South Tivian, Bishop’s Square.
On New Year’s Eve, Bishop’s Square was thrown into chaos due to a sudden incident. Fortunately, thanks to the timely response of the authorities under Adèle’s influence, the chaos was quickly contained and did not escalate further.
The ordinary citizens in Bishop’s Square had all been evacuated, and the injured were sent to emergency medical stations for treatment. The ordinary guards who had been stationed on the periphery rushed into Blue Weave Street No. 1 in a panic. Upon seeing the dead duke and the princess receiving treatment, they were shocked and horrified. The bloody and chaotic scene left everyone stunned.
Facing these ordinary guards, Vania, the nun from the church, immediately instructed them to check the vital signs of everyone on the scene and report the locations of the severely injured. The guards quickly complied.
Since the duke and princess’s extraordinary guards and high-level bodyguards had almost all been wiped out, Vania, a Black Earth-rank Beyonder and the head of the emergency medical station, had now become the highest-ranking official on the scene. Under Dorothy’s suggestion, Vania coordinated all the remaining official forces to maintain order and treat the injured while urgently contacting the Serenity Bureau and the church to report the situation. Soon, reinforcements from both sides would arrive to take over this extremely serious assassination case.
The front page of Tivian’s—and indeed all of Pritt’s—New Year’s newspapers was already shaping up to be a dramatic one.
While the official forces in Bishop’s Square were busy under Vania’s direction, on the outskirts of the square, in a small alley across from Blue Weave Street, Brandon, one of Dorothy’s corpse marionettes, was gathered with Kapak and Nephthys. They were attempting to summon the recently deceased soul of Duke Barrett.
In the wake of Duke Barrett’s mysterious assassination, Dorothy planned to use a spirit-summoning ritual to call forth Barrett’s soul and question him directly. However, due to a lack of sufficient mediums, the ritual could not be performed. In this situation, Kapak decided to consult his teacher.
In the dimly lit alley, Kapak took out the pipe his teacher had given him before he left. After lighting it with a match, he took a deep puff and exhaled a cloud of smoke. The white smoke dispersed in the air before coalescing into the head of an old man wearing a feathered headdress, his features blurred. The smoke-formed old man glanced around before looking at Kapak.
"Kapak, how are Sado and the others doing now?"Using the Spirit Glyph Language, Uta, the smoke-formed figure, asked Kapak with a hint of anxiety in his voice. During the critical moment of the rooftop negotiation, his smoke avatar had been dispersed, so he had no idea how the negotiation had turned out.
To wait for Kapak’s report, Uta had been sitting alone by the campfire in his tent, waiting for Kapak to contact him. As soon as the connection was established, he immediately asked about the outcome of the negotiation.
"Don’t worry, Teacher Uta. I’ve resolved the situation with Sado. Everyone except Sado has heeded the advice and chosen to lay down their weapons and return with me."
Kapak responded to Uta. Hearing this, Uta’s expression relaxed, and he sighed in relief.
"It’s good that the negotiation succeeded. It’s good... The situation has finally been salvaged... By the way, you said Sado didn’t listen. How is he now? Is he still alive?"
"Yes, he’s still alive. Since Sado wasn’t cooperative, I had to use some... forceful measures." Kapak continued to explain to Uta, who nodded in understanding before speaking slowly.
"Well... It’s good that no one died. Kapak, since the matter over there is settled, come back quickly. With so many people there, who knows what might happen if you stay too long."
"Yes, Teacher. I’ll bring everyone back as soon as possible..."
Kapak said, then glanced at Brandon and Nephthys before continuing.
"By the way, Teacher Uta... I owe a lot to the help of my friends here. Thanks to them, I was able to find Sado and the others so quickly and persuade them to return. But now, my friends are facing a bit of trouble. They want to perform a spirit-summoning ritual, but they only know the name of the spirit. In this situation, is it possible to summon the spirit?"
Kapak continued to explain to Uta, who glanced at Brandon and Nephthys when he heard the word "friends." His expression revealed a hint of scrutiny, as he understood that Kapak’s "friends" referred to the other followers of Aka in Tivian.
"Only the name as a medium? Hmm... What about physical mediums?"
Uta stroked his beard and asked Kapak, who quickly responded.
"In terms of physical mediums, we have the freshly spilled blood of the spirit to be summoned. It’s a high-quality medium, Teacher."
