A Ritual Pointing to the Black Sun

Evan hurriedly raised a hand to cover Parker's eyes.

Parker had yet to recover from his serious injuries. Seeing this might send his Spirit Vision soaring.

There was only one point between Spirit Vision zero and one, but the difference was fundamental.

Once it rose from zero to one, he would lose the protection the Spirit Vision system afforded ordinary people.

After all, one point of Spirit Vision was enough to see certain ghosts, vengeful spirits, and low-level Demon Spirits...

Parker's current methods could handle ordinary people, but he had no way to deal with monsters that belonged entirely to the Beyonder world.

Parker cooperated. As Evan covered his eyes, he plugged his own ears.

Across from them, Aike the Snake Person's body had been torn apart.

His once-human mouth now gaped a full meter wide.

A monster emerged from it.

It had only a head and an arm.

A long, slender arm extended directly from beneath its head. Its form was even more grotesque than Evan's patched-together body had been.

Though it had crawled out of Aike's body, neither its head nor its arm bore any blood or mucus.

It still gave off an impression of crisp elegance.

The head looked exactly like Byron's, though its present form was bizarre.

The instant the monster appeared, it merely cast a sidelong glance.

The Mage Apprentice beside it began bleeding from every orifice. Then his head exploded, killing him outright.

Byron's head and its attached arm floated in midair at Evan's eye level.

His eyes studied Evan carefully, and satisfaction spread across his face.

"Not bad at all. Your growth over the past few months has matched my expectations perfectly."

Evan smiled and bowed. "It seems you've almost recovered from your injuries?"

Byron nodded, then glanced at Parker. "You'd better make