Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 479: How to Kill a Demon

"Moonlight Greatsword."

An abnormal sound arose right in front, as Shard drew his glowing two-handed greatsword and swung it outward.

Immediately, the blade met with something indistinct within the dense darkness. The luminescence of the Moonlight Greatsword itself could only illuminate the vicinity close to the blade, so even though he struck the enemy, Shard could only discern that his opponent was very short and cloaked in a black robe.

Shard's attack had no effect, but the girl beside him was a Six Rings Warlock. Following the sound of Shard's sword colliding with an object, she hurled an indistinguishable object into the darkness ahead.

Miss Maid twitched her nose:

"Above!"

Shard swung his sword upwards, briefly leaving a trace of Silvermoon's arc in the darkness:

Clang!

He felt the Moonlight Greatsword strike something immensely powerful again, then lost sight of the target.

"Can you still track its position?"

He bit his left index finger, smeared the blood onto a ring on his right hand, then pressed the ring's face against the blade of the Moonlight Greatsword.

The Exorcism symbol was perfectly imprinted on the Moonlight Greatsword, and curiously, Shard's blood glimmered with a more noticeable silver light in the darkness than the light emanating from his body.

"Behind."

Still adopting a sweeping motion, he swung towards the indicated direction. This time, the swing was blocked again, but a piercing, miserable scream echoed in the darkness.

The dense darkness momentarily thinned, allowing Shard to finally see his adversary. It was a hunchbacked, curled-up, humanoid creature wearing a tattered black robe, child-like in size, with its body completely enveloped by the robe, revealing only its dry, yellowish legs and duck-like feet.

The screaming and thinning darkness lasted only a second before returning to their previous state.

"It seems the seal is very effective. Just striking it without inflicting damage seems to work," Shard thought as Tifa continued to twitch her nose:

"Detective, it's moving very quickly. It's swiftly circling us."

"Moving fast? No problem."

A rustling sound came from Shard's sleeve, but since the material of the Great Sin Chain nearly absorbed light, Tifa couldn't see clearly what Shard was doing.

Under Shard's control, the chain extended straight forward. Once he felt it had reached sufficient length, he abruptly lifted his right hand, immediately feeling the Great Sin Chain strike something:

"Lock it down!"

He thought, as the chain in the darkness began trying to wrap around the creature's body. But the small demon in the darkness, with remarkable speed, disentangled from the chain and then charged straight towards the two in the darkness.

"Ahead!"

The shrill scream came again, not from injury-induced fear this time but as an intimidating shout.

The two-handed greatsword thrust forward, but struck no target. In the faint glow around the blade, the silhouette resembling a monkey, wearing the ragged black robe, now appeared right before them.

The dense darkness billowed like waves trying to extinguish the light on Shard's body. The figure under the tattered robe suddenly lifted its head, fully revealing its face beneath the hood.

It had an unusually smooth white face without a mouth, ears, nose, or eyebrows, only hosting a single large eye vertically situated in the center of the face, with its whites streaked with blood, the yellow eye chaotically moving within its socket.

"Careful, Servant of the Hidden possesses a constant ability 'Fear Aura'!"

Tifa pulled Shard back by the hand while stepping forward herself:

"Banish!"

She pushed her hand towards the monster in front of her. Despite having no mouth, it still emitted a piercing scream. Illuminated by the faint light from Shard, the demon's body seemed to be pushed into an unseen space, but clearly, the demon was resisting the banishment.

Rustling chain noises arose again. During the standoff between the demon and Tifa's Arcane Technique, the Great Sin Chain wrapped around the tattered, black-robed demon's body. Shard clenched his right hand, his fist striking the demon's face.

Splat~

In a disgusting noise, the fist wearing the Demon Hunting Seal burst the large eye, and blood and yellow fluid splashed everywhere. However, Shard also felt a stinging pain as the demon's power corroded his flesh.

"Where is a demon's fatal spot on their body?"

He immediately asked.

"These dreadful beings can hardly be considered flesh creatures. Different demons have different ways of dying, and without knowing the specific method, these creatures are immortal. Only a demon can kill another demon unconditionally. Detective, continue to attack it. Once it's completely weakened, I can banish it to where it belongs," Tifa explained.

"Okay, no problem."

Taking a deep breath, Shard unleashed his physical strength, his right hand rapidly striking forward. His body glowing in the darkness, his fist nearly created a tumult of light and shadow, continuously imprinting on the demon in front, causing the flesh to continuously decay.

Meanwhile, the Candidate Witch chanted convoluted Ancient Spell Text, and after half a minute of preparation, she again extended her hand forward:

"Banish!"

Pure white light momentarily brightened the darkness, and the demon, whose head was almost smashed into mush by Shard, stumbled backwards into an unseen space and disappeared.

The surrounding darkness immediately dispersed, and late summer afternoon sunlight shone on them through the study room window where they stood at the doorway.

"Is it over?"

Alfred, the doctor who had been crouching behind a desk, cautiously peeked out from underneath after a quiet moment.

