When the art of pastoral care is on the path of consecration, its expression is prayer and sacrifice.
But when this mysterious skill is used with power beyond the path, it becomes a ritual—
The ritual circle was once again carved on the ground by Aiwass and Lily. But what was different from before was that this time the eight-pointed star circle did not have any names of nine pillars engraved on it, but was filled with names in different languages.
The name Aiwass and its various variations.
They prepared a glass of good wine in the middle of the night and soaked the cinnamon in it. After soaking for half an hour, they boiled it over low heat and then took out the cinnamon.
After that, Lily put in the most important element.
It was an amethyst carved into an eight-sided die by Aiwass.
Amethyst is the guardian gemstone of the Transcendent Path. Because it can balance the incongruous parts of various rituals, and the core skill of the Transcendent Path is ritual.
The ritual that was originally just a few inches away from being completed but failed due to a subtle imbalance can now take effect normally after being coordinated by the amethyst... which means the ritual's fault tolerance is increased.
The shepherding method is inherently taboo, just like letting water flow backwards and letting a flame burn forever. If amethyst is not used for balance, its ritual part will inevitably fail.
After the amethyst eight-sided die was put in, Lily allowed the wine to cool naturally. When the wine cooled to normal temperature, the ceremony could begin.
Lily was half-kneeling in front of Aiwass, while Aiwass was sitting on a chair with a backrest, and the chair was placed in the ritual circle.
He stepped on the ground with both feet, and the shadow demon spontaneously flowed into Aiwass's body. This made Aiwass' whole body pale and cold, with a faint black smoke emitting from his body. His eyes were also completely filled with black mist, and his hands were like
It's like wearing black silk gloves - the limbs and seven orifices are the parts of the devil that are most easily exposed.
"I am your shepherd, I will keep you in need."
Aiwass said softly.
He said, taking out the ceremonial knife used to feed the shadow demon before.
He cut his finger with a knife blade, and wrote his name without his surname on Lily's forehead with his bloody index finger. Lily raised her head and stared at Aiwass the whole time, as if praying for a favor.
After writing a brief name, Aiwass allowed the blood to flow downward. A little of the shadow demon's breath poured into the blood, making the dripping blood particularly thick and dark. There was even a trace of it like rotten wood.
Sour smell.
Lily lowered her head and raised the cup of ceremonial wine with both hands.
Amethyst is a symbol of Dionysus, but also represents loyalty and love. It also represents two other characteristics beyond the path - rebellion and contract.
"Here, I give you grace, hope, and bliss."
Aiwass dropped his blood into the wine, and the voice that overlapped with Shadow Demon declared: "Nothing in return."
Lily raised her head, drank the wine in one gulp, and put the eight-sided dice in the wine into her mouth.
Then, she placed the wine glass at Aiwass' feet and carefully spit out the eight-sided dice in her mouth.
If the ritual is successful, it will only display the number 8 at this time, regardless of the probability of rolling other faces.
8 means infinity and endlessness, cycle and transcendence. It is also the sacred number symbolizing the Snake Father.
Sure enough, the dice rolled in the wine glass and then lay down. The number 8 was engraved on the tilted surface, and in the eyes of Aiwass and Lily, it was lying on the ground. Therefore, it looked more like "
unlimited".
The moment the dice stopped rolling, an infinite black mark suddenly appeared under Aiwass and Lily's feet. Two rings encircled him and Lily respectively.
Aiwass's dark attribute mana flowed away crazily, and the shadow demon instantly overflowed from Aiwass, flowed to Lily, and then flowed back again.
After about a few seconds, as Aiwass's mana bottomed out, the amount of black mist hanging around the two men became even.
And Aiwass clearly felt that there was another person at the end of his contract with Shadow Demon - the relationship between Lily and Shadow Demon became extremely close, as if they were half of each other. Lily's authority was with Shadow Demon, and Shadow Demon
The authority of the devil lies within oneself.
——It’s like purchasing the “family version” of Shadow Demon and then sharing its child version rights with Lily.
"The ceremony was a success."
Aiwass replied happily.
"About half of the power was taken away."
Without waiting for Aiwass to ask, Shadow Demon returned to Chloe's voice and whispered: "But if you give me a little more, you can slowly replenish it..."
"Where's Lily?"
Aiwass asked his maid.
Lily lowered her head, feeling the extra shadowy aura in her body. Like ink falling into water, she became blurry for an instant and dissipated in the material world. Then it condensed back in an instant like time went back.
She raised her head, her tone full of joy: "My relationship with the shadows has suddenly become so close! I feel like I can sneak into the shadows now!"
"of course."
Shadow Demon's voice became a little harsh for some reason: "You are now half Shadow Demon, but all the skills possessed by Shadow Demon need to be practiced from scratch. But if you can fully exert your power, you will be like
He is a shadow demon who has obtained a material body...Don't let down the gift from the master."
In fact, the Shadow Demon was also surprised by the mystery of this shepherding method. But in front of Aiwass and Lily, it didn't want to show too much fuss. Therefore, although it was surprised, it acted as if it was natural.
After the ceremony was established, there was a mysterious and strong connection between Shadow Demon and Lily.
It originally thought that Aiwass only took away part of its power, and it would need to find it to replenish it after Lily used it up. But in fact, this is not the case - a more appropriate metaphor is that it consumed half of its power to give
Lily has added a racial talent.
