Alphonse hugged the Viscountess and stood behind the two of them with Bell. Yuffie turned back and looked at the Viscountess with some worry. The woman looked at Kent seriously, with no intention of flinching in her eyes.
"So, where is the Viscount?" Lily glared at the wizard and asked coldly.
The wizard looked behind him and spread his hands.
Lily took the giant sword from Bell and took the lead towards the end of the corridor. Yuffie walked quietly behind the female mercenary. The Viscountess tapped Al's arm and asked the machine man to follow Yuffie.
"Follow me!" Bell threw away the stick, pulled out a scimitar and placed it in front of the wizard's neck. He slapped his shoulder hard with his other hand, causing him to stumble. "My hands don't know how heavy they are!
So don’t move!"
At the end of the corridor is a spacious cave, which is also made of granite and mortar. It was obviously expanded into this shape deliberately. The further inside, the smell of blood in the air becomes stronger, and it even overwhelms the smell of corruption in the underground waterways.
Torn clothes and pieces of cloth were randomly discarded in the cave, but no corpses or bones were left. Yuffie thought of the human bones found inside the gelatinous monster before, and could probably guess where those bones came from.
Then, they saw Viscount Campbell - located at the end of the cave.
The Viscount was sitting cross-legged on the rocky ground. Under his body was a magic circle carved from marble with a diameter of more than three meters. Uncoagulated blood was slowly flowing along the grooves of the magic circle, exuding a dim atmosphere.
The light reflected the cave in a dark red. He was naked and had runes drawn with blood on his chest - Yuffie recognized that they were spell marks related to 'transfer'.
The body of a young male was placed in a sitting posture, with his back and the Viscount close together. All his clothes had been removed, and the breath of life had long been lost. His exposed skin was an abnormal bluish-white color.
Blood still gushes out from the wound on his thigh and pours into the magic circle below.
Lily let out a short exclamation.
"What on earth have you done!" She stepped forward quickly, grabbed Viscount Campbell's neck, and pulled him up from the ground. "Your mind has been filled with gelatinous monsters for this evil ritual.
Alright!?"
The Viscount slowly opened his eyes, and a hoarse gurgling sound came from his throat.
"Calm down." Yuffie held down Lily's arm to prevent the female mercenary from strangling the Viscount to death. She turned around and stared at the wizard with cold eyes. "This is indeed not a ceremony worth admiring, and the Viscount does not need it.
Get sympathy. But the initiator of this spell should be you, Kent."
The wizard turned his head, knowing that he had no room to defend himself, "Yes, it's me."
"Transfer the victim's vitality into the subject's body to maintain his rapidly draining life -" Yuffie's voice was filled with vague dissatisfaction, "This is not yet a perfect technique of immortality, another form of 'possession'
How to use it. Wizards have developed many things like this, but they all have huge flaws."
She took a step forward, her eyes filled with blame for those who were fellow wizards but had chosen the wrong path, "Do you regard Lord Viscount and those who died as experimental subjects for your study of magic?"
"But they - they have already committed a crime that must be paid with their lives!" The wizard raised his head to avoid being scratched by the sharp scimitar on his neck, and argued in a hissing voice, "I did do it to perfect this spell, but I also continued it.
Lord Viscount’s life! Wait until I complete this spell——”
"That's not possible." Yuffie interrupted the wizard coldly, "Your path was wrong from the beginning. Taking other people's lives by force cannot bring about real salvation." The girl sighed, "
What is taken away by the spell is not only the body, but also part of the soul. The victims cannot return to the country they were supposed to reach, nor can they be reincarnated again. They can only turn into resentful spirits, cursing the existence that took their lives."
The wizard struggled twice and seemed to want to say something, but another hoarse but calm voice stopped him.
"Okay, Kent. Don't say any more." Viscount Campbell seemed to have woken up. Lily loosened her grip on him, but still stared at him cautiously.
"Both you and I are at fault in this matter." He said slowly, "You ignore life, but I am greedy for life that I don't deserve. What happened to Anne was my fault and my punishment."
"Wait a minute!" Lily turned her head and glared at the Viscount, "So, did you curse Madam?"
"Yes, but no." It was Yuffie who answered the female mercenary. She looked at the viscount, a complicated expression flashed across her face, "The resentful spirits should have made you the target of the curse, but that is obviously not in line with you and
Kent’s purpose. So, he taught you a simple method—that’s it.”
