If Veren felt his life to be under any risk, he would have decided to abandon everything and run away immediately.
He had a keen awareness of his situation, the pale mask church wouldn't hurt him in any way. The whole pale mask church had expended a huge amount of resources to create the black mask.
Veren didn't want to imagine what they would feel if he suddenly ran away.
'...Those bastards would most likely turn the whole world upside-down in search of me.' Veren's body shuddered imagining it.
After taking a hot bath, Veren laid on his bed to catch some sleep.
"....."
The darkness in the room wiggled closer to him as if they were alive. Slowly, Veren's whole body was covered in a thin layer of darkness that seemed to be writhing.
Blink~
Veren opened his eyes, hearing a weird voice.
"....!!!" Veren's eyes trembled, staring at the eerie darkness around him, he felt as if it were moving.
Blink~
As he tried to squint, he found that he couldn't move his body at all. Leaving aside moving his eyes...
'....I can't move my eyebrows then....' Veren felt a bad premonition in his heart.
Glurghh....
Blink~
Veren turned his eyes towards the sound, only to find his body breaking out in goosebumps.
A huge eyeball with a black iris and slit pupil, like that of a dragon – stared back at Veren in the darkness.
Blink~
The silence brought an urge deep within Veren, he wanted to say something, anything or his heart just wouldn't stop beating louder and louder.
After a few seconds, as if finding Veren's body satisfying, the black eye began turning into dark matter and moving into his right eye rapidly.
As if the scene a moment ago was a lie, Veren found himself in his room. A sense of relief washed over him, however, it didn't last long, finding strange silhouettes surrounding him.
'Spirit...why are dead spirits here? Wait, don't tell me....' Veren walked towards the mirror in his room quickly.
He wanted to think of the strange scene a moment ago as nothing but a dream, however....as if laughing at his action, his right eye appeared the same as the eerie black eye in the dream.
A dark slit pupil, which gave a sense of foreboding to anyone who looked into it.
'The owner of that eye must be the demi-god, who will take over this body in the future. I thought that I had time....but, for it to already start grooming its future body.'
Looking at the creepy visage that popped out beside him, Veren didn't even blink.
'Why are the dead souls surrounding me anyway? Is it related to this eye...?' Veren circulated some dark divinity into his right eye.
Giving out a red glint, the souls that were surrounding Veren, numbering higher than a hundred, were pulled into the black eye.
"Arghhhh!" Veren tried his best to hold in the scream, but as if his body was not his, he began rolling around on the floor, while holding his head.
"Food....food....please, feed me brother...no, mother why are they trying to kill me! Nooo!!! Help me....uckkss...kughh! Blood! I need blood..." Veren began muttering words his eyes turning crazier by the second.
His body spasmed on the ground as if bugs were writhing within his skin. Hundreds of voices kept whispering into his ear...
'Blood! For all the soldiers that have died in this land, I will seek blood!'
'Burn your blood to ash and be reborn again heretic, kek!'
'It hurts!! It hurts! My skin is burning away! Ahhh…I'm going to be one with my lord at last!'
'Ah...please devour us.... become us!!'
Veren's sight turned darker as the voice continued to ravage his soul. He knew that if he didn't stop this, his soul would be changed permanently.
'The holy divinity...!' Veren kept trying to purify the dead souls using his holy divinity, but it couldn't stop the souls' onslaught at all.
His holy divinity was yet to be fully recovered, due to his sword practice priorly. As if fate had set it all, Veren found himself stuck.
'Fuck...this cursed eye...' Veren kneeled down with all his strength, he could feel his divinity running out, he had to hurry before it was too late.
"Oh lord above....kuk, hahahah, fuck...this lamb below seek for directions. Kuku, burn! Burn! And be reborn again....ugh! Shut up, already." Veren gritted his teeth.
Sacrificial acts had some perks similar to rituals. It was necessary to memorize some god's language in the soul to activate a sacrificial act.
He chanted god's words internally.
A radiant golden hollow appeared above Veren's head, which made some hope return to his eyes.
"Lord Sillphet...I offer the fragment of time divinity, which belonged to Veltus. Please cleanse the evil spirits, uck! And promote my holy divinity...!"
Veren found his dark divinity to be level 7, if he didn't match his other divinity, his body might collapse internally.
Veren's vision had mostly turned dark at this point, but he waited for the response amidst the voices of crazy souls within his mind.
"Very well."
A radiant light shone on Veren's body, clearing his sight instantly.
"Phuu...." Veren sighed in between the light, and the divinity entered his body, merging with the holy divinity present there.
A scorching pain appeared on Veren's shoulder, but he didn't let out a voice.
'The insignia of making a transaction with the divine...' Veren looked at the tattoo that was appearing on his shoulder.
'I will have to hide this now...sigh....she didn't have to bother with this bullshit.'
Many would have considered it an honor, but it was just an annoyance to Veren.
Sillphet, this character was one of the main helpers of the protagonist, in the novel - 'The Rise of the holy empire'. She was a demi-god, who worked below the god of the holy kingdom, while alive.
'I would have made the same offer to any other god if Sillphet had responded late. I'm probably an eyesore for her after all. But business is business, in the end, she wouldn't reject such a good offer...' Veren felt heartache.
The fragment of Veltus's divinity still held quite a lot of energy.
Breathing in, Veren crossed his legs and inspected his divinity.
Both of his divinities had risen to level 7! It was comparable to an experienced soldier. Nevertheless, Veren couldn't find any happiness in his heart.
The black eyes, then his loss, and the sensation from the mask on his face. The third phase had begun.
"Sigh....First I have to inspect this black eye."