Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 523: Necklace, Amulet, and Horse

"We should not rely too heavily on the Box of Darkness; the gap between them is too large, and the Box of Darkness has already been corroded by the Dark Realm," Shard remarked, pointing out the traces...

Tifa pointed to the black stains on the brass gear mechanism box:

"This is the external manifestation of the corrosion. Fortunately, as long as the box isn't opened, the corrosive effects of the Dark Realm on it are almost negligible, so we can take it with us as a safety guarantee on our journey. But unless necessary, it's best not to let it spiral out of control, as that would accelerate the corrosion considerably."

"What would happen if the Box of Darkness really were corrupted by the Dark Realm?" Shard asked curiously. Tifa couldn't answer, but instead Luviya provided an answer:

"That would trigger a very rare phenomenon of fusion among Relics. Similar types of relics, when in close contact and one is much stronger than the other, the weaker one will be absorbed by the stronger one, much like water merging into the sea. But such occasions are exceptionally rare, extraordinarily so."

The awake ones all looked at her, hearing this for the first time.

"So that's how it is..."

Shard considered for a moment:

"Tifa, since that's the case, you carry it. Unless necessary, I won't use its uncontrollable effects."

The Light Spirit Rune was meant to kill demons in the Dark Realm, but with Miss Maid by his side, Shard felt no need to take them on by himself.

"Alright, do you need to rest a bit more?" Tifa asked again.

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"No need, we're pressed for time, let's set off immediately," Shard responded. He had been standing behind Mr. Riddle watching the card game and had rested enough.

"Luviya, stay here and wait for good news from me," Shard told the Female Diviner, shaking the glass vial stoppered with wood. This was the core ritual material for sealing demons that Luviya had found—he was indicating he was alright.

All he needed to do was witness what outcome the second Chosen One would meet; only if the Church, the Witch, and other strange Circle Sorcerer Organizations all failed and Daknis not only completed the ritual but he also seemed likely to escape, would Shard have to intervene personally.

But among the dozens of possibilities, this was the least likely, so Shard wasn't worried about the remainder of the journey; he believed all he had to do was observe and then bring back the results.

"I'll be here waiting... This time, you have to face it alone again. This is for you; I made it myself, an Alchemical Item that might bring some luck to its owner," she said.

She took off a silver necklace around her neck; at the end of the necklace hung a pendant with photos of her deceased parents. Every time Shard saw Luviya, she was wearing this necklace. It was not just an alchemical item, but also her most precious personal jewelry:

"Don't worry, I've always been luckier than a doctor," Shard reassured as he took the necklace, Luviya nodded silently, her expression seemed to convey a thousand words, yet ultimately, she took off four metal amulets from her person, which had already shown signs of cracking, and handed them to Tifa. In the Dark Realm, Shard was virtually unaffected, but Tifa, even as a Six Rings, was sure to be influenced by the Angel-Level Relic.

Miss Maid tightly held the amulets and nodded:

"I will protect Shard."

Tifa organized who would take charge after she left the manor, then she and Shard, each carrying a metal box, left the master bedroom on the third floor.

Sure enough, when they reached the hallway shrouded in darkness, Tifa stumbled slightly but didn't fall, likely due to her higher level than Luviya and her powers as a Witch; she quickly adapted and seemed fine.

As for Shard, the peculiar blessing given by Priest Augustus was still effective. Although the effect couldn't last forever, as long as there wasn't a significant diminution of the blessing's power, the Priest's blessing was enough for Shard to navigate through the Dark Realm.

They didn't leave the manor directly but followed Tifa's lead to the stables on the side of the manor.

All the horses in the stable were ordinary creatures, all trapped in slumber. Perhaps due to their lower intelligence and weaker mind and soul power, one had even been dissolved by the darkness, turning into a strangely shaped one-eyed Servant of the Hidden, which Tifa casually dealt with.

Miss Maid had possession of the Light Spirit Rune. However, during the last encounter with the Servant of the Hidden at the eye doctor's, neither knew Light could kill such demons, so she hadn't acted.

Arriving at the stable wasn't to awaken the horses. Tifa took a small knife from Shard, cut some mane from a slumbering red pony, and some tail hair from an unusually tall black horse, and finally found some rusty horseshoes and some horse bones in the stable.

After drawing a circular Ritual Circle on the ground using chalk and tadpole spell words, Tifa placed the four items into the densely packed tadpole spell words at deliberately left square spaces in the center.

