Chapter 38: Rituals Error

At an unknown place, inside an ordinary small room, a muscular man with ragged and messy black hair floated on top of the bed as his eyes focused intently beneath him, while on his hand radiated immense magical pressure.

"...It's time," The muscular man with ragged hair sighed as he raised his hand. He continued as he looked at the laying man beneath him, "Are you ready kid?"

Rio merely nodded and prepared himself as he closed his eyes.

"This is gonna be painful, like, reaaal painful." Faust spoke as he waved his hand, "You sure you're not gonna back out?"

"Just. Do. It." Rio replied in annoyance. He had been preparing for about a while now and was expecting the incoming pain, but the knuckle headed genius seems to be too concerned.

It was not that he didn't appreciate the man, but his concerns were needless. He had already decided and nothing could change that.

"Jeez, now I'm getting berated for trying to care," Faust mumbled, "Fine, let's start. I'l explain on how we do this."

Rio nodded, indicating a response that he was listening.

"I don't think you can see the incantations,," Faust scratched his head akwardly as he continued, "We're going to do this in a Blood Ritual Style."

Hearing that, Rio tightened his hold over the bed as he tried his best to remain silent.

To understand why he felt pressured, a person must first have some knowledge on what rituals were. He knew what they were because he had came across of it while reading in the library once, and he had also read a bit of it's secrets in the novel.

Rituals are ancient magical incantations that had plenty of uses, ranging from enchancement, prayers to deities from the vast universe, or even summoning a secret existence. Any of those were possible.

However, as much as it had plenty of uses. Any ritual user with expertise on their profession would tell you the opposite, it's true uses were not of which mentioned above.

Ultimately, a ritual's true sole use was to alter and temporarily change some laws of the world to the users bidding. It was used by converging magical energy on ancient symbols to alter reality temporarily.

Among the famed rituals, one that was extremely rare and yet spited upon was the The Blood Ritual Style.

The Blood Ritual Style, as the name implies, is a ritual that uses the person, or other being's blood to conduct a magical incantation. It's origins were a mystery and very few know of the ritual itself. And even then, those who knew of the ritual more than half would spite it and stay away from it as far as possible.

Simply put, compared to other rituals, The Blood Ritual Style even with it's over the top success rate, was extremely crude and unreliable as it had too many unknown variables that could kill the user without the user realizing it.

It was crude and unreliable because unlike other rituals, The Blood Ritual Style could be used in almost anything and had a very low requirement of just merely a living being's blood, in turn, even if at the case the user succeeded in using the ritual, most of the time the end results were far from what the user wanted.

That was excluding the fact that the ritual itself needed a lot of blood in replacement for a higher potency blood. In which case, people who use this type of rituals were mass murderers without a care for life.

For reference, Faust was going to use it to add or 'enchance' something inside his body. He was going to use his own blood to alter the laws of the world temporarily and put in the Formless Seed inside Rio's body.

While, it may work and succeed, it also have the chance to mess up horribly as the end result might instead break apart Rio's body and kill him instead.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna mess this up." Faust assured Rio as magical energy continued to gather on his palm, "I used the ritual a lot of times during my prime, and those sorcerers even berate me for it."

"Also, the blood we're going to use is my preserved blood," Faust continued, "It's Rank A blood. While not as potent as Rank S, it's enough to not have any accidents."

"...I hope so," Rio muttered. This time, he genuinely wished that he wouldn't get unlucky midway and encounter an accident.

"Once I start the ritual, your soul will leave your body and," Faust paused before continuing, "And the pain will come gushing in. So resist it."

"Alright." Rio replied as he nodded.

"I'm gonna start it now so prepare yourself." Faust warned before he closed his eyes raised both of his arms that were filled with magical energy.

Clink! Clink!

The room slowly broke apart each second by the sheer pressure of the ritual, and not even a minute later it shattered apart like broken glass.

Crack!

"Heed my words, embodiment of miracle, magical chaos." Faust chanted carefully as he floated ontop of the bed, "Dictated by my will, by my words you follow, and my blood be the sacrifice for your subservience."

