The flames began to blaze, using the evil spirit as firewood.
With each spirit that ignited, the colors seemed to grow more vivid, gradually imprinting upon this world like a painted masterpiece of red and orange.
However, unlike ordinary flames that would grow larger through the medium of the firewood, these merely intensified in color, staining the goat until it was completely engulfed in their hue.
The surreal colors kept Iserin transfixed.
“Now, go.”
“Y-yes?”
Jinseong pointed towards the flames with a casual tone.
“Jump over that.”
“Eh? J-jump over the flames?!”
“Indeed.”
With an air of tranquility that suggested it was a simple task, Jinseong prompted Iserin to leap over the rock jutting out nearby. His calmness made her momentarily think, ‘Is jumping over that really such a big deal?’
“Wait. I-I’m not a warrior…”
Iserin cautiously hinted that if she leaped over that fire, she would certainly get burned.
“Do not worry. That flame only burns the immaterial. Even if you were to spend the night within it, not a single hair would be singed. Moreover—”
Jinseong subtly glanced at the wavy heat rising beside Iserin.
“The demon you’ve contracted with won’t be harmed by flames like those either. So you can go and return without fear.”
With those words, Iserin hesitated momentarily, but once the demon whispered something in her ear, her resolve seemed to solidify. She clenched her dress and dashed toward the altar, gathering her legs like for a long jump and leaping from the end of the altar.
“Keep jumping until I tell you to stop.”
“Hyup!”
At Jinseong’s command, Iserin leaped again and again from end to end.
Then, feeling her energy wane, she swayed slightly, the hem of her dress brushing against the flames, yet the flames merely held their ground like an illusion. Additionally, there were no singe marks upon her dress, nor was there any heat felt against her skin.
Noticing her fatigue, Jinseong set the owl he had caught moments ago atop a nearby lamp post.
“You may stop now. Kneel before the altar and bow your head. Close your eyes and offer a prayer, only conjuring the flame and the night in your mind, making sure to breathe deeply as you meld with the night.”
He stated this and ignited Samādhi True Fire in his hand.
This time, it was a flame that consumed substance.
The flame was fueled by the oil smeared on his hand.
It devoured the oil greedily, blazing into a torch-sized flame. He raised his arm high like a torch, circling the altar. He danced around it, jumped over it, moving as if a child lost in joy.
After a few rounds, he flicked the flaming hand toward the altar.
Whoosh!
Thus, once more, the altar caught fire where the Samādhi True Fire had been burning.
The place ignited again as the flames, through the firewood, began to consume the true flames that burned the immaterial, weaving back and forth as if in a bizarre dance, creating an uncanny spectacle where the painted flames appeared to leap to life.
Al—-eph—-
The goat within the altar was engulfed by the true flames as well.
Yet the sounds it produced were not those typical of a goat, but something eerily straddling the line between beast and human.
Instead of bleating, there was a tone of tranquility; instead of pain, there was a sound filled with hatred; and where a cry filled with emotion should resonate, whisperings laden with meaning flowed forth.
Allllllllll-e——-p.
The sounds continued.
Pap—a—i—papa—i—–Aleph!
But this continuance had an end, as if the flames, given time, would extinguish, so too did the sound fade, losing cohesion. Instead, it seemed as if, one last desperate attempt, the black ash within the flames tried to form a shape, striving to escape—much like a collection of evil spirits pressing their faces against the flames, gasping for air.
But with Iserin keeping her eyes closed until the very end, the form surrendered and vanished back into the flames, soon disappearing as if drawn into the ground.
With that, the flames disappeared, leaving only the glow of Samādhi True Fire.
“Like begets like.”
Jinseong approached the altar cluttered with ashes and lifted a piece of charcoal made from birch firewood into the air, launching it onto the Ferris wheel.
“There is a connection between items.”
The firewood struck the metal pillar of the Ferris wheel, creating a hollow sound.
“This indicates that all things are interconnected.”
As Jinseong’s invocation concluded, the pillar where the firewood struck ignited.
Just like the flames from the altar, it spread in all directions, wrapping the Ferris wheel in a blaze resembling the sun. The enormous flames brightened the entire amusement park and illuminated the very path Jinseong had taken, outshining even the moon hanging in the sky.
The sight caused Iarin, watching from afar, to drop her jaw in awe.
