Chapter 25: The Carnal Gathering

Manchester, on the east bank of the River Irwell.

As a traditional industrial hub, Manchester boasts a highly developed transportation network. It takes only three hours to reach the Fog City and an hour and a half to get to Birmingham by train. Double-decker buses, which are free of charge, are a common sight on the roads here.

A yellow bus pulled into the Piccadilly Gardens bus terminal, and as the doors hissed open, passengers began to disembark. Among them were two men dressed in black suits.

"So this is the Fog City region. It certainly is prosperous," Simon remarked after stepping off the bus, adjusting his black bowler hat.

"Evan, I recall you once accompanied an Inquisitor from the Inquisition here to purge the Vortex Music cult," Simon said, turning to his burly teammate.

"Yes. During that joint operation, we deployed six squads, while the Inquisition dispatched their six most elite Inquisitors and fourteen heretic hunters. We radiated outward from St. Peter's Square and successfully dismantled quite a few of Vortex Music's strongholds," Evan replied in a low voice.

"Though, the people in the Fog City don't seem particularly grateful to us," Evan added, glancing at the few individuals who were eyeing them from the shadows.

"Probably people from the Clock Tower. They are the hosts, after all," Simon chuckled.

"It doesn't matter. Our mission is simply to capture or kill 09 and recover 4-331," Evan said coldly.

"Fair point." Simon pulled up his personal interface projection to check the data.

"Huh, there's actually one of our brethren near the Fog City. He has his location sharing enabled. Looking at the distance, he's not too far from us," Simon said, sounding surprised.

"Now is not the time for pleasantries. Let's follow Eden's projections and find 09 first. After all, the Fog City is the homeland of the Sarkic cult—lingering too long could lead to trouble," Evan said sternly.

"Understood. I'll enable location sharing so it's easier for them to find us if needed," Simon said, toggling the setting.

"Let's move."

...

Three Portlands – Directional Portal.

[Sir, your leave application has been approved.]

Jarvis sent the notification to Xia Xiu, who was standing before the portal wearing a black trench coat.

"Understood."

Applying for leave less than half a month into the semester was something most people couldn't easily achieve without a solid reason. However, the reason Xia Xiu had submitted was incredibly audacious.

In his leave request to Professor Laungen, he had written only one sentence: "I guarantee that I will master the four basic branches of Applied Thaumaturgy within a month."

It was akin to promising a teacher you would score a perfect grade on your next monthly exam. Usually, a professor wouldn't approve such a request, but the faculty at Deer Academy were no ordinary teachers, so they granted Xia Xiu his leave. Of course, if Xia Xiu failed to meet his own requirements, the consequences would be far from ordinary.

"Alright, the stealth portal to the surface is set up. You may step onto it," the head of the ground portal facility told Xia Xiu.

"Right."

A brilliant azure glow appeared beneath Xia Xiu’s feet, and with a sudden flare of light, he vanished from the formation.

Fog City, Lambeth District.

In the ruins of the old city, an azure magic circle materialized out of thin air, followed by the appearance of Xia Xiu.

"In the Manchester region, huh... It seems 09 has a way to deceive Eden's wide-area projections," Xia Xiu mused, looking at the shared location on the red leather book's projected interface.

As the intelligence hub for the first great lineage of the Heavens, Eden possessed staggering computational resources and authority, providing immense convenience to the personnel of the Celestial lineage. However, Eden’s workload was equally immense. It was responsible not only for linking every member of the Celestial lineage and providing thaumaturgical and algorithmic support, but also for monitoring any anomalies in Terra, fluctuations in the Aether Ocean, followers of the Outer Gods, and more.

Consequently, Eden could be quite stingy with its computational resources, which occasionally led to slight lags in its projections. You might wonder how Xia Xiu knew Eden's calculations had been misled—naturally, it was because he was no longer just a fledgling of the Celestial lineage.

He was also a "believer" in the Sarkic lineage.

As it happened, several new location shares had suddenly appeared on the Sarkic interface, and none of them were in the Manchester region.

"Well, I suppose I should go say hello to my dear 'brothers' first." Xia Xiu pulled a white mask from his coat and raised the hood of his trench coat, concealing himself entirely in black shadow.

...

Private estate by the River Thames, on the outskirts of the Fog City.

"Aside from that madwoman Cladath, everyone else is here, right?" a hoarse, elderly voice spoke. He was the convener of this meeting—Harry.

"Yes. Her mansion was burned down a week ago. We didn't find her body, and the hounds couldn't pick up a scent. It seems she's been 'disposed of'," the ugly-faced Dorn said with a gloating laugh.

"That woman wasn't even a thaumaturge, yet she acted so recklessly. It’s no surprise she ended up like this," another Sarkic cultist laughed.

"Indeed. Who knows where she learned so many tricks? She even recorded her bedroom exploits on cloud-stone. I hear they were selling quite well on the market; a friend of mine loved buying her works. A pity, though—there won't be any more updates. Her current works have become collector's items."

"That 'friend' wouldn't happen to be you, would it? I saw you fawning over Cladath often enough."

"Get out!"

"Hahaha—"

While the Sarkic cultists chatted, Harry kept his dim eyes half-closed. He didn't stop their banter; most of these people, like Cladath, were wealthy industrialists and supernatural enthusiasts.

The Sarkic cult consisted of two distinct factions and eight sub-sects. Four of these sub-sects maintained the customs of the Sarkic Empire; they were extremely xenophobic and did not operate openly unless in highly isolated regions. These sects exhibited intense technophobia and resisted the modernization of Terra, sometimes even resorting to sabotage when encountering advanced industrial equipment. They were known as the "Old Sarkics."

The other four sub-sects were different. These Sarkic followers had no aversion to technology and frequently appeared in densely populated areas, living lives barely distinguishable from others in the same cultural and social strata. These were the "New Sarkics." For the New Sarkic sects, the primary moral goal of one's personal life was the pursuit of individual desire and the acquisition of power.

Harry served as the public representative of one of the Fog City's New Sarkic sects—the "Inner Sanctum Awakening." The Inner Sanctum Awakening favored recruiting members of the nobility and placed extreme importance on bloodlines. However, most members never truly connected to the Boundless expanse that He permeated. These New Sarkic sects were more interested in learning rudimentary flesh-crafting and sacrificial rituals, or were directly bestowed with certain divine artifacts.

Cladath, for instance, had learned various bizarre flesh-crafting techniques and sacrificial rites; the pendant in Xia Xiu's possession was something she had purchased from within the sect.

*Clang.*

Just as the laughter continued, Harry suddenly raised his wooden staff and slammed it hard against the floor. The impact produced a deafening roar, and everyone present instinctively covered their ears.

"Come out," Harry said, staring at the shadows on the staircase above the hall.