“What is this?”
Wang Yue reached out to grab it, but her fingers passed straight through the spiritual entity. There was no sensation of touch, only an empty void.
“What an interesting little girl,” the entity spoke. Its voice was a soft, thin female tone, leisurely and unhurried.
“It’s my first time seeing you. Are you a freshman? Freshmen who love to read are quite rare these days. Well, I suppose that’s normal. The books here are a bit too dull for children barely over ten years old. Would you like to hear a story? I can tell you one—a tale about a prince and a princess.”
Wang Yue frowned almost imperceptibly. Is this thing a chatterbox?
She asked bluntly, “What are you?”
“I am a god.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t look so surprised. The criteria for godhood isn’t power. In truth, as long as faith gathers, a god will be born. A tree by the roadside that is prayed to daily by passersby will eventually condense its thoughts and birth a humanoid heartwood. A pool of clear water worshipped by the masses will gestate a transparent spirit fish… As long as someone is willing to believe, a god will exist. It’s just that when believers are few, their power is weak and their personalities are fragmented. They look a bit… dim-witted.”
“Like a mascot?”
“Precisely.”
“It’s my first time seeing a god with such a low profile,” Wang Yue remarked. “Your personality is indeed a bit ‘fragmented.'”
“You aren’t allowed to bully me.”
The spiritual entity flipped in the air and suddenly dove into Wang Yue’s body.
“What’s your name?” it asked, its voice muffled as it hid within her chest.
“Wang Yue. And yours?”
“White Fish.”
“You certainly look like a fish.”
After a moment, a giggle echoed from within her chest.
“What are you laughing at?” Wang Yue asked.
“You’re very interesting,” White Fish said, her tone suddenly becoming soft and lingering. “Do you know? There is a ‘zipper’ inside the human body.”
“That’s impossible.” Wang Yue laughed in spite of herself. If humans had zippers, would they just unzip their skin?
“‘Zipper’ is just a metaphor. I’ve read many books—I’ve read every book in this library. I know that humans are lifeforms composed of countless tiny particles with roughly the same structure. This ‘zipper’ is one of those structures.”
DNA? Wang Yue was startled.
It seemed there were scholars in this world investigating the mysteries of biology, using a completely different knowledge system to deconstruct the human body.
“What about the zipper?” she asked, still not following the spirit’s point.
White Fish let out a mischievous titter. “Do you know? If you pull that zipper and flip a person inside-out like a pillowcase—interior to exterior, exterior to interior—their gender will flip. Your zipper… shows signs of having been moved.”
“…”
White Fish swam up to her ear and whispered, “But don’t worry, I can see it. You can rest easy being a girl; I’ll keep your secret.”
“You’re a voyeur.”
“Well, the library is my prison. Aside from messing with you all, I have nothing else to do… Anyway, what are you looking for?”
“A Mystic Art called ‘Black Box.'”
“I know where that is. Every book has one of my ‘Little Hands’ on it.”
As she spoke, a book pulled itself from the shelf and flew toward Wang Yue, obligingly flipping to the page documenting the Black Box spell.
Wang Yue whispered a “thank you” and pulled out the transparent paper she had brought. She laid it over the rune and began tracing the symbols with a pencil. Library books couldn’t be checked out, so she had to copy it manually.
Once finished, she folded the paper, returned the book to its place, and turned to leave.
“Eh? You’re leaving already? Stay a bit longer… Sigh, if I’d known, I wouldn’t have helped you find the book so fast. I’ll walk you to the door. Remember to come back often!”
After bidding farewell to the chatterbox deity, Wang Yue consulted the school map to select a high tower for the Descent Rite.
In truth, the location didn’t strictly need to be a tower, but Audara Ias wanted a secluded spot to be summoned. To prevent being outmaneuvered by the octopus, Wang Yue had instructed Medeili: if she returned and her mental state seemed compromised, Medeili was to turn the octopus over to the school immediately.
