CHAPTER 66: A FORBIDDEN SPELL

Spells... it sounded so foreign to Deklan.

Back in his previous world, if anyone talked about spells, then it could only mean in-game, superstition of those girls in his class, or shady cult nonsense. Anything magical carried a bad stigma. So, the sheer fact that Exorcists could use spells around was still hard to wrap his head around.

All he has ever done: the Astral Strike, Elementary Phasing, or the Ghost Conqueror—all of them were done automatically. Deklan thought he was guiding the mana inside his body to do stuff, but in reality, he wasn’t.

He didn’t guide it manually or anything, but it flowed automatically to cast the skill he wanted to use.

It was like his instincts did the work for him.

The only thing that felt like he was controlling it manually was the Breeze Affinity.

But right now, the mana that coursed through his new Mana Veins—he could feel it clearly.

It was a new feeling for him.

Kaelyn pushed her own mana into him, guiding his through a sequence to cast the Binding Thread.

Unlike what games and movies made it out to be, the process of casting a spell isn’t that complicated.

According to Kaelyn’s guidance, casting Binding Thread was simple enough—guide the mana from his core to his fingertips, cycle it through the base of his fingers, then bring it back to the tips again. Quite straightforward in theory, almost deceptively so.

Just a matter of a game of memorizing.

Deklan closed his eyes and did exactly that.

"Quick; it’s picking up our scent," Kaelyn whispered, sensing the Hellhound approaching closer.

She already prepared to cast her own Binding Thread spell, and was now waiting for Deklan’s.

Even though she sounded urgent, Deklan ignored her and closed his eyes.

Draw my mana.

Strands of mana began to seep out from his heart.

It was an unnerving feeling; one that he had never felt before.

Guide it to my fingertips.

Slowly, with an intangible muscle that he wasn’t even aware of until he awakened his Mana Veins—he pushed the mana flow to his fingertips. At that moment, his fingertips felt warm, and they were starting to glow weakly.

Retract it and cycle it at the base before concentrating it back at my fingertips.

Kaelyn bit her lower lip when she felt the warmth of Deklan’s mana seeping into her legs and back.

’At least put me down first before chanting,’ She thought as she tried to get down as slowly as possible, not daring to make a sound to startle the Hellhound. Its snout was already reaching past the tree, inches away from noticing the two.

She looked down at Deklan’s hands and found the spell nearing completion.

Once his fingertips sparkled, her eyes flashed.

It was time to cast her spell.

But before she could, something odd happened.

Swish!

Her eyes widened when dark symbols spread along Deklan’s fingertips and covered his entire hand.

It happened suddenly, but Kaelyn could feel a sudden shift in his mana.

Earlier, his mana felt warm and robust—now, it became as cold as ice and sent a chill down her spine.

Deklan’s eyes shot open.

He caught the Hellhound’s snout sliding into view beside him—far too close for comfort.

Instinct yanked him out of hiding, bursting into the open with a brave slide before the beast could even react. Deklan thrust his blackened hand forward, mana glowing in his fingertips as he shouted, "Spell: Binding Thread!"

[Notice: host has cast the Binding Thread!]

[Curse Mana Vein effect has been applied!]

[Binding Thread has been turned into its forbidden version: Marionette Bind!]

Swoosh!

From Deklan’s fingers, thin strands of mana erupted like five serpents striking at once—each thread was snapping toward the Hellhound—with unnerving precision. They coiled around the beast, tightening as they hardened into razor-thin wires that burrowed into its flesh brutally.

The Hellhound’s howl ripped through the air, one that was filled with pain as it thrashed around.

Flames surged off its body, hotter and hotter, trying to snap the binding wires.

But the wires didn’t melt—they didn’t so much as flicker.

Instead, they sank deeper, disappearing beneath its hide—until nothing remained visible but Deklan’s trembling, outstretched hand. He still felt everything; the pull from the wires as the Hellhound kept on thrashing angrily on his fingertip as if the Hellhound were directly hooked into his nerves.

Deklan whipped his head toward Kaelyn, outrage flaring at her being passive.

"Hello? Earth calling to Kaelyn! Why are you not using yours?!"

"What? Oh, right..."

Snapping from her daze, she cast her spell again to help Deklan, but stopped.

"I don’t think you need any help..."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Deklan looked ahead again and realized the Hellhound, though still thrashing violently, already seemed to be losing its will to fight. Even its eyes, which were akin to two fiery balls, were now engulfed by an odd reddish color.

One that was similar to the color of Deklan’s mana output earlier.

"What does the Binding Thread do, anyway?" Deklan asked—still struggling to hold back the beast with one hand. "I thought it was to bind this thing!"

"It’s supposed to restrain Ghosts, but I—I don’t know..." Kaelyn stammered, eyes locked on the scene ahead, shock carved plainly across her face. "Aren’t you supposed to be the one explaining this? What did you do to the spell to make it act like that?"

Deklan was confused for a moment, and then he finally opened the logs and saw what happened.

