Seeing Ansu rummaging through the piles and tossing each volume aside after only a glance, Celia said helplessly, "Are you looking for something specific? Do you need my help?"
"Of course!" Ansu pointed to another stack of books. "The magic I'm looking for should be related to soul sacrifice, ancient demons, or something similar... If you see it, please bring it to me immediately!"
"Soul sacrifice... ancient demons?" Celia blinked in confusion, but she began to help him search nonetheless. "Why are you looking for that magic? Whose soul are you planning to sacrifice?"
Ansu looked up. Miss Witch was using gravity magic to arrange the thick magic texts in the air, scanning the titles on the covers.
This method was much more efficient, so he moved over to join her.
"It's not that I want to sacrifice anyone."
It's that your soul is about to be sacrificed to a demon by that old witch.
While the two continued their search...
Outside the crack, the sound of the spiral tower collapsing grew even more violent.
The heart-palpitating hum that had been battering the seal filled their ears.
"We have to hurry..." Ansu urged.
The evil god Ersos had been busy striking the seal and hadn't noticed them yet, but if he were to react...
"The evil god is right beneath us; it's too dangerous here..." Celia looked at Ansu. "Why don't we open a teleportation circle, take the important items, and leave? We can search in a safer place."
"No!" Ansu shook his head vigorously; he truly had no time left.
Only ten minutes remained before his return.
"Celia, trust me! I'm doing this to help you!" Ansu chose to be blunt, as the countdown was nearly over.
"Samantha wants to kill you. She intends to sacrifice your soul to a demon!"
Ignoring her stunned expression, Ansu shouted while continuing his search, "Once the sacrifice is successful and the demon has had its fill, she will take over your body to extend her own life!"
"That is the real reason she raised you! Celia, you are merely being used as a vessel!"
"A vessel!? Samantha..." Celia’s eyes widened. "Then does that mean, from the very beginning... from the first time she met me..."
"Exactly!" Ansu nodded immediately. "Otherwise, how do you think a member of the demon race like you could grow up within the cult? Until the soul sacrifice, she would never allow her chosen vessel to be damaged!"
Celia suddenly fell silent.
Although she had guessed last time that Samantha had 'other motives' for her, the truth was still...
"Is it hard to accept?" Ansu shot a quick glance at Celia’s complicated expression and continued his search.
"Perhaps..." Celia gave a bitter smile.
This cruel truth turned the 'tenderness' she had hoped for over the past ten years into a joke.
However, she now had something she cherished even more, and she wasn't as fragile as she once was...
"Ansu, how did you know..."
Though her heart was full of doubt, she smiled softly. It turned out Ansu had been keeping this secret and working silently for her sake all along.
He truly cared for her that much.
She was genuinely happy.
"This row of texts related to the Conjuration school... they're all about ancient demons..." Ansu kept muttering to himself, feeling he was getting closer and closer.
"Is it this one?" Celia channeled her mana and picked out a relatively thin book for Ansu. "The title is... Soul Feast?"
Ansu hurriedly took the book, and a system prompt appeared the next second.
【Soul Feast (Conjuration, black magic ritual)】
【(Prerequisite skills: Ancient Enus, General Magic Knowledge) (Unlearned) (Learning Progress: 0/800)】
After reading the detailed description of the magic, Ansu’s face lit up with joy.
"Yes, yes! This is it!!"
"Fantastic!" Ansu excitedly hugged Celia. "You've been a huge help!"
Celia was momentarily stunned by the sudden embrace, but then the corners of her eyes crinkled, and she couldn't help but smile as she hugged him back.
Even though he was searching for a way to save her, he seemed even more excited than she was. An indescribable warmth quietly spread through her heart.
Perhaps this was the taste of happiness...
Once they returned this time, maybe she should...
Celia looked forward to the future with a heart full of hope.
"As long as I study this thoroughly..." Ansu thought to himself. "I should be able to find a way to break it. After all, that old witch learned it second-hand, while the one in my hand is closer to the source and has higher priority... But those are just backup plans. It would be best to just kill her directly so she never gets the chance to summon the demon..."
"Ansu..." Celia suddenly froze, the smile slowly fading from her face. "Do you feel that..."
The tremors outside had stopped; it was as if the entire world had fallen silent.
Ansu snapped his head up, and then he felt it—an indescribable presence was gazing at the two of them within the barrier.
"That whispering... it's starting again..." Celia clutched her head in irritation, trying to suppress the seductive voice. "We have to leave quickly... or we'll be affected by Ersos..."
The whispers lingered in her mind like maggots in bone.
But this time, there was no anger. He was simply tempting her, urging Celia to become His Chosen and bring slaughter and death to the entire world...
"I won't do your bidding, you idiot..."
Celia’s head throbbed painfully. She frantically grabbed Ansu’s hand, wanting to lead him away.
"Ansu... let's go..."
But in the next instant, the tempting voice vanished.
Celia looked up in surprise, then slowly turned her gaze toward Ansu, whose expression had frozen.
"Is He... observing me?"
Being targeted by such an entity caused Ansu’s entire body to tremble involuntarily, rendering him unable to move.
He felt that gaze... it had been quietly observing him, sizing him up.
Then, it fell into a long silence.
Silence?
Had He... noticed something?
"Ansu!" Celia grew increasingly terrified. She quickly gathered her mana and began chanting a long, obscure incantation, attempting to cast a teleportation spell.
But it seemed to be too late...
Ansu felt a bone-chilling sensation. That gaze... it seemed to have discovered something shocking, and in an instant, it turned into pure, unadulterated rage.
Bone-deep hatred and twisted fury tore the magic barrier to shreds in an instant. The entire underground world seemed to echo with Ersos’s roar.
"Celia...!" Ansu suddenly looked at Miss Witch’s trembling face, wanting to say one last thing.
But in the next second.
Ansu’s body, like a punctured balloon, burst with a loud bang, exploding into countless fragments of flesh and blood.
Before his death, his final memory of this world...
Was the despairing, helpless, and utterly lost expression on Miss Witch’s face.
Rate on N.U.
