Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 794 Bone, Flesh, Soul

Chapter 794 -794 Bone, Flesh, Soul

“Let’s go take a look as well.”

By the shore, Old Cleric suddenly whispered, and Sister Delphine hesitated for a moment, then nodded:

“Alright.”

“But how are we going to get over there?”

Iluna whispered. They couldn’t touch the water’s surface. The Old Cleric smiled and pointed to the side:

“With this.”

On the shallow beach, a rickety small wooden boat was stranded, as if it would sink the moment it touched water. It lay quietly in the shadow where the bonfire’s light couldn’t reach, seemingly having always been there.

But Iluna was very certain that before the battle between Shard and Joey Barton ended, this boat did not exist.

“What is this?”

She was very surprised and saw Old Cleric trying to push the boat into the water, so she reached out to help.

“The moon, defeated, death.”

The Cleric said laboriously while pushing the boat. Sister Delphine immediately pondered:

“Are you saying that in death, the moon directly defeated death?”

“Yes.”

The Cleric nodded, and together with Iluna, they pushed the boat silently into the water.

“Sorry, I still don’t understand what this means.”

Iluna whispered. The Cleric gestured for her to lift Joey Barton’s corpse onto the boat, then continued explaining:

“The divinities of thirteen Ancient Gods overlap.”

“Yes, I know this.”

“Most of the powers of death are controlled by the Ancient God of Death.”

“Yes.”

Iluna nodded again, dragging the corpse onto the boat. Old Cleric and Sister Delphine then got on in turn. Without any propulsion, the small boat wobbled through the dense white shadows, heading towards Shard in the distance.

The Cleric took a puff from his pipe, Sister Delphine sat quietly by the side, while Iluna held her dark golden balance at the bow of the boat, the radiant glimmer lighting their way.

“But the Ancient God of the Moon also holds part of the power of death, and this Nether Moon is evidence of that.”

Old Cleric continued, and after thinking for a moment, Iluna nodded again:

“So then?”

“So, now in the truest death, witnessed by countless souls, Shard, who uses the power of the moon, defeated Joey Barton, who uses the power of death. You said Joey Barton is some kind of Chosen One? Sorry, I don’t quite understand that, but they both used very pure powers, and the battleground is here. This can be seen as a symbolic ritual… something like that. And Shard won, so this boat appeared.”

He exhaled a puff of smoke:

“I can’t explain too thoroughly, but from now on, this boat will always be here, carrying away those souls who come here but cannot reach the end. Death’s rules have become more complete… it’s really a good thing.”

Iluna still didn’t quite understand, but since it’s a good thing, there was no need to delve too deeply.

The small boat left silk-like ripples on the tranquil water surface, and they soon arrived beside Shard. The ripples at the stern of the boat dissipated after a short distance. Shard glanced at the boat in confusion, thinking it was conjured by Old Cleric.

Many souls gradually brushed past everyone, and Joey Barton, enduring the curse’s excruciating pain, finally struggled to stand.

He looked at the soul before him, then embraced a transparent woman who stopped in front of him:

“Marilyn, this time, I finally caught your hand.”

Even though the deep soul pain nearly left him breathless, he still embraced the soul before him:

“Finally, finally found you, finally seeing you again.”

The woman showed a gentle smile, wrapping her right arm around this deformed big boy, and gently stroking his head with her left hand.

“Is this what they call love?”

Iluna softly asked Old Cleric beside her.

In fact, she was closer to Sister Delphine, but the nun’s cold demeanor didn’t look like someone who understood love’s meaning. Moreover, Iluna didn’t think it a good idea to ask the nun such a question.

“I suppose so.”

Old Cleric said emotionally, his aged face showing a complex expression as he watched the scene.

“Don’t leave me, come back with me. Please, come back with me.”

Despite trembling from pain, Mr. Barton tightly held her, shouting with a sobbing voice.

He looked up at the woman’s face. She smiled slightly, shaking her head, rejecting him.

Shard didn’t know what Mr. Barton’s feelings were at this moment, but he knew there would be no more battles.

“Why won’t you come back with me? Why…”

Unable to stand from the pain, even while embraced by the gentle soul, he slowly slumped to the water’s surface. Kneeling there, he looked longingly at the person he had dreamed of. The latter released his hand, gazing at him tenderly.

Joey Barton knew that if they parted again this time, it would be the final farewell:

“Then, let me go with you.”

He reached out his trembling hand to the woman.

She smiled gently again and shook her head, but she held his large, deformed hand, then bent down slightly and hugged the big boy.

“Oh!”

Iluna on the boat softly exclaimed. Amid countless white shadows brushing past them, the gray patterns on Mr. Barton’s body extended like crawling snakes to the woman. Her soul, therefore, bore the Curse of Death while Mr. Barton’s body’s curse slowly faded.