"I am Faust Strider of the world, Deaunknet!" Faust continued, his voice getting louder each second, "Blessed by magic, trained by the battlefield, master of all martial technique,"

Tremble!

"I hereby declare!" Faust shouted as the shattered dimension shook and trembled by his decleration, "By my will and blood, change the laws on which obstruct!"

Suddenly, the dimension around them stilled and stop shaking as if time itself stopped by the declaration. However, admist that stillness, Faust brought his hands down to Rio's back.

Smack!

"Graaaaghhkkk.....!" Rio screeched as pain coursed through his body and engulfed his mind. Instantly, his consciousness left as his soul emerged from his body. His body on the other hand, slowly crumbled and broke apart as blood gushed out from the skin.

"Oh no you dont!" Faust spoke as he moved his hand. Instantly, the crumbling of Rio's body stopped as the magical energy slowly stabilized.

"Ha.." Faust panted as he relaxed, now it was up to the kid to survive. He opened his eyes as he tried to search for the soul of the kid. As a remnant spirit, he had the ability to see non-physical entities.

However, as he tried search for the Rio, he couldn't see the soul anywhere in sight. There was no sign of anything. Faust narrowed his eyes as he looked at the corner of the dimension, he muttered, "...Shit. You're one unlucky bastard, I gotta tell you that."

—

At an unknown place, an extremely charming man with long white hair smirked as he held a transparent soul in his hands. His eyes narrowed in fascination as he spoke, "This is certainly quite a haul."

"It's also a human..." The white haired man muttered as his eyes glowed with nostalgia. "In any case, what should I do with this?"

The soul vibrated as it shivered from pain.

The soul screamed as the white haired being suddenly clenched his hands.

"You seem to talk too much," The white haired being replied as he sat at a majestic throne, "Since you're going to die anyways, I'l grant you the blessing to know my name."

"My True Name is Kclab Stra!" The white haired being, or Kclab, spoke as he smirked, "Rejoice, as before your death, your soul gets graced by my name."

The soul struggled vehemently as it tried to escape of the being's graps. However, it prove to be futile as the mere presence of the being disabled every of his movements.

"Hahah—" Kclab laughed before he paused. He tapped his fingers to the arm rest. He spoke, "Who goes there?"

As he spoke, the place suddenly shook and trembled. It was like the dimension itself wailed and obeyed the man's simple command.

"It must have been my imagination..." Kclab muttered as he tapped his fingers on the arm rest. There were only few people in the universe that could trespass his domain, and those few wouldn't bother him as they were busy at their own things.

"I wouldn't say so, Kclab Stra." A voice suddenly resounded behind Kclab.

The voice was familiar, yet at the same time not. It was mystical, and alluring, yet simutaneously dangerous and terrifying. It was like a devil and angel combined into one monster.

"Die." Kclab suddenly proclaimed as he dissapeared while holding the soul. The dimension between them warped as a mystical force suddenly slashed the place apart.

"Restore." The voice responded in kind as the dimension restored to it's original state, and at the throne, Kclab once again reaappeared. It was like time reversed itself.

"Your authority overrides mine..!?" Kclab shouted as his eyes were filled with confusion, he turned around his head as he looked at where the voice came from. "You...are...—"

"Correct, no need to say it outloud." The voice spoke as he chuckled.

Kclab was shocked speechless as he saw the being's appereance. He had an inkling idea of who the being is, but he simply stayed silent. The being had a mystical and invisible appearance, he could only glimpse at the figure's face before it dissapeared in it's vision.

"What do you want..?" Kclab cautiously asked as he stood up and looked at somewhere in the space.

"I'm glad we can talk things through," The figure spoke with an assured tone, "You see, the soul you have there..."

"This?" Kclab immediately raised the soul and throwed it somewhere in the air. The soul had a mix of time and foreign element within it, thats why he took a liking to it. "Take it and leave immediately."

Even if the soul was amazing, he valued his life more. Even though he was nigh-indestructible in this state and could easily survive any world ending attacks, he didn't want to incur this figure's wrath.

"Ah, be careful. A soul is quite a fragile substance," The figure commented as the soul in the air instantly dissapeared, "I wouldn't want his soul to dissapear afterall."