“I... I don't know.”
Herm, sprawled on the ground, shuddered violently, his voice filled with extreme fear and despair.
“Hmm?”
Elias's eyes snapped open, his bloodshot scarlet gaze now radiating a fierce menace.
The Roaring Cane in his hand was unceremoniously poised to trigger another resonance stack.
“Sir!”
Herm was scared out of his wits, repeatedly hissing pleas for mercy.
“I truly don't know!”
“I swear I really don't know!”
“All I know is that they've been frantically collecting soul coins!”
“As for what they're actually using them for, I know absolutely nothing about such core secrets!”
Herm lay on the ground like a broken-backed dog.
Even the slightest movement of his severely broken body would pull at his fractured bones, sparking an agonizing, bone-deep pain.
He dared not move recklessly, only struggling desperately on the ground, shouting with his blood-soaked head.
Elias watched him coldly, not relaxing his grip on the cane in the slightest.
“You don't know their purpose?”
“Then how did Mester and those shadowy rats from the Mist Veil Society get connected?”
Herm gasped several times, seemingly recalling an extremely painful memory.
“It... it's like this!”
“My sister, Anna, was brutally murdered five years ago...”
Herm hesitated for a moment, then finally began to recount his story slowly, his voice tinged with unconcealable sorrow.
“Her soul was forcibly ripped from her body.”
“When the Seventh Agency agents finally found her body, it was already an empty shell.”
“They only returned the coin, which sealed Anna's soul, to me as a relic.”
“That coin is in the solid wood cabinet behind you.”
As he spoke, Herm's mud-like body began to tremble uncontrollably.
“Shortly after that, I unexpectedly acquired this plaster statuette in a black market trade.”
“It was around that time.”
“The Mester personality was forcibly split off from me due to negative traits, precisely when I was frantically searching for a way to resurrect Anna.”
Herm's eyes became incredibly complex, filled with pain and deep regret.
“Although he was a sub-personality, he completely shared my memories.”
“So, naturally, my obsessive desire to resurrect Anna also became his deepest obsession.”
“But when I learned that once a soul coin was refined, the soul within could never be fully restored to a complete human...”
“An irreconcilable and massive divergence appeared between us.”
Herm painfully closed his eyes.
“I chose despair and surrender, but as a sub-personality, his inherent will was far stronger than mine, the host personality.”
“Moreover, his obsession with saving Anna was even more frantic and persistent than mine.”
“He simply didn't believe in 'irreversible'.”
“So, relying on this incredibly powerful will, he forcibly imprisoned me within the mental world.”
“He stripped me of my body's control.”
“Then, he took over this shop and opened this psychology clinic.”
Herm opened his eyes, his gaze filled with weariness.
“Using this as a cover, he madly used dark magic rituals to summon an infernal demon from Calovius.”
“He directly signed a contract with Guss, offering a significant share of soul coins as payment, thereby obtaining the soul coin press and... permission to mint soul coins in the mortal realm.”
Hearing this.
Elias's brows furrowed sharply, a hint of absurdity flashing in his eyes.
“This thing actually has a minting permit, for crying out loud?”
Just then.
The infernal demon Guss, who had been standing behind Elias, coldly observing like a spectator, suddenly let out a muffled snort from its nostrils.
This cold snort, like a muffled thunderclap, implicitly acknowledged these business rules.
Herm swallowed a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva and continued:
“As part of an extremely strict long-term contract, Mester, to protect himself, explicitly stipulated in the terms that Guss was absolutely forbidden from harming him personally.”
“At the same time, due to a guilty conscience and extreme fear of being targeted by the Seventh Agency.”
“He proactively chose to secretly cooperate with the powerful Mist Veil Society, seeking their protection.”
A bitter smile appeared on Herm's face.
“At that moment, I clearly knew that his obsession with resurrecting Anna had completely overshadowed his human conscience.”
“He went mad.”
“The Mist Veil Society provided him protection, but also demanded that he begin mass-producing soul coins for them, likewise demanding a very high percentage of the profits.”
“And so, he transformed into a complete monster.”
“On one hand, he used his identity as a psychiatrist as a cover, employing extremely covert spiritual methods to slowly and torturously extract the souls of living patients.”
“He specifically targeted laborers from the lowest strata of society, because in this cursed country, there was no shortage of people dying suddenly at work every day.”
“On the other hand, the Mist Veil Society would regularly provide him with living people who had been tortured into complete madness and had no further use, to serve as raw materials.”
Herm's voice grew weaker and weaker.
“Since the living people provided by the Mist Veil Society constituted the vast majority, their demanded share of soul coins was also very significant, taking almost the entire bulk.”
“This greatly hindered Mester's progress in hoarding coins and researching soul restoration rituals.”
“Therefore, regarding the share promised to Guss, he could only delay again and again, eventually completely reneging on the debt.”
As he spoke, a strange gleam suddenly erupted in Herm's unfocused eyes.
He stared intently at Elias.
“Today, it's all thanks to you.”
“Because your continuous use of that terrifying ability just now not only destroyed this physical body, but also directly caused devastating physical stimulation to my brain and mind.”
“This caused fatal cracks to finally appear in Mester's originally unbreakable prison.”
“In the desperate state of near-death for the body, his mad will finally collapsed.”
“Only then was I able to regain control and completely break free.”
Herm's breathing became ragged, like a drowning person finally surfacing for air.
“So...”
“Please!”
“Kill me quickly!”
“Quickly!”
Herm's expression once again became hysterical and frantic.
He used all his remaining strength, squirming desperately towards Elias like a disgusting worm.
However.
Elias did not pull the trigger as he wished, nor did he swing his cane again.
He merely reached out expressionlessly, firmly pressing the heavy The Roaring Cane against Herm's squirming shoulder, pinning him rigidly in place.
“Don't rush.”
Elias looked down at him, his voice terrifyingly calm.
“Guss... Your Excellency.”
He turned his head and called out to the massive red creature.
“Before I kill him, shouldn't we complete the contract we just discussed?”
“That would be more appropriate.”
A hint of surprise flashed in the infernal demon's yellow eyes.
“No need. You just need to kill him and open the box, and I will naturally honor my agreement.”
'An demon's agreement?'
Elias thought to himself.
'That's truly unsettling!'
Mester's method of exploiting contract loopholes to ensure the infernal demon wouldn't kill him certainly had merit.
“I've heard that the demons of Calovius are the race that values contracts the most.”
“You commissioned me to kill him.”
Elias pointed his cane at Herm.
“Yet you refuse to sign a small contract?”
“Could it be that Your Excellency truly desires my soul to make coins?”
“You dare make demands of me?”
Guss narrowed his captivating yellow vertical pupils and sneered.
“Very well!”
“Human, you have great audacity.”
“Kill him immediately now, and once the box is open, I'll let you leave. Otherwise, I will kill you right now!”
“Just as you said, I'll turn your soul into coins!”
“See, why did you just blurt out your true thoughts?”
Rate on N.U.
