Free Web NovelChapter 403: Chapter 403 The Spirit Fragment of the Goddess of Vengeance_1
A moment of terrifying pressure enveloped Presia, as broken memories forcefully flooded her consciousness.
The first image was a view looking down from a high altar where a woman dressed as a priest and a group of followers dressed as mercenaries knelt on the ground; then the scene shifted, the entire temple was ablaze, a group of cultists in dark red robes and masks were fighting fiercely with the previously worshiping band of mercenary followers, and the corpses of both sides littered the whole temple; following that, a blood-drenched cultist weakly propped himself up, simultaneously raising a hand pointing at the scene, filled with the painful screams of women; the last image was of the woman dressed as a priest standing on the steps of the altar, her back turned to the burning pillars, arms raised high, praying towards the scene. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
In this last image, Presia finally saw the priestess’s face clearly; it was... the "madman" Halo!
One’s remembered images are basically from a first-person perspective, without mirrors or other mediums, one cannot see oneself.
At that moment, Presia suddenly realized that the owner of these memories was not Halo, but a more powerful unknown existence that had always been sleeping in the deepest part of Halo’s spiritual world!
As the other spoke disjointed divine speech, all the shattered images began to twist, then merged together, forming a vortex. Presia felt herself sinking deeply into it, fear uncontrollably surging forth, preventing her from thinking clearly.
Before her consciousness was completely devoured, her remaining rationality drove her to choose to interrupt the magic.
Then, her consciousness was cut off.
When she opened her eyes again, Presia found herself lying on another hospital bed, with Aiden standing beside her, looking at her in confusion.
"Awake? Are you okay? What happened?" Aiden asked.
"I just..." Presia propped herself up on the bed and glanced at the other bed—Halo was still in a deep sleep, "passed out?"
She only remembered being forcefully expelled by a powerful will, and it seemed she had glimpsed someone’s memory, but the mental impact left her only recalling the last image.
"You were just unconscious for a few seconds; I was about to call for help when you woke up," Aiden replied, "I saw you standing still after casting the spell, then you suddenly clutched your head and screamed, and fell onto this bed."
"Spiritual backlash," Presia muttered to herself, recalling the incident, "In this madman’s subconscious, there’s the presence of someone else’s spirit."
"Someone else’s spirit?" Aiden narrowed his eyes.
"There’s a small fragment of spirit attached to her; it’s only a bit, but it’s very powerful..." Presia paused for a moment, hesitated for a long while, but eventually revealed the truth, "This is definitely the effect of divine speech. I heard that person utter divine speech, but it seemed incomplete..."
For a moment, Presia considered concealing this. But then she doubted whether such a concealment could deceive Aiden—Aiden obviously knew there was a secret about Halo. If she told Aiden the truth, she might learn some information.
"So it was that so-called spirit fragment that drove you out?" Aiden pressed immediately, "’She’ has awakened?"
Melifilia had once told Aiden about how she had manipulated the Blood Moon Cult to attack the Cathedral of Vengeance, and Halo had tried to sacrifice herself to extend the life of the goddess of vengeance; however, she failed due to Melifilia’s scheme.
The goddess of vengeance did not revive, leaving only a fragment of her spirit within Halo, and although Halo did not die, she completely lost her sanity. In return, she received a small measure of the power of "vengeance."
What Presia had discovered was likely the spiritual fragment of the goddess of vengeance.
"Do you know something?" Presia asked Aiden, staring at him.
"I know." Aiden answered bluntly.
"You knew and still had me take the risk?" Presia furrowed her brows.
"I didn’t know that thing would suddenly react; look, last time you probed her spirit, nothing happened." Aiden spread his hands. "Putting you in danger doesn’t benefit me, and you do have some use to me, after all."
"A tool, you mean." Presia sneered. freewebnσvel.cѳm
"Even if you’re a tool, you’re a useful one; I wouldn’t just discard you carelessly," Aiden smiled. "Without you, this expert in spirit matters, whom would I find to replace you, that succubus?"
"Cut the smooth talk; better start explaining what’s up with this one," Presia demanded. "You must know something!"
"Some things involve secrets I can’t reveal too much," Aiden spread his hands again. "All I can tell you is that this individual comes from the Revenge Sanctuary. Have you heard of it?"
"The armed religious organization serving the goddess of revenge?" Presia frowned slightly. "I think I heard Abigail mention it quite a while ago, but we weren’t sure at the time whether the so-called goddess of revenge was truly the ruler."
"To be precise, the Revenge Sanctuary is a religious mercenary organization, and Halo is one of their priestesses," Aiden replied.
"Then that spirit fragment, could it be from..." Presia realized.
Aiden didn’t speak, only nodded.
It seemed that the spirit fragment of the goddess of revenge within Halo was showing signs of awakening, and this was probably why Halo had suddenly started targeting him. The sliver of the revenge goddess’s remnant soul was influencing Halo, causing her to sense some trace left by the goddess of schemes from him... This explanation was perhaps the most reasonable.
Presia swallowed hard; this was her first time being so close to such a significant spiritual authority. To be honest, she was very intrigued to study it closely, but the risks were also evident—her own spirit had nearly been devoured by that revenge goddess’s spirit fragment earlier.
"If you don’t want to die, don’t get any funny ideas and keep your mouth tight," Aiden noticed her inner calculations and then posed another question. "The spirit fragment residing within her is showing signs of awakening; could this awaken some strange power in her, or... could the guest inside snatch away her body?"
"Theoretically, it’s unlikely. The spirit fragment, with its residual consciousness being so weak, managed to expel me mainly because the emotions were too intense... I could feel her being filled with intense hatred," Presia considered seriously. "But honestly, I can’t say for certain what will happen, as the theories of black magic can’t explain the workings of authority."
"Now I really don’t have time to deal with this one..." Aiden sighed heavily.
Events won’t always happen one by one in order, but his energy was limited, and there had to be some prioritization in handling them.
"Just in case, let’s tie her up first," Aiden decided after a moment’s thought. "I’ll take care of the mission tonight first."
He remembered that previously Melifilia had developed a hibernation drug based on the foundation of a death-feigning potion, which could put a person into a bear-like hibernation state, not needing food for roughly three or four days, with only a periodic application of water to the lips necessary to maintain hydration.
For now, he had to prioritize dealing with the matter of the fugitive princess.
