Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1015 The Reappearing Demon

As Shard walked over with a frown, the stranger waved him over, indicating for Shard to sit down. Only then did Shard notice the stranger’s slack skin; his right fingers looked as though they had spent too long in water, causing it to peel, and wore a white bone ring shaped like a skull with a small snake’s head protruding from the skull’s mouth.

"Just waiting for you."

The stranger’s eyes lit up, and although his voice was filled with fatigue, his tone became a bit brisk:

"Have a seat. It’s convenient to talk since all three of you are here."

He spoke with an unusually perfect Tobesk accent.

[Be careful.]

The voice of "her" rang in his ears. Shard hesitated a moment and glanced at both Princesses before sitting down opposite the strange man.

The man tapped the table, staring into Shard’s eyes, and said:

"Allow me to introduce myself—I’m Victor Vanny."

He tilted his head slightly to one side:

"I know you’re investigating me. You’re quick at it; so don’t investigate any further."

With a brief pause, he added softly:

"Otherwise, I’ll kill you all."

Dorothy and Princess Margaret both showed displeasure as Shard stared into his utterly black eyes:

"Oh?"

He used an interjection.

The man claiming to be Victor Vanny nodded:

"I’d be delighted to do business with you, but if you dare investigate me again, I will erase your existence from everyone’s memory."

As he prepared to stand up, seemingly unwilling to waste more time here, Shard stopped him:

"Is your real name truly Victor Vanny?"

His half-standing motion abruptly paused, and the man claiming to be "Victor Vanny" fixed his peculiar eyes on Shard:

"I’m very skilled at manipulating emotions, seizing power from self-amplifying desires."

He murmured, then sat back down:

"Greed, seyu, immortality..."

He stared unwaveringly at Shard:

"But that doesn’t mean I have a good temperament towards humans."

With the utterance of the final sentence, the malice in his tone became increasingly apparent. The lighting on the ground floor of the Three Cats Inn dimmed abruptly; Dorothy and Princess Margaret were shocked by this audacity in public, yet soon realized that only those at the table could perceive the change in surroundings.

Neither Shard nor Victor Vanny spoke as the light around the table grew darker, black mud began seeping from the gaps in the floorboards, and black sludge dripped from the ceiling seams, as if the entire inn was decaying.

Princess Margaret saw the black sludge—even dripping into the soup bowl on the neighboring table, splashing the broth—and yet the hat-wearing patron seemed utterly unaware.

A chilling wind blew through the warm interior, seemingly altering the entire environment with Victor Vanny’s mood. A myriad of subtle sounds reached the trio’s ears; upon closer scrutiny, those slick sounds seemed to stir up the most primitive desires within, yet the tone was uncannily similar to what Shard heard after using Holy Water to destroy "Victor’s Box" that morning.

The Southern Nation’s Princess realized they had provoked some terrifying entity, trembling uncontrollably in the darkness, and glanced towards the blonde author.

The latter appeared to be in fairly good condition, turning to Shard with pursed lips. As her gaze followed, the young detective was already completely engulfed by darkness, as though a black mire had enveloped his entire space.

Yet Shard wasn’t swallowed by that seductive darkness; a not particularly bright, but definitely dazzling, Holy Silver light radiated from him. Glaring at that silvery moonlight, Margaret Anjou felt instinctual comfort, as if gazing upon the fullest Silvermoon in the summer night sky with a wine glass in hand.

"Remarkable, you haven’t been devoured."

The originally standard Delarion language manifested severe echoes and pronunciation distortions in the darkness. Victor Vanny sat opposite Shard, yet the one sitting there seemed not to be him.

With just a brief glance, Princess Margaret perceived a hulking, twisted black shadow within the human silhouette, an immense psychic shock making her eyes bleed instantly. Closing her eyes and gasping heavily, she dared not open them again. However, the act of closing her eyes heightened her other senses, allowing her to faintly perceive something lurking within the darkness...

Fear, rage, lust, hunger—varieties of strange emotions surged simultaneously in her heart, then detonated instantly within. Margaret Anjou’s eyes, faintly glowing red, snapped wide open, but upon seeing the silver moonlight around Shard, those inexplicable emotions gradually calmed.