The secret of the octopus was shared by three people: Wang Yue, Medeili, and Dorothy. Even if Wang Yue was controlled by its Descent Rite, the entity wouldn’t be able to easily silence the other two.
***
Atop a slender, straight watchtower, Wang Yue used a broom to meticulously sweep the floor before taking out her tracing paper and wand.
The Black Box rune was a rotationally symmetrical pattern composed of twelve right angles and four spiral designs. It was mysterious and possessed a sense of regulated beauty.
In this rune, straight lines were the most difficult to draw. A slight tremor would prevent it from achieving perfect straightness, and the wedge-shaped turns formed by several consecutive right angles were harder than climbing to heaven. If an angle was even slightly off, it would trigger a chain of misalignments, rendering the rune unactivatable.
For a first-year freshman, drawing a high-level Mystic Art rune was an impossible dream, but Wang Yue possessed a Mystic Art that excelled in precision operations. It was no problem at all. If she were back on Earth, she would have been a “God’s Hand” in the field of surgery.
Her wand moved lightly and steadily, tracing the Black Box rune as if it were being printed.
In an instant, the light dimmed. Four flat, black curtains rose from her feet and sealed together at the top and bottom. She was encased within a literal black box.
The Gaze Worm functioned as a transmitter. Now that she was shielded, the signal was blocked and could not be sent out. The Church would not discover anything she did here. However, once the Black Box vanished, her actions within would still be transmitted by the worm, so she had to succeed on the first try to truly deceive the Church.
Wang Yue took out a piece of chalk and drew a three-meter diameter circle on the floor—the foundation of the Descent Rite summoning circle.
Next, she divided the circle with an equilateral triangle. In the center triangular region, she drew a strange pattern: a bifurcated top, an oval bottom, and cilia extending from the sides. Finally, she filled the three outer semi-circular regions with pictographs of a centipede, a spider, and a mosquito.
Finally, she gripped her dagger and made a sharp stroke. Her palm split open, and bright red blood splattered onto the summoning circle!
She clutched her wrist, enduring the pain as she shouted:
“Hear my call! Ruler of Nothingness and Chaos! Unyielding Rebel! Devourer of Nightmares! Master of Minds! Ancient Mystery! Primeval Essence! Fear of the Deep Sea! Lord of Darkness! Formless Protoplasm! Audara Ias! Your servant summons you!”
In the silence, Wang Yue heard her own ragged breathing.
Nothing seemed to happen, yet fear had already permeated the void. Intangible and formless, it quietly descended around her.
Her mind became sensitive and paranoid. Her eyes darted around as if something terrifying was hiding just out of sight, ready to pounce at any moment. She was tense to the limit, guarding against non-existent malice. Cold sweat soaked her clothes, and a layer of perspiration beaded on her forehead, trickling down her temples. She looked a mess.
Suddenly, as she looked around in panic, she felt an overwhelming sense of isolation and helplessness.
Her breathing grew more rapid. The interior of the Black Box felt oppressive and narrow, the space seemingly shrinking to crush her, to fix her in a permanent, sealed state like a fossil. One century, two centuries… imprisoned forever in long solitude and the agony of being unable to die.
Countless eyes opened upon the surrounding dark curtains, peering at her from every direction, prying into the secrets of her body and soul.
Shadows came to life, writhing and whispering, erupting in bursts of eerie laughter and shrill screams.
Solitude and despair eroded her heart, like being shoved into an abyss from behind, falling infinitely, never reaching the bottom…
The space vibrated slightly, as if trembling!
Hiss— Hiss—
She heard the sound of a long, slow tide, accompanied by the squelching sound of bursting abscesses.
Suddenly, her vision extended infinitely! She pierced through layers of space-time, looking upon a mysterious, vast expanse of water!
The dark void was deep and endless. The water was dark, foul, and viscous as sludge.
They were there!
The Great Audara Ias!
Words could not describe that terrifying, hideous, mad, and twisted form—it was as if the layered and infinite horrors of the deepest nightmares had been given shape!