When the Ferris wheel caught fire, Jinseong extinguished the Samādhi True Fire burning on the altar. He then dipped his finger into the ash of the completely charred goat and drew a line on Iserin’s collarbone. At that moment, the ash vanished as though absorbed into her body.
‘It’s… it’s so hot…’
As the ash absorbed, Iserin felt her body heat up, her skin flushing red while beads of sweat began to flow. She radiated so much perspiration that her clothes drenched as if she had just emerged from water.
‘Sweat… there’s too, too much sweat…?’
But soon, the sweat abruptly ceased as if a switch had flipped, the heat she had felt vanished without a trace, replaced by the icy chill from Russia enveloping her body.
“The ritual is now complete.”
Feeling the cold, Iserin shivered as Jinseong finally nodded and helped her up. Startled by his touch, Iserin turned to him, a bashful expression on her face.
“Um, um… there might be a smell of sweat…?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“F-first of all… it’s not that I’m worried about you, but… I-I’m… uh?”
At Jinseong’s bluntness, Iserin attempted to protest, but then she gazed at the brilliant flames illuminating her surroundings in awe. With a face full of disbelief, she looked up with a hint of dread.
“W-wait, w-wait! What is that?!”
The Ferris wheel was on fire.
The 140-meter high Ferris wheel was ablaze.
Jinseong responded warmly to Iserin’s question.
“It’s a final enhancement to maximize the effect. So, as the contractor, it should yield positive results for you.”
“N-no, that’s not what I mean!”
“Besides, by jumping over the flames, you’ve gained resistance to fire and improved your health. Also, the purification and dispelling effects have been maximized, meaning you’ve become cleaner and healthier.”
“That’s not it!”
Iserin interrupted Jinseong, who kept speaking about the ritual, shouting in frustration.
“Is that… is it okay for it to be like this?! D-did you get permission? From the government or… from the master?!”
To this, Jinseong merely chuckled.
Then, reassuring her, he replied, “Surely that cannot be the case.”
Iserin’s jaw dropped.
She couldn’t find the words to respond to the look on Jinseong’s face that suggested this wasn’t a problem at all.
Jinseong turned away from the shocked Iserin and headed toward the truck.
The cargo space was piled with various goods, and he levitated the items aside to retrieve a glass box from inside.
The glass box, reaching to his waist, contained cut branches from the oak tree, tightly wrapped in mistletoe.
The mistletoe, though clinging to the severed branch, maintained its brilliance while exuding a vitality even outside the glass box.
[It’s premium mistletoe. Contractor, my cute contractor. Are you planning to perform a Celtic ritual on your sister?]
Premium mistletoe.
A top-tier material that retained the sacred oak’s life and vitality, while also encapsulating the essence of the oak spirit.
It was naturally top-grade, which meant the harvesting and storage techniques were extremely rigorous.
On the eve of Allerheiligen, now known as Halloween, a distinguished druid would ritually harvest it using tools made of gold that had never been used before, ensuring the collection never touched the ground.
Available for harvest only for a single day each year, anything that touched the ground would compromise its quality, making it a sought-after treasure that one could not buy even among shamans.
[Let’s see. Hmm. This was taken from a great witch. The quality is excellent. And it seems she preserved it well, so it hasn’t wilted… Must have spent quite a bit of money.]
From there, the other items in the truck’s cargo space floated into the air.
Fish scales, feathers, blood packs, alcohol…
All of them neatly piled in front of Iarin who had been watching from a distance.
Once everything was stacked, Jinseong approached Iarin.
“Next is your turn. But I cannot perform the ritual for you just yet.”
Staring blankly at the still-burning Ferris wheel, Iarin tilted her head at Jinseong’s words.
Then Jinseong pointed at the capybara with his finger.
“Although it’s possible to perform a ritual with that, the effect would be diminished.”
“Huh?”
Iarin looked at him quizzically.
“Brother, then why didn’t you just buy one before we left?”
“There’s no need for that. Soon we’ll be able to obtain better materials.”
Jinseong’s cryptic response prompted Iarin to ask, “Materials? W-what do you mean? You’re not using that capybara for the ritual?”
“That’s correct.”
“Then why did you have me bring it?! Do you even understand how much work I went through?!”
Jinseong pulled out some pepper and salt from the piled items in front of him.
“Guests are coming, after all. We should offer them a meal, yes?”
