Chapter 152

Chapter 152: Ashes of Bone

In the upper part of Igewent, at the Church of Radiance.

During the morning hours, the sunlight filtered through the large stained-glass windows and illuminated the spacious chapel. Vania, dressed in the nun’s habit, was kneeling before the altar, praying devoutly with an extremely pious expression.

“Lord… Thank you for the new light you have bestowed upon this new day, allowing us to once again bask in your grace. I have come before you again to offer my gratitude and praise. May your greatness endure forever, may your knowledge last eternally. I will always remember your revelations. Thank you for protecting my spirit from the poison of heretical teachings. You…”

While praying, Vania suddenly realized that something seemed amiss. She slapped herself hard on the face and immediately stopped her prayer.

‘No, no, this isn’t right. The words of the morning prayer aren’t like this. It was fine at first, but why did it go off track later? There’s nothing about praising knowledge in the morning prayer… And what was all that nonsense at the end!’

Vania thought to herself, feeling both embarrassed and annoyed. This had been troubling her for several days. Whenever she prayed normally, she would inexplicably veer off course, especially when she was getting into the rhythm of the prayer.

In short, it was only when she wasn’t paying full attention that her prayers were okay. But whenever she entered a state of deep devotion and prayed sincerely, her words would become increasingly distorted. This had been causing her much distress recently, almost leading her to slip up in front of other nuns.

‘Sigh… I should practice more and try to correct this.’

With a sigh, Vania prepared to continue practicing her prayers. Just then, a voice came from beside her.

“Hey, Sister Vania, you’re still praying here in the morning?”

Vania turned towards the voice and saw a rotund cleric walking towards her. She recognized him; his name was Kunde, one of the local church’s leaders, who was known for his flattery and sycophancy.

“Haha… It’s already been over an hour since morning prayer time, yet Sister Vania is still praying. What steadfast piety! Truly worthy of being a nun from Tivyán, a role model for us all!” Kunde said flatteringly as he looked at Vania, making her feel extremely awkward.

“Oh, oh, ha-ha… You’re jesting, Sir Kunde. I just happened to pray a bit longer today, that’s all…” Vania replied with a smile, thinking to herself that she had been making too many mistakes lately and needed to practice.

“Haha, such humility, Sister Vania…”

Then, Vania and Kunde began small talk. After several compliments, Kunde asked about the progress of the Bishop Dickert relic recovery work. Vania responded that they were almost done and would return to Tivyán in a week.

When Kunde heard that Vania would be leaving in a week, he started asking her about her impressions of Igewent, trying to gauge her attitude towards the local church. He wanted to know if she might say anything negative about them after returning. Vania deflected the questions with some humor and stated that she had a good impression of the place.

Kunde smiled and bid farewell, leaving. Vania sighed in relief and knelt back before the altar, preparing to continue her prayer practice.

This time, she took out the Sacred Text from her waist and opened it, intending to use it to increase her faith by following the text.

However, when she turned to a certain page, her attention was caught by newly appeared text on it.

“Are you there?”

…

A few days later, in the western suburbs of Igewent, at St. Amanda School.

It was nightfall, the waning moon was rising, and despite the school being brightly lit, the male students who stayed behind were in evening classes, their voices reciting in unison echoing through the night sky and spreading far and wide.

Far from the school, on the slope of a small hill, there was a carriage parked. Two figures sat inside the carriage; they were Godfrey and Oswan.

They were looking out through the carriage window at the brightly lit school, listening to the sounds coming from within. Oswan snorted coldly.

“They’re still having classes at this hour. Hmph, so clueless. That old man…”

“Mm, indeed, he doesn’t seem to have noticed. But for safety’s sake… shall we send in a ghost to scout?” Godfrey suggested from the other side. He wanted to scout the school further, but Oswan rejected the idea.

“There’s no need. We’ve already gone in ourselves. There’s an alert ward against ghosts inside. Our ghost would be detected immediately, which could alert the school.”

“That old man is very shrewd. As Mr. Lu Ke’s enemy, he wouldn’t overlook the possibility of a ghost.”

Godfrey explained. They had scouted the school in various ways over the past few days and found clear signs of supernatural activity—specifically, traces left by “Stone!”

After thorough investigation, they could finally confirm that their target, Mr. Lu Ke’s enemy, was hiding in the school!

Now, the investigation was complete, and they knew where the ‘fish’ were. It was time to set the net.

Time passed slowly. Inside the carriage, the two men alternated between watching the distant school and checking their watches. Finally, they waited until the predetermined moment arrived.

“It’s time. Let’s act.”

“Yes, the optimal ritual time has come. It’s time to bring Mr. Lu Ke over.”

After a brief exchange, the two men got out of the carriage and approached the back, opening the cargo compartment. Inside were two large suitcases and a long, massive coffin.

First, they took out the suitcases, then together pulled out the coffin and placed it on the ground. Then, they took out a large ceramic jar from the carriage, opened it, revealing it was filled with white bone ash.

Oswan began pouring the bone ash onto the ground, drawing circles with it to form a pattern. Ultimately, he created a circular magical array, with a circle and an equilateral triangle at its center—the symbol of “Stone,” which was the core of the array. Below the main symbol, there was another smaller symbol, representing a closed eye—the symbol of “Silence.”

The array was meant to reinforce “Stone” with “Silence.” This was the purpose of the array and the essence of the “Bone Craftsman,” a branch of the “Stone” path.

Once the array was completed, Oswan and Godfrey opened the coffin beside them, revealing a complete human skeleton.

Looking at the skeletal remains, both men waved their hands, and the bones inside the coffin floated up automatically, drifting from the coffin to the array above, then slowly descending to lie on the bone-ash-drawn array.

Next, Oswan took out a beautifully decorated long box from his clothes, opened it, and inside was a bone—a human right humerus. Compared to the bones in the array, this humerus was pitch-black, covered with countless incantations.

Reverently holding the black incantation bone, Oswan knelt down before the array. Godfrey, who also knelt down, reached out and removed the humerus from the skeleton in the array. Oswan replaced it with the incantation bone in his hand. Then, the two men bowed their heads and began chanting the incantation together.

As the incantation echoed through the night, the black incantation bone attached to the skeleton began to emit faint ghostly light. Gradually, this light spread throughout the entire skeleton, causing it to creak and move. Slowly, it rose and sat up.

Amidst the chanting, the skeletal figure stood up in the center of the array, fully erect. Beneath it, the bone ash used to draw the array seemed to be lifted by an invisible wind, gradually detaching from the array and condensing around the skeleton, clinging to it.

Gradually, the bone ash condensed around the skeleton, forming a layer of “skin.” This layer expanded, gradually enveloping the entire skeleton, forming “muscles,” “fingers,” “nose,” “ears,” “mouth,” and ultimately a “person.”

Finally, all the bone ash in the array was consumed, and a “person” emerged—a figure completely constructed from bone ash, pale gray in color.

He had no distinct features, his gray-white body exposed, with a handsome face. His entire body looked like a statue carved from stone, with eyes devoid of pupils, purely black, appearing extremely terrifying.

“Mr. Lu Ke…”

”