When the motionless skull suddenly emitted a red aura and started floating in the air, Jojo narrowed his eyes, looking at the skull which seemed to be possessed by something.
"I HAVE HEARD YOUR PRAYERS, MORTAL... WHAT DO YOU WANT?"
The skull looked at the elder of the coven with its hollowed eyes.
Shiver~
Hearing the voice, the elder shivered, lifted his head, and looked at the skull staring back at him.
A bright smile formed on his old wrinkled face while his eyes, hidden in excitement, glistened.
He placed his head on the ground, and tears of joy fell from his eyes.
"O! great Lord Ratabeigh... In your shadow, we rise; in your name, we are redeemed. O Ratabeigh, bringer of chaos and glory!"
With a satisfied smile on his face, the old elder praised the demon who appeared before him.
FUFU~
"TELL ME, WHAT DO YOU WANT?"
With a chuckle, the skull moved close to the old elder and asked once again why the mortal had summoned him.
"My lord... all I want is immortality. Please, grant me eternal youth."
Nodding his head, the old elder, without lifting his head, stated his demand.
"____"
There was a brief pause as the skull looked at the old mortal, who was at the end of his life span and might only have a few months, or at most one year, left to live.
"HA! NOW I REMEMBER YOU... YOU ARE THE YOUNG MORTAL WHO BACK THEN SUMMONED ME AND ASKED ME TO GRANT YOU IMMORTALITY. DIDN'T I MAKE IT CLEAR TO YOU PREVIOUSLY THAT YOUR BODY WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND IT?"
Ratabeigh, the demon, finally remembered that the young man who had summoned him 20 years ago asking for immortality was the same one standing before him now.
Hearing that he had been summoned again for the same wish irritated Ratabeigh, and his voice started to rise.
"Apologies, my lord... I have dedicated my life to it. After you left 20 years ago, I became very stressed, realizing that I would die like any other one day..."
The old elder started explaining what had happened after the last summoning, during which, although successful, he could not achieve his purpose.
"One day, while I was travelling, I came across an astrologer performing an astrological prediction on an unborn baby. Out of curiosity, I listened to what he was saying. I was astonished to see he could predict someone's future using the stars in the sky."
Not wanting to offend the demon in front of him, the elder paused to gauge the demon's reaction, who was still listening intently.
"Then I realized something... why don't I use astrology to find myself a perfect body? So using it, I could succeed in my quest for immortality..."
Seeing that the demon possessing the skull was still listening, the elder continued to explain his plan.
He explained that from that day, he learned and researched astrology.
One day, he predicted through astrology a way to obtain a perfect body.
According to the prediction, the baby of the two most powerful witches, who had undergone several rituals of bathing in the magic energy of several witches, might gain the ability to break the balance. Its body would be the most compatible one.
"____"
Hearing the elder's full explanation of his plan, Jojo was shocked and started to think that the image before him might not be her completely.
HAHAHA~
"SO, YOU CAME UP WITH THIS IDEA, HUH? IF YOU ALREADY THINK YOU'VE FOUND A WAY, THEN WHY DID YOU SUMMON ME?"
Laughing loudly, Ratabeigh, who possessed the skull, asked curiously, wanting to know why this mortal had summoned him.
"My lord, I want your blessing of the soul parasite. Through it, I could corrode the baby's soul and replace it."
Finally, knowing he had piqued the demon's interest, the elder stated his reason for summoning Ratabeigh.
UM~
"I WILL GRANT YOU YOUR WISH... NOW, WHERE IS MY SACRIFICE?"
Nodding his head, Ratabeigh accepted the elder's request and turned to look around for his sacrifice.
"My lord, I will sacrifice the wolf pack I captured earlier, which is being kept in the cave inside the forest, where you can enjoy savouring it."
With an excited smile, the old elder revealed that he had prepared the sacrifice for Ratabeigh.
After hearing this, the skull fell lifeless, and the bones of the wolf that the elder had placed in the runes exploded at the same time.
With a burst of wind, a red mist burst out of the hut through the window and into the forest.
After witnessing this scene, before Jojo could move forward, he saw how Inadu's mother, who trusted the elder, came to check on the baby's condition and performed the necessary rituals.
Fast-forwarding 10 months, Jojo witnessed the scene where Inadu's mother gave birth to her.
After the baby was born successfully, the whole coven celebrated as if it were a grand festival.
The father and mother of the baby named her Inadu Labonair after a fierce battle over whose name their daughter would carry.
