World Occult Usage Guide

Chapter 163 Spiritual Portrait
[Name]: Yemaya, Yemaye, Sea Goddess

[Rating]: Legendary E-rank

Radiation level: 35.3%
[Pollution Level]: 45.2%
[Medium]: The Mother of Desire
This is the goddess who controls the moon, the sea, and magic in the Holy Way, the Virgin Mary of the Salvation Bishops, and the supreme servant of God who combines the teachings of Yoruba.

She is mostly a kind and maternal goddess, and believers pray to her about matters related to children, such as childbirth, raising children, and education.

But this gentle goddess had a peculiar preference—she really loved eating cockroaches.

Whenever a worshipper offers cockroaches as a sacrifice, or if a nest of cockroaches is accidentally found in the place of worship, the goddess will eat all the cockroaches she sees and her temperament will change drastically.

At the end of the ritual, she bestowed upon the believers some darker, more sinister, and cruel witchcraft.

Upon hearing Lin An's voice, the person next to Sang Sang turned around.

He was a man so thin he was almost unrecognizable, with an androgynous appearance. His hair was wrapped in a piece of azure cloth, and he wore large pearls on his ears and neck. He wore blue lipstick, and his high cheekbones were adorned with bright orange blush.

The gaunt man wore a fishtail skirt, and his two arms, covered with bruises and needle marks, were faintly visible behind the silk netting.

It was none other than the Ghost Unit 2, the currently dominant force in Dietrich, Deval Ramsden!

"who are you?"

"Lin Dou?"

The two spoke at the same time. Sangsang was overjoyed, while Deval's claw-like fingers clenched into fists, and he stared intently at Lin An with his abnormally contracted eyes.

"I advise you not to meddle in other people's business."

Upon seeing Unit 2 itself, Lin An was overwhelmed with a myriad of thoughts.

Who would have thought that the mentality of "I think I'm a girl" could awaken the most maternal saint in the path of saints?

Comorth radiation is such a damn idealist concept.

Of course, what puzzled Lin An the most was that when he looked at Deval with his naked eye, he couldn't recognize him as a Mystic at all, because Unit 2 didn't have that incongruous atmosphere with Titan.

When he doesn't use his mystical arts, he's no different from an ordinary person.

Doris, Carmen, Cardenas, Deval… the mediums of the “Mother of Desire” all seem to have a way of concealing their own aura.

If Lin An hadn't identified the mysterious figure through the tree diagram, and if the system hadn't confirmed his idea with data, the Foundation's patrol might have ended in vain.

At the same time, Deval also recognized Lin An as the Mystic.

He knew he could mislead the other party into thinking Lin An was hesitating, so he snorted and tried to drive him away with his usual sophistry.

"Why are you staring at me like that? Everyone has the right to choose their gender! I'm rainbow-colored and I'm proud of it. Are you discriminating against me? Be careful, or I'll report you to the university committee and have them suspend you and make you repeat a year!"

“Young man, you’ve misunderstood…” Lin An snapped his fingers, “Twenty catties of tea leaves, Blue Square or Green Bubble?”

"What!?"

The next moment, energy shot out from Lin An's body.

Deval knew the visitor meant no good, so he stopped pretending. He closed his dark eyes, then opened them again, his pupils and sclera blending together, leaving only a murky, sea-blue color.

The humanoid figure that descended from the sky merged with his physical body, and Yemaia's aura was released without reservation.

Besides the Southern Ancestral Spirits and the Salvation Bishops, the Holy Way also incorporates two folk customs: one is the "spirit possession" custom that is widely popular in the southern part of the Eagle Kingdom, a famous example being Lady Ava's spirit possession meetings.

The so-called communication with O'Risha through the medium of a saint can also be understood as a form of incantation.

"Scared! Scared!"

With a strange roar, a translucent humanoid figure, resembling a melting lump of flesh, appeared behind him. Its limbs were short and clumsy, its skin covered with old and new scar tissue, and its hairless, tumor-like head was nothing but a gaping maw, with a predatory desire to devour its prey.

In civilized times, the way of the saints preached the sacrifice of two-legged and four-legged animals, but in the past two hundred years, they have done their fair share of killing living people.

Inheriting the "ancestral spirit" worship of the Southern Continent people, the followers of the Holy Way believe that the souls of the dead remain in the world. Through continuous sacrifices and practice, the magic of Orisa can make the floating spirits become their protectors.

To control more souls, worshippers must continue to feed the sacred mediums attached to them with their own blood, further enhancing their aura.

This kind of undead is called egun cuadro espiritual (spiritual portrait).

The so-called spiritual portrait is the second type of folk custom that was integrated—"raising a ghost child".

This superstition came with immigrants from the Central South and was incorporated into the rituals of the Holy Way.

However, in the precepts of the Holy Path, blood and offerings are not fed directly to the demons, but to the mediums that control them, the statues of the seven saints.

The Mystic Yemaia of Deval was the saint most skilled at manipulating "spiritual portraits," and when her aura reached perfection during the ritual, she could command up to 25 portraits simultaneously.

"Dezi, what... what are you doing?"

Sang Sang had no radiation levels and could not see the "Comers" energy. At this moment, she was full of doubts, not understanding why the atmosphere was so tense when the two met.

