"—is a curse."
Aiwass's face turned serious, and he immediately determined the type of curse: "It's the Blood Curse."
This is a painful curse made of poisonous scorpions, poisonous snakes, and living poisonous toads, with menstrual blood as the medium. It can make people feel three times the pain of menstrual cramps, and can torture people for half an hour to six hours, depending on the resistance to the curse.
Sherlock's expression suddenly became serious, and a deep blue light instantly bloomed in his pupils.
A cold, rational and mysterious light shone from the bottom of his pupils. He stretched out his left little finger and drew a rune in the air that looked like a crutch.
"Water is better than blood, just as the pure is better than the impure."
He recited softly while picking up the bottle of pure water from the table.
Sherlock turned it over directly, but the water did not fall to the ground, but filled up the rune.
When it was full, it suddenly shrank into a ball of water, then flew forward and hit Lulu in the face.
As the water splashed, the clean water turned into rancid blood when it splashed out of his face and dripped onto the ground.
Lulu's low wailing of pain suddenly stopped, but she was still vomiting and spitting out blood.
Aiwass reached out and felt around, and found that the back of her neck and chest were unusually cold.
He frowned and said, "You didn't solve it completely, you only solved half of it."
Sherlock took a quick glance and judged from Lulu's symptoms: "This curse is a bit complicated. It looks like her esophagus and stomach are being corroded by the curse, and the medium should not be just menstrual blood. This is a compound curse, so you should do it... Professionals should do professional things."
"Well, I'll do it."
"Do you have enough mana?"
"At least it's enough to cure her."
Aiwass replied.
He helped Lulu up and made her half-sit with her face down to prevent her from choking on the dirty blood she coughed up.
Then Aiwass stretched out his left hand, buried his five fingers into the thick and dense platinum hair of "his wife", grasped her somewhat cold neck with the base of his palm, and pressed the tip of his left middle finger against the back of her head.
His expression was heavy and solemn, and a light as bright as the setting sun ignited in his deep blue eyes.
When he resonates with the Tao, he emits a deep red and golden glow, symbolizing the excess of fire element in the Tao of Dedication.
—This is the most obvious healing effect of Aiwass’s “Illumination Technique”.
The dark smoke hissed out from the back of Lulu's head, even dyeing her white-gold hair a little dark. Her body was violently spasming and shaking at a very high frequency. But she gritted her teeth and didn't make any sound, worried about waking up little Aiwass... But she still couldn't help but groan.
"We have a visitor, and he's not very friendly."
Sherlock said faintly, "Leave it to me, you continue the treatment."
He reached out and threw the sulfuric acid on the table directly, letting it fall on the wall.
But at the moment the bottle shattered, he stretched out his right hand, clenched it into a fist, and suddenly punched the bottle of sulfuric acid through the air.
The transparent oily concentrated sulfuric acid did not splash out, but was filled with some dark green gas, causing it to bulge slightly... like a fist, or a beating heart. It was more viscous than sulfuric acid, but its volume increased a lot.
The next moment, Sherlock opened his right hand into a claw and vaguely grabbed the corner not far from where the bottle of sulfuric acid fell.
There was an unnatural shadow there, which was gradually becoming clearer and redder.
Long-distance teleportation requires time to appear. After Lulu was cursed, Sherlock kept observing his surroundings.
The "fox" picked a good spot. In this enclosed factory, the brightness should be uniform.
Whenever a certain place suddenly becomes dark or bright, it is a sign that the Iron Hook Demon is teleporting in!
The ball of oily green viscous liquid suspended in the air also formed sharp claws at the same time and grabbed towards that position!
Like a baby crying or an old cat calling for sex, a shrill and unusual sound came... It was a high-pitched sound that could penetrate the eardrum and make people feel like something was buzzing in their ears.
But even so, the sleeping little Aiwass was not awakened. He just struggled in pain as if he had a nightmare.
"I hate rude kids."
Sherlock whispered darkly, "Especially the loud ones..."
His spells deal very effective damage and control -
Only as high as his calves, his entire body was red, with two legs and four arms... The little devil, who had a head that looked like a bald fat man and a ferocious baby, was grabbed tightly by the sulfuric acid claws as soon as he appeared!
There was a hissing sound of burning, and it was unable to break free for a moment.
The sulfuric acid claw made of liquid seemed to have a solid body inside, holding it firmly in place and burning it continuously!
—The situation seemed to be going well, but Sherlock did not feel any joy at all.
