Gospel of Blood

Chapter 360: Divine Possession

Although Charlotte was prepared to summon a Blood Demon Cultist, she was still somewhat surprised when she actually pulled one through.

To think, the stars she chose were the ones closest to the Lutecia Cathedral.

Even those bloodbornes so close to the cathedral were Blood Demon Cultists. How audacious had the Blood Demon Cult become?

Charlotte’s expression was inscrutable as she regarded the hapless soul she had summoned.

Below the steps, the Blood Demon Priest, who had recognized her identity through the thorny rose symbol, was already terrified.

“She found me!”

“My power is gone!”

“The plan is exposed!”

“Quick… run!”

Various thoughts streamed from the Blood Demon Priest’s mind, all of which Charlotte could sense.

The Blood Demon Priest turned to flee, dashing towards the doors of the Dark Night Castle with such speed that he seemed to wish for eight legs.

However, when he reached the imposing doors of the castle, he was dismayed to find he could not open them…

Charlotte watched with interest as the Blood Demon Priest scurried about like a headless fly in the castle hall, intrigued by the subconscious thoughts she picked up.

“Plan?”

She muttered.

As she watched the pale-faced Blood Demon Priest, she squinted slightly and beckoned with her hand.

The Blood Demon Priest, who had been cowering in the corner of the castle, found himself seized by an irresistible force and was drawn towards the terrifying figure on the throne…

As the crimson mist dissipated, the Blood Demon Priest could see Charlotte more clearly.

He froze momentarily, his terror-stricken face quickly turning to shock.

He knows me…

Charlotte realized.

She hadn’t transformed into her adult form today, maintaining her youthful appearance but with different hair and eye colors.

Clearly, he recognized her as the Countess of Castell.

Charlotte wasn’t particularly surprised.

She had disrupted many of the Blood Demon Cult’s “good deeds”, so it was no wonder she was on their radar.

She wasn’t worried about her identity being exposed.

Since she had brought him to the castle, she had no intention of letting him leave alive.

Her golden-red pupils instantly turned crimson as she looked into the Blood Demon Priest’s eyes.

A massive burst of mental power surged into the Blood Demon Priest’s soul, and his memories unfolded before Charlotte like an open book.

At this moment, leveraging both her bloodline power and her dominance in the mental world, Charlotte forcibly performed a 『Memory Probe』 on the Blood Demon Priest!

The Blood Demon Priest’s gaze quickly turned vacant as a flood of memories surfaced in Charlotte’s mind…

Bertrand de Chevalier.

High Priest of the Blood Demon Cult, Blood Count, fifth-generation bloodborne of the Shedite Clan.

However, he had another identity: the head of the Chevalier family, a feudal count directly governed by the Crescent Kingdom’s royal court, and an official of the city hall of Lutecia.

“A noble?”

Charlotte felt a sense of inevitability.

As the memories continued to flash by, she also saw the Blood Demon Priest’s past…

Bertrand de Chevalier had only become bloodborne for less than three years. He was originally an extraordinary individual with pinnacle Silver Moon strength.

Three years ago, when his time was almost up, to avoid death, he was finally enticed by the Blood Demon Cult to accept the First Embrace, becoming a bloodborne and joining the Blood Demon Cult.

“Hmm? Only accepted the First Embrace three years ago? And his bloodline power is already that of a Blood Count?”

Charlotte quickly sensed something amiss.

Newly embraced bloodbornes typically aren’t that powerful and must be weaker than the one who bestowed the First Embrace.

To have the First Embrace bestow such strength, the Blood Demon Cultist who embraced Bertrand must be a Blood Duke and must hold him in high regard!

As if to confirm Charlotte’s suspicions, a dark red mark appeared on the Blood Demon Priest’s forehead as she delved into his memories…

It was the mark of a blood thrall.

This Blood Demon Priest was also a forbidden blood thrall!

As the mark flickered, cracks began to appear in the Blood Demon Priest’s soul, leading to rapid disintegration…

The restriction within his soul mark had been activated.

Charlotte’s eyes narrowed slightly.

She opened the Gospel of Blood, increasing her mental power input, trying to stabilize the soul.

At the same time, the soul mark within the Blood Demon Priest began to self-destruct rapidly.

Charlotte frowned slightly.

Sensing the rapid disintegration of the soul and the blood thrall mark, she unhesitatingly used her blood divine power.

However, the Blood Demon Cult’s experience in contending with the Holy Court was evident.

The self-destruct process of this Blood Demon Priest was faster than Charlotte had anticipated. Before she could fully read his memories, the Blood Demon Priest’s soul completely collapsed.

His eyes lost their light, and his form began to disintegrate.

He was dead.

This was the mental world.

A soul’s disintegration here meant they ceased to exist.

Watching the swift disintegration of the Blood Demon Priest, Charlotte increased the input of her blood divine power.

She controlled the Gospel of Blood, wrapping the disintegrating blood thrall mark in divine power, ultimately stabilizing it before the Blood Demon Priest’s body completely disintegrated.

