CHAPTER 16: THE GATE OF TRUTH

Pale mana flowed into Wayne's body, withered and decayed, silent like death. He felt as if he’d drunk a glass of iced water in the dead of winter. The cold pricked at his gums, and he couldn’t help but shiver.

The Book of Greed breathed rhythmically, inhaling the maddening stillness in the mana. The turpid corruption dissipated, leaving an elegant, tranquil mana shimmering clearly like a creek.

He could tell that the book hadn’t swallowed the mana itself, but an energy intertwined with it. And the book was picky. It had actively tasted Monica’s mana previously, but this time, it only perfunctorily sampled it because it had nothing better to do.

The small eye that had opened remained grey and blind, unable to respond to Wayne’s gaze. He didn’t understand it. The Book of Greed had become too different from the original programming. He could only try to identify the patterns until he found the correct way to use the book.

Monica sent all its mana into Wayne’s body and guided it to allow him usage, showing both its trust in him and its high expectations of his potential. He didn’t disappoint. As a demonstration of his great potential, cool moonlight surged and radiated, enveloping his body until his entire person became a hazy cocoon of light.

Such pure moonlight! Goddess, he truly is a genius!

Monica was both surprised and delighted. It completed its guidance to help Wayne cast magic for the first time. Worried that its presence would interfere with his thoughts, the cat jumped away, watching him with its tail raised.

The oval cocoon expanded rapidly. A giant hand reached out, and a figure over three meters tall broke out of the cocoon. It was humanoid, with obscured facial features and no clear eyes, nose, mouth, or ears. It was only a rough imitation of the human body, and it was so familiar that William made a thoughtful noise. It seemed that his magic had been plagiarized.

Since we’re friends, I’ll consider this an homage.

Monica was so excited that its fur stood on end. On the surface, Wayne’s magic was too crude to be worth another glance, yet the moonlight it contained was more graceful and tranquil than anything Monica had ever seen. It set the bar for Moonlight’s followers.

Its earlier assessment was right. Wayne could become Moonlight’s chosen apostle.

He didn’t try to create an atomic bomb with magic. It was a silly idea, and even if Monica’s mana was sufficient enough to manifest it, he wouldn’t dare to use the bomb. He wouldn’t be able to run away from the greatest equalizer in human history in time.

In comparison, William’s way of turning himself into a figure of light was the more reliable approach.

So this is magic?

Wayne raised his arm. Pure white flooded his vision. He couldn’t see anything since he didn’t have eyes. Just when he was wondering where they had gone, the sound of muscles writhing came from his chest area. A vertical line split the flesh there, and a giant eye opened.

He could see now! The world became clear to him, more distinct than ever before.

With the magic, he felt like he had become one with the Book of Greed. Although he couldn’t see the world clearly, the book could. Its vision cut through the mist and revealed the madness beneath the surface like a scalpel.

The giant eye scanned around before settling on William and Monica. The featureless figure of light gave them a thumbs-up, telling them that he was feeling good.

William and Monica fell silent. They didn’t feel good at all. The moment the eye focused on them, they felt as if they had fallen into a freezing pond. Their hair stood on end, and they could feel their racing pulses.

Monica stretched its paws and straightened its tail as it screamed, arching its back with its hackles raised. The shriek was music to Wayne’s ears. With his friend’s encouragement, he turned around and rushed toward the battle taking place.

Veronica and Mike were in a chaotic scuffle. A dragon-blood descendant was so powerful that their raw strength exceeded human limits and reached the realm of magic. She could dismantle a building as easily as taking apart building blocks.

Under her relentless blows, Mike couldn’t even find the time to cast spells. His undeadness and the white gloves were the only things keeping him going. Though he was getting beaten the entire time, his odds were still fifty-fifty.

Veronica dominated him with fierce punches, but Mike wasn’t panicked. He had become part of the town with the priest’s help. This was a powerful Law that even the Goddess of Death coveted; it would not be dispelled by ordinary physical attacks. Moreover, the ritual was beginning soon, and everyone would become his sacrifice.

That thought pulled his lips into a cruel smile.

Bang!

Then, with the smile frozen on his face, he flew away, getting slammed by a white fist.

Veronica looked at Wayne’s changed form with surprise, but it didn’t take long for her to figure out what had happened. She huffed, somewhat displeased. She turned around and walked away from the battlefield.

She was startled, too. The large eyeball instilled in her a terror she couldn’t put into words.

“You deal with the Deathwalker...”

Magic could only be countered by magic. She knew that she couldn’t take care of Mike, so she left to look for the magic circle that would activate the ritual. There was still time to destroy it and turn things around.

Supporting his broken body, Mike stood up and jumped when he met the giant eye. An indescribable fear rose deep within him. He felt like he would go mad if he maintained eye contact for even a moment longer.

