UCPA Chapter 86: Shackles

Chapter 86: Shackles

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: PlumSauce

 

It was just past seven in the morning when Lucian received a call from Charlotte.

“Mr. Lucian, I’ve tracked Coraci. Yes, I’m certain it’s him.”

Just minutes before, Lucian had learned of Sai’s and Emma’s deaths. He didn’t know what to do first; everything sounded unreal.

Without his glasses, the books and contact lists before him were blurry. Facing the wardrobe, he didn’t even have the strength to reach for a tie.

“All right. I understand.” Reason told him Sai’s death and tracking the devil were two separate matters. He was discussing the devil, not Sai — but Sai’s death kept looping in his mind.

“Mr. Lucian, are you all right? You seem very tired.”

“I’m fine. But… I might not be able to handle Coraci for the moment.” Lucian reached for his glasses on the nightstand, nearly tripping over the wool blanket at his feet. He sat back on the bed and took a deep breath. “Follow him for me first. Don’t lose him. I have other matters…”

Charlotte exhaled sharply. “But, sir, this path is… I mean, I’m tracking him now, and we’re almost at the Blackmoon residence.”

“What?”

“We can’t get too close. He seems to be trying to find the Blackmoon house, but he probably doesn’t know the exact address.”

“That’s impossible…” Lucian muttered, more to himself than in doubt. A more terrifying thought formed in his mind. Before, he hadn’t believed such coincidences could happen…

“You go to the Blackmoon residence first, ahead of him,” he finally said. “I’ll call the butler, Cheslin, and tell him you’re coming. Charlotte, I’m sorry for dragging you this deep, but you need to update the family on the situation as quickly as possible.”

“I understand. Sir, this is my duty.”

“Thank you. I’ll get there as soon as I can.”

Lucian hastily got himself together. For the first time, he grabbed an unironed shirt at random, barely buttoned the collar, and threw on his coat before rushing out the door.

The Association had captured the person by the elevator who had killed the Sai couple. This was all thanks to Master Joseph’s cats, who had provided the crucial clue.

To everyone’s surprise, it was the Stone Man who had rescued the Gorgon. The rumors were true: the Gorgons could turn the Stone Man into a human. He was now fully human with soft limbs and hair, and his facial features were identical to his former stony visage. His voice and posture were unchanged.

But becoming human had cost him his Stone Man powers. His body was no longer rock-hard, leaving him tense and uneasy. When the hunters found him, he sustained minor injuries while resisting, then immediately froze in fear. Panic overtook him — he had never felt pain or bled before.

He was subdued easily and had no choice but to reveal everything. As the Association suspected, he had lived in secret as a Stone Man until some researchers found him. They promised him a way to live freely as a human.

They provided him with clues about the Gorgon and protective magical items so he could rescue and bring the blind Gorgon back to the Iris Hotel. But the help came at a price: he was told to kill two people.

In the early hours, he paced in the hotel lobby until a call informed him that Sai was descending in elevator #3. He waited outside the elevator, holding a pre-prepared syringe.

The syringe contained a magical potion, a complex concoction. Ancient grimoires called it Fear-Eating Ointment. Applied to human skin, it could alter a person’s appearance in unpredictable ways, often leaving the victim grotesque. This version had been refined into an injectable form. The changes it caused in veins and muscles were nauseating, though the skin remained intact.

Just as the elevator doors opened, the hotel lost power. The Stone Man wasn’t concerned; he was accustomed to navigating in darkness, and that ability hadn’t disappeared with his human form.

As he struck his targets, aided by a faint glow behind him, he realized the two people in the elevator had their eyes closed. He didn’t understand why but proceeded according to the agreement.

Afterward, he closed the elevator doors and let it ascend. On the tenth floor, he tried to drag the bodies out but found them too heavy for his new human strength. He dragged Sai halfway, gave up, and left.

“Who hired you?” Instructor Jere asked.

