The witch's heart in the bottle beat rhythmically, the patterns carved on its surface flickering constantly.
Soon, the heart began to deform, as if gradually degenerating, until it finally resembled a human embryo of one or two weeks.
Success.
Silas's spirituality gave him definitive confirmation.
He withdrew from the ritual and pulled Cecilia's arm closer, pressing her wound against the bottle.
"Squelch..."
A sticky, nauseating sound followed as blood-red flesh covered in fine black hairs was slowly "squeezed" out from Cecilia's wound.
With a plop, the flesh dropped into the bottle.
Silas watched as the black-haired flesh rapidly entangled itself with the blood-flesh embryo in the bottle, wrapping around it before merging.
Before long, the originally bright red embryo's surface was covered in black fine hairs.
"That's really strange," Cecilia said, frowning at the thing in the bottle.
Meanwhile, Silas let out a long breath of relief.
Through his Secrets Suppliant's eyes, he could see that the ominous blood essence Ma'am M had entangled around Cecilia was now entirely contained in the bottle.
Finally, finally!
For this moment, Silas didn't know how much effort he'd expended, how much pain he'd endured.
He'd prayed to evil gods, fought high-sequence witches, maneuvered around colleagues... Until this moment, he'd finally succeeded in freeing his sister Cecilia from Ma'am M's surveillance.
Cecilia was his greatest weakness. It could be said that from this moment on, Ma'am M could no longer threaten him!
The Goddess's black threads could hold for a while longer. Silas thought for a moment, then looked at his sister.
"How are you feeling, Cecilia? Any problems with your body?"
"None. I actually feel much lighter."
Cecilia answered.
"That's good."
Silas let out another long sigh of relief. After a moment, he hesitantly spoke to his sister.
"Cecilia, you're safe now. Actually, you could leave first. If I can't defeat Ma'am M, you should notify Captain Dunn..."
"Brother, there's no need to say more."
Cecilia decisively cut him off, looking directly at Silas with her azure eyes.
"I once thought about abandoning you.
This time, I won't run away again. We siblings will either live together or die together. There's no other option!"
Her eyes and tone made clear that she was serious.
Silas looked at Cecilia's face.
That face, which shared some resemblance with his own, wore an expression of determination and resolve.
As if to make up for past regrets, as if to ensure no future regrets in life.
Immense courage suddenly surged in his heart, and he laughed freely, gripping his sister's somewhat rough little hand tightly.
"Alright then, let's live through this together."
With their resolve set, the siblings began cleaning up the suitcase to prevent Ma'am M from discovering any clues.
Just then, Silas noticed something strange about the items in the case.
Where's Lady Sharon's extracted characteristic?
Where did it go?
That Witch pathway Sequence 6 Beyonder characteristic, which looked like a deep purple crystal, had originally been mixed in with a pile of miscellaneous items taken from Lady Sharon's body.
But now, the crystal was nowhere to be seen in the suitcase.
Silas felt slightly puzzled. He carefully searched through the case and suddenly discovered an abnormal situation among the miscellaneous items.
Among the items were Lady Sharon's dagger, some cosmetics, paper currency, and similar things.
Now, the end of the dagger was stained with a peculiar purple color. When Silas picked it up for a closer look, he discovered that the dagger's handle had become translucent purple.
When the purple dagger swayed slightly, it emitted heart-stirring whispers, just like the crystal from before.
Could it be... Lady Sharon's characteristic has fused with the dagger?
Silas was filled with surprise.
From the internal Nighthawks materials, he'd seen similar cases before.
If Beyonder characteristics were stored with certain objects for a long time, they could potentially fuse with those objects, becoming Beyonder items with partially corresponding abilities.
In that case, have I obtained another new sealed artifact?
He just didn't know what its specific effects were.
As Silas pondered this, he noticed the black threads enveloping the siblings were gradually diminishing.
It seemed the Goddess's protection was about to expire.
After a moment's thought, he handed both the dagger and the bottle to Cecilia.
"Silas, what's this?"
"A Beyonder item formed from that witch's Beyonder characteristic.
You're in the same sequence, so figure out how to use it... Hurry and put it away!"
Silas spoke rapidly. Taking advantage of the black threads not yet dispersing completely, he quickly cleaned up the scene, then went downstairs with Cecilia.
Just as their feet touched the first-floor living room floor, the last threads slowly dissipated. Silas was once again under Ma'am M's surveillance.
Time's almost up. Ma'am M could return at any moment.
Silas shot Cecilia a meaningful look, reminding her not to expose anything, then acted as if nothing had happened, picking up the human-skin scripture and staring at it absently.
He'd been reading this scripture for some time now, and his potion had been substantially digested.
He gradually realized that the essence of the "Listener" sequence was actually a continuation after "Secrets Suppliant."
Like a cultist praying to an evil god, first, he had to pray to a hidden existence and obtain a response, thus establishing contact.
And after that?
After establishing contact, the hidden existence would provide feedback, transmitting information to the supplicant, whether knowledge or power... And the process of the supplicant "receiving" this could be considered "listening."
This must be the essence of "listening."
I feel like I'm going further and further down the path of being a cultist...
Silas groaned internally.
After a few minutes, footsteps sounded outside the door. Ma'am M pushed open the door and entered No. 6 Narcissus Street.
When Silas saw what she was wearing today, his eyebrows twitched imperceptibly.
Because today, Ma'am M wasn't wearing her usual flashy attire. Instead, she'd donned that white robe with mystical significance again.
Her crimson hair spilled from the gaps in her hood, and her golden eyes looked Silas up and down.
She shouldn't be able to detect what happened with Cecilia, right?
Silas calmly met Ma'am M's gaze, feeling somewhat nervous inside.
At the same time, he heard that the sounds from Ma'am M's body had reached a very serious state.
The tearing sounds far overwhelmed the healing sounds, indicating her physical condition was not good.
"How's the potion digestion going?" Ma'am M asked.
Compared to usual, she seemed somewhat agitated.
"There's still some residue..." Silas answered cautiously.
"That's enough. It'll do," Ma'am M immediately said. "You're coming with me right now."
Silas couldn't help but freeze.
Right now?
Does that mean the final showdown with Ma'am M begins tonight?