With the span of the dark light, all those who had been shined by the light were instantly aging, they degraded into a rotten black ash and died; all of them die in agony while shrieking, some of them were swallowed up by the light while trying to escape, some of them died in their beds, some of them were embraced by their families in the face of death. The many facades in the moment of death were unfolding.
“God! What’s this!”
“Please save us, I don’t want to die!”
“Ha-ha-ha! Everyone must die! You must die!”
Flames engulfed Istan City, it burned the city into a sea of fire, and several shadows of devils crossed the border and appeared in the city, they willfully killed and devoured all the remaining people in the city.
However, what was reflected in Bart’s eyes was the numerous sparkling brilliance of Soul of the Conscious floated up into the sky; some of them had just passed away, some of them had previously died because of the curse. Now they were attracted and swallowed by the black diamond. Bart even saw the horrible figure behind the doors of the abyss.
Bart instantly recalled the memory of it devouring the soul of his parents and his sister, Molly.
“Let the agony begin, suffering can exchange for more power and strength. You’ve received what you’ve asked for!”
“This is the price to pay for becoming a Demon Warlock!”
The voice of terror and darkness echoed in Bart’s mind again, and now the dark light of darkness hung over Bart’s body. He lowered his head and saw Helen in his arms, she was growing old in a speed of light. From her body to her face, little by little, she turned into ashes, and at last there was only a pair of her beautiful eyes which were reflected onto his pupils.
Helen had been looking at Bart before she died; there was no hatred and blame, but pity! The pity revealed from her gaze was like a poison which was biting onto his bone and gnawing onto his soul.
The power of the abyss bound Helen’s consciousness, it was sent up to the sky and into the abyss. Everyone’s Soul of the Conscious would be engulfed by the devils in the abyss; all Soul of the Conscious would be in endless torment and agony as they assimilated as the power of the devil.
“No! No! This isn’t my sacrifice to you. Give it back to me. Give it back to me!”
Bart couldn’t keep his cool any more. He chased after Helen’s Soul of the Conscious on the ancient defense wall crazily. Finally, he fell down and over the wall, and his head was bleeding profusely.
The grand figure of the Devil Lord had finally struggled out a part of himself from the abyss. Although he still couldn’t really enter the world, he was able to project his power.
Bartosz wriggled his body like a bug and his monstrous body covered the sky. He was like a grotesque and stout serpent which was looking bizarre in a robe. He looked down at Bart from the sky as if he was looking at a contemptible rebel.
He held a bloody-red meat ball in his hand, and all the Soul of the Conscious that permeated into sky was absorbed by that. With the massive belched from the blood-red meat ball, the sound of overflowing was clearly heard, and as if he could hear the desperate cry of the citizens of Istan City.
“Yours? Oh! No, it’s already mine!”
“I’m satisfied with your sacrifice; I’ll grant you the right to be my servant. Come on, plunge into the abyss, be my servant, and I’ll grant you the power of immortality!”
Bart had only Helen’s silhouette in his mind in that moment. He knelt down on the ground. His hand, which was raised, dropped gradually and he made a shriek of mockery! He laughed and his tears kept flowing!
“Ha-ha-ha… That’s right. That’s… Demon Warlock, that’s the price to pay to be a Demon Warlock!”
“Agony…is the source of our power!”
Bart lay on the ground in agony. He smashed something held tightly in his hand on the ground, and cursed in rage, “Da*n you and your Demon Warlock! Da*n you and your immortality!”
“Why every time… every time… why is it like this every single time!”
Just then, the pearl thrown on the ground by Bart suddenly burst out with intense radiance. Bart realized that it was the pearl Helen had been wearing on her neck. The lousy glass bead that Bart laughed at was the legendary wishing gemstone!
“Pearl… of Dana!”
Bart grabbed onto the Pearl of Dana like a drowning man who was grabbing a straw and the Pearl of Dana was as if in response to his strong prayer, an intense black radiance blossomed from the Pearl of Dana. It illuminated the whole of Istan City, and no one had ever made the Pearl of Dana shined that brilliantly.
The brilliance enveloped everything and time and space seemed to stop. The opening of the doors of the abyss and the willful demons all stopped in their tracks. Even the Lord of Abyss was freeze-framed in the sky; it had lost all the ability of thinking.
Bart shouted at the top of his lungs at the Pearl of Dana, “Aren’t you a gemstone that can fulfill all wishes? I pray to you, I beg you to restore everything to its original state, to resurrect Helen, to resurrect everyone in the city!”
“Quick, I pray to you, I beg you to fulfill all my wishes!”
“Whoever you are, god, devil, monster of the Astral World, whoever you are, I pray to you to fulfill my wishes!”