“This is…”

[She has absorbed the curse and intends to carry the curse to the end.]

“She” quietly responded.

Withdrawing her hands tenderly, Mr. Barton, tear-streaked, reached out to grab her but failed:

“No, let me go with you.”

The transparent soul smiled gently, bathed in the Nether Moon’s radiance. Her eyes lacked the sorrow of parting. She spoke softly, her voice gentle:

“Keep me in your heart and live well. As long as you remember me, I haven’t truly left.”

Shard’s eyes twitched slightly, Old Cleric shook his head, and Sister Delphine remained expressionless. Iluna, on the boat, her eyes already red. The immature girl couldn’t stand such stories, especially when it was happening right before her.

“Remember, live well.”

Softly gave her final blessing. As Mr. Barton collapsed onto the water surface, crying loudly, the woman’s soul turned and, like countless other white shadows, walked toward the enormous Nether Moon at the water’s end.

Shard watched those white shadows, wanting to say something, but this story was too difficult to summarize. Fortunately, someone spoke up in his stead:

“Wait a minute, don’t go yet.”

Old Cleric knocked his pipe against the boat rail, stopping the woman’s soul. Everyone looked at Old Cleric.

Lat August lowered his eyelids and spoke solemnly:

“Five people came in, and five must leave. Joey Barton cannot leave with the souls, he must return to reality with us. Otherwise, his powers returning to death would break the delicate balance.”

Shard looked at the Cleric in confusion, not understanding what he was trying to convey.

“But you’ve done too many wrongs, many people died today because of you, so I don’t want you alive back in reality. Joey Barton, you made mistakes and must pay the price.”

The Cleric looked sternly at Joey Barton. The latter trembled and nodded slightly. Shard rarely saw the old man show such an expression. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

“To maintain the balance of life and death, dead people must not become living. But, if some price is paid, a powerful living person can be exchanged for the rebirth of a dead person.”

The Cleric coughed and emphasized again:

“Five people came in, and five must leave, do you understand?”

Shard raised an eyebrow, and Iluna had a sudden realization. Mr. Barton’s eyes widened in disbelief:

“Can I exchange myself for her rebirth? Can this maintain the balance of life and death?”

“In general, it is not possible. This also breaks the rules of resurrection. But the situation is special now. If I am willing to help, it might be possible.”

The Old Cleric pointed leisurely toward himself, and Shard knew he had part of the Death Angel’s power, indeed capable of such feats.

The cleric added:

“Of course, it’s not a perfect resurrection. Furthermore, your soul must follow her, adhering to her for life. For she and you are not equivalent.

From now on, you are dead, becoming a wandering soul. Only when she dies again, will you have the right to reach the end; you cannot even end it voluntarily. And the curse of death, you both will bear together, inseparable. This is the best method currently, you must pay for today’s actions, Joey Barton.”

Mr. Barton trembled as he looked at Marilyn Handel’s soul:

“I can’t let her bear the curse too. No, I can’t be that selfish, I can’t…”

“Sir, I am willing.”

The gentle soul, unexpectedly, took the initiative to speak. She bowed slightly to the Old Cleric, her soul reflecting her essence—truly gentle and kind.

“Madam, even if you are willing, I am not.”

The cleric shook his head:

“Though I do not wish for Joey Barton to return alive to reality, reviving you breaks the rules; why should I help you?”

“Then… what do you need?”

The woman’s soul asked softly, the Old Cleric did not set any terms, instead, he looked at the soul watching them:

“Are you sure you want to do this? Madam, you will have the chance to walk the world again, but the price is, you will bear his heavy soul, tainted by the dreadful curse of death. Even the resurrection won’t be complete, you will face more suffering. These sufferings you will endure together until the price is paid. This is fair to Joey Barton, but unfair to you, for you have done nothing wrong.”

Marilyn Handel’s pure white soul looked at the collapsing Barton, lowered her eyes slightly:

“Joey, would you spend your life with me this way, using a lifetime of good deeds to make amends for your wrongs?”

Mr. Barton looked at her tremblingly, their eyes met, soul tears streaked down his face, and he slowly nodded:

“Marilyn, if you can still accept me like this, I too am willing. To use this life to atone for you and those harmed.”

The cleric was not surprised by this result:

“Of course, to help you, you must pay a price. Your Genesis: Death, will be given to Shard.”

“No problem.”

Mr. Barton immediately said.

Shard looked at the Old Cleric, the latter winked slightly at him, then the cleric solemnly asked:

“Additionally, you need to tell me, what method the Truth Society used to suppress your Reverse Life speed?”

“A hand bone. They peeled open my right arm and replaced my hand bone with a glowing white bone.”

“I want your hand bone.”

The cleric said.

“Okay.”

“Without the hand bone, even if you find another chance for resurrection in the future, Reverse Life will claim your life again.”

