Gospel of Blood

Following the ethereal guidance, Charlotte quickly pinpointed the target’s location. It was on the bookshelf in the study.

Controlling Bertrand’s body, Charlotte approached the bookshelf and began searching.

She soon sensed the call coming from behind the bookshelf.

She wasn’t surprised.

The Gospel’s pages, after all, were fragments of a divine artifact. Even if stored, they wouldn’t be left out in the open.

It was now clear that they were hidden in some secret compartment or room.

Drawing on Bertrand’s lingering memories, Charlotte fumbled around the bookshelf and soon found a hidden mechanism inside.

With a gentle pull, she heard a soft click as the bookshelf revealed a concealed space behind it.

Indeed, it was a secret room, albeit a small one, no larger than four or five square meters—about the size of a bathroom from Charlotte’s previous life.

The storeroom was filled with boxes and scrolls of various sizes. The innermost wall displayed an array of weapons and armor, while on one side of the entrance wall was an indented bookshelf lined with neatly arranged books.

Charlotte’s gaze quickly settled on a box at the top.

It was the newest box, seemingly made of mithril, shining under the dim magical light. It was adorned with intricate carvings and runes, with a red magic stone embedded in it.

Even with her rudimentary magical knowledge, Charlotte recognized this as a sealing chest, from which the familiar call emanated.

Returning to the consciousness space, she refocused on the Gospel of Blood.

Crimson light emanated from the Gospel of Blood, causing the thick book to open by itself. New lines of writing slowly appeared on its pages.

As Charlotte divided her attention to check, she discovered an array of new dark magic spells, from basic level spells like 『Touch of Darkness』 to high-level spells like 『Death’s Gaze』, totaling more than twenty.

Additionally, there were two new spells from the mental and wild paths: one for enhancing mental power, 『Heart of Steel』, and one for physical strength, 『Giant’s Strength』, both mid-level spells corresponding to Silver Moon.

Charlotte was quite satisfied with these new spells.

As she collected more Gospel pages, the Gospel of Blood recorded more and more blood magic.

To be honest, she no longer lacked spells to learn.

Sometimes, she even felt overwhelmed by the abundance of spells. If not for the Gospel of Blood’s ability to inherit, she would have struggled to keep up.

However, having more spells on hand was never a bad thing. Although Charlotte had learned most of these spells without ever using them, it was better than not learning them at all.

These were her resources, ready to be used whenever needed.

Among all the spells, the one Charlotte found most useful was 『Heart of Steel』. With the blood divine power, Charlotte could often achieve overwhelming power, but controlling this power consumed a lot of mental power. Strengthening her mental power would greatly enhance her endurance.

As for the high-level spell 『Death’s Gaze』, it seemed a bit redundant for Charlotte, whose current strength was at the Silver Moon tier. However, she could try this Blazing Sun tier spell when using the blood divine power or during True Ancestor’s Liberation.

As each Gospel page returned, the Gospel of Blood grew heavier.

After the final page was restored, the Gospel of Blood shone with an even more dazzling light.

It was no longer the crimson glow but a familiar golden light.

Seeing this light, Charlotte felt a surge of excitement.

For the Gospel of Blood, every time a page was added, it was a restoration. Each restoration evolved into new blood magic.

When the restoration reached a certain point, the Gospel of Blood would unlock even more powerful “abilities.”

From the earliest 『Divine Ritual Counter』, to 『Blood Summoning』, then 『True Ancestor’s Liberation』, which remained Charlotte’s trump card, and 『Divine Blessing』 and 『Faith Network』 that began Charlotte’s path of faith, all were examples.

Clearly, this time, after absorbing so many pages, the Gospel of Blood’s power had reached a new level!

Dividing her attention to control the “puppet”, Charlotte focused her main energy back on the Gospel of Blood.

Soon, she saw ancient golden characters appear on the new blank pages—

『Gospel of Blood – Dark Chapter』

『I listen to the mad hymns and the devil’s whispers,』

『I carve the true names of evil and portraits of ancient gods,』

『In the name of darkness, I summon the curtain of shadows,』

『With the soul of frenzy, I summon the spirit of chaos,』

『With the body of blood spirit, I summon the eye of corruption,』

『Witnessed by the most ancient contract…』

『Core of the Dark Chapter restored, final ability unlocked—』

『Demon Contract (Active)』

『Demon Contract: As the supreme artifact of the Bloodborne, the Gospel of Blood records the contract of obedience signed between the True Ancestor and the ancient demon. It can summon any demon that responds to the present world for manipulation. The strength of the summoned demon is proportional to the power provided. The time the demon stays in the present world is also proportional to the power provided. All beings with demon blood will be bound by this contract to a certain extent.』

“Demon… Contract?”