Kapak replied respectfully. After hearing this, Uta pondered for a moment before speaking slowly.
"Freshly spilled blood... That’s a good physical medium. But if the only information medium is the name, it’s still too thin. However, it’s not impossible to summon the spirit. If the ritual performer’s own abilities are strong enough, it can still be done.”
Uta explained, and upon hearing this, Kapak’s eyes lit up.
"If the ritual performer’s abilities are strong enough, can they summon the spirit even with just the name as a medium? Then, Teacher Uta, how are my abilities?"
Kapak patted his chest and asked Uta, who gave him a dismissive look.
"You’re just an Apprentice, not even a full-fledged shaman. How could you have that kind of ability? Even a full-fledged shaman couldn’t perform a spirit-summoning ritual with such a lack of mediums. If it were me, I could give it a try.”
"Shamans are naturally the most attuned to the path of communicating with spirits. For us shamans, spirit-summoning and spirit communication are not just rituals—they are powers granted by the path itself. Our ability to communicate with spirits is inherently stronger than other spirit controllers. As a Great Shaman, I can compensate for the lack of mediums."
Uta explained. Through Brandon, Dorothy listened to his words and quickly deduced that a spirit-summoning ritual with insufficient mediums was likely beyond the capabilities of an Apprentice or even a Black Earth-rank "Silence" Beyonder. At least a White Ash-rank Beyonder would be needed. Uta, Kapak’s teacher, was at least a White Ash-rank Beyonder.
"It takes a shaman like you, Teacher Uta, to do this... Is it really that difficult?"
Kapak asked in astonishment. If a spirit-summoning ritual with insufficient mediums required a shaman of Uta’s caliber, then it was completely out of reach for them at the moment.
"Master Uta, is there any other way to perform a spirit-summoning ritual with insufficient mediums? We probably won’t be able to find a Great Shaman like you anytime soon."
Frowning, Dorothy controlled Brandon to speak to Uta in the Spirit Glyph Language. Both Uta and Kapak were momentarily surprised by Brandon’s fluent Spirit Glyph Language. After giving Brandon a scrutinizing look, Uta continued.
"I’m afraid not, Kapak’s friend. Without a powerful spirit communicator, having complete physical and information mediums is essential. You helped Black Hoof break free from his restraints and now helped the tribe bring back the lost ones. As a token of gratitude, I would like to help you with the spirit-summoning, but unfortunately, my true self is separated from you by a vast ocean. Even if I wanted to help, I wouldn’t be able to.”
"If you truly wish to summon that spirit, you can have Kapak bring the physical medium back with him when he returns. I will try to perform the ritual for you."
Uta, formed of smoke, spoke solemnly to Brandon. Upon hearing this, Dorothy felt a wave of frustration.
“Bringing the physical medium to him for the ritual... It would take at least ten days to sail from Tivian to the New World, and Kapak would need another three to five days to return to the tribe from the port. That’s almost half a month. By then, Barrett’s soul would have long returned to the Great Soul.”
Dorothy thought to herself. The Serenity Bureau would undoubtedly use spirit-summoning methods to investigate Barrett’s case. They had more comprehensive information about Barrett’s mediums than she did, so they would likely succeed in summoning his spirit. Once they did, it would be uncertain whether she could still summon him.
Sitting by the street in the darkness, Dorothy stroked her chin and pondered. She was thinking about how to summon Barrett’s spirit before the Serenity Bureau could.
As she thought, Dorothy also had Brandon scan the alley. After a while, she had an idea and controlled Brandon to ask Uta another question.
"By the way, Master Uta, may I ask what state you are currently in? I believe I heard you mention earlier that the smoke avatar you are using now is a fragment of your soul? Is this pipe a vessel for part of your soul?"
"Haha, you are correct. What stands before you is indeed a fragment of my soul connected to my main body. Due to my special status, I cannot freely follow Kapak to your side. To persuade Sado and the others, I gave Kapak a spirit vessel I had crafted long ago—this pipe.”
"This spirit vessel was created using a shamanic secret technique. This technique transforms an object I am deeply familiar with into a part of my body, then separates a fragment of my soul and turns it into a spirit, which is then housed within the object. This allows me to have a spirit avatar that I can control. Great Shamans often send such spirit avatars to gatherings and meetings. To personally speak with Sado and the others, I gave the spirit vessel to Kapak. Otherwise, Kapak alone would not have been able to persuade them."
