Necromancer Of The Black Bible (9)

Wiiiiing-

A vibration like something from a mechanical engineer’s lab shook the inside of the cave.

At the same time, the jewels engulfed in Equinox’s aura gradually lost their shape.

Following Equinox’s instructions, I sat cross-legged on the rock.

Nocturne stood just to my right, waiting for its turn.

Equinox’s gloomy voice reached me.

From here it begins. Steel yourself, Master.

At some point, Equinox had subtly raised his form of address toward me.

Was it a change of heart? A sign of recognition? Or perhaps…

‘Could it be that he now respects me as a necromancer?’

In any case, this procedure literally involves piercing a hole into my heart. Pain was inevitable.

I steadied myself and awaited the pain to come.

‘Pain is a kind of pleasure.’

Dark mages train to grow accustomed to pain from the moment they receive their first mana ring from the Demon King.

Most 1st-circle spells carry pain as a cost.

Self-wounding spells, like Sacrifice, which grant power proportionate to the severity of the injury, are prime examples.

Cast Sacrifice hundreds of times and lesser pains barely register—greater pain even turns into pleasure.

But Master always warned me never to indulge in that pleasure.

“Hoo-”

I steadied my mind and exhaled.

Equinox drew immense mana from the artifacts—the necklace and two rings—laid upon the vessel.

The mingled black and crimson mana flowed into me through my nose and mouth.

Thick and heavy, it streamed toward my chest, encasing my heart—sending shivers across my body.

Pain will come.

At Equinox’s warning, I nodded and closed my eyes.

At once, visions of what was happening inside my heart appeared in my mind’s eye.

The crimson-black mist-like mana began taking shape—like a serpent.

Its head morphed into a spear, piercing straight through the center of my heart.

“Ghk-”

Blood trickled from my mouth.

Every cell in my body screamed.

Electric agony surged along every nerve.

An ordinary man would thrash and scream, but for me it was almost nostalgic, even welcome.

Yet I mustn’t indulge—it always demands a price.

‘Focus.’

I gently guided mana to wrap around my bleeding heart.

Though the bleeding wasn’t severe, pooled blood inside the body brings disease.

Using techniques I’d once learned, I forced the blood up and spat it out.

Ulk-

After draining it, Equinox’s voice returned.

You manage well without instruction. We’re almost there. Endure a little longer.

I felt Equinox linking my heart with the jewels.

Artifacts are usually crafted from rare mana stones that naturally release vast amounts of mana.

These highest-grade stones produce endless mana like a bottomless spring—the total quantity is staggering.

Even just the stones embedded in this necklace and two rings being drained could easily annihilate an entire city.

Equinox’s plan was to extract their core energy, shove it into my small heart, and amplify it.

And the plan was nearly complete—the gems inside the necklace and rings had almost lost their forms.

All their massive energy had seeped into my heart.

‘This is promising.’

The first ring I received from the Demon King in my past life had been powerful—but not like this.

Normally, such an influx would make the heart explode.

But now, things were different.

My body had grown stronger, and Equinox’s skill was formidable.

I felt a strong conviction that this plan would succeed.

And.

Perhaps because I had already experienced death.

Perhaps because I had glimpsed what lies beyond pain.

I felt no fear at all.

Only growing anticipation of the immense power awaiting me.

I focused my mind.

The mana that pierced my heart surged and spun violently.

Before long, even the wound in my heart had healed.

‘Astonishing ability.’

Even the Demon King hadn’t healed wounds this quickly.

Healing a heart wound while its blood pumps at speed requires extraordinary skill.

Equinox’s ability was surely at Demon King-level or higher. Perhaps his claim of waiting 4,000 years was true.

Then his voice came.

The first button is fastened well enough. Nocturne, it’s your turn.

Yes. Please guide me, Lord Equinox. And Master.

As Nocturne summoned its strength, the violet gem at its tip began to glow.

Amazingly, the mana it drew forth was more than ten times stronger than the jewels’.

It then forged a massive crimson ring in the air and set it spinning.

Wooooong-

The mere rotation of mana shook not just the cave, but the entire area.

It was as though a dragon deep in the cave let out a low roar.

When the ring’s rotation reached its peak, the ring in my heart finally responded.

Jiiing-

Nocturne’s ring and my heart’s ring.

The two resonated, spinning in harmony.

When their speeds matched perfectly, a thin mana thread linked Nocturne’s crimson ring to mine.

Mana surged continuously along that thread.

“Huff- huff-”

My breath grew ragged, my heart pounded fit to burst, and the rotation faltered.

One misstep and I’d overload.

‘What? Something’s wrong.’

Then came a strange laugh.

Heheheh, keheheheh!

A disturbing laugh.

It was clearly Nocturne’s.