They found ordinary weapons on the Stone Man, along with used protective magical items and something resembling Erica’s force-field gun. It seemed he had relied on these during the explosion. He admitted they had all been provided by his employer.

“I don’t know. She wouldn’t tell me.” The Stone Man was now merely restrained in a chair as he was human; he no longer needed an isolation room. The Association office was nearly in ruins, and there were no isolation rooms anyway.

“She?”

“Yes. A woman.”

Instructor Jere nodded. “Then…who is she?”

“I don’t know. Really, I don’t know. I can only be certain that she has subordinates — maybe human, maybe not — and they seem dangerous. I’ve never seen her in person. I’ve only heard her voice: a human female’s tone with a local accent. I’m not lying. If you were making a dangerous deal, would you reveal your identity so easily?”

“If she gave you firearms, why did she still require you to use Fear-Eating Ointment to kill?”

“She told me about you…the Unthreatening Creature Protection Association, the exorcists in West Bay, the hunters, the bloodkin and other creatures in your Association. Even a silenced gun can be heard by your people. Wherever I struck, if I couldn’t kill the target with one shot, I’d be stopped by your people. Oh, and she told me that humans hit by bullets don’t necessarily die — they might be sent to the hospital and survive. So, killing with a gun requires a professional. I’m not a professional, so I used Fear-Eating Ointment… no hospital could save someone killed by this.”

“Since you’ve already become human, why do you follow through so faithfully for her? You could just walk away.”

“Because she’s a spellcaster, and her subordinates are monsters. Now that I’m human, if I broke my word, she’d come after me.”

“You’d rather be weak than…not human?”

“Stone Men are stronger than humans, but they have no freedom. I’d rather be a little weaker and live like a human.”

He revealed everything simply because his employer’s interests no longer affected him; he no longer needed to protect her.

Instructor Jere felt frustrated. A humanized Stone Man was a serious problem. From both physiological and ethical perspectives, he was now a real human. The Association’s hunters seemed to have no authority to execute him. How to deal with him was a dilemma.

Clearly, the Stone Man understood this too. That was what made everyone in the Association most uneasy.

Liz leaned against a wall, her eyes bloodshot. Countless thoughts surged through her mind like electricity; she could barely grasp any of them. No matter where she looked, the horrific deaths of Sai and Emma filled her vision.

She could tell that whoever was behind this — their goal was to kill the Sai couple. The Gorgon and the Stone Man were just tools.

The Sai couple were merely merchants, unrelated to the ancient magic field. Their deaths by magical potion indicated the mastermind was a researcher. To arrange everything meticulously, this person had to understand the Association — and even be familiar with the Sai couple…

Yet, if they were a researcher, there must have been countless ways to assassinate the Sai couple. Why take such a convoluted path? First telling the Stone Man how to become human, then using that as leverage to have him kill the targets… The whole process was excessively intricate… Perhaps the person orchestrating it wasn’t in West Bay City, or for some reason, they had to act indirectly and could not intervene personally…

“Liz, are you all right?” Carolyn asked, concern etched on her face.

Liz’s face was pale as John’s kind, her eyes fixed and unblinking.

She had been about to say something when her phone rang. It was Lucian. She had just spoken with him earlier about Sai’s death.

Instructor Jere was still interrogating the Stone Man. Carolyn flinched at the way Liz’s expression subtly shifted.

The call was brief. Liz relayed it succinctly, “Lucian found Coraci. He’s tracking him. They’re both near my house now.”

“Oh my god, Mariana’s still home!” Carolyn spun around and ran.

“It’s not our home! It’s my house!” Liz barely had the strength to stop her, but luckily Carolyn heard. “It’s the ancestral Blackmoon residence.”

Smith had been monitoring the Stone Man for any lies. He suddenly thought of a problem. “Where’s John?”

“I don’t know,” Carolyn said. “At this hour, he should be resting. Maybe he went home?”