Charlotte was taken aback.

This new ability was somewhat unexpected.

The Dark Chapter already had demon summoning spells. Among the spells Charlotte previously obtained, there were spells to summon imps and shadow demons.

However, those were targeted spells, while this one was more general.

Charlotte had never used demon summoning spells because she had no use for them.

Dark magic was already forbidden in the Crescent Kingdom, let alone summoning demons. As a lord, Charlotte didn’t lack lackeys, summoning demons was quite redundant.

Hence, upon seeing this new ability, Charlotte’s first reaction was a bit disappointed.

However, Charlotte knew that every ability unlocked by the Gospel of Blood was significant. Moreover, the text description suggested this ability was unlocked after a considerable restoration of the Dark Chapter, likely related to the chapter’s essence.

Charlotte studied it carefully and soon discovered the uniqueness of this new ability.

First, 『Demon Contract』 didn’t limit the strength and types of demons summoned. As long as the summoning energy was sufficient, the summoned demon could be very powerful. In a sense, with enough power, she could even summon a myth-level demon…

Second, the summoned demons needed to obey the Demon Contract unconditionally, staying only for a limited time but under complete control, unlike other summoning contracts that risked demon backlash.

Third, not only the summoned demons but all beings with demon blood would be somewhat restrained by this ability.

This was indeed powerful.

With no restriction on the strength and types of demons summoned, it had a wide range of applications. If Charlotte was willing to spend enough power, she could even summon a demon lord-level entity as a combatant, which would be meaningful when facing extraordinary forces.

True Ancestor’s Liberation allowed Charlotte to possess near-demigod strength, but it was only her alone. Her control over the blood divine power was crude, and in actual combat, she might not match experienced Legendaries.

With the Demon Contract, things would be different.

As long as she was willing to spend power, Charlotte could summon a demon lord to fight against Legendaries, using overwhelming power to drown the opponent.

Additionally, completely obedient summoned demons could serve as pawns for Charlotte to create chaos when she couldn’t intervene directly.

For example… the current situation was an excellent opportunity.

Furthermore, there was the fourth point—the Blood Demon Cult’s power…

Having dealt with the Blood Demon Cult for nearly two years since crossing over, Charlotte knew that the cult derived much of its power from demons.

The Blood Demon Cult’s name wasn’t just because of its evil doctrine but also its intrinsic connection to demons.

Many of the cult’s powers were demon-like. Even Blood Demon Archduke Abaddon could be inferred as a demon from the abyss based on the incantation offered to him.

Bloodbornes often had dual identities. For example, Charlotte was a bloodborne but also had half-elf blood.

Although she wasn’t strictly human anymore, her pre-bloodborne identity left an imprint, allowing her to operate in human society unless she revealed her true power.

Similarly, Blood Demon Archduke Abaddon was a bloodborne but was likely a demon before becoming one.

Meanwhile, the Blood Demon Cultists derived their power from Blood Demon Archduke…

This brought an interesting fact.

All Shedite bloodbornes inherently possessed some demon power, their blood containing demonic essence.

『Demon Contract』 imposed a certain degree of contractual restraint on beings with demon blood, while the True Ancestor’s bloodline also suppressed other bloodbornes…

Charlotte suddenly became very curious about how ‘obedient’ the Blood Demon Cult’s bloodbornes would be before her.

She felt it was worth testing in the coming days.

After studying the 『Demon Contract』, Charlotte set it aside.

Recovering the Gospel pages was gratifying, but there were many other things in this apparent treasury of Bertrand’s storeroom to investigate.

As a Blood Count and a noble of the kingdom, Bertrand’s collection was of great interest to Charlotte.

She first examined the boxes, opening them one by one to find various precious magical materials and items.

Charlotte wasn’t a novice; a quick look and a judgment with the mental path’s 『Extraordinary Appraisal』 gave her an estimate that these materials and items were worth millions of gold tana.

While Charlotte was wealthy, many extraordinary items couldn’t be bought with money alone. She decided to take whatever she could carry.

After her “scavenging”, Charlotte’s attention was drawn to the books on the inner bookshelf.

Most of the books were records of dark magic and bloodborne spells, which held little appeal to Charlotte due to the Gospel of Blood.

What truly interested Charlotte was a sheepskin booklet and a thick journal in the corner of the bookshelf.

One was a roster, and the other a record book.