This Was the Art of the Formless

The sacrifice... had succeeded?

Vanessa froze in place and raised her hand in disbelief. A tiny, insignificant sliver was indeed missing from the edge of her left little fingernail, as though it had been carefully trimmed.

She had sacrificed so little... and it had actually worked?!

An intense sense of absurdity washed over her.

That wasn't what the books said!

She should have had to pore over vast amounts of material, search for legends of the Evil God, select offerings that suited the god's preferences, then find large numbers of volunteers for experiments and gradually work out a safe method of sacrifice...

And yet... it had just worked?

Vanessa bent down and picked up the card. Honestly, even if this were only a piece of cardboard, she wouldn't have complained-she had only sacrificed a tiny bit of fingernail!

"[Path · Omniscience · Part Two]?"

Vanessa paused. "What is Omniscience... wait, a Path!?"

Her eyes suddenly lit up, and she immediately began examining it.

All Vanessa had seen in the books was that medical research report, which had only briefly mentioned experiments involving several sacrifices. It hadn't given the Path's name, so she had no idea that it was this [Omniscience].

Yet this card clearly recorded the complete sacrificial procedure, even including that Evil God's honorific names!

"God Who Knows All Things, God Who Reflects the World, God of Cold Oblivion..." Vanessa read out the titles, trembling with excitement.

That sounded so powerful!

But when she saw the offerings, she froze.

"This... isn't this exactly what that medical report said?"

For a moment, Vanessa was somewhat bewildered. She had sacrificed a fingernail to the Evil God, and the Evil God had given her knowledge she already possessed?

It was rather baffling.

Before she could think it through, the sacrificial ritual flashed red again, and another card appeared on the ground.

"[Path · Flesh Ascension · Part One]?" Vanessa had a bad feeling. She turned it straight over to check the offerings, and the corner of her eye immediately twitched.

Something else she already knew!

Whatever else could be said about this Evil God, the god certainly was strange enough.

"I offer the excess nail of my left ring finger as a sacrifice." Vanessa was once again controlled into speaking.

She froze for a moment, then her eyes widened.

Again?

Was this Evil God really that good-tempered?

Sacrificing one fingernail at a time looked like mockery no matter how she considered it. Would this Evil God really accept it?

Unless...

Vanessa slowly raised her head, her gaze seeming to pierce the basement's thick stone ceiling and reach into the deep, boundless starry sky.

Could the being she was sacrificing to be the mysterious entity controlling her?

Was all of this... merely some sort of experiment on His part?

Three cards appeared before Elliot again.

[Bestowal] [Blessing] [Distortion]

Elliot turned over [Blessing].

The [Bestowal] and [Distortion] cards were swallowed by the slots, and the entire Difference Engine let out a tremendous hum.

The desktop's structure changed violently. New metal surfaces rose and joined together like a Transformer, finally unfolding before him into an enormous, intricate interface unlike anything he had ever seen-a three-dimensional network made up of countless nodes and connecting lines!

Was this... a map? A map of the Path to the Supernatural!

Elliot stared at everything before him in shock.

The map had densely packed branches that ultimately interwove into a complex web. Lines connected the different nodes, and each node was a slot waiting for a card to be inserted.

Elliot's gaze fell on a nearby slot bearing a fruit symbol, marked [Touch the Supernatural · First Tier].

He tried placing a card inside.

Hiss!

The card was mercilessly ejected, and the brass character wheels above it spelled out a line:

[You cannot reach this place]

"Reach?" Elliot frowned and looked toward the starting point of the vast web.

Several slots stood side by side there, each with a different symbol: an eye, a blood-dripping dagger, a crimson drop of blood, a beating heart... they stood in a row, like the beginnings of roads.

He casually placed the card into the eye symbol. The [Blessing] card was swallowed, and the recessed slot gradually rose until it was level with the surface. Light shimmered, and a line of text appeared:

[Spirit Vision +1]

Several faint golden threads immediately lit up beside the filled slot, some pointing forward, others to the side.

But the threads stopped after extending only a short distance.

"I think I understand..."

Elliot rubbed his chin, then controlled Vanessa into sacrificing bits of fingernail several more times. As he watched the threads extend a little farther forward, understanding dawned on his face.

"The first sacrifice fills a slot, and they all become 'fuel' that drives progress along this road. Once enough accumulates, you can move forward and light up the next row of slots."

He looked up ahead. He was currently at the first layer of nodes, where there were many choices, and the second layer was the same.

But at the third layer, the countless paths ultimately converged on one single node-the fruit of [Touch the Supernatural · First Tier]!

"Or, instead of moving forward, you can light up the other slots in the same row."

His gaze fell on the other symbols beside the eye. The golden threads could lead there as well.

"A vast web, branching into countless choices, yet all pointing toward the same gateway to advancement... this is the truth of the supernatural."

"Every sacrifice is a choice, ultimately carving out a unique road."

"A so-called [Path] is merely a road that happens to be passable. As for how far it leads, or whether it's the shortest... that's pure luck."

"But I can see every road."

Elliot couldn't help smiling.

The supernatural was even more interesting than he had imagined.

"Then what about the final option?"

He controlled the girl into making another sacrifice, and this time he turned over [Distortion].

"What is seen has no form, what is felt is not real. This is the art of the formless."

As before, the [Bestowal] and [Blessing] cards were swallowed, leaving only [Distortion].

Elliot turned the card over:

[Secret Art · Trigger]

Point a finger at the enemy and activate the secret art Trigger, and the finger will shoot out like a bullet.

It was a spell! Delight rose in Elliot's heart, but then he frowned.

What did "the finger will shoot out like a bullet" mean?

Could it come back after being fired?

And since it would "shoot out like a bullet"... why not simply carry a gun and use real bullets?

Elliot turned the card over and stared at the word [Distortion], uncertain for a moment.

Were all spells this bizarre, or was this a spell that had specifically been distorted?

Was this secret art... really useful?

[Secret Art · Trigger] was swallowed into the slot, and the sacrificial platform fell quiet again.

But the next instant, the brass character wheels spun wildly, spelling out an incoherent wail.

"Aaaaaaah!!!!!!!!"

Within the altar.

Vanessa clutched her left hand tightly and dropped to her knees in pain.

Blood seeped between her fingers.

She raised her hand and discovered to her horror that only four fingers remained on her left hand!