"So, you're telling to hold this broken umbrella and believe that it can expel the curse inside ?" Constantine looked at the old umbrella on the table, then looked up at Schiller and said, "Even if you're not satisfied with the story I told you, you don't have to think of as a fool, do you?"
"I'm not dissatisfied with the story you told," Schiller shook his head and said, "Although it's not particularly exciting, it's better than nothing."
Schiller was telling the truth. That day, Constantine revealed his entire plan to Batman and Schiller.
As expected, in the previous version of the story, he still hadn't told the truth about Mrs. Sanchez.
"The Magic Circle in the Cooper Room was indeed used by the Ghost Mother to sacrifice the souls of children, but we played a trick and set a trap for the demon."
"At that ti, besides and Cooper, Lorena was also present, and she was already pregnant with a child. She drew a Magic Circle to sacrifice the soul of the child to the demon and activated it, using her unborn child as bait to lure the demon."
"When the demon arrived, Lorena and I proposed that he pay the price before we could offer the sacrifice. This type of negotiation is quite common with demons, and so demons would even grant you power before collecting their dues..."
"That demon agreed, and the condition we proposed was for him to kill Cooper and consu his soul. In an instant, the demon's power caused Cooper's body to fill the entire room. However, what the demon didn't know was that I had drawn another Magic Circle, and the sacrifice was actually Cooper himself."
"The demon lured here by my second Magic Circle saw that his sacrifice had been killed by another demon. They fought each other, and in the end, the demon lured by the Ghost Mother, who couldn't match the demon I lured, was killed and turned to ashes."
Schiller and Batman looked at each other, thinking of the pile of ashes they saw in the middle of the Magic Circle.
"The demon I lured didn't give any power and didn't consu the sacrifice. The trade never actually started, so he cursed at and returned to hell."
"Why did Cooper's body lose one-third of its mass?"
"I used it as a decoy. The ash clone wasn't made by the demon for , but by myself. But making such a thing requires so... materials, so I improvised..."
"Okay, what happened next? Why did Mrs. Sanchez turn into a demon?"
"That's because we had a slight disagreent later." Constantine sighed and said, "As I ntioned before, Lorena really wanted to break free from the Dark Ritual and leave Gotham, but she didn't want to leave empty-handed."
"Before, she had made deals with many children using candies and gained control over their souls. She wanted to sacrifice all these souls to the demon in one go and exchange them for power, so she could leave Gotham with that power."
"This was a common thing in the eyes of Dark Sorcerers. Due to an accident, I also beca a heinous Dark Sorcerer in their eyes. Therefore, when Lorena and her lover discussed this matter, they didn't avoid ntioning , and I heard their entire plan."
"For this reason, I had a falling-out with them, but it was indeed my doing that Lorena turned into a demon."
"As you saw earlier, we exchanged a few blows in the room. Her lover was no match for , and before I even went all out, he was burned to a crisp."
"Lorena knew she wasn't my match, so she tried to run towards the Altar. She went to
the Altar to sacrifice the souls of those few children in exchange for more powerful abilities."
"I've ntioned before that I have quite a few acquaintances in Hell. While Lorena was busy heading towards the Altar, I quickly drew a new Magic Circle and summoned a Demon. I asked him to be the first to respond to Lorena's call and infuse her body with the power of the Demon, turning her into a half-Demon..."
"So, when Lorena activated the Altar, the first one to respond to her was the Demon with whom I made the deal. Obviously, my offer was much higher than Lorena's, so the Demon prioritized completing my transaction and turned Lorena into a Demon. You all know what happened next..."
"What did you offer?" Batman asked.
"It's simple. I promised that after I die, he would get my soul. As you know, I was almost killed by the curse of my elder brother, and the Demon saw that. He was eager to claim my soul, so he wasted no ti in fulfilling my request."
Schiller shook his head and said, "Was that Demon from out of town? Didn't he know about your infamous reputation for overpricing?"
"He knew, but he saw that I was on the brink of death. He wanted to be the last Demon to complete a transaction with , so he would have a stronger claim when fighting over my soul."
"So, you're still a good person who saved the children of Gotham?" Schiller asked Constantine, but Constantine shook his head and said, "I'm not that noble. I just knew that Lorena's plan wouldn't succeed."
"That mysterious Dark Ritual wouldn't be able to extract the souls of all the children. Gotham wouldn't allow it."
"Dark Owl Priest..." Batman muttered the na.
"Dark Owl Priest?" Constantine looked at the broken umbrella on the table and asked with confusion, "Are you saying that the priests are behind this umbrella?"
"As far as I know, the wealthy mbers of the Court of Owls certainly don't have the ability to create such an umbrella. We've already confird that a special tal was infused into the umbrella, giving it resistance to Gotham's unique rain and special resistance against magic."
