"Do you need any help during the ritual? I saw a dozen wild goats tied outside." Claude asked while maintaining some distance from the ritual circle.
"Yes, uncle. Bring those Goats along with your squad members. We will start the ritual ceremony in a few minutes." Abium said calmly and shifted his gaze towards the ritual circle.
'All set.' He nodded with a smile.
Meanwhile, Claude walked outside and asked his team members to bring those wild goats into the building. Although the veteran soldiers gave him a puzzled look at his strange orders, they didn't refute his words and obeyed silently.
On the other hand, Abium walked near the ritual circle and placed those candles and magic stones around the ritual circle's twelve sides.
Baa! Baa!…
Goats' bleating sounds from the entrance as Abium finally completed the first procedure. Then, he shifted his gaze towards Helena and others and noticed they patiently awaited his orders.
"What do we have to do now?" Helena asked with a puzzled look.
"Bring the goats inside," Abium said as he turned his gaze towards others and continued. "I need twelve people to help me finish this ritual ceremony."
Upon hearing his words, 12 members walked in along with those wild goats. Helena also stood among the group and looked around the hall curiously.
Meanwhile, Abium began to light all those twelve candles and spoke.
"Bring the goats next to the twelve candles and stand beside them."
Saying so, he gave Night Sunflowers, Purple Poison herbs, twelve small Red Vials which contain some thief's blood drops, and vials of Clary sage oil to them separately.
Noticing everyone's puzzled look, Abium chuckled and started to explain.
"Although it may sound confusing, you guys have to do what I say from now on. Whenever I stop reciting a mysterious chant, you have to put those materials I gave you earlier into those glowing candles." Abium stopped for a second and said. "It must be in order. When I finish reciting the first phrase, you must put the Night Sunflower into the candle fire and complete the first offering ceremony. At the end of the next few phrases, put those Purple Poison herbs, Blood vials, and Clary sage oil vials into the candle fire. Once I finished reciting the whole incantation, behead those goats using your swords and let the blood flow into the ritual circle."
Everyone stared at him in wonder at first but soon nodded their heads. Abium again told them not to mess up the order and turned his attention towards the altar table. He walked into the ritual circle's center and soon arrived in front of the altar table. After giving one last look at the others, he took a deep breath and started to recite the incantation in an Elvish language.
"O mighty goddess, bless me with your kindness,
You are the primary force of the light,
Enlighten me with the power of your Night,
You are the ruler of darkness,
Guide me with the power of your deception,
You are the deceiver of luck.
Accept my offerings and bestow me the power,
…
You are the judge of equality,
Hear my request."
Once Abium finished chanting the long incantation, he raised his hand and signaled the other twelve members to do their jobs.
Shwang!
They instantly unsheathed their swords and swung them towards all those goats' necks.
Slash! Slash!…
Scarlet blood spilled from those heads and the bodies and dyed the white ritual magic circle in a second.
Buzz!
After a slight vibration, Abium noticed all those decapitated goats twitching and making strange noises. A second later, goats' souls and blood were absorbed into the runic circles and disappeared from everyone's eyes.
"Move away from the candles," Abium ordered. Nodding their heads, they sheathed their weapons and started to back away from the candles.
"Uncle Claude, you all can go back now. Don't come inside the manor unless I ask you to." Abium said with a serious tone and quietly shifted his gaze towards the goddess's wooden statue.
Meanwhile, Claude and others hurriedly left the hall, leaving Abium alone inside.
As the seconds passed slowly, Abium noticed that all the twelve magic stones on the twelve sides of the magic circle started to move creepily towards the altar table!
The magic stones shone bright red and looked like chaos crystals because of the goats' blood.
Abium silently stood inside the ritual circle and observed everything with nervousness.
'Is this okay to do these types of ritual magic?' He started to doubt this method.
'You are too late to say this now, kid.' Azolla chuckled.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
The next instant, the whole main hall started to vibrate. At the same time, those red magic crystals began to disappear one by one and appeared above the altar table.
'Those crystals are melting into pure energy.' He stared at the scene in awe.
Bzzzzz!
A fierce spatial-elemental fluctuation followed!
He could hear the bleating cries of goats and guessed those must be the cries of goats' souls. His palm became sweaty.
Spark!
A second later, scarlet light appeared from the elven book and illuminated the whole main hall in red.
