21 Preparing

As Ethan went in the underground market's direction, he started thinking about his current level of knowledge.

'That damned Demon at least served a decent purpose. I now have a far greater understanding about mysticism.' Even if he had destroyed Sullivus' will, he still maintained all his memories from the time he was alive.

'He was a Sequence 4 Demon… I can't believe he actually used a demonic ritual to send his will through his own remnant characteristics, what a sly fox.' The reason Ethan almost lost himself when advancing was thanks to Sullivus.

He had sent some slivers of his own will to awaken in the body of another creature that absorbed his characteristics. The ritual itself wasn't the most complicated, the problem was that the creature that ate his characteristics also had to reach the level of a Demon for his will to awaken.

'But this need was completely disregarded by my use of Gluttony. This sin is truly as its description, a hunger so great that can be seen as eternal.' Gluttony had turned Sullivus' will into Ethan's own, changing the ownership of the body to that of the Demon.

Ethan could only survive the ordeal thanks to Sloth that kept his existence alive inside another dreamscape. 'But now I have Wrath too, I don't think I'll go through this situation again unless I eat a demigod level characteristic directly.'

When Ethan finally reached the underground market, he paid the fee and directly entered it.

He knew his mind was partially being affected by the notarized contract, making him want to complete the mission he was given as soon as possible.

'It can finally be said that my current reserve of knowledge is at the level of a demigod.' Ethan now had a thorough understanding of multiple matters regarding the Second Epoch, which was the Epoch Sullivus lived in, among other important pieces of knowledge and information.

'Farbauti…' When Ethan thought of this name, he suddenly shook his head and focused on entering the underground market.

…

After paying the 10 pound fee for entering the place, Ethan proceeded to the Alchemist's Hut tent once more.

He once again found the young teen with his golden mask sitting on a rocking chair made from wood. In front of him, Ethan could see four sets of different objects.

When he approached the tent, Ethan could finally see what the ingredients were, "You have already prepared the ingredients I asked for?"

The surprise on his tone was palpable, even if it was soon concealed by his cold countenance.

Even then, it was not enough to hide it from the youngster, "You have changed your mental state by quite a margin."

Ethan ignored his words and soon asked, "What should I do to accomplish the mission?"

After having the memories of a Demon from the Second Epoch, Ethan knew fairly well the powers a mere Devil possessed. Their danger premonition that could fire hours before an attack was the most problematic to deal with.

Other than that, they also had multiple flame spells and could use the Language of Foulness. Some of them also had their own specific powers.

Soon enough, the youngster produced a strange silver rod filled with many different symbols, he looked at it while telling Ethan, "I'll use this artifact to cue you into not thinking about doing that Devil any harm, this way, he'll be unable to feel your presence."

As Ethan heard that, he immediately knew this was an artifact from the Spectator Pathway, he looked at the youngster and asked, "How long will the effect last?"

"Two days straight."

"Very well." Ethan started formulating a very advanced trap to target Devils, and as he didn't even know who the target was, he wouldn't be alerted by his thoughts at all yet.

The teen looked at Ethan for some time and suddenly said, "I am able to lead the target close to a place you find most suitable to conduct the mission, but after that, you'll be by yourself."

As Ethan was thinking of different things, he looked at the teen in front of him and said, "Willowgate Street, East Borough, number 39. Make him enter the building."

The young teen looked at Ethan for some time and produced another object. It was a metallic crest filled with golden symbols.

"This charm will help you turn the tables if something unexpected were to happen. To use it, just say 'Order' in ancient Hermes and then say a certain effect you want to prohibit, I think you know how it works."

Ethan looked at the charm in the youngster's hand and picked it up. 'A charm with the powers of a Judge, it'll be useful.'

"It can prohibit three effects. If your words are separated by more than ten seconds, it'll immediately consider just the effects you prohibited already and not allow you to prohibit any others."

As Ethan stored the charm in his black and green tail suit, he picked the ingredients he had asked for before and put them in another suitcase he had bought.

"Lead him to that address in two days." After that, he looked around for a second and left the tent of the Alchemist's Hut, not even waiting for the youngster to give his farewells.

He went to another tent, one that sold many different ingredients for conducting different kinds of rituals and casting ritualistic spells. Buying many of them, he spent 400 pounds and left the underground market.

…

Willowgate Street, East Borough.

Ethan entered an abandoned building that was filled with many tramps. As he walked inside, the tramps looked at his luxurious clothes and started having various malicious thoughts.

As Ethan walked through the abandoned building made from concrete and wood, he didn't even look at the many tramps around him at all, it was like they didn't exist to him.

One of the tramps couldn't resist his greed and started sneakily walking towards Ethan, he had a rusted knife in his hand.