“John’s car is gone.” After leaving the Iris Hotel, Smith had noticed something off about John. Before he could ask or read his mind, John disappeared. “Well, technically that’s Coraci’s car, but it’s already his anyway… But is he really going to drive in the sun to get home?”

Liz blanked out momentarily, then suddenly remembered. “Wu Jiu! Wu Jiu and Hai Jiu are back. Wu Jiu can drive!”

“Could John have already contacted Coraci?” Carolyn asked.

“That works out. Maybe I’ll be on the same road as him.” Liz adjusted her glasses, reached into Carolyn’s jacket pocket, and pulled out the car keys, heading out of the ruined office.

Carolyn ran after her. “Where are you going?”

“My house, of course.”

“Give me the keys.”

“No, I need them.”

Carolyn grabbed Liz by the shoulder. “Fine, I’ll drive. You drive at such a leisurely pace, and when there’s traffic, you get stuck. You park slowly, brake late, and with your glasses, all that reflective glare… By the time you get to the Blackmoon house, Coraci and John will have already finished in your guest room, taken a shower, everything.”

Liz turned and stared at her without a word.

Carolyn rolled her eyes and shrugged. “Uh… sorry, that was my fault. I shouldn’t joke at a time like this…”

Liz still didn’t speak, her expression so serious it made Carolyn feel as if she had done something foolish again.

“To make up for it…want me to drive you?” Carolyn asked again.

“This isn’t about who drives,” Liz said. “I just think you don’t need to come along.”

“Why?”

“Lucian is extremely obsessed with finding Coraci. He’s always trying to study him. I don’t agree with it, but I understand it. The Blackmoon house once sacrificed a devil’s soul, and deep in the ancestral home lies a devil’s corpse. Coraci disappeared for three years, and now he suddenly reappears, preparing to approach the Blackmoon residence… Anyway you look at it, it can’t be good.”

Liz exhaled and continued, “Besides, this is the Blackmoon family’s problem. Not the Association’s.”

Carolyn blinked. “Wait — are you serious? Your family’s old castle has a dungeon, full of monsters, and deep underground there are devil offerings…and this is all true?”

“How old do you think I am? Do you think I’d make that up to tease you?”

“Then all the more reason I should go with you.” Carolyn stepped closer, and while Liz wasn’t paying attention, she snatched the car keys. “Since my car is your car, anything involving you is my business, right?”

“You’ve got it backwards. It’s my car that became yours…”

“Same difference. You were the one who said driving was too much effort back then.”

Carolyn walked ahead. Liz was about to catch up when Smith also followed them out. “Send me the address. I’ll bring people along too.”

“But…”

“Why do you think this isn’t the Association’s business?” Smith tapped the badge on his left chest. “The Unthreatening Creature Protection Association reaches out to supernatural beings in need, protects against harmful entities, and collaborates with friendly dark residents. Look, the Blackmoon family are ordinary humans. As for Coraci… Professionally, he’s either someone we rescue or our enemy; personally, he’s a colleague, a friend.”

He patted Liz on the shoulder. “Anyway, you and Carolyn go ahead. Just send me the address from the car. Right now, I can’t read your mind clearly; your thoughts are all over the place.”

Once in the car, Liz frowned, staring straight ahead. As they drove out of the city, Carolyn couldn’t help asking, “Do you really think that’s Coraci? What’s he planning to do?”

“I don’t know,” Liz murmured. “It’s…vague. It doesn’t make sense.”

“For example?”

“Who killed Sai and Emma? What did they want? Does it have anything to do with Coraci showing up? I can’t find the connection yet, but I feel it’s no coincidence.”

Carolyn didn’t answer immediately. She waited for Liz to continue, but Liz fell silent.

“So,” Carolyn said, “I’ve had a question for a while — might be related, might not…”

“About what?”

