I stood there, staring. Honestly? I had no idea what to think.
Other than contracts, I had never really interacted with this type of sorcery. Sigils were completely foreign to me. I didn't understand their limits, their applications, or even the logic behind their creation.
Still, the concept fascinated me.
Sigil sorcery was somehow a hybrid—part runic sorcery, part something else entirely. A system that allowed not only contracts between people, but also contracts with oneself. A binding of intent, sacrifice, and effect.
Of course, it wasn't as if I knew how runic sorcery itself had been created either—but that didn't stop me from wondering.
I could sense Feltan growing impatient, his presence sharpening like a dull blade being pressed too hard. So I stopped overthinking and went with the first idea that came to mind.
"Hey," I said, "can you teach me how to teleport? Like how you teleported me to the castle when we first met?"
Feltan fell silent.
I could hear him muttering under his breath.
"Who owned that summoning again… I think it was Sloth. Yeah. That means it should be fine—Sloth's summoning is the farthest from Its sorcery…"
He sighed heavily before finally answering.
"Fine. But promise me one thing."
I raised an eyebrow.
"And that is?"
"You won't try to modify the sigil to involve sacrificing blood. Understood?"
That was… surprisingly reasonable. And honestly, I wasn't too fond of sacrificing blood anyway. I needed it for practically everything tied to my Aspect.
"Alright," I said. "It's not like I even know how to do that."
Feltan snorted darkly.
"Oh, it's only a matter of time before you figure it out."
The way he said it sent a chill through me. It didn't sound like encouragement—it sounded like a warning. As if my eventual understanding would be a mistake.
I pushed the thought aside.
"Can you finish teaching me the barrier sigil first?" I asked. "I know the basics of how to draw it. I just need help connecting the circles properly."
Feltan relaxed slightly.
"Sure. You need to add connection sigils where the second and third circles are farthest apart," he explained. "And remove some of the divergent sigils if you're overdoing the sacrifice."
I listened carefully, asking questions whenever something didn't make sense. Time passed quickly.
After nearly two hours, it finally clicked.
Ideas immediately flooded my mind.
I could reinforce my armor at its weakest points.
I could strengthen my blood weapons—one of their biggest flaws was their low raw strength. They scaled directly with the quality of blood used, meaning Awakened blood only produced Awakened-level weapons.
That made them ineffective in close combat.
But now?
Now that weakness might be solvable.
I could use conventional Memories, of course—but my luck with weapons was abysmal. After killing thousands of Nightmare Creatures, I had barely ten weapon Memories. Only two were even remotely useful—and those were my crossbows.
And honestly? Launching blood directly was stronger than using them.
They might have been useful back when my control over blood was crude, but after fighting that damned hunchback and his group, I'd realized something important:
Limiting myself to a crossbow was stupid.
Yes, it offered higher burst damage—but that damage was predictable. Easily countered.
Blood, on the other hand, adapted.
Those ideas would have to wait, though. Using the barrier sigil required a sacrifice.
I already knew what I could sacrifice.
A finger.
Or a fresh heart.
Despite not being a close-range fighter, I wasn't willing to lose a finger. That left only one viable option—a heart.
That wouldn't be hard to obtain. I killed at least one Nightmare Creature a day.
The real problem was preservation.
None of my storage Memories had any preservation effects.
I could ask Feltan for a sigil to help with that… but knowing him, he'd probably demand something absurd in exchange. Like the hearts of a hundred virgin women or something equally deranged.
…Probably not.
But I wasn't risking it.
I'd figure it out myself.
I'd spent enough time thinking. It was probably time to rejoin the cohort.
"Hey, Felt," I said. "I'll be leaving now."
Feltan scoffed, sounding genuinely irritated.
"Never call me Felt again. You're lucky I even told you my real name."
…Wow. Sensitive much?
"Sorry," I muttered.
He sighed, sounding regretful.
"Yeah, apology accepted. Just—don't call me that again. Just call me Feltan."
"Understood," I said. "Sorry, Feltan. I'll be going now."
"Wait," he said suddenly.
I stopped.
"Before you go… can you promise me something?"
I turned back.
"Depends on what you're asking."
"I want you to stop being such a loner," he said. "Actually socialize when you get back to the rest of humanity. This is your chance for a fresh start."
I raised an eyebrow.
"A fresh start?"
He continued before I could interrupt.
"You're practically unrecognizable. Your voice is different. You look like a burned sausage," he added bluntly. "You'll just be another human again."
…He really didn't need to phrase it like that.
Still, he wasn't wrong.
"Why should I?" I asked. "It's not like any of them will live long enough for it to matter."
Anyone who stayed near me long enough was always fated to die. Why form connections that would inevitably end in loss?
"That doesn't matter," Feltan replied quietly. "As long as their memory lives on inside you. One day, you'll reach a point where you can no longer fit in with humanity—when no one, not even yourself, will consider you human anymore."
He paused.
"So enjoy the ability to form connections while it lasts."
I rolled my eyes.
"Sure," I said dismissively. "I'll try."
I left the building soon after.
Beast was waiting outside. He seemed… subdued. Probably because he was so close to his former kin—the ones still guarding Feltan. Their numbers had thinned significantly. Only ten remained.
I checked Beast's runes.
[Blood Beast]
Rank: Awakened
Class: Devil
Attributes:
[Wrathful Ascension]
"A blood beast representing the sin of wrath must ascend in wrath."
[Blood Beasts destroyed: 10/20]
Only ten more kills.
So close.
I noticed the two corpses at Beast's feet.
"Gluttony," I said, "drain their blood while I harvest the hearts."
I heard Gluttony in my head. If he had lips, he'd probably be licking them right now at the idea of harvesting blood.
"Gladly. Oh—and nice joke. You read my mind," he said. "Well… you would have, if I had one."
Gods damn it. I walked straight into that. But I still needed to harvest the hearts so unfortunately I couldn't waste time thinking about gluttony and his stupid jokes.
"Let's just get to ripping out a heart or two."
Within a few minutes, I managed to extract one heart. The second one… I crushed by accident.
"…That'll do."
Time to test it.
I used the creature's blood to carve the sigil into my armor. When I placed the heart beside it, the sigil pulsed and glowed a faint crimson.
Naturally, I had to test it.
I launched a strand of blood toward my chest.
It stopped an inch before impact.
A thin barrier of light shimmered into existence, absorbing the strike completely.
"Good. Very good," I muttered. "Looks like I'm ready to meet up with the others."
I pulled the cloak over my head and started walking toward the center of the Dark City. But the moment the outskirts came into view, I froze.
There was a massive gathering.
People were drinking, laughing, singing—guards from the host mingling freely with street rats from the outskirts. Fires burned. Bottles passed from hand to hand.
They were also singing.
Horribly.
"Let the butcher burn in dying flame,
We'll dance upon its broken name.
Raise your voices, hear them roar—
The night is ours forevermore.
Sing it loud, the fear is gone,
We outlived the endless slaughter.
Laugh and drink till stars collide,
The butcher has fallen, the world survived.
So party on till morning's rise,
Freedom written in the skies.
Lift your hands, your hearts, your scars—
Praise our savior, the Changing Star."
I stared at them, utterly dumbfounded.
"…What the hell?"