The person who'd killed Buck was more than Baker could handle. He knew exactly how capable he was.
Rather than chase after him and risk getting killed, Baker knew the ritual came first.
Arthur burst into the Scimitar Bar. Seeing seven corpses hanging inside, he raised the Fear Musket and prepared for a fight.
He kept his gun raised and waited for half a minute, but Baker didn't come after him.
"May the moonlight grant you cloaks. Fight bravely!"
"Heroes of the Night!"
The Priest of Night chanted loudly. The Ancient Hermetic Language rang out across the island, and three beams of moonlight fell behind the three members of the Church of Night.
Empowered by their moonlight cloaks, the three flew just above the ground, rapidly closing in on the Black Devil's ritual.
Hearing the ancient language outside, Arthur knew that reinforcements had arrived.
He was just about to go out when the buzzing of Moth Wing Flutter erupted in his head. His spirituality was frantically warning him: "Danger!"
Get away from this dangerous place right now, or you'll die!
This premonition was ten times more intense than the one he'd felt when facing the Fighter Buck. The words If you don't leave, you'll die had nearly become tangible.
The Black Devil's Beyonders couldn't possibly be a match for them. There was only one explanation for his spiritual intuition.
An exceptionally high-grade ritual—one directed at a Great Being, at "Them"—might already have been completed.
Baker used his own blood to fill the gap in the ritual.
Meanwhile, Simon recited the final passage of the ritual:
"Great Black Devil, dead who believes in trade, appear and accept this sacrifice!"
When he finished the final passage, the ritual burst into light, and Simon dropped to his knees in excitement.
Even when he had once served the God of Light, back when he was with the Theocracy, he had never witnessed a divine miracle.
But after coming into contact with the Black Devil Order, he had truly "seen" a majestic Being.
Under the witness of such moonlight, the great Black Devil was about to descend and accept their sacrifice, granting them the power of desire in return!
The light of the ritual shot into the sky, where it transformed into three streaks of black light.
They flowed into Raphael, Baker, and Simon, respectively.
The Priest of Night raised a hand, signaling the other two to stop. With a grave expression, he said, "The sacrificial ritual has succeeded. They've made contact with Them."
"We have to stop them from continuing the sacrifice. Otherwise, it's impossible to imagine the disasters that might follow!"
Once started, a special sacrificial ritual would continue without pause. The greater the quality of the sacrifice, the more terrifying the thing that appeared.
The Dark Swordsman Bruce frowned and said:
"They're low-sequence Beyonders, and they don't have any holy artifacts. Blue Bay Island isn't anything special, either."
"How could they possibly perform such a high-grade ritual and make contact with that kind of Being?"
Standing at the edge of the ritual, they felt a powerful mental assault. Faint whispers murmured in their minds.
They tempted them toward corruption, urging them to abandon their faith and turn to the great Black Devil.
The Priest of Night said nothing more and instead organized their next moves. "I'll go help Miss Arena. You deal with those two."
"Remember, whether you kill them, delay them, or stake your lives, anyone who dies now will become a bargaining chip."
"Yes!" "Yes!"
Arthur hid inside the Scimitar Bar. His intuition told him to leave immediately, but something about the situation didn't add up.
As a hidden leader of a secret sect—and half a Great Being—he had performed rituals himself.
He had once used the Ritual of the Moth, sending a musket to the Secret Sect Long Table with a small lock of hair.
A ritual required a necessary procedure, necessary items, and a necessary price.
For rituals directed at hidden Beings, the cost of the sacrifice depended on the other party.
For example, when the "Mr. Mansus" played by Arthur performed a ritual with the Moth and the Red Grail, there was no cost at all.
Since Mr. Mansus didn't charge a price, they didn't need to pay one.
Otherwise, rituals that communicated with hidden Beings required high-sequence Beyonders, prohibited items, and extraordinary sacrifices.
Only people or objects of high status, or extraordinary sacrifices, could draw the attention of hidden Beings.
The people of the Black Devil Order had performed their ritual with ease, made contact with the Black Devil, and received His blessing.
Arthur could think of only two possibilities.
The first was that the famous evil god of the Age of Navigation, the "Black Devil," was a loner like him.
With so few followers, He had too much energy and nowhere to spend it, so any old ritual could catch His attention.
The second possibility was that the "Black Devil," like Arthur, had waived the ritual's cost.
Something like the "Research" he had given Mr. Red Grail—a ritual that required no price.
Mr. Red Grail had put the Mermaid Book into "Research," and after some time, it had been deciphered.
No price had to be paid, and Arthur didn't have to expend any energy.
If the first possibility was true and the Black Devil was watching the ritual, Arthur couldn't act rashly.
If the second was true, Arthur would have to think carefully about making one more score before changing identities.
Last time, when he thwarted the Black Devil's plans, there had been no reliable witnesses—only the pirates' tall tales.
This time, a priest of the Church of Night had witnessed it. That made all the difference.
The Beyonders outside had already engaged in combat. It seemed the Black Devil didn't care much about these low-sequence nobodies.
The Reader's abilities were quietly at work. Arthur was reading the battle and looking for the right moment to act.
The two Beyonders from the Church of Night were a Sequence 8 Dark Swordsman and a Sequence 9 Swordsman.
The Sequence 9 Swordsman fought far better than Dorian, whom Arthur had seen before.
From the perspective of an observer, Arthur gleaned a great deal of information.
The Swordsman's fighting style was no different from a pirate's. His speed, strength, and agility all far exceeded those of a well-trained ordinary person.
The Dark Swordsman's fighting style included special techniques.
The Black Devil Order's Beyonders were fighting cautiously, as though they were wary of something.
"Darkness!"
The Dark Swordsman suddenly leaped toward Simon, the Priest of Fury.
From Arthur's perspective, Simon suddenly took a big step back, the fury in his eyes flaring up.
"That's strange..." Arthur thought. For an instant, Simon looked like a blind man, his eyes searching aimlessly.
Arthur didn't know the specifics of the Church of Night's supernatural abilities, but this was a good opportunity.
He raised the Fear Musket and aimed at the Priest of Fury. The instant his finger touched the trigger—
The ritual, whose light had already dimmed, glimmered once more.
Terrifying corruption poured out of the ritual. Even a mere wisp of it was enough to make Arthur collapse onto the ground.
A voice rang in everyone's ears: "Kill him."
Pfft!
Arthur's mind took a heavy blow. Blood ran from the corners of his eyes, ears, and nose. His chest caved in as if he'd been struck hard, and he spat out a large mouthful of blood.
The Black Devil's whisper!
"A divine oracle?! It's a divine oracle!"
The darkness in Simon's vision receded. Surging desire boiled within him. The Black Devil had actually issued a divine oracle!
His gaze turned toward the Scimitar Bar.
Baker also looked toward the Scimitar Bar. That man had actually been singled out for death by a Great Being.
He felt the power within him. Now that the ritual had been completed, he was close to Sequence 8.
If he killed that man, he could definitely advance to Sequence 7, or perhaps even higher.
"No! Even now, I'd still die if I faced Buck."
"I don't know how Buck died. If I go in there, I'll die too."
Baker used the Rogue's ability. With a kick, he sent a mass of dirt and sand flying up from the ground, then turned and fled toward Blue Bay Island's harbor.
The ritual was over, and he had gained his power. The transaction was complete.
Only a fool would risk his life to kill someone who might be a Sequence 8 Beyonder.
Arthur staggered to his feet inside the bar. So that was what the Moth's frantic warning had meant!
The Black Devil had been watching the ritual all along—and had even named him as the one to die!
Ptooey!
A penniless loner!
Before you continue