Chapter Thirty: The Pale Lady

Adril drew a magic circle around the ground where the lava demon lay and slit his own wrists, spilling his blood onto each of the six points of the hexagram. As Osmo's tentacle-like arms rose from the formation, even I, a staunch believer in science, could not help but waver.

The octopus-like arm reached into the scar on the lava demon's head. The shape, the writhing motion, and the squelching sound instantly reminded me of certain B-movies from the previous century.

It gave me the creeps.
It thrilled me somewhat.

The lava demon suddenly let out a roar. Several villagers collapsed from sudden heartbeats, scaring away the idle onlookers.

It sat up, shifting into a kneeling posture, facing the palace with a respectful expression. The pact was sealed; Osmo had become the master of this lava demon, which also meant that the demons of the Sharp Bone Prison would bow to Castle Osmo.

Adril said, "Please go and receive your reward."

Before we returned to Osmo, he chanted an incantation, and a black stone drifted out from his black crown—the Sealing Stone.

Sighing, he said, "We are finally able to take our first step. No words can fully express our gratitude to you."

Typhon asked, "If I am not mistaken, this place should be the origin of the demons. In other words, this is Hell. Do you truly not intend to return to the outside world?"

Osmo replied, "We cannot return. Their constitutions can no longer withstand the sunlight of the outside world. We can only attempt to survive here."

Typhon nodded. "We are the same. Perhaps we shall cooperate in the future. Having allies in a different world is always a good thing."

Osmo's face darkened, as if no good news could ever dispel his gloomy mood. "Indeed, we shall always have endless troubles. A human kingdom situated within Hell? No demon will ever look upon us with kindness."

As Typhon reached out to touch the Sealing Stone, it dissolved into smoke and recondensed in the distance. She looked at her hand, which bore the faint, bloody marks of an invisible blade. Sighing, she said, "Fishbone, it's up to you."

I summoned my shadow and took the stone into my hands. Its surface was actually quite beautiful, resembling frozen darkness.

"This is the shadow of Larsonba," Osmo said, his dreary tone suddenly turning quite excited.

Typhon asked, "How should we store this stone?"

"You may use a vessel known as an Ember Crystal," Osmo replied. A black casket drifted toward us. Typhon bowed to him once more, and I placed the Sealing Stone inside it. "Farewell, everyone," he said. "When you walk out through the street gate by which you entered, you should be able to return to your original world. If not, please use the Power of Larsonba."

We caught sight of Yugne in the distance, and they saw us as well. Yet, after walking briskly for half an hour, Yugne still seemed very far away.

Typhon said, "Longinus, try the method Osmo mentioned."

I pricked my palm, scattering black blood into the air. I saw the hidden door, and through it, we returned to Yugne's side.

Chris asked, "Was it a success?"

Only then did Typhon wear a relieved smile and reply, "There were some twists and turns, but we managed to get it."

It was nearly dawn by then, the time when the vampires retired to sleep. Typhon commanded, "Park the vehicle here and do not rush to leave." With that, she and Chris lay down in their respective coffins.

I asked Mask, "How are you and Christina getting along?"

Mask replied, "Imagine keeping a lioness in your living room, and you'll understand."

I chuckled. "You certainly have unique tastes."

To my embarrassment, Mask didn't even get the joke.

I recounted the events involving Osmo to Mask, who remarked, "Perhaps Castle Osmo is not the only one. There are likely many humans in the world who escaped the disaster in this manner. When the solar cataclysm occurred, it is said that different spatial dimensions overlapped with the real world. This not only caused demons to appear here, but also caused us to cross over there."

I said, "That makes sense, but finding these places you speak of is far too difficult. Besides, not everyone was as fortunate as Castle Osmo; over the course of more than a hundred years, demons would have been more than capable of wiping them out."

Lamia stated, "Consul Michael said we need talent and the technology of the previous century. The reconstruction of the world also requires a population base. Perhaps we should find a way to rescue the survivors trapped in different dimensions."

I gazed out at the empty wasteland and said, "We might as well all hide in a different dimension ourselves. At least we wouldn't have to worry about the sun turning us into pulp."

Lamia and I grew drowsy and fell asleep, curled up against each other. Suddenly, a bone-chilling cold jolted me awake. Lamia opened her eyes as well. I noticed the window was pitch black—had night already fallen?

Mask shouted, "It's a blizzard!"

I hurriedly yelled, "Shield the windows with the shutters, or we won't be able to clear them!"

Clock chimed, "Something is wrong! Something is wrong!" We raised our heads and looked through the skylight at the dark clouds. They hung completely still yet stirred silently, resembling the chaotic static on a television screen when it loses signal, as if billions of flies were crawling haphazardly through the clouds.

The interior of the carriage grew colder and colder. While it hadn't frozen over, the chill was profound. I looked at the windows and the interior fittings; everything seemed covered in a layer of decayed dust, as if black weeds were about to sprout. A graveyard-like, ominous aura filled the carriage.

This was no ordinary storm. A storm could not pierce Yugne's hull and enter the interior. I turned on Yugne's climate control system, setting the heating to maximum, but it was of no use. That damp, moldy feeling made me feel as though I had fallen ill.

Lamia pointed and said, "Look! It's the Sealing Stone!"