She cut her finger, dropped a drop of blood in the center of the Ritual Circle, then held her fists close, bowed her head, closed her eyes, and recited Spell Words quietly. The Dark Realm swallowed the light produced by the ritual, but could not devour the Skeleton Horse that walked out of the rolling black mist.

"Oh~"

Shard watched this creature in awe, a pure Undead Creature, the blue flames in its eyes signifying the flames of a soul.

"Let's go."

Tifa attached a saddle, bit, and reins to the undead horse, and hung her own box on the side of the horse.

"I thought such summoned entities would come equipped with things like saddles."

"The items on an undead aren't part of the undead itself."

Tifa said, reaching to stroke the horse's skull:

"Shard, can you ride a horse?"

Miss Maid asked again.

"Of course not,"

Shard replied.

"Alright then, I'll ride."

She skillfully mounted the horse but sat sideways because she wore a skirt. She waved to Shard, indicating for him to come up as well, but Shard hesitated:

"Um... how should I mount the horse?"

Thus, Tifa could only pull him up and then had Shard wrap his arms around her waist to prevent falling off.

"Wait a moment!"

Before Tifa pulled the reins to start, Shard reached into his pocket and took out a small bottle containing bright yellow eye drops:

"Remember this? Putting a drop in your eyes will slightly expand your field of vision."

He then handed her an Ever-Youth Leaf originally inscribed with the Arcane Technique - Breath of Ages:

"Take this in case of emergencies."

"This is..."

Miss Maid looked at the Green leaf in Shard's glowing palm, seemingly tainted by the silver moonlight.

"Ever-Youth Leaf."

"What?"

She obviously recognized this relic.

"Let's set off now. I'm lending it to you temporarily in case something unforeseen happens."

Shard stuffed the leaf into her hand, and Tifa softly acknowledged with a "hmm." After preparing, the skeleton horse carrying the two dashed out of the stable, racing along the central line of the courtyard out of the manor and towards the city's southeastern outskirts.

The undead horse summoned by Tifa's ritual galloped faster than a normal horse. Although the undead itself was also being dissolved by the quiet darkness, the light emitting continuously from Shard, which he carried on his back, dispelled the surrounding darkness; thus, both the undead and Tifa were slightly less affected by the Dark Realm when in close contact with Shard.

Knowing their destination and familiar with the terrain, they could choose the shortest roads even in extremely poor visibility. They passed through deserted villages and through pitch-black empty fields, and as they approached the core area of the Dark Realm, the shadows representing "the past" moved more densely around them, along with the occasional attacks launched from the darkness by Servants of the Hidden.

Initially, the duo on the skeleton horse could counterattack using Tifa's power, but as the demonic force grew stronger, they had to open the Box of Darkness, covering themselves with another type of darkness.

This was very effective, making the influence of the Dark Realm even more pronounced and making them completely invisible to the Servants of the Hidden.

However, the dark stains increasingly covering the original brass hue of the Box of Darkness hung on the side of the skeleton horse. And as they drew closer to the central area, the spread of these black marks also accelerated.

Clearly, they absolutely could not rely on this relic forever to stay safe.

If the edges of the Dark Realm were just silently slumbering dark areas, as the two delved deeper, various terrifying illusions and actual demons and phantoms of the past grew denser.

This darkness could melt those in slumber and even bewitch and frighten those awake and intruding. And once their emotions were influenced, the step into slumber was not far off.

Not far from the word "core" handwritten by Miss Galina on the map, they finally encountered a group of Church Ring Sorcerers in the darkness. However, due to the severe hindrance to vision caused by the darkness, when Shard noticed them, they completely failed to see the two on the skeleton horse.

Shard used the light from his body and the God's Gift Chest on his back to dispel the darkness, while that group of twelve from the Peace Church relied on a glowing Holy Emblem. The emblem wasn't a relic but just a typical Divine Item, yet because the True God, Father of Peace, actually existed, this Divine Item could directly protect the twelve-man squad moving freely in the dark.

Shard relayed what appeared ahead to Tifa, and both of them decided there was no need to encounter the church's group, so they took a detour. During the following journey, they came across more and more Church Ring Sorcerers.

Just as Shard had estimated, although the uncontrollable area of the Dark Realm had expanded, the church still controlled the basic situation. If lucky, he only needed to witness Daknis being captured or killed by the church, and thus Late Summer's final adventure would truly end.