The final, nearly exasperated compromise from the Disaster Source echoed in Aurelia’s mind.
The tension in her nerves suddenly snapped, and she leaned against the cold Warehouse wall, almost losing all strength.
The stinging pain from the wound on her neck, the residual ache in her chest, and the exhaustion following prolonged mental strain surged over her like a tide, making her vision swim in darkness.
But at this moment, a sense of excitement sustained her. Facing that old bastard, she had won the gamble.
At least for now.
The footsteps outside the Warehouse did not seem to draw closer; instead, they gradually receded, finally vanishing into the sound of the wind and the faint, distant bustle of the city.
Aurelia held her breath and waited quietly for a moment. Only after confirming there were no more unusual sounds outside did she slowly slide down the rough wall to sit on the ground, hiding herself once more in the shadows cast by discarded wine barrels and wooden boxes.
***
“Speak, old bastard. I’m warning you first—don’t play any tricks. If I get the items and find they’re useless to you, you can just wait for me to be hacked in two by that damn Red-Haired!”
“………” The Disaster Source remained silent, its offended rage flowing slowly through the depths of her consciousness like a cold undercurrent.
After a long time—so long that Aurelia thought it was playing dead again—that malicious voice rang out once more, regaining its condescending indifference and that pretentious, punchable tone.
However, upon closer listening, a very subtle trace of hesitation could still be caught.
“To think you wish to completely seal Our Force… it is nothing but a pipe dream.”
“Hmm—?” Aurelia’s tone suddenly sharpened, the threat in her voice unmistakable.
“But…” The Disaster Source’s tone shifted. She thought she heard it give a slight cough, though it passed as quickly as a hallucination.
“There are still a few mortal objects that can produce some… hindering effects against Our supreme Power of the Fallen God.”
As if forced to reveal a secret, it reluctantly began to list them.
“First, the Manjusaka. Its petals are like blood, its stamens like flame; it blooms without leaves and grows leaves without flowers. Ground into powder and mixed with the blood of a virgin to draw a Magic Seal, it can block the erosion of Our Force. If the flower itself is carried on one’s person… it possesses a weak isolating Force against Our power.”
[Manjusaka… Lycoris Radiata? Though it does have positive meanings in Buddhist culture… in most cases, this thing is associated more with the underworld and death, isn’t it?]
[And virgin blood… why does this smell like the tropes from those Eastern fantasy cultivation novels… …]
Intense pain and blood loss made Aurelia’s thoughts drift, but a more practical question made her face flush.
[Come to think of it, can my blood… be used? In the original owner’s memories, she was always a pure and innocent girl, and I haven’t done anything out of line, so it should… be okay, right?]
Consequently, her hand subconsciously pressed against her lower abdomen. Feeling her smooth, delicate skin—now covered in dust and bloodstains—she couldn’t help but lose herself in thought for a moment.
“Heh…” Inside her head, that voice suddenly let out an extremely short, cold laugh.
“With your life hanging by a thread and in the hands of others, you actually have the leisure to confirm that so-called purity? Your obsession with this is actually stronger than your will to survive. Ridiculous.”
“Get lost! A girl’s first time is very important, okay?! Besides, who asked for your opinion! Next!” She hurriedly withdrew her hand and snapped at the Disaster Source.
However… as for being a girl, she didn’t accept herself as one. Sooner or later, she would definitely change back into a male body, with a beautiful girl on her left and a lady on her right, and start a harem!
[As for that damn Red-Haired… I’m going to pay him back double for what he did to me! I won’t stop until I’ve hacked him a hundred times over…!]
“…Second, common iron infused with Obsidian Essence.” The Disaster Source continued, its tone filled with utter contempt and mockery, interrupting her stray thoughts.
“Obsidian is the solidified teardrops of the earth; it has a weak repulsion toward Our Force. Smelt it into the most ordinary ironware and forge it a thousand times to allow the two to merge completely. One possessing a special bloodline, supplemented by transcendent Force, can then sever Our Force. If carried on the person… the effect is best, yet its durability is quite poor.”
“Wait a minute, old bastard. The person with the special bloodline you mentioned… is it that damn Red-Haired?”
“…Correct.” The Disaster Source did not deny it, the contempt in its voice growing thicker.
“It is precisely that nauseating Braveblood. Only the Force within that bloodline can catalyze the obsidian’s repulsion of Our Force into a momentary severing effect. The power of a mere mortal ant… heh, they would likely never realize this in their entire life.”
It paused, seemingly wanting to completely extinguish a certain thought gradually rising in Aurelia’s mind, and its tone turned deathly cold.
“Do not indulge in such delusions. Even if that ant holds such an object, all he can sever is the most superficial connection between Us and you, the Soul Container. To Our origin, it is nothing more than a breeze against the face. To think of truly harming Us with such mortal things, or even driving Us out… you should abandon such fantasies.”
Aurelia’s heart sank, but she did not give up entirely. Instead, she seized another direction and questioned it.
“Then… what if it’s not him, but me? If I hold a blade made of obsidian, could I sever the Force you use to control my body?”
After this question was thrown out, the mind fell into a period of silence. The Disaster Source seemed… stunned.
After several seconds, that malicious consciousness fluctuated again, carrying an absurd tone: “You? Using an obsidian blade… to sever Our Force?”
It seemed to genuinely consider this hypothesis, and then it let out a low, complex, cold laugh. That laughter lacked its usual mockery; instead, it held a tiny bit of unspeakable amusement.
