By invoking the name of a divine vestige or historical figure with mystical power attached to It, there was a three in four chance that an effect would take place, but there was also a sixty percent chance that the effect that resulted from the invocation would be disastrous.
And this time, Aesteros completely lucked out, with no response being granted to his summon of the angelic figure.
Seeing that the Deity of Fortune was never on his side throughout this entire battle, Aesteros was not surprised that his last resort had failed. He did not blame the Goddess nor was he discontent with the world for not giving him a fair chance.
He was just frustrated with himself that his own power wasn't strong enough to vanquish the Evil Spirit in front of him.
Slowly his strength began to become stripped away from him and he could gradually feel himself falling to his knees. The force of Felix's jaw on him did not loosen a single bit. It
The grip actually became even harder once the monster could feel Aesteros' power began to leave him.
A crunch echoed like the snapping of ice.
Felix's jaw clamped down on Aesteros's shoulder, fangs grinding through enchanted fabric and divine muscle. Black mist surged from the wound, followed by light, holy and bright—but dissipating into the wind like fairies twinkling into the darkening sky.
Aesteros's hand twitched. His fingers found the remnants of his shattered scepter, still humming with residual divinity. His other hand pressed against Felix's face, fingers trembling—more in focus than fear now.
The light in the priest's eyes also gradually began to dim down. He let out a loud self-depreciating laugh that lasted minutes long. Once he was finished he mumbled one final thing under his breath and succumbed to the light that was beckoning to take him away.
His body lay still still on the ground, his priestly attire still appearing miraculous despite the blood stains and dirt on it.
Suddenly, golden veins snaked from his fingertips and burrowed into Felix's skull. Light burst forth, not outward, but inward—flooding Felix's body with purifying heat, like being forced to swallow a furnace. His body recoiled, his howls strangled under the brightness blooming inside him.
Aesteros had channeled the last reservoir of his spiritual reserves right before his death.
Felix began to claw at himself, a futile attempt at making the heat go away until it finally did. His already deep wounds became even deeper, beginning to bleed profusely from them all.
As Xiang Zainan watched this tragic scene, he felt unaffected by the matters of the priest's heart and was currently thinking of the gains he obtained from this battle.
And the neutralization method for his active bacteria inside of Felix.
'What If I just take all of the bacteria out of his body but 25%. This should still allow for an accelerated regeneration speed, and would still let me study the mutated strands that enabled this transformation.'
'Hmmm...I should be able to test this theory out pretty soon anyway.' He thought as he looked over to werewolf who was currently still in agony.
Xiang Zainan floated over to the dying priest's location and saw that he was rapidly losing signs of life. It was practically a miracle in itself that he wasn't dead right now!
Aesteros, his eyes barely larger than a squint, appeared extremely serene. The reason was probably because his 'Blessed Eye' scripture had deactivated a long time ago, so Xiang Zainan's astral figure was no longer available to him.
'This is taking way too long, I'm sure it wouldn't make a difference if I sped up this process.'
The priest's serene expression was quickly replaced with one of dread as an indescribable pressure was quickly placed on his head.
His eyes became bloodshot and unblinking, stared blankly ahead—unfocused, yet burning with some unspeakable tension. His lips quivered, half-formed words dying before they escaped, and his jaw was clenched so tightly the muscles along his neck stood out like ropes pulled taut. His hands balled into fists at his sides, knuckles bone-white, fingers digging into his palms as though the pain might anchor him.
Xiang Zainan had used his spiritual pressure to directly make his head explode.
And then...pop.
All of the contents outside and inside of his head was sent flying in all directions, even landing on the writhing Felix on the ground.
'Alright. Now it's time for my blessed Felix.' He turned around feeling like a corporate employee who just finished their entire workload only one minute ahead of the mandatory due date.
Slowly, Felix's body started to convulse and his shaking was immediately replaced with a motionless state. As his eyes rolled backwards, black masses started to escape from his mouth and take on a formless blob into the air.
The werewolf-like attributes on his body slowly disappeared. His size shrunk considerably into that of a frail five feet tall boy.
His figure was significantly malnourished!
'This is probably the toll the lycanthrope transformation takes on the body. Considering this, I think the pros of it greatly out weigh the cons.'
'This should be the end of things...or am I forgetting something... or maybe someone?'
He began to gather his thoughts and quickly remembered what he was missing.
'Shouldn't there be a temple master inside of the Church? Did the death of all of their subordinates not make them want to put an end to the mutiny outside?'
He made a pondering pose with his spiritual body.
'I would really like to go inside the temple and see what all I could obtain from there, but there might be traps set for any unwanted intrusions. One thing is clear however, the temple master is definitely absent from the entire village right now. And if she does come back, I'll be able to give her a very warm welcome.'
Now it was time to think about the losses he received, mainly the death count of the village and his overall manpower.
Starting off, there were about five-thousand people in the village. A little over eight-hundred people had come with Felix to storm the temple's grounds, and the rest of the villagers hid indoors not wanting to attract any unwanted attention.
Over one-hundred people had been killed today, with the rest being heavily injured. All of the people of the Salvation Temple have been killed and there is currently no religious or governmental authority in the village considering when Felix made his appearance no mayor or town spokesperson came forward.
'I will use my knowledge from the modern era and turn this place into an actual city worthy of my presence here. With my bacteria floating around in the air, people should be more a little more persuaded regarding anything I say.'
Xiang Zainan looked far off into the distance to where the plague graveyard was. This place now held a bit of sentimentality for him since it had been where he first arrived in this world and spent a good amount of time at.
His gaze crossed over the people at the site. The ones who were alive were all in a daze-like state wandering about. There was no person younger than fifteen, and none older than sixty.
This fact had made him a little satisfied without even knowing it.
With the complete realization of his actions and journey officially setting in, he finally made a decision. No longer would he bare the name 'Xiang Zainan' or speak it ever again. He was now 'Demise'.
An Evil spirit posing as a false deity. Someone who truly wanted this poor and pathetic village to thrive from underneath his guidance.