The ghost of Mayor Grancho didn't wait for Jack to ask questions. The spectral entity lacked the stability for a conversation. Instead, it raised its hands. And the world around them dissolved into a churning whirlpool of gray mist and silver light.
"Watch..." Mayor Grancho's voice groaned. Echoing through the trio's mind. "The greed of men... the doom of this land..."
Jack stood his ground. His hands instinctively held his steamrune shotgun tightly, though he knew this was very likely a memory.
Beside him, Reina adjusted her sleeves. Her expression was calm but sharp. Aella gripped Jack's coat. Her eyes went wide as the scene shifted.
The ruined ranch was suddenly restored to its former glory. It was a hundred years ago. The sun was high. The grass was a vibrant, shimmering emerald. But the air smelled of blood.
A group of three people stood in the center of a complex ritual circle. They looked like high-level transcendent adventurers. Dressed in reinforced leather and silk. Carrying weapons that hummed with mana.
Jack hadn't activated his [Eyes of Judgement] yet, but information about these people had automatically appeared in his mind. They were a group of four known as the Horizon Seekers.
The leader was a man named Agrash Espath. He held an ancient, yellowed scroll in his hand.
"The Sun Ring..." He whispered. His voice was thick with ambition. "The legends must be true. We already have the [Crystal Graveyard Shard]..."
"And now, we have Grancho's [Crystal Grassland Shard]. The fusion can start today." Another man said as he dragged the heavily injured Mayor Grancho out of his home.
The mayor was a transcendent being. But he didn't seem to be a combatant. He looked like a peaceful Beast Tamer. A wealthy rancher who happened to own a powerful artifact.
He was thrown to the ground near the three men. And these people didn't even negotiate with him.
One of them stepped forward. He was a tall man with cold, calculating eyes and a jagged scar across his chin. A somehow familiar face to Jack but he didn't remember how it was familiar to him.
The memory gave Jack information about this person though. This was Eduard Cleaver, one of the Horizon Seekers. Without a word, Cleaver drove a thin stiletto into Grancho's throat.
"Ruthless, yet efficient." Jack remarked quietly with narrowed eyes. Beside him, Reina frowned, and Aella looked away.
The Seekers ignored the dying mayor. One of them, a man called Morko Blockarm, produced a colorful sea shell. The [Shell of Iridescent Star]. They placed it in the center of the ritual. Between the [Crystal Graveyard Shard] and the [Crystal Grassland Shard].
They began to chant. Feeding their mana into the three objects. The air began to vibrate with a frequency that made Jack's teeth ache. The originally clear [Crystal Graveyard Shard] pulsed and emitted a dark, necrotic mist. And the [Crystal Grassland Shard], which was also originally clear, now emitted a pulsing green green color.
Along with the [Shell of Iridescent Star], both shards began float. Then, they began to orbit around the levitating shell. Slowly getting closer to each other. Moving in harmonious flow.
But the harmony was short-lived.
One of the four, Eduard Cleaver, seemed to have his own idea. As the ritual reached its peak, Cleaver drew a heavy dagger and slammed it into one of the shards. The [Crystal Graveyard Shard].
"What are you doing, Eduard?" Agrash screamed. But it was too late.
Cleaver didn't answer. He redirected the raw energy of the activated [Crystal Graveyard Shard] into the blade of his dagger. The ritual spiraled out of control. The Graveyard Shard shattered, its essence coated Cleaver's weapon in a layer of oily, black void.
The [Shell of Iridescent Star] cracked. And the ritual power that levitated both the shell and the [Crystal Grassland Shard] disappeared. Dropping both object heavily onto the ritual circle on the ground.
Eduard Cleaver moved like a shadow. Decapitating Agrash Espath before the leader could even draw his weapon. The other two members, Morko Blockarm and a thin man called Lambear Geskull tried to escape, but Cleaver was faster.
He stabbed Blockarm's heart and cornered Lambear Geskull against the manor wall. His enhanced blade injured the latter but failed to end his life.
Geskull, bleeding from a mortal wound in her chest, laughed. It was a sinister, bloody laugh. "You think you can have it all, Eduard? You Bastard!"
Realizing he couldn't survive, Geskull took out a spooky root figurine and spat his blood on it. It was a [Jinx Lord's Root]. A sacrificial artifact of vengeful desperation.
"I offer my life to the jinx!" He growled. "Let the betrayal be the cage! Let the blade be the curse! Die with us, Eduard!"
As he laughed, Geskull whole body was distorted and violently sucked into the root figurine. Then, it turned into a greenish black shadow that charged at Eduard Cleaver.
Cleaver swung his black blade to deflect the curse. He was fast. And the blade absorbed the brunt of the sacrificial curse. But the energy didn't vanish.
Some parts of it still pierced Eduard Cleaver's body. The rest was reflected and collided with the cracked [Shell of Iridescent Star] and the unfused [Crystal Grassland Shard].
The collision created a silent explosion. It destroyed the shell, but not the shard. The destroyed shell folded the space around the shard. The space collapsed into a pocket dimension... the eerie, desolate realm Jack was currently standing in.
And the neat ritual circle was twisted. Its runes turned weird and crooked. Its perfect geometric arrangement turned illogical. Its main function changed. It was now aimed to seal the newly created spatial dimension.
The memory faded. Jack, Reina, and Aella were back in front of the ruined manor. The ghost of Mayor Grancho was gone. Its energy was spent.
