[FDJ]Chapter 126: Clarity

"Yogg? What is that? I've never..."

Duke Reynard was interrupted mid-sentence by a sudden dizziness. His mouth twitched uncontrollably, making it hard for him to continue speaking.

Seeing his reaction, the female demon sneered and lightly slapped Reynard's cheek a few times. "There's no need for me to discern whether you're lying; it's obvious at a glance. Yogg is the true name of that evil god. It might not affect others who say it, but you're different. Having directly participated in the summoning ritual, you have established a connection with that otherworldly evil god. Uttering a high being's true name without permission results in punishment."

Understanding the basics of magecraft, Reynard immediately realized the reason. His face turned pale, and his hands and mouth trembled for over ten seconds before returning to normal. "I know very little..."

"Humph, that's the right attitude. If you help us, we'll help you, perhaps by sending you to a safe place. This city is very dangerous," the female demon began to coax him naturally, but due to his proficiency in magecraft, it took longer than usual.

"Safe?"

"Yes, a safe place. Now, tell us everything you know, or you might be killed by the evil god you worship. You aren't noble enough to sacrifice yourself to serve an evil god, are you?"

Without drawing her sword, the female demon quickly identified Reynard's point of concern through her observational skills. As expected, few humans truly have courage; most fear death, fear gaining nothing, and harbor false hopes.

"I don't know the specific name of the person who gave me the summoning method. I only remember he..."

"It's okay, take your time. Tell us everything you know, the more detailed the better. If you tell us, we will also share the risk of knowing about the evil god." It took the female demon over 30 seconds to break down his resistance. Her words, regardless of logic, aimed solely to tear apart his psychological defenses layer by layer.

Reynard's gaze gradually shifted away from the female demon. After a long inner struggle, he slowly began to speak. "I cannot confirm if that person... no, he is most likely not even human. He claimed to be a sorcerer, dressed oddly, with black eyes and unusual half-black, half-white hair. He spoke with a strange accent and claimed to come from the Far East. He told me that using the summoning words he provided would bring forth Satan. At first, I didn't believe him, but..."

Hearing the word "Satan," Katina was slightly taken aback. A servant of Yahweh's enemy appearing around the Holy City of Jerusalem? If true, then the man she was interrogating had indeed encountered a demon. As a special demon closely associated with Hell, Katina was certain there was no demon presence in Tiberias that matched. Moreover, the summoned entity was an otherworldly evil god. "Yogg" is not only the enemy of humans, everything on earth, and Yahweh's camp but also the enemy of demons and other evil beings.

The displeasure of someone misusing her name aroused Katina's fighting spirit. No demon would openly entice humans to summon an external evil god. If there truly was one, Katina would handle the traitor herself today! Not to mention the renowned seven great demon lords, even demons at her level had enough notoriety and ease of summoning. At worst, summoning some well-known infernal creatures would suffice.

"From the Far East? He gave you the summoning words to invoke Lord Satan, but you ended up summoning an unknown evil god. So why did you keep summoning the evil god repeatedly? You've betrayed your faith in Satan! Don't expect to go to Hell after you die!" Katina's emotions were intense, yet she limited herself to scolding without drawing her blade to kill him.

Reynard was momentarily stunned by the bewildering reprimand. To her, going to Hell seemed like a good thing. In truth, he didn't believe in Satan or other evil deities. He was merely afraid of Saladin's army advancing further and being handed over by the Crusaders of the Holy City as a bargaining chip. He decided to act preemptively to disrupt the war. Regarding faith, he leaned more toward the Lord in his heart.

"I was bewitched by the evil god. I am truly a devout follower of Satan. Madam, please believe me."

Reynard seemed to sincerely turn for help, but his act couldn't fool Katina.

The female demon Katina didn't expose his shameless behavior of temporarily changing faith, realizing she hadn't yet extracted the details. She continued to guide him back to the topic. "Besides the strange half-black, half-white hair, what other noticeable marks did that person have?"

"He communicated with me unilaterally through mirrors and dreams, the last time being four days ago... Oh, I remember now!" Reynard, for some reason, found his mind unusually clear, even recalling the exact words he wrote in a letter a year ago. He also clearly remembered the appearance of that strange man and some easily forgotten details.

Katina continued to use her magic, waiting for Reynard to reveal key clues. "What did you remember?"

"He seemed to accidentally converse with someone else midway, and that person called him 'Athira'; the impression is faint," Reynard recalled that during the dream when conversing with the strange man, other voices appeared. He couldn't understand the language but vaguely remembered this name used for the strange man. Normally, Reynard's memory wouldn't recall such details, but in the presence of a high-ranking demon, everything could be traced.

