Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 514: Luviya in a Coma

The region shrouded by the Angel-Level Relic "Dark Realm" didn't merely cause people to fall into slumber and be forgotten. This darkness was trying to dissolve and devour everything around it until all tangible and intangible things became part of the darkness.

As a result, the Earth turned black; the shapes of trees and wild grass became even more bizarre and twisted, and everything seemed to possess the ability to absorb light. Even space itself was affected by the all-encompassing darkness, and began to distort.

It was as if parts of space had been eroded by the darkness, resulting in some locations being connected with distant, incoherent places. One misstep could leave someone clueless as to where they had ended up.

This chaos didn't occur on a large scale; space as a whole was still normal. Shard had also come close to misstepping when, thanks to his Core Spirit Rune "Space-Time," he became wary.

If he truly got lost in such a place, even Shard would likely find it difficult to find the right path again. After all, he possessed only the Arcane Technique "Perception of Time" and not the High Ring Sorcery "Perception Space," hailed as the nemesis of "Pathfinding Disorder."

Demons known as "Servants of the Hidden" lurked in the darkness, and these one-eyed demons robed in cloaks were relatively evenly scattered around the perimeter of the "Dark Realm." This was because the Divine Ritual set up by the church on the perimeter was preventing them from spreading more darkness to the outside world.

The power of the Relic within the domain also affected Shard's powerful ability to sense souls. And with limited visibility, Shard had only set out for five minutes when he ran headlong into a Servant of the Hidden, which had excellent vision in the darkness, that pounced from within.

But this time, Shard was well-prepared; his seal was affixed to the "Moonlight Greatsword," and he wielded the sword with both hands against his enemy. As it charged at him, he struck hard with a frontal slash. Although the two-handed greatsword didn't manage to split the terrifying creature, which had a large vertical pupil on its face, in two, the exorcism power attached to the sword still caused it to emit terrifying black smoke from its body.

Seizing the opportunity, Shard extended a finger and commanded:

"Psychic Shockwave!"

Long accumulated power combined with intense focus allowed the low-statured creature pointed at to be blasted backward, its vertical pupil bursting open, then disappearing into the darkness.

Without a "Light" Spirit Rune, even dismembering the opponent would not completely kill a "Servant of the Hidden," so Shard did not bother to chase after it. Instead, he took advantage of the momentary loss of mobility caused by the "Psychic Shockwave" to quickly make his escape.

Before reaching the edge of Forest Town, where the Diviners were stationed, Shard encountered the Servants of the Hidden three times in total. Apart from the first encounter with a solitary entity, the second time he encountered a pair, and the third time he saw dozens performing a ritual in a black paddy field.

The second encounter concluded with Shard making a swift exit with his sword in hand, while during the third, he didn't dare move and lay in the paddy field for ten minutes, witnessing the demons worshiping dark flames related to the expansion of the Dark Realm.

Just like outside the town, Forest Town was completely engulfed in darkness, showing no signs of normal life. Black shadows roamed the streets, and there were some black crystalline substances, like salt, on the ground.

Shard had thought that the Diviners would be able to resist when the domain suddenly expanded, but judging from the current situation, it seemed they had suffered heavy losses the moment the Relic went out of control.

Boom!

Just as Shard was contemplating how to find Luviya, a startling explosion rang out from within the town.

Sound transmission was also affected inside the Relic, and the darkness could even absorb sound. The fact that Shard could hear it from outside the town indicated that the site of the explosion was far more terrifying than he had imagined.

"Is it a battle between Circle Sorcerers? Or perhaps something else?"

[The distance is too far, and the dense whisper element severely hinders perception.]

She whispered this in Shard's ear, causing him to subconsciously turn his head to the side again. Whenever he heard her voice in the darkness, Shard always felt as if she was right beside him.

Although both Shard and the metal box behind him were glowing, the darkness had a strong ability to swallow light, and he didn't need to worry about being discovered from a distance.

As a result, he didn't deliberately hide and moved directly toward the direction from where the voice originated.

The sound came from the center street of Forest Town. Entering the town from the east through the darkness, Shard would need to pass through Douglas Street to turn into the central street.

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But as soon as he entered the somewhat eerie town, Shard saw people lying on the ground. These were the townspeople who had fallen unconscious due to the arrival of darkness. About six hours had passed since the incident, and their condition was still relatively good; their skin had not turned significantly black.

If the situation was resolved quickly and treatment was timely, they wouldn't remember anything upon waking up, and the church could easily handle the aftermath...that is, if they could wake up.

After approaching the intersection of the two streets, in addition to the local townspeople lying on the street, there were many outsiders, which could be discerned from their attire.

After a careful check, Shard realized from the Ouroboros pendants that these were people from the Prophet's Society.

Luviya had said that to coordinate with the True God Church, the Prophet's Society had dispatched one-third of the Circle Sorcerer Diviners from Tobesk, which amounted to 12 people, to this town. Shard counted in the dark and found 7 of them near the intersection, and among these 7, two were wearing the metal divine amulets provided by the church, which Luviya had mentioned in her letter.

The diviners were only there to provide support and weren't supposed to enter the [Dark Realm], so the church didn't give amulets to everyone. And looking at the current situation, they had resisted for a while before running into trouble during a collective evacuation.

"Has the power of the Relic increased? How could they be affected with the amulets...oh, there's another one here!"

Because it was so dark around, Shard could only see the people lying on the ground when he was quite close. So, the woman leaning against the low wall at the street corner was the last one he noticed.

He ran over quickly and was surprised to find that it was Luviya.

"Oh, my Mia, what on Earth has happened~"

Shard sighed, kneeling beside the brown-haired female diviner with great concern. She was sitting against the wall with her eyes closed, her head tilted, unharmed, much like a sleeping princess.