Because he could clearly feel that when he was channeling and maintaining the spell, the water and earth attribute magic power in his body was burning rapidly.
He had used a little water attribute mana when he purified the curse on himself before, and only the last two points of water attribute mana were left.
Even if he used his own path characteristics to forcibly use his most abundant earth attribute mana to replace water attribute mana to activate the bottle of concentrated sulfuric acid, construct the "Water Demon's Hand", and bear half of the subsequent maintenance mana consumption, this spell still requires at least half of the water attribute mana to maintain.
Two points of water attribute mana plus two points of earth attribute mana are only enough to maintain this spell for forty seconds.
It is more than enough for flesh and blood humans.
An activated sulfuric acid claw that can reach a maximum speed of 20 meters per second is enough to easily kill a team of ordinary people. The water demon hand constructed with pure water can temporarily melt and penetrate into the armor; and the water demon hand he constructed with earth attribute magic power can easily break trees and tear leather armor.
But even so, it is highly unlikely that the Iron Hook Demon will be killed. We can only hope to injure or scare it away.
As long as the "fox" can dispel the compound curse on "Lulu" as soon as possible, it will be victory!
Because if there is no cursed person nearby, the Ironhook Demon cannot teleport, so its threat... at least not that great.
… etc
Sherlock's expression suddenly changed as he realized something.
curse
Although he didn't know much about this, he knew a principle.
That is, it will become increasingly difficult to curse a person repeatedly. Cursing will also increase the curse resistance of the cursed person, and a medium that has been used once cannot be used again.
That is to say, within the limited time of four hours, the enemy may only be able to curse each of them once.
If that was the case, Coco might not have built an anti-demon array... but instead, like me, she directly dispelled the curse on herself, rendering the positioning ineffective!
Among the Alexanders, the first one to be cursed was not the "fox".
—It’s “Little Aiwass”!
Now that he and Lulu have both been cursed... then the next one will be the fox's turn!
Thinking of this, Sherlock's heart sank.
Oops.
This is the disadvantage of the path of devotion.
He could easily remove curses from others, but he couldn't use illumination on himself. That was a secret technique of burning oneself to illuminate others.
By the way, priests can use "Fire Sacrifice"!
…but there are no candles!
"fox!"
Amid the Ironhook's shrill screams, Sherlock suddenly asked loudly, "Can you use 'Sacrificial Fire' on burning wood or chemical reagents?"
"… You think too highly of me, don't you?"
Aiwass was helpless and responded loudly: "Besides, the healing power of Fire Sacrifice is far less than that of Illumination. Even if I can use it, I, who am at the first level, cannot dispel the curse of the second level!"
…That’s true.
Sherlock didn't know much about the path of devotion. But he just remembered... That Aiwass Moriarty was also a priest, but he had to use a wheelchair. It must be that the source of the damage was too high, so the sacrificial fire could not dispel it.
Because the priest's "fire sacrifice" is essentially "recovery" rather than "healing" and "regeneration". This means that the higher the level of the source of the damage, the more difficult it is to heal. The ability to truly "regenerate" and rely solely on the body's own self-healing power to restore health is in the path of adaptation and the path of balance.
However, when Sherlock heard the fox say this, he realized that this smart and cunning young man had also realized the problem.
"So what are you going to do?"
Sherlock asked.
"What else can I do?"
Aiwass replied briskly: "We are sure to win, aren't we?"
As he spoke, he had successfully dispelled the curse from Lulu.
When he said this, Sherlock knew what Aiwass was going to do.
The Iron Hook Demon's screams suddenly stopped.
This is clearly not dead - it is still in good health. It must have been recalled by its owner.
Aiwass breathed a sigh of relief.
"Don't look over here, Mr. Sherlock."
He reminded her, unbuttoned Lulu's coat, and asked her to lie on her side. He put his left hand under her skirt and touched her chest directly. He used his remaining light attribute mana to activate the "illumination spell".
"You are."
Sherlock didn't look back, but retorted: "Don't touch her randomly - Miss Lulu is still a young girl."
He added in his mind: And she is a princess.
"Of course I know."
Aiwass responded unhappily: "Who do you think I am? A beast that attacks children?"
He subconsciously treated Lulu as a child.
As a courtesy, Aiwass touched the back and side of her heart rather than the front.
The burning and bright mana flowed through her limbs and bones as her heart pumped vigorously, rapidly regenerating the corroded mucous membranes in her throat and stomach. Lulu's injuries were easy to recover from, and only a little of Aiwas's mana was used.
