30 The Ritual
As David was betrayed by his own people, two figures were standing atop a building next to the warehouse in question and watching everything unfold through the security cameras. The thing that both of them had in common was their black hair and the blood-red color of their eyes.
The girl standing at the front watched everything that happened with cold eyes. When she saw David get shot by his former boss, her fists clenched and she coldly muttered, "How dare he!"
After that, she watched as the Buccantis took aim and shot at the wall, behind which David was standing. As the gunfire started, Nico and the rest of the Rosettis locked the warehouse from the outside and immediately left.
She stared at Nico and Roberto for a long time, then said to the figure behind her, "We need to intervene at the right moment. The timing is very crucial. The ritual must begin right after his heart stops beating, but before his soul leaves his body."
The girl's Shadow solemnly nodded. "I understand, young lady." The pair then saw David's body being riddled with bullets through the wall.
Just as they were about to jump down and kill the Buccantis, they suddenly froze. They saw David, whose body was now completely bloodied, get to his feet and sprint toward the nearest Buccanti and instantly kill them.
One by one, he began ruthlessly slaughtering all the Buccantis inside the warehouse. The speed, strength, and tenacity that he displayed thoroughly shocked the two figures. The girl's shadow watched David shoot yet another person in the head and couldn't help but mutter incredulously, "Is he… really human?"
The girl was speechless. To her, David seemed like a wild animal that had been backed into a corner and was now going all out. She could see the anger and desperation in his eyes. He was full of rage at the betrayal by the people he trusted the most, and desperate to live.
When the girl saw that, she couldn't help but tear up. It pained her to see him in such a state, but she couldn't intervene until he was on his last breath. And she didn't want to harm him for the ritual, either. Thus, she could only watch him desperately fighting for his life with every ounce of his being.
A tear slid down her face as she mumbled, "David…."
David continued to fight with everything on the line. Even though he was grievously injured, he continued killing his enemies one after another. He was like the famed warriors of old who refused to die until all their enemies were slain.
Finally, after more than ten minutes, David had killed the last of the Buccantis. When the two figures saw him triumphantly standing there, bathed in blood and with corpses strewn all around him, they couldn't help but feel goosebumps all over their skin.
Never had they imagined a human could display such a level of valor and ruthlessness. To say they were shocked would be an understatement. It wasn't until David fell face-first to the floor that the two came to their senses.
The younger girl, in her panic, broke through the glass window instead of opening it and jumped down. Her shadow followed after her. The pair landed a few meters away from David and rushed toward him.
"Quick, Natasha, prepare all the materials and set up the ritual," the girl screamed in urgency as she approached David. Natasha, on the other hand, began taking out all the materials from the briefcase and carving a runic formation on the ground.
The girl knelt down beside David, gently picked him up, and hugged him. She began to sob as she stroked his bloody hair. "Mon amour…. Forgive me for abandoning you that day in Coney Island…. But now I'm back and I won't ever leave you…."
She turned around and looked at her faithful shadow. "Is it ready?"
"One moment, young lady." Natasha meticulously completed the runic formation on the ground and carefully positioned materials high in spiritual force at five specific locations. "It's done!"
The scarlet runic formations formed the shape of a pentagram that was enclosed inside a circle. At each point of the pentagram, specific materials had been placed, one of which was the small red orb that had been stolen from the Javits Center. The entire formation looked extremely mystical.
There wasn't much time left before David's life force seeped away and his heart finally stopped beating, so Elena picked him up and carried him over to the runic formation. She gently placed him at the center of the formation.
She took off his blazer and shirt and threw them outside the formation. She then took out a black dagger from behind her waist and held it tightly in her hands. She hesitated for only a split second, then her eyes shone with great resolve.
The next moment, she cut into David's body and blood gushed out, but her hands didn't waver. She began cutting mysterious symbols into David's skin in an arcane sequence, forming a triangle on his torso. The top of the triangle started at the hollow of his throat, and the base ended right above his waist.
The dagger drew across David's torso as blood continued seeping out. Within a few seconds, Elena had carved an entire runic formation on his body. She then grabbed the vial containing the dark purple liquid and uncorked it.
Everything was now ready and she patiently waited, her eyes never leaving David for a single moment. Only a few moments later, his heart finally stopped beating!
'Now!' Elena immediately emptied the contents of the vial right on top of the mysterious symbol she had carved on David's body, then she hurriedly jumped out of the runic formation on the ground.
With a solemn expression on her face, she began chanting in an ancient language.
"Reborn in the embrace of the Great Mother;
"In accordance with the archaic covenant established by our forefathers;
"You shall now become a Bloodline Wizard!"
As soon as Elena finished chanting, the formation on the floor lit up with resplendent, bloody light. The light engulfed the entire warehouse as the formation began emanating strong energy waves.
The next moment, the dark purple liquid on top of David seemed to have come to life as it turned into numerous thin strands and dug inside his body through the wounds left by the dagger.
Within a few moments, his once unmoving heart began beating once again. His heartbeat grew faster and louder by the second, until finally, a blood-red pillar was formed on the runic formation on the ground, engulfing David within, and shot up into the night sky.
The clouds parted as the pillar seemed to reach outer space. Flashes of thunder and lightning began to generate around the red pillar. And all of a sudden, something that one would never expect to hear in New York City was heard: the cry of an ancient creature!
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End of Volume 1
