On a street somewhere in West Tivian, inside an ordinary private carriage, Dorothy, dressed in capri pants and a vest, sat on the carriage seat, stroking the ruby staff in her hand. Just now, the ruby at the head of the staff had dimmed and gradually extinguished.
This was the heart-devouring staff-sword, originally a precious Extraordinary item belonging to the Fetal Garment Cult. For some reason, it had fallen into the hands of Luer, a Black Rank beast-form member of Igwinte's cult society, the Red Communion Society. Dorothy had obtained this item after killing Luer.
The heart-devouring staff-sword can directly absorb "Cup" from helpless individuals, storing up to seven points. When the heart-devouring staff-sword is fully charged, it can activate a passive skill once a day. When the holder of the heart-devouring staff-sword suffers a fatal injury that isn't the loss of a large amount of body mass, they can consume all stored "Cup" to restore the fatal injury on their body, allowing them to avoid death.
When Miss Adele set off to pursue Alex, just in case, Dorothy asked Detective Ed and Miss Adele to take some precautions for her. Miss Adele agreed, so Dorothy had Detective Ed use a pen to draw a puppet mark on a certain part of Miss Adele's body.
Just now, when Alex used Dalena to provoke Miss Adele and then manipulated Miss Adele's desire to kill, causing her to commit suicide, Dorothy decisively activated the puppet mark linked to Miss Adele, transmitting her Extraordinary state as the holder of the heart-devouring staff-sword to Miss Adele. Miss Adele thus remotely obtained the heart-devouring staff-sword's passive ability, recovering from her fatal injury and coming back to life.
'I didn't expect that Miss Adele's teacher had actually been made into an Extraordinary item... and the methods were so cruel. They truly are a bunch of beasts.'
Sitting in the carriage seat, Dorothy thought this. Although she had previously wondered about the current situation of Miss Adele's teacher, she hadn't expected it to be this tragic.
"But now, that Werewolf's trump cards are all used up, right? So, take your revenge to the fullest, Miss Adele."
Murmuring, Dorothy continued to observe the distant battle, which no longer held any suspense.
...
"Ahhh!!"
In the small woods on the western outskirts of Tivian, a black Werewolf whose arm had been completely torn off fell to the ground, its huge, heavy body kicking up a cloud of dust. A tragic howl echoed into the distance.
Gasping, Alex, with only one claw remaining, struggled to stand up from the ground. His blood-red eyes looked into the distance, towards the blood-covered, indifferent, yet beautiful woman. In his eyes, besides fear, there was confusion.
"Cough cough... why... why aren't you dead... What's on your body?!" Coughing blood, Alex asked Miss Adele in terror. It was clear that the other party had avoided death due to the effect of some Extraordinary item or rune and had come back to life, and Alex was not completely ignorant of such effects.
"Cough... cough... This effect is... fatal emergency aid... How could you possibly have something like that... How is that possible..."
Alex stared intently at Miss Adele in the distance, his eyes full of disbelief, but Miss Adele ignored him. Instead, she silently looked at the brain-jar staff she held in her hand. She stroked the head of the staff through the glass, gazing at the brain inside, and murmured silently.
"Teacher... are you talking to me?"
It seemed that the abilities between Desire Dancers had resonated. At this moment, Miss Adele, holding the brain-jar staff made from Dalena, seemed to feel the emotions transmitted from the head of the staff. These were transmitted into Miss Adele's heart, so clear and strong that they could even form into words.
Intense emotions surged into Miss Adele's mind. Holding the staff, she could now truly feel her teacher's pain and resentment. Combined with her own, Miss Adele's emotions were burning unprecedentedly.
Holding the staff, Miss Adele felt as if she heard her teacher's painful screams, as if she felt the pain of her body being torn and devoured, as if she saw illusory images of countless beasts reveling around her... At this moment, Dalena and Miss Adele's wills were almost integrated... They felt empathy for each other. Under the Scour of these intense emotions, Miss Adele couldn't help but feel a little dazed, but even so, one thought remained incredibly clear: chilling hatred and a desire to kill.
'Kill him... kill him... kill him... kill him... kill him... kill them... Kill!'
At this moment, Miss Adele and Dalena's emotions converged and unified. The point of release for all these emotions collectively pointed towards the Werewolf who had just stood up in the distance, still massive and roaring.
Silently, Miss Adele pointed the staff in her hand at Alex, and her feet began to dance. Then, the spirits woven together by her and her teacher simultaneously activated their abilities. The abilities of two Desire Dancers were stacked together at this moment, jointly directed at Alex.
