"So, you are saying, let me hold this broken umbrella and firmly believe that it can expel the curse in my body?"
Constantine looked at Schiller's old umbrella on the table, then looked up at Schiller and said, "Even if you are not satisfied with the story I told you, you don't have to treat me as a fool, right?"
"I'm not dissatisfied with the story you think of." Schiller shook his head and said, "Although it's not very exciting, it's better than nothing."
Schiller was telling the truth, and that day, Constantine revealed his entire plan to Batman and Schiller.
Unsurprisingly, there was one part of the previous version of the story where he still didn't tell the truth, and that was the part about Mrs. Sanchez.
"The magic circle in Cooper's room was indeed used by the ghost mother to sacrifice the child's soul, but we played a trick and tricked the devil."
"Not only were Cooper and I present, but also Laurenna. At that time, she was already pregnant with a child in her belly. She drew a magic circle to sacrifice the child's soul to the devil, and then activated it.
It uses the child in its belly as bait to attract the devil."
"When the devil came here, Laurenna and I proposed that he pay the bill first before we could offer sacrifices. In transactions with devils, this method is actually very common. Some devils will even give away their power first.
I'll give it to you and collect the bill later..."
"The demon agreed, and the condition we put forward was that he kill Cooper and eat his soul. In an instant, the power of the demon caused Cooper's corpse to cover the entire room, but this
What the devil doesn't know is that I also drew another magic circle, and the object of sacrifice was Cooper."
"The demon attracted by my other magic circle saw that his sacrifice was killed by other demons, so the two of them started fighting. In the end, the demon attracted by the ghost mother was defeated by me.
The demon that was attracted was killed and turned into a pile of ashes."
Schiller and Batman looked at each other and thought of the pile of ashes they saw in the middle of the magic circle.
"The demon who was attracted to me didn't give me any power, nor did he get any sacrifices. The deal didn't start at all, so he cursed me and went back to hell."
"Then why did Cooper's body lose one-third of its mass?"
"Then I used it as a clone. The Ash-End clone was not made by the devil for me, but by myself. However, making this thing requires some... materials, so I used local materials..."
"Okay, what happens after that? Why did Mrs. Sanchez turn into a demon?"
"That's because we had a little disagreement afterwards." Constantine sighed and said: "I said before that Laurenna really wanted to leave the Dark Sacrifice and leave Gotham, but she was not willing to leave the house.
.”
"Before, she had completed transactions with many children using candy and controlled their souls. She wanted to sacrifice all these souls to the devil in one go, exchange these souls for power, and then leave Gotham with these powers.
"
"This is a common thing among black magicians. Because of an accident, I became a vicious black magician in their eyes. Therefore, Laurenna did not shy away from me when discussing this matter with her lover.
,I heard all their plans.”…
"For this reason, I fell out with them, but it is indeed my credit that Laurenna turned into a devil."
"As you saw before, we played two tricks in the room, and his lover was half a bottle of water. Before I could really do anything, he was scorched."
"Laurena knew that she was no match for me, so she wanted to run towards the altar. She went to the altar to sacrifice the souls of those children in exchange for more powerful power."
"I have said before that I have many acquaintances in hell. While Laurenna was running to the altar, I drew a new magic circle and summoned a demon. I asked him to be the first to respond.
Lenna’s summons, and injected the demonic power into her body, turning her into a half-demon..."
"So, when Laurenna activated the altar, the first person to respond to her was the devil who had made a deal with me. And the price I offered was obviously much higher than Laurenna's, so the devil completed it first.
My deal turned Laurenna into a demon, and you all know what happened next..."
"What price did you offer?" Batman asked.
"It's very simple. I promise that after my death, he will get my soul. You also know that I was almost dead due to the curse of my biological brother. The devil also saw this, and he couldn't wait to get it."
He got my soul, so he went to fulfill my request without stopping."
Schiller shook his head and said: "Is that devil from out of town? Don't you know your bad record of selling more goods?"
"He knows, but he sees that I am about to die. He is blocking him from being the last devil to complete the deal with me. This way, he will be more reasonable when fighting for my soul."
"So, you are still a good person and saved all the children in Gotham?" Schiller asked Constantine, but Constantine shook his head and said, "I'm not that noble, but I know Laurenna's plan.
It won't work."
"That mysterious dark priest can't possibly let her take away the souls of all the children. If that happens, Gotham will be finished. They won't allow it."
"Dark Owl Priest..." Batman muttered the name.
"Dark Owl Priest?" Constantine looked at the broken umbrella on the table and asked with confusion: "You mean, the priests made this umbrella?"