"So..." Jack finally commented. "A botched ritual, a cursed blade, and a created spatial realm... What a mess!"
"Dear..." Reina said with taut eyebrows. "The curse struck Edward Cleaver's body right? How did he survive that? And how does he look the same now? It happened a hundred years ago, right?"
Jack looked at her curiously. "What do you mean he survived?"
Reina looked at him in bafflement. "You don't recognize him? He is Eduard 'Blackblade' Cleaver. The captain of the Blackblade Pirates. The one who led the pirate attacks on Calmcoast and many other coastal towns in Elrush. His wanted poster is everywhere in Lonestone."
Jack suddenly realized why that man looked familiar but he couldn't recognize him. He had never met the man in person. It was the wanted poster.
"So, it's him." Jack narrowed his eyes. "He shouldn't be able to survive. Although he deflected some of the curse, he was still perfectly hit by the rest of it."
Reina looked at the eerie, ruined manor. "There might be an answer inside."
Jack nodded. "The spatial fluctuations inside are... even more messy inside. Wait a moment. Let me check."
He immediately activated his [Eyes of Judgement] and scanned the whole mansion. Various information appeared in his view overlaying the scene.
"Crap!" Jack swore as he understood the information. "The curse is truly messing up this space. And the only solution is inside the mansion. And it's not a simple solution."
"What is it dear?"
"There are twelve 'Eduard Cleavers' inside." Jack replied. "The curse broke the man's soul into twelve parts. Each has the same power with the original but has different sequence. To break the seal, we have to kill them in order. If we mess up, the loop resets. The twelve will recover completely."
"How do we know the order?" Aella asked, not showing any fear.
Jack looked at her and smiled thinly. "My [Eyes of Judgement] could see the sequence. But the two of you might not be able to see it. So, it seemed that I would have been the one to do the killing."
"They won't be easy to kill." Reina reminded him. "If their power is the same with the original, during the time of the memory, he will be at the peak of Enhanced Transcendent level. This won't be a walk in the park."
"Yeah. But that's the only way to solve the curse." Jack said. "Let's start the hunt then. Both of you, focus on survival and try to injure the Cleavers. But don't kill them. Rune, detect any danger inside."
The fairy guide pulsed with a steady, crimson glow. She floated ahead.
Jack led the way into the manor.
The interior of the manor was a nightmare of warped architecture. Stairs led to ceilings. Doors opened into empty voids. The air tasted like blood and smoke.
Jack stood at the forefront. His steamrune shotgun was leveled at the shadows stretching across the floor.
Behind him, Reina adjusted the leather-clad grip on her twin handguns. Her eyes was already as sharp as tempered steel.
Aella stood beside her. Her small hands glowed with the black-purple intensity of her voidfire as both of them held her revolver tightly. Her expression was uncharacteristically grave. The chaotic and unreasonable scene in the manor interior seemed to bother her significantly.
"Rune, scan for danger!" Jack muttered in cautious voice.
The fairy guide pulsed a warning shade of vibrant crimson. But, before Jack could process the information, the shadows detached themselves from the walls.
Twelve figures emerged. They were identical. Gaunt, pallid, dressed in shredded leather outfit. Each of them was gripping a demonic, charcoal-black blade. One that seemed to drip with viscous, ink-like darkness.
"Eduard Cleaver. The malnourished version, huh?" Jack identified them. "All twelve of the bastard."
The twelve foes didn't wait. They moved with the synchronized, predatory grace of a pack of wolves. They didn't just rush directly. They surged in a pincer movement. Their blades were whistling through the air with a sound that set Jack's teeth on edge.
"Spread out! Be careful!" Jack barked order to the two girls.
He didn't wait for their offense. He activated his [Chains of Vengeance]. The chain bracer on his left forearm buzzed as black, flaming chains erupted from his wrists like hissing vipers.
They lashed out. Catching two of the Eduard Cleavers mid-air. Slamming them into a heavy yet strange table in the room. One that immediately shattered under the force.
He pivoted. His body shifted into the Savage Rampage stance. A strange, unpredictable martial style that he had developed. This style matched his rakshasa form much better. But that didn't mean that his human form was unable to use it.
And, in human form, he could adjust the style to his arsenal of weapons.
BOOM!
His shotgun roared. The steamrune powered slug ripping through the shoulder of the one his [Eyes of Judgement] marked as 'Eduard Cleaver, the Envious'. The first target.
It stumbled. Black ichor sprayed the wallpaper.
Jack didn't stop. He vaulted over a collapsing pillar, chained the Eduard Cleaver that attempted to ambush Aella, and slammed it into the floorboards. Applying enough force to crack the foundation.
At the same time, Reina vanished in a shimmer of grey fog. She reappeared behind a pair of Eduard Cleavers. Her handguns spat lightning—infused bullets. One that crackled with sparkling lightning.
She activated her [Absolute Blink] again before the two Eduard Cleavers could pivot their heavy blades to bisect her. She was a ghost in the battlefield. A blur of shadow and precision.
On the other side, Aella was also capable of handling her part. She was a storm of dark purple fire. She seemed to dance through the air. Her own voidfire revolver barked in tandem with Reina's.
She didn't fear the blades. When one Eduard Cleaver lunged, she simply vanished into a spark of black-purple flame. Reappearing several meters away. Leaving a lingering trail of purple-and-black fire spark at where she had been.
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