Chapter 1059: The Authority of the Moon
The red brandy-nosed man rushed to a safe within a few steps where he
then took out a radio transceiver and a codebook from a secret
compartment.
He crouched there and transcoded the incident that happened to Charlie
Raker. Then, he started to send the telegram.
Meanwhile, in the house above the Raker bookstore, a brown-skinned maid
rolled up her sleeves and poured an indigo-blue liquid on her left arm.
Her skin around the spot immediately changed colors, but under the
indigo-blue colors, there were wisps of black light extending out like
threadworms.
These black beams of light quickly manifested a strange, palm-sized
face. Its eyes were as tiny as rice grains, and its mouth was as wide as
a tea plate.
"Charlie Raker has had an accident," the maid enunciated each word while
looking at the face on her arm.
Every word she said seemed to have its own shape, forming an indigo-blue
bodied entity like her mouth and arm.
Immediately following that, the words that seemed to be written began to
intertwine as they were enveloped by smoke of the same color.
At this moment, the strange face on the maid's arm slowly opened its
mouth and sucked in the indigo-blue smoke and text.
All the abnormalities vanished, other than the patch of skin on the
maid's arm remaining an indigo-blue color.
In the darkness outside the window, a tiny, ordinary bat flapped its
wings, changing its motionless state and flying off to some unknown
location.
On another street that was less than 500 meters away from the Raker's
bookstore, in the air above a restaurant that specialized in Southern
Continent cuisine.
Tiny bats flew out from the darkness and gathered together, forming
thick smoke.
The smoke and bat appeared incorporeal and disappeared in the blink of
an eye. All that was left behind was a man wearing a tuxedo without the
corresponding hat.
This man was thin, tall, and upright. He had light-colored hair that was
nearly silver in color. His eyes were bright red like blood as though
blood was hidden within. He was none other than Sanguine Earl, Mistral.
He raised his left hand with the ghostly-blue gem ring and touched the
slightly exaggerated bow tie. He looked down at the restaurant that had
already closed and said, "Both pieces of intel eventually led here."
As soon as Mistral finished speaking, a figure appeared in front of him,
wearing a black regal dress and a bonnet. She had light blonde hair and
blue eyes, and her face was pale like a rather intricate doll.
The trees on the street below suddenly swayed gently as the light from
the gas lamps flashed.
"A Puppet." Earl Mistral nodded slightly and acknowledged Sharron's
status and level.
Sharron ignored him and looked at the second floor of the restaurant.
"There are remnants of Mother Tree of Desire worship."
"Then there's no problem." Mistral turned around in midair and nodded
towards the darkest area. "Lord Nibbs, please seal this place."
An elderly, deep sigh sounded before a pair of wings covered in
dark-colored skin and countless patterns suddenly extended out of the
darkness. It extended out, turning broader and bigger, taking two to
three seconds to envelop the entire area.
The restaurant sank into an unnatural state of darkness, as though it
had been moved out of the real world.
Mistral didn't hesitate nor did he attack directly. He took out a bronze
box embedded with many ruby gems and took out something from it.
It was a transparent glass sphere that resembled an eyeball.
Then, the Sanguine Earl, Mistral, grimaced as the glass sphere fell from
his fingers and landed downwards.
The glass sphere emitted a glint in the darkness as it constantly
changed directions and moved towards something in the air as though it
was being attracted by something.
Finally, it landed in a room on the second floor of the restaurant.
A dazzling white light exploded. It was as if a "sun" had risen in the
room, illuminating everything. It made all the corruption, decadence,
evil, undeath, and darkness rapidly melt away.
"Eh..." Mistral, who had already closed his eyes, suddenly frowned and
let out a puzzled voice.
He didn't feel any resistance from that restaurant!
Sharron, who looked down from above, leveled her gaze. Although there
wasn't much of a change in her expression, her tightly bound blonde hair
seemed to shake a little.
After the "sun" rose, it quickly "set." The bright white light shone
helplessly and silently in the darkness.
As this was an item that was targeted at evil spirits, the building in
the restaurant didn't suffer any damage. The Sanguine Earl, Mistral,
opened his eyes and looked at it for two seconds before reaching up with
his right hand and clenching it.
The darkness above the restaurant instantly came to life, transforming
into illusory chains that bound the entire roof.
Amidst the jarring sounds, the roof was forcibly uprooted and suspended
in midair.
Without this obstacle, be it Mistral or Sharron, they could clearly see
the situation in the target's room:
On a square table covered in table linen, a radio transceiver sat on it
with a transcoded telegram message beside it. In contrast, the ground
was indigo-blue and charred.
On the other side of the room, there was an old piano. The piano stools
were brown in color and seemed to have been moved moments ago.
On the piano, there was a cup of red wine. There was a small, sticky,
flesh-colored figure soaked inside.
As for the decorations and layout, it was like any normal residence. The
only difference was herbal powder and essential oil extract splattered
around.
This made Sharron, who could directly obtain information from the spirit
world, have a thought:
The person here had just left!
Before she, along with Earl Mistral and Marquis Nibbs could react, the
flesh-colored figure soaked in red wine emitted a misty glow.