"As far as I know, those rich people in the Court of Owls definitely don't have the ability to make this kind of umbrella. We have verified before that a special metal is added to the umbrella, which can withstand Gotham's special rain.
Has special resistance to magic."
Constantine hesitantly picked up the umbrella. He stroked the metal on it and felt some unusual power, but he still said: "But even so, it shouldn't have the effect of removing the curse...
"
"How powerful a weapon is depends mainly on who uses it."
Schiller took out a new umbrella from under the table. He moved his hand down from the handle of the umbrella and grabbed the umbrella body. Before Constantine had time to put down the broken umbrella, he saw Schiller's movements.
Suddenly he had a bad feeling and said, "Hey, wait a minute!"
With a "bang", Constantine was knocked to the ground again by Schiller...
If this action is slowed down many times, the moment the umbrella handle touches Constantine's chin, an imperceptible wisp of gray mist enters Constantine's body.
This thin gray mist explored Constantine's body and soul almost instantly, and then, in a corner, a black curse in the shape of a fetus was wrapped.
Just when the gray mist enveloped the curse, the curse began to resist fiercely, but the metallic luster of the umbrella held in Constantine's hand flickered, and the black curse paused for a moment.
At this moment, Schiller's umbrella hit Constantine's chin. The metallic luster on the new umbrella was stronger. With a "bang", the gray mist and the curse were ejected from Constantine's body.
Schiller's figure disappeared instantly and appeared behind Constantine. Then he pinched the gray mist wrapped in the curse with his hand. More gray mist poured out from his hand, layer after layer.
The wrapped curse.
Then, when Constantine fell to the ground, he looked up and saw Schiller squatting down, holding a gray ball and shaking it above his head.
Constantine turned over, then got up from the ground, rubbed his chin, and looked at the gray sphere in Schiller's hand. Schiller asked him: "What are you going to do with it?"
Constantine shook his head and said: "This is not an ordinary curse. As long as I come into contact with it, it will be like a gangrene attached to the bone..."
"Theoretically, nothing I can get can trap it, otherwise I would have gotten it out long ago, but..."
Constantine turned his head and looked at Schiller's umbrella. He said: "Since the metal in this umbrella can repel it, it means that this metal can affect it. Therefore, maybe this umbrella can
It can be a container to contain it."
"Really?" Schiller also turned around and looked back at his umbrella. He removed the umbrella's handle to reveal the hollow metal tube inside, and then squeezed the gray ball in his other hand smaller and smaller, like
Like magic, the little ball was stuffed into the umbrella tube.
After fixing the umbrella handle, wisps of gray mist dispersed from the umbrella tube. The gray mist returned to Schiller's body, and the cursed fetus was left in the umbrella tube made of special metal.
Schiller looked at his umbrella and found that its appearance had not changed at all. The cursed fetus seemed to be trapped in the umbrella and did not provide any benefit to the umbrella.
But suddenly, Schiller seemed to have thought of something. He slipped his hand from the handle of the umbrella, grabbed the middle part of the umbrella, then turned around and stared at Constantine maliciously.
Constantine stretched out his hand and said: "Wait, what do you want to do? Don't come here!!"
This time Constantine was on guard. He waved his hand, and a black book appeared in his hand. Then an invisible layer of ground spread out, and a transparent magic shield protected his whole body.
Schiller waved his umbrella without thinking, lifted it up, and with a "bang", Constantine flew to the wall, and the magic shield was scattered all over the ground like broken ice flakes...
Schiller retracted his hand with satisfaction, even touched the umbrella with his hand and said, "You will be a good brother."
Constantine got up from the ground, coughed twice, and said, "What's going on? What happened to my magic shield..."
"Didn't I say it before? The metal used in this umbrella has a restraining effect on magic. Of course, this should only be part of the reason. More importantly, your brother seems to be very dissatisfied with you..."
"Damn brother, he wasn't even born!"
"Then he is also your brother." Schiller knocked the umbrella twice in his hand and said, "Although it has become my umbrella spirit now, maybe one day it will grow up and then...
I can beat you with my own hands."
"You know? Constantine, originally, I had no interest in mysticism..." Schiller walked behind the table and sat down. He said, "The abilities I have that look like magic are not.
The source of magic is different from yours."
"I have no intention of studying how to trade with the devil in exchange for powerful power. I have no interest in those magic circles, spells, or magic items. But now, I have a subject that interests me. Guess what it is?"
Constantine had a bad premonition, and he cast his gaze on Schiller's umbrella. He heard Schiller say: "
"This topic is, how to raise a curse... or in other words, my new umbrella?"
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
All conspiracies turn under the umbrella of Professor...