‘Don’t tell me—has it already turned into a monster?’

Master’s warning flashed through my mind.

Nocturne spun the ring even faster.

Tremendous force poured into my heart.

Agony ripped through it.

‘This…is the limit.’

Just then.

A black aura appeared, enveloping my heart and Nocturne’s ring together.

It was Equinox’s.

Do not worry, Master. You are doing well. We are almost there. Endure just a little more.

Equinox’s aura had a clear effect.

It calmed my swelling heart and steadied the ring’s rotation.

My breathing eased—I could bear it now.

Nocturne’s eerie laughter vanished.

We stayed in that state. Heat and coolness gushed from my heart, making me feel delirious.

It was like falling into the trance Master once spoke of.

Time passed.

I struggled not to lose consciousness.

Whenever I faltered, Equinox roused me.

By the time the third rooster crowed.

His voice whispered at my ear.

It is done, Master.

The moment I heard that, I lost consciousness.

Is this what a lucid dream feels like?

It was a dream, yet vivid.

A forest cave, all too familiar.

It was where I had lived with Master a month before being captured by the inquisitor.

I rose and looked down at myself.

‘What’s this?’

My body was faint.

It was the robust body I’d gained from the Demon King Dikrea, but translucent and untouchable.

I looked around in that state.

Everything was as it had been.

Herbs hung on the wall, strips of dried jerky.

A desk to the side, lit by a small oil lamp.

Before it, a bonfire blazed, a great cauldron hanging above.

On the surface of the yellow liquid within, a crimson magic circle slowly dispersed, its role complete.

This was the very circle Master used when he summoned Great Demon King Illinas to carve the Sacrifice sigil into my chest.

From the look of it, this was just after Illinas had taken one of Master’s mana rings as tribute to brand me.

Indeed, before the fire lay my past self, shirtless.

I watched him with a strange feeling.

Soon my past self stirred and asked Master:

“Master, why did you leave a magic circle on my chest?”

“Because it is the most certain place.”

“What exactly do you mean by that?”

“That place will inevitably be drenched in blood. At that very moment, the opportunity will arise—the chance to seize eternal power.”

At the time, I didn’t understand.

But the words eternal power sounded grand, even glamorous.

I could see it plainly in my past expression.

Yet my past self soon sobered, gauging his own limits, and asked again.

“Eternal power does not suit someone like me. Wouldn’t it be better if you took it yourself, Master?”

But Master answered gravely.

“To go a step further from my realm, the first mana ring must belong to oneself.”

“You mean…”

“As you know, our first ring belongs to the Demon King. That determined our fate.”

He sighed deeply, then continued slowly.

“The mark etched on the soul can be erased. But the ring forged by the Demon King in your heart cannot. There is only one way—to return to a time before it was made.”

“To turn back time? Is that even possible?”

My past self asked several times, but Master only gave a faint smile.

Then he spoke in a low voice.

“The day will come when you understand. But remember this: as long as you carry the Demon King’s ring, you cannot walk the path of eternity. That is why I failed.”

“Then what must I do going forward? Please give me a concrete plan.”

A question I still remember vividly.

But Master shook his head.

“If I tell you now, it will become memory, part of you. And the Demon King will notice.”

“Then at the moment of opportunity, what am I supposed to do?”

“When the time comes, you’ll know naturally. You will not miss it.”

It was exactly as I remembered Master saying.

I sat on a stump by the fire and watched him and my past self.

Hearing their continued conversation, I felt my old emotions again.

Frustration, uncertainty, and curiosity.

Along with a deep yearning for Master.

I looked at him across the fire and unconsciously spoke with the voice of my soul.

[Master, just as you said, I have turned back time. But now I have no confidence. I don’t know what to do.]

Then something strange happened.

Master smiled faintly.

Exactly as I finished speaking.

‘Coincidence?’

Just then, Master muttered softly, almost inaudible.

“So you truly succeeded.”

“What?”

When my past self asked, Master shook his head.

“Just talking to myself. You need not know.”

This scene, him speaking to me, I remember vividly.

‘Could he actually hear me now?’

Then is this not a dream or illusion—but the real past?

Was it truly possible to cross time?

And the future Master saw, then…

I gazed at him in turmoil, and at that moment, our eyes met.

His eyes gleamed faintly blue.

After a moment, he turned back to the cauldron and spoke.

“To take a step beyond here, you must give up being human. Can you do that?”

I remember these words clearly too.

But now, it felt like they were not to my past self—but to me.

Unthinkingly, I answered.

[I will try.]

Master glanced at me once more, then turned back to my past self.

“Do not fear. In the future I saw, you attained eternal power. We already succeeded. So wait for the moment. We will meet again.”

With those words, I awoke.