'Azolla, why do I feel like something is wrong with this ritual?' Abium said with a deep frown and took two steps back.
'Hmm? You mispronounce two words when chanting, But I think it's not a problem.' Abium was stupefied when he heard Azolla's words and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
Before he could utter another word, the vibration became fiercer, and soon all the scarlet blood on the floor began to float and gathered into a blob at the center.
At the same time, Abium sensed a mysterious force enveloping his body and pulling him into a different place. Within a second, he found himself surrounded by complete darkness. Although the altar table, beheaded goats, and ritual circles were still placed below his feet, Abium knew he was not in the Pirate town now.
"What do you want to exchange, mortal?" A pleasant female voice came from the scarlet blob.
Abium took out that madness divine shard from his spatial ring and placed it on his sweaty palm without wasting any time.
"Hmm, you managed to get your hands on Madness divine shard? That's surprising!" A booming female voice resounded inside the empty darkness. A second later, the madness divine shard flew from Abium's hand and absorbed into the scarlet blob.
The next instant, a small white fragment flew towards him from the blob and absorbed directly into his body.
As the higher existence noticed his puzzled expression, another chuckle came with a reply.
"It's filled with divine power. Ask your artificial spirit for more details."
Abium nervously nodded and blinked.
A moment later, the scarlet blob and the dead goats turned illusionary and disappeared in front of his eyes in a blink.
Abium stood with a dumbfounded face and soon noticed that he had already returned to the Pirate town.
'That's it?'
With a heavy sigh, he concentrated on the white fragment hidden in his body and noticed it was indeed filled with divine power.
'I should inform Helena and others. They must be worrying about me.' He muttered inwardly, turned around, and walked outside.
Then, he informed others that everything was okay and returned to his room.
...
Deep in the Devil sea.
Aliza sat motionlessly on a two-meter-long rowboat and continuously looked at the monstrous shark roaming under the rowboat. She wore a black linen shirt, skinny brown pants, and reversible sky blue silk hood and held a transparent mask-like material in her hand.
Splash!
Suddenly, the Sanguis shark moved upward with its red eyes, turned its large body in the water, and stared back at her.
Meanwhile, Aliza slowly turned her eyes towards the rowboat while averting her gaze from the Shark and sighed helplessly.
It's been almost a week, but she couldn't find any land or come across any ships. Moreover, she was barely holding against all the constant storms, waves, and predatory fishes' attacks. But what relieved her was that the wound on her foot was almost healed, and only a scar was left behind. Even she was startled by the rapid healing and dreamed of her being blessed by God.
"But if this goes like this, I will surely die alone in this sea." She shouted in grief and then noticed dark clouds gathering up again in the sky. Aliza's face grew deadly pale as she saw this! Without Sanguis Shark's protection, she would have been killed by the crashing waves yesterday.
As she was in deep thought, a large gray mass floating on the sea's surface a few miles away caught her attention.
'Hm? What is that? An island?' Aliza furrowed her thick eyebrows and quickly ordered the Shark to move closer to the gray area. The Shark pulled the rowboat towards the floating mass like a slave. As she moved closer to the island-like mass, a shocking expression appeared on her face.
It was a huge mass of pumice rocks; some were as big as a large boat, while the rest were the size of a human head. Those rocks floated on the surface like flying carpets and spread for many sq miles.
'Pumice rocks?' She became more puzzled. While confused, a large bubble appeared from the sea's depth and attracted her attention. Within seconds, multiple bubbles appeared on the surface. Followed by multiple bubbles, she started to smell the disgusting stench of the unknown gas.
She instantly knew something was happening deep in the ocean and quickly thought of moving away from that place. But she soon felt familiar energy from underwater.
'Elemental energy?' She got startled inside. Well, sensing a high amount of elemental energy deep in the ocean was entirely out of the ordinary, causing her to hesitate a little. After slightly hesitating, Aliza took a deep breath and resolved to dive deep into the sea.
Yes! That would be the most stupid plan. But she had no choice now.
She had already faced so many hardships during the past seven days. So it was not much of a problem for her to check what was hiding inside.
'Moreover, I have a new pet to protect me.'
"Come on, Zethis! I need your help once again." She spoke out loud. A moment later, a monstrous shark head popped out from the sea and waited for her orders. With a smile, she patted its sharp mouth and jumped into the sea.