NOVPUB```
Hearing Aiwass’ voice, the front desk guy suddenly startled and snapped back to reality.
"You wish to stay overnight here?"
He composed himself and looked at Aiwass, then glanced at Sherlock with a scowl and the storm outside, and quickly realized, then smoothly replied, "A clean room, including dinner for two, that’ll be four red coins and three copper coins. What name shall I register?"
"Your prices have remained quite stable, haven’t they?"
"Indeed," the front desk guy nodded, "It’s been the same for many years. Always these prices."
"Sixty years ago, when I came here, it was this price. I didn’t expect that after sixty years, nothing here would have changed."
Aiwass replied calmly.
At his words, the front desk guy’s work came to a brief halt.
Then he looked up, his face showing an expression as if he had seen a ghost. 𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑝𝘶𝘣.𝑐𝘰𝘮
Aiwass unapologetically tapped him on the head, "Are you the ghost, or am I the ghost? Call your boss out!"
"The boss is not in..."
The front desk mumbled.
But Aiwass cut him off, "No, your boss is in.
"—I want to see Alice. I have an appointment."
As soon as Aiwass finished speaking, the front desk guy’s body gradually turned transparent.
His expression became indifferent, and he looked up at Aiwass and Sherlock, and also at Liz standing behind them, then slowly drifted into the counter.
The oil lamp flickered once, then went out. The hotel lobby was suddenly plunged into darkness, with only the faint light from outside streaming in.
"What’s going on?"
Sherlock was somewhat nervous.
In the darkness, he approached with caution, whispering, "Why did you just lay all the cards on the table?"
"Because I indeed have an appointment."
Aiwass was completely unfazed.
He took out the prepared Tarot cards and various ritual materials from his pocket, arranged them neatly on the hotel counter, and began preparing the cards.
"You got something wrong, Sherlock. You said ’Alice is no longer the innocent girl she was sixty years ago’, that statement is both right and wrong.
"During the last promotion ceremony, we indeed experienced events that happened sixty years ago. That was indeed sixty years ago, Alice who had just turned into an Earthbound Spirit... But in fact, the person who played Alice was the real Alice.
"I had a mission then, which was to kill the possessed Earthbound Spirit Alice. Perhaps in the real history, she possessed someone, but then she regretted it... So in the promotion ceremony, even until the end, she never possessed anyone.
"—In other words, that Alice was an Alice transcendent of the promotion ceremony."
As Aiwass was busy preparing, he said softly, "Why was our ceremony last time a missing role ceremony? I thought about it for a long time, and there might be a reason... Alice who infiltrated the ceremony took up one of the places.
Aiwass had told Lily before that a long time ago, the Trial Ground did not have an Angel Envoy for presiding. At that time, some Phantom Demons would lurk nearby, infiltrate the promotion ceremonies, and devour the souls of Transcendents who were part of the ceremony.
"But when Alice sneaked in, she didn’t attack us."
```
Hearing this, Sherlock realized, "She didn’t come for our souls but rather..."
"She is seeking our help.
"Because Priest said that the Earthbound Spirit here is exceptionally powerful, even the bishop couldn’t handle it. And since this place was sealed, there haven’t been any more disappearances... In other words, apart from those fugitives who ran blindly, she didn’t consume any other souls. That signpost that was switched, obviously, was only changed after the ritual, because she was worried that the signpost would scare us away and we wouldn’t come to find her.
"Ultimately, an Earthbound Spirit is still an Undead. Without consuming souls or receiving the replenishment of Dusk Power, it would eventually perish.
"As for a ghost girl who had been used as a human pillar and pressed under the foundations from the age she learned to read, becoming an Earthbound Spirit... afterward, there were no travelers here, and she was alone for a full sixty years. I think she doesn’t wish to just perish like this.
"So, if we turn the perspective around... why could she enter the ascension ceremony right under Merlin’s nose? It’s not that Merlin didn’t know about her existence, but that he tacitly allowed it..."
As Aiwass spoke, he completely brushed off the dust from the "Death Card."
The skeleton rode atop the pale mare, waving a flag adorned with roses. People fell before It like wheat sheaves, powerless to resist.
Everything else was ready, just laying there.
Sherlock didn’t know what kind of ritual Aiwass was going to conduct, and he stood there, somewhat nervous.
And just then, the candles that had been extinguished suddenly lit up again, and then began to flicker intensely.
With each flash of light, a little blonde girl with a purple-tinged face appeared, flickering in and out of view, and with the extinguishing of the light, she would vanish once more.
Sherlock took a sharp breath, his nerves instantly tense.
Even though Aiwass said she had no malicious intent, Sherlock still couldn’t help but clench his fists tightly. The four types of Mana coursed rapidly through his body, ready to be unleashed.
In the end, the firelight was completely extinguished once again.
Explore more adventures at freewebnovel
And along with a bright flash of lightning, the half-transparent girl appeared quietly in front of Aiwass.
She did not play with the ball like she did during the ritual.
Instead, she quietly placed a black object on the table and cast a glance at Sherlock. As the lightning faded and the rumbling thunder sounded, she disappeared without a trace.
Aiwass reached out and touched it, and the attribute panel appeared before his eyes:
[Corrupted Demon Hunter+3]
[Extraordinary Weapon (Purple)]
[Firearm, Revolver, 5-round capacity]
[9mm bullets (0/5)]
[Trait: Its bullets turn into Curse bullets, causing significantly increased damage to flesh]
[Corruption Style: This Weapon has been corrupted and requires repairs before use.]
