Chapter 104: Eclipse Of The Black Sun
At the foot of the mountain under the night curtain, several fire basins burned within the camp, illuminating three figures in the central clearing.
The witch in a black long skirt sat holding a teacup, conversing with Viscount Xue Feng beside her and Scholar Heide.
“Time passes so quickly. The last time I came to Jiaoshi City was fifty years ago.” Her slender fingers bore black-purple nails like snake heads, gripping the teacup.
“Senior Student Melinsa, still the same as in the past, with little change in appearance.” Scholar Heide sighed.
Though her temperament had completely changed, her appearance was largely the same as before, so he could recognize her at a glance.
“Forty years ago, I entered Third Order and formally joined the ‘Nightmare Tea Party’. At that time, the organization gave me a bottle of ‘Shadow-Fixing Magic Potion’, which could prevent the body from aging and maintain the appearance unchanged for nearly thirty years.”
“If there are side effects, it’s probably the body’s involuntary ‘shadowing’.” Her fingers tapped.
“If you had successfully stepped into Third Order back then, you could have obtained the benefits of a formal Candle Keep member, exchanging years of contributions for a bottle of ‘Elder Potion’, halting the body’s age at seventy, no longer aging, and compared to the ‘Shadow-Fixing Potion’, the Elder Potion’s side effects are also minimal.”
“Heh, Senior Student is right, but these are all things of the past. Now I don’t think about them so much anymore.” Scholar Heide shook his head. After these years, he had become open-minded about life and death, no longer as attached as in his youth.
“Since you have few regrets, I won’t persuade you.” Melinsa slightly turned her gaze, looking toward the distant mountain wilderness.
“This time, as the Woodland’s representative, I came here to assess new students. I’ve passed through twenty-nine cities, and among those with excellent aptitude who completed the three goals, there is only one newcomer.”
“I originally thought Jiaoshi City would be the same as in previous years’ records, without much surprise, but this time it’s different.”
“Oh, has a student already completed the third goal?” Scholar Heide asked in surprise.
Even though Iona and Xilutiya had very high talent and performed well, Scholar Heide still didn’t hold much hope for either completing the third goal.
“The good news is, someone indeed completed it.” Melinsa seemed to want to tease this junior student she hadn’t seen in a long time, deliberately keeping it suspenseful.
“The bad news is, the two who completed the goal still inevitably must fight to the death, to decide the final winner.”
“This…” Scholar Heide stroked his beard for a moment, also sighing helplessly.
Both were his students, so he couldn’t favor one, only praying that both could come out alive.
“Is there another student who can compete with Iona?” Viscount Xue Feng was somewhat surprised. His previous overtures to Xilutiya were purely out of consideration for Madam Fran, never thinking the girl had such strong strength.
“There is, Lord Viscount.” Melinsa’s fingertip lightly tapped the cup, her other hand lightly propping her chin, revealing a playful smile.
Golden Honey Blood… somewhat rare, but such a thin bloodline isn’t much to see. That girl, however, is quite interesting.
……
In the forest, the two who had been fighting stood facing each other, temporarily halting the battle.
Iona covered one eye with her hand, the other gripping her sword propped at her side, her body trembling slightly, as if enduring great pain.
Seeing Iona’s strange condition not far away, Xilutiya stopped her hand.
“Are you okay?”
However, what came was not the other’s agreement, but some dazed mutterings.
“No, don’t… I won’t admit defeat, won’t admit defeat…” As if talking in her sleep, Iona’s body swayed.
Unfortunately, no matter how unwilling, her body had reached its limit. Standing now was already extremely difficult, let alone launching another attack.
For her extremely unstable state, Xilutiya didn’t dare approach rashly, only watching from several meters away, waiting for the other to gradually calm down.
Unfortunately, things didn’t develop as smoothly as Xilutiya imagined.
Perhaps from extreme unwillingness, or complete inability to accept her future life, Iona slowly reached her hand toward her neck, where there was a golden pendant.
