"One rat talisman left..."
Victor picked up the final talisman carved with a rat pattern, turning it over and over between his fingertips for a long while.
He concentrated his will, held it up to the light, but the dull gray stone showed no reaction whatsoever.
Unlike the other talismans that would 'light up' with just a bit of 'emotion'.
"What the hell is this thing even for? Not giving any hints at all, terrible user experience!"
"Each of these talismans represents a powerful magic. Where did you get them from?"
Goody's ethereal form gracefully floated over, curiously examining the seemingly ordinary rat talisman in Victor's hand.
"Hey, now that's a topic I can get excited about!"
Victor immediately perked up, temporarily setting aside the rat talisman, and began animatedly recounting his 'great achievements'.
"Initially, I discovered them by hacking into Section 13's encrypted archives. It's said these talismans contain immense power and originally belonged to some ancient demon called 'Holy Lord'."
"Unfortunately, Section 13's defenses were too tight. So I had a brilliant idea and went to their arch-nemesis, the Dark Hand's headquarters."
"And I easily got three from there! Another one was 'kindly sponsored' on the street today—"
"A somewhat shady but skilled archaeologist, I think his name was Jackie Chan."
He recalled Jackie Chan embedded in the wall and couldn't help but chuckle.
"Let me tell you, in the Dark Hand's headquarters, they even worship a talking dragon sculpture!"
Victor gestured animatedly,
"Judging by the weathering marks, it's at least thousands of years old. That thing claimed to be 'Holy Lord', probably the demon mentioned in the archives."
"The aesthetic, tsk tsk, Wednesday, you'd definitely love it—retro and gloomy enough! I'll try to pry it loose for you as a bedside lamp when I get the chance!"
"Holy Lord? Holy Lord... Holy Lord?!"
Goody floated mid-air, slender fingers lightly tapping her pale chin, deep in thought as if desperately searching through a dusty memory library.
"Who? Never heard of him."
"Probably just some ancient'small fry', not worth mentioning."
Seeing that he couldn't figure out how to use the rat talisman, Victor immediately lost patience and casually tossed it aside like trash.
"What a piece of junk, no user experience at all."
The rat talisman traced an arc through the air and landed perfectly on the Super Moose doll dressed in a blue Superman suit that Enid had placed by the bedside.
The moment the talisman touched the doll's plush body—
Hum!
The carvings on the rat talisman suddenly glowed with a gentle white light. An indescribable life energy spread out like ripples, instantly enveloping the entire doll!
Then, under the incredulous gazes of Victor, Wednesday, and Enid—
The previously lifeless Super Moose doll suddenly twitched its limbs!
Then, it actually stood up on its own, patted non-existent dust off itself quite properly, and shouted in a righteous, slightly cartoonish voice:
"Doo-doo-doo-doo—! Moose action!"
Its plastic eyes actually lit up, locking onto Victor, its tiny plush finger pointing at him:
"Evil villain! How dare you take me away from Princess Jade! Face the judgment of Super Moose!"
Before the words even finished, the animated doll suddenly flew up, like a blue plush cannonball, charging fiercely toward Victor's face!
"Holy shit!"
Though startled, Victor reacted with astonishing speed, instinctively reaching out and precisely grabbing Super Moose by both antlers!
"Let go! Villain! Evil will be brought to justice!"
Super Moose was held mid-air, its short limbs still desperately kicking and punching, but its attack range was too limited, looking both comical and pitiful.
Victor held this struggling 'magical creature', eyes wide open. His earlier confusion vanished, replaced by the ecstatic joy of discovering a new World and a near-maniacal creativity:
"Holy crap! Giving life to inanimate objects?! This ability... this ability is insane!"
"With this power, I could even run for Pope in The Church!"
"No! I should just become Jesus! Make the old Pope himself praise my name while holding the Bible!"
His mind raced, his gaze sweeping over the sheep, rabbit, and monkey talismans, finally settling on the rat talisman.
"Rat, rabbit, sheep, monkey..."
He recalled the twelve neat slots on Holy Lord's sculpture, and an astonishing guess surfaced in his mind.
"Wait! Could this be... the Twelve Zodiac Animals from that ancient Eastern country?!"
"I suddenly think that guy called Holy Lord..."
Victor gasped, a trace of 'respect' for that unseen demon appearing on his face for the first time,
"...is actually pretty damn impressive! Such insane abilities, and he had twelve of them!"
However, that trace of respect was instantly replaced by his signature arrogance and possessiveness.
He triumphantly shook the still 'doo-doo-doo'-ing Super Moose in his hand, glanced at the four warm talismans on the bed, grinned, revealing sharp canines:
"What a pity, what a pity. Now these talismans, including you, little moving moose, all belong to me!"
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