Jojo even noticed the old elder cursing under his breath when he realized the baby was a girl, not a boy.
While performing the ritual of introducing the heir of the coven, he was the only one who was unhappy.
He had made a big miscalculation, not considering the gender of the baby that would be born.
Grit~
Even though he was unhappy, he decided to continue with his plan.
After coming this far, it would be foolish to drop it just because of a tiny problem like gender.
Jojo saw the life of Inadu, who was constantly manipulated by the elder.
Looking at the innocent girl, whose emotions were manipulated in such a way that the children of her age began to hate her, Jojo felt a pang of sympathy.
Even many people who once admired her now looked at her with fear.
The innocent Inadu could not understand why everyone looked at her with fear, and why no children of her age wanted to play with her.
As time passed, the elder slowly started invading Inadu's soul, but for some reason, her soul was too strong for a normal human.
So he had to proceed slowly.
Seeing her daughter's emotions grow colder day by day, one-day Inadu even sacrificed an entire family from three houses, making her parents lose their patience with her.
The way they looked at their daughter changed from love to fear and doubt.
No matter how many times they warned her not to hurt any coven members, Inadu would nod her head like a good girl, but after some time, she would once again perform sacrificial magic.
But no one suspected the harmless old elder who was secretly manipulating Inadu's actions.
He used Inadu to perform various sacrificial rituals that he wanted to conduct through her.
But something unexpected happened—he did not predict the growth rate of Inadu's power.
Without even realizing it, her soul started to repair and push the elder's soul away.
If this happened, all his hard work and years of effort would be wasted.
So he quickly formed a plan—to kill Inadu to stop the rapid growth of her power, which was increasing exponentially.
She had already become the strongest witch the elder knew to exist.
If he hadn't started invading her soul when she was a baby, he could only dream of achieving his goal now.
After careful planning, the elder once again manipulated Inadu into performing a sacrificial ritual.
But this time, it was a larger one, involving the sacrifice of nearly half the coven.
After manipulating her, the elder hurriedly went to the coven leaders and told them that their "evil" daughter was going to perform sacrificial magic once again, but this time she intended to sacrifice half the coven.
When the leaders learned of their daughter's unforgivable sin against nature, all members of the coven, along with the other three elders, demanded Inadu's execution before the situation got out of control.
They all went with the leaders to catch Inadu and bring her to justice.
When they arrived at the location provided by the elder, they saw Inadu in the middle of performing a sacrificial ritual.
Catching her off guard, the angry coven members seized her and dragged her toward the stone bed in the cave.
The old elder, with a small smirk that quickly vanished, passed a short sword to Inadu's mother and asked her to kill Inadu, stating that only she had the power to end her mortal life.
"____"
Nodding her head with a solemn look on her face, Inadu's mother took the short knife and stabbed Inadu in the abdomen.
No matter how much she begged her coven members and parents to spare her, Inadu, with tear-filled eyes blazing with hatred, cast sacrificial magic using her own life.
She cursed her coven, including her parents, to become werewolves.
Watching the scenes unfold before him, Jojo couldn't help but feel worried.
He had never expected those corrupt demons to be involved, even in Inadu's past.
After Inadu's death, her spirit killed and tortured the coven members who had betrayed her.
During this time, her spirit gained a new name, which they uttered in fear—"The Hollow."
To prevent further chaos, they burned her body and tried to eliminate The Hollow, but four of her bones remained indestructible.
No matter what they did or what rituals they performed, they could not destroy them.
Even the old elder became scared, so he arranged for four families to be responsible for guarding the four bones, ensuring they would never come into contact with one another.
His soul, once again, started to corrode Inadu's spirit.
He couldn't take the risk of Inadu gaining more power. His prediction had been wrong;
Inadu's spirit had grown into a force that could rapidly increase in strength.
So he devised a plan to temporarily weaken her by separating and hiding her bones.
A few days later, the old elder died and joined his soul, which was corrupting Inadu's soul.
After witnessing Inadu's entire life, Jojo couldn't help but feel pity for her.
From birth to death, even in her spirit form, she was manipulated and influenced by that wretched old man.
Swoosh~
Suddenly, Jojo automatically transformed into his Ghost Rider form, and Inadu was standing beside him.
"DID YOU SEE IT?"
Looking at Inadu, whose eyes were watery and who was kneeling on the ground crying, Ghost Rider couldn't help but ask.
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(Author's POV)
Thanks for reading the chapter!
Please give a review and power stone!!!