Chapter 91: The Ritual

An hour later a clean and refreshed Number 3 walked back to her comfy chair in front of the fireplace and plopped down into it with an audible sigh.

Granny was looking at her with a smile on her face. Refilling both of their cups, she pushed a teacup in front of her. 

"Drink up and rest for a bit, we will begin in the afternoon. It's going to be quite taxing you know." she said after a few silent sips.

Nodding her head, Number 3 took a sip from her cup before she answered.

"Yes, I know. Although I have never seen the ritual, I've read about it in the ancient texts. The Grandmaster has quite the extensive library you know." 

Sipping once again, she contently sighed and continued.

"Still, the fact that you are just like him… It's hard to wrap my head around this fact. Between him, The Reaper, and you, who is the strongest?"

"Don't be silly, I am just an old granny, nothing more!" Granny nonchalantly answered between 2 sips.

"Sure you are…" Number 3 mumbled under her breath and continued to enjoy her tea in silence.

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After an enjoyable but uneventful lunch, both of them gathered in front of the fireplace once again. This time, however, the large cauldron that Granny used for her alchemy sessions were placed on top of the steadily crackling fire.

"This power will not be enough for this brewing… Sadly, I have to change the flames…" Granny mumbled mostly to herself, while Number 3 just silently smiled.

Using both hands, Granny began to draw 2 runes in the air simultaneously. The rune she was drawing with her left hand was giving off a blue hue, while the right was shining in a bright red color. 

Seconds quickly passed turning into minutes and the only sound that could be heard besides the steadily cracking fire was the faint humming noise that the floating runes gave. Number 3 was intently watching the whole event.

After about ten minutes, Granny finally added the finishing touches to both runes. As soon as she did, both runes glowed in their respective blue and red colors brightly.

Gently touching both runes with her index fingers, she whispered two words in the ancient tongue.

"Primo Ignis"

The next moment, as her fingers touched the runes, both of them flew into the fire merging with it. The fire turned blue, then scarlet, and finally purple. They no longer felt any heat radiating from it, but there was an uneasy, unsettling feeling coming from the purple flames.

"Soul fire… Never thought I would see it once again in my life. Incredible." Number 3 said while gazing at those flames. Then, she looked at Granny who was back to her usually gently smiling self. "So, these are the famous flames that can burn even the living souls while leaving the bodies untouched?"

Granny did not answer the question, instead, she picked up the brown bag that was already placed next to the fireplace and gave it to Number 3.

"I will need to give my total focus to this ritual, so you will have to handle the ingredients. Start preparing them, while I begin, we don't have much time."

Grabbing the bag, she opened it up and poured the contents to the nearby table they used for their regular tea sessions. Various hard-to-find, and rare monster parts and herbs rolled out.

Hearts, huge reptilian eyes, fangs, claws, and pure black flowers were just some of the most interesting contents of the bag. 

"Water." Was the first word Granny spoke as she arrived in front of the cauldron. In response, Number 3 simply waved her left hand, and the huge barrel swiftly flew in from the kitchen and floated above the cauldron, awaiting the next order.

"Just a bit, two fingers." Granny gave the order upon which the barrel slightly tilted, and a weak flow of clean water started pouring into the empty cauldron. 

"Enough. Put it back. Give me a few minutes to prepare for the first part." 

Number 3 silently nodded and waved her left hand. In the next moment, the barrel still full of water swiftly flew back into the kitchen without spilling anything to the ground.

Once again, minutes passed in silence, as there were no more words from Granny. Instead, she was gazing at the fire and mumbling something incomprehensible even for Number 3, while keeping both of her hands above the cauldron. As she continued her monotonous chant, blue and red rays of light occasionally flew from her hands and vanished into the thin layer of clear water. 

As another ten minutes passed like this, she suddenly stopped her chant, and abruptly gave her next command without pulling her gaze from the cauldron.

"Give me the Fire Salamandra Heart now, and ground up the Demon Clorys, I will need it soon." 

"Hmm…" Number 3 silently hummed, and with another wave of her left hand, the huge heart from the desk flew up and levitated into the cauldron. As soon as it did the previously colorless water turned thicker and darker. 

Closing her eyes, Granny resumed her monotonous mumbling while keeping her open palms above the cauldron. As the occasional red and blue rays of light shoot out from her hand into the cauldron, the thick black gooey substances started bubbling. 

Meanwhile, Number 3 prepared all the remaining ingredients. She grounded the herbs into dust and prepared it into an empty bowl. Then, without waiting for the next set of instructions, she started preparing the remaining monster parts on the table.

Once again, stopping her chant, she gave the next set of commands. 

"Give me the Demon Clorys dust and prepare the Dark Lion fangs and the claws. You can grind them up similarly and mix them together. Try to be fast, as we are soon starting the second phase."

With another wave of her left hands, the flower dust flew into the cauldron, once again changing the gooey substance. This time, the goo changed viscosity again, picking up a syrupy characteristic while similarly changing its color from charcoal black to a silvery grey. 

After that, Granny continued to bombard the contents of the cauldron with the red and blue light rays, while keeping up the chant. Beads of sweat started to shine on her forehead, the first signs of her rapidly depleting stamina.

Noticing the beads, Number 3 softly asked.

"Do you want me to help? Can you handle the next part?"

Shaking her head, Granny sternly replied without facing the woman.

"Don't bother with it. I can handle it. Just focus on your job."

"As you wish…" Number 3 mumbled to herself and continued grinding the monstrous claws and fangs into a bowl. 

Minutes passed once again in silence, as Granny continued with the ritual. Beads of sweat continued to gather on her forehead, but she did not falter and continued to bombard the contents until it finally turned from silvery gray to a mixture between silvery blue and silvery red. 

As soon as the two colors were visible on the surface, she gave the next instruction.

"Give me the rest of the ingredients then stay next to me." 

As the ground up black dust flew from the bowl to the cauldron, the syrupy multi-colored liquid immediately reacted and a loud sizzling sound could be heard, while a black smoke started to rise from the surface.

"Argh, we need to be faster…" Granny grumbled, then while keeping her hand above the cauldron and continuing the steady pace of the multi-colored energy bombardment, she spoke.

"For the next part, you will need to steadily inject your energy while I add the final ingredient."

Nodding, Number 3 walked up to the cauldron and while placing her delicate hands above the cauldron, similarly to Granny she closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath, her hands started to glow in white, and a steady heat could be felt radiating from it. 

She kept up the concentration, and without opening up her eyes, she whispered.

"Is this enough? Or should I increase the output?"

"It is fine. Keep this up while I prepare for the second phase."

Taking a deep breath, Granny focused herself on something hidden deep inside her. A legacy, a power that was somewhat similar to Aiden, but at the same time, completely different. 

As she opened her eyes, it was radiating the same golden glow as it did a few nights ago. Her hands that were still above the cauldron rapidly transformed, the wrinkly old skin turned golden in color as the draconic scales appeared. The end of her scaly fingers grew thick black claws. 

A majestic and familiar draconic aura burst out from her body, the particles in the air around her buzzed with excitement. 

Although she was expecting it, it still took everything for Number 3 not to tremble in fright as she suddenly felt the incredible aura pass through her, radiating from the previously harmless old woman. 

"She is still incredible…" she muttered under her breath as she kept injecting the energy to the cauldron.