The light instantly burgeoned and brightened, forming a gigantic
"crimson moon" in the room.
The crimson moon's glow dispersed the darkness of the region, making the
demigod participating in the battle feel as though they were on the
ground and looking up into the sky.
Sharron's blue eyes froze for a moment. She raised her left hand
suddenly and flipped it gently, revealing a dark red accessory in her
palm.
The accessory looked like a full moon, and there were crimson gems
embedded around it. In the center, there were symbols filled with full
moons and mysterious labels.
This was the Scarlet Lunar Corona which Sharron had obtained thanks to
Sherlock Moriarty's help. It kept emanating a tranquil halo, imbuing the
wielder with immunity to the effects of the full moon.
However, the "crimson moon" in the restaurant wasn't something that was
as simple as a full moon. It was even closer to a Blood Moon or even
stronger. An indescribable surge of spirituality came into existence,
making the area which Nibbs's gigantic wings had isolated present a
strange, deeply silent feeling. Even though Sharron wielded the Scarlet
Lunar Corona, she sensed the maleficent thoughts in her burgeon as
though an indescribable change was brewing.
She instinctively wanted to turn into an evil spirit and hide in objects
like the trees and gas lamps along the streets. However, her rationality
stopped her impulsive reaction because the crimson moon's illumination
had no blind spots.
At that moment, the Sanguine Earl, Mistral, saw his stomach bulging bit
by bit. He felt that the life pulsing in his veins was slowly condensing
as though making an attempt to take form.
As a supernatural creature that could use the power of the Moon, he
hadn't prepared to eliminate the effects of a Blood Moon. He originally
believed that he would be filled with joy in such an environment,
allowing him to freely show his prowess, but he never expected the
abnormal changes to far exceed his expectations.
He felt that if this continued, he would give birth to new life. It was
unknown where this terrifying vileness stemmed from.
The authority of the Moon included fertility and proliferation!
At the same time, from the huge bat wings that isolated the surroundings
and created darkness, white fur grew out in an extremely harrowing
manner.
Nibbs grunted softly as cracks appeared in the sealed-off area.
A few streets away, a bored Emlyn White was rubbing the blue-gem inlaid
Oath of Rose. It was at this moment, Emlyn suddenly obtained the senses
of Earl Mistral, seeing and hearing what he could.
The feelings and thoughts that belonged to Earl Mistral were transmitted
into Emlyn's mind after a long period of time. He sat up straight in
fright. His expression distorted as his stomach churned, feeling the
urge to vomit.
With the help of Creeping Hunger, Klein's actual body was hiding in the
shadows outside the restaurant, but the marionette he controlled, Qonas
Kilgor, had already hidden into the darkness created by Nibbs and used
"Distortion" to circumvent the isolation, staying within range of his
control of the Spirit Body Threads.
At that moment, under the illusory crimson moon's illumination, he was
surprised to discover that his marionette, which was intrinsically dead,
had an inclination towards reproducing!
And that new life was definitely the offspring of the Mother Tree of
Desire!
Th-this is Sanguine Ancestor Lilith as mentioned in the legends of the
City of Silver, as well as the manifestation of the Primordial Moon
which Emlyn has mentioned before... Indeed, the Mother Tree of Desire
has already grasped a portion of the Moon's authority and has corrupted
it into an especially evil state, far more than it originally was...
Klein was just about to swap locations with his marionette and enter the
region illuminated by the crimson moon and "Teleport" away with Miss
Sharron when he felt an indescribable sense of joy within him.
It was the joy of seeing a flower in his garden slowly bloom after a
long night amidst the morning fog. It was the joy from leaving the city
and heading to the suburbs, taking in fresh air in a forest after the
rain, watching mushrooms grow. It was the joy of seeing everything grow
healthily with new life descending upon the world.
The white fur on the huge bat wings fell off completely as Earl
Mistral's protruding belly shrank back. The look in Sharron's eyes, who
struggled to hold on to Scarlet Lunar Corona, seemed to relax.
Right on the heels of that, the "crimson moon" in the restaurant quickly
dimmed, as if large amounts of light had been sucked away by someone.
Finally, the "crimson moon" vanished and everything returned to normal.
Did Sanguine Duke Olmer take action? Klein nodded thoughtfully and
continued hiding in the shadows.
Mistral restrained his anger and looked down at the dining room. He said
in a low voice, "The target seems to have detected something ahead of
time..."
"It wasn't that much earlier." Combining the present situation and the
revelations obtained from the spirit world, Sharron gave her answer.
Mistral's bright red eyes revealed a strange glint as he observed for a
few seconds before saying, "It was almost at the moment we came over
when the person left---the person who left behind the glass of red wine
and the strange puppet.
"This trap doesn't look like it was prepared. It's closer to a
last-minute setup..."
Upon saying that, Mistral looked at Sharon and said, "How did they
detect danger in such a timely manner?"
Sharron's expression was calm as she replied, "It's not because of the
Mother Tree of Desire."
This evil god wasn't capable of infusing too much energy into reality,
making it difficult for "Her" to send any preemptive warnings.