Versatile Mage c1-2021, page 342
Mo Fan was not brave enough to touch the orb, either. It was scarier than he had imagined.
Luckily, Mochizuki Chihaya's mental strength was fairly high, and the time she was controlled by the black aura was not long. Otherwise, it was likely that Mochizuki Chihaya would have turned into a terrifying demon!
The demon creature reflected in the window with multiple limbs and eyes was most likely the parasitic form of the Essence Orb. Mo Fan had seen quite a lot of demon creatures, yet he was still shocked when he saw the reflection on the window.
It was fortunate that he had made it in time. Otherwise, if Mochizuki Chihaya was fully controlled by the Essence Orb, she would have caused a great disaster!
"I've already notified Mochizuki Ken, he's on his way here. It's better not to touch it before he arrives..." said Mo Fan to Mochizuki Chihaya.
Mochizuki Chihaya was still in a trance. She was leaning against Mo Fan with a blank expression.
The innocent people that she was controlling before had all fallen to the ground. Their bodies gradually returned to normal. However, none of them had the courage to stay around after experiencing the incredible pain from the demon plants occupying their bodies. They immediately ran away in panic.
"Thank...thank you, I never thought my brother would trick me by not telling me the truth," said Mochizuki Chihaya.
"He was the first person to discover the Essence Orb, thus he was surely the most influenced by it. Perhaps he isn't your brother now," said Mo Fan.
Mo Fan strongly believed that Iwata was not a kind person after what he saw at the drawbridge. The three innocent guards were tossed off the bridge without mercy and were instantly blown into ashes.
How could a person who killed the guards in such a cruel manner not harbor any evil intentions?
That being said, the evil Essence Orb was the main problem. Mo Fan had been feeling uneasy since he first saw it.
Luckily, he was cautious enough to follow Mochizuki Chihaya and witness how the orb had taken control of her. He immediately knew the orb was truly a demon. It would take over anyone that touched it. The reflection on the window was its true appearance!
If the creature was set free, the heavens knew what kind of terrifying disaster it would bring.
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The police arrived fairly quickly. They immediately sealed off the area.
After them came the City Hunters of Osaka. They surrounded Mo Fan and Mochizuki Chihaya cautiously, but they were too scared to come any closer.
Mo Fan tried to communicate with them, to prevent them from coming any closer.
Mochizuki Chihaya finally came to her senses. After revealing her identity, she quickly explained the situation to the City Hunters in Japanese and convinced them to stay where they were.
Chapter 801 - One Escaped
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
Mo Fan and Mochizuki Chihaya did not touch the Essence Orb again.
However, the Essence Orb seemed to be aware that it was soon going to be taken back to the East Guardian Tower. It started rolling on its own.
There was an opening to the drainage by the road. The Essence Orb was planning to roll into it and escape through the sewage system.
Clearly, the creature's movements were greatly hindered in the form of the orb. It needed to live in other organisms as a parasite to utilize its capabilities.
If it rolled into the drainage and attached itself to a rat, it was possible that it would turn into a terrifying rat beast!
Mo Fan would not allow the thing to bring any harm to the world. He locked his gaze on the orb and used his will to f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y roll the orb back!
"Telekinesis?" Mochizuki Chihaya was startled. She glanced at Mo Fan with wide eyes.
"What telekinesis? You've imagined it," Mo Fan smiled, trying to cover it up.
Mochizuki Chihaya was still in a trance. She agreed she might have seen it wrong. Mo Fan was only an Advanced Magician, thus it was impossible for him to have so many Elements...
The evil Essence Orb that was rolled back to its initial spot seemed quite furious. It began to vibrate vigorously.
However, none of that mattered, as Mochizuki Ken had finally arrived from the West Guardian Tower.
The old man with a mustache walked up to Mo Fan and Mochizuki Chihaya. His eyes glittered as he stared at the Essence Orb on the ground for a long time!
The Essence Orb seemed to be afraid of Mochizuki Ken. It stayed motionless, as if it was just a normal black orb.
Mochizuki Ken went forward and wrapped a silver piece of cloth around it.