Her fingers opened the pendant, revealing a miniaturized portrait of Iona’s family inside. She seemed only about ten years old, smiling especially happily, with two properly dressed man and woman standing beside her, probably her parents.
However, Iona’s purpose didn’t seem to be reminiscing over this small portrait. Her nails directly crushed the figures on the portrait, tearing it to reveal the hidden black-purple gemstone inside.
When this black-purple gemstone was taken out by her, Xilutiya felt a strange and familiar fluctuation.
That was… 【Twisted】 Nature’s power
【Black-Purple Gemstone】（Second Order·Twisted）: A special gemstone condensed in the abyss land, containing ‘Twisted’ Nature, usable in certain rituals and experiments.
When this gemstone was taken out, the sound of wings flapping came from the forest. Thirteen night birds appeared on the branches respectively, seven of which were owls, and five were unrecognized birds.
These night birds’ eyes tightly stared at Iona below, faint purple-red turning in their eyes, as if surveilling something, without intervening.
The black-purple gemstone was picked up by Iona. Her chaotic crimson eyes emerged from between her hair bangs, looking at the gemstone before her, then slowly pressing it into her eyes.
At this moment, the night birds in the forest cried out together, emitting chilling sounds, with intangible mutterings spreading.
After the black-purple gemstone touched Iona’s eyes, it slowly melted, scattering strange strands. These black-purple smoky threads condensed without dispersing, floating like tentacles.
‘Bang’
As Xilutiya was about to step forward, a strange pulse rhythm spread from Iona, like the heartbeat of an intangible thing, twisting the surrounding world.
Whispers began sounding in her ears, as if many people were speaking around her, but in this forest at the moment, besides her and Iona, there was actually no one else.
The surrounding trees also began twisting unnaturally, her perception of the surroundings becoming strange. The soil underfoot seemed to roil and surge, but upon closer look, nothing had changed.
Clearly in reality, yet as if placed in a nightmare.
And at some unknown time, the black-purple strands dancing around Iona’s eyes had disappeared, but her originally crimson eyes were now pitch black, with no visible pupil changes.
The originally fiery Blazing Sun now underwent a strange twist in Xilutiya’s eyes.
This is…
Xilutiya inexplicably recalled the history Scholar Heide had once taught.
『Degenerate Ritual·Eclipse of the Black Sun』（Blazing Sun·Twisted·Nightmare）
‘In the late years of the Golden Honey Dynasty, facing the Corona Dragon that had reclaimed the ‘Blazing Sun’ position, the entire dynasty arranged tens of thousands of giant magic arrays across the Continent. They communed with the endless abyss at the bottom of the Twilight Sea, using ‘Twisted’ as the catalyst, striving to swap the newborn Blazing Sun with the shadows in the abyss, to let the Blazing Sun immerse in the abyss, then rise a brand-new black sun.’
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Conditions: This ritual targets a ‘Blazing Sun’ individual, requires the environment to be ‘Nightmare’ Nature, and have ‘Twisted’ Nature as catalyst. The more your arrangements and the historical legends of the Golden Honey Dynasty’s final years synchronize, the stronger the effect.
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Notes: After activating this ritual, it summons the resentful ghosts of the ‘Golden Honey Dynasty’ from history. They call for that once-unfinished grand feat, muttering ancient Golden Honey Dynasty prayers. During initiation, a blood descendant of the ‘Golden Honey Dynasty’ must participate. The catalyst ‘Twisted’ Nature cannot be lower rank than the target ‘Blazing Sun’. The stronger the surrounding environment’s ‘Nightmare’ Nature, the smoother the ritual proceeds.
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Effect: Twists the target’s ‘Blazing Sun’ Nature into ‘Nightmare’, but due to the legend’s incompleteness and the Twisted Nature’s side effects, after the reversal, it causes unknown alienating changes to the target.
