When the plot-skips players into the game world

Chapter 647: Chapter 52: The Ritual: Shadow of Avalon Chapter 647: Chapter 52: The Ritual: Shadow of Avalon “`

When Aiwass, clad in the bishop’s red robe, opened the grand doors of St.

Genvieve Chapel and stepped inside… he momentarily experienced an illusion.

At that moment, he seemed to overlap with Bishop Mathers, who in bygone days had taken Aiwass here to study the Sacred Arts.@@novelbin@@

Shaking his head slightly to clear this peculiar sensation, Aiwass opened the door wider, allowing the people outside to enter.

Afterward, Aiwass closed the chapel doors, donned his mitre, and carefully straightened it.

Then, he turned on the chapel’s electric light switch.

Inside St.

Genvieve Chapel, the lights were instantly ablaze.

To the left and right, the lights behind each of the thirty-seven white statues housed in niches came on at once.

“…Eh?”

Seeing this, the grape emitted a somewhat puzzled noise.

…The Candle Master himself is a deity of illumination.

Why would there be electric lights inside Cathedral of Candle Master?

“Sherlock” immediately tugged at his brother’s arm, giving a fierce glare to the grape impersonating Mycroft.

“It’s alright, Mr.

Hermes.”

Aiwass smiled and shook his head… though it was also unclear which “Mr.

Hermes” he was actually addressing: “It’s normal to be surprised… After all, during usual Candle Master rituals, St.

Genvieve Chapel has its doors open and candles lit.”

I even thought of ways to make up for it, how kind I am.

Aiwass was somewhat moved.

But what he had said was not a lie.

“Although fitting electric lights within such an archaic structure may seem peculiar, it is actually a necessary measure.”

Aiwass explained, “Within the Cathedral of Candle Master’s domain, ‘lighting a candle’ has a certain divinity, or at least special significance; lighting oil lamps has the same effect.

Thus, apart from festivals, holidays, and regular worship, lighting candles indiscriminately within the entire cathedral is prohibited; on regular days, electric lights must be used for illumination.

“Before the invention of electric lights, lanterns were used.

Light had to be brought in from the outside, or the interior simply maintained with constant candlelight.

The job of the acolytes back in the day included constantly replacing the candles within the holy sanctuary and ensuring they did not go out.”

He looked kindly at “Mycroft”, explaining on his behalf, “This is generally something only priests would be aware of.

It’s very normal for His Excellency the Chamberlain to be unaware.”

As Aiwass spoke, the statues within the chapel had all been activated.

Seeing them turn their heads toward the doorway, Aiwass slightly bowed his head, raised his hand to touch the three candles on his mitre, and lit them in turn: “Seventy-three guides… may the Candle Master watch over your flames.”

Though Queen Sofia had passed away, she had not been interred here yet.

Therefore, the number of guides who had received national funeral rites remained at seventy-three.

Aiwass glanced over and noticed Queen Sofia’s niche was ready, but still it housed no statue.

…It seemed that Queen Sofia, who had embarked on the Dusk Path, no longer dwelled on matters of her own posthumous affairs as before.

After Aiwass uttered the command, the statues calmed down and turned their heads back.

This was a special system within St.

Genvieve Chapel.

It ensured that even if someone managed to steal or forcefully obtain the keys, and even if someone with the power of light and fire opened the door, failing to immediately pay homage to the statues of the guides would trigger the intruder defense mechanism of the place.

Aiwass led the group all the way to the innermost part of the chapel, which also contained the colossal coffin placed at the center.

It sat atop high steps, appearing akin to a throne.

And a pure white statue of The Holy Maiden was sprawled over the coffin, seated beside it, propping her chin with her arm as though she were taking a brief rest here.

Her visage was pure, dignified, and sacred, her long hair draped and flowing.

Her arm and hair obscured the intricately carved coffin, preventing it from being opened.

For a fleeting moment, Aiwass felt like he was seeing Isabel.

She bore a resemblance to Isabel, but without that elven aura.

The woman, who appeared to be around thirty years old, could even be said to be Isabel’s sister or mother.

“…Bring out the Queen’s Blood.”

“`

Aiwass took a deep breath and spoke in a low voice.

This was his first time delving to such depths, and also the first time he had laid eyes on St.

Genvieve and Lancelot I.

He stepped forward, took off his mitre, and placed it on the coffin.

Aiwass reached out and lightly touched the candle flame on the mitre, and the pure white flame seemed to be drawn in, quietly burning at his fingertips.

He used the flame like paint, tracing symbols on the coffin.

“Why not make me a god?”

Then, Aiwass lit a second candle and wrote again:

“Why not make me a mortal?”

Finally, Aiwass lit a third candle and immediately below, he wrote the last cryptic message:

“The fool shall be forgotten thrice and then return to the world.”

After the three cryptic messages were completed, the pure white statue of Guinevere opened her eyes.

She lifted her head, her beautiful, amber-like dull yellow pupils gazing at Aiwass.

Then she took the mitre, whose candle had been extinguished, into her embrace, slid the coffin halfway open to the side, stood up, and stepped aside.

Only the upper half of Lancelot I could be seen in the half-opened coffin.

It was filled with many withered petals, each stained with a drop of long-dried blood.

So, Aiwass stepped back and watched as Olive stepped forward.

He first performed a complex consecration ceremony, took out a lily from his bosom, then poured the Queen’s Blood onto it.

He placed it into the heart of a lion, declaring it to be the Queen’s heart.

The heart of the lion was dried, as it could be used as a common material for rituals.

Naturally, there was no blood inside… which is why the Queen’s Blood needed to be poured into it so it could drip out through the heart again.

Normally, the Ceremony of Avalon’s Shadow required the heart of a royal family member, but they could not obtain one.

Thus, they had to use the strong Curse Ritual Magician’s method of “substitution” in the ritual, replacing it with something else.

The next moment, he plucked a bloodied lily petal and threw it into the coffin.

In an instant, the inside of the coffin began to boil—

The shadows came to life, bubbling and spilling out.

The heavy black smoke that rose like dry ice spread across the ground, entwining around everyone’s ankles, preventing any movement.

And Olive solemnly picked up Arondight’s Dagger, which had been retrieved by Aiwass, and plunged it into the heart of the lion.

Blood dripped down, and the blooming lily withered and died at a speed visible to the naked eye.

“I pierce it, as I would pierce the Queen’s heart.”

Olive held up the bleeding lily, stretching out his hand slowly and forcefully to squeeze out the remaining blood from the heart.

He spoke slowly and clearly, making sure not to misspeak a single word, “The twenty-one founders bow their heads in sorrow, the twenty-one Knights of the Round Table’s swords shatter, the twenty-one Du Lacs bleed dry.

“The fool has perished, the scales of heaven turn in myriad ways, the warriors of yore return from a hundred battles.

“You will no longer be a king, no longer be a knight, no longer be an Angel Envoy—

“—The time for vengeance has come!”

As he spoke, he pulled the blood-stained dagger out of the lion’s heart.

And plunged it fiercely into the heart of Lancelot I within the coffin!