Chapter 168: Chapter 168 The Baptismal Grounds

“Only the old tomes called it that, and the new ones just referred to it as ‘the Abyssal Beacon’.”

The thing that he attached to the diamond string turned out to be a tiny Abyssal creature, kind of like a green beetle. It was obedient in Vyrill’s fingers so he must have been well-trained in handling these things…..

Or he somehow naturally did….. His dead, black eye seeming to give the illusion of shining a light on the beetle. Like a laserbeam. Making it obedient.

“I found out the truth from the vision, while he did not.” Vyrill said. “It was because this Beacon was a cauldron for creation. On making things anew. Its fire was just like the fire from Diamant’s hands.”

“The fire that c-created Magecia?” Mephisto raised his eyebrow.

“Yes. But it’s not a fire from Diamant, this Beacon. It was someone else’s fire. The Lie was that it was from Aurion, that this was a light he gifted to the Abyss due to his extraordinary compassion, so that if humans may get loss here, they would still have some solace from this light.”

“But it is not a Beacon of Light, as I told you. And even less a Beacon of Divine Light. It was a Beacon of Destructive Fire.”

As Vyrill said this, he let the beetle go.

The little creature crawled quickly to the beacon, going straight for its death while connected by a string.

Vyrill waited patiently for the right moment while explaining. “It was a Beacon from the spilled blood of the Dark Lord, as his heart shattered into a thousand pieces. It was the one that Diamant used to kill itself.”

Mephisto was shocked. “T-This is…. the weapon powerful enough to kill D-Diamant?”

“Yes. But, it does not only kill either.” Vyrill said. “So I have hopes….. That Diamant was not dead, but only transformed.”

“T-Transformed into what?” Mephisto asked with great interest.

“I don’t know either. But this Beacon of Fire would burn and destroy everything it touches….. And yet if something manages to escape fast enough…..”

The beetle finally got burned, and within a millisecond of getting burned—

Vyrill pulled it back very quickly, tumbling back as a charred thing with steam rising up from it.

They waited and observed this now pure black beetle. After a while…..

It moved again, but this time made of pure Obsidian, and so was the part of the diamond string that got burned.

“See? This is why I don’t want my eye to be just placed into the Baptismal Grounds. The Beacon destroys, but it also creates anew. And what it creates without pressure…..”

The Obsidian beetle grew larger and larger, and before it can be as large as a small cat….

Vyrill stepped on it with its foot.

“Are evil things. Daemons. Just like the Dark Lord. His blood is what transforms these things, and part of Aurion’s blood, but since his blood exceeds it more….”

Mephisto understood, his expression grave and his stutter gone. “They are more likely to transform into the dark side instead of the light.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that there are still hope for it to create good.” Vyrill said. “I do not want ‘goodness’ like all those stupid hero that spouts about noble hearts and kindness….”

He frowned. “I simply know that no new knowledge can be created in a world of chaos. You must understand as a fellow educator yourself.”

Mephisto did understand. But right now, it was not really knowledge that drew him to this ‘Truth’ that Vyrill had found.

He wanted the power.

That promise that this could change his daughters, that it could have changed Cindra’s.

And seeing what happened to the beetle right now, it really could. It does not matter to him that it turned into an Obsidian or a daemon.

For what are daemons but simply things that humans could not accept, could not understand?

However, he could not disagree with Vyrill here. So he simply said:

“New possibilities interests me, but not constant destruction.”

Vyrill studied his expression. Mephisto stayed calm, and that’s what gave him away. His shakiness disappearing when he lies.

Vyrill sighed. “You are just like him, I see.”

Mephisto cocked his head to the side. “Like who—“

Vyrill interrupted him. “I would rather if this Beacon somehow miraculously does not turn that boy into Obsidian….But baptizes him as a new Diamant. If not, then may it burn him completely.”

He then frowned at Mephisto. “But he doesn’t want that. He believes that it was everyone’s destiny to turn into the darkness. I was lucky that he only tried to convince me to join it, but did not force me into it.”

Mephisto was done trying to guess what this vague ‘He’ person was, and simply asked what he always intended to.

“So I can bring my daughters here and bathe them in the Beacon, and they will be transformed?”

Vyrill nodded. “Or destroyed if you do not move too quickly. There needs to be a form of siphon, a way to bring them back out of the fire like this string.”

He pointed to the beetle. “They will always have a weakness, a part of them that could not be transformed so that they may survive.”

There was a ring around the beetle’s body where the diamond string was, and it was in the same greenish hue it had before and not a Diamond.

Just like how it was said that when Achilles’ mother dipped him into the fiery river, she had to hold on to his heel and thus becomes his weakness.

Vyrill then warned him:

“Of course, humans would have less tolerance than these beetles. Our organs and flesh are softer and we would more likely burn than survive. We need to conduct many experiments before we use actual human subjects.”

Vyrill added. “Also, we need to study further how to make sure they turn into creatures of light, not darkness. So it might take years, but we need to have patience. You don’t want them to turn into daemons, do you?”

“Yes, of course not.”

That was a lie. Mephisto did not care anymore.

He cannot take even more years of studying and experimenting, or else his daughters would die.

“Thank you for telling me this, my good friend.” He smiled at Vyrill. “I owe you everything.”

Vyrill did not like that smile.

“What are you—“

But before he could even ask, Mephisto already interlaced their fingers together, holding both of his hands…..

And pushed him into the Beacon, only his hands not being burned!

Mephisto said with genuine sadness. “I’m sorry. I don’t have patience anymore. I need to find out what happens when I put a whole person in…..”

He was expecting Vyrill to turn into an Obsidian as he pulled him back using those hands that he was holding…..

But once he did, all that he pulled out were hands and nothing but steam.

Vyrill was completely destroyed.

No human could survive being submerged fully inside the Baptismal Grounds. Most likely, instead of being like Achilles where only his heels was not submerged…..

Humans can only survive if a small part of them were submerged and transformed in the tower of flames.