Comfort.
Like skipping breakfast and then digging into a plate of pork trotter rice with extra meat at lunch, Arthur felt a fullness unlike anything he had ever experienced.
It filled not just his stomach, but his entire body, brimming with...
Power!
Snap!
The ropes binding Arthur snapped apart.
Fragments of rope flew in every direction, striking that noseless face. An exaggerated dent appeared in the man's cheek, his entire face twisting in the direction of the impact, as though he had taken a powerful slap.
Smack!
Crisp and loud.
The blow stunned him.
Then weakness and pain, sensations he had not felt in a long time, arose within his body.
He knew perfectly well that this was the backlash from the breaking of the Animated Snake Rope Technique-and the curse of becoming mortal after losing his bloodline power.
But this shouldn't have happened!
His plan was perfect!
Where had it gone wrong?
Had They caught up with him?
No!
Impossible!
The fear and obsession in his heart became a furious roar-
"My plan couldn't have gone wrong!"
"I fooled Them!"
"My plan was flawless!"
Amid his paranoid, arrogant shouts, blood spurted from his mouth, nose, and eyes. He collapsed to the floor, wailing incessantly.
Without his bloodline power, the backlash was clearly far beyond what he could withstand.
Arthur paid no attention to any of this. The instant he broke the ropes around him, he lunged toward the corner of the room.
His medium's case lay there.
Arthur Credos had come thoroughly prepared to exorcise 333 Russell Street. His grandfather, Old Charlie, had specially made this medium's case for members of the Credos family.
It appeared to have two tiers, with a third concealed beneath them.
Arthur opened the case, immediately revealing the two visible tiers.
The first tier contained: an iron dagger, a silver dagger, coarse salt, red brick powder, lime, sealed blocks of white phosphorus, kerosene, and a burlap sack.
The second tier contained: holy water (sulfuric acid).
Six glass containers, each holding one hundred milliliters of holy water, stood in a row on the second tier. In the stormy darkness, the holy water gleamed with its own distinctive luster.
Arthur snatched up two, pulled out their stoppers, and flung their contents at his ill-intentioned employer. Instinctively, he repeated the words Old Charlie had used during a demonstration-
"Evil spirit, be purified!"
Hiss!
Aaaah!
Caught in the throes of the backlash, the ill-intentioned employer had no strength to dodge. Both containers of holy water splashed over him.
Hiss, hiss!
"Aaaah!"
The distinctive hissing was quickly drowned out by screams.
His screams continued without pause, but Arthur showed neither mercy nor hesitation. After throwing all four remaining containers of holy water over him, Arthur grabbed the bag of lime and scattered that over him as well.
"Evil spirit, be banished!"
As luck would have it, the man had his head raised as he screamed. Not only were his eyes exposed to the lime, but his mouth was open too.
Cough, cough, cough!
Violent coughing doubled him over.
The searing, burning sensation made him scream again.
Seizing the opportunity, Arthur pressed both hands against the sides of the medium's case-
Click!
With a crisp sound, the case's third tier sprang open.
Even the dim room could not conceal the warm luster of the solid wooden gunstock. The barrel was golden and thick, its muzzle carved into a Great Dragon with its jaws wide open. From a distance, it looked like the Great Dragon was roaring.
The Thunder Gun!
A short firearm designed specifically for cavalry.
Old Charlie had taken a liking to this weapon the first time he saw it. Believing it could effectively safeguard members of the Credos family while making exorcisms easier, he had placed it in the medium's case.
The third tier also held two flintlock pistols arranged diagonally opposite each other, one loaded with a lead ball and the other with a silver ball.
These two flintlocks were considerably smaller and came with dedicated straps for ease of movement.
Rumble!
As lightning flashed and thunder roared, Arthur raised the Thunder Gun, aimed at the man, and pulled the trigger hard.
With a snap, the flint struck the steel, sending sparks into the priming pan.
Boom!
The instant seven balls burst from the muzzle shaped like the Great Dragon's roaring jaws, Arthur lowered the gun. With one hand, he tugged at his already loosened collar to breathe more freely, then coldly pronounced judgment-
"Evil spirit, be judged!"