The Viscount sighed heavily, closed his eyes and nodded.
"You're not a wizard, so you can't cast a real spell." Yuffie's eyes showed a trace of sadness, "What you can do is to use a method like 'empathy' to let those resentful spirits curse a person...
…the object of your love.”
"That's right..." The Viscount seemed to have aged dozens of years all of a sudden. He almost used up all his strength to say these words, "But I didn't want to transfer the curse to Anne... My original plan was,
I am looking for a maid that I have seen before, but...just...that time..."
"That time, you just came back from a long journey, with your face full of sadness and exhaustion." The Viscountess looked at him tenderly and helped him finish the rest of his words, "In order to give you a surprise, I hid secretly, and then suddenly hugged you
You, I gave you a kiss after a long separation."
The Viscount slowly squatted down, covered his face with his hands, and let out a dull sob.
"So it's not you who put a curse on me." The Viscountess still smiled, but something crystal clear slowly slipped from her cheek, "The person who put the curse on me was myself."
"But that's okay. If there is one person who needs to share this sin, it can only be me." She closed her eyes and continued softly, "Julian, if you really cursed Cindy - or anyone else.
, I will not be able to forgive you."
"I... I knew at that time that I had made a big mistake, but it was irreversible..." The Viscount gasped, "Since then, every time I accept this ritual, the resentful spirit will be transferred to Anne.
, I can't change this..." He tried to stand up, "Unless I choose to give up, but every time I think about it, I will never see Anne again, and I can't make up my mind -"
"Maybe that's just an excuse. Maybe I'm just a greedy person who is afraid of death." The Viscount took two steps forward and wanted to reach out to touch his wife, but he still dared not cross the tens of centimeters of distance. "
I'm sorry, Annie... I'm sorry for making you suffer... I'm sorry..."
The woman didn't say anything more. She patted Alphonse's arm gently, and the agent took a knowing step forward and brought her to her husband.
She raised her hand, held the man's old and tired cheek, then raised her head, and pressed her lips gently against the other's lips.
Everyone shut their mouths, and Bell, who was usually the noisiest, also fell silent. The wizard Kent looked at his employer, with a look of regret flashing across his face for the first time.
Time has only passed for a short while, or perhaps in the minds of those two people, a whole lifetime has passed. Viscount Campbell let go of his wife, turned around, and walked to Yuffie.
"It's time to let this matter end." His voice was still hoarse, but strangely calm, "Please, Yuffie."
The girl nodded silently. She took a few steps back and stretched out her right hand towards Viscount Ping.
"The souls entangled in Madam's body will be purified together with you and return to the place where they belong." She bit her lower lip gently, "It will hurt a little, please bear with it, Lord Viscount."
The Viscount took a deep breath and drew a circle with his right hand on his chest - this was the prayer method of those who believed in Saint Leonos. He looked at Yuffie and signaled to the girl that he was ready.
Yuffie recited a prayer mantra, calling for the power from the Lord of Light. The holy white flame was ignited from the void and licked the Viscount's body. Viscount Campbell knelt down and let out a hoarse moan from his throat, but he still endured it.
Didn't shout out.
The holy flames became more intense and engulfed him whole. The Viscount opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but no sound came out. He raised his right hand and tremblingly reached for his wife.
The flames rolled around the arm, turning it into a pillar of holy white fire. The hot holy flames evaporated the blood in the magic circle, and also drove away the cold bloody smell that filled the air. Then, with Lai
As always, the flame slowly disappeared into nothingness.
Yuffie looked at the center of the circle. Viscount Campbell was no longer there, leaving only a pinch of white dust, slightly emitting fluorescence. Then the fluorescence dimmed, and the cave returned to darkness.
This should be the end of everything. Yuffie took a breath slowly, feeling a little depressed. She looked at Lily and found that the female mercenary's expression was also a little complicated. Bell was still holding the wizard's shoulder, but the wizard
It seemed that he had lost the will to resist. Alphonse's eyes flickered, wondering what he was thinking.
Mrs. Campbell leaned against the rock wall, struggling to stand, and gave her an encouraging smile.
"Let's go back." Finally, she said, "Go and have a good sleep."