City of Sin (Yanyu Jiangnan)

Offerings

A girl’s wail reverberated throughout the semiplane that served as Thor’s office, quickly followed by another. It took quite some time for Julian to finish, and once he was done he got up and smoothened the creases on his shirt while smiling at the dying moans behind his back. He walked over to Thor after pulling his pants up, “I used your little girls, you don’t mind right? Decades without sex, it was unbearable!”

Thor’s eyes were bloodshot at the sight, but looking at his dying apprentices he sighed and sent a grey light over to them. The light entered their bodies and stopped all motion, the struggling girls falling into a deep, eternal sleep.

Julian chuckled, “You really are the chairman of the Mage Association, casting grade 9 spells in an instant. Still, isn’t it too much of a waste of mana for two acolytes? They were admittedly quite tasty, but still.”

Thor barely suppressed his rage, “There will not be another time. Dare to do this again in the future, and even Apeiron’s name won’t preserve your life.”

Julian immediately raised his hands in a sheepish smile, “Don’t worry, I was just pent up. Who told you to make your wine so delicious? Haha, no need to be serious over two girls.”

Thor frowned. Even after so many years, Julian was still a difficult person to deal with. He seemed like an impulsive fool on the surface, but looking down on him would be a big mistake. Anyone able to survive in the Outlands for decades with their arms and legs intact had to be fierce and sinister, and would make for a difficult opponent. He wasn’t certain in his own chances if they truly were to fight.

Julian glanced at the Church of the Eternal Dragon from the enormous window, revealing a playful smile, “The kid actually went to the Church. He must have some family, being able to pull out a hundred rune knights to defend him. He looks good too… If not for the blue moon, I’d consider playing with him for a while. But he actually threatened me with offerings? Ha, such a joke! What’s he going to do, an intermediate offering? The…”

His words were suddenly stopped short as an hourglass appeared over his head, baggy eyes starting to bulge in shock. Looking at it in a daze, he whispered softly, “Is that kid actually using a sac— AAAH!”

The hourglass suddenly burst open, the sands of time pouring atop Julian’s head. It turned into a golden pillar of energy that slammed down on his body and soul, starting to tear him apart. Nothing in the vicinity was affected; even the grass below remained green.

“HELL!” Julian screamed, a black aura covering his body to fight desperately against the erosion of time. The aura seemed to be corporeal, fighting off the golden energy and being eliminated in roughly equal proportion. However, blood still started to flow from Julian’s nose as fear flashed in his eyes; the light beam suddenly doubled in size!

“A GREATER SACRIFICE? THE LUNATIC, HE’S COMPLETELY CRAZY!’”

Julian struggled under the impact of the torrent of time. It's felt like 10,000 tonnes were crashing down atop his head. Unable to remain standing, the legendary powerhouse fell to his knees. His face warping with humiliation, he roared like a wild beast and struggled his way back up. However, despite numerous attempts his creaking knees only made it a few centimetres up before crashing back down.

Tearing his coat apart to reveal a muscular chest, he stabbed his own hand up to the knuckles into his body, using the sheer pain to recover some of his strength. His legs slowly moved, lifting him from the kneel into a half-squatting posture. He suddenly smiled madly, looking right into the column of light and laughing, “You can kill me, you old dragon, but I WILL NEVER KNEEL!”

Eventually, the burst of energy started to fade away and Julian made it to his feet, “Haha, this is the power of a sacrifice… But what did the kid think I was? That two greater sacrifices would kill me? Just you wait; once this is done I’ll rape your ass and turn the girl into a whore for ten thousand men!”

As Julian started cursing madly, the beam of light paused for a moment before returning with renewed vigour. The golden colour grew extremely bright, forcing Julian’s laughter to stop as he saw his own hands starting to melt like candles under the power. The rest of his body started to suffer the same fate, the fallen flesh amalgamating into disgusting iridescent bubbles. His face warping with fear, Julian suddenly screamed, “A THIRD ONE? I NEED TO LEAVE! I NEED TO LEAVE RIGHT NOW!”

He screamed wildly as he tried to establish a portal for escape, but with the suppression of the timeforce his black energy just dissipated before it could form anything. His energy was exhausted almost immediately, leaving him with no means of escape. Suddenly looking at Thor, he held out his now-skeletal hand and shouted, “PORTAL! HELP ME BUILD A PORTAL, I’LL OWE YOU A FAVOUR. HURRY! HER HIGHNESS WILL INVESTIGATE MY DEATH, AND SHE’LL HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE! PORTAL!”

Thor’s face twitched, but he eventually waved his hands to form a portal to the Outlands. Julian continued to scream as he rushed through, his body blistering all over by the time he managed to escape.

……

At this moment, Richard was taking out the second greater offering from his second chest. The third was still untouched, containing another two greater sacrifices as well. However, as he placed the offering on the altar, a wisp of timeforce flew into his soul and caused him to sigh, “Can’t do it? Is he dead?”

He looked at the greater offering in his hand and the third chest that hadn’t yet been opened, frowning, “It can’t be… Did he just escape? Whatever…”

Thinking about it with a sneer, he threw the greater offering back into its chest. Three greater offerings would certainly leave Julian gravely injured; even if he’d managed to escape, he would remember the lesson for a long while. Done with the immediate threat, he returned from the altar to talk to Noelene.

“Do you really have the blue moon?” the grand priestess asked the moment he met her.

Richard glanced around and smiled, “Yes.”

“Then get rid of it,” she said solemnly, “and do it now. No single family can afford to take one of the artefacts of Faust, it’s best you hand it over to the royal family and get some compensation. The Emperor will definitely reward you handsomely.”

He smiled helplessly, “What’s the High Priestess saying?”

Noelene shook her head, “She hasn’t been seeing anyone recently, she’s not in a good mode. But she’d say the same thing. The original components of Faust are unimaginably ancient; there aren’t many benefits to having them, but they’ll bring you a great number of enemies.”

“Well, I can’t really give it up even if I wanted to. The moon fused into my bloodline, it’s a part of my truename now. If I try to pull it out… Well…”

“What?” Noelene’s eyes went wide with shock, “Okay. Come back to the Church three days later, bring every sacrifice you can find. I’ll try my best to help you and see if I can make a difference.”

“Sacrifices? Why?”

Noelene gritted her teeth, “To get you a guardian from the Lightless Void.”

“The Lightless Void?” Richard frowned, finding the name familiar.

“I can’t say more, just that the guardians coming from there are speci— khech!” Noelene suddenly coughed up some blood, her face turning white. Many tiny cracks appeared on her skin and started oozing crimson, and when she smiled it looked absolutely horrifying, “Even that’s too much. Anyway, three days. Don’t forget.”