In the Berg household in the City of Silver.
Looking at the bloodstained scalp, Derrick suddenly recalled what it previously looked like. It was a beautiful and alluring "mushroom," one that he almost couldn't control himself from swallowing.
The Doom fruits, that Darc had shared with him and produced crisp, crunchy sounds when they were bitten into, were actually bloody pieces of human fingers with slightly pale skin!
At that moment, Derrick had a violent spasm in his stomach before a gush of acid surged to his throat.
Resisting the urge to vomit, he quickly croaked a line of lyrics, "God, please have your kingdom descend upon this land. Your enemies will disperse, and your followers will relish in joy!"
There was a touch of warmth and holiness in the song, and Derrick felt all the discomfort in his body weaken. His spirituality also became full and lively.
His courage, his strength, and his agility were all greatly enhanced by this song.
That was the Beyonder powers of a Sequence 9 Bard.
Darc stared at his former classmate and teammate singing with an increasingly dark expression. The way he spoke became more and more inhuman.
"What is that thing on your body...
"What is that thing on your body?
"What is that thing on your body!"
All of a sudden, Darc's clothes were stretched out in bugling strips, as though a nest of slithering venomous snakes was underneath them.
Whoosh!
Bloody strips of flesh pierced through the black skintight clothing, and its surface had rough skin covered with hair.
Strands of meat began to flail outwards, causing Darc to look like a bloody, furry hedgehog!
With a swoosh, the meat strands surged towards Derrick, who was still standing at his original location.
Derrick was a patrol squad member who had seen quite a number of monsters, so he wasn't too flustered by this situation.
He twisted his waist, raised his arm, and swung the Axe of Hurricane that he was already holding in his hand.
Oof!
The Axe of Hurricane hacked down at a few bloody strands of flesh, directly splitting them in half and causing them to fall to the ground.
However, because it was "nighttime" in the City of Silver, this strike didn't bring about any lightning. Even more bloody strips of flesh began to surge forward, wrapping themselves around the Axe of Hurricane over and over again as they relentlessly clung to it.
Seeing that his weapon couldn't be pulled back, a pure light suddenly lit up in Derrick's eyes. It was as if two small suns had descended into the room, and his other hand was holding something close to his mouth and nose as if he was praying.
Without a sound, a fiery pillar of pure light descended from the sky, striking the bloody flesh that was wound up into a ball.
Darc let out an uncontrollable scream, and many bloody strips of flesh fell to the ground, charred black.
They squirmed, struggling as if they were alive.
The spirituality contained within these bloody strips of meat was no longer under the control of its original owner, and gradually, they merged with the natural power derived from the sacrificial ritual's incantation, forming an increasingly bright pink "wave."
This "wave" surged into the dim yellow candle flame, causing the light to suddenly burgeon, forming an illusory and mysterious door.
Derrick had long drawn The Fool's secret symbol on the candle!
This was all prepared in advance.
All of this constituted a simple but complete sacrifice ceremony!
Kacha!
As the seat shattered, Darc lunged at Derrick while flailing the bloody strips of meat. There was no fear or tension in his eyes, only the purest, most fervent desire.
At this moment, Klein, who was above the fog, responded.
With a creaking sound, the illusory door that had many strange patterns on it opened a tiny crack.
Behind the crack was a deep darkness in which countless transparent and indescribable shadows resided.
High above these shadows were seven pure lights of different colors that contained endless knowledge.
Above the brilliance was an endless grayish-white fog, and above it was an ancient palace that overlooked the gray fog.
Suddenly, a shadow leaped out from a dark corner, covering Darc who was closest to him.
Darc's flailing strips of bloody meat were all wrapped up by pitch-black, viscous liquid as he seemed to turn into a cat who had entered an opaque bag.
The shadow didn't stop, and it quickly extended across the ground, rushing towards Derrick, who had already dodged to another location, and shouted sternly, "Stop! What are you trying to do!"
As an observer, his original plan was to watch from the sidelines and record the corresponding anomalies. He would only take action to stop the two strange parties when the situation became unmanageable.
But when he saw the illusory door covered with strange symbols open up with a crack, he felt intimidated by the deep, mysterious, distant, and majestic scene inside. He instinctively believed that this was related to a terrifying evil god, so he could only take hasty actions, giving orders in an attempt to forcefully interrupt Derrick's attempts at performing a sacrifice to that being.
However, Derrick had already chosen his location to be as far from the shadow as possible; therefore, to stop the boy who was possessed by the mysterious Amon, the "shadow" observer had to bypass or take down Derrick Regence first.
However, his choice was the latter. Because of the obvious abnormality with Darc. Leaving his back to this being was an absolutely stupid move.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Derrick took out the iron box from his concealed pocket and threw it towards the illusory door conjured by the candle flame, towards the crack that presented a magical scene.
