A sudden rustle of whispers echoed around them, like dozens—perhaps hundreds—of people murmuring in hushed tones. Yet no matter how they strained to listen, they couldn't make out a single word.
Verdu stood frozen in shock. He hadn't expected that the "temporary teammate" he'd casually picked up would be hiding such depth—producing a priceless Card of Blasphemy just to trade for a mere 100 millilitres of blood.
He began to suspect that whatever this man was plotting might not be any smaller than what he himself had in mind.
And now, the fact that two men both planning something big had randomly run into each other by chance…filled him with a growing sense of unease.
The whispers persisted for several minutes before suddenly falling silent. Then, the surrounding fog swiftly dispersed, revealing—like a phantom—the woman holding the little girl's hand just a short distance away. The pair wore matching, unnerving smiles.
"Follow me," she said, turning around without waiting for a reply.
"I'd bet good money there's another scheme at play here," Edward muttered.
Verdu nodded deeply in agreement.
"But after going through so much trouble, it'd be a waste to give up halfway. Let's go."
The two of them followed the woman and child as they left the telegraph office, walking past row after row of portside buildings. As they reached a bend in the road, the woman suddenly changed direction and headed back toward the harbour.
Before long, they passed by the Green Lemon Restaurant again. Its doors were sealed shut, and it sat in complete darkness. The group kept going, making a straight line toward the docks.
"The docks?" Verdu frowned. "So when she urged us to leave earlier…"
Unfortunately, he'd guessed wrong again.
Once they reached the end of the docks, the woman turned back the way they came, leading them on a loop before stopping, seemingly waiting for them to follow suit.
At that moment, the fog that had dispersed earlier began to rise again. When the two men mirrored the woman's path—turning back at the dock's end and retracing their steps—they discovered the entire town of Bansy now cloaked in a faint layer of mist. And the harbour ahead…had transformed.
The buildings of Bansy Port had originally been post-colonial structures built in the Loen architectural style. But what now stood before them was something altogether different—uniform wooden buildings rich with native flavour.
The walls were faded and mottled, worn with age, and everywhere showed signs of decay and ruin.
Edward glanced at Verdu. "I'm guessing this is the Bansy ruin you were hoping to find."
His gaze was calm. "This is the Bansy ruin—but not the one I was looking for."
At last, the woman stopped in front of a dilapidated wooden house. If memory served, this was the same location that had once been the telegraph office.
"Go in," she said, still wearing that uncanny smile. "This is merely a projection of Old Bansy. It cannot be destroyed."
"Really? I don't believe you."
Edward flicked his wand. "Fiendfyre!"
The cursed flames sputtered out almost immediately. The hut warped briefly, as though it weren't truly there, then snapped back into focus.
"If it's just an illusion, why go through all this trouble? What, you just wanted to give us a guided tour of ancient Bansy's architectural wonders?"
The woman: "..."
Edward flipped his hand, summoning the Card of Blasphemy once again.
Then, without warning, he turned and flung the card with all his strength into the distance.
In the next instant, the entire island began to tremble.
The wooden house that stood where the telegraph office had once been suddenly began to shift—transforming into a grotesque behemoth that slithered toward the card. As it moved, the buildings on either side crumbled and vanished, as though shedding their disguise and revealing their true forms.
In the blink of an eye, the two men found themselves no longer in "Old Bansy" but on a barren island. A stairway led straight to its summit, where a black iron chair sat alone. On either side of the stairs stood rows of upside-down candlesticks—41 on the left, 40 on the right.
Where the wooden house had once been, there now stood a massive sacrificial altar—soaked in blood and littered with white bones. No one could say how many had died there. Had the two of them taken just three or four more steps earlier, they would have walked right into the heart of the altar.
They both quickly scrambled backwards, retreating from the platform.
"Huh?"
Edward stared at the altar in mild surprise. Why…did it look like the overturned bow of a ship?
"FAKE!!"
A furious roar suddenly tore through the air. The massive monstrosity that had chased the Card of Blasphemy now slithered back toward them. Only now did they finally see what it truly was.
