Mystery: The Ultimate Tarot

Chapter 330 Advancement to "Apostle of Desire"

Raphael successfully used the Fussac embassy to buy himself another two days.

On the evening of the third day, Raphael took advantage of the last target's absence and murdered him in the carriage.

The last target was named Aiden, a steel merchant. He died cleanly and without the coachman noticing, as the carriage continued to speed forward.

Raphael stared silently at Aiden's corpse, preparing to devour the soul that was about to leave his body.

Aiden had eaten the delicious food cooked by Raphael, and his soul was now suffering the pain of the previous twelve souls. He struggled out of his body with a pained expression, preparing to go to the underworld.

The moment the other's spirit appeared, Raphael reached out and grabbed it.

In an instant, the memories of the thirteen victims being killed seemed to be awakened all at once, and the spirits showed expressions of fear.

Raphael smiled cruelly, opened his mouth, and took a large bite of the spirit.

The spirit body, composed of thirteen fallen souls, was somewhat cold when it entered his mouth. After swallowing it, Raphael felt his spirit body instantly swell, causing some pain but also a strange sense of pleasure, reminding him of his childhood experience of eating ice cream.

Raphael's family was not well-off, and most of the time they ate hard ice cream, rarely having the opportunity to eat ice cream.

So every time I eat ice cream, it's not just about enjoying a simple cold treat, but about the feeling of having my expectations fulfilled.

After being bitten by Raphael, the corrupted spirit shrank considerably. Overwhelmed by fear and pain, it struggled like a trapped mouse, desperately trying to escape.

But Raphael's large mouth came closer, his teeth white as snow, his tongue seemingly eagerly awaiting, and behind his tongue seemed to be an endless abyss.

Looking at Raphael's satisfied expression, it was as if all the terrifying memories of his fallen soul had been awakened.

The painful memory of being bitten is etched into everyone's subconscious, and these memories are reawakened when one sees the other person's mouth.

Raphael took a second bite of the spirit, but the experience wasn't as good as before. Moreover, he felt an indescribable discomfort from his stomach to the entire spirit.

Despite feeling so uncomfortable, Raphael was really looking forward to the next bite.

So Raphael took his third bite. By this time, his eyes were red, and every nerve seemed to be stretched taut. The slightest emotion could completely ignite his reason, turning him into a complete madman.

But he was still looking forward to the next bite, and when he took the fourth bite, all Raphael could see was devouring.

After the sixth bite, the entire corrupted spirit was completely consumed.

Raphael looked at the pedestrians outside, mainly staring at their spirits, and drool dripped from the corner of his mouth.

He wiped himself clean and was about to get out of the car to grab a spirit to eat when his "devilish" "cultivation" brought him back to some of his sanity.

As a qualified "devil," one can be extremely evil when necessary, but can also immediately calm down when the time comes.

The ritual is complete, and continuing to devour souls will not help and will likely leave more clues behind.

In an instant, the madness in Raphael's eyes vanished, and his gaze turned utterly cold, as if he had lost all emotion in that instant.

He calmly entered the spirit world and returned to his villa.

Meanwhile, the official extraordinary individuals were conducting a door-to-door search of the streets in the West District, where the city's wealthy resided, looking for anyone who had been "hypnotized."

This action was taken because many servants in the previous victim's home had been "hypnotized." All previous leads had run out, so this clumsy method was the only way to try and find new clues.

This was a massive extraordinary operation, involving not only the Church's extraordinarys in the search, but also personnel from MI9, the Royal Guard, and almost all of Backlund's official extraordinarys.

Because of the urgency, if this opportunity is missed, it will be very difficult to catch the murderer again.

Finally, at dusk, a squad of night watchmen found a clue and discovered that many people had been hypnotized at the home of a steel merchant named Aiden.

Upon learning the news, Leonard sent people to inform the senior deacons of "The Punisher" and "The Mechanical Heart," while personally leading a team to find Aiden.

Just then, Aiden's carriage returned, and everyone quickly gathered around it.

Leonard didn't sense any living presence in the carriage and immediately thought, "Oh no!" He went forward and opened the door. Aiden's body was slumped in a chair and was severely decomposed, as if he had been dead for several days.

Leonard smiled helplessly. The murderer had succeeded; he had completed the promotion ceremony.

At this moment, Leonard seemed to realize that the "devil" and the Fussack embassy were likely smokescreens planted by the killer, and the official extraordinary individuals had completely fallen into his trap. The killer's goal might simply have been to complete the ceremony in a grand manner.

He turned the entire Backlund upside down, mobilizing so many extraordinary beings, yet he still succeeded in the end.

The other night watch members stood there quietly.

