In the garden of Wayne Manor, Danvers was trimming the flowers, unaware of the disturbance inside the manor.
She was all but ready to put Bruce in the miser category. He would not even hire a few workers. The garden was such a mess that it barely looked like one, yet he did not care in the slightest.
Danvers could not stand the sight of it anymore and had to do the trimming herself. Fortunately, the house had all the tools she needed, so she did not have to borrow any. She had also learned flower arranging as a child, so she was not completely at a loss.
Yet as she trimmed, Danvers suddenly began to tremble. An indescribable aura emanated from her body, and the flowers around her instantly became lush and vibrant. She touched her chest. A black rose had actually appeared on its right side, and it was burning hot.
Danvers let out a soft moan, and certain images involving Bruce flashed through her mind, making her flush scarlet.
"What happened?"
Danvers covered her face in disbelief.
Inside the sealed basement.
Once the light on the walls faded and all the patterns vanished, the basement grew quiet again. Only a book remained embedded in the wall. It was an ancient volume with a cover as black as ink, radiating a powerful, mysterious aura. The chains binding it had all snapped.
Ghost motioned for Bruce to take the book out.
Bruce took a deep breath, pulled a pair of white gloves from his pocket, and put them on.
He was worried that the Dark Bible might have some corrosive effect or carry a curse.
The moment his hand touched the book, a jumble of images surfaced in Bruce's mind: skeletons submerged at the bottom of a river, strange crawling insect eggs, twisted trees. Finally, the scene shifted to this basement. A group of women surrounded the stone platform, holding white candles in both hands. A woman lay bound on the platform.
They were chanting.
Bruce suddenly noticed that the bound woman bore a slight resemblance to Danvers. On the right side of her chest was a black rose.
Danvers had the same rose on the right side of her chest. Even its design was identical.
How was that possible?
The images dissipated, and Bruce immediately turned to Ghost.
"I think I saw some images. What did you see before?" Bruce asked uncertainly.
Ghost had mentioned touching the Dark Bible and seeing some images, but had never said exactly what they were. Bruce did not know whether they were the same ones he had just seen.
"Some fragmented images. I couldn't tell you exactly what they were, but I saw Danvers. It was a ritual, and she was lying on the stone platform. What did you see?"
Bruce fell silent at Ghost's words. It seemed they had seen exactly the same thing. Did Danvers have secrets of her own?
When had the ritual in those images taken place?
The bound woman looked more mature than Danvers. Was this a vision of something that would happen in the future?
What was that ritual for?
"I saw Danvers too," Bruce answered honestly.
He looked down at the Dark Bible in his hands. Fawcett climbed onto Bruce's shoulder as well and watched eagerly.
The Dark Bible was quite heavy, though that was mostly because of its hard cover. It seemed to have been made from some strange metal, adding weight to the entire book. As his fingers brushed over the cover, he could faintly feel tiny markings on its surface.
The cover was not smooth. It was simply too black for the markings to be visible.
Bruce held his breath, focused, and gently opened the first page.
Opening the Dark Bible did not have any strange effect on Bruce. He did not lose control or hear delirious muttering. It was simply that the magical knowledge recorded within captivated him,
and he immersed himself in it completely. There were so many terrifying, mysterious spells.
Moreover, many of these spells were used to control people, stirring up the malice, madness, and desire in their hearts.
The first spell recorded in the Dark Bible was called the Paper Doll Control Technique.
Cut out a paper doll and write what you wanted it to do on it. While casting the spell, picture the person the paper doll represented, and that person would carry out your instructions, provided you had enough spirituality to cast it.
The next few pages contained all sorts of spells.
Flesh Sacrifice, Live Experimentation, Demon Summoning, Witchcraft Poisoning.
They were all such evil, revolting spells!
Bruce marveled inwardly. Yet he did not notice that as he read the Dark Bible, his eyes had become completely black, without a trace of white. His gaze brimmed with greed and longing, with no disgust whatsoever.
Ghost and Fawcett were also looking at the Dark Bible, but they could see nothing at all. Every page Bruce turned was blank to them, revealing none of its secrets.
"Bruce, are you all right?"
They had noticed Bruce's eyes. That total blackness terrified them, as though they were facing some horrifying being. The aura emanating from him frightened them even more.
At that moment, Bruce seemed to have become evil incarnate.
Only when he heard Fawcett and Ghost calling him did Bruce pull himself away from the spells recorded in the Dark Bible. His pitch-black eyes instantly returned to normal. He closed the Dark Bible and drew a deep breath.
It felt as though a lifetime had passed.
"I'm fine. What about you?" His head felt a little swollen, as though he had absorbed too much knowledge.
Fawcett shook his head. "We couldn't see anything written in the Bible. It was all blank. What did you see?"
"Some spells. Very powerful spells," Bruce said in wonder.
Was he the only one who could see them?
Despite his wonder, Bruce's doubts had not diminished. Why was this Dark Bible connected to him? That question continued to haunt him.
"Then are there any spells for reincarnating as a human?"
Fawcett immediately asked the question that mattered most to him.
"Yes, plenty."
Bruce nodded. The Dark Bible contained many spells involving souls and rituals for resurrection. Reincarnating a Vengeful Spirit as a human was actually very simple, though it was also a bloody, evil affair.
"How does it work? Can you do it?"
Hearing that definite answer, Fawcett immediately grew excited.
"All it takes is the body of a living person," Bruce said with perfect composure.
"But there's one condition. These spells can only be cast by a Wizard. To use this Dark Bible, I would have to become a Wizard too."
The first page of the Dark Bible explained how to become a Wizard.
A Wizard was one type of Extraordinary.
"You want to become a Wizard?"
Looking at Bruce's calm face, Fawcett felt as though he had a heart despite never having had one, and that it had just skipped a beat. Then he sank into thought. Bruce had changed so much.
Ghost studied Bruce for a moment, also sensing the difference in him. Beneath that calm face, a storm was raging.
"How can I become stronger?" Ghost asked the question that mattered most.
"Absorb souls, but not those of ordinary people. Ideally, the souls of Extraordinaries or demons. The stronger the soul, the more nourishment it can provide." Bruce smiled. A strange, sinister hint crept into that smile, but he forcibly suppressed it.
He suddenly felt a little sick, and a sense of disgust toward himself began to grow.
Something seemed wrong...
Some kind of impulse, some kind of madness, seemed to be growing inside him. He could hardly wait to try the spells recorded in the Dark Bible, to create something foul. Whispers sounded in his ears again.
This time, they had nothing to do with Hozniya. They were prayers spoken in strange sounds.
His legs weakened, leaving him unsteady.
Fawcett and Ghost could clearly sense the changes Bruce was displaying, and they too grew anxious.
"I feel like something's wrong."
Suddenly, the Dark Bible in Bruce's hands shone with that strange light again. It was a scarlet so deep it was almost black, brilliant and blinding. He immediately closed his eyes.
In an instant, the light surged into Bruce's body like a tide.