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Contractbound - Chapter 225

Published at 15th of December 2020 07:33:12 AM


Chapter 225: 225

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"I, in the name of the Deity of Deception and Hidden Thoughts, call forth a curtain of illusion that covers this area!"

A mysterious orange curtain that swayed in the invisible wind descended slowly upon the opening in the forest. The curtain brought with it a feeling of peace and serenity, placing everyone caught in the area under its gentle embrace.

"Hahahaha..."

"Hehehehe..."

The giggling of children surfaced again. The creepy titters echoed in the lightless forest, seemingly coming from every direction.

Luuk van der Meer, who was already tense from the beginning, clenched his fist and crouched behind a tree expectantly. His heart was beating fast and his breathing heavy. Something seemed to have terrified him to the extent that his usually expressionless face was showing fear.

Looking at the adults, the children's eyes glowed red in the dark. With uncanny smiles, the three little humans began approaching the two, moving creepily fast across the forest floor on all four. However, they weren't facing down, but rather up, as if they got down on all four limbs from their back.

Suddenly, sparks of fire came out of the tiny illusory flame, setting the dry leaves on the forest floor on fire. The blaze spread quickly, creating a wall of fire around the children.

The small nimble limbs stopped abruptly to avoid the flames. The glow in their eyes was overshone by the bright, hot inferno surrounding them. Hesitation and confusion overcame them, replacing the mischief and malice that had previously been there.

Meanwhile, the child that was lying on the ground remained motionless. His eyes were staring blankly at the forest canopy and his hands were crossed on his chest weakly.

"What are you doing?! Stop!!" one of the children, a little girl, shouted. However, her voice sounded nothing like that of a girl. She sounded beastly, just like the strong woman they had fought before.

The flames were unwavering. They kept on burning hotter and hotter, sending clouds of smoke rising to the sky.

Thump...! Thump...!

A large shadow appeared behind the wall of flame, towering almost as tall as the trees. After that, the figure tore the wall of flame apart as if it was paper. Through the gap, a fiery giant walked into the area surrounded by the blaze.

"Aaaaaa!!! Get away from me!!!" the little girl from before shouted from the top of her lungs as the figure inched closer and closer.

There were flames floating around the fiery giant, from which an image of an old, boney figure could be seen. The little girl, who was closest to the figure, had a confused and terrified look in her eyes when she saw the image in the flame. Leaves rustled beneath her feet as she slowly backed away from the inching towering figure.

"Roar!!"

The fiery giant mumbled something inaudible and very loud that sounded only like a horrifying roar in their ears.

Suddenly, the little girl collapsed to the ground and something illusory came out of her body. The other two children were shocked by what was happening and quickly backed away from the fiery giant, who easily burned the figure coming out of the girl's body. If they didn't do anything, they knew it would be their turn next.

"DIE!!"

One of the boys fiercely shouted. The loud war cry sounded like a cornered beast that was fighting back instead of a young boy's voice.

The moment he jumped at the fiery figure, his body stopped midair! He then fell on the ground still in the same position, unable to lift even a muscle. The boy was looking at the towering giant with horror as the flame around the giant was showing an image of an old, boney man, just like what had happened to the girl.

"Roar!!"

Another roar came from the giant and the little boy fell unconscious. Flames then quickly consumed the illusory creature coming out of the boy's body, turning it into a cloud of smoke that dissipated into thin air.

The last boy was trying to run away, but his body was suddenly frozen, just like his friend before, and after a mysterious image appeared in the fireball surrounding the fiery giant, the boy lost consciousness.

Whoosh!!

Flames once again burned a figure that looked like a boney old man with hollow eyes and mouth. Once the old man turned into a cloud of smoke, something green and sinister was left behind, lying on the ground waiting to be picked up.

After all the three possessed children were taken care of, the wall of flame suddenly disappeared and the night returned to its dark, serene state.

"What just happened?" Luuk snapped back to reality and noticed that Graham was busy picking up the green pearls that the Dybbuks had dropped.

The man ignored his partner's confusion and kept on picking up the loot. He also checked to make sure the children were unharmed, including the one lying on the ground surrounded by animal entrails.

"There you are, finally," Graham said, and then turned his attention to Luuk.

There was one more child, a little older than the rest. It was more appropriate to call the child, who was a boy, an early teenager than a child at that point. His limbs were dangling awkwardly just like any other teenager, but his eyes showed beat-like fierceness.

Beneath the teenager's feet, there was a swarm of tiny spiders and scorpions, which made raised Graham's guard.

"I order you to stop moving!"

The teenage boy's body suddenly froze as he lost the ability to control it.

"Come over here and steal his anger," Graham told Luuk, who was still regaining his senses after falling under Graham's illusion.

