Witch Hunter: Lord of Lust and Sin

Chapter 9: Chasing after Lies [Part 4]

Chapter 9
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Richard stared at the brass knuckles for a moment, his mind going through the motions as he tried to give himself a "proper reason" why he should do it-



Unfortunately, Richard’s cautious personality could not win against the Goddess who simply shoved the damned knuckles into his hands-


"Wa-"


He tried to say something but his mind was quickly consumed by a horrific vision.


Darkness washed over his sight and the next thing he knew, he was standing on a raised platform.


The world had transformed, all he could see is an endless plain-


"No... these are!"


At first he thought it was nothing more than a vast empty field coated in red but the reality was more grim.


What looked like a plain was actually just heads, tightly packed together creating a sea of black, all of it submerged in crimson blood.


The scene was still, it was difficult to even see the unnatural vision but-


"Protect" "Protect" "Maintain" "Protect" "Maintain" "Protect" "Protect" "Maintain" "Protect"


Echoes of the damned, voices that lacked emotion, howling yet without purpose...


It was a weird vision, one that made Richard feel conflicted.


For a moment, he thought to himself-


"There’s nothing bad about this-"


Yet all it took was one glance-


"!!!!"


The moment he looked down, he realized that all the faces submerged in blood were looking up. Simultaneously, as if waiting for him to do so, the moment his gaze were directed towards them-


The black soulless eyes... no, they had no eyes, all the faces before him had empty eye sockets.


Black stains marked their faces, as if tears of dried up blood, their faces... the expression they had were hollow.


Despite having different appearances, the similar look in their empty eyes made them all look the same. Any sign of uniqueness within them was gone.


The sight was gruesome yet beautiful-



The Goddess manifested behind him, Richard let out a sigh as he turned back.


"What’s this?"


He asked "calmly" but the rage in his voice was difficult to mask, if the scene was not as orderly as it was- if the howls were more anguished. He would have become a white wizard "calmly" demanding answers from a boy.


The Goddess, ever as beautiful, the form of perfection she envisioned for herself. A stunning sight that many would go on their knees for and beg "mommy".


That very Goddess bend down, reached into the sea of blood and pulled up a body.


As if looking at something utterly mundane, without a care in the world, she peaked into the eye sockets of the body like she was taking a look into a can of pringles.



"What?"


Richard did not understand what the Goddess was talking about so he asked once more but the explanation he got was-


*shove*


The goddess pushed the face towards Richard-



"At what?"



"..."


There were a lot of things Richard wanted to say but he didn’t retort- not yet. He first followed the Goddess’ words and when he did-


"What?"


Inside the head of the corpse, through the empty eye sockets, what Richard saw was a purple gem.



"I want to ask how but I believe it’s better for me to not know"



Richard’s active imagination kicked in, he found a few problems which he quickly knew the answer to...


"The previous owner was an undertaker... these souls..."



Hearing the words of the Goddess, Richard could only stare at her with an apathetic look on his face-


"..."


But the Goddess was not perturbed as she rolled her eyes in response to his look.



With a wave of her hand, the goddess made hundreds of bodies float up from the sea of blood. The bodies were pristine- wrinkly but pristine. Aside from their empty eye sockets, there was no sign of torture.


"I thought breaking the minds of the material was necessary?"


Hearing Richard’s question, the Goddess chuckled as she showed him a teasing expression while answering.



Richard analyzed the bodies and he noticed it as well, the weird feeling of staring at these horrific sights was nonexistent since these bodies- these souls...



The Goddess paused, Richard looked at the endless bodies before him. The Goddess’s words, based on what he learned, the source of power for magic... the reason an individual could interfere with the rules of the world. The power that bends reality-


If a thousand souls could unite to bring magic into fruition, then the source of that power was-


"Emotions... strong emotions... these souls- they lack emotions"


He responded to the Goddess but-



The Goddess looked into the distance and she made a grabbing motion before pulling. Then, following her actions, a black body was dragged from the depths.


This time, unlike the rest of the souls that looked like empty vessels, this one was...



The Goddess grabbed the head and presented the corpse to Richard.


Immediately, Richard could feel a sense of dread from the black corpse, a strong feeling of hate, anger... all the negative emotions that one could feel were being exuded by the black corpse.



The explanation of the goddess made Richard open his eyes wide in shock as he answered-


"You mean-"



Richard observed the black corpse and he quickly noticed something-


"This one’s covered in wounds and looks young"



"Isn’t malice the source of power?"



The name of his ancestor popped up once more, Richard felt like there was something deeper going on but he somehow can’t point out what it was-



"So paradise is just becoming a soul crystal?"



"Why do I need to use it then?"


Richard asked, he could use magic because of his heritage, why did he need to use a non-renewable energy source?



"But my situation allows me to use the crystal to empower myself?"



"Isn’t that just propaganda?""



The sudden history lesson made Richard’s mind that was about to go wild calm down.


"So, how do I turn this into a better artifact?"


Richard ignored everything and just focused on what he believed the Goddess was alluding to from the start.


Her continuous comment on the "shoddy artifact" made him know that she was trying to get him to improve it.



"..."


Richard felt like the Goddess was just shoving random bullshit into his face. Like a certain masked crusader-


’Now that I think about it, we’re in the same situation right? Forced to do shit by crazy deities?’


The young man mused but such thoughts didn’t last long as he felt his body lost weight as the platform vanished from beneath his feet-


"Thi-"



The Goddess screamed in a cute voice as she watched Richard fall into the depths of the bloody sea-

Chapter 9
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