Mochizuki Ken was a reputable Magician in Osaka. He dismissed the police and the City Hunters, before returning to the West Guardian Tower with Mochizuki Chihaya and Mo Fan.
It was obvious that Mochizuki Ken had managed to keep the news under control, to prevent it from being made known to Commander Takagi.
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Mochizuki Ken brought Mo Fan and Mochizuki Chihaya to a room with an open ceiling. The light emitted by the moon and the stars sprinkled down upon the room and lit up the place off the decorations hanging on the walls. It felt like they were sitting in a vast, magnificent galaxy, enjoying a bath under the light of the moon and the stars.
Mochizuki Chihaya was on her knees on the wooden floor, her hair dangling to the sides with her head lowered, like a girl who had done something wrong yet was not afraid to be punished.
Mo Fan was sitting on the ground too, observing the decorations on the walls.
Mochizuki Ken was sitting under the light of the moon with his back facing the two. He looked extremely stern.
"Chihaya, I'm very disappointed," said Mochizuki Ken.
"I'm aware of my mistake." Mochizuki Chihaya did not dare to raise her voice.
"Even if you found out that Iwata was locked in the East Guardian Tower, you should have investigated the whole incident first. With your reckless move, even if everything is exactly what you assumed to be, it would only make the situation worse," said Mochizuki Ken.
"I had no idea who to ask, if even the loyal Iwata was now imprisoned in the East Guardian Tower..." said Mochizuki Chihaya while lowering her head further.
"So you chose to believe him?" said Mochizuki Ken.
Mochizuki Chihaya looked at Mo Fan and fell silent.
"I'm an outsider, so there's no way I'll allow myself to be caught infighting. That being said, old man Mochizuki, can you explain to us what this evil thing is first? I believe you already knew about its existence..." said Mo Fan.
"Every human has a soul, and the cultivation of Magicians focuses on refining the soul. The stronger the soul is, the stronger the Magician is. However, a human soul isn't pure. The East Guardian Tower is under the effect of a curse that drains away the souls of the evil Magicians, but it won't cleanse the hatred, evil, greed, anger, and d.e.s.i.r.es of their soul… and on top of that, the East Guardian Tower also has a dark formation. Such an environment allows evil thoughts to grow, and ends up turning into the orb you saw," said Mochizuki Ken.
"Japan is indeed a weird place. Vessels have demons inside them, and even a prison can give birth to a demon too!" murmured Mo Fan.
"Luckily, you managed to stop Chihaya in time. Otherwise, a new Red Demon would soon be born in Japan," said Mochizuki Ken.
"Red Demon?" Mo Fan was confused.
"We call them Red Demons. Their souls are different than those of most creatures; they are dark red. Every organism that is controlled by them will leave a dark red evil mark after their death!" said Mochizuki Ken.
Mochizuki Chihaya nodded too. Her eyes were able to see the souls of the pedestrians when she was attacking them. On top of that, when her plants took control of them, it turned out that their souls were stamped with a dark red seal, as if they had signed a contract with a devil!
A dark red soul mark!
Mo Fan rose from the ground, shivering.
The soul of a living organism, be it a demon creature, a ghost or a devil spirit was either blue or green when they died. There had never been a red soul!
However, Mo Fan clearly remembered that Leng Qing had mentioned the strange dark red mark inside the soul of Lingling's father when he was murdered. The same thing had happened when the vampire Nie Dong was killed!
"Old man, did a Red Demon escape from the East Guardian Tower before?!" asked Mo Fan with a stern face.
Mochizuki Ken shuddered. He turned around in shock and stared at Mo Fan, who had just asked the question suddenly.
Mochizuki Chihaya rose to her feet too. She did not understand why Mo Fan was so agitated.
The expression on the old man's face stiffened. His brown eyes were trembling in fear of the past.
"How...how did you know that?" Mochizuki Ken fixed his gaze on Mo Fan.
The last Red Demon had been a nightmare haunting Mochizuki Ken for his entire life. Even after so many years, Mochizuki Ken would still wake up in cold sweat when he dreamed about what happened that night!