She and the blonde author watched the light emanating from Shard—this was the only source of reassurance in the entirely dark surroundings. Everything within the Three Cats Inn seemed to vanish, yet it seemed only they disappeared.

A wooden table, four long chairs, four "people", these objects exist only in the dark.

In the darkness, black sludge surges and stirs, Margaret Anjou can hear someone lying behind her, whispering in her ear to fulfill her deepest desires.

The glowing Shard looks fine, confirming his companions are temporarily safe. He watches the figure gradually shed its human form, nodding slightly as he endures the mental contamination, as if confirming something:

"We have no intention of opposing you either. If so, why don’t you give me a Victor’s Box, let me duplicate some coins, and we’ll call it even, how about it?"

Princess Margaret knows this is surrendering to the other side, but she understands the behavior. This time, what they’ve provoked is something humans cannot casually deal with.

"Of course."

Although Victor Fanny is sitting at the table, the overlapping voice comes from the distant darkness.

A pair of hands appear beside Shard, holding a wooden "Victor’s Box". The darkness swallows the space behind the hands, as if severed hands float in the air.

Shard holds the box in front of him, takes out the [Coin of Wisdom] from his pocket, and places it inside. After closing and reopening the box, there’s still only one coin inside:

"See, your creation is entirely useless, I really thought your artifact could freely replicate relics."

Shard mocks lightly, while the man opposite him, half merged with the darkness, says softly:

"Wisdom, is power that desire cannot duplicate."

"Do you understand wisdom?"

Shard laughs again:

"Answer me one question; I can leave as if nothing happened—why did the Cherub stay here?"

The hand adorned with the white Bone Ring reaches towards Shard like a long snake, covered in creepy scales. But after a brilliant silver moonlight flashes, the hand is forced to retreat, taking Victor Fanny with it, disappearing into the darkness surrounding the table.

"I was wondering why it seemed familiar... turns out it’s a demon."

"Demon?"

Even though Princess Margaret had a faint suspicion, hearing the answer still leaves her extremely shocked.

"No need to worry, the opponent is not strong."

Shard says the demon this time is at least much weaker than Human Pus.

The surging darkness does not just churn around; indeed, the darkness remains the same, but with Victor Fanny’s disappearance, it feels as though something fundamentally changes.

Princess Margaret and Dorothy reveal their Rings of Fate simultaneously, the Princess with Four Rings, Dorothy with Five Rings. The burning of parchment unveils the Sleeping Princess holding a spindle and the Matchstick Girl with a basket, while the thrown puppet transforms into Assassin Jack which Shard has seen once.

The three summoned entities by Enlightenment Elements circle the table, attempting to dispel those emerging from the darkness. Instinctual fear causes the ladies’ Rings of Fate to tremble with spiritual light, as invisible tentacles extend from dense darkness, gradually encircling them.

"Moonlight Greatsword!"

The Great Sword radiating sanctified moonlight becomes a brand new light source. The magnificent sword makes the Princess side-eye, but Shard doesn’t use it to attack the enemy in the darkness; instead, he stands holding the sword, looking ahead.

"Don’t lift your heads."

Shard softly warns, squinting as he sees, in the writhing darkness above the three, an immense, unnameable bizarre silhouette stretching out its "hand" towards them.

Whether the organ can be defined as a "hand" is difficult to say, but whether it’s Shard, Dorothy, or Princess Margaret, their minds flash images of being seized by the giant and disappearing completely from this world.

"Rest assured, I pulled you into this, so naturally, I will ensure your safety. I apologize, I didn’t expect it was a demon..."

Shard apologizes softly, looking directly at the immense demon shadow in the darkness, his normalized eyes shedding bloody tears.

As the sky-descending "hand" gradually lowers, the rotation of the girls’ Rings of Fate becomes sluggish.

Shard takes a deep breath, pulls out the "Witch Detection" badge from around his neck, and points it at the writhing darkness:

"Praise Angel, praise Death."

He says quietly.

Despite fear, Margaret Anjou feels inexplicably hot at this moment. As her senses detect the strange warmth, her vision starts to detect gentle white light.

She lifts her head in surprise, seeing above Shard a massive winged figure flash by. At the same time, the badge he holds high emanates white sanctity light as brilliant as the sun, completely banishing the surrounding darkness in an instant, seemingly melting the immense terrifying black silhouette.

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