As the iron box disappeared, the door, that was covered in strange symbols and characteristics, closed with a "clang," before quickly vanishing.
At this moment, Derrick remembered Mr. Hanged Man's words, and he deliberately warped his facial muscles and savagely moved towards the "shadow."
Before the "shadow" blanketed him, he suddenly coughed violently and covered his mouth with his hand before falling to the ground.
The pitch-black shadow emanated and completely covered him.
The room returned to silence, but there were now two huge black "chrysalises" on the ground.
After a while, the pitch-black, viscous liquid withdrew and reformed into a shadow.
With the "chrysalis," the silhouettes of Derrick and Darc appeared once more.
The former lay there unconscious, but a tiny, strange worm with twelve transparent rings dropped from his hand. The latter had already turned into a lump of flesh, squirming and roaring as it prepared to attack.
Faced with this situation, the observer had no choice but to spare some of his strength and once again wrapped him up, using his shadow-like black "liquid" to envelop Darc Regence, who had transformed into a monster.
Glancing at the scattered pale fingers and the bloody scalp with short black hair, the observer couldn't help but take a deep breath. Using his Beyonder powers to control the shadows outside, he created tidal waves to inform the Chief inside the spire.
Only after doing this did he carefully examine Derrick's situation and saw the strange, translucent worm.
"This... the avatar that Amon hid in Derrick's body is dead?" the observer muttered in surprise.
As he recalled Darc's strangeness, the terrifying mutation, and the "mushroom" and "Doom fruits," he began to have a rough idea of what had happened.
Perhaps Amon was archenemies with the mastermind behind Darc's corruption. In order to foil the other party's ploy, Amon was willing to sacrifice his avatar. Derrick's visit to the training field to observe the exploratory team and his report of them to the Chief were both Amon's attempts to rid his enemy without exposing himself.
The mastermind behind Darc's corruption had noticed Derrick's strangeness, so he sent Darc to take control of him. The bloody scalp and fingers were props to achieve his goal.
As he thought of this, the monitor suddenly agreed with the Chief's concern—the apocalypse or an even greater disaster was about to befall the City of Silver. That was why the City of Silver would repeatedly encounter so many strange events and mysterious existences that lurked deep in the darkness.
...
Inside the Chief's room at the spire.
The "shadow" recounted everything that had happened.
The grizzled, facially-scarred Colin Iliad nodded gently after hearing the recount.
"Derrick or should I say, Amon, had really prepared ahead of time.
"The candle with the symbol engraved on it, the evil object that can expose Darc's problem, and Derrick's excuse of pouring water to whisper a prayer, as well as finally sending away the item in a sacrificial ritual—all of this indicates that the entire situation developed according to his plan.
"Two questions. One, who does the hidden symbol on the candle refer to? Amon himself or the god behind him? Two, why is Amon willing to expose the exploratory team's abnormality at the cost of his avatar? Is it because he's archenemies with the mastermind? Then, why did he stay in the City of Silver for forty-two years?
"Could it be that he foretold this matter ahead of time, which is why he specifically met with the exploratory team from forty-two years ago and planted his avatar in them so as to foil the plans of that mastermind? He waited forty-two years for that single moment?"
Upon hearing the Chief's questions, the "shadow" observer suddenly said in enlightenment, "Maybe that's how it is!
"Your Excellency, think about it. Why would Amon patiently wait for forty-two years before making Uddel lose control when Derrick was imprisoned beside him? It's because the foretold time was approaching, and he was in desperate need to switch to a free person that he can latch onto so as to foil the plans of that mastermind!"
"Indeed... We were only thinking about what was different with Derrick, and we didn't pay attention to the timing," the City of Silver's Chief Colin answered in thought.
The "shadow" observer immediately said, "Your Excellency, please immediately lock down all members of the exploratory team. They're definitely problematic! Also... Elder Lovia, she has a nontrivial possibility of also being corrupted!"
Colin frowned and said, "Before you reported this matter to me, and even before Darc went out, Lovia came to me and told me that she suspects that the members of the exploratory team had been contaminated by something. She recommended that we secretly monitor them and if necessary, have them guard Elder Hawick's inverted mausoleum."
Hawick was the former Chief of the City of Silver, and he had built himself a mausoleum. After that, he lived in that mausoleum, and his appearances began to slowly decrease. Finally, the doors were closed, impossible to open again.
"Elder Lovia had long mentioned of an abnormality?" the "shadow" observer asked in surprise.
After receiving a positive answer, he muttered to himself, half-doubtful and half-relaxed, "It's good that Elder Lovia doesn't have any problems..."
"... I've already sent people to lock down the members of the exploratory team, but we can't ignore any other possibilities." Chief Colin let out a sigh. " Let Aiflor come to me. I'll interrogate Derrick Berg together with her."
