Sister Devlin's Selected One Ritual even caused a small earthquake that spread from the Gap to the real world, but compared to the other events tonight, this earthquake was not worth mentioning.
In Middlesburg, at the Cassandra Auction House, Miss Lita Swift, a witch apprentice, was organizing people to repair the walls broken by the recent battle and seal the holes where white mist was pouring in.
Although she heard strange sounds outside, noticed the undead patrolling the streets suddenly stop, and saw the peculiar golden glow in the sky, she didn't pay it any mind.
Twenty minutes after the Selected One Ritual was completed, a figure appeared outside the Cassandra Auction House. With an urgent knock on the door, Miss Lita Swift, who was temporarily in charge of all affairs at the auction house, found Xia De standing outside.
"I just ran down from the mountain, Miss Swift, open the door quickly!"
"Sorry, I need to confirm your identity first, may I ask..."
Before she could finish her question, Xia De used the 【Key of the Door】 to open the door and rushed in.
He was covered in sweat and panting. The situation at home was extremely bad; the white mist pervasive on the third floor was almost spreading downstairs. The witch was urgently sealing off the deathly aura, and the out-of-control 【traveler's travel door】, even though temporarily suppressed by the "Space Stabilization Aura," was still restless and couldn't be moved to the ancient god statue in the basement for suppression.
But even so, after leaving Joey Barton and Marilyn Handel at Saint Delan Square to be interrogated by the curious witch, he immediately bid farewell to Luvia, who had already observed signs of the Star Whale, and once again rushed from his home's basement towards Middlesburg, heading straight here at the fastest speed.
Without the night watchman, he was not as quick in dealing with the evil spirits overflowing from the Gap into reality; with no divinity in his body, even though the Afterglow state was still ongoing, the feeling of emptiness that drove him mad still left Xia De mentally exhausted.
Fortunately, the power fluctuations from the Selected One Ritual made the restless undead dare not move, which allowed him to arrive so quickly. After entering the door, regardless of how bad his physical and mental state was, he asked with a trembling voice:
"Where are Grace and Helen?"
Miss Swift, who was closing the door, lowered her head slightly, and only then did Xia De notice that the entire first-floor hall of the auction house had almost become a ruin.
This was the headquarters of the Cassandra chain auction house, famous throughout the Old Continent, and its exquisite decoration was even more luxurious than some noble estates. But now, there were claw marks and explosion traces everywhere, and even the floor and ceiling were no longer intact, with several large holes leading to the basement and second floor.
The smell of smoke and dust had dissipated, but one could still imagine how fierce the battle that had erupted here not long ago must have been.
Grandma Cassandra had taken the main followers into the Gap, and now everyone left was trying their best to repair the building, at least ensuring that no more white mist poured in.
"I'm still too late, the Vampires have already left?"
"How did you know? About an hour ago, two High-Ring and one Middle-Ring Vampires came here to take away my teacher's teachers, who cannot leave yet. The battle was fierce, and ultimately, my teacher's teachers appeared, stopped the fighting, and then left with the two High-Ring Vampires."
"Grace and Helen left?"
Xia De took a deep breath.
"However, that Middle-Ring Vampire was seriously injured, so they left him behind, saying they would pay to redeem him after this matter is over. Also, we captured a sage-level relic, the 【Blood Thorns Scepter】..."
"Where is that Middle-Ring Vampire?"
Xia De asked anxiously.
"In the basement."
The captive was, as expected, someone Xia De knew: Mr. Armand Bernhardt, who had come to Mi Fort with his nephew. He was locked in the relic collection room in the basement.
This gentleman was a distant relative of the Carson Rick royal family, and his appearances always epitomized elegance and high society. But this time, he looked incredibly disheveled.
He lay on a bed against the wall, his face as pale as white paper, and his clothes covered in blood. Miss Swift hadn't killed him, but clearly had only given him the most basic treatment:
"He's truly an ungrateful person. Grandma Cassandra even introduced him to buy good things from other witches."
