Chapter 295: Rites

At that moment, the priest named Theo already lit the candles around the dais and spoke.

"It's ready, Head Priestess."

Meanwhile, the Head Priestess nodded her head, chanted another recite for a minute, and then asked.

"Soul Heart."

As if Theo had been waiting for her words, he touched his space ring, took out a bluish crystal from it, and passed it to him.

Meanwhile, the Head Priestess caught the crystal and explained.

"This Soul Heart is extracted from a Rank-6 undead Lich and has a pure essence of Soul Fire. It's a type of fire that could be used to heal one's soul-related problems and also check abnormalities in one's soul." Saying so, she placed the crystal on Rhea's head and crushed the crystal with her bare hands.

A moment later, a pure bluish flame fell on her head and enveloped her body in mere seconds!

While Rhea's body was burning in blue light, the Head Priestess nodded her head and continued.

"This fire can point out if some evil power possessed this body and control it like a puppet. Each of our souls has some unique connection with our real bodies, so it is impossible to fool this Soul Fire. Hmm, this soul is Rhea's original one, no doubt about it."

As she ended her talk, the bluish flame on Rhea's body also started to diminish and disappeared from everyone's eyes.

Meanwhile, Theo took out a strange iron needle and a bottle of an empty vial from his space ring and passed it to the Head Priestess.

On the other hand, the Head Priestess took the two things and started to explain.

"First is called 'Needle of Zero Mass.' It's a type of needle that could enter deep into one's Inner World and check whether any foreign power is hiding there and manipulating one's soul core. If such foreign power resides inside one's soul, it will send a signal to my mind. But sending this Needle of Zero Mass into Rhea's Inner World will take a few minutes, so everyone has to wait in patience. Second, this empty vial contains a 'Wind' called Soulless Wind. If I open this vial, it will produce a strange sound, enter into the nearby person's main consciousness and tell us whether they are manipulated by some strange mind spells."

Saying so, she put the Needle of Zero Mass in Rhea's hand and started to chant.

...

While the ceremony was taking place in the Royal Palace, Charles and others continued to chase after Omen, flew across the woods, and soon stopped in front of farmland.

They then landed on the plowed field and looked at the surrounding wheat fields.

Charles even saw a few scarecrows placed in the sides and frowned.

"Where is he now?" He asked.

"He is over there, Mr. Charles," Jessie said in a solemn tone and pointed her finger at the front.

"Good. You should back away now." Saying so, Destiny Lady took a step forward, raised her hand, and snapped her fingers.

A moment later, hundreds of ice spears appeared in front of her and flew in that direction like raining arrows.

But to others' surprise, all those raining spears directly landed on the plowed land and began to dissolute!

"He is not there?" Both Destiny Lady and Jessie got stunned for a moment and looked at each other in puzzlement.

At that moment, Charles suddenly extended his hand, cast [Sleight of Mystery Hand] skill, and released hundreds of invisible strings in all directions.

Those invisible strings constantly moved like slithering snakes, and soon one string touched something in the air.

Charles hurriedly raised his hand, pointed his finger at the particular area, and cast [Finger of Destruction] spell.

A moment later, a reddish bullet came out of his finger and moved towards that place at a terrifying speed.

In the meantime, Omen stared warily at Charles and others and soon widened his eyes.

'F*ck! Did he find out my location?' Before he could think further, a reddish bullet tore through the air and almost appeared in front of his chest!

"Shield!" He screamed in shock and activated his defensive artifact.

Just as the reddish bullet touched his shirt, a golden light appeared around his body and completely covered him!

A loud banging sound echoed in the plowing field as the reddish fire bullet collided with the golden light.

Then, the bullet cracked into two and exploded all of a sudden while releasing terrifying chaotic shock waves in all directions.

Although Omen's shield spell managed to block the bullet, the chaotic explosion completely caught him off guard!

The chaotic shockwaves directly landed on his body and threw him backward.

Like a bullet, his body shock backward while smashing the nearby scarecrow and soon landed on the wheat field.

Upon seeing this scene, Destiny Lady also raised her hand, created a small shard of ice, and tossed it at Omen!

As the shard moves, countless ice spikes appeared below it and started spreading in all directions!

By the time Omen managed to stand up, the Ice shard also arrived in front of his chest and pierced his body.

The next instant, he turned into an ice sculpture!

"Let's finish him off," Charles said coldly, created a sharp flame sword, and threw it towards the ice sculpture.

The sword made a whooshing sound and was about to collide with the ice sculpture but stopped.

A moment later, the flame sword suddenly split into multiple pieces and disappeared from everyone's eyes!

If someone looks closely, they would see multiple icy threads appeared in front of the sculpture and seemed to be protecting it from all sides.

Upon seeing such a strange scene, Charles's eyebrows rose upward.

'Ice Threads? They look familiar.'

He looked around and soon shifted his attention towards the sky.

Meanwhile, a gray-haired woman in her late sixties hovered up in the sky and gazed at them with a stern look on her face.

She had a wrinkled round face, curly hair, and grey eyes and wore an ordinary black robe with a hood.

Upon seeing her face, Charles's eyes widened.

"Team Leader? What happened to you?" He asked in a shocked tone.

At that moment, Jessie and Destiny Lady also noticed some familiarity and soon widened their eyes.

"Lady Emilia?" Jessie stared at the sky in shock and disbelief.

'W-What happened to her? How did she become older?' She couldn't understand at all!

Meanwhile, Emilia descended from the sky and soon landed in front of the trio.

Although she appeared normal, all three of them felt something was amiss.

While they were in shock, Emilia took out a bluish crystal from her space ring and crushed it in an instant.

A moment later, an invisible layer appeared in the sky and covered the sky!

"Dimensional Lock?" Destiny Lady suddenly felt like she had seen a déjà vu!

Charles was also surprised by her action and furrowed his brows.

'Her actions are too strange... What happened to Andrew and the other member? Why is she protecting Omen? Wait... Her memories are being manipulated?' A thought appeared in his mind.

He also noticed that Emilia's grey eyes appeared unfocused.

"Her memories might have already been tampered with." Jessie also made an accurate guess at that moment and added.

"It's better to destroy Omen's sculpture now. Although his body is sealed in the ice, his consciousness isn't."

Upon hearing her words, both Charles and Destiny Lady nodded their heads in approval.

Then, Charles enveloped his body in a crimson flame, disappeared from there, and reappeared in front of the ice sculpture.

After that, he stared deep into the sculpture's eyes and started casting [Burning Thoughts] spell.

Simultaneously, he raised his hand, placed his finger on the forehead area, and cast [Finger of Destruction] spell!

A moment later, a reddish bullet came out of his hand, entered deep into the Ice sculptor, and made a large hole!

Next, chaotic red flames started spreading from the forehead area, crept all over the area, and soon enveloped the Ice sculpture in a red fire!