"Luviya, Luviya!"

He called out softly and shook Luviya's shoulder, but she showed no reaction. As soon as Shard let go, she even tipped forward due to the imbalance and fell into his arms.

"What should I do in this situation?"

Shard tried hard to think of a solution, while the ongoing voice from the central street persisted. Now, Shard could confirm that it was probably two High Ring Sorcerers fighting, as he sensed the chaotic elements.

"Let me think..."

He reached into his pocket, first feeding Luviya some water processed with [Satiety Food], to no effect. Then he placed an [Ever-Youth Leaf] in her mouth, still no effect. Finally, he administered a few drops of [Weak Angel Potion] into her mouth, but it was useless.

He last looked behind him:

"Perhaps putting the 'God's Gift Box' on Luviya's head might be useful."

But after thinking it over, he felt it was a bit too exaggerated and instead placed his finger on her forehead:

"How about this?"

"She is being eroded by dark forces, you just need to temporarily expel the darkness, and she will be able to wake up."

If Shard had a 'Light' Spirit Rune, all he needed to do was summon the Ring of Fate to let the Spiritual Light shine on Luviya. But since he didn't have it, he had to think of other ways.

He reached out to take Luviya's hand, intending to pass his light to her as he did with Tifa while fighting an enemy before. However, the darkness from that time was merely brought by the appearance of a demon, whereas this time, it was an actual Angel-Level Relic, and this method was completely ineffective.

"Well then, I can only do this."

He took out a red inkpad box prepared for sealing from his pocket, cut his finger with a knife, dropped his blood into it, then added some No. 3 Holy Water, and mixed it with the leaves of the glowgrass he carried with him.

Glowgrass is a peculiar plant that glows on its own only in complete darkness at night, is commonly found in the primal forests of the south of the Old Continent, and is often used in various rituals.

After mixing all the ingredients, Shard carefully used his little finger dipped in red ink to draw a circular Base Formation on Luviya's forehead, adding some runes that signified "light" to it.

This was a basic ritual that Shard had to learn in his first year - Illumination, by inscribing the ritual onto an object, it could make the object emit a dim glow for a short period.

However, after the completion of the ritual with all the ingredients Shard prepared, it did not make Luviya glow. After the red traces flickered briefly, the girl with purple eyes uttered a dreamy voice; then, shivering slightly, she opened her eyes.

"It's actually working, but which ingredient made the difference?"

Shard was very pleased.

"Oh, Shard, why are you here? Am I dreaming?"

The look in Luviya's eyes, now open, was still hazy. Her purple eyes struggled to blink, and her facial expression showed that she was completely drained.

Unlike Shard, she woke up inside the Angel-Level Relic without any protective gear. The feeling must be even worse than what Shard experienced on the Fishbone Pirate Ship.

After a couple of breaths, the girl with the purple eyes finally became clear-headed. But then, suddenly covering her mouth, she asked Shard with some weakness:

"What's this taste in my mouth?"

It was the taste of the Ever-Youth Leaf and many strange potions.

In this darkness, Shard narrated the current situation and helped Luviya to ascertain that the current time was Saturday, noon at 12:23.

Luviya also told Shard about her own encounters, which were mostly in line with what Shard had speculated. This morning around 7:10, the distant darkness suddenly spread out, reaching its current extent almost instantly.

The amulets provided by the Church to the Prophet's Society were effective for the first few minutes, but as President Stan organized the prophets to meet and move with the Church's team, they encountered an enemy. Plus, the profound darkness became stronger and stronger, rendering the amulets ineffective, and all Circle Sorcerers of the Inner Ring and below fell unconscious.

Luviya had two amulets given to her by Iluna, so she was able to hold on a bit longer.

"So, what's going on with the fight over there?"

The sounds coming from the central street were still continuing.

"Is President Stan fighting a powerful demon?"

Shard asked again.

President Stan originally returned to town after being controlled in the 'Dark Realm', but because of Daknis, he entered again into the frontline of containing the Angel-Level Relic, coordinating the diviners of the Society to assist the Church in searching for the target.

Luviya, initially not in the team, came to town in a rush to meet Iluna.

"It's not demons, it's other Circle Sorcerers."

With Shard's support, Luviya struggled to stand up. To prevent darkness from making her fall asleep again, Shard intended to give her the glowing box he carried on his back, but 'God's Gift Box' could only be carried by children, and Luviya couldn't carry it at all.

So Shard collected amulets from the unconscious diviners, including Luviya's original two, and with the four amulets combined, she could barely move around in this area.

But she couldn't go far from Shard, which Luviya described:

"Right now, you are like the sun, no, the moon. Even though it can't completely dispel the darkness, your surroundings are the least affected by the darkness."

"President Stan is fighting with Circle Sorcerers... Have you found Daknis?"

Shard was very surprised.

"No, no, there are more than just Daknis and the Weeper as foreign Circle Sorcerers in this area."

Luviya tapped her head a few times, trying to clear her groggy brain:

"It's the Truth Society."

Shard knew about this organization; a few weeks ago, he and Priest Augustus had caught a madman in the cemetery trying to fuse his body with a Relic. The 'Truth Society' is an organization of Circle Sorcerers rooted in the southern part of the Old Continent, they study forbidden rituals and Arcane Techniques, constantly wanted by the True God Church.

"The enemy is a Sorcerer of Nine Rings and a Five-Ring Sorcerer."

"But isn't Mr. Stan of Ten Rings? And he should have other sorcerers from your society with him. Yet by the sound of it, why do both sides seem evenly matched? Could it be that the Truth Society possesses a method unaffected by the 'Dark Realm'?"