Chapter 200: The Outcome Isn't Decided Yet

A smile crept up Calvin's lips.

'Here it goes, he's going to ascend... he's going to ascend... he's going to ascend!'

He screamed in his heart.

The navy-blue light that surrounded the Mortician's body seemed to become even stronger as he devoured the Shadow Assassin's soul.

The Shadow Assassin was a High-Tier monster, so the value of his soul must be higher than the small fries that Calvin had lured earlier.

'Purveyor... Purveyor... Purveyor...' Calvin chanted in his heart as if he had gone mad.

His eyes even went bloodshot as he glanced at the skies beyond the clouds. His gaze held a threatening threat to it.

'Grace, I swear if you don't let the Mortician ascend to Purveyor rank right now, then I will definitely going to do 'something' the next time we meet!' He whispered to himself as the navy-blue light around the Mortician's body reached a peak.

"How strong!" Calvin exclaimed as he took a step backward to dampen the shockwave that struck his body.

The height of the navy-blue aura surrounding a monster when they were ascending to Purveyor was usually an accurate metric to predict their potential.

The higher their aura flew to the skies, the stronger the potential of the monster was.

Calvin had once seen a monster ascending to Purveyor whose aura pagoda reached a height of a hundred meters!

That was a shocking sight indeed and when Calvin returned to that forest.

He discovered that the forest now had a new king after almost a millennia of waiting.

And just as he had expected, the new king was that same monster whose ascension was witnessed by Calvin.

Several decades later, Calvin caught wind that the king of the forest had finally reached the Peak of the Ambassador Rank.

Unfortunately, instead of helping humanity, the monster turned against humans and created a slaughter in which a Pope from one of the churches had to be involved in order to stop the monster's rampage.

Until now, Calvin still had no idea just what kind of a monster was that monster.

But now that he thought about it. That monster must still be a baby trying its best to survive in that ruthless forest. 'One day, I must go and visit that forest. What if I managed to tame that monster? If that happened, then I would have one hell of a comrade!'

Calvin thought to himself.

Bam!

A loud explosion occurred as the navy-blue aura around the Mortician's body surged.

'Fly! Fly! Fly! Go high!' Calvin prayed in his heart as he watched the Mortician's ascension in rapt attention.

But the navy-blue aura of the Mortician didn't take flight.

Instead, it simmered down before disappearing in a blink of an eye.

'What?'

Everything happened so fast that Calvin doubted if he was seeing things.

'Where was the aura pagoda?'

'Did he ascend or what?'

A system notification appeared to answer Calvin's doubts.

[Congratulations!]

[The Mortician has ascended to the rank of Purveyor]

[The Mortician's Ascension Points: 5]

[995 Ascension Points necessary for Ascension to Mid-Purveyor.]

[The Mortician's active and ultimate skill has been unlocked.]

[Active skill: A Steady Slice]

[Active skill description: The Mortician's knowledge of anatomy is vast. He is able to take advantage of his enemy's weaknesses to decisively end a fight. A Steady Slice consists of a single devastating attack. If it lands perfectly, it is able to execute an enemy in an instant.]

[Skill Cooldown: 12 seconds.]

[Ultimate skill: Flowers for the Deceased.]

[Ultimate skill description: The Mortician might be a man of few words, but he honors the deceased like no other. In dispatching soon-to-be deceased enemies. The greatest honor that the Mortician can offer is the blooming of flowers on the battlefield. Gathers nearby Nether Qi at the tip of his scalpel for an incredibly devastating attack that blooms like a flower.]

[Skill Cooldown: Once a day.]

Calvin quickly took in the information displayed by the system notifications as he dismissed them all at once.

He felt gratified at this moment.

The efforts and resources that he gave unto the Mortician were finally paying itself off.

But...

There was something strange.

Why was the Mortician staring at him right now with this thick intent to kill?

'Shit...' Calvin gasped as he suddenly remembered the fact that the Mortician was also a monster created by resentment.

Monsters like the Mortician could be tamed, similar to the Daylight Bride, but one must remember that they had no master before they died.

Calvin gulped a mouthful of saliva.

Now that the Mortician was stronger than him... was he going to kill him now?

Calvin took a step backward as he bent his knees in preparation to escape if everything went awry.

He knew that there was a chance that the Mortician might rebel against him, but Calvin didn't expect that it would come so soon.

He had originally predicted that the Mortician might rebel once he reached the Ambassador rank, yet he wasn't even close enough to that rank but he was rebelling now?

Calvin gnashed his teeth.

Staring at the Mortician, he waited for the latter's next course of action.

The Mortician vanished into thin air.

Calvin's pupils constricted as he took prepared to leap into the air.

But before he could even try to escape, the Mortician appeared right in front of him with this cold look on his face.

"Brachialis." He spat these words before sinking into Calvin's shadows.

'W-What was the deal with that guy...' Calvin bitterly smiled as he stared at his own shadow.

