Chapter 729: A Call in Space

Boom, boom...

The ground collapsed from the series of explosions.

The elder of the Illuminati lay dead, his wide eyes full of shock and resentment. Despite the title, he didn't seem like a particularly important individual. He was a human so resentful about his own death but indifferent to others'.

Davey clicked his tongue and went further inside, where the smell of terrible chemicals tickled his nose.

"Sacrifices..." he muttered, observing the huge ritual chamber. It was reminiscent of the summoning rituals dreaded even among black mages.

Black magic and devil magic required devil mana. They were created to study the human soul and body, respectively. Those who studied black magic believed that all souls, not only human ones, held hidden potential.

Davey clicked his tongue again. Before him were countless men and women dangling motionlessly from iron ropes.

"I guess no one noticed they were doing something like this since there were so many people."

'Or they just pretended not to know,' he thought. Moreover, He figured that this might not be the only Illuminati headquarters.

The ceremony hall looked extremely grotesque. A red magic circle powered by human souls was constantly pulsing inside it.

Numerous humans had been kidnapped, drugged, impaled on iron skewers, and arranged in a special formation. Each drop of their blood served as a massive energy medium for the magic circle.

Normally, the environment here would have caused the Illuminati problems. After all, while mana naturally existed in the continents of Tionis and Peslisa, Earth's humans had only begun accepting mana recently.

It was a well-known fact that humans on Earth did not have a good compatibility with mana. Therefore, even though they had power in their souls, they still weren't strong enough to manifest black magic spells. In other words, it should have been impossible for them to perform rituals.

However, by involving more people, they ensured that their ritual would progress smoothly. If a ritual required ten people, they assigned fifty. This was their crude way of getting things done.

Thud!

Something gigantic soon appeared in the middle of the billowing blood-red fog. Contrary to Davey's expectations, it wasn't Eclipse. Eclipse exuded an eerie, vast, and unending black force. The magic circle, on the other hand, was connected to something else entirely.

Thud!!

While dodging the debris falling from the ceiling, Davey freed all the humans used in the ritual from the skewers and approached the elder he had slashed earlier.

[Black Magic]

[Soul's Call]

Crunch!!

Davey twisted the elder's body. Soon, a blue-black light came out of it.

"Speak. What have you been doing here?"

The blue light trembled faintly. [Hehe... Hehehe... There's no use. What you're looking for isn't here or anywhere else.]

"Why are you doing this, then?"

Thud!!! Bang!!!

Davey split the huge piece of debris falling from the sky in a single cut, causing it to land next to him harmlessly.

[We don't know either. Hehe!]

"What? You must be out of your mind. What kind of bullshit are you saying?"

[What I do know is that rift will bring destruction to our world.]

Davey didn't know what to say.

Soon after, the magic circle completely went out and the power protecting the area disappeared, causing the ground to collapse. With the ceiling completely gone, the sound of helicopters and sirens began to echo.

[The source of that power is unknown. We call it corruption—in other words, hell. Being exposed to that rift for too long will break your existence apart.]

"Hmm..."

[The moment it starts to open, it'll proliferate endlessly and erode everything, eventually destroying the entire world. It won't take long for humans exposed to that power to be denied their existence and slowly disappear.]

The light was essentially saying that the rift was a strange power. Davey realized that its effects were somewhat similar to the effects of one of his powers.

"So you're telling me that you released this here as well since you bastards didn't want to be the only ones affected?"

Now that the light had turned into a spirit it would have difficulties refusing orders from a higher-level necromancer.

The spirit remained silent, reluctant to answer. Fortunately, Davey knew a way to extract information from it.

"The dead must answer the Lord's call," he said.

[Huh?!]

"I speak in the name of the Imperfect Death Lord. Answer your lord's call."

Davey knew this method would work. After all, they studied the Death Lord's power and implanted it in their bodies.

[Argh...]

Devil mana squeezed the ball of light's soul, causing it to shake violently.

[It's a scary space! But you can also gain enormous energy from it!]

Davey tilted his head. "Enormous energy?"

[Yes. It is a fundamentally different power; it is not mana or any other power. When we learned how valuable it was, we refined it and then used it in parallel with magic. By the time we realized that our actions would result in the destruction of Peslisa, it was already too late.]

Davey closed his eyes in response. He then wondered if there was an Absolute Gem on the continent of Peslisa.

"I'm glad I didn't get involved."

He was relieved that Eclipse had brought the Absolute Gem along. He knew he wouldn't have wanted to go into that space.

"So? What did you do with that?"

