As the doll stood up, its eyes—completely dull and unmoving—fixed on an area beyond the crimson moonlight. The man with swollen red marks on his cheek and the other cultists, who had been standing there quietly, one by one lowered their heads and raised their hands, as if assuming a posture of prayer, devoutly listening to the “oracle.”
Two or three seconds later, the doll finally straightened up. It was about to open its mouth, which had no tongue, and produce a voice not belonging to this “body,” when all its movements suddenly became jerky, like a heavily rusted machine.
— Klein, hiding among the cultists, had just seen the doll strangely extend “spirituality threads,” so he began manipulating without hesitation!
In the brightly lit room with wall lamps, the light suddenly dimmed. The doll with curved eyes and mouth instantly lost its support, as if its bones had been removed, and slumped onto the table, completely motionless.
As the streetlamp flickered over a kilometer away, Klein lost control of that cluster of “spirit body threads.” The power that descended through the doll leaped out of his range in just a second or two!
Woo!
A chillingly cold wind swept through the room. The carpet under the table and chairs suddenly twitched, throwing the man with swollen marks and most of the cultists to the ground. Only Klein, who was disguised, jumped up in advance to avoid the accident.
Of course, “Winner” Enzo, standing at the edge of the carpet, was unaffected.
Woo!
In the cold wind, the carpet rolled up, tightly wrapping several cultists, then firmly covering their mouths and noses and constricting their throats.
At the same time, the round fountain pens on the desk uncapped themselves, flew out, and stabbed into the neck of the man with swollen marks—densely packed, without gaps.
The wooden-backed chair exploded with a bang, sending out splinters that caught all the remaining cultists.
Near the wall, the pipe of the wall lamp split open, and gas began to hiss out.
The cloth draped over the sofa rose up, twisted into a rope, and wrapped around the conductor’s throat; several floorboards popped up, thrusting upward into the bodies of a few cultists.
In an instant, all the objects in the room became aggressive, attempting to extinguish every life.
Klein tried to dodge, but his shirt, pants, belt, coat, and top hat all took on a life of their own, firmly sealing him in place.
He opened his mouth wide and made a sound:
“Snap!”
He simulated the sound of snapping his fingers.
Crimson flames rose from his pocket, instantly covering his body and freeing him from the restraints.
At that moment, the cloth from another sofa rose up, as if draped over by an invisible person.
Klein’s eyes immediately captured that strange image. His body trembled and froze in place—he was possessed by an “evil spirit”!
The earlier flames hadn’t gone out yet and were about to burn his clothes and flesh, but instead they incinerated his whole body into a black paper figurine.
The back of this paper figurine was covered with feathery patterns, giving it an unreal, semi-illusory feel.
This was a “mutated paper figurine” contaminated by an artificial Death aura!
— Klein had understood from the start that waiting for the doll to change could only happen in two scenarios: first, the one pretending to be a deity was nearby, could sense the death of a follower, had prepared accordingly, and deliberately descended to set a trap for troublemakers; second, the one using the doll was indeed some hidden existence, unaware that the sacrifice had been disrupted, and still descended as planned to provide further “oracles.”
Either way, it meant the situation was dangerous, so how could Klein perform without preparation?
Based on the enemy’s ability to descend or possess the doll, he had placed the mutated paper figurine contaminated by the artificial Death aura inside an iron cigarette case and kept his puppet’s level at an ordinary human level, luring the target to directly possess him!
At that moment, the “god” worshipped by the cultists shifted its possession from Klein to the “paper figurine of Death”!
The crimson flames curled inwards. The black paper figurine ignited, and a pale color expanded sharply, tinged with a sickly green.
A slightly painful grunt followed, and a transparent afterimage flashed across the window illuminated by the crimson moonlight.
Almost simultaneously, all the “alive” objects in the room fell down and returned to stillness, while a stream of fire rose and enveloped “Winner” Enzo.
At that time, in this port city at the northern end of the Southern Continent, residents in the houses were enjoying the evening relaxation and warmth of home, completely unaware that their windowpanes and wall lamps occasionally dimmed and quickly returned to normal.
Along with the dimming, the fire in the fireplace would grow and shrink, and kitchen scraps would reignite and go out.
During this process, one house had the most frequent dimming of its mirrors and the most changes in fire, while inside, several believers were praying to the “Primal Moon,” oblivious.
After an unknown amount of time, the crimson moonlight brightened slightly, and the whole city seemed to be draped in a soft veil.
This brightness soon returned to normal, and a stream of crimson fire rose from the silver candle on a dining table.
From it stepped “Winner” Enzo, his body and face rapidly changing into Gehrman Sparrow.
Just moments ago, at the moment the red moon brightened, he had lost the target.
“Not only Beyonder powers of the Wraith pathway at high Sequence, but also the ability to borrow the red moon’s power… One of these must rely on a sealed artefact or a wondrous item…” Klein murmured to himself, making an initial judgment.
After the demigod possessing the doll had been contaminated by the “paper figurine of Death,” he had thought he had a chance to capture him, but the enemy’s strength and methods were stronger and richer than he expected.