The Mortician had already grown strong enough that he could probably assassinate Calvin whenever he wanted.

As a cautious man, Calvin felt uncomfortable carrying a ticking time bomb, yet for some reason.

He had no idea why, but he felt as if the Mortician was a man that would never betray his trust.

Despite being created from resentment, the Mortician seemed trustworthy to Calvin.

'Damn it, are my thoughts due to the fact that I once befriended three demons in that abyss?'

'Sigh... If the Mortician decides to betray me, then that would really be unfortunate...' Calvin knew that the Mortician had the right to rebel since he wasn't really bonded with any contract.

Speaking of contracts, it wasn't that Calvin didn't want to bind the Mortician with one. He simply didn't have the ability to create a Notary Certificate for he was still a Diary-Keeper.

If he was a Scribe, then he would've given the Mortician a contract and asked him to sign.

'All right, there's no other way around it. Let's just hope that the Mortician won't suddenly stab me in the back.'

Despite saying these words in his heart, Calvin still felt uncomfortable. He always hated situations that he couldn't control. At first, he thought that Stephanie was more dangerous than the Mortician, but now that Calvin had no idea just what were the Mortician's intentions.

He was now on guard against the Mortician's sudden betrayal.

Sticking a piece of paper on his back, Calvin felt somewhat reassured. The piece of paper had the instructions to automatically activate once an attack from behind was detected. It was a runecrafted paper named Borg, which meant defense in Elder Tongue.

'Now I only have one Aksi, one Borg, and one Arb... One for each category...' Calvin let out a sigh.

To be honest, he wanted to create more of these pieces of paper but he simply didn't have the time to do anything else. He must break that veil and interrupt the ceremony before it was too late. Speaking of the veil, it was still as strong as ever.

The streets were already silent and the monsters were but stains and pieces of flesh on the ground after they were annihilated by the innumerable locusts, wasps, and mosquitos that formed the veil.

Calvin furrowed his eyebrows.

His mind madly spun as he tried to think about a solution to this problem.

He understood that a disturbance would interrupt the ritual.

Of course, he wasn't a hundred percent sure, but it was most likely that the deformed man was using the Fusion of the Candles as the corresponding technique to fuse the Sinister Heart into its physical vessel. As for why Calvin knew what the corresponding technique was?

It was because of those four women.

The Fusion of the Candles required four sacrifices with rich Yin energies in their bodies.

Yang was for males, while Yin was for women.

Naturally, women had an abundance of Yin in their bodies making them a perfect sacrifice for the Fusion of Candles.

As for how Calvin knew that the four women were the sacrifice for the ritual?

It was due to the fact that the four women managed to slip through the Veil of Slaughter without being injured. Calvin just didn't believe that the Sinister Heart would be so kind to spare the four women from death. This was why Calvin was certain that these four women must be already tainted by the aura signature of the Sinister Heart.

If not for that, then how else would they be able to carry that wooden plank as well as receive the protection of the Sinister Heart?

Speaking of the ritual...

'Will I really not be able to do anything other than watch as the ritual is being completed?'

Calvin gnashed his teeth.

'There's just nothing else that I can do...'

'If I cannot pass through that meat grinder, then there's no use! If that meat grinder of a veil is there to block my way then I really can't do anything other than just stand here and watch. After all, I'm only human. I can die and my flesh isn't made out of an indestructible—wait...'

Calvin's line of thought was suddenly cut off by a sudden epiphany.

'If my body was indestructible, then I can pass through that veil!'

The scenes of the Shadow Assassin attacking his heart flashed across Calvin's mind. Back then, he had secretly positioned the Notebook of Secrets over his heart for he knew that the Notebook of Secrets had the attribute of indestructibility.

It was the perfect shield for that situation.

Yes, for that situation.

But standing in front of the Veil of Slaughter.

Calvin now had a sudden thought, 'What if I threw the Notebook of Secrets beyond that veil?'

'No that still wouldn't work... Dandelion is still asleep. Fuck, that bastard... just how long does he planning on sleeping?'

Calvin couldn't help but curse Dandelion in his heart, but then his pupils suddenly constricted.

'Wait... why am I thinking of sending the Notebook of Secrets beyond the veil? Yes, the Notebook of Secrets is indestructible. But there is also one thing that cannot be destroyed similar to the Notebook of Secrets!' Calvin's eyes gleamed with enlightenment as he took the Bloodstone hanging around his neck into his hands.

'It's about time for me to see how Stephanie will react if she sees that bastard!'

A smirk flitted across Calvin's lips as he hopped down the roof and arrived in front of the veil.

'Bastard, I bet you're probably so smug right now thinking that there's no one else that can stop you anymore since you're hiding in that shell.'

'But I'm sorry to tell you this...'

Calvin raised his hand into the air.

'The outcome isn't decided yet!'

.. and threw the Bloodstone into the veil.