"It's over, but I'll take the ring, the red potion, and the parchment with me. Also, we need to do something about you," Shard said, stepping out of the study and looking down the corridor. Everything seemed normal outside. It appeared that the demon had indeed emerged here because of his contact with the ring.

"Don't kill me!"

Dr. Alfred immediately said as he tried to duck back under the table.

"I don't want to kill you, just make you forget this matter."

He looked at the girl beside him, who nodded, indicating she would handle it.

"Since you're making me forget, can you make me forget even more things!"

The doctor, crouching behind the table, whispered again.

"What else do you want to forget?"

"Take everything away!"

It wasn't clear if it was due to fear, but he even started sobbing:

"I understand it all now, that red potion definitely had issues! Make me forget, forget everything, I don't want to remember, I was the one who killed Frank Bondi! Oh God, forgive me! I really didn't know anything. God, I shouldn't have touched these accursed relics."

He curled up under the desk, sobbing uncontrollably.

Dr. Alfred voluntarily took out all his research notes and wept, willingly cooperating with the memory clearance, so Tifa's process of erasing his memory went quite smoothly.

The doctor lay on the couch, falling into a deep sleep when Tifa's hand moved over his head.

Afterward, Shard covered the doctor with a blanket, then he and Miss Maid quietly left the place.

Upon leaving the quiet clinic and returning to the street, Shard locked the door of the clinic downstairs, then turned to glance one more time at the sign for the eye clinic before he and the girl beside him headed towards the corner where the rental carriages were parked.

"Has this commission ended then?"

Miss Maid was still pondering today's events:

"We followed the clues step by step, learned the truth about the blind man regaining sight, and were attacked by enemies after obtaining the key item. I think this should count as a complete detective novel story."

"No, no, typical detectives don't get attacked by powerful enemies at the end of their commission."

Shard said, toying with the ring in his hand. The potion, ring, and parchment had all gone into Shard's pocket, and Miss Maid neither asked what they were nor wondered why a demon had suddenly appeared earlier.

"Besides, the commission hasn't ended. The real client, I haven't met him even now."

"But the doctor has already lost his memory, how do you plan to respond to the client?"

She asked curiously, now that Detective Sparrow's investigation report couldn't be handed over to the client.

"Quite simple, tell the truth."

Shard put the ring in his pocket and waved to the coachman in front of him, who was grooming the horses. The man immediately threw the big brush into a cloth bag on the horse and climbed into the carriage after putting on his hat, ready to turn the vehicle around to welcome new passengers.

Mr. Toma Mendis, the client, had known about Mr. Bondy the Musician's death even before the detective, Shard. When Shard and Miss Maid visited him, they first took some effort to convince him they weren't swindlers, and only then did they start discussing the commission.

Having deleted information about Dr. Alfred, Shard told the client the results of the investigation surrounding Mr. Bondy's death. Since the client was blind and couldn't read, Shard could only report verbally:

"Currently my opinion is that there is indeed a way to treat the eye condition, but this method has significant side effects. I have obtained Mr. Bondy's relics, which includes the potions he used. Although the quantity of these potions may not suffice for you to fully regain your sight like he did..."

According to medical records, full restoration of sight required a large dosage of red potion to be dropped into the eyes, while the bright yellow potion was merely a diluent made with a small amount of red potion.

"...but I think, at least, it might enable you to see some light."

Shard handed the half-bottle of bright yellow potion, which looked like oil, to Mr. Mendis:

"I can't guarantee, after you try it, whether you will experience the mental disorientation like Mr. Bondy did. Sir, would you like to try it?"

Mr. Mendis was silent for a while, hesitated a few times to uncork the bottle, but eventually, trembling, he put the bottle back in Shard's hands:

"I've always been curious about Frank's cause of death... I fear that once I truly see the light, I will no longer be able to endure the darkness."

"So, do we need to continue investigating that doctor? Since Mr. Bondy is dead, the following investigation will be quite troublesome, I'd like to request an extension of the investigation period. Of course, in terms of investigation fees, I can make certain concessions."

Mr. Mendis sighed deeply, his head drooping, and it was a long time before he spoke:

"Terminate the commission, please. For this commission, Frank died, Detective Sparrow also died, I think this is God telling me not to continue further."

He gave a bitter smile, his eyes, which showed only the whites, looking towards Shard:

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"Even if we found that doctor, would I really dare to treat my eyes? Detective, based on your voice, you must be very young. Then tell me, if you were me, would you continue to pursue the light?"

Tifa also looked towards Shard, who hesitated briefly:

"Maybe I would."

"Why? Because young people dare to try?"

"No."

Shard shook his head, then realized the other person couldn't see him.

"I also fear that once I've experienced the light, I will no longer be able to endure the darkness. But I came into this world to see more landscapes and more stories."

Even knowing the other person couldn't see, Shard still pointed towards his own eyes:

"What's the point of my being here if I can't see anything? If I really fell into darkness, even if there's just a slim chance to regain the light, I would definitely seize it."

"Youth is wonderful, you make a lot of sense."

Mr. Mendis said, sighing deeply.

He still chose to terminate the commission.