The malice from the eerie eye was extremely obvious.
Even though Silas wasn't making eye contact with it, it still glared at him viciously, like some petty, small-minded person.
If it were a human, Silas could easily ignore such a stare.
But when it came from an evil and terrifying existence, such a gaze became extremely dangerous.
Silas felt his head buzzing, and blood instantly gushed from his nose.
The illusory sound of ocean waves rose in his mind, blocking further harm for him, but the injuries that had already appeared continued.
Blood streamed past his lips and chin, dripping onto the floor of Old Neil's house.
Silas knew his time was limited. He took a deep breath, gazed at the flickering candlelight, and prayed in a low voice.
"Lord who created everything,"
After taking Old Neil's lessons, he'd learned that this strange language coming from his mouth was actually Hermes.
With the first line of prayer, the world outside the Wall of Spirituality suddenly went dark.
Even the figures of Dunn and the others, so close by, became impossible to see clearly.
The bloody pattern on Old Neil's body began to come alive, and under the reflection of the candlelight, it seemed to become as vivid as something that had gained life.
"Ruler behind the curtain of shadow,"
In the darkness, some great existence was quietly rising.
The world grew darker still, leaving only the two candle flames glowing with light the size of beans.
Twisted murmurs began to appear, layered upon layered, making anyone who heard them feel irritable and anxious.
The bloody pattern quietly sank inward, as if it had devoured Old Neil's skin and superficial flesh, carving itself directly onto his chest.
The illusory eye suddenly stopped floating, as if it had been fixed in midair, no longer moving.
I can't keep reciting.
The murmuring echoed in Silas's ears, like something constantly hammering at his nerves, excavating his brain matter. Silas instinctively sensed the danger.
He interrupted the process of reciting the honorific name of the True Creator and, using the influence He had already brought down, shouted loudly:
"Praise the Lord's glory, depravity is the rebirth of all!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the bloody engraved pattern on Old Neil's chest began to writhe.
The eye that had originally been attached to Old Neil suddenly flew swiftly into Old Neil's body, as if sucked in by some invisible force.
Immediately after, the symbol representing the True Creator dissolved, like paint bleeding into water, but it was bound by the red circle and could only spread within that small area on his chest.
Before long, the skin within the red circle turned bright red, with something stirring restlessly beneath the skin.
With a squelching sound, four cracks split open on the red skin, then slowly expanded.
They were actually four cold, lashless eyes. Two pairs of eyes, one above the other, appeared on Old Neil's chest.
Perhaps it was Silas's wishful thinking, but in those two pairs of eyes, besides coldness, there seemed to be a trace of bewilderment.
"Bang!"
Silas raised the dagger and pierced through the Wall of Spirituality. In the howling wind of spiritual power flowing out, he shouted loudly:
"Mr. Cesimir, now!"
Swish!
In the next instant, a white light flashed rapidly before his eyes.
Silas couldn't describe what kind of light it was.
He only felt that in the moment he saw the light, the world seemed to cease to exist, leaving only that beam of light in his vision.
When he came to his senses, Crestet, who had been behind him, had already appeared beside Old Neil. The silver-white metal case slammed onto the floor behind Silas with a thunderous crash.
A large patch of skin had been sliced away from Old Neil's chest, exposing the pink muscle beneath, but strangely, not a drop of blood flowed from the wound.
"Pat."
A piece of bloody skin fell to the ground.
The four eyes on it were spinning rapidly, and the piece of skin struggled and jumped like some kind of creature, but ultimately it couldn't hold on for long and completely dissipated into black ash.
"Did it work?"
Silas muttered in disbelief, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
Dunn and the others also held their breath, waiting for Crestet's judgment.
Crestet turned sideways, hiding his right arm, which was gripping something, at his side.
He looked down at Old Neil and, after a few seconds, said calmly, "It worked. The expulsion was very clean."
Whew!
Silas heard a chorus of relieved exhales from the people behind him.
"That's wonderful!"
Tears welled in Daly's eyes. Though Dunn and Royale said nothing, their joy was evident on their faces.
They all looked at Silas simultaneously.
"Silas, you saved his life."
Dunn strode over to him and pulled him up, his palm gripping Silas's arm tightly. "First, Royale and Klein, and now Old Neil... I'm extremely glad that I invited you to join the team back then."
"Pure luck."
Silas also broke into a grin, with a trace of lingering fear.
Royale and Daly also gathered around, constantly offering words of praise and gratitude.
Even as Silas felt happy, he was also reflecting on how well-liked Old Neil was to have so many people caring about him.
Just then, Crestet glanced over, his expression calm but his eyes sharp.
"You used the True Creator's authority over depravity, didn't you?" he asked.
Silas gave a small, wry smile.
"You really don't miss a thing, do you?"
This time, the ritual he'd used was called "Revelation of Depravity."
The ritual's original purpose was to trigger a Beyonder's descent into losing control, making them a sacrifice to the True Creator.
However, Silas had used restrictions to confine the area of depravity to a small patch of skin on Old Neil's chest.
Because the loss of control was forcibly triggered, the evil power that had originally been dispersed and attached to Old Neil's body was forcibly gathered together, then directly cut away with the help of Crestet's goddess's holy relic.
In other words, the depravity ritual's original intent was bad, but Silas had used it for good.
"Hehe..."
Crestet finally smiled. Looking at Silas, he said, "You're really very clever... But don't do this again next time."
He opened his mouth wide, smiling happily.
Due to the angle, Silas saw through the gap in the middle of his collar the part the other man had kept hidden.
It turned out that in Crestet's concealed mouth, every single tooth had transparent existences attached to it.
They squirmed and swayed, revealing illusory human faces.
"..."
Silas couldn't help but be shocked and alarmed. He suddenly understood why Crestet always kept his lips hidden beneath his collar.
***
Old Neil remained in a deep coma.
He was covered with Dunn's coat, lifted up, and placed on the round table in the living room, with Daly responsible for watching over him.
The rest spread out around the rooms, searching for any remaining dangerous hazards.
Silas went into the bedroom on the second floor. He casually flipped through the pages of books on the desk, and a note covered in writing fell out.
He looked closely and saw what appeared to be a short honorific name and several rituals. At the end of the honorific name, a name was clearly written:
The Hidden Sage.
His eyes immediately widened.