Chapter 135: Blood Ritual
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Within just 3 weeks, led by Sir Alfred, Dreadmoor and all its powerful warriors were able to entrench themselves firmly within the Midnight Forest under the supervision of the World Sovereign, forcing the Demoness Sect to hole up within their sealed secondary dimension.
They cut off their access to food and resources and for 3 weeks, the Witches locked in the Fate Realm suffered.
After watching more than a dozen of her elite squads that she sent outside get annihilated by the enemies, Seraphina knew instinctively that she could no longer afford to be reckless.
Afterall, B and A Rank Awakened were still one of the strongest individual forces in the universe. They were the core of every army.
Losing them in such a manner was too useless and detrimental to the foundation and integrity of the Demoness Sect.
Seraphina was pushed to the wall.
But as an experienced combatant, Awakened, and leader, when desperate, she decided to flip the tables of the ongoing war completely.
Seraphina decided to conduct a large-scale ritual.
The goal?
For 3 weeks, Seraphina didn’t just entrench herself and all her subordinates in the Fate Realm because of Samson and Sir Alfred’s threat, the true reason why she did so was because of her overwhelming fear of Zaratul.
Zaratul was still weak right now, apparently, but the fear of the real Zaratul at his peak still lingered.
Her PTSD was what pushed Seraphina to hide and entrench herself.
Of course, she knew that the Demoness Sect could not push through the entire war by just hiding; that was simply unreasonable.
The true reason why she persevered was because she wanted to observe the current strength of Dreadmoor, and most importantly she wanted to see Zaratul himself and observe him from afar.
She wanted to know his current condition before taking her next step.
And yet, despite the fact that it was already 3 weeks into the war, Zaratul was nowhere to be seen.
It was almost like the war didn’t concern him at all.
This made Seraphina anxious for the past 3 weeks than even the effects of the ongoing war on her subordinates in the Fate Realm. Without knowing Zaratul’s current condition, she simply couldn’t put her mind at peace.
With her set of abilities, Seraphina was one of the most powerful Seers in the world as an S Rank Fate Sovereign of the Witch Class.
As a Witch of the Fate Witch pathway, reading fate was her specialty.
She could prophesy and see visions, but this passive ability of hers was restricted especially when being used against other S Rank Sovereigns.
And of all the S Rank Sovereigns that Seraphina have ever had the chance of meeting, Zaratul was the heaviest of them all.
The weight of his fate and destiny was like the core of a planet.
Despite being an S Rank Sovereign herself, she simply couldn’t carry the weight of his fate. The last time when she tried it, she almost knocked herself unconscious and since then, she dared not casually look into Zaratul’s fate.
But now, she was desperate.
She wanted to know Zaratul’s current condition to guide her next decisions, and she wanted to know it by all means.
And when it comes to by all means, the only way Seraphina knew to bypass the restrictions of fate to view the weight of a reality she was not meant to bear and carry herself was through a ritual, a large-scale ritual sacrificing something important to her.
Her grey eyes gleamed coldly. ’It’s now or never’.
...
Rustle! Rustle!
The leaves swayed in the dark and the night held its breath.
At the center of a vast, rune-carved circle stood a Witch with robes as dark as the starless sky above, its hems whispering against the scorched earth and the ceaseless wind.
Seraphinha held her ritual staff, an S Rank Artifact to amplify the efficacy of all rituals that she did.
Her eyes glowed with grey qi, cold and emotionless.
Around her kneeled over a thousand figures in perfect formation, her own allies and subordinates!
Her followers, her chosen.
Most of them were C Rank Awakened Witches, while a few were talented D Rank Witches and fewer were B Rank Witches. Every single one of them held a ritual dagger.
Kneeling before their High Priestess, not one of them trembled and that was the most terrible part because they were already enthralled by the same woman who swore to protect them.
They were Seraphina’s sacrifice to fulfill the law of equivalent exchange for the ritual that she was about to make.
The ritual site stretched across an entire valley, its boundaries marked by monoliths that were etched with ancient sigils. Between them, lines of qi glowed in dull crimson, forming intricate patterns that twisted the eye and defied reason.
The air was thick and heavy with the metallic scent of blood that was not yet spilled, but was already promised.
Seraphina took a deep breath, then she raised her hands and for a moment, she hesitated.
It was small, so small that no one else would have noticed but within her, something fractured as she stared at the thousand figures kneeling before her.
These were not strangers. She knew most of their names, she had trained some of them personally, she had fought beside them, and laughed with them in quieter moments. They had trusted her not just with their lives, but with their deaths, and she had accepted.
"Forgive me," she closed her eyes and whispered, then her qi flared and influenced by it, the first blade fell.
It was not hers, but theirs as the kneeling figures moved as one, drawing their ritual daggers across their own throats in a single, synchronized motion.
It was eerie to watch.
There were no cries, no resistance. Only the wet, soft sound of life ending, multiplied across the valley as a thousand souls seemed to wail at the same time.
Blood poured into the etched channels at their feet, racing along the carved lines as if the earth itself drank eagerly.
And then she did it...
Omni-Fate Domain!
Instant Ritual!
With Instant Ritual, she didn’t need to go through the elaborate process of getting extracts, fate oil, and other ritual essentials.
As an S Rank Fate Sovereign and with the Level 80 skill, when activated and using it, she can perform rituals without preparation.
As her gray qi flared, rising around her, the runes finally ignited.
BZZZZ!
A violent red light surged outward, bathing everything in a hellish glow and briefly lighting up this corner of the Fate Realm.
Grasping her ritual staff tightly, Seraphina finally felt the impact of the ritual take hold. It was not like a gentle current, but like a ravenous force tearing through her veins as she staggered.
Behind and around her, at the same time the bodies began collapsing one by one as they lost their last hold to life.
Lifeless now, their purpose was fulfilled as the circle pulsed brighter, fed by their sacrifice, by their loyalty, and also by her betrayal.
Seraphina bore the full weight of it.
"Come," she commanded, her voice no longer entirely her own as it now echoed, layered, as though countless ancient voices were speaking through her from an era long past. "Show me". She said in a rumbling voice, and then...
CRKSH!
The world split!
Not physically, but perceptually in an extremely violent manner as reality peeled back like a wound that was forced open.
Shadows twisted into shapes, then into memories, then into something that was far more dangerous... truth.
And then, visions flooded her mind.
She saw a cave hidden beneath a fire-streaked mountain that did not exist on any map, it looked like another realm entirely.
She saw a figure cloaked in shifting darkness, his presence like a void that devoured even qi itself. And as she looked at him, she seemed to sense countless terrifying eyes looking back at her.
Look into the abyss long enough, and it’ll look back!
The impact made Seraphina bleed from the corner of her eyes but resolute, she stayed strong and continued watching.
She saw crimson draconic eyes that were ancient, patient, aware, predatory, and filled with sinister killing intent.
She saw a fog-filled silhouette of a mountain with a hundred peaks.
And then, she sensed it... those countless terrifying eyes in the background, they finally seemed aware of her spying like they just sensed her intrusion.
And for a heartbeat, they locked onto her...
...then they smiled.
BOOM!
Seraphina felt like a sledgehammer was just slammed against her head as she screamed from the sheer impact of fate, revelation and truth.
She screamed loudly in pain, but not for long as her scream soon turned into a growl of defiance even as the knowledge burned itself into her mind.
Blood streamed from her eyes, her nose, her mouth, but she did not break. She held the vision, forced it to remain, and forced it to yield everything.
Seraphina stood standing till the end, then she grinned.
’Found you’.
