When the plot-skips players into the game world
Chapter 1114 - 443: Tainted Offering of the Dancing Feet

Chapter 1114: Chapter 443: Tainted Offering of the Dancing Feet

Behind Aiwass, the true Defiant Flame Butterfly hovered in mid-air, flapping its wings.

Yet within that iceberg, what he had frozen turned out to be... nothing but void!

"How pitiful."

Aiwass clicked his tongue. "No resistance to illusion techniques... inevitably toyed with as if held firmly in the palm of a hand."

This Son of the Moon was likely a Fourth or even Fifth Power Level Transcendent, bolstered by the unique role enhancement of Blood Lord, exclusive to Sons of the Moon.

But against Aiwass and Cardinal Galatea, he couldn’t even unleash a tenth of his strength.

——Other than the initial strike from Defiant Flame Butterfly, everything that came after was mere illusion!

The Son of the Moon thought he had frozen the Defiant Flame Butterfly, but it was only an illusion conjured by Cardinal Galatea—

His defensive power was indeed formidable, to the point where Aiwass didn’t dare to directly ambush him.

After all, at the moment he had noticed the presence of an enemy, his nerves were bound to be taut, his reflexes and focus at their peak—a state where ambushes rarely succeed. Especially given that the person wielded the Water’s Regular Dodecahedron, able to instantly encase themselves in ice as protection.

If he resolved to stay trapped in his icy fortress, Aiwass truly might not have had a way to break him out.

But when is someone most likely to relax?

It’s naturally when they believe the battle is over and are ready to collect the spoils.

Aiwass was all too familiar with this.

The Priest’s equipment often had an automatic healing effect when leaving combat. And Priests generally possessed life-saving skills and crowd-control breaking gear, coupled with high durability—killing them wasn’t easy. In player vs. player scenarios, stealth classes often preferred to attack until the Priest’s HP dropped below half, then disappear. As the Priest left combat and began healing, novice players might habitually activate the Rite of Fire to fully replenish their health.

At that moment, thieves and assassins would suddenly reappear and deliver another set of strikes, scaring the target into a panic almost every time. Forget immediately using crowd-control, knockback, retaliation, or any form of countermeasure—most people would be stunned for a moment. By the time they regained their composure, it would already be too late.

——This is what’s called a "surprise counterstrike"!

It can only be said that Cardinal Galatea’s illusionary ability was overwhelmingly powerful—

When the Defiant Flame Butterfly stopped spraying out flames and returned to Aiwass’s side, Cardinal Galatea had completely replicated another identical Defiant Flame Butterfly. This copy continued to spray flames, making it appear as though the original butterfly had never stopped attacking.

As for what followed—being struck by icy spikes, smashed between ice walls, even frozen solid—all of it, illusion.

The close-combat ability of the Defiant Flame Butterfly wasn’t weak, her combat instincts were exceptional.

She could have easily escaped before the ice spikes closed in—the Fire Meteor itself was a powerful disruption skill, let alone her other abilities. And upon her death, she could explode and resurrect in flames... However, Cardinal Galatea didn’t know about these abilities of the Defiant Flame Butterfly, and fortunately, neither did the opponent.

To alert Aiwass about what enemies were appearing in the illusion, Cardinal Galatea thoughtfully marked them with translucent shadows for Aiwass to see. This ensured he wouldn’t accidentally wander into illusion-made "enemy" positions and get injured.

Thus, Aiwass could prepare in advance to swiftly behead his opponent as soon as the invincibility effect dissipated!

The Death of Desolation’s decapitating strike was utterly fatal for the Son of the Moon.

Cardinal Galatea didn’t move a muscle nor utter a single word the entire time, standing quietly in place. Simply by observing, this powerful Son of the Moon had been toyed to death!

"Help me extract the gemstone from his chest cavity," Aiwass said to Cardinal Galatea, "I’ll go claim the other spoils first—"

"Alright."

Cardinal Galatea nodded and elegantly stepped forward.