It was true that a Red Demon did escape from the East Guardian Tower many years ago. Until now, the old guardians of the tower had not dared to tell anyone about it!
He never thought a student from China would expose the secret that they had tried to keep for so many years.
Mochizuki Chihaya was startled. She had experienced how terrifying the Red Demon was first hand, and to her surprise, the East Guardian Tower had let something so dangerous and terrifying escape!
Chapter 802 - The First Red Demon
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
The mountain road on the west mountain forked into a little path that was inaccessible to cars.
Mochizuki Ken led Mo Fan and Mochizuki Chihaya to the path. To their surprise, the little rift valley had a secret memorial tablet. On it was a bouquet of flowers that was still not wilted yet, which clearly implied that someone had paid a visit here recently.
"I was the same as you, young and ruthless, and I didn't consider the consequences before taking actions. The same, boring routine in the East Guardian Tower made us curious toward every little discovery. When he discovered the Essence Orb, he was so excited that he could not wait to bring it out," Mochizuki Ken raised a jar of wine and slowly poured it across the memorial tablet.
Mo Fan went up closer and saw a name carved on the memorial tablet.
"Kazuaki?" Mochizuki Chihaya stared at the memorial tablet. It took her a while to collect her thoughts.
"Yeah, he was your brother Iwata's biological father, and a close friend of mine," said Mochizuki Ken.
"So you two brought the evil Essence Orb out in the past, just like us?" asked Mo Fan.
"It's rather complicated. Chihaya's mum Masako used to be extremely popular among the people in the Twin Guardian Towers… ugh, I guess the people nowadays would describe her as a goddess. Iwata's father managed to stand out among the men and earned her affection, and soon, they gave birth to Iwata..." said Mochizuki Ken.
"Hang on, let's skip the old love story, I just want to know about the last Red Demon," Mo Fan was clearly impatient.
The incident was somehow related to the bizarre death of Lingling's father. Mo Fan was eager to learn about the Red Demon. He had known Lingling for quite some time, and the only reason that the m.a.t.u.r.e little girl looked down all the time was the dark red soul mark. If he could find out the truth, it might serve as the best medicine for Lingling.
In Shanghai, Lingling had always helped him without asking for anything in return. Mo Fan believed that this was the only thing he could do for her.
It was a coincidence that he had discovered the information about the special dark red soul mark. As such, he wanted to find out the truth, just so he could tell Lingling about his discovery.
"It happened like this: Kazuaki and I were the first ones to discover the Essence Orb, and we told Masako and Tegami. Masako suggested we should report it to the clan, but Tegami suggested we should refine the energy in the orb to improve our strength, so we could stand out among the people in the clan. We ended up absorbing the energy in the orb and split it evenly among ourselves. Nothing happened at first, and our cultivation improved significantly. However, Masako, Tegami, and I began to act differently. We were having fun killing demon creatures. Later, we even tortured the prisoners in the East Guardian Tower..." said Mochizuki Ken.
"You have lost your mind to the Essence Orb," said Mo Fan.
"Yes. It got worse, Tegami suggested that we should imprison more criminals in the East Guardian Tower, so the Essence Orb would be able to absorb more energy from their souls, to provide us with more power," Mochizuki Ken seemed reluctant to talk about the past.
He had done lots of things that he was utterly regretful of during the time he had lost control of himself. The cruelty and evil kept growing stronger and rooted deep in their hearts...
"How did you break free from its control?" asked Mo Fan.
It was obvious that the old man had become a lot gentler and kinder after the incident.
"It was Kazuaki, he's the most rational among us. When he realized that the orb was draining the hatred and evil thoughts of the prisoners from their soul, he began to stop us from cultivating with the Essence Orb… (sigh) but we were simply too lost in our greed," Mochizuki Ken let out a breath full of remorse and sorrow.
"So you killed him?" said Mo Fan.
"Nonsense!" Mochizuki Chihaya glared at Mo Fan.
"As a matter of fact, we did kill him. The three of us decided to murder Kazuaki who tried to stop us..." Mochizuki Ken's voice was extremely soft. He did not even dare to look into Mochizuki Chihaya's eyes.
