Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 81 The Hound of Light

"This is bad."

After having added Sorcery for the priest as well, Shard struggled to take out the little book. Using it required a price to pay, so Shard didn't dare to write anything too extreme. Instead, he dipped his finger in the blood he had spat out and wrote on the blank page:

"Even if primitive and evil forces cause me to fall into slumber, I will be able to awake at the appropriate time."

This was to prevent himself from also passing out, ensuring that there would still be someone to lead the others in escape. Using such a precious Relic in this way was certainly wasteful, but it was the safest phrase he dared write with the Keeper of Secrets Level Relic.

He could have written "Shard defeats the Evil God," but the cost of that might have sent him straight to Detective Sparrow.

Dr. Schneider, who was currently battling Lady Lassoya, also retreated to the doorway of the banquet hall as Shard struggled to rise again. His boots stepped on the shattered red carpet from the explosion.

Behind the doctor, a brass pentagonal metal ring was spinning at an unprecedented rate, with four-colored Spirit Runes fluttering above the Ring of Fate, but the doctor kept retreating. He too was close to not being able to hold on any longer.

"How are you here?"Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Shocked by Shard's appearance, and seeing that his comrades had all fallen, the doctor gritted his teeth and used his body to block Shard's line of sight:

"Shard, I have never mentioned to you the Circle Sorcerer's strongest power; by rights, you shouldn't have known about it now. But there's no other way, please witness my power. I might fall unconscious after using this power. If I win, remember to take all of us..."

A silver flash appeared from inside the banquet hall, and the doctor staggered backward. Astonishingly, a crack appeared on the Ring of Fate behind him.

"Pay attention, Detective! This is not a power that can be lightly wielded. The Circle Sorcerer's phase sublimation isn't so simple!"

Dr. Schneider suddenly shouted loudly and with the eruption of the repressed power, a new figure appeared through the scorching Steam Mist behind him.

Shard's eyes widened:

"This is..."

[...his 'other self.']

"What is the doctor doing? Wait!"

The power of this moment can't be described by the inexperienced Outlander, but he actually felt a sense of decay incredibly similar to that of the Old God, the Creator of Innocence, who was on the verge of collapse.

The aura was majestic, yet it signified termination; it was not the power of mortals.

"What exactly is the Circle Sorcerer's Sublimation Incantation?"

The racing hound of light seemed to draw power from the earth beneath and the heavens above. It cut through the darkness, charging forward, and there in the midst of the malicious dark dreamscape, Lady Lassoya appeared, struck head-on by the glowing Holy Light hound:

"Damn it, it's the Sublimation Incantation! Where the hell did you come from, you madman?!"

The woman with smeared makeup cursed loudly, but as she came into contact with the light of the hound, her whole being exploded with light from within and vanished into the Holy Light.

The darkness around vanished in the next moment, and the chilling wind along with the whispers and murmurs also departed. Shard once again smelled the air, rich as if dripping with blood, and saw the blood mist rising like curtains in the corridor.

Looking ahead, the hound had disappeared, and Dr. Schneider, who had lost consciousness, lay motionless on his back before Shard. Shard had never seen the respectable psychologist in such disarray. His eyes were tightly closed, his face ashen like that of Detective Sparrow Hamilton a week prior to his impending death, but at least he was still alive for now.

So Shard reached out and touched the doctor, not expecting that his greatest contribution to the battle would turn out to be this.

"Where's Miss Annette? Should I touch her too when she gets back?"

If it wasn't for the fact that Sorcery effects didn't work on non-critically injured people, Shard would have touched himself first.

Struggling to his feet, he tried to move the doctor, the Priest, and the female writer together, to wait for Miss Annette to come back and take them away. But at that moment, the devastated banquet hall entrance, now descending with ashes and flaking wall paint, once again echoed with a voice.

Shard looked up to see Lady Lassoya, head drenched in blood and looking as though she was on her last breath, crawl through the rubble of the grand entrance:

"Your friend really is a madman."

She appeared to be at her limit, but still looked at Shard with crazy eyes through her mask, her tone exceptionally frightening.

Only then did Shard notice that the woman, her left hand charred and covered in scars, was holding her severed right hand.

She pressed the severed hand with her chin, took the pebble ring from the severed hand with her left, and gently kissed it.

"Oh no!"