Thud, thud, thud!
Blood blossomed as the balls struck, driving the ill-intentioned employer backward.
Already suffering from the backlash and stripped of his special bloodline, he had reached his limit after being doused in sulfuric acid and lime.
Now a single shot from the Thunder Gun had left him on the verge of death.
Blood kept spilling from his mouth. His wide eyes brimmed with hatred and resentment, yet even now, he did not forget to reach for the [Herc White Silver Potion].
Then his gaze filled with terror and panic.
Because-
Having put down the Thunder Gun, Arthur picked up the two pistols.
Unlike the Thunder Gun, which struck a broad area, the pistols were naturally much more precise.
With them aimed at his head, the employer panicked.
"Wait..."
Bang, bang!
The moment he opened his mouth, Arthur pulled the triggers.
The pistol loaded with a lead ball missed its mark, striking his shoulder.
The pistol loaded with a silver ball hit him squarely in the eye. The ball burst his eyeball and drove into his brain, where its fragments shredded everything inside his skull with tremendous force.
He stood blankly in place for a second, his one remaining eye fixed on the potion in the conical flask, filled with desperate reluctance. Then he finally toppled stiffly to the floor.
Thump!
Was he dead?
Arthur could not tell, so he threw the iron dagger at him.
Thud!
After the iron dagger sank into the man's chest, Arthur, still uneasy, splashed the bottle of kerosene over him.
Only when the flames rose and the man remained motionless, rapidly turning to ash, did Arthur finally breathe a sigh of relief, his hand still gripping the silver dagger.
Looking like that...
He should be dead.
Kerosene alone couldn't burn a person to ash like this. The supernatural power involved in his backlash must have played a part!
Arthur speculated.
Then his gaze turned to the potion the ill-intentioned man had refused to give up even in death-the conical flask filled with pale silver liquid, now brilliant and dazzling in the light of the lingering flames.
Merely seeing that color brought back the memory of its taste, and the powerful instinct immediately rose within him again.
He wanted to drink the [Herc White Silver Potion].
He reached out and seized the [Herc White Silver Potion].
He pulled out the stopper and tossed it to the floor, raising the [Herc White Silver Potion] to pour it into his mouth and savor the taste that had enthralled him through its scent alone.
But-
The bone-deep chill struck again!
The breath of death appeared once more!
It was even fiercer than before.
Like a shadow looming over Arthur's heart.
Arthur froze.
His entire body went rigid.
At that moment, he felt as though he had split in two. His mind told him there was danger, while his body told him this would be the ultimate pleasure.
Hah! Hah!
Arthur stared at the brilliant glow of the [Herc White Silver Potion] in his hand, breathing heavily.
That hand rose slowly, inch by inch.
The [Herc White Silver Potion] drew closer and closer to Arthur's lips.
Veins bulged on Arthur's forehead. His eyes were bloodshot, his teeth clenched.
He did everything he could to restrain his impulse, but he knew that restraint was only temporary.
As long as the [Herc White Silver Potion] remained, instinct would defeat him in the end.
So-
Just as the mouth of the flask was about to touch his lips, he let out a furious shout and swung the silver dagger in his other hand.
The blade of the silver dagger struck the flask hard.
Cracks immediately appeared across it.
As Arthur watched, the cracks spread and intersected until the glass finally shattered.
Crack!
The conical flask containing the [Herc White Silver Potion] shattered, but the brilliant potion inside did not spill onto the floor. Instead, it wrapped itself around the silver dagger.
In an instant, the pure silver dagger melted.
It melted into the [Herc White Silver Potion].
With the pure silver mixed into it, the potion grew even more brilliant.
That brilliance was no longer reflected firelight.
Instead...
It was giving off its own light!
And heat!
Arthur had been gripping the pure silver dagger tightly. After the [Herc White Silver Potion] enveloped and melted it, his hand remained immersed in the [Herc White Silver Potion].
Thus, he could clearly feel its temperature.
But just as Arthur distinctly felt the warmth of the [Herc White Silver Potion], the [Herc White Silver Potion] vanished completely.
Or, more precisely...
It merged into his body.
Before you continue