The soul’s self-destructive waves gradually subsided. The Blood Demon Priest’s form had completely vanished, but a phantom-like blood thrall mark remained in Charlotte’s hand.

Surrounded by the blood divine power, the mark remained stable.

Seeing the stabilized blood thrall mark, Charlotte sighed in relief.

The blood thrall mark was connected to the bloodborne master behind the Blood Demon Priest. If it disintegrated, the master would sense it.

The Blood Demon Cult was clearly planning something in Lutecia, and Charlotte didn’t want to alert them yet.

Of course, not alerting them was impossible.

After all, a high-ranking priest of the Blood Demon Cult had died, they would find out sooner or later.

But… at least she couldn’t let this blood thrall mark disintegrate in the Dark Night Castle.

She had used divine power while controlling the Blood Demon Priest’s soul. If the mark disintegrated here, the Legendary bloodborne master might detect something unusual and sense her power.

Charlotte wasn’t ready to face a Legendary adversary head-on.

“What bad luck, this Blood Summoning was completely wasted.”

Charlotte sighed inwardly.

She hadn’t expected such bad luck, randomly summoning a Blood Demon Cultist, and not just any but a forbidden blood thrall.

The connection between a forbidden blood thrall and their master was too tight. A slight mishap would trigger the self-destruct mechanism. She couldn’t finish reading his memories before his soul disintegrated.

Even using divine power, she had only gleaned a bit more information.

This information was about the bloodborne master behind Bertrand de Chevalier.

The one who bestowed the First Embrace on Bertrand was a bloodborne named Albrecht Shedite, a Blood Duke of the Shedite Clan and a Dark Apostle of the Blood Demon Cult.

“Albrecht Shedite…”

Charlotte muttered the name.

As an “old friend” of the Blood Demon Cult, Charlotte had done some research on the Blood Demon Cult’s organizational structure.

Within the Blood Demon Cult, members were divided into five levels: Followers, Shadow Chasers, Priests, High Priests, and Dark Apostles.

Followers were regular believers, including ordinary followers of the Blood Demon Archduke and pre-awakeners below the extraordinary level.

Shadow Chasers were those who had achieved the Starry Sky tier, mostly Blood Barons.

Priests were Silver Moon tier extraordinaries, corresponding to Blood Viscounts for bloodbornes. Above them were High Priests, who were Blood Counts.

The highest rank was the Dark Apostles, all Legendary bloodbornes, equivalent to elders within the Nez Clan.

The Holy Court’s records also contained information about the Blood Demon Cult. From what Charlotte knew, there were six known Dark Apostles in the Blood Demon Cult.

However, for security reasons, the detailed information of the Dark Apostles was not included in the records she had read.

Now, Charlotte knew the name of one of them.

“Albrecht Shedite… In the sense of the Blood Summoning, there was a Shedite bloodline in the outer city of Lutecia, suspected to be a Legendary bloodborne. Could it be… Albrecht Shedite?”

As she processed this, she realized she had successfully switched her perspective.

Then… Charlotte found herself in a new body.

She looked down and saw herself dressed in a familiar black robe, the High Priest’s attire of the Blood Demon Cult.

She touched her chin and felt a rough beard…

She looked at her left hand, which held the same dark magic tome stained with blood and candle smoke that Bertrand had held.

Charlotte: …

She had possessed the Blood Demon Priest Bertrand.

Charlotte quickly checked her mental state and found that she had connected to Bertrand’s corpse through Albrecht’s “blood thrall mark.”

More accurately, she had established a connection through the blood thrall mark and projected her consciousness there with blood divine power.

However, Charlotte soon discovered that this possession was time-limited.

While her blood divine power maintained the “blood thrall mark”, it was merely delaying its destruction.

The “blood thrall mark” was still self-destructing, albeit at a much slower rate.

At the critical point, it would still be destroyed, and Charlotte’s consciousness would be expelled from Bertrand’s corpse.

Charlotte sensed she could maintain this state for one to two days.

Of course, assuming Albrecht Shedite didn’t attempt to contact his blood thrall through the mark.

Having confirmed her condition, Charlotte’s thoughts shifted.

Although she couldn’t fully read Bertrand’s memories, she had found another way to investigate the Blood Demon Cult’s secrets!

With this in mind, Charlotte looked around and found herself in a very familiar temple.

This was a dilapidated temple, seemingly quite ancient, with dim lighting and murky air, likely located underground.

The temple was filled with massive stone pillars supporting the dome. These pillars were covered with rugged carvings and inscribed with ancient texts, which, though eroded by time, still exuded a sense of age and mystery.

Surrounding the temple were long stone corridors that extended into the distance. The walls were adorned with primitive carvings and murals depicting scenes of bloodborne wars.

At the center of the temple was a large circular hall, where Charlotte was now standing. Both the altar and the Demon Eye were located here.

Seeing the familiar hall and murals, Charlotte’s heart skipped a beat.

She recognized this place.

Here was an ancient temple.