Chapter 146 Pastoral Care: Shadow Essence
When pastoral care is on the path of devotion, it manifests itself in prayer and sacrifice.
But when this mysterious art is used with a power beyond the Tao, it becomes a ritual—
Aiwass and Lily once again carved the ritual circle on the ground. However, unlike before, this time the eight-pointed star circle did not have the names of the Nine Pillars of Deity carved on it. Instead, it was filled with Aiwass's name and various variations written in different languages.
They prepared a glass of fine wine in the first half of the night and soaked the cinnamon in it. After soaking for half an hour, they boiled it over low heat and took out the cinnamon.
Then, Lily added the most important element.
It was an amethyst that Aiwass carved into an eight-sided dice.
Amethyst is the guardian gemstone of the transcendental path because it can balance the discordant parts of various rituals, and the core skill of the transcendental path is ritual.
A ritual that was almost complete but failed due to a subtle imbalance can now function normally after being coordinated by amethyst...which increases the ritual's tolerance.
Pastoralism is inherently taboo, like turning back the flow of water or perpetuating a flame. Without the balance of amethyst, the ritual component is doomed to fail.
After the amethyst eight-sided dice was placed in, Lily let the wine cool naturally. Once the wine cooled to room temperature, the ceremony could begin.
Lily half-knelt in front of Aiwass, while Aiwass sat on a chair with a backrest, which was placed in the ritual circle.
He stomped his feet onto the ground, and the shadow demon spontaneously flowed into Aiwass's body. This caused Aiwass's entire body to turn pale and cold, and a faint black smoke emanated from his body. His eyes were completely filled with black mist, and his hands were like wearing black silk gloves—the limbs and orifices of a demon are the most exposed parts.
"I am your shepherd; I will keep you from want."
Aiwass said softly.
As he spoke, he took out the ritual knife he had used to feed the shadow demon.
He cut his finger with a knife and wrote his name (excluding his surname) on Lily's forehead with his bloody index finger. Lily looked up at Aiwass the whole time, as if praying for a blessing.
After writing his brief name, Aiwass let the blood flow. A hint of the Shadow Fiend's aura seeped into the blood, making it exceptionally thick and dark. It even had a faint, sour, stench like rotten wood.
Lily lowered her head and held the ceremonial wine cup high in both hands.
Amethyst is the symbol of Dionysus, and also means loyalty and love. It also represents the other two characteristics of the transcendent path - rebellion and contract.
"Here, I give you grace, I give you hope, I give you bliss."
Aiwass dripped blood into the wine, and his voice, overlapping with the Shadow Demon's, declared, "Nothing in return."
Lily raised her head, drank the wine in one gulp, and put the eight-sided dice in her mouth.
Then, she placed the wine glass at Aiwas's feet and carefully spit out the eight-sided dice in her mouth.
If the ritual is successful, it will only show the number 8, regardless of the probability of other sides being rolled.
8 represents infinity and endlessness, cycle and transcendence. It is also the sacred number that symbolizes the Father Snake.
Sure enough, the dice rolled in the glass and then fell over. The number 8 was engraved on its tilted face, and it looked like it was lying on the ground to both Aiwass and Lily. So it looked more like "infinity."
The moment the dice stopped rolling, an infinite black mark suddenly appeared beneath Aiwass and Lily's feet. Two circles encircled him and Lily respectively.
Aiwass's dark mana was dissipating madly, and the shadow demon instantly overflowed from Aiwass, flowed to Lily, and then flowed back.
After about a few seconds, as Aiwass's magic power ran out, the amount of black mist surrounding the two people became balanced.
Aiwass clearly sensed that there was another person at the end of his contract with Shadow Fiend—Lily and Shadow Fiend had become extremely close, as if they were each other's half. Lily's authority lay with Shadow Fiend, while Shadow Fiend's authority lay with Aiwass.
——It was like he had purchased the “family version” of Shadow Fiend and then shared its children’s version permissions with Lily.
"The ritual was successful."
Aiwass replied happily.
"It took away about half of the power."
Without waiting for Aiwass to ask, the Shadow Demon used Chloe's voice again and whispered softly, "But if you give me some more, I can slowly replenish it..."
"Where's Lily?"
Aiwass asked his maid.
Lily lowered her head, sensing the increased shadow within her. Like ink dropped into water, she instantly blurred and dissipated into the material world. Then, as if time had flown backwards, she converged back.
She looked up, her tone filled with joy, "My relationship with the shadows has suddenly become so close! I feel like I can sneak into the shadows now!"
"Of course."
The Shadow Fiend's voice had grown stern for some reason. "You may be half a Shadow Fiend now, but you need to practice all the skills a Shadow Fiend possesses from scratch. But if you can fully unleash your power, you will be like a Shadow Fiend with a physical body... Do not let your master down."
The Shadow Demon was actually also surprised by the mystery of this pastoral care method. However, in front of Aiwass and Lily, it didn't want to show too much surprise. So, although it was surprised, it acted as if it was a matter of course.
After the ceremony was established, a mysterious and strong connection was formed between Shadow Demon and Lily.
It had originally thought that Aiwass had only taken a portion of its power, and that Lily would need to look to him for replenishment after using up all of it. But in reality, that wasn't the case—a more appropriate analogy was that it had consumed half of its own power to grant Lily a racial talent.