Constantine hesitated and picked up the umbrella. He touched the tal on it and felt a subtle, extraordinary power. However, he still said, "Even so, it probably won't be able to remove the curse..."
"The strength of a weapon depends on who wields it."
Schiller reached under the table and pulled out a new umbrella. He slid his hand down from the handle, gripping the shaft. Before Constantine could put down the broken umbrella, he saw Schiller's movent and suddenly had a bad feeling. He said, "Hey, wait!"
With a loud "bang," Schiller knocked Constantine down to the ground...
If this action were slowed down many tis, in the instant the handle of the umbrella touched Constantine's chin, a barely perceptible wisp of gray mist entered Constantine's body.
This thin mist instantly explored Constantine's body and soul, then settled in a corner, enveloping a strand of curse in the shape of an embryo.
As the mist wrapped around the curse, the curse fiercely resisted, but the tal gloss on the Umbrella held by Constantine glimred, causing the black curse to pause montarily.
In that mont, Schiller's Umbrella struck Constantine's chin, and with a stronger tallic gleam on the New Umbrella, with a "bang," the gray mist and the curse were both expelled from Constantine's body.
Schiller's figure vanished instantly and reappeared behind Constantine. He grabbed the bundle of cursed gray mist with his hand, and more gray mist poured out between his fingers, layer upon layer, wrapping around the curse.
Then, as Constantine lay on the ground, he looked up and saw Schiller crouching down, holding a gray sphere in his hand, shaking it above his head.
Constantine rolled over, got up from the ground, rubbed his chin, and looked at the gray sphere in Schiller's hand. Schiller asked, "What do you plan to do with it?"
Constantine shook his head and said, "This is not an ordinary curse. As soon as I co into contact with it, it will be like a festering sore attached to my bones..."
"In theory, nothing I can get my hands on can trap it, otherwise I would have already gotten it out. However..."
Constantine turned his head and looked at Schiller's Umbrella. He said, "Since the tal in this Umbrella can expel it, it ans that this type of tal can affect it. Therefore, perhaps this Umbrella can beco a container to imprison it."
"Is that so?" Schiller also turned around and looked at his own Umbrella. He dismantled the handle of the Umbrella, revealing the hollow tal tube inside. Then, with his other hand, he squeezed the gray sphere smaller and smaller, as if performing magic, and stuffed the small sphere into the tube of the Umbrella.
He fixed the handle back in place, and wisps of gray mist dispersed from the tube of the Umbrella. The gray mist returned to Schiller's body, while the Curse Embryo was left trapped inside the Umbrella, made of Special tal.
Schiller took a look at his Umbrella and found that its appearance hadn't changed at all. The Curse Embryo seed to be trapped inside the Umbrella and didn't provide any enhancents to the Umbrella.
However, suddenly, Schiller seed to have thought of sothing. He slid his hand down from the handle of the Umbrella, grabbed the middle part of the Umbrella, and turned around, staring maliciously at Constantine.
Constantine reached out his hand and said, "Wait, what are you trying to do? Don't co any closer!"
This ti, Constantine was prepared. He waved his hand, and a black book appeared in his hand, followed by an invisible force field spreading out, a transparent Magic Shield protecting his entire body.
Schiller, on the other hand, swung the Umbrella without hesitation. With an upward motion and a loud bang, Constantine was sent flying into the wall. The Magic Shield shattered like pieces of broken ice, scattering all over the floor...
Schiller withdrew his hand with great satisfaction and even caressed the Umbrella, saying, "You would make a good elder brother."
Constantine got up from the ground, coughed twice, and said, "What just happened? How did my Magic Shield..."
"Didn't I tell you before? The tal used in this Umbrella has a restraining effect on magic. Of course, that should only be part of the reason. The more important thing is that your elder brother seems very displeased with you..."
"Damn elder brother, he hasn't even been born yet!"
"But he is still your elder brother." Schiller tapped the Umbrella in his hand twice and said, "Although it has now beco my Umbrella Spirit, who knows, maybe one day it will grow up and give you a good beating."
"Do you know, Constantine, originally I had no interest in Mysticism..." Schiller walked behind the table and sat down. He said, "The abilities I possess that appear to be like magic are not actually magic. Their origins are different from yours."
"I also have no intention of studying how to make deals with devils in exchange for powerful abilities. I have no interest in Magic Circles, Spells, or magical items. However, now I have a subject of interest. Can you guess what it is?"
Constantine had a bad feeling and his gaze fell on Schiller's Umbrella. He heard Schiller say, "This subject is how to raise a curse... or should I say, my New Umbrella?"
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