The young man nodded and then quickly ran towards the teenager, flinging the severed hand that was attached to a rope. The hand grabbed the teenager's face and once Luuk pulled it back, there was a glowing orb in its grip.

Making use of the teenager's weakened state, Graham used divination to see the Dybbuk's true form and then quickly used Order to force it out of the person's body. Once the creature was out, he used Fire Manipulation to burn it to smoke, freeing the possessed teenager once and for all.

"There, it's all done now," he said finally while picking up the green pearl that the creature left behind.

On the body of the teenager, Graham noticed something that attracted his attention. It was the spider brooch that the teenager had on his black shirt, which emitted a kind of mystical energy. Graham took it off and the moment he did so, the spiders and scorpions crawling around the teenager's unconscious body all scurried away.

Focusing on the illusory flame in front of him, Graham began divining about the brooch.

Slowly, an image appeared, which was the very same brooch that Graham was holding in his hand. There was an illusory text appearing above it, just like what happened when Valentine used his Reveal ability.

'The Brooch of Grommock. A piece of enhanced equipment created by a medium-rank Transmuter. It allows the user to repel insects and bugs alike for as long as the brooch is worn. However, arachnids will be strongly attracted to the wearer, and will only lose their attraction if the brooch is taken off. It was created from the remains of Grommock de Gras, an enigmatic man who had an unhealthy obsession with arachnids while hating bugs and insects alike with all his heart.'

The divination ended there and Graham turned his attention back to his partner.

"Can we go home now? I don't feel so good," Luuk begged.

Graham didn't expect that his illusion would have so big an impact on Luuk, who was supposed to be stronger than normal humans. His illusion had managed to weaken the Dybbuks, making it easier for him to extract them out of the hosts' bodies, but it also weakened his partner apparently.

"Sure. We're done here anyway,"

The detective then sat down under the tree and used Order on himself to fall asleep. In his place, Valentine woke up and quickly wounded his palm, dropping his blood on the forest ground and placing anti-divination in the area.

"Let's go," he said shortly.

He walked away from the forest, followed by Luuk whose face was still somewhat pale. Valentine headed towards the storage house from before and placed anti-divination there as well. The woman from earlier had long left the area, so there was currently no one there.

The woman shouldn't be able to remember the events that happened while she was possessed, at least according to the ancient book that Graham had read; therefore, Valentine didn't have to bother looking for her and erasing her memory.

Their last stop was the first old brick stone house where the murder had happened. Valentine placed his anti-divination just outside the house, dropping his blood somewhere not easy to see.

Once he was done, he returned to the convenience store where they had been dropped off before. He remembered there was a payphone outside that he could use to call for a public motor carriage.

After making his call, the two men waited in silence for more than fifteen minutes before finally, a black vehicle pulled over. Valentine and Luuk got in and the driver drove away at once, taking them back to the city.

"I'm not sure what I saw before, but it was very scary," Luuk finally spoke. Colors had returned to his face, "It's not that I'm scared of that thing, but something was like taking over me, making me scared."

Valentine looked over his shoulder and muttered quietly, "G, the illusion is more potent than we thought, and it was only the Purloin version. Or is it just that Luuk is weak against illusions? Should we experiment?"

He quickly got rid of the thought. Although his curiosity was high, he didn't want to risk mentally scarring his partner.

"Anyway, this brooch is for you. You must have seen its ability as well. Consider this your payment," Valentine handed the brooch that featured a black widow spider on it to Luuk.

The young man received the enhanced brooch and stuffed it inside his pocket. He didn't want to put it on right away it seemed.

The trip home didn't take them as long as the trip to Pompoen because the traffics wasn't as bad now that it was late. Valentine and Luuk arrived at their apartment a little later than ten in the evening, after which they quickly returned to their own rooms.

"Alright, G, let's just wait until one to start my ritual. This Deity's ritual requires orange candles, which we luckily have, and Storax essential oil, which we also have."

Opening his briefcase, Valentine placed all the material that he had just gathered on the desk. There were six hair strands that looked like dead snakes, severed elongated tongues, and green pearls that emitted an ominous aura. All of them were the materials required for his ritual.

Valentine then opened his safe and took out the contract scroll belonging to the Deity that he wanted to contract today. He laid the scroll on the desk as well.

Walking towards the shelves, he took out four orange votive candles and a small vial of Storax oil that still had more than half of its content inside. He placed everything he needed on the table, including the vial of mercury that he would use to seal the scroll later. Before doing his ritual, he needed Graham to copy Order inside Purloin so he could borrow it for the sealing process.

"Now I'm ready. After this ritual, I should become a Contractbound of the Deity of Serpents and Death," Valentine's eyes were brimming with expectation.




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