Silas recited from the human-skin scripture, his ears filled with maddening whispers as strange visions flooded his sight.
He saw a world once shrouded in darkness, suddenly illuminated by a blinding light cascading from the heavens, bathing the chaotic land below.
He saw noble elves screaming as they were reduced to charcoal wherever that light touched.
Mysterious giant birds wreathed in pale flames rapidly decayed into skeletons.
Dragons with torn wings roared as they plummeted from the sky, their scorching blood raining down to burn through and melt the illusory yet magnificent cities below.
He saw ascetics clad in crude robes, barefoot as they trekked through mountain ranges, following pilgrim processions into the depths of the dark land. At the head of the column, a silver-white angel served as their only light.
He also saw a handsome young knight astride a headless red horse, driving a chariot across the battlefield. Everywhere he passed, raging flames erupted, their light crimson as fresh blood.
At the end of these strange and sacred visions were Ma'am M's golden eyes.
She gazed at Silas for a long time, her pupils carrying an indescribable longing.
*Stop staring at me like that. Don't your eyes get dry?*
Silas endured the pain and visions, gritting his teeth as he continued reciting the scripture. Ma'am M's slender, pale fingers kept moving unconsciously, as if the moment he dared to stop, she would make her move against Cecilia.
"That's enough."
After what felt like an eternity, just as his spirit teetered on the edge of collapse, Ma'am M finally spoke.
Silas immediately stopped reading and closed the human-skin scripture. His body trembled, and blood trickled from both ears.
"Your body is truly resilient. An ordinary 'Listener' hearing this level of recitation would have their brains leaking out their ears by now," Ma'am M said approvingly. "Well? Do you feel the potion digesting inside you?"
"More than half digested."
Silas shot her a resentful glare.
Ma'am M was growing increasingly impatient, and he could probably guess why. Her body was gradually falling apart. Like before, when she suddenly lost an arm or a wrist, he'd witnessed such incidents several times recently.
Ma'am M was trying to save herself, and the key to her salvation seemed to be Silas himself.
That's why she was forcibly pushing him to digest the potion.
"I have to go to the company tomorrow, or the captain will start getting suspicious," Silas said.
"Fine, but remember to come back early."
*Come back early to be tortured by you some more?*
Silas sneered inwardly.
Over the past few days, Ma'am M had been preparing multiple things. She had Cecilia temporarily withdraw from school, then ran around on her behalf collecting materials.
These included both mystical materials purchased from Beyonder markets and strange items like "extreme emotions" that had to be gathered from the lower streets and the port district.
She'd even paid out of her own pocket, having his sister purchase a standalone house in the East Borough to store materials and inscribe ritual arrays.
"Come back early. The sooner you finish digesting the potion and advance, the sooner you'll be able to help me complete the ritual," Ma'am M said.
According to her explanation, the ritual array inscribed in the standalone house was preparation for a healing ritual that could cure Ma'am M's severe injuries. Originally, this ritual required the officiant to reach the level of Rose Bishop to perform. But due to Silas's unique nature, with Ma'am M providing assistance, he could attempt it once he advanced to Sequence 7 Hermit.
Clearly, Ma'am M was lying again.
Because Silas understood that ritual.
It was an evil ritual that would dissolve all of Silas's flesh and blood, turning him into nourishment for Ma'am M.
Ordinary Secrets Suppliants only mastered a small number of ritual spells and had difficulty accessing such hidden, evil rituals. Only through rewards from the cult's upper echelons could they obtain a few, like the "Cathedral Descent" that Hanass had once used.
But Silas was vastly different. After becoming a Secrets Suppliant, the sheer volume of ritual knowledge nearly burst his brain, as if the True Creator at the top was desperate to establish contact with him. So when his sister brought back the ritual array pattern for him to see, he recognized it immediately.
If Silas completed the ritual according to Ma'am M's wishes, the result wouldn't be as simple as healing. His flesh and blood would completely become part of Ma'am M. This fusion was far more severe than a Rose Bishop's "Devour." It could even be said that his body and spirituality would be entirely possessed by Ma'am M!
*Her goal really is my body all along.*
Based on the deterioration rate of Ma'am M's body, Silas knew that within a day or two, he would be forced into a final showdown with her!
And on his side, how many trump cards did he have?
First, the Beyonder items. He had three: the Servant's Bell that he'd barely used, the white bone flute that had been used three times and couldn't guarantee safety or power since it lost Azik's blood, and the Clockwork Clown that could maintain itself for at most three minutes.
Uh... the situation felt rather delicate.
Then there were Silas's own abilities. The Secrets Suppliant stage primarily granted understanding of rituals, while the Listener stage provided the "Profane Language" skill, which could inflict severe mental damage on targets but consumed considerable spirituality.
Besides himself, there was Cecilia, who had already become an Assassin. She might serve as a surprise attack force at a critical moment.
And Silas's final trump card was the powerful charm he'd obtained through prayer to the Hidden Sage: "Sage's Enlightenment." It was already embedded beneath the skin of his hand, ready to use at any moment. It could subject Ma'am M to an infusion of knowledge from the Hidden Sage, essentially a powerful form of mental corruption.
But this charm had to be used with extreme caution. If it failed to hit Ma'am M, he was basically dead.
That was his situation. What about Ma'am M on the other side?
Just a Sequence 5 Shepherd, that's all.
Silas looked at the woman who was gentle and beautiful yet cold and insane, the corner of his mouth twitching involuntarily.
At Port Enmat, he'd already seen her use multiple abilities: substitutes, disease, mental control, flames, along with the Rose Bishop's flesh magic and the Hermit's shadow movement. She was powerful enough to defeat a team equipped with a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact.
But she currently had two major vulnerabilities: one was her bodily injuries, the other was her need for Silas.
The first vulnerability weakened her strength, the second prevented her from going all out against Silas.
Although she still controlled Cecilia, with flesh embedded inside her body, Silas had already obtained the witch's heart. As long as he seized the opportunity, he could craft a Bottled Life for his sister to bear the curse for her.
Once his sister's curse was removed, she could move freely. Silas had even considered having his sister report to Dunn so the Church could send a high-level deacon to capture Ma'am M.
But regardless of success or failure, what awaited him wouldn't be anything good, so he had to abandon that plan.
In any case, when Silas left home that day, he carried the mindset of being ready for battle at any moment.