"Shut up! Get away from me, you filthy bitch!"

Fortunately, Deval retained a sliver of conscience. The moment the spiritual portrait was released, it stirred up a cold, gust of wind that sent Sangsang flying without harming her.

According to the bassist and drummer, Deval's initial awakening of mystery was more or less out of a desire to protect Sang Sang.

Just when he thought he was about to engage in a life-or-death struggle, the moment he lunged at Lin An with his spiritual portrait, Deval was horrified to find that his connection with it had been immediately severed. A deep blue pentagram appeared beneath his feet, drawing out a cubic space. The transparent barrier seemed to have carved out a separate display case, and a blazing yet holy light poured down from above, causing him to kneel down and clutch his head in anguish.

"Woooooooo..."

Deval was locked in a small space at the center of the pentagram, where nine lampstands were placed in all directions, some on the ground, some on the walls, and some in the sky, all burning fiercely.

"The lamp oil has not been exhausted, and the temple has been restored!"

A sacred and melodious song drifted over, and the intense light caused blood to seep from Deval's seven orifices, especially his nostrils, where warm, viscous liquid gushed uncontrollably.

The Mishna festival law [Moed], a mythical mystical spell [Candlelight Prayer].

Singing praises of miracles, spreading faith, uniting the nation as one, and jointly resisting the invasion of foreign enemies and heretics.

After the "judge" isolated Deval in the legal space, he seemed unable to continue controlling the grotesque mental portrait, which hung blankly in mid-air, almost dissipating.

"You...you dare to kill me!"

Upon seeing Lin An approach, Deval covered his bleeding nose and moved back in fear. His swaddling cloth came loose in the struggle, revealing a head of sparse, almost bald hair.

"I warn you, killing me will have serious consequences! I haven't even unleashed my true power yet!"

"What, you're going to go berserk too? That's a privilege of Unit-01."

Considering the radiation levels of Unit 2 and the Foundation's recent "achievements," Lin An understood that Deval could not have only cultivated one spiritual portrait.

Where did the other portraits go?

"I...I knew you wouldn't dare kill me!" Deval wiped the blood from his nose, smearing his entire pointed face with bright red blood. "You must be from the St. Anilov Foundation!"

Lin An raised an eyebrow.

It seems that Deval and the Foundation had been in contact for some time, but unfortunately the latter failed to seize the opportunity to control him, allowing him to run rampant in Dietrich for nearly a month.

“You think I only have one mental image? Hahahaha! I’ve already spread my mental images all over the city! If you kill me, be prepared to collect the corpses of a bunch of women for the next two to seven days!” Deval screamed.

"So, even if I kill you, these spells can still be cast?" Lin An asked with interest.

"That's right!"

“You really are an entry in the ‘Scarlet Witch’ category.” Lin An narrowed his eyes.

"what?"

Although it was subdued by Lin An in less than a few seconds, the mysterious prototype of Unit 2 was indeed a born killer.

Witchcraft that can be delayed without being present, where one is an ordinary person when not performing mysticism, and remote casting methods that create altazines and various alibis...

Moreover, the more people the second machine kills, the stronger it becomes, and the more difficult it is to capture or subdue.

What's most disgusting is that, despite his effeminate appearance, Unit 2 uses a purely male identity when he kills people!
Who would have thought that the man who went on a killing spree was actually modeled after a Caribbean version of the Virgin Mary!

The candlelight and hymns of the Candlelight Festival ravaged Deval's body, making his breathing increasingly rapid and his mind seem to be on the verge of collapse, as he roared incoherently.

"Scared now, aren't you, Foundation! I'm going to make them die in the most unnatural way, in the most conspicuous place! I'll hang their bodies on every skyscraper! Let the entire city of Dietrich know that 'Commerx' exists!"

"Your version is too outdated. The foundation understands the principle that it is better to guide than to block, and has already changed its policy."

Lin An crossed his arms, his tone neither warm nor cold.

"I'll spare your life for a few reasons. First, tell me, how did you awaken your current mysterious power?"

Joshua said that humans cannot naturally awaken prototypes above the level of catastrophe, but Lin An checked Deval's information and found that he was born into an ordinary family in the Lower East and was not from a noble family at all.

What was his opportunity?
The Mother of Desire... Doris's Medium.

Could she be involved in this matter as well?

"Hahaha, you don't care about the lives of the people? You don't deserve it—"

Deval screamed, about to morally blackmail Lin An, when he suddenly felt a sharp pain.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

A sphere floated ethereally in Lin An's palm, the central statue gazing at the symbol representing Mars' spear, before black and gold light surged toward Deval's body.

Metal formation.

Lin An activated the Philosopher's Stone, which, in addition to items, can also affect "inorganic matter" that has not yet been absorbed by the human body.

The white powder flowing from his limbs and bones transformed into tiny iron needles, piercing Deval's blood vessels, skin, and internal organs, especially his kidneys and gallbladder, tormenting his mind and body along with the Candlelight candles burning all around.

"Ahhh!"

He let out a scream of unbearable pain, wishing he could just faint and collapse, shouting in despair.

"Orisha above! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything! What the hell do you want to know?"

Thank you to the pan-fried cod for the monthly pass, and thank you to everyone for your recommendations and subscriptions.

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(End of this chapter)