A grotesque ball of flesh, composed entirely of limbs—countless arms, countless legs and countless heads all fused together into one horrific form.
This thing…had been stitched together from hundreds of people. And at its centre, from a single long tentacle sprouting out of the mass, dangled the woman and her child—like the glowing lantern of an anglerfish, lure to attract prey.
"GIVE… ME…THE BLASPHEMY…CARD…"
Verdu screamed in agony and hurriedly shut his eyes, but twin trails of blood still streamed down from his sockets. His skin writhed briefly before settling, yet he no longer dared to open his eyes again.
"Don't look at it! One glance will taint your mind!"
With the Fool's blessing of [Dullness], Edward was naturally immune to corruption—but the sheer wrongness of the amalgamation made him wish he could unsee it.
Is this thing… stitched together from Medici's descendants?
Completely insane!
If that were true, though, then collecting its blood would be the least of their concerns.
"GIVE...ME...THE...CARD!"
The flesh-beast charged. Though its presence radiated power on par with a demigod, its attacks were brutishly primitive.
"Advancing is forbidden in this area"
The amalgamation paused mid-lunge. Invisible whips sliced into its outermost layers, rending flesh and spilling black-red blood—which immediately ignited into flame.
Within seconds, the creature broke free of the constraint and surged forward. Its countless arms flailed wildly, conjuring long flaming whips that lashed through the air, scattering fire crows in all directions.
Edward yanked Verdu out of the way and darted behind the creature. Then, spreading his arms wide and leaning back, he summoned a blazing pillar of light from the heavens—striking the monstrosity dead centre.
"AHHH!!"
The impacted flesh rapidly shrivelled and vaporised, and the voices of the countless victims screamed in unison, like needles stabbing into Edward's mind, leaving him momentarily dazed.
By the time he regained his senses, the amalgamation was already just meters away—one massive flaming hand, formed from a mass of tiny arms, reaching straight for him.
Crack!
Edward flashed away once more, releasing a barrage of Sectumsempra that ceaselessly tore through the outer layer of the amalgamated body, drawing blood that ignited into flame upon exposure.
"This isn't working. I'll never collect blood like this. Fine—if I can't extract it, I'll dismantle the damn thing!"
"Diffindo! Diffindo! Diffindo! Confringo!"
He hurled spell after spell without hesitation, but they only damaged the individual "people" they hit, occasionally blasting a figure into pieces. Still, with a ripple of flesh, the body would quickly regenerate. The overall mass of the amalgam remained largely unaffected.
If he had enough spirituality, he could wear it down eventually—but that was just wishful thinking.
Suddenly, he flicked a gold coin in the air. "My Diffindo can split it apart!"
As it landed, he activated [The Madman to the Right].
Immediately afterwards, he cast Diffindo again.
Three or four human figures were forcefully ejected from the amalgamated mass.
"Fuck! Useless ability!"
Meanwhile, Verdu kept his eyes tightly shut, gritting his teeth. "They're fused together through some kind of wicked ritual. It seems they're trying to use this method to ascend to a higher Sequence."
Edward was stunned. "Do they think Sequence advancement is some fucking fruit merge game? Stack low-levels to make a high-level? This family's been around since the Fourth Epoch—they shouldn't be this stupid!"
"A normal person wouldn't," Verdu replied. "But under the influence of an Evil God…that's a different story."
An Evil God?
Could it be pollution from the City of Calamity?
"Do you have any way to deal with it?"
"No. And if the person you're looking for really has the surname Medici…my advice is to give up."
Just then, the amalgam's flesh writhed again. From a grotesque meatball, it began to morph into a giant, assembled from twisted and intertwined human bodies. The head, torso, arms, and legs were all composed of these tangled figures. All around it, vivid crimson flames bloomed—and in a matter of seconds, the meatball-like amalgam had transformed into a massive Calamity Giant.