“About Coraci, of course. Three years ago, the original Coraci’s mother, Mira, mentioned that the Arcane Covenant had been studying the devil fragment for years. You explained that ‘years’ wasn’t a few years — it was decades, maybe even centuries. Mira and Zoltán were children of wizards, raised as wizards. Ever since they had memories, Coraci had always been confined in a forest base, I mean the devil Coraci.”

Liz said, “That’s correct. Apparently, a long time ago, the Arcane Covenant excavated a vessel that imprisoned a devil’s soul. The research has continued in secret ever since.”

“So what exactly are they trying to do?” Carolyn asked. “Look, the Blackmoons want the devil because their ancestors used it in sacrifices, and as descendants, they want to understand everything about it. I have that right, yes? And look at the other groups: the Demon Hunter Society, they want to execute Coraci outright instead of capturing him; the Association, headquarters wants to capture him alive, and if he shows no aggressive intent, contain him safely for observation… I haven’t misunderstood, right?”

“Right. So what’s your question?”

“The Arcane Covenant,” Carolyn said. “Everyone who seeks a devil has their own reasons. But what exactly did the Covenant want by studying it? What were they trying to gain?”

From all past records, the Arcane Covenant was never purely a scholarly group. Unlike other spellcasters, their practices were distinct, almost like comparing witchcraft to ancient magic. They worshiped something cruel yet magnificent, willing to pay enormous costs for grand ambitions. Leaving aside ancient records, as recently as decades ago, the battlefields of Europe bore the marks of their crimes.

For them, research was never only research. They sought not knowledge itself, but power over ordinary beings.

So…if they never intended to do anything with the devil fragment, why spend so many years studying it?

Liz rested her elbow next to the car window, narrowing her eyes slightly.

…

The iron gate was shut tight and locked. Charlotte led the Blackmoon butler out of the basement corridor and up the stairs.

“Honestly, I don’t even know what it’s for,” Charlotte sighed. “Didn’t Mr. Lucian tell you?”

The butler glanced back into the dark depths and shook his head. “He only said you’d be bringing people, but didn’t say what exactly. Ms. Charlotte…you don’t know what’s happening either?”

“I can only be certain that it isn’t human,” Charlotte said, pointing toward the dungeon. “Maybe a demon, or something else. The Blackmoons have a massive ancient magic library and dungeons designed to hold dark creatures. I suppose Mr. Lucian wants to come back and check something.”

The butler escorted her out of the dungeon and back to the upper mansion. Charlotte didn’t linger at the Blackmoon residence; as Lucian’s assistant, she was heading out to meet him.

However, after leaving the estate, she didn’t immediately go far. Instead, she and the werewolves hid in a forest warden’s cabin at the edge of the nearby woods. From there, the Blackmoon mansion was clearly visible, and they could reach it quickly if needed. Aside from the werewolves initially following Charlotte, several more — both humans and werewolves — had quietly positioned themselves in the woods, each lying in ambush.

“When is it safe for us to go in?” one of the female werewolves asked, excitement in her voice.

Charlotte didn’t answer. Her chest rose and fell as if she were trying to calm herself. She gripped an antique ivory scroll case tightly.

 

The butler returned to the main tower of the mansion, preparing to go to the study. He was too far from the dungeon entrance; as a human, he couldn’t hear the chains rattling below. The basement was very large, with several rooms. The light was dim, and the air damp and cold.

Time passed. Coraci still hadn’t regained consciousness; he couldn’t move, not even think. Occasionally, he sensed a change in light, a vague awareness of being moved or touched by someone… then his awareness would vanish again.

Suddenly, he heard the chains rattling right beside him… no, on him. The sound was crisp, tinged with the metallic scent of blood, evoking countless cruel images from ancient history. Then came footsteps, sounds of casual conversation, sometimes near, sometimes far, drifting through the darkness. In that instant, he remembered a place deep beneath the Hungarian forests, below the shadowed tunnels.

 

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