My Possession Became a Ghost Story - Chapter 247

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The diary ended there.

I had wondered how Amaranth, confined to the Rohanson Manor, had managed to get her hands on the heretics’ sorcery circle, but now I understood. The maid named Pakira was the answer. Amaranth must have received the sorcery circle from Pakira.

Was the paper I first saw also a letter from Pakira? The letter had writing along with a familiar symbol. It was familiar handwriting. It was definitely written by the same person as the paper I had seen before. I read through the letter.

How to Summon Lea

You who stand at the end

Defile the earth with the martyrdom of the innocent

Draw a circle with your bloodied hands

Humbly beseech and yearn for salvation

Make grapes ripen on thorns

And figs bear fruit on thistles

Revere and worship

Welcome the angel of light who will descend to earth

Following the path of countless stars from chaotic void

Awakening from darkness to cast upon the world

I am the longest shadow cast beneath the weary sun

Born from twilight, dwelling in night

The only salvation to show you mercy in the day

So that mysterious instruction manual contained this. Even though I could read the letters completely, it was equally incomprehensible.

But it was enough.

The timing was perfect too. The sun had fled and the world had tilted. Everything was red as if the entire world had been filtered through sunset, but it was gradually turning black from the edge of the sky.

Next, I needed to draw the sorcery circle.

I drew Gabriel’s sword from his waist and without hesitation slashed my palm. I gritted my teeth at the stinging sensation. When I clenched my fist, more blood beaded up. I drew a circle around Gabriel.

It seemed insufficient with one hand, so I cut the other. The part of the paper I was holding became stained red.

Whether from losing too much blood, I felt dizzy somehow. My body swayed and I nearly fell several times during the process, so I had no choice but to kneel. I was concentrating so hard not to make mistakes that I broke out in sweat. My back was damp. I even forgot to breathe during the process, leaving me breathless.

Finally, I had copied it all.

“I’m… done.”

Both my hands and arms were a mess. Next I needed a sacrifice. There was only one thing I could offer. I raised the sword. The sharp point of the blade was aimed at me.

“I’ll make a wish.”

I squeezed my eyes shut.

“…Count Gabriel…”

And just as I was about to pull the sword, something crashed into the window with a thud. I opened my eyes at the loud noise and looked at the window.

“…Ravens?”

Ravens from who knows where crashed into the glass window as if trying to invade the room. Thud, thud. The act of their heads hitting and sliding down the glass wall to fall was repeated. When the window was stained dark red, the glass finally couldn’t withstand the impact and shattered into pieces.

I reflexively pulled Gabriel into my arms to shield him from the glass shards. I felt a stinging sensation on my cheek from flying glass, but fortunately Gabriel was unharmed.

The massive flock of ravens that flew in through the broken window crashed onto the sorcery circle I had drawn, as if that had been their destination all along. More precisely, they began dying as they crashed onto the sorcery circle.

I muttered in horror as I watched the black birds at my feet flipping over, rustling their wings, then stiffening and dying.

“What is this…”

It was a grotesque sight.

The scene outside was completely red, and seeing the ravens’ corpses in what was essentially ruins was reminiscent of a scene from a horror movie. Since I was trying to summon a demon, it was similar in nature.

Seeing these strange phenomena suddenly appear, had I succeeded in summoning Lea? But I hadn’t even offered a proper sacrifice yet?

“I shall fill in the lacking sacrifice.”

I was startled by the unexpected voice.

When I reflexively turned toward where the sound came from, I saw a raven sitting on the window frame, preening its wings. It was the complete opposite of the other birds that had flown in like moths.

Why is that one alive? More importantly, did that bird just speak? It seemed like it had read my thoughts and said it would “fill in the lacking sacrifice”…

Surely that’s not Lea?

As I stared quietly, the raven preening its wings tilted its head this way and that. No matter how I looked at it, it appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary bird.

“I cannot let another precious thing die.”

This time the voice came from somewhere else.

I whipped my head around again. This time the sound came from the direction of the sorcery circle. There were so many dead things there that I couldn’t tell which one had spoken.

But soon I didn’t need to figure out who had spoken. The corpses piled up like a tower on the sorcery circle began to writhe and clump together.

They kneaded together like clay into a round mass, then finally transformed into something like an egg. The surface of the shell was covered with what appeared to be raven feathers.

And then it… slowly, very slowly began to unfold.

Only then did I realize it wasn’t an egg, but wings curled up in a ball.

The wings split into two parts and slowly spread. Each wing was roughly large enough to fill half the room. Objects brushed by the wings fell to the floor and broke, and even the chandelier that had been precariously hanging from the ceiling was knocked down and shattered.

Only after reducing the already ruined manor to half-destruction could it fully spread all its wings.

It was an overwhelmingly magnificent sight.

Black feathers scattered, and the red light of sunset seeped through between them.

What appeared after fully spreading its wings was a person of very familiar form, except for having closed eyes.

When the woman extended her hand, the raven sitting on the window frame flew over and perched on her snow-white arm.

The woman stroked the raven very gently. Without realizing it, I was following and memorizing her every action. Every time her flowing white hair swayed, I couldn’t help but be captivated.

I felt a strange, baseless certainty. That wasn’t some other demon. Having seen Pudding, Jelly, and Azazel, I could tell. Something fundamental was different.

In a single moment, I keenly felt why the heretics worshipped her, why the temple was wary and rejected her.

That thing was so far beyond the limits of human perception that it paralyzed reason. The overwhelmingly unpleasant sensation was so extreme that it instead inspired reverence and seemed sacred.

But that was a lump of flesh wearing human skin. An undertaker wearing the mask of a saint. Faith built upon blasphemy.

Though it took a beautiful form, if you looked closely, it would be a tangle of entrails, blood, and flesh. I felt like my perception might be twisted to recognize the most unpleasant thing as noble. So I had to remember that the flesh composing it was made of corpses.

Only when it folded its outstretched wings could I breathe again.

“…Lea.”

Under the sky where twilight was beginning to turn pitch black, the angel that had descended to the ashen manor gazed at me from beyond closed eyelids.

“Hello, my daughter.”

The raven perched on Lea’s arm tilted its head and spoke. The voice coming from the bird’s beak sounded more like a parrot mimicking speech than a human voice.

The woman herself remained with eyes tightly closed, serving as a perch for the raven.

I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.

So why was it taking Amaranth’s appearance of all things? Mimicking dead Amaranth and calling me daughter – there was no worse taste than that. As soon as I thought that, the raven flapped and cawed as if in protest.

“Bad taste…? Is it alright for you to say that to me? When I might be the lifeline to grant your wish?”

So it wasn’t my imagination that Lea was peering into my mind.

“And unfortunately, I am indeed your mother. This is a fact that even Amaranth cannot deny.”

Lea approached me, dragging her dress on the floor. With each step, the hem repeatedly transformed from tangled flesh back into fluttering lace.

“Don’t you already know? Amaranth summoned me and begged me to create someone who would love only her. To call upon me for love – how pitiful, sorrowful, and pathetic that could be. How could I refuse such a request?”

Then she stopped right in front of me and Lea reached out her hand. The raven briefly flew up and settled on Lea’s shoulder again.

Wary of the sudden action, I protectively hugged Gabriel tightly, and Lea laughed “hehe” as if watching children playing house.

“So I hid in the shadows and created you.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————