The smoke-formed Uta explained to Brandon. Upon hearing that Uta’s current form was indeed a fragment of his soul connected to his main body, Dorothy felt a surge of excitement. She then had Brandon continue speaking.
"Then, Master Uta, can this fragment of your soul possess someone else’s body?"
"Possession? Hmm... The fragment of my soul attached to this pipe is only a small portion. As a fragment, it cannot possess and control someone else’s body like a complete soul can. This spirit avatar was not created for the purpose of possession."
Uta thought for a moment before responding to Brandon. Dorothy then had Brandon continue.
"No, I don’t need you to actively control anyone. All I need is for you to be able to possess someone’s body."
"Just being able to possess someone’s body... Hmm... If it’s not for too long, that should be possible. But what’s the point of just possessing someone? This fragment of my soul cannot grant the host the ability to perform a spirit-summoning ritual."
Uta spoke with a puzzled expression, while Brandon, under Dorothy’s control, smiled and replied.
"Of course, there’s a point. You may not be aware, but on our side, there is a type of Beyonder known as a Soulbinder."
Brandon said, then turned to look at Nephthys, who was standing nearby with a confused expression.
…
At this moment, Nephthys was utterly bewildered. In her eyes, ever since Kapak used the pipe to summon the strange old man’s spirit, she had been in a state of complete confusion. The reason was simple: she couldn’t understand a single word of the conversation between Kapak and the old man’s spirit.
To Nephthys, Kapak and the smoke-formed spirit had been speaking in an incomprehensible language from the very beginning. Then, out of nowhere, Brandon joined in, and the three of them began chattering away in a foreign language. Nephthys couldn’t get a word in and could only stand there, watching the three of them converse in a language she didn’t understand.
At some point, the three of them started glancing at her while they spoke, occasionally pointing in her direction. It seemed as though Brandon was introducing her to the old man’s spirit, who then looked at her with curiosity.
This scene made Nephthys feel uneasy. If it weren’t for her trust in Dorothy, she might have thought the three of them were plotting to sell her off.
Fortunately, that didn’t happen. Nephthys watched as the three of them exchanged a few more words in the unfamiliar language before the smoke-formed spirit nodded and dissipated. Brandon then took the pipe from Kapak and walked over to her.
"Miss Thief, please allow the fragment of the soul residing in this pipe to possess you. Then, using your body, we can harness his abilities to perform the spirit-summoning ritual."
With that, Brandon handed the pipe to Nephthys, who stared at it in shock.
"Huh…”
…
Finally, after some preparation, the experimental spirit-summoning ritual was about to begin.
In the small alley across from Blue Weave Street, under the dim light, a Silence ritual array drawn with black coal dust lay on the ground. In the center of the array were a broken pen and a blood-stained cloth. Nephthys, dressed in a black coat, sat cross-legged in front of the array, her eyes closed in meditation. In her hands, she held the small pipe.
Brandon and Kapak stood nearby, watching Nephthys. After a short wait, Nephthys slowly opened her eyes.
The moment her eyes opened, Nephthys’s entire demeanor changed drastically. Her pupils became cloudy, and her expression grew calm and weathered, as if she had aged decades in an instant. Her gaze, now filled with weariness and wisdom, made her seem much more mature.
When Kapak met Nephthys’s gaze, he couldn’t help but take a step back. The way she looked at him reminded him of Uta.
“A Soulbinder... A Silence Beyonder who can accommodate spirits and harmonize with them to unleash greater power? It seems that people in this world are also finding different ways to adapt to the power of spirits…”
Kapak thought to himself. Meanwhile, Nephthys, now possessed by Uta’s soul fragment, began the spirit-summoning ritual. She raised her hands and began to chant in the Spirit Glyph Language, a language she had never learned.
"Barrett Despenser, spirit wandering the path of shadows, I call upon you..."
In front of the ritual array, Nephthys began to chant in an ethereal voice, reciting ancient incantations to summon Barrett’s spirit. However, after a short while, she frowned and stopped the chant.
Seeing this, Dorothy prepared to have Brandon ask what was wrong, but Nephthys spoke first in a serious tone.
"I can sense the spirit, but it is being pulled by another force besides me. It seems... someone else is also trying to summon this spirit."