After Aiwass pulled his hand away, Lulu stood up and the first thing she did was to tidy up her clothes.
“… Thank you, Mr. Fox.”
Lulu blushed slightly, but still thanked Aiwass earnestly: "You didn't have to save me..."
"You mean, kill you?"
Sherlock was the first to react.
"I reject."
Aiwass said lazily: "If it was Basil who was here, maybe she would do that. But I won't."
After he said that, he walked back the way he came.
"—Mr. Fox?"
Lulu was startled and subconsciously wondered if she had said or done something wrong again.
Aiwass stopped, turned back and said leisurely:
"The devil can't find you anymore. But he can still find me... There's only one hour left before the ritual ends. So as long as I'm not with little Aiwass, we've already won.
"Since victory requires a dedicated person, it can only be me. You stay here and don't move."
Aiwass said, looking at Sherlock, and asked casually: "Oh, right. Do you have a dagger? I plan to take at least some personal belongings, otherwise I will be a little nervous."
"…Do you want a paper cutter?"
Sherlock pulled out a knife.
It was a paper cutter that newsboys carried with them, and it had no power at all.
But suicide is enough.
Sherlock thought the fox wanted the knife so he could use it to commit suicide after he had lured the devil out - that way at least he would be spared the pain of being disemboweled.
"also."
Aiwass took it and said, "It's better than nothing."
"Want me to help you? I can make your death more painless."
"I'd better die outside, otherwise Lulu will be scared."
Aiwass said briskly.
Of course, he didn't want this knife to commit suicide.
As long as he can cut himself and use the "pastoral method" conveniently, it's fine... otherwise he might have to bite.
—Yes, pastoral law.
The skill "Shepherding (Flesh and Blood)" belongs to the path of dedication. Perhaps it is because he has read the shepherd sutra and possesses the shepherding method that the ritual assigns them the demon "Iron Hook Demon" as the enemy... and thinks that they may be able to kill the powerful enemy and find the murderer behind the scenes.
This is because the difficulty of this mission, in addition to the bone sculpture and Sherlock, also takes into account the pastoral care methods possessed by Aiwass and his knowledge of demons!
As long as he successfully completes the pastoral method, he will be able to control this lower-level demon.
Even the Shadow Fiend couldn't resist Aiwass's blood... The Hook Fiend was much weaker than the Shadow Fiend.
Moreover, the Iron Hook Demon's intelligence is like that of a three-year-old child, which makes him one of the most mentally retarded even among the lower-level demons.
This hook demon had not been specially trained in intelligence. His master obviously did not have this technique, or he did not think that there was anyone in Avalon who was familiar with the characteristics of the hook demon.
After being caught by Sherlock, it could only scream and squeak, and did not know how to use teleportation to break free - it could do so with training and special reinforcement.
Jack the Ripper underwent this kind of enhancement, making him much more difficult to deal with.
According to the original and ideal development, the Hook Demon should appear in front of "Little Aiwass" and then be controlled by Aiwass.
After Sherlock used his wisdom to gather everyone together, he formed a nine-member team with clear responsibilities and followed the clues of the Hook Demon to find the target.
That's really easy difficulty.
But just as the bone carving refused to cooperate with them...
The ritual also failed to determine that Aiwass "did not want to reveal that he had pastoral law" - especially not to Sherlock.
Because of this, the difficulty has been increased so much for no reason.
After all, the identity of Fox must be clear and honest. This is the superficial identity that Aiwass deliberately created to be exposed.
That's why he deliberately maintained his image in front of the two of them.
What he wanted was to use the identity of a fox to hide his other identity that transcended the Tao!
What Aiwass just said was correct.
For Sherlock and Lulu, the ceremony was over—they had won.
Make sure that Little Aiwas survives and that he plays to the end. These two necessary tasks have been accomplished.
But for Aiwass, who is pursuing higher points and exploring the truth... his adventure has just begun.
Aiwass turned his back to the translucent door, hiding his murderous intent, and smiled, nodded slightly and waved.
He said his last greetings to Sherlock, who had a complicated expression, and Lulu, who was somewhat sad and reluctant, and delivered what they thought was his "last words" before his heroic death:
"Keep an eye on 'our child', Lulu. Sing him another lullaby. He doesn't look very well asleep. He seems to have been disturbed.
"And, Mr. Sherlock. I'll come to you if I have time... if I have time."
They will definitely be impressed by me.
—And now, I'm going to start hunting.
Aiwass muttered to himself.