“Fool. Have you still not understood?” The Disaster Source’s voice slowed down, seemingly wanting Aurelia to deeply realize her situation.
“You are Our Soul Container. What is a Soul Container? It does not just carry Our consciousness; your bloodline, your soul, even this physical shell of yours… have all developed a fundamental connection with Our Force.”
“To control all the Power of Calamity in this world—this is Our authority, and it is also the potential you, as the perfect Soul Container, were born to possess. The difference lies in whether Our consciousness leads, or… whether your ridiculous, fragile self-awareness attempts to guide it.”
Aurelia leaned against the cold wall, and her hope… seemed to be snuffed out once more.
But strangely, something very blurry flashed through her mind.
She tried to catch it, and then, she suddenly asked the Disaster Source this—
“…Old bastard, what you said before about controlling all the Power of Calamity in the world… what did you mean by that?”
This time, the Disaster Source did not answer immediately.
“Don’t play dead with me!” Aurelia barked in her mind, enduring the intense physical pain and mental exhaustion as she gripped tightly onto that fleeting, crucial piece of information.
[This old bastard definitely let something slip! Hiss… my head hurts…]
The Disaster Source remained silent, but that silence was no longer one of indifference. Instead, it was more like a stagnation after having part of its hand seen through.
“An ignorant question. Rather than dwelling on such pointless details, you should worry about your own precarious situation.” Its voice was cold and flat, as if that brief lapse and slip-up had never happened.
“Situation? That’s all thanks to you!” A fire rose in Aurelia’s heart again, and just as she was about to curse it, it interrupted her.
“Cease your noise! A Fragment of Our Force is still kept within that human city! Your ridiculous companion failed to dispose of it and instead hid it from all of you. This… is the humanity and original intention you so fiercely defend… hehehe…”
[This Soul Container is a bit too perceptive… We need to divert her attention and make her forget this matter…]
And Aurelia almost instantly thought of Vera.
The one handling that Box… had always been Vera. But why would she hide it?
Countless questions and instinctive denials clashed in her heart.
Vera was one of the people she was closest to and trusted most during her time at the Base. That person who always took gentle care of her, like a real older sister… would hide such a dangerous thing?
The cold brought by intense pain and blood loss, combined with the psychological shock of this news, made Aurelia’s vision darken again. She leaned against the wall, gasping for breath, trying to sort out her chaotic thoughts.
[No… this must be this old bastard talking nonsense. Vera… how could she do something like that? Her silence back then was also forced by that damn Red-Haired!]
“Shut your mouth!”
Before the Disaster Source could speak, Aurelia’s sudden roar in her heart actually intimidated this Fallen God capable of destroying the world for a moment.
It froze, then said no more, allowing Aurelia to continue her stray thoughts.
[It seems the impact last night had on this Soul Container… was even deeper than We anticipated.] The Disaster Source’s consciousness fell silent, no longer attempting to forcibly bewitch her.
[Very well… a crack has already formed. Since the seed has been sown, We need only wait for it to take root and sprout. Despair, doubt, the pain of betrayal… these are all perfect nutrients. We have plenty of time.]
[Next time, perhaps it will not require such effort. Until the day she actively seeks Us out… that will be the day We truly descend.]
The suffocating pressure and incessant whispering in her mind finally subsided for the moment.
Aurelia breathed heavily, cold sweat seeping from her brow and mixing with dried blood, constantly sliding down her bloodless face.
She had no energy or desire to further scrutinize the Disaster Source’s words or analyze what kind of scheme lay behind its sudden silence.
She was too tired.
The confrontation with the old immortal inside her, the terror of fleeing for her life, the blows that came one after another, and everyone in the Order…
Each of these things had already pushed her to the brink of collapse. She couldn’t think anymore. At least not now.
She needed to stop and rest, even if only for a little while…
Aurelia tremblingly raised her arms, which felt as heavy as lead. Her clothes, after last night’s flight and the fall caused by Laurence, were already full of holes and tears.
She felt for a relatively intact part of her hem and pulled with her fingers.
“Sss-rip—”
Another strip of cloth was torn off.
The rough edges of the fibers rubbed against her fingers as she tremblingly began to unwrap the old cloth that had been haphazardly wound around her neck, which was already soaked through with hardened blood.
Every movement tugged at the wound, stinging her nerves and making her vision go black time and again.
The old cloth was tossed by her feet, the dark red bloodstains leaving a small mark on the dirt floor. The fresh air touching the mangled flesh brought a searing pain, but it also seemed to ease the feeling of suffocation slightly.
The new rough strip of cloth was wound around her neck again and again. Aurelia tried to wrap the wound as securely as possible. After all, next, she might need to run and travel again.
When that crooked, barely sturdy knot was finally tied, she had exhausted almost all the strength she had just gathered, gasping for air.
Although her ribs had been healed by the Disaster Source, her internal organs, which had been poked by the bones earlier, still stung.
“Cough, cough!”
[Hiss… it hurts so much… I have to find a way to keep running. I really don’t want that damn Red-Haired to actually stab me to death…]
***
Just as she was about to touch the rough door plank—
“Crunch, crunch, crunch…”
A flurry of hurried and disorganized footsteps headed straight for the Warehouse. The footsteps were heavy—more than one person—and showed no sign of hesitation or turning. Immediately following, the door was slammed open.
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