Chapter 207: Circle and angles
The slaves hadn’t caught on and the woman who asked the first question smiled. "Of course we’ll help you! We’ve been slaves for so long and you are the only one that tried to help us. What do you want us to do?"
From his place in the front, Vacuse watched silently, his mouth curled into a shadow of a smile. "... here we go..."
Lady Slave gestured to the ritual drawing on the floor. "This door was created with no means to open it except for Lord of Eboncrypt himself. But we’ve come up with a plan of our own.
"You see, each and every one of you here are royalty in a way. Meaning, your blood carries dormant abilities. Some of you might even have been powerful before you got captured and sealed. But anyway, through a blood magic technique, we are going to use your blood to open the door..."
Then she frowned and added as an afterthought. "And your life essence as well."
What followed was a slight pause as the words settled into the minds of the slaves. Most of them had grown numb to pain and hopelessness, but Lady Slave had changed all of that.
She gave them hope, something to look forward to, and she just brutally took it away like that?
"No! No! No!"
"Don’t touch me! I’m getting out of... ouch!"
"Ahhh! I can’t move!"
All of the slaves suddenly found that their bodies were bound by golden ropes that restricted the movement of their limbs.
The spell was cast by a Magus with an old, matured face that radiated powerful pressure. If Vacuse was to place him, he would put him in the fourth stage as a Soulbearer.
He was also the strongest among the four Magus that followed Lady Slave. Excluding Kim of course, his power was just that little.
Vacuse settled down to watch the show. He didn’t struggle as he was still waiting for a chance. Instead, he watched and waited.
"W... what! You want to kill us? But you said you were going to help us escape!" The woman slave who had first spoken said, her eyes alight with betrayal.
"I was telling the truth. You are all wretched souls and the only way to truly give you escape is to give you the gift of death. Come on! It’s only going to be a little flash of pain at the throat and then you can enjoy eternal peace free from pain and torment."
Vacuse didn’t know if he should be impressed or angry that he had found someone just as crazy as he was, because he was absolutely sure that Lady Slave was mad.
Most of the slaves realized the same and began to weep. But some, like Vacuse, had already given up.
When you expect the worst from the world, the bad won’t come as a shock.
Lady Slave ignored the slaves once more and focused on the drawing, looking at it with satisfaction until it was done.
The ritual drawing was strange.
At first it looked like disorganized shapes drawn together, but when one looked at it closely, they would see that the shapes formed a perfect circle with three protruding angles.
Lady Slave nodded. "It is time."
One of the Magus produced a small box and gave it to her with a bow of her head.
Lady Slave took a deep breath and opened the small box.
Immediately she opened it, Vacuse’s eyes widened and he knew instantly that the chance he had been waiting for had just appeared.
Whatever was in the box exuded a feeling of ancient and profound power that weighed on the mind. It stirred the blood, giving the feeling of danger.
Lady Slave placed the box carefully on the ground and then she brought out the content.
Three fingers.
The fingers were old and wrinkled, the fingernails blackened and sharp like the claws of a monster. All the fingers seemed to be alive even as they made no single movement... it was just the feeling they gave out.
Lady Slave smiled. She looked proud of herself. "Good, good. It’s really not easy to get a remnant of long ancestors of Lord of Eboncrypt."
And then she placed one finger on one angle each. The moment she placed all the fingers, the red drawing turned blazing red.
She then turned to the slaves. "Well. I don’t know how many of you we would need to open it. Maybe some of you would remain alive after all..."
She watched them, saw the smile on their faces and then added. "But I’ll have to kill those who remain as well. I can’t have you running around when we still have a lot to do in Eboncrypt."
She chuckled at the crushed look from the slaves.
Indeed Vacuse was right and he sighed.
"... she really enjoys toying with them. No wonder she could smile warmly while radiating such intense killing intent. She must have been gloating while at it too..."
"Alright. Begin!"
The old man gestured and one of the slaves lifted up into the air, floating toward the circle.
It was the woman who had asked the questions and she glared bitterly at all of them. "I’m really going to..."
A golden band appeared and covered her mouth.
"You sure talk a lot." The old Magus said and took a normal dagger from his waist. He then crouched and made the woman float horizon to his level, her head on the circle, just beside one of the fingers.
Then without fanfare he raised his dagger and slit her throat.
The woman struggled, the large hole in her throat coughing wetly as blood flew into the air, splattering everything.
The circle glowed deeply and drank the blood greedily without wasting a single drop. Even those on the wall slid free and were drunk by the circle.
The slaves whimpered and began struggling.
It was different to view death from a distance and another thing entirely to see someone slaughtered as if they were animals for food.
But all their struggles were futile. They couldn’t get out of the golden ropes no matter how much they tried. They couldn’t even move their limbs an inch.