Unlike Wayne's yearning, Veronica was gripped by utter terror toward the so-called Gate of Truth. The fear was so intense that it overpowered the creeping madness, restoring a fleeting clarity to her chaotic mind.
Expending what little mana she had left in a single burst, she wrestled back control of her body and shouted toward the sky, "Stop! Hurry and stop! The Gate of Truth is forbidden magic! Your mind cannot withstand the baptism of the world! While there's still time, stop now!"
Veronica did not care whether Mike lived or died; she only feared that her own party would be dragged down with him. Any proper mage avoided things like the Gate of Truth like the plague. She had never seen anyone as reckless and stubborn as Mike.
"Little girl, what do you know? You swallow whatever your schoolteachers tell you! Do you have any idea how precious knowledge is? Do you know how many mages long for this very moment just like me?"
Mike let out a contemptuous sneer, a flash of madness crossing his face. "The Nelson family has waited for this day for generations, all to conduct a single sacrifice, open the Gate of Truth, become a legendary mage, and obtain all the knowledge in existence! For this, I am willing to pay any price—even madness itself!"
The priest thought Mike had returned to the town to fulfill his family's unfinished mission, to lay the townsfolk to rest so everyone could find peace, and to settle past scores in vengeance along the way.
Veronica thought Mike intended to sacrifice the town to the Goddess of Death, currying favor with the divinity he worshipped in exchange for formidable transcendent power.
Both were wrong!
The Nelson family had never thought that way from the very beginning. True, they were believers in the Goddess of Death, but their faith was far from devout. They had bent their knees to Death solely to obtain mighty power.
The moment a better stepping stone appeared, they would not hesitate to betray their faith and bend their knees to embrace another deity.
Gods were defined by mortals; whatever kind of god mortals needed, that was the shape the god took!
Such was the Nelson family. As their heir, Mike upheld this philosophy. They viewed gods merely as trading partners, indifferent to whether a deity was benevolent or malevolent. If a god wanted faith, they would go through every polite formality. It was nothing more than a transaction—what was the point of agonizing over good and evil?
Whether faith preceded magic, or magic preceded faith, was a question worth pondering.
Mages were no fools. Practitioners like the Nelson family were hardly rare; they appeared exceedingly devout only because they had yet to find a suitable stepping stone.
The bizarre curse on the Town of Kafuno had provided that very opportunity. On that fateful day, an uncanny spatial realm descended from above, and the town underwent an earth-shaking upheaval. Incomparably mighty laws altered everything, killing the townsfolk while leaving them convinced they were still alive.
To describe it as "killing" was not entirely accurate. In a single instant, the transformation altered their very form of life, fixing them in a state of death where they could never rest.
After exhaustive research, the Nelson family confirmed that a windfall had dropped right into their laps. They had claimed a piece of the world's law; by arranging a golden triangle and offering it as a sacrifice, they could open the legendary Gate of Truth.
A mage who laid eyes upon the Gate of Truth could master all worldly knowledge, transcend mortal flesh, step into legend, and obtain the seed of divinity.
With the chance to stand on equal footing with the gods within their grasp, the mad slaughter of that night became all too understandable.
Unfortunately, they were simply too weak. Outmatched, they were wiped out by the townsfolk led by the priest, leaving only Mike's collateral branch to narrowly escape.
Heavy rain had delayed them on the road that day; by the time they arrived, the Londan investigation team had already closed the case.
Decades came and went, bringing them fifty years forward to today. This time, the priest led the way, and Mike had tricked the Goddess of Death into bestowing her mana upon him. Grand success was finally within reach.
Success was always accompanied by tribulations. At the thought, Mike could not help but laugh aloud. Below, Veronica was still shouting something, but he heard none of it.
"You've misunderstood! It's not that entering the Gate of Truth makes a mage legendary—only a legendary mage is qualified to enter the Gate of Truth!" Veronica cried out at the top of her lungs. Seeing Mike completely unmoved, she hoisted William and Monica onto her shoulders, preparing to flee.
Whether they could get away was a question for later; running came first!
After two steps, Veronica glanced back at Wayne, who was trembling where he stood—a three-meter-tall, grotesque... monster. She racked her brains but could not fathom what kind of magic it was, assuming only that he was a novice whose contaminated mind had caused his spell to mutate.
After a brief hesitation, she strode toward Wayne, intending to drag this burden along as well.
If they ran, they ran together; if they died, they died to—
She only hoped she could chuck Wayne as far away as possible before dying!