[Mana is so scarce on Earth that we didn't have enough strength to proceed with the ritual.]

"Does that summoning circle summon Eclipse?"

[No.]

Davey was surprised. He couldn't believe that the circle wasn't for summoning Eclipse.

[We wanted to study the enormous power hidden within.]

"Isn't the purpose of the Illuminati to secretly infiltrate a world and become a major player that shapes its course?"

[There used to be countless factions within the organization. The only ones that survived were ours and the leader's.]

"Are you saying you have different goals?"

[We saw the foundation of overwhelmingly great power breathing within it. It was so strong that we were tempted to destroy the world. ]

"Great power...?"

[Th... The.. search for truth... Human evolution... Is the shortcut to avoid destruction...] The ball of light lost its color.

Davey figured it was time to let the spirit go. He could tell that it was already being forced into the cycle of reincarnation. However, he had no intention of letting it die in peace.

"Well, thanks for the information. You still need to pay for what you've done, though."

The spirit was shining as if it was in pain.

Rip!

Davey tore the soul apart, its pieces scattering all over the open area.

[Father! You have to leave!]

"I will, but we have to figure out how to close this unpleasant thing first."

This power was different from the power of the Abyss and the Malicious Spirits. Like a virus, it annihilated the continent of Peslisa, causing the Illuminati to fear it.

Davey thought it had appeared somewhat unexpectedly and that the gods probably hadn't mentioned it since it wasn't an immediate problem.

"Can I count on you?" he asked Super Ribbon, hoping to use her to destroy the power.

[Yes! Please leave it to me!]

As if she was hugging Davey, Super Ribbon merged with his arms and created slash authority. Super Ribbon's authority to cut down everything she touched had the same power as Red Ribbon's and Blue Ribbon's authorities when fully unleashed.

As Davey felt Super Ribbon's power, he couldn't help but think that Surtr had actually wanted to make just one sword, not twin swords.

Rumble, rumble!!!

Eventually, the magic circle, which had lost its fuel, began to run wild, causing a large-scale earthquake. Without hesitation, Davey swung Super Ribbon to split the magic circle in half.

Clang!!!

However, some unknown force reflected Super Ribbon away.

"Huh? What the heck?"

[Ouch!!]

Davey knew Super Ribbon would've been able to cut the magic circle if it was an ordinary one. The power that came out of the rift just moments ago eroded her power and weakened her.

"..."

[F-Father! I can do it! Let me try again!] Super Ribbon stubbornly exclaimed. She then pouted in disappointment.

"No.this power's fundamentals seem different."

Davey knew that Super Ribbon wasn't perfect. Like divine authority, her power encroached on her target and took over them. Fortunately, Davey had a solution.

"Alright. Let's give it another try."

His soul ascended to the level of a demi-god. He felt the strengthened power of taboo course through his body and then imbue itself in Super Ribbon to create black sword energy.

[Ugh... This doesn't feel good...]

"Endure it for me please."

[Yes, Father.]

With the power of taboo fully activated, Davey took a step toward the magic circle.

[Transcendental Longsword]

[Splitting the Mountains]

He swung his sword down with enormous weight.

Clang!!

Red energy came out of the circle and tried to take over Super Ribbon. However, this time, Super Ribbon successfully split everything apart. Davey then activated the power of taboo and took over the circle.

Crack!

The red energy fluctuated violently.

Rip!

The rift soon began to split in half and break apart. As it gradually became smaller, it emitted an unknown power.

The underground facility collapsed as well. Eventually, Davey began to hear voices and feel other presences. Since exposing his presence to others wouldn't do him any good, he thought it'd be best to get away quietly.

Thud!!

However, at that moment, something came out of the rift along with an eerie sound.

"Hmm?"

Surprised by its speed, Davey looked up, finding something red flying across the empty sky. He didn't know what it was, but since it came from the rift, which had allegedly caused the collapse of the continent of Peslisa, he knew nothing good could come from letting it get away. Although it would be troublesome, he knew he had to get rid of it.

While he was lost in thought, goosebumps appeared all over his body. Davey couldn't help but flinch.

[Ah... This presence... This energy. You're here... at last... Hercules. I kept my promise to you and waited too long.]

Along with the relieved voice of a decrepit man, a huge red light surrounded his feet and pulled him right in.

Davey was invited into the red rift. Of course, he knew he wouldn't have any trouble shaking it off. Considering the red energy had just emerged, it was only right to decline this invitation.

But he didn't.

The voice had called for Hercules. He could tell that it knew about him.