Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

"Oh~"

Seeing the flying heads becoming clearer in the mist, Princess Margaret groaned, reached out to cover her neck, and closed her eyes:

"In a normal state, this relic shouldn't have so many clones, the relic is going out of control. Mr. Hamilton, step back quickly, the curse is taking effect on us."

"There's no need for that."

Shard took a step forward, clapped his hands sharply:

"Ha!"

His arms spread wide, and a massive curved light blade cut through the dense fog, cleaving towards the wall of heads. Silvermoon's light blade sliced the wall, colliding with the flying heads amidst increasingly eerie whispers. Muffled curses appeared in batches, and a huge gap was created on the "wall," but was quickly filled by new heads:

"Stop attacking, your curse..."

Princess Margaret immediately reminded him and then watched in surprise as the blackness on Shard's neck suddenly became bright, igniting like firelight, and then disappeared.

"Divine Afterglow" status protects the soul from pollution, "Embers of the Primal Fire" can make the body immune to certain curses. The Scribe Level Relic [Charles II's Beheading Curse] is a flesh-type curse, precisely restrained by Primal Fire.

"Which one is the main body?"

Shard gazed intensely at the overwhelming heads.

[As before, they are all main bodies.]

"Great Sin Chains!"

Black chains flowed out with a clatter from his sleeves, and after they extended to sufficient length, Shard gripped one end of the chains in his right hand, swinging them towards the "wall of heads" like whipping a long whip:

"Power of the Red Dragon!"

The tensely stretched muscles drove the chain to strike, the whooshing sound slicing through the air caught Princess Margaret's attention as she regained focus from the Great Sin Chains' runes unsettling her mind. The dark chain, as if absorbing light, with just one strike nearly crushed half of the "wall of heads":

"What an amazing Arcane Technique!"

The princess couldn't help but praise, but Shard softly explained:

"It has no attack power!"

Saying this, the Animated Rope Trick controlled the chain to defy physical laws in mid-air, and then Shard struck again, completely breaching the wall of heads that kept advancing.

The densely packed heads rolled down the filthy alley like balls, transforming into puddles of black mud amid curses. The Great Sin Chains continued to whip at the only remaining head in the air; perhaps due to losing too much power, the head didn't try to escape but instead opened its mouth to bite one end of the Great Sin Chains:

"Good opportunity!"

Both forces exerted together, the power of the head and Shard's flesh power clashed, ultimately Shard had the upper hand. As the head was pulled over, the chain under Shard's control drilled into the mouth of the head and then emerged from the lower end, made a loop, and wrapped around the chain's back end, essentially threading the head onto the chain.

[Gluttony], [Greed], [Sloth], Great Sin runes flickered with dim light on the chains, and the head, still trembling, gradually calmed down as Shard's spirit swiftly consumed:

"Great Sin..."

Finally, its eyes closed and it stopped moving completely.

"It's done."

Shard finally let out a breath, and with a clatter, the Great Sin Chains pulled the head towards him. Gripping the chain in his right hand, he held the head as he turned to look at Princess Margaret, who subtly stepped back.

She pursed her lips, though she guessed that this knight of Draleon might be very capable, she didn't expect him to be this capable. An unruly relic, she certainly couldn't contain it alone, but since Shard appeared, he managed to defeat it head-on.

"Mr. Hamilton, how many rings magician are you?"

"Miss Mary" asked softly, and Shard shook his head:

"Miss Mary, since you don't want to reveal your true identity, I have no reason to tell you my level. However, since you're an outsider magician, you might not know the local situation. From this summer on, various strange occurrences have been frequent in Tobesk. Our team and Mr. Madison's team are friends, so I want to remind you, be careful in Tobesk."

"Alright."

The princess replied cautiously, retracting her puppet. Shard placed his hand in his pocket, pulled out a paper bag, and bagged the head, then took a few steps back, ran a few steps, kicked the wall with his shoe, and with his empty left hand stretched upwards, grabbed onto the brass metal pipe climbing the wall. Agilely jumping up, within moments he reached the second-floor window, returning to the Three Cats Inn.

Looking again at Princess Margaret in the alley, she appeared a bit troubled as she looked at the second-floor window, clearly unable to climb like Shard did.

"Please come up."

The chain dangled from the window, but Princess Margaret shook her head.

As she returned to the inn through the front door and found the party on the second floor, Shard and Dr. Schneider were already seated back at the table.

The head returned to the woman's body, and subsequently, Shard requested a room from Mrs. Sangmi. Dr. Schneider escorted his patient to her room, while Mr. Madison supported the woman. Together with Princess Margaret, they entered a new room on the third floor with Shard.

Containing the Scribe Level Relic [Charles II's Beheading Curse] was Princess Margaret's academy task. She needed this relic to exchange for the special material "Blood Puppet's Thread" from Xerxes, which was the core material for her promotion from Four Rings to Five Rings. Even as a princess, she couldn't obtain it otherwise.

