Chapter 3: The Auction House

As the gilded clock in the auction house struck eight,I absentmindedly stroked the newly embroidered thorn crest on my cuff.The crystal chandeliers above swayed incessantly,slicing the numbers on the bidding paddles into fragmented pieces.From three booths away,I could still distinctly smell the new iris perfume that Eileen had changed into—yet it was mingled with the bitter and foul stench of necrotic weed.

"Three hundred gold coins!"She abruptly flung open the velvet curtain,her skirt,encrusted with moonstones,sweeping across the floor littered with melon seeds.The blacksmith's son,who had just been callously jilted by her last week,blushed furiously,his knuckles turning white as he clenched his money pouch.

The auctioneer's hammer froze mid-air,as if time had solidified.I leisurely peeled the tangerine I had just obtained,the juice splattering onto the bidding paddle,the golden"five hundred"inscription piercing the eyes of half the hall.Eileen's personal maid,in a panic,knocked over the fruit platter,and mountain grapes rolled down the aisle,sticking to her shoes.

"The Holy Spirit Flower goes to the head of the Black family!"The moment the auctioneer's hammer thudded,I hooked my finger meaningfully towards the shadows on the second floor.The dark element threads,which had been lying in wait,suddenly tightened,dragging a waiter who was trying to slip backstage and knocking over a candelabrum.

The moment the flames licked the curtains,twelve jets of water descended from above.Using the commotion in the crowd as cover,I flickered into the passage,my light blade slicing through the iron chains that tried to lock the door.I heard the chilling sound of dislocated joints from the warehouse.

"Good evening,gentlemen."I kicked open a wooden crate,and three necromancers who were pouring necrotic fluid onto the Holy Spirit Flower turned around in unison.The leader's face was covered in necrotic sores—remarkably familiar.He was the gravekeeper who had gone missing from the family cemetery last month.

A foul green mist,carrying a deadly threat,rushed towards me.Without hesitation,I plucked the emerald brooch from my hair.The relic left by my mother instantly burst into a dazzling halo,tearing open a gap in the black fog.Dark elements quickly climbed up their robes through the cracks in the ground,turning the runes they were preparing to teleport into an ink-like black.

"Who sent you?"I crushed the wriggling spellworm eggs on the ground with a forceful stomp,my voice as cold as frost."Telling the truth might make your death quicker."

The fattest necromancer suddenly burst his eyeballs,and a two-headed bone snake shot out from the splattered slime.I swiftly dodged the fangs,and the light and dark elements in my palm were kneaded into a gray mist,which in the blink of an eye ground the bone snake into powder.

"So they were puppets controlled by soul nails."I crushed the obsidian shards I dug out from the back of their necks,the lingering raven aura stinging my fingertips.The sound of wings flapping came from outside the window,and seventeen pure white ravens shattered the glass,forming bloody words at my feet:

Godslayer,the Shadow Moon always follows

The alarm bells of the auction house suddenly roared.I turned around and unhesitatingly threw out the light blade.The bone arrows that had been sneaking up exploded three inches away from Lila's portrait,her smiling lips in the painting still stained with the medicine I had fed her this morning.

"Brother!"The real Lila appeared at the warehouse door with a lantern in hand,her newly changed canary-yellow skirt sweeping across the mess on the floor."The elf in the east tower is dying.He said he's seen this kind of obsidian."

I caught the memory crystal she threw at me.In the image,the dying elf was tearing open his collar—embedded in his chest was the same raven crest.His cracked lips moved,and I read three words from his lips:Blood Moon Sacrifice.

The Holy Spirit Flower buzzed inside the glass dome.I suddenly noticed that the petals were covered with blood-red veins on the back.This was not the life-saving ingredient,but a mysterious key to unlock some ancient barrier.

"We've been tricked."The moment I crushed the fake Holy Spirit Flower,the floor of the entire auction house began to crack violently.The family crest on Lila's waist suddenly heated up,and in the projected family star map,the star representing my father was being mercilessly consumed by black fog.

The real screams came from the top floor.As we rushed up the spiral staircase,we collided with Eileen holding a bloodied letter opener.The auctioneer,with his throat slit,lay at her feet.On the blood-stained carpet,the wisteria pattern embroidered in gold thread was particularly glaring.

"It wasn't me..."She stumbled backward,clumsily knocking over the candelabrum.The flames quickly spread along her skirt."It was Roger!He was supposed to be locked up..."

Lila swung the new wand I had given her.As the water ball extinguished the fire,dark element ropes had already tightly bound Eileen into a cocoon.I squatted down and pried open the auctioneer's stiff hand.The obsidian shard in his palm was still warm with body heat.

"Brother,look at this!"Lila suddenly tore off the auctioneer's wig.The ashen scalp was covered with wounds from raven pecks,identical to the elf's injuries.

The sound of sirens grew louder as I smelled the aroma of dragon's tongue wine in the air—exactly the same as the cup that had poisoned me in my previous life.The moment I pulled Lila out of the window,a dark green fireball exploded at the spot where we had just stood.

"Hold on tight."I propelled the light and dark elements into wings.The creaking of the clock tower gears echoed in the night wind.Lila held up the genuine Holy Spirit Flower petal she had secretly kept in my arms,and under the moonlight,a map of the underground river system of the Starlight Kingdom appeared.

The raven's cold laughter came from the clouds,and the Godslayer mark on the back of my neck suddenly burned.As seventeen dark figures swooped down,Lila suddenly recited an ancient and mysterious incantation—her pupils shimmered with golden gears,perfectly matching the pattern in my left eye.