When the plot-skips players into the game world-Chapter 930 - 297: Move a Matchstick to Make the Accounts Correct

Chapter 930: Chapter 297: Move a Matchstick to Make the Accounts Correct

In that transparent air, patterns emerged as if ice was shattering.

When Aleister took down the newly-formed Phantom Card from it.

In an instant, the intense frostiness dispersed and overflowed—covering mirrors, beds, furniture around the room with a layer of white frost in a mere moment. Honey Badger subconsciously shielded her face with her hands… Yet still, her hem was edged with frost.

And that pure ice-crafted Phantom Card was gradually shedding its frosty garment.

[Equipment Card: Scythe of Desolation (Death)]

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[Requirement: Water 4 or Darkness 4]

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[Action, Summoning, Recitation]

[Effect: Summon the “Scythe of Desolation” (a Transcendent, otherworldly Weapon – a lightweight, sharp, cold, long-handled scythe with the Extraordinary Module “Scythe of Desolation”)]

[Effect: Reuse and swing the scythe, ejecting nine invisible blades that automatically lock onto all targets already damaged by the wielder]

[Otherworldly Trait: Inverted Blade (It has an edge only on the side facing you)]

[Extraordinary Module – Scythe of Desolation: Whenever its damage causes bleeding or dismemberment, this attack instead reduces the target’s maximum Life Force, this effect is also considered as the same effect as the “Aging Curse”; any creature killed by its damage or limbs severed by it will turn into shattered ice sculptures]

—Without a doubt.

Compared to using the Thunder Javelin made by “Penalty Demon” of the same level as the Demon of Winter, this is a weapon more suitable for Aleister.

It is capable of imposing considerable suppression on races with tenacious Life Force, like Son of the Moon— and this suppression isn’t overly specialized, but rather generally applicable.

As long as it causes damage, it can directly chop off the top limit of the opponent’s health bar!

…The only problem lies in the fact that it’s a long-handled scythe. Scythes, tools for harvesting wheat, are not very practical weapons, let alone ones that are single-edged. Inflicting damage with this Weapon alone is truly too difficult.

But fortunately, it possesses a recitative effect—or rather, an Equipment Card should rightly possess a recitative effect.

Otherwise, why forgo one’s own accustomed weapon and specifically sacrifice a valuable card slot?

Its recitative effect allows the direct throwing of invisible blades, pursuing and striking enemies who have already been damaged. Although the specific amount of damage it can cause is not known, this would still be considered “damage caused by the Scythe of Desolation” and can trigger the effect of reducing Life Force limits.

Although this effect itself belongs to the Aging Curse and can be dispelled as a Curse,

it also has another important effect—kills or dismemberments caused by this effect will cause the opponent to turn into a broken ice sculpture.

…This may seem like some sort of kill effect, but in reality, it means to prevent resurrection.

It’s hard to completely kill Sons of the Moon because upon death, they turn to ashes. As long as a sufficient amount of their ashes are doused with large amounts of boiling blood, they can still be reborn… or even combine the ashes of multiple Sons of the Moon to resurrect into one. Of course, there’s debate even among Sons of the Moon whether this is resurrection or reconstruction.

But if killed by this scythe, they would just turn into shattered ice sculptures—completely changing their form of death!

Shattered ice sculptures obviously can’t be resurrected.

Compared to Thunder Javelin, one of the reasons Aleister prefers this weapon is that it is magic-oriented. The lock-on of invisible blades doesn’t require the one “damaged by the Scythe of Desolation” but “damaged by the wielder”.

In other words, Aleister can fully use other spells—such as Light of Paradise—to cause initial group damage and then switch to “Scythe of Desolation” for a group execution.

Although still rather rudimentary, Aleister finally has something of his own system in the magical domain!

Aleister summoned “The Grimoire of Aiwass”, extracted his originally saved “Death” card—that is, “Follower Card: Earthbound Spirit”—and logged the “Equipment Card: Scythe of Desolation” into it. Apart from “Blade of Shadows”, “Earthbound Spirit” became the second Phantom Card discarded by Aleister.