They knew, of course, that Aiden's death meant that all their efforts over the past month had been in vain.

They always felt that the murderer was hiding in some corner, secretly watching their dejected state and showing a mocking smile.

Raphael didn't have time to watch the jokes made by the official extraordinary individuals.

He could feel that he had devoured that corrupted spirit, which was equivalent to swallowing thirteen tormented ghosts in one gulp.

Their pain and depravity were brewing within him, constantly seeking an opportunity to erupt, wanting to completely overturn Raphael's sanity and drive him utterly insane.

Fortunately, Raphael was still a "vengeful spirit," so he could temporarily suppress the spirit he had swallowed.

Raphael was well aware that there was a clear problem with his condition; he could feel his emotions teetering on the edge of exploding one moment, and then seemingly disappearing the next.

Raphael returned to his study with a calm expression, but the next second, extreme anger, fear, joy, and other expressions appeared on his face in turn.

Get promoted as soon as possible!

This thought seemed like a last straw, and Raphael tried his best to remain calm and take out the extraordinary properties and auxiliary materials that he had prepared in advance.

The extraordinary characteristic of ascension is that Raphael released the spirit of the "Apostle of Desire" from the "Crawling Hunger" and shattered it in the "Dark Hut," thus acquiring the extraordinary characteristic used for ascension.

Raphael calmly weighed out the auxiliary materials one by one and added them to the beaker. Finally, he added the extraordinary properties, resulting in a cup of black liquid that looked like it was highly poisonous.

At this moment, Raphael felt like all his nerves were about to snap, so he quickly drank the potion.

In an instant, all of Raphael's emotions erupted; he felt his vision turn to color, and his emotions were pushed to their extreme.

He cursed angrily, he cowered in the corner in fear, he laughed loudly with glee, he scratched the floor in embarrassment, he looked around proudly—

Just then, as if a cold breath swept over, all emotions seemed to shrink back noticeably, like octopus tentacles encountering hot water.

The next instant, Raphael felt an unprecedented hunger, as if he could swallow an elephant whole. His gaze changed as he searched his surroundings for anything he could devour.

Then he had a physical reaction, feeling an urgent desire to have sex with a woman, and he was so hungry that he wanted to start right now, immediately.

At this point, a third desire emerged: Raphael wanted to win, to defeat all the gods in the world, to defeat every extraordinary being he encountered, and to crush everyone in every way.

At this moment, Raphael was in great pain, his entire consciousness was being torn apart by desire, as if he would be completely ripped apart at any moment.

A fourth desire arose: Raphael wanted to stuff all the gold pounds, all the jewels, and all the gold into his own pockets.

Just as he was about to lose himself due to various desires, all the colors in Raphael's eyes suddenly began to distort, creating thirteen small vortexes.

Those were the three fallen souls killed by Raphael. At this moment, these fallen souls seemed to bring Raphael closer to the "Abyss." In an instant, all emotions and desires "flowed" into the Abyss from those thirteen small whirlpools.

Raphael quickly regained his senses and understood the purpose of the ritual.

During the process of ascending to the "Apostle of Desire", the ascendant will transform into an "aggregate of desires". Originally, desire was only a part of emotions, but suddenly it became everything and rapidly eroded the spirit.

At this point, by taking advantage of the corruption within the souls killed in the ritual, excess "desires" can be "pouring" into the "abyss".

That place can accommodate all the desires in the world, so this is certainly not an exception.

After quickly regaining his senses, Raphael found himself turned into a puddle of liquid.

This is the "collection of desires", or you could say the "entity of desires".

Like the "vengeful spirit," this state is illusory and makes one immune to all physical attacks.

Unfortunately, Raphael already possessed this ability when he advanced to the "Wraith".

Raphael soon regained control of his body, reshaped it, and returned to a normal state.

Although this advancement did not cause any damage to the surrounding area, Raphael was in great pain. He even pessimistically realized that all future advancements through the "Demon" path might be just as painful.

He sat down to rest for a while, began to gather his spiritual energy, and checked his current general condition.

Raphael felt extremely tired because of the pull of desire he had just experienced.

The good news is that Raphael is finally able to control his emotions, which were on the verge of exploding before his promotion, or rather, he can precisely control his emotions and put himself in the emotional state he needs, and it is difficult for others to notice anything unusual.

For example, if he wants to put himself in a state of fear, not only can his facial expressions be on point instantly, but his body language will also cooperate immediately, and he may even secrete corresponding hormones. Even the "audience" in the same sequence may not be able to tell that this is fake.

Raphael smiled to himself, thinking: I can finally relax a bit when I chat with Audrey from now on.

He then began to use his spirituality to observe his newly acquired abilities.