Suddenly, Alex felt that something was not right. His eyes widened, his mouth uncontrollably opened wide, and a large amount of saliva secreted, dripping from between his fangs onto the ground. A familiar desire surged into his heart; this was appetite.
"Ugh... ah... hungry... so hungry..."
Whining, Alex knelt directly on the ground, covering his stomach with his remaining hand. An unprecedented sense of hunger surged into his heart, growing increasingly intense, gradually occupying his entire brain.
The Werewolf's mouth opened wide, the saliva dripping from it forming sticky threads connecting to the ground. His stomach rumbled, and the incredibly intense hunger had occupied all of Alex's emotions. Now, all he thought about was eating to satisfy this bottomless hunger. The pupils in his eye sockets spun rapidly, trying to find something to devour. However, strangely, no matter what he saw now, including Miss Adele, he couldn't generate the thought of eating it, couldn't generate any appetite.
"Hungry... I'm really hungry... Hiss... hiss... Is there something good to eat... I smell it... Is there something good to eat!"
The starving Werewolf began to become frantic. He irritably scratched his ears and cheeks, sniffing wildly around him, searching for food. He kept feeling that there was something delicious near him, but he couldn't find it, which made his frenzy escalate.
Finally, when Alex smelled his own thigh, he paused slightly, then cheered with a joyful smile.
"Found it! Delicious!"
Cheering, the giant black wolf opened its large mouth and fiercely bit into its own thigh. In an instant, blood spurted out, and intense pain stimulated Alex's nerves, but Alex remained unmoved, because even stronger than the pain was the supreme deliciousness stimulating his taste buds. Alex had never eaten anything so delicious in his life.
Now, Alex was completely insane. He opened his large mouth and began to frantically gnaw at his own body. The flesh and blood on his thigh were gnawed down to bone in an instant. After gnawing one leg, he turned to gnaw the other. After his legs were eaten, he began to use his sharp claws to cut open his abdomen, pulling out his internal organs and stuffing them into his mouth.
Thus, this bloody feast of self-consumption lasted for a long time, until even the strong vitality of a Chalk Rank "Cup" could no longer sustain him. The severely mutilated Werewolf finally completely collapsed. After consuming about thirty percent of his body, he lay there with a distended abdomen, lifeless, having finished his last meal.
Seeing the scene before her, Miss Adele, whose expression remained cold, finally gradually stopped her dance steps. Holding the staff, she looked at Alex's ruined body, and the resentment in her heart finally subsided to a certain extent.
After taking a long breath, she looked at the staff in her hand containing the brain, held it up with both hands, and spoke with an anxious and sorrowful expression.
"Teacher... that guy is dead. He is the first, and there will be more after this... Please don't worry, I will find a way to restore you to how you were before."
Miss Adele comforted Dalena within the staff, and Dalena quickly responded using a peculiar connection between them. This response, unlike the previous ones filled with killing intent and rage, was replaced with relief, peace, and weakness.
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In a pleading tone, Dalena expressed her wish to Miss Adele inwardly. After sensing it, Miss Adele was slightly startled, then immediately replied in surprise.
"Deliverance? No... don't be like this, teacher! Don't give up! The Hidden Realm is so vast, there are so many Extraordinary methods in the world, there must be something that can save you and restore you... I will do my best to help you, please don't give up!"
Gripping the staff in her hand, Miss Adele said anxiously. She didn't want her efforts to save her teacher to end up like this. After Miss Adele finished speaking, Dalena paused for a moment, then responded to Miss Adele again. This time, her emotions were gentle and comforting, just like when she used to teach Miss Adele.
Listening to Dalena's new response, Miss Adele stood frozen in place, unable to say a word for a long time. Tears unconsciously slid down from the corners of her eyes. Finally, she slowly spoke.
"Redemption... Okay... I understand... teacher... I'll listen to you..."
Miss Adele said with difficulty. After that, Dalena gave her final response to Miss Adele. After listening to Dalena's response, Miss Adele wiped away her tears and finally nodded heavily.
"Thank you... teacher, goodbye..."
Saying this, Miss Adele reached out her hand towards the iron rings wrapped around the staff, which were engraved with incantations.
...
Sun sets, moon rises, day gradually fades.
At night, with the lights just turned on, inside a private room of a bar in East Tivian, Miss Adele, dressed in a plain black dress, was sitting in her seat. Her hat and sunglasses were placed on the table. Looking at the bustling crowd outside the window, her expression was silent, lost in thought. In front of her, Detective Ed, dressed as usual, was also looking at Miss Adele's face.
"So, your teacher finally begged you to help her find deliverance, she wanted to die?"