Extracting the relic from the woman requires quite a complex procedure. When Dr. Schneider knocked and stepped inside, the ritual was only halfway prepared. Shard and the doctor, having taken others' money, helped in setting up the ritual.

By four in the afternoon, they placed the comatose woman onto a chair, shifting the chair into the ritual circle drawn on the ground.

Shard closed the curtains, and the doctor blocked the light from the door crevice with newspaper. Once everything was ready, Mr. Madison turned off the gas lamp by the wall, and all the chalk marks on the ground lit up in the darkness.

Princess Margaret wielding a specially-treated silver dinner knife, wearing a brown leather apron, and donning a crow mask that served as a ritual symbol, stood by the chair under the watch of the three men, personally severing the woman's head.

The cut did not bleed, but instead, featured writhing black mud. Princess Margaret held the head in her left hand and pulled out a wide-mouthed glass conical flask containing fresh flesh from the large front pocket of her apron with her right hand, placing the glass vessel under the head.

The flesh inside the glass conical flask was bait; the writhing black mud gradually detached from the head's cut and slithered into the bottle, instantly corrupting the chunk of flesh. The writhing black mud at this point finally transformed into a repulsive black parasite, but separated from a living person, its whisper element had significantly diminished.

"Miss Mary seems quite adept at this operation."

Shard whispered from the side, and the doctor explained:

"Xerxes Higher Medical Academy and Saint Byrons focus training in different directions. Besides excellent magic potions and alchemical techniques, they excel in necromancy and human modification as well."

Seeing the relic perfectly detached, Princess Margaret also sighed in relief, handing the bottle to Mr. Madison beside her, then proceeded to suture the woman's head back. This unfortunate woman was not from Tobesk but had come all the way from a southern city and was discovered by Xerxes.

If the head can be quickly stitched back after being detached from the relic, she may still survive. However, because the relic had attached for too long, her mind had suffered irreparable damage. Afterwards, Xerxes Higher Medical Academy would send people to escort her back, and once confirming she could return to a normal life, they would return her to where she lived.

"Fortunately, the containment process went relatively smoothly; if it really got out of control, this would be troublesome."

Mr. Madison, wearing gloves, said, shaking the bottle violently, and once confirming that the black worm inside was no longer moving, carefully placed it into a metal box opened on the table. This box was the real containment vessel, with the emblem of Xerxes Higher Medical Academy on its surface—a book pierced by a scalpel.

"What happens if it gets out of control?"

Shard curiously asked.

"All humanoid creatures within three hundred meters around the flying head would automatically have their heads severed from their necks."

Mr. Madison touched his own neck, and Dr. Schneider clicked his tongue at the door:

"In the past half year, these strange relics have become increasingly common. Although big cities also had dangerous relics not contained, the frequency was never this high."

"Is Tobesk very dangerous?"

Princess Margaret, still conducting the "suturing operation," asked.

Dr. Schneider looked at Mr. Madison, Mr. Madison looked at Shard, Shard looked at Dr. Schneider, momentarily none gave an answer.

After finishing stitching the woman's head, Mr. Madison hired a carriage to take the woman away. Princess Margaret held the box containing the relic and paid Shard and the doctor their reward. She apparently had something she wanted to say to Shard, but ultimately held back and left.

This made Shard even more eager, anticipating the next time he would encounter Princess Margaret in a public setting.

He stood with Dr. Schneider at the window of the third-floor room, watching "Miss Mary" disappear into the crowd of Hymn Square, when the doctor asked:

"Shard, now the princess knows you're a Circle Sorcerer, but she doesn't know you already know she knows you're a Circle Sorcerer. Moreover, you know she is a Circle Sorcerer, but you also know she doesn't know you know she knows you're a Circle Sorcerer, what will you do next?"

The doctor's words were easy to understand, and Shard replied:

"What does it matter that Princess Margaret knows I am a Circle Sorcerer? I am more interested in the other correspondence student from Carsonrick than her."

"Sir Plisha?"

The doctor asked.

Shard nodded:

"Doctor, if you ever learn that Sir Plisha involves in relic containment or other activities concerning Circle Sorcerers locally, remember to inform me. I have something to discuss with him."

The doctor did not ask what Shard intended to do:

"No problem, I will ask Alan about it. Actually, I wanted to say last time, since the Anjou Royal Family has Circle Sorcerers, our kingdom's royal family likely have them too."

Speaking, he glanced at Shard, clearly wanting confirmation from him.

Shard hesitated for a moment and then nodded:

"Both royal families and the Magic Academy have private relationships. Although the Church of the Five Gods has promised not to interfere with secular royal power, the royal family certainly makes their own plans."

"Understood."

The doctor sighed, looking at the bustling crowd on Hymn Square:

"We are living in the best era, where divine and royal powers support each other, societal reforms are generally peaceful, and due to the Steam Age's arrival, the two great human kingdoms maintain peace. I truly hope this era can continue indefinitely... though thinking logically, we know that's impossible."

The doctor tapped his fingers on the wooden window sill and gestured for Shard to join him in checking on Mr. Jimms. That gentleman had slept all afternoon and should be waking up.