The Pearl of Dana, which drew in the power of desires and wishes from countless people, now condensed into a humongous light and shadow, as if it was questioning Bart on behalf of all the other desires and wishes.
“At all costs?”
It seemed that the Shadow of Desire, which was condensed by countless human shadows, was talking, and its voice sounded like thousands and tens of thousands of people, including men, women, the aged and children, talking at the same time!
“At all costs! Hurry up! Satisfy my wishes!”
“Whatever you want, takes it away, I’ll give it to you, it’s all yours!”
Bart roared, kneeled on the ground with his hands tightly clenched. He looked at it with his hideous and ferocious face towards the sky. This time, Bart was sincere; it wasn’t a lie which he used to numb his own sensation or to detach from his conscience.
The figure stretched out its hand and shook hands with Bart, “The agreement is established!”
As the agreement was established, the brilliance rays whirled and flowed and everything seemed to be traveling back in time. But the time around Istan City and the whole world was staggered, as if they had been transformed into two regions.
The hourglass of time was reversed, the power of the dark abyss receded, the light of the power of consciousness retreated from the palm of the Lord of Abyss, and the shadows engulfed by each and every devil gradually condensed into shape.
The doors of the abyss were shut, sunk into the ground, the flames was gradually extinguished, all the people retreated from the train station to their houses, the deceased were revived, the burnt granary was restored, and even Miles, who had chased Bart, and more than 20 Holy Knights and priests were revived.
The alchemical boilers, which were destroyed by Bart, were restored, the devil’s altar and the Talos Door faded in sight, and the power of curse vanished. No one died and there was no agony or disaster.
Everything, everything retuned and went back to that morning.
————————————————
Helen stood in front of the sleigh, Agatha hugged her waist from behind, and her sister Agatha jumped and twittered like a lark. There were happy and blissful smiles on both faces, but the Pearl of Dana on Helen’s neck had become an ordinary pearl.
Helen steered the ice bears and passed by Bart’s side. Bart fixed his gaze on Helen’s face. His ferocious and hideous gaze was brimming with tears; his gaze revealed a tinge of relief and hope.
The sleigh passed Bart’s side, and as if they had never known him, they ran straight passed by him.
“That man looks terrible! He’s even staring at us. He must be a pervert!” Agatha hugged her sister’s waist in fear.
“It’s wrong to say that of others!” Helen was angry and taught her younger sister a lesson.
“His choice of clothing is weird too. Nobody else wears this kind of clothes now, and here is the deep inside of the Amos Icefield. But I heard that the great figures from churches and professionals like to dress up and wear ancient style robes.”
“Maybe he’s the passenger who had lost his way while exploring the Amos Icefield!”
“Anyway, what a pervert and weirdo!”
Bart was fixated on them till they disappeared in sight and into Istan City. Finally, he retracted his gaze. His shoulders loosened and dropped instantly, as if he had unloaded all the heavy responsibilities. He had a smile on his face that he never had before.
Bart never felt so easy!
“This is great! This feeling! It’s really great!”
Bart picked up the Pearl of Dana in his hand. At that moment, the Pearl of Dana was radiating a colorful radiance, it was shining onto Bart, and the Power of Desire accumulated for more than 500 years was fully integrated into Bart’s body.
“It wasn’t merely a wishing gemstone!”
“But the Divine Personality of the God of Desire! Wish is also a form of desire!”
“To give up all desires, feelings and consciousness and become the God of Desire is the agreement I signed with the rules of the world?”
Bart’s body was transforming a little by a little into light and he had turned into a huge Divine Shadow. With his last tinge of consciousness and affections, he looked into Istan City. Everything in the city was so peaceful, as if nothing had happened and everyone was living a happy and quiet life.
It was like a paradise!
“Thank you! Helen!” Bart revealed a sincere smile like a child, as if he had been redeemed, not the citizens of Istan City who were saved, but him!
His last bit of affection had slipped away and he merged completely with the Power of Desire accumulated over 500 years; he had become the God of Desire. Then, he transformed into a pillar of light, shot into the sky and he entered the kingdom where it belonged.
———————-
Chuff-chuff!
Twenty days later, when a steam train entered Istan City, the train conductor jumped off the train and he was looking very apologetic!
“I’m really sorry. I don’t know who broke the railway track along the road here this time. We made urgent repair on it for half a month and came 20 days late. Is it all good in the city?”
The station master said doubtfully, “Huh? I’m still wondering, why did you come so early?”
“Ahead of schedule? Are you dreaming!”
“You’re clearly ahead of schedule!”
“We’re 20 days late!”
A fierce quarrel broke out in the train station, and it wasn’t until the testimony of the people on the train and the repair of the magic transceiver was completed that the citizens of Istan City realized that they had unknowingly lost almost a month of time.
As for what happened in Istan City during that period, no one knew!
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