Deep Sea Embers
chapter-21

Now Duncan finally understood where the tragic murder scene in the cave had come from and what was going on with the crazy and evil deeds of these cultists.

Then as he watched the masked priest approach himself with that sinister-looking dagger, a dark flame suddenly bursts forward and encapsulates that dark alloy.

This striking supernatural phenomenon instantly roused the curiosity inside Duncan’s heart. In his view, that dagger was most likely some sort of “supernatural” item as well, and perhaps this priest was also a “special human” capable of harnessing said extraordinary powers like himself. Now that brought forward a new question – what sort of role do people like that play in a civilized society?

As the blade struck down and stabbed into his chest, Duncan didn’t flinch nor scream, only hearing a muffled noise of the rags being flayed by the metal. Thankfully, nothing burned inside of him….

But not everything was fine and dandy at this moment. In the rear, where the totem stood, the flaming fireball had started to make a disturbing crackling sound like you would expect from a firework being doused with oil. The next thing Duncan knew, he had felt a “touch” reaching out at himself from the totem. It’s filled with chilling madness, which he understood as a supernatural phenomenon no doubt.

The unexpected change in the “symbolic sun” immediately attracted the attention of the nearest believers, accompanied by several suppressed exclamations until the noise died down from the frenzy. Clearly this outcome was not normal for the ritual because the two black hoods holding Duncan down had let go and got to their knees in fear. As for the masked priest, he was making a look of confusion with those eyes at the supposed sacrifice.

Knowing the jig was up, Duncan rigidly formed a faint smile with those lips and touched the dagger that’s currently stabbed into his chest. Next thing everyone knew, a wisp of ghostly green flame had popped into existence and wrapped around the blade.

Almost instantly, Duncan got the “feedback” from the knife as he wanted, but in this case, it was weak and hollow like some sort of cheap counterfeit. Whatever power that’s inside the blade wasn’t of its own, but borrowed from something greater.

But for Duncan, this discovery was enough.

With a grin, he unhurriedly spoke in a frank manner: “I have two things to say.”

In the next instant, the priest felt the connection between himself and the obsidian knife being sidetracked by an external force until it was completely cut off.

“First, I’m a man with a big heart —you see, this big.”

Already torn to begin with, but now even more ragged due to the dagger, Duncan stripped himself of the fabric hiding the gaping hollow hole in his chest. Through this grand reveal, the priest presiding over the sacrifice ceremony was clearly shocked and taken aback.

“Second, try to avoid offering expired food to your Lord.”

With a gentle shove, Duncan forces the priest back with ease using this stiff shell of his. He didn’t know why, but after wrapping the ghostly green flame around the dagger, the original owner appeared somehow weaker….

As if coming back from his shock, the priest first flew into a panic, followed by a great deal of anger that caused his whole body to tremble. Pointing an accusing finger at the sacrifice, the masked priest roared: “This filth has come back from the dead! He’s an undead! How dare a vile creature like you desecrate a holy ritual like this! Vile filth, which daring necromancer is responsible for this treacherous act!”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” Duncan said casually as he glanced down at the obsidian knife. Once he got another faint feedback from the blade, a whimsical idea suddenly formed in his brain, “But I suddenly got a great idea to satisfy my curiosity.”

After saying this, he suddenly raised the obsidian knife and pointed it at the masked priest. Raising that voice to a booming level so all of the black hoods could hear himself:

“O sun god of the highest and most holy! Please accept the sacrifice on this stage! I offer you the heart thy heart, and may you return from blood and fire!”

The next second, he saw the flames on the obsidian knife grow several folds, followed by the same cold maddening touch seeping out from the totem. Unlike the first round though, the target was instead the masked priest, which obviously knew what’s going to happen next as he attempted to flee from the stage.

However, the burning black knife of red and green flame flew straight out of Duncan’s hand on its own and stabbed directly into the target’s heart. With the latter issuing out a terrible scream, the cult leader’s chest was directly pierced, and his heart was reduced to ash at that instant.

Without effort, the blade promptly returned to Duncan’s hand in the next, finally exhausting the last ounce of its remaining power.

This ritual expected two individuals on this altar, one of whom must give up their heart as a sacrifice. Since he didn’t have one to begin with on this shell, Duncan knew there could be only one other target – the priest himself who actually had a heart. But never in his wildest dream did he expect things to work out so smoothly.

Shooting a look towards the totem in the rear, Duncan slightly narrowed his eyes on the object and muttered his thoughts: “Perhaps, it doesn’t matter who is holding the dagger so long as the words are right…. You will take them anyways, right?”

Of course, the fireball on the totem wouldn’t answer his question, but the cultists around the altar had obviously reacted by flying into a huge panic. Many were screaming, but more were outraged at what just transpired that it overshadowed the fear brought on by the death of their leader!

Several cultists closest to the altar moved first, shouting the name of the sun god and rushing at Duncan with their weapons drawn.

This ruined the plan Duncan had in mind. He intended to try another chant by saying, “I offer the hearts of everyone on the altar to the sun god,” but when he saw that some of the cultists had brought out revolvers to shoot him, the idea was squashed. Giving these cultists the middle finger, he cuts off the projected state without a second of delay.

Let these crazy people continue their crazy crap, I’m going back home to the Vanished.

At the same time, on the vast expanse of the sea, a rhythmic footstep echoed along the deck of the Vanished. This was Alice, the puppet doll in her long gothic dress, coming up to the captain’s room. She wants to ask Duncan some questions, and she remembers well from the captain that he’s in the room here.

Alice has a good memory….