Oh, right... I have a Cursed Mana Vein. It became Marionette Bind?

In the heat of the moment, he forgot that his Mana Vein was not normal.

All because of putting candles on the Awakening Ritual circle, which turned out to be a big deal.

...

[Marionette Bind]

Grade: A

Description: Binding Thread is a sign spell—that any Exorcist could learn, a staple to battle Ghosts. Its forbidden version, Marionette Bind, outsourced the spell to the King in Red, altering its nature entirely. It now didn’t only bind the flesh but also the mind, overriding the target’s will, puppeteering them from within.

...

Holy... That sounded ominous as shit. Now people are going to really think I’m a Dark Cultist.

Am I going to be executed if anyone knows about this?

It took another half a minute before the Hellhound eventually stopped thrashing.

Deklan and Kaelyn watched the Hellhound stand perfectly still, its red eyes glowing blankly—as if it had forgotten everything it was doing seconds ago. It was breathing, its mana still raging and potent as ever, but there wasn’t a single flicker of reaction in its body.

It just... stopped.

Confused but also curious, Deklan took a few steps sideways.

Kaelyn wanted to tell him to stop, but the Hellhound didn’t respond to Deklan’s movement at all.

Even as Deklan walked closer, there was still no reaction.

"Hmm..." Deklan rubbed his chin and reread the skill description again. "Override the target’s will— huh? Can I somehow control it?"

He looked down at his right hand, only now realizing the ink-black symbols crawling across his skin, covering his entire hand like markings from some forbidden cult. Each symbol was intricate—pulsing with mana that carried a wholly different presence.

It didn’t look like a tattoo at all... it felt alive.

Like it was a part of his skin instead of being inked.

"Man, that looked quite cool, huh?" Deklan brought his hand skyward, inspecting the symbols—like it was his first time ever getting a permanent tattoo. "I can feel my mana sustaining these symbols— but it doesn’t drain that much. No, there’s something supplying these symbols other than ma—raaghk!"

Out of nowhere, a scream tore through Deklan’s throat as he crumpled to his knees.

He held his hand that was suddenly throbbing with excruciating pain.

"What? What happened?" Kaelyn came to him quickly, holding his trembling shoulders.

"It hurts.... It fucking hurts!" Deklan whimpered between groans; the pain was so excruciating that he could barely speak coherently.

But this was a disaster.

Kaelyn’s aura couldn’t last any longer, and Deklan couldn’t carry her like earlier.

It would be extremely bad for them if something bad happened right now.

ROAR!!

At a sudden, a thunderous roar that reverberated through the air, Kaelyn snapped her gaze from where it came from, and immediately deduced that it was the Alpha Ghost. She could feel the heavy pressure in the air, and even the flames around started to sway towards one directly, like there was a magnet.

"Let’s get out of here," Kaelyn said, placing Deklan’s arm around her neck and supporting him up.

She dashed away, bringing Deklan along, going straight for the barrier.

Boom!

Boom!

Kaelyn maneuvered over the flaming terrain that suddenly became active.

The ground exploded here and there, spewing flames that charred anything that got in its path.

Just from this change alone, she knew that the Alpha Ghost was really awake.

Only the Alpha Ghost could make the Null Zone react this violently. And though she wanted to venture deeper to find where the Alpha Ghost was, she forced that impulse into a cage. That roar from earlier was their cue to get the fuck out.

Encountering the Alpha Ghost head-on would be suicide, especially in their condition.

Raah!

Several Flaming Skeletons appeared from around their corner; their burning eyes locked onto them.

Kaelyn clicked her tongue and sped up.

She drew her katana and went straight ahead, deciding that going through these Flaming Skeletons was the only way for them to get out as soon as possible. Despite the burden of supporting Deklan, her fighting prowess didn’t lessen greatly.

Parrying and dodging attacks were made to look effortless by her, like she was dancing.

Crash!

Kaelyn leaped and dodged a heavy vertical slash and stepped onto the Flaming Skeleton’s face.

She launched herself and Deklan forward.

From the sides, her eyes noticed Hellhounds charging straight at them like a raging bull.

Gritting her teeth hard, she pointed her hand backward and blasted mana from it, increasing their speed.

Roar!

Kaelyn’s eyes flew wide—as a Hellhound was already upon her, its maw gaping open, fangs poised to rip her apart in a single bite. But as those jaws snapped shut, she and Deklan slipped through the barrier, phasing out of reach an instant before the creature could tear into them.

Both of them crashed and rolled across the ground, stopping only when they slammed into a tree.

It was painful, but at least they were now outside.

[Notice: host has exited the Land of Flames.]

For a moment there, Kaelyn lay on the ground—her chest heaving up and down to catch her breath.

She put everything into that escape, and fortunately, she succeeded.

Even so, that was not the surprising part about all of this.

Kaelyn lifted up her gaze and looked at Deklan on the other side, still sprawled on the grassy ground.

"Who is he, really?"