In a sense, there is a kinship between them - a connection that is even closer than the possession of a demon.
…just like a mother.
Lily had a vague feeling, and the shadow demon who was a little afraid before became intimate at this moment.
She could even vaguely sense the Shadow Demon's thoughts and ideas.
For example, right now, Shadow Fiend is somewhat confused about the power of pastoralism.
So Lily said to Shadow Demon lovingly, "I feel like I can also bear your existence..."
As Lily spoke, she gently pressed a finger on Aiwass's shadow.
Immediately afterwards, the shadow demon flowed from the shadow cast by the finger into Lily's shadow, hiding safely. It was even more stable than under Aiwass's shadow - at least it didn't have the same constant shaking that Aiwass's shadow had when he was motionless.
"Is it really possible?"
Aiwass was a little surprised.
"Not too far, and not too long."
The Shadow Demon's voice came from under Lily: "And I feel like I can't exert my full strength when I'm here with Lily..."
"We can do an experiment first. Go out with Lily and see how far you can go and how much power you can exert."
Aiwass said, standing up from his chair. "I'll clean up the house first. If you see Oswald, you can tell him the good news that Yulia has recovered."
At this moment, his shadow finally stopped trembling, as if he had returned to normal.
Lily nodded and left silently with the Shadow Demon.
After Shadow Demon left, Aiwass murmured, "I can finally feel the touch of cashmere carpet again..."
This was the first time that Aiwass had walked normally since he recovered his memories of his previous life.
Normally, when he walked, no matter what surface he stepped on, he would feel like he was stepping on some kind of elastic and soft ground. In fact, it was the body of the Shadow Demon.
The feeling of stepping on Shadow Fiend is like slightly soft rubber.
The advantage is that Aiwass can run normally on rough roads, even on swamps or sand. The disadvantage is that it is indeed not very comfortable to pedal.
It was even a little sticky... like half a bottle of Coke was spilled on the rubber floor.
That's because Aiwass was wearing clergy cloth shoes instead of leather shoes or boots. At least they weren't too clingy.
Aiwass sighed twice and began to skillfully clean up the ceremony.
He had already cleaned up the ritual site three times in a row that night... Aiwass was even considering whether to find a room in his basement or somewhere no one used and convert it directly into a ritual room. Of course, his own bedroom was definitely not an option; the smell would be too strong.
Now Aiwass could faintly smell a bloody odor, like the smell of slaughtered chickens. He didn't even know where it came from, because this room had been exposed to blood so many times overnight. Even the floor was probably soaked with blood.
If they were sprayed with luminol, Aiwass's bedroom would probably light up like a slaughterhouse.
Wait for the Shadow Fiend to come back, let it wander on the ground and corrode the blood.
…It's just that inexplicably there's a subtle feeling, like letting a puppy deal with dropped food scraps.
In order not to wake Yulia, Aiwass moved very quietly. He quickly cleaned up the ceremony venue, and a shadow quickly passed across the ground and disappeared into his own shadow.
After a while, Lily also came back to report.
"It should be able to reach Master Edward's room at most. If it goes any further, it will automatically go back. However, while Miss Shadow Demon is here with me, it can only spread out five or six steps."
A mother-and-child router, huh? Aiwass grumbled inwardly.
Besides, why is she a lady?
Was it because of Chloe's voice that he mistook the shapeless and genderless Shadow Fiend for a female?
Never mind. It doesn't matter. Aiwass didn't bother to correct Lily.
"If we can reach Edward... that means the radius is about fifty meters. Lily's five or six steps are only about three meters..."
Aiwass muttered softly.
With a three-meter radius, the Shadow Demon could only serve as a shield and not exert much destructive power. On the other hand, this characteristic could be used to allow the Shadow Demon to follow Lily outside to explore the area.
Because without the "Venue Card: Shadow Vault", Shadow Fiend will be restricted.
It can only appear on Aiwass's own shadow, and cannot enter the attached shadow. Otherwise, if it is at night, it can go anywhere.
For example, when Aiwass stands in the corner of a wall, the Shadow Fiend cannot move from the shadow cast by the corner; when Aiwass is with other people, it cannot enter the shadows of other people.
That's why Shadow Fiend spread out the shadow field like spreading a fungal blanket to directly expand the size of Aiwass's shadow.
But now Lily can also serve as a temporary carrier for Shadow Fiend.
If there is a three-meter radius, then Lily can basically use the same skills that Aiwass used in the ritual before.
In a sense, this is equivalent to increasing Lily's offensive capabilities in disguise!
And Aiwass also realized that this has one biggest benefit -
"Let Lily raise her hand."
Aiwass said to Shadow Demon in his heart.
He wanted to do an experiment.
Sure enough, after about two seconds, Lily raised her hand for some inexplicable reason.
Aiwas' eyes lit up, it really works!
If Shadow Demon is considered his contractor and Lily is considered Shadow Demon's contractor... then Aiwass doesn't even need to open his mouth now, he can use Shadow Demon as a transit station to directly give precise orders to Lily remotely!
From the outside, it's like telepathy with a slight delay. Or...
This is the squad voice!
Thanks to the leader of Black Eyes for feeding ~ Thank you boss ~
(End of this chapter)
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