Miss Swift, who brought Xia De to the basement, said with dissatisfaction, and upon hearing the voice, Mr. Bernhardt struggled to get up from the bed:
"Look, it's Mr. Hamilton."
He tried to smile, but couldn't because his injuries were too severe.
"Where?"
Xia De asked in a low voice.
"I don't know either. I was only responsible for bringing that Vampire Prince, disguised as my nephew. I don't know the specific location. "
Mr. Bernhardt tried his best to answer.
"When?"
"Midnight, when the Blood Moon hangs in the sky."
It was currently 11:23 PM, only half an hour left.
"Mr. Hamilton, actually, you don't need to worry. Everything we do will not harm this City, nor will it harm anyone. We will compensate for all the losses caused to the Cassandra Auction House. Why don't you sit down and wait with me until midnight to witness the blood curtain being..."
"Shut up."
Miss Swift said with a gloomy voice. Grandma Cassandra had temporarily entrusted the auction house to her, but she had made such a huge oversight. Even if the opponent was too strong, it was still her dereliction of duty.
"The Blood Thorns Scepter is here. Can what you're trying to do really succeed?"
Xia De asked another Middle-Ring Sorceress standing at the door to bring the scepter, which was temporarily housed in another room in the basement.
The Blood Thorns Scepter was a black wooden scepter, with a ruby embedded at the very top. The entire scepter was entwined with a blood-colored thorn. One end of the thorn seemed to grow from the ruby, while the other end was wrapped around the tail of the scepter.
The black wood surface was polished smooth, but when held up to the light, one could see barely discernible raised letters—
【Thorns into my body, blood light with me.】
One had to grasp it very carefully to ensure the hand was not harmed by the thorns. This was a genuine sage-level relic, and it was a weapon-type relic.
"It doesn't matter. We collected nine relics, but only seven of them are enough."
Armand Bernhardt said, with no intention of hiding anything, and Xia De only knew five of them.
"Mr. Hamilton, you saved me in Sin Mansion, so I want to give you a piece of advice. Don't go after them. If you don't catch up, that's fine, but if you do, you really won't be able to come back."
The seriously injured Vampire looked at Xia De, his whites of his eyes heavily bloodshot.
Although this man had brought that Boy to Mi Fort, Xia De had no ill will towards Mr. Bernhardt. Armand Bernhardt was merely acting on orders, and at this moment, he was willing to provide all the information he knew:
"They are very important to me; I must get them back."
"Wait!" Gu Bai
The weak Mr. Bernhardt asked in confusion:
"We are discussing the angel-level relic, the 【Red Butterfly Twins】."
"Yes, they are very important to me."
Xia De nodded, then saw a look of awe appear on the face of this very high-society middle-aged Vampire.
With Miss Swift's permission, Xia De gave Mr. Bernhardt a small cup of water treated with 【Gluttony's Feast】. After he slowly drank it, Xia De sat by the narrow, prison-like bed against the wall and asked:
"I must go after them. Do you really have no other clues?"
"I am only Middle-Ring; the reason I was allowed to bring the Prince was because my noble status was convenient. But it's definitely on the mountain. I don't know the exact location. Sorry, I can't help you... Don't go after them, this is truly for your own good."
He continued to advise him tirelessly.
Xia De was silent for a moment, his peripheral vision catching the scepter carefully held by Miss Swift:
"The function of this scepter is to enhance extraordinary powers related to blood. How strong is this enhancement?"
"Very strong. If it's a power related to our Lord, then it's even stronger."
Mr. Bernhardt said, and seeing Xia De actively take the relic, he then explained how to use it:
"Chant the incantation 'Blood thorns penetrate my body, the path of blood opens now.' The blood thorns will pierce into the back of your hand. You cannot use the common language; you must use Columba's secret language. I don't really like using this type of scepter weapon; I prefer the two alchemy pistols I made myself."
The so-called "Columba's secret language" was the noble language used in the territories ruled by Vampires in the fourth epoch, also known as the Dark Era. The Vampire race was not as powerful as the elves, and did not have a language named after their race. Therefore, the "Columba" secret language from the ancient prosperous period of Vampires became the secret language of the upper echelons of the sixth epoch races, making it a considerably ancient language.