She gazed at the headless frozen corpse, but what suddenly appeared before her wasn’t the body—it was someone Aiwass knew intimately—

It was Cardinal Siegfried!

"Cardinal Siegfried" swung a massive great sword in one sweeping arc, slicing the corpse cleanly in half!

Then, countless iron hammers emerged from the void, descending blow after blow. The divided corpse was reduced to powder.

That "Cardinal Siegfried" bent down, picked up the azure gemstone within the remains, handed it to Cardinal Galatea, then dissipated into bubbles.

Was this the pinnacle of illusion?

Aiwass began to suspect that the reason pure-white aligned Cardinal Galatea came alone... might actually make sense.

This super ancient Mechanical Girl from the Age of Amber—though said to have been awakened and activated only in the Age of Elves—had strength seemingly far surpassing the average Cardinal Archbishop.

If she could conjure any Cardinal Archbishop through illusions... even if those illusions only retained seventy or thirty percent of their original strength, she might actually warrant the title of the strongest Cardinal Archbishop!

Aiwass shook his head, pushing aside the coffin to search through the putrid black water within for what he needed.

It was evident this Son of the Moon, whose name Aiwass didn’t know, had yet to complete the Tainted Blood Angel transformation ritual.

The so-called transformation ritual was essentially akin to suicide followed by rebirth.

The body, blessed by the Banquet Master’s power and sanctified by Sister Sasha, would first be desecrated and stripped of its sanctity through a blasphemous ritual... Simply put, it was an attempt to destroy its attributes and properties while retaining its "living" state, reducing it to plain material. Then, it would be incinerated, mixing the ashes with one’s own remains for reincarnation.

The nine tortured individuals were sacrificial offerings for this ritual. The most time-consuming part was undoubtedly this step.

The coffin and blood pool were merely automatic mechanisms for posthumous rebirth—entrusting this to anyone else wasn’t an option. While in ash form, a single cup of Holy Water would permanently annihilate the person. Thus, such matters must be managed personally; even the most loyal guard could not be trusted.

Once Sister Sasha’s feet had their sacred nature stripped away by the blasphemous ritual, he could then lie in the ventilated coffin alongside her, light a fire to burn himself to ashes... Once the smoke cleared, the coffin would sink into the blood pool, with fresh blood seeping through the vents to facilitate rebirth.

"Found it!"

Aiwass cheered as he pulled out a severed pair of feet from within.

They were almost like works of art—soft and warm to the touch—while the cross-sections at the calves shimmered a crystalline red brilliance akin to jewel-like rubies within. It was as if their interior wasn’t composed of bones and flesh, but pink diamonds.

The toenails were similarly pink-toned, radiating a jade-like brilliance. The skin showed no wrinkles or calluses, utterly flawless to an almost unreal degree.

Yet at that moment, they had been harmed.

Runes inscribed with blasphemous words were carved onto the tops and soles of the feet using a Ritual Dagger. Having soaked in the coffin’s black water for so long, they had darkened, with those inscriptions now ominously blackened in hue—this taint detracted from their radiant perfection.

A line of effects appeared in Aiwass’s vision:

[Polluted·Offered Dance Feet]

[Extraordinary Equipment (Light Purple)]

[Armor - Footwear]

[Extraordinary Traits: When moving continuously for three seconds while possessing Skin of the Saint and having less than full health, gain a layer of Skin of the Saint (limited to activating under Path of Devotion or Path of Love). This effect can trigger at most once every thirty seconds; when moving continuously for three seconds with Skin of the Sinner and without dealing damage, gain a layer of Skin of the Sinner (limited to activating under Path of Devotion or Path of Love). This effect can trigger at most once every thirty seconds]

[Skin of the Saint: Healing received increases by 30% after each instance of restoration. This effect can stack up to three layers]

[Skin of the Sinner: When the wearer sacrifices their own life to harm others, the injury’s damage scales according to the current healing amplification value]

[Extraordinary Traits (Polluted): This effect has been nullified]

[Pollution Traits: Upon losing health, additional health is lost proportionally; upon receiving healing effects from others, the healer loses a proportion of the heal amount’s worth in health]

[Set: Sister Sasha’s Holy Banquet (1/4)]

["——I removed my dance shoes, my steps grew light; I forfeited my feet, my soul grew free."]