With a solemn expression, Ed looked at the somewhat absent-minded Miss Adele and spoke softly. Hearing Ed's words, Miss Adele nodded gently, continuing to reply without turning her head.
"Yes... After falling into the hands of the Wolf Blood Society, the torture she endured was worse than death. After being turned into that state by the Butcher Doctor... the suffering we cannot understand or feel has severely ravaged her spirit, making it extremely fragile. She constantly thought about deliverance. I offered to find a way to restore her, but she said she couldn't hold on any longer in her current state."
Looking at the scene outside the window, Miss Adele murmured in response. Hearing her words, Ed's brows furrowed slightly.
"Couldn't hold on?"
"Being eaten alive, with only the brain and nerves remaining, being put in a jar, being used as a tool, being constantly exploited by those beasts, we cannot understand what that feeling is like, what kind of suffering that is... Simply put... her spirit and soul have been ravaged to the brink of collapse. If she waited any longer, she would go completely insane and lose her mind. It's better to get deliverance now and give her peace."
Turning her head, Miss Adele slowly said to Ed. Dorothy had never seen Miss Adele with such a gloomy expression. She controlled Ed to continue speaking.
"So, you gave her deliverance?"
"Sort of. I destroyed the control device on that damned staff, and then her power could be freely released. She used her own power to end herself. After her passing, I felt a release of her soul. Her soul was so incomplete and fragile even at the end. Perhaps it was really as she said, she couldn't hold on until I found a way to restore her; she would go insane first... This might have been the best choice."
Saying this, Miss Adele poured herself some red wine, picked it up, and drank it all in one gulp, then continued to speak with hazy eyes.
"Heh... I didn't expect that after being busy for so long, I thought I could finally save my teacher, but I didn't expect such a result..."
"No, you saved her. If it weren't for you, your teacher would still be suffering and be a tool for the Wolf Blood Society. You don't need to blame or pity yourself for this," Ed comforted Miss Adele. Hearing Ed's words, Miss Adele chuckled.
"Thank you for your comfort, Detective, but don't worry... I haven't reached the point of self-pity. It's just that some unrealistic expectations have been dashed. Being able to give my teacher peace, this trip was worth it.
"Anyway, this operation was all thanks to you, Detective. If it weren't for you, not only might I not have found my teacher, but I might have gotten myself into trouble. My being able to stand here now is all your credit, Detective. I really didn't expect that a small mark could even have the ability to grant immunity from death... I'm very glad to have hired you, Detective. Of course, your reward will not be small. I will give you all of my teacher's research materials."
Miss Adele said this to Ed. Hearing her words, a hint of surprise appeared on Ed's face, and then he asked.
"Didn't your teacher already find deliverance?"
"Yes, but when she found deliverance, she also left some things for me, some of her mental power and partial memories. From her memories, I found that her research materials were not actually taken by the Wolf Blood Society, but were hidden in a safe place. Afterwards, I will go back and retrieve these materials, and then send them to you through the White Stone Craftsmen's Guild. You can just wait patiently after you go back.
"Of course, I don't think the value of those things is worth what you did for me today. In any case, I owe you a favor, Detective. If you need any help in the future, you can always come to me."
Miss Adele explained. Hearing her words, Dorothy in the distance couldn't help but nod, thinking about what kind of secret technique this was from Dalena, or some kind of magical phenomenon between fellow "enlightenment" Extraordinary.
"Then, I shall trouble Miss Adele."
"Heh heh, just call me Adele, no need to be so polite, Detective." Miss Adele said this, then picked up the red wine bottle again and began to pour red wine into two high-stemmed glasses, murmuring as she poured.
"To be honest, I actually don't want to keep calling you Detective... Detective. It's just a pity that I still don't know your real name or what you look like... I hope that one day, I can see your true self..."
Looking at Ed in front of her, Miss Adele handed the glass of red wine she had poured to Ed. Ed paused slightly and slowly spoke.
"Perhaps... my true form might surprise you..."
"Heh heh, I've also been in the Hidden Realm for quite some time, and I've seen a lot of strange and bizarre things. As long as your true form, Detective, is not some divine existence that cannot be looked at directly, I don't think I will be surprised."
Miss Adele said with a smile, then picked up the glass of wine in front of her.
"I won't force you to meet me or anything, Detective, but tonight, I still hope you can have a couple of drinks with me, even if it's just a puppet. This wine is from the bar, you can drink it without worry..."
After saying this, Miss Adele raised her glass and drank the wine in it. When Dorothy saw this, she also had Ed pick up his glass.