"Athira? What else do you remember? Think carefully!" Katina urged, seizing every opportunity to extract any clue.

Following Katina's urging, Reynard started feeling a headache and dizziness, his physical discomfort interrupting his recollection. He said in distress to the strange woman holding him, "That's all. Some parts I can't describe, just that he seemed strange in every way. I can give you the summoning rituals and spells he gave me."

"That's unnecessary. Through magic retrogression, we've already understood the rituals and spells you and your subordinates used." Elligos had examined the magical traces left behind on the first day the evil god descended, but those traces didn't yield useful clues.

"Magic retrogression?" Reynard considered his magical knowledge quite advanced, but this was the first time he heard about such a mysterious field. Magic could retrogress? What was the principle? He couldn't understand it at all.

"That's all for now. Your performance is acceptable; I'll take you to a safe place immediately." Katina stepped back a few steps, signaling Reynard to quickly pack his Mystic Code and tools.

Reynard moved quickly, knowing he was dealing with unimaginably dangerous individuals, and compliance was his best chance for survival. As for whether the place they recommended was safe, he didn't expect much; he was likely to be put under house arrest.

"By the way, that person's clothing was somewhat similar to yours, just not as flamboyant." After spending half a minute roughly packing, Reynard looked again at the mysterious woman standing two meters away in the attic and added.

"Similar?" Katina felt surprised again. The clothes she wore were modeled after the Japanese kimono, a style she favored during her travels around the world and through different eras. She had, of course, modified it to better suit her aesthetics, including the crow and hexagram patterns on the sleeves.

"Are you sure?" Katina had a rough idea in her mind and closely watched Reynard's eyes and facial expressions to ensure he wasn't playing tricks.

"Just a feeling, not the same. His clothes deliberately exposed one side of his chest." Reynar demonstrated a diagonal cut motion on himself. After finishing, seeing no reaction from her, he hurriedly picked up the last important piece of paper from the floor, indicating he was done packing.

"Alright, follow me."

A strange smile suddenly appeared on Katina's lips. Her hand quickly moved to the hilt of her sword and then swiftly retracted. She then quietly turned to the window, transforming into numerous crows and flying away.

Reynard stood motionless, then fell backward. Before his consciousness completely faded, he saw the lower half of his body.

...

In the northeastern corner of the locked-down district of Tiberias. Elligos and Katina appeared successively as the sun on the horizon was about to set, heralding yet another nightfall. They analyzed the information they had previously obtained. If Reynard's description of the clothing style was correct, it also belonged to some form of kimono, and combined with the claim of originating from the Far East, interpreting the term "Athira" in Japanese made sense.

"Ashira. A, Shi, Ya." Katina wrote in the air with her hand, leaving the three clear hiragana characters as she walked through the ruins. "What do you think?"

Elligos, still riding his terrifying giant beast, glanced at the Japanese characters his companion had written and pondered slightly. "I'm not familiar with Japanese culture. Ashiya? Shackles?"

"This term, when used as a name, has a more appropriate way of writing. 'Ashiya'."

The characters Katina had written automatically transformed into kanji as she spoke. She added two more characters after the formed kanji. "Ashiya, sorcerer, summoner... I believe it must be him."

The additional kanji Gaiyin wrote after "Ashiya" were "Road" and "Full" (Douman), referring to a famous figure from the Heian period of Japan, often portrayed as a negative character in later legends. "Active during Japan's Heian period, he was a figure as famous as another notable onmyoji (summoner), but in later traditions, he is often depicted as a negative character. His existence could also be a legendary fabrication."

"I told you I don't understand Japanese history or culture, and I don't want to. Such a trivial place, its little problems before the Second World War aren't worth comparing to the grander civilizations." Elligos interrupted his companion's introduction with a provocative tone and turned his head disdainfully, flicking the dust off his fingers, completely ignoring Katina's keen interest in Japanese and East Asian cultures.

Katina did not draw her sword to counter her companion's rudeness. She calmly retorted, "But didn't you specifically spend time studying Japanese Sengoku history? And didn't you say you greatly admired Oda Nobunaga?"

"That's a different matter. The art of war has nothing to do with the size of the local scenario."

Unconsciously, the two began another long debate. They were in no hurry to actively capture the instigator who summoned the evil god, finding it more convenient to wait for the other side to reveal themselves.