The cleric reminded.

“I understand.”

After receiving the response, the cleric first handed a charred feather from the boat to Shard, to deliver to the woman’s soul, as a guarantee of resurrection. Then, the cleric raised Mr. Barton’s corpse, borrowed the Night Watchman from Shard, and skillfully severed the corpse’s right arm.

“I can help you break some rules, exchanging you for her. But to resurrect, she needs a remade body, and she needs her original corpse, that I cannot do.”

“I can help.”

Shard offered, also asking Mr. Barton:

“Do you have her ashes?”

“Yes.”

Mr. Barton wiped the tears from his face, nodding instantly:

“Always kept them with me.”

“I can restore the ashes to a corpse, but you need to pay a price. I want a quarter of your soul. After you leave death, I promise not to report you.”

The time of cremation far exceeds the effect of Time Breath. At Second Ring, Shard could revert objects to three months past; at Four Rings, it extended to ten months. But the cremation was in 1848, and now it’s 1853.

Luckily, the Spirit Rune infused with divinity allowed Shard’s remaining momentary power to not fade completely; he could overcast the spell with the last of his Divinity Overflow, the final miracle before obtaining the next drop of divinity.

Mr. Barton looked at him in shock:

“This… is possible.”

“Losing part of the soul means…”

“I understand.”

Shard turned to the Old Cleric:

“Can you assist in dividing a quarter of his soul?”

“Of course, that’s easy.”

The cleric casually pointed, and Mr. Barton wasn’t divided, but his soul became much more transparent. A more ethereal Joey Barton appeared behind him, which Shard then fermented into Blood Brew with the red wine bottle.

Joey Barton’s soul, struck by the curse and voluntarily devoted, only needed Shard’s spell a few dozen seconds.

Retrieving the wine bottle, Shard climbed onto the boat, found the ashes from Barton’s corpse, took a deep breath; as gray ether flowed from the ashes into Shard’s nose, the woman’s pre-cremation body appeared on the small boat. Face painted with mortuary makeup, wearing the clothes from cremation.

Gently laying it down, a man and a woman, two bodies, lay in the boat.

No one asked what Shard intended. Shard’s face, however, wasn’t looking good. He hadn’t used all of the Red Butterfly’s power, but once it returned to a pendant, it cracked. The Blood Brew was prepared for this, and to personally ensure Joey Barton wouldn’t be reported.

He needed to return to reality quickly; today’s most perilous act wasn’t defeating the Person of Reverse Life.

This night had just begun.

The Old Cleric continued:

“With the qualification for resurrection, and the body, but still missing something. The soul and body must merge, but this alone is only undead; they need special power, I’ll think of something…”

The cleric mused, as Sister Delphine spoke:

“I can help, rekindling this lady’s life with the Fire of the Primordial. But it requires a price.”

“What price.”

Mr. Barton asked for the third time, and the nun softly replied:

“Your corpse, I need your corpse, willingly turning it into firewood.”

“My body, is yours.”

“Without your body, you completely lose your chance at resurrection. Forever, you will only become a lone soul.”

“I understand. Sister, this is the price for all I have done…”

Sister Delphine nodded, raised her hands, and a thin flame reappeared. The flame landed on Joey Barton’s corpse, quickly consuming it until only a bone whistle remained in the ashes. Then, some sparks flew to the other woman’s corpse, warming her body.

Whether it was an illusion or not, Shard felt the fire in the sister’s hands burn more fiercely.

“What is this?”

Shard curiously picked up the whistle, Mr. Barton softly answered:

“Given by the Truth Society, related to the Ancient God. Sister, please scatter the ashes into this water, let my body be with death.”

Shard then noticed, Joey Barton, who had color earlier, now only had a transparent soul left.

The ashes of the burned corpse were carefully scattered into the water by Sister Delphine. The woman’s soul, with Mr. Barton’s soul’s support, stepped onto the boat, aligning with the corpse.

After waiting a moment, she opened her eyes, sat up, embraced Mr. Barton, who was weakened by the divided soul, locking in an embrace. They trembled, from excitement, and the dreadful curse.

But both faced smiles, smiles of suffering, heartfelt smiles.

Shard couldn’t comment on this scene, but some left, some returned, some paid the price, some bore the curse, some regained a beloved, some willingly sacrificed… He couldn’t say if this was a tragedy or a comedy; he decided to tell Dorothy after it was over. Miss Writer would have the answer.

Now, everyone was on the boat. Joey Barton and Marilyn Handel tightly embraced, the Old Cleric puffed on his pipe looking at the severed arm, Sister Delphine gazed at the Nether Moon, Iluna sat at the bow, holding a Balance, Shard sheathed his sword looking at the sky.

The boat silently cut through the water shimmering like starlight, coursing against countless departing souls towards the shoreline where the Gate of Death stood.