Even when he clearly noticed the tramp approaching him, Ethan didn't give him any of his attention, merely putting his suitcase on the ground and taking a cauldron and a small stove from it.

When the tramp was about to pounce on him, Ethan calmly raised his left hand and *Snap

As the sound of snapping fingers reverberated through the building, the tramp suddenly fell to the ground as if suffering from a terrible illness.

His coughs were terrifying, as blood gushed from his mouth in huge quantities. He soon lost his consciousness and entered a state of almost dying.

"My Curse of Malediction has become truly powerful. It's still weaker than the powers of a Demoness of Ailment, but still useful to affect people that are already ill."

As the other tramps heard Ethan's demonic words that had no meaning they could discern, they started scrambling about, terrified of Ethan.

"Halt!" When this word left Ethan's mouth, all the tramps, without exception, halted their footsteps. It was like his word had an unquestionable authority that could not be disobeyed.

With all the tramps held in place, Ethan combined the powers of his Curse of Insanity with his bardic chants, allowing it to have an insanely enhanced power, "Words entwine, a chilling art. Frozen minds, bound to depart."

With this, all the tramps that heard his chant got paralyzed with fear, they couldn't move a single muscle no matter how much they tried. Almost all of them fainted and fell to the ground, only a few with powerful wills could resist fainting.

"You'll be useful sacrifices." Ethan's voice was cold and unfeeling, but still held a sliver of amusement.

…

Two days later.

The reason Ethan didn't just make the tramps leave the building with his Arbiter's powers was very simple: He wanted to use them as living sacrifices for his ritualistic spells.

Considering he would be fighting against a Devil, which was a Sequence higher than him from his own Pathway, he had to be prepared.

For this reason, Ethan decided to use his ritualistic magic in the entire building, preparing the place for the fight that would occur.

During the meantime, while he filled the abandoned building with multiple different rituals and magic spells, he had already received the cue from the young teen. He would not think of doing the Devil any harm for the time being.

It could be said that the spells he was putting in place were for nothing but his mere 'protection'.

Ethan had also concocted the potions for Telepathist, Light Supplicant, Folk of Rage, and Barbarian.

He drank all the potions he had in his possession, including the Listener potion and Melee Scholar characteristic.

The powers he got from them are as follows:

Telepathist: Ethan received the powers to quickly read the superficial thoughts and aura of others, being able to quickly understand all their secrets with ease.

The imprint he received was from a point of light in a sea of darkness and infinite colors. Its corrupted desire was to read the minds of all living creatures, to understand all of their thoughts and emotions.

Light Supplicant: Ethan now had various light and sun domain spells he could cast. He could cast beams of fiery light from the sky, disperse darkness with a pure white light in front of him, light his eyes to see in the darkness, purify certain objects and people, among other spells and enhancements to the previous powers of Bard.

The mental imprint was similar to that of the Telepathist. The twisted desire it had was to purify all corruption in existence.

Folk of Rage: It allowed Ethan to become more powerful the angrier he became, and all the previous powers were very enhanced. His body also experienced an incredible enhancement in strength and speed.

The mental imprint was also from a point of light in the sea of darkness and infinite colors. It had the desire to destroy things in its wake, causing chaos and destruction to everything that dared irritate it.

Barbarian: Ethan received another powerful enhancement to his body, among the enhancements to the previous powers.

The imprint was the same creature that caused chaos in a world entangled with chaos and order. Though, this time, it seemed to be more powerful. The desire it had was to keep making the world more chaotic and lawless.

Melee Scholar: It gave Ethan the ability to pry into the mysteries of things to get information and experience. For example, were he to pry into the mysteries of combat, he would become incredibly good in combat then. It worked for everything that could potentially be learned.

The imprint was from James' brother, he also wanted to avenge his dead sister. The interesting thing was that it also wanted to kill Ethan. He had already destroyed this imprint using Wrath.

Listener: This one was the most terrifying for Ethan. He had gained the power to 'Listen' to the whispers of hidden existences, allowing him to gain many strange and depraved abilities. He wouldn't dare do so, though, as it would easily lead him to insanity or death.

This imprint also existed as a point of light in the sea of darkness and colors, but it seemed to have a certain connection to some kind of entity. The desire it had was to 'Listen' to the whispers of gods and demons. Ethan destroyed the imprint the moment he expelled the characteristic.

With this, Ethan's preparations were complete, and it was time for him to receive the guest he would be 'talking' to today.

'Everything is ready.' Ethan stepped down from some stairs and went to the front door.

He removed his dark-red, silver rimmed glasses and put on his iron mask. Sitting in one of the wooden chairs around, Ethan waited for his 'friend' Devil to appear.