding themselves directly onto his chest. The illusory eye abruptly stopped floating, as if fixed in mid-air, no longer moving.

He couldn't continue the chant.

The whispers echoed in Luther's ears, like hammers striking his nerves and digging into his brain. Luther instinctively sensed the danger. He interrupted the process of reciting the honorific name of the True Creator and, using the influence that had already descended, shouted aloud:

"Praise the glory of the Lord, for corruption is the rebirth of all things!"

As soon as the words fell, the blood-etched pattern on Old Neil's chest began to squirm. The eye that had originally been attached to Old Neil's body flew rapidly into his flesh, as if sucked in by an invisible force.

Immediately after, the symbol representing the True Creator dissolved like pigment bleeding into water, yet it was constrained by the red circle, unable to spread beyond that small area on his chest. Before long, the skin within the red circle turned bright red, and something began to stir restlessly beneath the surface.

With a soft pop, four cracks bloomed on the red skin and slowly expanded. They were actually four cold, lashless eyes; two pairs, one above the other, appeared on Old Neil's chest.

Perhaps it was just Luther's wishful thinking, but besides coldness, there seemed to be a trace of confusion in those two pairs of eyes.

"Bang!"

Luther raised his dagger, pierced the Spiritual Wall, and amidst the howling flow of spiritual power, he shouted loudly:

"Your Excellency Sesima, now!"

Swish!

In the next instant, a beam of white light flashed rapidly before his eyes.

Luther found it hard to describe what kind of light that was; he only felt that the moment he saw it, the world seemed to cease to exist, leaving only that beam of light in his vision. By the time he regained his senses, Crestet had already appeared beside Old Neil, and the silver-white metal case had slammed into the floor behind Luther with a thunderous boom.

A large patch of skin had been shaved off Old Neil's chest, revealing pink muscle, but strangely, not a single drop of blood flowed from the wound.

"Plop."

A piece of bloody skin fell to the ground. The four eyes on it darted around rapidly, and the piece of skin struggled and twitched like some kind of living creature, but it couldn't hold on for long before turning into black ash and dissipating completely.

"Did it work?"

Luther's forehead was beaded with cold sweat, and he muttered in disbelief.

Dunn and the others also held their breath, waiting for Crestet's judgment.

Crestet stood sideways, hiding his right arm—which was clutching something—at his side. He looked down at Old Neil, and after a few seconds, said calmly, "It succeeded. It has been purged quite cleanly."

Whew!

Luther heard the collective sigh of relief from the group behind him.

"That's great!"

Daly's eyes were brimming with tears. Although Dunn and Luo Yao didn't speak, the joy was evident on their faces.

They all looked at Luther at the same time.

"Luther, you saved his life."

Dunn strode up to him, pulled him up, and gripped his arm tightly. "First Luo Yao and Klein, and now Old Neil... I am very glad that I decided to invite you to join the team back then."

"Pure luck."

Luther grinned, though he still felt a lingering sense of fear.

Luo Yao and Daly also crowded around, showering him with praise and thanks. While happy, Luther also marveled at how well-liked Old Neil truly was to have so many people concerned for him.

Just then, Crestet looked straight at Luther with a calm expression.

"You utilized the authority of the True Creator's corruption?"

He asked.

"You are truly impressive, Your Excellency, seeing through it at a glance."

Luther replied.

This time, the ritual he used was called "Fall Revelation." The original intent of the ritual was to incite a Beyonder to fall and lose control, becoming a sacrifice for the True Creator. However, Luther applied restrictions, confining the area of corruption to a small patch of skin on Old Neil's chest.

Because the loss of control was forcibly triggered, the evil power originally scattered across Old Neil's body was forcibly gathered, and then, with the help of the Goddess's sacred object held by Crestet, it was directly excised.

In other words, the intent of the corruption ritual was evil, but Luther had executed it well.

"Heh..."

Crestet finally smiled. He looked at Luther and said, "You really are clever... but don't do that again next time."

He grinned, laughing quite happily.

Due to the angle, Luther saw the hidden part through the gap in the collar. It turned out that inside the mouth Crestet kept concealed, every single tooth was covered in transparent entities; they were squirming and swaying, revealing tiny, illusory human faces.

"..."

Luther couldn't help but be struck with horror. He suddenly understood why Crestet had always kept his lips hidden beneath his collar.

Old Neil remained in a deep coma. He had been covered with Dunn's coat, lifted up, and placed onto the round table in the living room, with Daly left in charge of watching over him. The others scattered throughout the room, searching for any remaining hidden dangers.

Luther entered the bedroom on the second floor. He casually flipped through the pages on the desk, and a slip of paper covered in writing fell out. He focused his gaze and saw that it seemed to be a short passage of honorifics along with a few Ritual steps, and at the very end of the honorifics, a name was written in striking detail—

Hidden Sage.

His eyes widened instantly.