NOVPUB
Chapter 99: Conclusion To The Night XII
The sounds of footsteps could be heard in the ritual ground, as a large sandstorm raged outside the abandoned temple grounds.
The land itself stretched out in every direction like an endless desert, the earth cracked and barren, as the air was just as cold as it was toxic.
And the sky above was an unnatural shade of green, and the greatest mist mixed with the sandstorm as a strong breeze blew from all directions.
If it were not for the massive barrier around this temple, which protects all from the outside world, blocking the raging sandstorm taking place on the outside, even A-rank monsters would perish in no time.
But despite the danger of this place, at the center of the temple field, there was a large magic circle, ritual type, carved into the barren earth.
The complex spirit language glowed faintly in a sickly red hue, as the words within twisted and writhed like they had a mind of their own. The symbols were ancient in nature, different from the spirit language that is known and used in modern society; to a normal or modern-day spiritualist, it would be impossible to understand.
And at the heart of this circle lay a beautiful woman.
Her nine red cat tails moved as if they had a mind of their own, even in her unconscious state. Her skin was clear and beautiful, but despite her obvious features of beauty, there were many wounds scattered across her body.
The majority of which were serious.
One of her arms was missing, her left one to be precise, it looked like it was pulled off by the shoulder, while the remaining hand was curled against her stomach, fingers twisted in a strange and broken posture.
Her face was marred by a jagged scar, running diagonally from her hairline to the hollow of an empty eye socket.
But despite the mutilation, she still looked beautiful, her scars giving her a special charm of her own.
Her chest went up and down, albeit slowly; she was damaged on the outside, but the inside is where the serious damage really is.
Meanwhile, around her, the ground was covered in glowing red spider lilies. Thousands of them. Their bright crimson petals glowed with an eerie light, humming with a low sound, each vibrating at the same frequency. All of them hey floated in the air, drifting lazily like jellyfish in the ocean, their movement too deliberate to be casual, and too perfect to be natural if you look at them carefully.
The lilies surrounded the woman, creating a protective ring, like a procession of lights in a cathedral.
And standing over it all, standing barefoot on the cracked, ink-black earth, was Yarquella Mortlake.
She was quite a tall and voluptuous woman... Her breast was large, and the same could be said for her plump ass.
She was six feet five, with a figure that turned heads even before the robe made an entrance. Her long, straight black hair fell like a sheet of ink down her back, soft and smooth, with not a strand out of place. It framed her face in a way that made her glowing green eyes even more striking.
Her skin was pale, almost luminous in dim light, but what stood out even more were the tattoos that were scattered across her body; they seemed occult in nature.
Meanwhile, behind her back, she had the symbol of Discord, plastered on her back, shining behind her as that too was made from Monster energy.
The symbol itself is an Inguz rune.
And at this moment, a great amount of Astrum Nature and Dark Astrum was leaving her body, as she applies and codes the finishing touches of the ritual circle.
"...Hmm, and with that, the coding is complete."
She said to herself, on the other hand, the lilies reacted. Slowly, one by one, they began to dissolve into raw genetic and spiritual information, its form...a series of blood red energy tendril that began to leak into the body of the girl.
This went on for a while, the process slow but necessary.
"I’m almost there...
Yarquella whispered, her voice low, calm...too calm for what she was doing at least.
"Now I just need to wait thirty more minutes... However, like a curious dog, the future has other plans for me."
Yarquella said to herself, and as if already knowing what was going to happen next.
A man stepped from the mist, coming from behind.
He wore a long, black uniform coat that hung just past his knees. The cut was sharp and straight, with a high collar and fitted sleeves, built for movement but still formal, almost military, but more ritual than rank.
The fabric was heavy, matte, and smooth.
Along the arms and down the chest, pale gold symbols were stitched into the seams. They were clean and geometric, not flashy...but they gave the uniform a strange energy, or vibe to it.
And at the center of his chest, stitched into the coat, was the insignia of the man’s organization... It was the symbol of the Bound Sun.
The symbol showed a bright golden sun wrapped in blood red iron chains, its rays bent inward like a dying star. Four skeletal hands gripped the chains from each corner, pulling it down, forcing the light to kneel.
Meanwhile, his uniform collar was tall, almost hiding his jaw, and when he walked, there was a kind of stillness that followed him.
Not silence, exactly...just this sense that everything around him had to pause and notice. His boots were black and polished, and were worn but clean. Heavy, too, with a soft echo when they hit stone.
He had short, but neatly done, golden hair, a wicked smile spread across his face, as a crystal monocle hung at his right eye.
Yarquella did not turn around to meet him, rather, she began to speak.
"Lorenz Dämmerung... 4th seat holder of the nine Fractures of the Der Äonische Kreis ha? Aren’t you too early, or does Adelheid still not trust me? Because our agreed time was scheduled for daybreak, you know."
"Hehehe...
Lorenze chuckled at Yarquella’s question, as he began to speak, a heavy German accent leaving his mouth.
Lorenze chuckled at Yarquella’s words, as his hands reached for his pockets, taking out a cigarette from its box, as he proceeded to light one up, and take a smoke.
The first hit was taken, as he puffed out smoke from his mouth, and right after, he began to speak. And a heavy German accent left his mouth.
"Ahhh, good night to you as well, Miss Mortlake... How splendid it is to see you again! Why, it has been...what? Three entire days since last we exchanged our little pleasantries, has it not? As for our illustrious supreme commander... oh, she fares marvelously, marvelously indeed. I have merely come ahead of schedule to observe...to admire the fruits of your most diligent labors."
Saidi Lorenz.
To which she replied.
"You know lying won’t get you anywhere with me."
"Lie? Me? Ahhh, nein, nein, nein... I would never dream of such a thing! My arrival here is purely the result of good fortune, nothing more. However, I do bear a message for you from our Supreme Leader. That request you asked of us, well, we have done as you asked... You see... we have successfully procured the ME-12 serum, after my dear comrades and I paid a rather spirited visit to the N.S.R.I. Heh... not going to lie, my dear lady, those government swine were cooking up quite the little serum behind closed doors. Quite the concoction indeed...
Yarquella chuckled softly under her breath, as she replied back saying
"You Anarchs sure work fast, don’t you?"
She murmured, still not turning to face him. Her hand traced lazy circles above the ritual array, where the crimson tendrils of energy continued their slow invasion of the unconscious woman’s body.
"But fine. Message received. You delivered your master’s payment to my doorstep like a good little courier... You can go now."
Lorenz exhaled a thin stream of smoke, the ember of his cigarette burning bright against the dimness. His sharp, almost predatory eyes shifted from Yarquella to the figure lying within the ritual circle.
"How cold...fr one so beautiful a smile would do you nice, you know, this is exactly why you have no friends despite being so old."
"...Dont need them, my lackeys are enough."
She commented, but Lorenze’s attention was somewhere else.
As he looked at the girl at the center of the magic circle. And even while unconscious, weakened, and injured. He sensed great power from that monster.
"Ahhh... so that is her, I presume?"
He said, stepping closer, boots crunching against the blackened stone.
"Kaguya, that was her name if I remember correctly."
His voice was full of mock awe, like a tourist admiring a priceless relic.
"The very monster our Supreme Leader so covets... the one she wishes to claim as her monster parent."
He leaned in slightly, as if trying to take in every detail: the shredded body, the missing arm, the empty eye socket, the nine restless tails. His monocle flashed once under the misty light.
"Magnificent."
Lorenz breathed.
"Truly a thing of beauty... even in such a broken state."