In a sense, there is a kind of kinship between them - a connection that is closer than the possession of a demon.
...just like a mother.
Lily vaguely had such a feeling, and the shadow demon who was a little afraid before now became intimate with him.
She could even vaguely sense Shadow Demon's thoughts and ideas.
For example, right now, Shadow Demon is a little confused about the power of pastoral care.
So Lily said to Shadow Demon thoughtfully: "I feel as if I can also bear your existence..."
Lily said, then gently pressed a finger on Aiwass's shadow.
Immediately afterwards, the shadow demon flowed from the shadow cast by that finger into Lily's shadow, hiding safely. It was even more stable than in Aiwass's shadow - at least it didn't have the kind of Aiwass's shadow that was motionless and trembling.
A non-stop situation.
"Is it really okay?"
Aiwass was a little surprised.
"It can't be too far, and it can't be too long."
Shadow Demon's voice came from under Lily: "And I feel that when I am here with Lily, I don't seem to be able to exert my full strength..."
"We can do an experiment first. You go out with Lily and see how far it can go and how much power it can exert."
Aiwass said and stood up from the chair: "I will pack the things in the house first. If you see Oswald, you can also tell him the good news about Yulia's recovery."
At this moment, his shadow finally stopped shaking. He seemed to have returned to a normal person.
Lily nodded and left with Shadow Demon silently.
After Shadow Demon left, Aiwass sighed in a low voice: "I finally feel the touch of the cashmere carpet again..."
This is the first time Aiwass has stood and walked normally since he recovered his memories of his previous life.
When he usually stands and walks, no matter what ground he walks on, he will feel that he is stepping on some kind of elastic and soft ground. In fact, that is the body of Shadow Demon.
Shadow Demon feels like slightly soft rubber when stepped on.
The advantage is that Aiwass can run normally on uneven roads - maybe even in swamps or sand. The disadvantage is that it is really uncomfortable to step on.
It's even slightly sticky to the feet... like half a bottle of Coke spilled on the rubber floor.
That's because Aiwass is wearing cloth shoes used by priests instead of leather shoes or boots. At least they won't be too clingy.
Aiwass sighed a few words and began to clean up the ceremony skillfully.
This night he has cleaned up the ceremony room three times in a row...Aiwass is even thinking now, how about getting a room that no one goes to, such as the basement, and transforming it directly into a ceremony room? Of course, his bedroom will definitely not work, that way
The smell is too great.
Now Aiwass can vaguely smell the bloody smell like killing chickens. He doesn't even know where the smell comes from, because this room has been exposed to too many bloods in one night. There may even be blood on the floor.
They were all soaked in blood.
If a spray of luminol reagent were used, Aiwass's bedroom would probably be lit up like a slaughterhouse.
When the shadow demon comes back, let it wander on the ground and corrode the blood.
...It just feels like letting a puppy deal with fallen food scraps.
In order not to wake up Yulia, Aiwass moved very gently. He quickly cleaned up the ceremony place, and a shadow quickly flowed across the ground and submerged into his own shadow.
After a while, Lily also came back to report.
"It should be as far as Master Edward's room. If it is further away, it will automatically go back. However, when Miss Shadow Demon is here, she can only spread five or six steps outward."
A mother-to-child router, right? Aiwass complained in his mind.
Besides, why is she a young lady?
Is it because of Chloe's voice that the Shadow Demon, who has no fixed shape or gender, was identified as a woman?
Forget it, it doesn't matter. Aiwass didn't bother to correct Lily.
"If we can get to Edward...that means the radius is about fifty meters, and Lily's five or six steps is only about three meters..."
Aiwass muttered in a low voice.
With a radius of three meters, the Shadow Demon can actually play a protective role at most and cannot exert much destructive power. But on the other hand, this characteristic can also be used to let the Shadow Demon follow Lily to explore the outside.
Because without the "Field Card: Shadow Vault", the Shadow Demon will be restrained.
It can only appear in the shadow of Aiwass itself, and the attached shadow is inaccessible. Otherwise, if it is at night, it can go anywhere.
For example, when Aiwass is standing under a corner, the shadow demon cannot move from the shadow cast by the corner; when Aiwass is with other people, it cannot enter other people's shadows.
That's why Shadow Demon spreads the shadow field like a carpet of germs to directly expand the size of Aiwass's shadow.
But now Lily can also be used as a temporary carrier for Shadow Demon.
If there is a three-meter radius, basically Lily can use the skills that Aiwass used in the previous ritual.
In a sense, this is equivalent to increasing Lily's offensive capabilities in disguise!
And Aiwass also realized that this has the biggest advantage——
"Let Lily raise her hand."
Aiwass said to Shadow Demon in his heart.
He wanted to do an experiment.
Sure enough, after about two seconds, Lily raised her hand inexplicably.
Aiwas's eyes lit up, it was really good!
If Shadow Demon can be regarded as his contractor, and Lily can be regarded as Shadow Demon's contractor... then Aiwass can now use Shadow Demon as a transfer station to issue precise orders to Lily remotely without even opening his mouth!
From the appearance, this is like slightly delayed telepathy. Or...
This is the squad voice!
Thanks to the leader with black eyes for feeding me~Thank you boss~