[Module-Fragile Focus: Accuracy gradually increases if not damaged within five seconds, reaching maximum when undamaged for fifteen seconds]
[Module-Elegant Aim: Extra significant increase in accuracy]
[Module-Panic Draw: Reduced accuracy on the first bullet, with greatly increased damage]
"Do you like this..."
A light and airy voice echoed, tinged with a bit of fear, like that of a child who did something mischievous and then suddenly became well-behaved but still a little wary, "I give it to you. But it might be broken..."
Obviously.
This was Agni’s weapon from sixty years ago.
Unlike Jacob, he didn’t manage to escape. The 0/5 magazine revealed his last moments of fear and despair.
And in these sixty years, Alice, with nowhere to go, had clearly worn out the gun. Its name, attributes, style, and model had all subtly changed, serving as proof.
Although during the ritual, she found that Aiwass took a great interest in this gun... she could no longer hand over the original weapon to Aiwass.
That’s why she felt a bit scared.
But seeing this very clear gesture of friendship, Sherlock immediately came to a realization.
"I see... It’s the Great Sage!"
Those who die and retain their souls are stripped from the six domains. Generally speaking, the undead do not possess intelligence or "personality".
But clearly... whether it was Alice from the ritual or the Alice of today, she was intelligent. Though not high, it undeniably existed.
The Great Sage indeed had such a hobby—liking to bind contracts with the undead, granting them wisdom. The Wild Hunt was just like that, and it wasn’t strange for it to be given to Alice now.
But...
"If all she wants is to rest in peace," Sherlock was puzzled, "what’s the difference between peacefully fading away and being dissolved by someone else?"
"Setting aside the difference between being powerless to stop one’s slow death and dying swiftly..."
As Aiwass spoke, he infused his Dark Attribute Mana into the amber: "Perhaps what she’s hoping for is for me to take her away from here."
The originally golden-red amber visibly turned dark, like charred coal.
——A full thirty points of Dark Attribute Mana.
This was the Mana Aiwass invested to construct the "Field Card: Shadow Cellar".
"So you can do it?"
Sherlock asked back, "Free an Earthbound Spirit from being ’earthbound’, change the very nature of its existence?"
"I really can."
Aiwass said calmly.
He placed the charred-looking amber above the Death Card, then picked up the "Netherworld Water" he retrieved from the swamp of Eagle Cape Village—a name he had just given it.
Thirty points of Dark Attribute Mana to seal an Earthbound Spirit would allow Alice to become a temporary summon of his own.
——[Minion Card: Earthbound Spirit].
If she desired to rest, then only using twenty points of Mana to create the [Spell Card: Nightmare Grasp] would suffice. That way, once her strength was drained, she would naturally fade away.
Whether she wanted to leave or to live, the choice was hers. After all, she was not in Aiwass’s plan for the moment.
Therefore, barring any surprises... this must be a test from the Great Sage.
Aiwass had borrowed the powers of the Celestial Marshal and the Pillar God too many times. Although the sheep being sheared did not react, the smart sheep watching from the sidelines might naturally grow suspicious after seeing another sheep getting sheared.
But it didn’t matter.
The secrets of the Great Sin Scholar were ones that could be shared with Them.
The secret Aiwass truly couldn’t reveal... was the Ring of Ouroboros ritual and the forthcoming fall of that Pillar God.
The former signified the Celestial Marshal’s power being stripped away, while the latter was the death of a Pillar God.
Compared to these, everything else was a minor issue. Let the old Great Sage watch if he wanted to.
——Perhaps I will have to recite Your name next time.
Hence, Aiwass’s lips curved slightly upward, as he whispered softly:
"I beseech the amber, the divinity of the sacred number nine, the god of acme, the god of perfection and eternity—"
With that, Aiwass poured the "Netherworld Water" over it.
But the water did not wet the Tarot card. Instead, it solidified like ice... As Aiwass poured it out, the muted yellow water flowed over the Tarot card and spread across the table on the platform. The soil from the grave melted into it, congealing with the water into a thin, impure, yellow layer of ice.
"Alice."
Aiwass stepped back two paces and called out softly, "It’s your turn now, you choose—You’ll understand."
Soon, the candlelight flickered and lit up again.
The now translucent, phantom-like little girl appeared silently beside Aiwass.
She stood on tiptoe, her hand resting on the Tarot card above.
The card gradually changed its image beneath the thin layer of ice.
The skeleton Knight, originally mounted on a white horse, slowly turned into a pitch-black skeleton king, wielding a scythe.
In the lower-right corner of the picture was a blue scorpion, symbolizing physical death. To the left of the scorpion was a lily shaped like an "α", and to the right was a lotus shaped like an "Ω", signifying that the body exists between the beginning and the end.
Atop the Skeleton’s black crown sat an eagle—this symbolized the death of the spirit.
To the left of the picture was a serpent entangled with a fish. This signified death by fate.
Below the scythe was a beheaded person. A soul drifted out from it...
——This signified the death of the soul, and also the rebirth that follows death.
The Death Card represented the end, death. But it also foreshadowed rebirth after death.
Finally, as Alice vanished from sight, the dark inn once again became bright. The storm raging outside had also disappeared without a trace.
And the card floated up on its own, flying into Aiwass’s hand.
The card’s attributes automatically appeared in his eyes:
[Minion: Earthbound Spirit (Death)]
[Level: 40]
[Path of Dusk, Attribute: Dark]
[Requirement: Dark 3]
[Action, Summon]
[Effect: Target an enemy, casting them into illusions, and then summon the Earthbound Spirit "Alice" to fight for you. The Earthbound Spirit is considered a summon and lasts for one minute. If the Earthbound Spirit is slain or dissipates, the illusion immediately ends. If the enemy caught in the illusion is slain, the existence of the Earthbound Spirit is refreshed.]