"What’s this?"

Holding the blue gemstone, Cardinal Galatea curiously approached.

Not the least bit reserved, Aiwass handed the fouled pair of feet—still faintly reeking of decay—to Cardinal Galatea. "These are Sister Sasha’s feet."

"Ah, I’ve heard about this. The Banquet Master... now the Banquet Celestial, made her an Angel Envoy, correct?"

Cardinal Galatea nodded slightly. "I heard she relinquished her eyes, feet, hands, and skin to become the Banquet Master’s guest, also serving as his final course."

"Yes, but the Banquet Master couldn’t bear to consume her. He felt her love so acutely that he allowed her to become his Holy Banquet Servant, granting her superior eyes, feet, and hands, while sanctifying those sacrifices and returning them to Sister Sasha," Aiwass explained.

Cardinal Galatea gently touched the blasphemous markings on the feet. "Still, they seem to have been polluted. Their strength has been significantly reduced... Do you intend to use them? If so, you might want to hand them over to Cardinal Aquinas—he is part of the Relic Restoration Assembly. He specializes in repairing damaged mystical artifacts."

"Let’s have them restored then."

While Aiwass wasn’t planning to use the equipment.

Not only because the Sister Sasha set—also known as the "Excessive Set"—wasn’t meant to be worn incomplete. But also because he intended to assemble the four-piece set as an offering for the "Blood Angel" Aleister.

Still, considering how heavily contaminated the piece was, finding an expert for purification seemed smart. Little Lamb had managed it before, but her success with cleaning the pollutions from the eyeball felt more like luck... this pair of feet was clearly more corrupted.

Just then, a sudden blur surrounded Aiwass and Cardinal Galatea.

After a heavy wave of dizziness, Aiwass found himself back at the Tower of Heaven ruins. From far away, several individuals who had initially distanced themselves to evade mind-reading had now reconvened nearby—Little Cat, Sine, and Amber Master among them.

The crowd gawked in stunned silence at the severed feet in Aiwass’s hand and the massive blue gemstone in Cardinal Galatea’s arms, speculating among themselves about where on earth these two had been.

"...Mr. Pope, um, I mean... Your Holiness,"

From far away, the Wanderer hesitated to ask, "What exactly are you holding..."

[They’re feet, you blind fool!]

Aiwass’s gaze shifted, his internal voice resolute in response.

[Human feet? I thought they were gemstones...]

Little Cat stared at the severed cross-section, thoughts floating from her mind.

[No, they’re Elf feet. Human ones wouldn’t be so large.]

Aiwass mentally clarified.

As silence briefly descended upon the group, he quickly said aloud, "These are Holy Relics belonging to the Banquet Celestial’s Angel Envoy, Sister Sasha..."

The crowd collectively exhaled in relief.

[I almost thought...]

Little Cat’s thoughts drifted further—she instinctively put her hand over her mouth.

But it was useless; the intrusive thoughts continued to flow:

[I almost thought His Holiness the Pope had a particular... affection for feet... Ugh?! No, no, no... Mom, am I going to die for this...?]

"I said they’re Holy Relics!"

Aiwass snapped irritably, his voice harsh. Yet, the harder he tried to suppress his thoughts, the more vivid they became—an uncontrollable idea floated across his mind:

[That said... they do look quite enticing...]

[I don’t want to hear it! Gah!]

[You’ve got good taste, Your Holiness!]

[Personally, I think the sparkling, diamond-like portions are the most eye-catching...]

The group fell once again into chaos.

Among them, only Cardinal Galatea—impervious to "heart sounds"—remained coldly silent, clutching the gemstone as she quietly observed the commotion.