High above, the giant full moon vanished, replaced by the starry cosmos. This void bridged the mortal realm with the truth of the world, and the Gate of Truth swung fully open.
Veronica reached out to Wayne, intending to haul him up. To her horror, her fingers sank into gray-white flesh that felt like rotting mud. Terrified, she yanked her hand back, having narrowly avoided being swallowed whole.
"What kind of monster is this? How is it so disgusting?!"
Veronica was thoroughly repulsed, but she tried once more to take Wayne with her. Right then, Wayne's monstrous physique slowly began to shrink. The overgrown flesh migrated toward his back, and an incongruous pair of bat wings unfurled, kicking up a fierce gale as he launched into the air.
The strange white bird flapped its wings upward, aiming straight for the Gate of Truth. This drew Mike's furious ire. The black meatball bore down, and the two monsters collided midair before plummeting together from the sky.
Influenced by the Book of Greed, Wayne's mind was consumed by nothing but the Gate of Truth. Being thwarted sent him into a blazing fury. His gray-white arms transformed into twin long blades, plunging viciously into the black mass of flesh.
The pale blades resembled biological keratin; along the spine lay slick, soft flesh with clearly throbbing veins, while the cutting edges gleamed with a cold metallic luster, razor-sharp.
Two massive gashes tore open the meatball, and a downpour of viscous black fluid drenched Wayne, staining him black.
This black fluid was the physical manifestation of the law itself, the root of the curse preventing the townsfolk from finding peace. Tainted by even a drop, one would be integrated into the town's uncanny space, becoming a part of that black meatball.
*Join us!*
*Become one of us...*
Countless whispers murmured in his ears, but Wayne turned a deaf ear. Soon enough, his contoured, bumpy skin absorbed every drop of the viscous black fluid clinging to his surface.
Who was cursing whom remained to be seen!
Watching the two masses of flesh writhing and entwining, Veronica felt her stomach violently churn and her sanity plummet. Giving no further thought to whether Wayne lived or died, she hoisted William and Monica and fled the spot.
Too late!
High in the sky, the Gate of Truth violently contracted until it withered to the size of a needlepoint, then abruptly detonated outward. Darkness engulfed the earth, submerging the Town of Kafuno completely.
Bone-chilling cold and agony enveloped her body in an instant.
Veronica's frame drifted upward, convulsions wracking her limbs from the pain. William and Monica were also jolted awake by the acute torment. A vast flood of information poured into their minds, scrambling their thoughts beyond all reason and twisting their facial features into bizarre grimaces.
There was jubilant ecstasy, but also pain and struggle...
The Gate of Truth shattered the curse. Monica's form slowly shifted back to normal—completely unclothed, her true self laid bare.
She possessed long platinum-blonde hair and a delicate, angelic face that contrasted intensely with a boldly devilish, voluptuous figure.
If Monica had expanded, William had shrunk. Retaining her blonde pigtails and clean, flawless features, her build was rather petite compared to Monica's—half a head shorter—leaving her previously baggy clothes hanging loosely over her frame.
All three female university students had been altered by the curse: Veronica had her mana sealed; William had her mana sealed and had turned into a hulking brute; and Monica had suffered the worst, turned into a cat with the addition of two unfamiliar little bells.
With the curse broken, Veronica's mana was unshackled. Under the onslaught of chaotic, overwhelming knowledge, her mind grew increasingly muddled. Gazing at her best friends drifting away, she weakly reached out an arm. She tried to grasp them, but caught nothing, forced to watch helplessly as they drifted farther and farther.
The light gradually faded from her hollow eyes, and a piercing chill drowned her consciousness.
Her heavy eyelids slowly sank, and tears of bitter reluctance slid silently down her cheeks. Powerless to struggle, Veronica could only await the arrival of death. "It's over..."
*So cold!*
*Smack!*
A warm hand pressed against Veronica's lower back, dispelling the chill, then seized the waistband of her trousers and hoisted her onto a shoulder.
Wayne!
Eyes crimson and breathing heavily, he stumbled over, stark naked.
His gaze burned with intense agony and struggle. Every movement he made felt like an unbearable barrage of needles. Only thanks to the Book of Greed did he barely retain his sanity, capable of forming a few simple thoughts.
For instance: get the black cat, the gay guy, and the young lady out of here.
Dazed and heavily reduced in intellect, Wayne wondered where the black cat had gone. Unmoved by the stark naked, platinum-blonde beauty before him, he clamped her under his arm without hesitation, then caught William's blonde pigtails in his mouth, taking one step after another toward the light ahead.
"What are you crying for? Who said it's over?!"
Chapter 17