It was a dark and windy night, a time for murder and arson.
Now is a dark and windy time, a perfect time to kill and set fire.
Unfortunately, at this time, the people who should be killed had already died, the fire had long been burned out, and the group of people who committed murder, arson and demolition had already left the crime scene and returned to their "nest", no, their stronghold.
The injured were pushed into the workshop for emergency treatment.
The "criminals" who were tired after working hard all night found a place to rest.
In the end, only the main culprit was left hiding in the warehouse counting the spoils.
"A volume on the secret barrier technique of the Tiantai sect."
"A copy of Araya's annotations."
The former condenses the 1,400-year accumulation of Japanese Buddhism, while the latter brings together Araya Sōren's 200-year experience.
"The value of these two scrolls is comparable to the Command Spells left by the old bug. They are both unique treasures that have reached the pinnacle in a certain field. Hehe, I really admire my brain for being able to come up with such a strategy under such circumstances."
Shinji, holding a scroll in one hand, was laughing so hard that his saliva was dripping down. He looked so stupid no matter how you looked at him.
When he had laughed enough, he let go of the two scrolls and took out a tube-like object from a special secret compartment in his waist bag. The object was thick at both ends, thin in the middle, and no longer than four centimeters.
This is a finger bone. The surface of the bone is warm and radiates a jade-like luster, which is particularly eye-catching in the dark warehouse.
Holding the finger bone with his hand, a refreshing force passed through his skin and into his body. In an instant, Shinji felt a lot more energetic and the excitement in his heart also subsided a lot.
This short finger bone has such magical effects of calming the mind and regulating the spirit.
This is the biggest trophy Shinji has obtained tonight - the relics left behind by a Buddhist saint after his death.
Relics come from Sanskrit and are the general term for the bodies of Indians after death. In Buddhism, the hair, bones, ashes, etc. left by monks after death are all called relics. Relics are naturally obtained by monks due to the merits of precepts, concentration and wisdom during their lifetime. They are sacred objects of Buddhism. Each relic has incredible power. The power of Araya Soren is closely related to this relic.
Unlike barrier techniques that require a long time to study, this relic can significantly improve Shinji's strength in a short period of time. With the protection of the Buddha's bone relic, even if Lorelaia inherits Barthemero's origin mark and her strength increases dramatically, Shinji is confident that he can compete with her.
"Hehe, I won't lose to you so easily, Your Majesty."
Shinji tightly grasped the relic in his palm, as if he had grasped the future.
The moment the light of the relic was covered by the hand, the lights in the warehouse suddenly lit up.
The lights were of course not automatic, but were turned on by someone, and the orange-haired puppeteer and the pure white Winter Saint walked into the warehouse.
"Ah, you're here, why don't you turn on the light?" Orange was a little startled.
"I'm studying the relic left by Araya Soren. This thing glows by itself." Shinji spread out his hands and placed the relic directly in Orange's hand.
The tiredness on Chengzi's face was soon relieved: "It's really a good thing. I have heard rumors that Buddhist relics can be regarded as another kind of magic seal. Now it seems that this may be true."
"Is there such a saying?" Yustisa asked curiously. She was born into the Einzbern family in the West and knew little about the mysteries of the East.
"Feel it for yourself." Orange handed the relic to Yusitisa.
"This is it!" Yusitisa quickly sensed something unusual.
Orange explained, "Magic Seals are the stabilized crystallization of a magician's knowledge and achievements, and are fixed mysteries. In this sense, the same is true of the relics that carry the wisdom and insights of Buddhist saints. Araya buried the relics in his body to strengthen himself, which is equivalent to a magician inheriting the seal from the previous generation. Of course, this limitation is much greater than the inheritance of Magic Seals."
"Why?" asked Justisa.
"The issue of matching and rejection. The transplantation of magic imprints is similar to organ transplantation. The success rate of matching between relatives is much higher than that of people without blood relationship, and the rejection reaction after transplantation is also much smaller. Although the lack of blood relationship does not mean that there will be no match, the probability is tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack. This is one of the reasons why the entire magic world attaches great importance to blood relationship."
"Then why not the relics?" Yustisa asked.
"Because outside of Japan, monks cannot marry, let alone have children."
Shinji guessed the reason when Orange talked about the issue of rejection. He had been complaining about the fact that Japanese monks could get married and have children since he was a junior high school student, and he has been complaining about it for two lifetimes.
"Perhaps it is because of the rules that the relic has the property of being able to function independently even without being implanted in the human body. Although the effect is far less than that of being implanted in the human body, it is still an advantage over the fact that magic seals must be implanted. In this respect, Araya's relic is not inferior to Aruba's magic seal."
"What? Aruba's magic seal?"
Shinji didn't react for a moment when he heard Orange's words.
"That's right." Orange looked at Shinji with some surprise, "You don't think that Aruba doesn't have a magic mark like me, right? He is a direct descendant of the famous Agrippa. The history of the Cornelius family is no worse than that of some lords' families."
After saying this, Shinji's eyes changed immediately, and the greedy heat in them almost restored the temperature of Aruba's cold body.
"So—that's why you're bringing his body back?"
"What else?"
"I thought you collected his body because we were classmates."
"I'm not that kind. I just don't want to waste such a good material. I'll peel off the seal and feed the corpse to the familiar. The body of a magician is the best bait for monsters."
Orange sneered. Even without taking off her glasses, she still exuded a cold and dark temperament like the abyss. This was the true nature of Aozaki Orange's magician side, the "Red of Pain" that had once caused a bloody storm and frightened many magicians.
However, this creepy temperament did not affect Shinji and Yustisa. The former enjoyed Orange's unconcealed attitude in front of her, while the latter was simply natural.
"What are you going to do with Aruba's magic seal? Like you did back then - oh, Aruba is dead, that method won't work anymore."
What Shinji mentioned is a dark history that many people are reluctant to mention.
After the color evaluation, Orange got "Orange", and many people despised Orange and called her "Red of Pain". Some of these people were killed directly by Orange, while others were imprisoned by Orange, and then stripped of the magic seal by some means, and made into magic costumes (guardian beasts) similar to familiars without harming the magician's life or the connection with the seal.
From then on, no one dared to mention the name of this taboo in front of Orange, and this taboo name also took on a new meaning - Red, which brings pain to the enemy.
PS: Agrippa’s full name is Cornelius Agrippa, 1486-1535. He was a contemporary scientist, philosopher, and Jewish mystic philosopher. He advocated that all Jewish books except the Old Testament should be destroyed, but this incurred the anger of the clergy and his books were banned from publication.
PS2: The ceremonial costume made by Orange using magic seal has been destroyed by Aoko.