Indeed, it was the dark, bone-chilling cold emanating from the Sealing Stone. Mask said, "Yugne fears neither heat nor impacts, but it likely fears the cold. Extreme freezing temperatures will damage the reactor! We must get it out of the vehicle!"

I asked, "Then what? What do we do next? We can't just throw it away!"

Lamia found Wen Ling and said, "I'm sorry!"

Wen Ling gritted her teeth, turned around, rolled up her hair, and revealed Norris's tumor. The moment Norris's face appeared, it looked exceptionally panicked. He screamed, "It's the Shadow of Death! It's the Shadow of Death! It's the sorcery of Cappadocia!"

Lamia demanded, "Explain yourself clearly! What Cappadocia? Could that fellow Osman have deceived us?"

Norris stammered, "No, no! Someone is performing sorcery using the Sealing Stone! I never expected anyone could still pull this off!"

I asked, "Is it Ambrosia?"

Norris replied, "That possibility cannot be ruled out. During the centuries he went missing, he may have mastered this lost art."

Lamia said, "It is daytime right now."

Norris trembled and said, "It is no longer."

At that moment, he wore an expression of utter cowardice. His eyes bulged exaggeratedly, and his teeth bit into his lips. I felt that if he was going to be scared to death like this, he might as well just kick the bucket.

Following his gaze, I saw a pale bride standing upon the gray earth.

She wore a traditional white wedding dress and a white veil, her long gown dragging on the ground. The wedding dress was tattered and filthy, resembling a burial shroud far more than bridal wear. Upon her head rested a white wreath of flowers, but it was broken and canted to either side like the horns of a wild goat.

Her hands were bruised and rotting, and the only visible parts of her face—her eyes—were bloodshot. She walked slowly toward us, moving like a corpse that had long remained motionless.

The cold inside the carriage had become unbearable. I felt as though I were being embraced by a multitude of corpses, and lacking any such inclinations, my suffering was doubled. I said, "This female ghost... Let's go out and fight her head-on!"

Lamia said, "Before we get frostbite, hit her with a few divine-blade rounds!"

Suddenly, it occurred to all of us simultaneously that we could simply crush her to death with Yugne. I shouted, "Mask, ram her!"

Mask replied, "What if she's just some crazy woman?"

I yelled, "Even if she's a scam artist trying to fake an accident with our vehicle, she deserves to be run over!"

Mask argued, "There's no such logic... Scam artists have a hard enough time as it is..."

I raged, "Damn it, just because she's in the same line of work as you?!"

Furious, Mask slammed his foot down on the accelerator. I saw the pale bride launched into the air, landing heavily about fifty meters away. Yugne came to an abrupt halt in a fraction of a second, as if it had crashed into an indestructible wall.

She felt as heavy as a hundred tons.

She lay there rigidly for a full second, then snapped straight back up onto her feet in a rigid motion. Norris screamed, "Who on earth are you?! Who on earth are you?! We killed every single one of you! We even destroyed your souls!"

The pale bride's body trembled slightly as she extended her left hand, as if waiting for a husband to slide a wedding ring onto her finger. At the same time, the Sealing Stone became increasingly tormenting; I felt like a condemned prisoner being led to the execution ground. I shouted, "We have no choice but to go out and face her directly!"

Clock chimed, showing no fear of this Shadow of Death, remained inside the vehicle while the rest of us pushed open the doors. Lamia fired her weapon at the pale bride, believing the eyes to be the enemy's weak spot. However, even after bullets drilled straight into her eyes, the bride remained standing and continued walking toward us, her eyes blinking as they restored themselves instantly.

Lamia asked, "Is she a corpse?"

Norris answered, "I don't know! It's impossible for her to still be alive."

I unleashed my God-Slaying technique, sending a wave of sword energy crashing into her wedding dress. She took a step backward as black fluid stained her veil. Suddenly, countless hands shot out from the ground, grabbing my calves. I immediately cast Iron Lotus, but the ghostly hands effortlessly tore through my spiritual blade shield. I leaped upward with all my might, but those ghostly hands ripped into my flesh, leaving me bleeding profusely.

I scrambled onto the roof of Yugne, but the ghostly hands pursued me, even sprouting from Yugne's exterior surface. Lamia and Mask were likewise being driven into desperate peril by the phantom hands.

Suddenly, Christina leaped down from Yugne, unleashing dozens of streaks of golden light toward the pale bride. The pale bride summoned a layer of skeletal armor that blocked the golden light. With a sudden dash, Christina thrust her sword straight through the pale bride's abdomen. The pale bride raised her hand—her skin-and-bone arm, or rather, an arm consisting of little more than bare bone—and slashed across Christina's throat. Christina coughed up blood, but she swept her longsword upward, causing the pale bride to shriek in agony as she was nearly cleaved in two. I caught a glimpse of her face, which was little more than a skull.

Healing her own wound, Christina shouted, "Cappadocia should have been exterminated long ago!"

The pale bride began to disintegrate, turning into bone ash. Just as we thought she was dead, we heard Clock chimed shout from inside the vehicle, "Oh no!"

Like a phantom, the pale bride burst forth from Clock chimed's mouth. Seizing the box containing the Sealing Stone, she pushed open the vehicle door and fled as if riding the wind.

Appalled to find Clock chimed unconscious, I watched in dismay as Christina chased swiftly after the pale bride, only to see her open the casket, let the Sealing Stone scatter into the wind, and vanish along with the dust of the stone.