Lord of Mysteries: Taiyi

Chapter 154 Crime and Punishment

Backlund, Harvest Church.

Kurt stood before the emblem once more and gently placed his palm on it.

He began to silently recite the Bible, and this time a green light flashed before his eyes.

A necklace appeared around Kurt's neck, with two small swords crossed at the top.

One sword is gold, and the other is blackish-purple. The two swords are tightly crossed, exuding a faint sense of majesty and a touch of allure.

Immediately afterward, the effects of this extraordinary item appeared in Kurt's mind.

"Such a luxurious setup," Kurt thought, somewhat surprised as he received the specific effects of this extraordinary item.

He even suspected that this extraordinary item was commissioned by the Mother Goddess to be made by the God of Steam and Machinery.

He first gave this extraordinary item a name: "Sin and Punishment".

It has three forms.

The first form is the necklace state, which has the effect of permanently enhancing charm and prestige through the "sin and punishment" aspect.

Kurt's words are somewhat convincing, and he is more likely to gain people's trust.

Users can activate the necklace to gain three abilities: "Judgment", "Mental Piercing" and "Notarization". In other words, Kurt now has the core ability of an arbitrator, "Judgment", and can also perform useful "Notarization" without relying on source matter.

The Witch of Pain brought with her two abilities: "Plague" and "Curse," as well as a special ability: the Vessel of Pain.

It can actively collect and preserve the suffering in the world.

This is the complete form of the "Sin and Punishment" necklace. The side effect is that while wearing it, viruses will slowly accumulate, causing illness. It will also amplify the user's understanding of justice and evil.

To put it simply, Kurt's behavior will become more extreme, and both his evil and good intentions will be amplified. For example, if Kurt dislikes someone, he might have previously only felt contempt, but now he might lose control and kill that person outright.

Conversely, when trying to help a homeless person, Kurt might inadvertently donate all the money he has on him.

The side effects are still somewhat dangerous, but acceptable. These problems can be avoided through caution and restraint in daily life.

As for illness, Kurt can treat himself at any time, so it's not a big problem.

The second form is "Sin and Punishment," which transforms into a pair of swords, each with a blade length of approximately 120cm.

Its ability is very special; the sword can be covered with painful flames that can directly burn spirits. It is probably a combination of "mental piercing" and "black flames".

Enemies struck by the Flame of Pain will feel the burning pain in their internal organs and soul, and will contemplate suicide.

Pain Infusion allows you to release all the pain you've accumulated at once, imposing it all on the enemy's spirit.

When the enemy completely loses the courage to fight you, is utterly desperate, or has a subjective feeling that life is worse than death, the enemy's soul will be judged and directly perish.

In other words, as long as you beat the opponent to the point of being helpless or wanting to die, you can directly kill the opponent's spirit.

The area is a radius of 200 meters.

In this form, "Sin and Punishment" inflicts far greater penalties. It amplifies the user's sense of pain, and once activated, if the user experiences a death tendency and despair more severe than the enemy, they will be killed by Sin and Punishment. Once the dual-sword form is activated, this side effect will last for at least two hours.

The third form is the bow form, which has a similar effect to the dual-sword form, but the attack method becomes ranged.

However, it has an additional ability: mirror warp, allowing arrows to warp through reflections.

The maximum kill limit is Sequence 3 —

This is the full power of "Sin and Punishment"—its attack power is truly maxed out. As long as you can put the enemy into despair or intense suicidal thoughts, their spirit will be slain.

Of course, ordinary extraordinary beings would not easily fall into despair, but dual swords and bows are used to attack spirits, which are difficult to defend against, and their destructive power is considerable.

Kurt touched the still-warm "Sin and Punishment" with satisfaction and piously praised the Mother Goddess.

Then, I honestly had Melanie record the effects of the extraordinary items.

After inquiring about Emlyn White's situation, Kurt found Leah and headed to the dock area again.

After thoroughly searching the dock area again, it was almost dark. Kurt looked at the streets, which were still bustling with workers.

Resisting the urge to go up and give them money, he and Leah found a cheap restaurant and had dinner together.

At dinner, Lia watched Kurt quietly eating his toast and felt that Kurt was different from before, making it even harder to look away.

After taking a bite of beef, Leah glanced around. Since the dockworkers ate dinner late, there weren't many people around. She then asked in a low voice, "Kut, doesn't Harvest Church not have an official squad? What do you usually do? Um, things other than being a teacher."

Kurt swallowed his toast, glanced at Leah who had regained some of her liveliness, and said simply, "In the morning, I go to church to learn some occult knowledge from my teacher Melanie, and then I train in combat there. In the afternoon, I stay home and read books—and study watches. Oh, right, I no longer teach in the East District. Hmm, I've found a successor—"

Overall, it was quite relaxing.

Leaving aside all the strange and bizarre things, Kurt's life is actually not bad. Unfortunately, this damned aggregation effect causes Kurt to encounter extraordinary events every now and then.

Moreover, the mysterious world is riddled with problems. As someone who has lived most of their life in civilized society, they must have something to do now that they have the ability.

There's also this "Clockmaker" potion, which makes him uncomfortable whenever he's idle—because he clearly feels the passage of every second, and feels the entropy around him irreversibly becoming chaotic. If he does nothing, he feels very anxious.

Kurt experienced this firsthand when he played the "Watchmaker." If an Extraordinary from this pathway were to stay home for a month, they would definitely lose control. The feeling of the world slipping away from one's fingertips is very unpleasant.

Kurt and Leah chatted about everyday things, and after dinner, they went back to the Kerner Mediation Center together.

He didn't have to come, but he hadn't forgotten about Finks. After finding Hans, Kurt asked, "Have you found Finks's family? Has anyone returned to inherit his estate?"

Hans, as if he had been prepared, said, "We found a distant cousin of Finks who is doing business in the Southern Continent and won't be coming over anytime soon."

Finks and his mother's remains were cremated a few days ago. When Kurt heard the news, he took their ashes and planned to visit Coralie in a couple of days before holding the funeral so that Finks could finally rest in peace.

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