This leaves Aleister’s Book of Law with ten vacant positions.

Magician, Priestess, Empress, Pope, Chariot, The Hermit, Justice, Tower, Judgment, World.

If the remaining four Sin Cards are to be chosen from these vacancies, then Aleister can have at most two free card positions; if he wants to squeeze out a few more by replacing other cards like he replaced the Earthbound Spirit today, that would free up a bit more space.

The reason Aiwass brought out the Earthbound Spirit in the first place was because she—Alice, the Earthbound Spirit—was asking him for help.

She was a good child. Being used as a foundation sacrifice, her resentment was so strong that she became a wraith, yet she never consumed the souls of passing travelers—only those of desperate fugitives who fled here by accident. Thus, she was considerably weakened.

She didn’t want to just quietly dissipate, nor did she wish to be dispersed by a priest.

Therefore, Aiwass sealed her, helping her to escape the fate that bound her as an Earthbound Spirit. In this regard, the Earthbound Spirit is very much like the Tree Demon—Aiwass doesn’t rely on their strength, but uses the sealing technique that transcends fate to help them escape their destinies.

In gratitude, Alice helped Aiwass a few times. But as Aiwass leveled up, the impact that Alice, the Earthbound Spirit who remained at level 40, could make also gradually diminished; more critically, the ice of stars also belonged to the category of illusion techniques, which overlapped with the Earthbound Spirit’s role.

For the Earthbound Spirit, not being used by Aiwass should be viewed as a form of relaxation.

After all, as long as it resides within Aiwass, it can still perceive the world and doesn’t have to work—

And yet, at this moment, this card was buzzing uneasily.

Aleister pressed the card against his forehead, quietly communicating with the Earthbound Spirit.

Soon, he understood what Alice meant.

—Because right here, there lay a soulless husk that had lost its soul but still retained a flicker of life.

If Aiwass no longer needed her, she wanted this body.

“…Then I must first communicate with the original owner of the body.”

Aleister hesitated before explaining to Alice, “Even though she’s definitely going to die… after all, she’s still here watching.”

—For a Transcendent who doesn’t follow the Path of Dusk or possess a special pathway ability or Codex Book, a single soul departure signifies a terminal illness. Just as one might develop a habit of chronic dislocation after the first dislocation, so it is with soul departure.

Once the soul has left the body once, the inseparable bond between body and soul is torn, and at any time, one could find oneself in a situation where “the soul stands up on its own, while the body remains seated,” and the frequency of this occurrence increases with age and soul power.

Even if Aleister were to return the soul of that female university student back into her body through a ritual, as the divergence between her soul and body became more pronounced, her soul would eventually depart again.

Unless she can ascend the Path of Dusk to a sufficiently high level or acquire abilities such as “Path Trait: Soul Walker” or “Soul Departure Codex.”

In folk tales from various regions, there are legends of the bodies of soul departers being occupied by wild spirits and monsters.

A vacant soulless husk is the perfect vessel for possession. And an ordinary person without extraordinary power certainly cannot reclaim their body.

Mirror Demon has already told Aleister what happened here before they entered.

Clearly, the Earl initially wanted this girl to act as a broker, luring her classmates over as ritual materials. Although he promised many benefits, in Aleister’s view, these were just lies—once the girl took enough blame, the Earl would kill her and take her soul for his own purposes.

And that soulless husk could be invaded by a bodiless demon.

Such as the Shadow Demon, or the Mirror Demon. Aiwass, in his upgrading ceremony, had allowed Shadow Demon to control his body… and for Mirror Demon, who was even more adept at delicate manipulation, taking over a soulless husk was simple. Mirror Demon could perfectly control the body of this female university student, making her take the blame and face judgment. The accounts would be settled.

This is a classic financial conundrum: How do you move a single matchstick to make the accounts balance?

—The answer is to move the lit matchstick to the accounts.

She was that ledger.