This was not even a compulsory subject at Saint Byron's; it was an elective. And while Xia De was proficient in writing, he had to see the text to read it; he couldn't possibly know the pronunciation of the corresponding cipher text just by knowing the common language translation.
He hesitated for a moment:
"Is Columba's secret language strongly related to your race?"
Xia De asked again. Mr. Bernhardt considered it for a moment, but then the witch apprentice spoke:
"This is a very important language for Vampires. At least a quarter of contemporary Vampire ancient texts and Miracle and spell scrolls are written in this language. This can almost be considered a racial language."
"That's right."
Mr. Bernhardt nodded gently. After drinking the water, although he was still seriously injured, his complexion had improved slightly.
"I understand."
Xia De reached into his pocket and took out the two green leaves he had obtained after completing the fifth epoch 3024 key.
These two youth everlasting leaves, one represented 【Knowledge - Original Sin Miracle】, and the other represented 【A Piece of True Information - Vampire】. Since there were no labels on the leaves, Xia De could only place the left one in front of his eyes first.
As the golden patterns on the leaf veins gradually permeated into his eyes, Xia De frowned slightly. This one was the Original Sin Miracle, which contained the method of adding the 【sloth】 Ling Rune to the 【Great Sin Chains】, but it was useless to him now.
"It's this one."
The second green leaf was also placed in front of his right eye. As vast Knowledge and information flooded into his mind, Xia De found the information he wanted within it:
"Indeed."
He took the scepter from Miss Swift's hand and, under the gaze of Mr. Armand Bernhardt and the witch apprentice, softly vocalized with his lungs, aided by a nasal hum, chanting:
"Blood thorns penetrate my body, the path of blood opens now."
The Knowledge of the Elf race had given Xia De a rudimentary grasp of Elvish, and the Knowledge of the Vampires indeed included the content of "Columba's secret language."
As Xia De's words fell, the blood-colored thorns on the scepter writhed, climbing onto Xia De's wrist and tightly coiling around it. They didn't pierce the skin, but Xia De distinctly felt a stinging sensation all over his body.
"This way, it's fine..."
"Mr. Hamilton, are you really going up the mountain?"
Mr. Bernhardt still tried to persuade Xia De to stay:
"I cannot tell you what will happen on the mountain, but... please don't go. I can guarantee with my soul that what happens next will absolutely not harm Middlesburg!"
But Xia De shook his head and left with Miss Swift.
The two entered the deepest part of the basement, the room where Helen and Grace had once lived. The Twins had already left; the curtains beside the huge four-poster bed were drawn open, and the clothes on the floor were gone, but the concentration of whisper elements was still unusually high.
"Mr. Hamilton, how will you find them?"
Miss Swift asked softly.
"I have a Miracle that allows me to see all the movements of a person's blood owner within a day by dripping their blood into my eyes."
"But there's no blood of my teacher's teachers here. Do you have it?"
"No, I don't either."
Xia De shook his head, holding the scepter and looking at the large bed:
"But I once dripped their blood into my own eyes, that was in the previous epoch..."
He paused:
"More precisely, that was two months ago (Chapter 568)."
The Blood Thorns Scepter enhanced the Blood Echo. Xia De, who should have only been able to see blood traces within a day, crossed a longer span of time and touched the power of blood. Clear red halos, and specifically red halos representing two people, appeared on that bed.
The figures of the red halos overlapped, showing that Grace and Helen had stayed there for a long time. And when they left the bed, their tall, god-like figures had returned to the size of normal human females:
"Miss Swift, then I'm off."
He gazed at the two red halos, now fully understanding what the God of Vampires intended to do. The ten stories of brewing wine were, in fact, meant to remind him of His true purpose.
For Leia and Dorothy to receive help, and even more so for two innocent souls not to be sacrificed, he was able to help them at the God's Wine Party in the previous epoch. This time, he would still be able to help them.