"What… you killed Iwata's father? Even my mum agreed?!" Mochizuki Chihaya cried out in shock.
Kazuaki and Mochizuki were still husband and wife back then. From what Mochizuki Chihaya could remember, her mother was the kindest woman in the world. There was no way she would do something so wicked and twisted.
Mochizuki Ken knew it was hard for Mochizuki Chihaya to accept the truth, yet he had no choice but to reveal it, "The truth is, she was the one that suggested it… oh, you shouldn't blame your mother, she was influenced the greatest by the orb, I believe you already know what that feels like."
Mochizuki Chihaya recalled how she attacked the civilians. She was indeed not herself.
"How terrifying, knowing that the person sleeping beside you is thinking of killing you..." Mo Fan let out a sigh.
"Luckily, Kazuaki was a clever man, and realized what we were up to. We initially thought he would run away, but he didn't. He stole the Essence Orb and left with that evil thing. We even tried to hunt him down because we thought he was trying to keep the Essence Orb to himself. We were extremely furious, we even pursued him until he had nowhere to run, but somehow, he vanished. Since then, we have never seen Kazuaki again. As time gradually passed, our minds slowly recovered. Your mum Masako felt extremely guilty for what she had done, and ended up passing away at a young age. Tegami and I did not dare to mention the incident again, but we have no idea how we could ever atone for what we had done to Kazuaki," said Mochizuki Ken.
It had been so many years, the young man had already grown old, yet it felt like everything had only happened the day before. Mochizuki Ken's eyes were soaked in tears whenever he recalled it.
"So that's why you've always been loving and kind to Iwata?" said Mochizuki Ken.
The old man nodded and said after taking a deep breath, "Yeah, the only thing we can do is take good care of his son. Unfortunately, it took us some time to recover. We vented all our hatred toward Kazuaki on his son. Iwata suffered greatly when he was young, Masako hated him too… when Masako finally realized the sacrifice Kazuaki had made, Iwata had already grown up. He assumed that our love and care were just putting up an act, and he believed he never needed any of it."
"Iwata..." Mochizuki Chihaya felt a tingling surge in her nose when she imagined what her brother had gone through.
"I'll try my best to save Iwata from Commander Takagi. We must not let Commander Takagi know about the Essence Orb. Takagi is a greedy man. He has no idea how terrifying the thing is. If the orb falls into his hand, it will be a great disaster," said Mochizuki Ken.
Chapter 803 - Escorting the Evil Orb
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
Mo Fan felt his head aching. In the end, he only knew where the Red Demon come from, but he had no idea where it was, or what it was up to.
If that was the case, how could he possibly help Lingling avenge her dad?
"Mo Fan, I have a favor to ask," said Mochizuki Ken.
"Old man, I'm a busy man," Mo Fan rejected straight away.
"The Essence Orb is absolutely evil. To be honest, I don't think I'm confident enough even if my people are keeping it. I know that your team is heading for Tokyo soon. I hope that you can bring the Essence Orb to an old friend of mine in Tokyo. He's the only person that can purify the hatred inside the orb," said Mochizuki Ken.
"Hey hey, I didn't accept yet, don't you act like I've agreed to do you the favor!" protested Mo Fan.
Commander Takagi had the highest authority in the West Guardian Tower. It would only be a matter of time until he located the Essence Orb. Once he found it, the whole situation would only worsen. Mochizuki Ken was hoping to bring the orb away, as far as possible!
"The Essence Orb does contain incredible energy, and the side effect when it is absorbed by a Summoned Beast is significantly lower. If you're willing to help us with the favor, you can take a part of the energy in the orb. If I'm not mistaken, you are a Summoner too. I believe you'll need the energy more than anyone else… ah, if the higher-ups knew I'd given such a useful resource to a representative of the Chinese team, they would surely blame me for it. However, I have no other choice. The Essence Orb is still fresh, its evil thoughts are still not that strong. It's better to purify it as soon as possible," said Mochizuki Ken.