What kind of magic is that?

Wayne kicked Mike off his feet before stomping on him and grinding him down. Their height difference made a punch difficult; his time would be better served stepping on the enemy.

Mike’s body was fragile. The grinding left his skin peeling off in large chunks, exposing the same shriveled flesh as that of the townspeople. He peered toward Veronica, seemingly worried that she would find the circle. William noticed from the sidelines. He raised his voice and told her that the circle was likely nearby; the enemy was panicking.

Mike roared to interrupt him. Black tentacles shot out from the black inverted triangles on his white gloves. The eight spindly legs crawled up to Wayne and grappled the giant of light’s limbs, tying him down.

Moonlight morphed from arms to long blades. An arc as clear as moving water easily sliced the spider's legs into several sections. Once hitting the ground, the spider's legs writhed and twisted, unable to make another attack under the tranquil moon.

The giant’s hands then pierced through Mike’s chest and shoulders like spikes, pinning him down. The eye lodged in the center of the chest gazed at him, reflecting his ugly face and making him scream.

Mike felt his sanity spiral. His mind, made resilient from the trial of death, crumbled so easily. He saw his ugly self reflected in the eye, as well as a pale moon hanging high in the night sky. A pain originating from his soul made his entire body convulse. The torment exhausted him and rendered him helpless. It was as if he were tied to a grill, getting his skin peeled and his tendons cut.

“Ahhhhh—”

He cried out in pain, tearing his yellowed, worn ribs open with both hands, exposing the dried-up organs inside. Where his heart should be, there was a mysterious golden triangle.

Wayne looked at him in surprise. He didn’t sense Death from the symbol. Just as he was wondering what it was, it shot a golden light and knocked him away.

The giant eye in his chest had burst, and grey fluid oozed out. The eye closed under the damage as the fluid triggered the growth of new skin tissues. The original skin writhed underneath like parasites, shifting and creating bumps and dips on the new skin. The similarity to the cover of the Book of Greed was uncanny.

The golden triangle radiated light, completing its projection on the eerie, large round moon. Air sank, and space itself froze. The flames engulfing the town stopped dancing. The zombie-like townspeople fell quiet. Even the wind had stopped rustling the trees. A needle drop would be audible in the deathly silence.

Veronica and William looked up at the sky, unable to move. Their faces contorted, and their eyes shone with increasing madness. Monica fared a little better—its black fur bristled before it fainted with its eyes open.

Wayne didn’t know what the golden triangle represented, only that his supernatural sense was blaring in alarm. The ritual was complete. Mike had etched the magic circle on his heart.

“Hahaha—”

While everyone was rendered immobile, Mike slowly rose into the air, raising his arms with a serene look on his sunken face and welcoming the descent of the great like a pilgrim.

Grey mist converged on him from all parts of Klofron, causing his flesh to bulge and mutate. In the end, he transformed into a massive sphere of black flesh around ten meters in diameter. The grimy, filthy parts that comprised the sphere seemed to have been soaked in tar. Their limbs twisted and bent at the joints. Each face opened its mouth wide and let out an unintelligible wail that pierced the souls.

Buzz—

Wayne’s head felt like it would explode. A madness overtook him and almost deprived him of his self-control.

He didn’t realize that a part of the grey mist had been intercepted by him as it swirled toward Mike—or it would be more accurate to say that the combined being of him and the Book of Greed had devoured it.

The mist entered the book and opened another small eyeball. The large one in the center recovered and slowly opened. The streak of grey fluid running down from the corners of the eye solidified and turned pitch black; it could not be washed away or cut off.

At the same time, grey tissues grew and spread throughout the figure, covering it from head to toe and completely obscuring its original form. The body without bones or organs gradually became more substantial inside.

Thump, thump, thump!

There was a rhythm, or a heartbeat.

The giant eye darted to the black sphere of flesh mid-air and remained fixed on it.

Give it here!

“The Gate of Truth has opened. From tonight onwards, I, Mike Nelson, will be known to the world as a legend!”

Above the sphere was half of Mike’s body, the area between his chest and abdomen melded with the black arms and faces below. His mind dominated the will of the entire town of Klofron. Now, he would sacrifice the town and himself to enter the Gate of Truth—the ultimate pursuit of all mages.

Boom!!

The projection from the golden triangle opened a black vortex on the surface of the moon, leading to a deep universe filled with scattered stars. It was infinitely vast, infinitely great, and contained infinite possibilities.

Wayne heard a roar in his head as the eyeball in his chest stared at the Gate of Truth. Its pupil contracted and dilated repeatedly. The excitement made him tremble.

Give it here!!!

The Book of Greed expressed its frantic desire. Even the black sphere it had so coveted became worthless in comparison, not even deserving to be an appetizer before the main course.