"…If I remember right, the Mythical Creature Form of the Hunter pathway is the Calamity Giant…So it actually succeeded in ascending to a mythical creature? What the hell?!"
Now in its Calamity Giant form, it moved with dramatically increased agility. With a clenched right fist, it slammed downward. A ten-meter-long sword of fire appeared from thin air and came crashing down at their location.
BOOOM!
The fiery blade carved a burning rift into the ground.
The Calamity Giant didn't stop—it flung a flaming whip from its other hand, lashing toward the spot where Edward had just teleported.
Edward barely dodged in time and shouted, "It's adapting to its new abilities!"
As he spoke, he used [Theft] to snatch the idea of continuing the assault from the Calamity Giant—but it was nearly meaningless against such a composite being.
"In that case—try this."
Edward took a deep breath, then exhaled a blast of icy blue breath—the strongest ability he'd ever acquired from Groselle's Travels.
The icy-blue flames surged outward, surging to engulf the Calamity Giant.
Red and blue fire clashed violently, creating a turbulent whirlwind of heat and frost.
Then—every mouth on the giant's body opened wide, inhaling with force.
They sucked in all the icy flames.
"You've gotta be kidding me!"
Of course. Calamity Giants are immune to fire. Just my day.
And now, all that spiritual energy he burned through for the breath attack might've just given it a snack.
This is hopeless.
For a moment, Edward truly considered giving up.
"You should go," Verdu said, eyes glowing crimson. He leapt past the Calamity Giant, gaze fixed on the altar behind it. "I still haven't retrieved what I came for."
"…"
Edward hesitated. He had tried every spell, tested all the abilities he'd devoured. Now, aside from Animagus—that dumb Obscurus form, he had nothing left.
He shrugged. "Alright, good luck then."
They were nothing more than casual acquaintances, a makeshift team that hadn't even lasted a full day. He'd already risked his life to help him escape multiple times—Edward didn't owe him anything more.
Verdu said, "I'll distract it. You make your move."
"I came. I saw. I recorded."
A green breeze spiralled around him as he leapt skyward, gliding toward the altar. As he flew, he launched razor-sharp wind blades at the Calamity Giant.
The Calamity Giant immediately swung its massive sword at him—but no matter how many times it slashed, it failed to hit him. It was as if Verdu had activated some kind of luck-enhancing ability.
Edward prepared to Apparate out of there.
But right then, he noticed something strange—the Calamity Giant faltered.
Its body wavered, as if split by a difference in will. One half lunged to continue attacking the "fly" buzzing around the altar; the other half twisted toward Edward, craving the Card of Blasphemy.
Had this been a complete, unified Calamity Giant, it might've merely hesitated.
But it was made of hundreds of individuals, each with their own desire.
The giant's body was now being pulled in two directions, the once-tightly-bound flesh showing signs of unravelling.
Edward blinked in surprise—then suddenly grinned.
He pulled out a deck of playing cards, transformed all of them into the appearance of the Blasphemy Cards, and subtly mixed the fake Red Priest Card into the batch.
"Hey!"
Edward raised the fan of cards high above his head. "I've got one Card here. Only one. First come, first served!"
Whoosh!
He hurled the cards into the air, scattering them in all directions.
Immediately, the Calamity Giant's body was torn by competing instincts—each person within lunging toward a different trajectory.
"BLASPHEMY…CARD…"
"Give…it…to me…"
"IT'S…mine…"
"I…WANT IT…"
But they were still tangled too tightly together. The effect was like lotus roots—strands snapping, but never entirely separating.
"Then let me add a little more fuel to the fire!"
He hurled the last remaining card in his hand—the fake Red Priest Card—and raised his wand.
"Diffindo!"
Bang!
The card exploded into a storm of crimson fragments, rocketing in every direction.
"NOOO—!"
Over a hundred voices screamed in unison, as every individual within the giant reached wildly for whichever shard flew their way, desperate to break free from the knot.
"AHHHHHHH!!!"
The Calamity Giant collapsed.
———
[Note]: Don't forget to VOTE. It keeps me motivated.