“Where is this?!”
Roland murmured to himself as he looked at the scene before him, which resembled a painted scroll.
Beneath his feet lay two overlapping magic circles, predominantly dark red and black.
Merely looking at them evoked an unspeakable, ravenous malice, as if a beast waiting to devour a person were staring dead at him with aggressive, venomous eyes. This made Roland involuntarily shudder as cold sweat seeped from his back, his throat swallowing uncontrollably.
Had he been kidnapped by some evil cultists to perform some forbidden, wicked ritual?
Roland thought to himself with lingering fear.
"..."
Soon, as his mind began to work...
Countless memory fragments began to surge forth.
It was as if they were actively answering all his current doubts.
His brain froze for ten whole minutes before Roland finally sorted everything out. He had transmigrated into the body of Roland Morningstar Lucifiel, and just last night, this body had simultaneously performed two ancient forbidden rituals: 【Beast and Human】 and 【Blood and Flesh】. The former could drastically increase soul strength, while the latter could drastically increase physical strength.
The reason these two forbidden rituals were deemed forbidden was naturally far more complex than their descriptions implied.
First, during the ritual of 【Beast and Human】, one had to choose either the side of the 【Beast】 or the 【Human】, with different rewards granted at the end. Roland Morningstar Lucifiel, however, was different—he chose both. The requirement for performing the ritual of the mad and cunning beast was to meticulously plan a tragic and horrific bloody sacrificial ritual.
Did that sound simple?
Of course not. That was merely a simplified phrasing. The true meaning was to sacrifice over a hundred thousand ordinary humans to conduct a grand sacrificial ritual, whereupon an outer evil god would respond to the sacrificer, bestow an evil god's blessing, and manifest an avatar.
Roland Morningstar Lucifiel had taken an unconventional approach, choosing as sacrifices the remains of a Seventh-Rank Sword Saint, a Seventh-Rank Paradox Apostle, and ten Sixth-Rank powerhouses—possessing life force equivalent to a hundred thousand ordinary humans. This drastically reduced the physical scope of the ritual without requiring the slaughter of an entire city's population.
As for the requirement to perform the ritual of the arrogant and rational human, it was even more complex: you needed to go on a bloody slaughter frenzy alone to prove that you yourself were the symbol of the greatest existence.
This, too, was a simplified explanation.
The true original meaning was that you needed to single-handedly kill at least four hundred and forty-four powerhouses one rank higher than yourself within twenty-four hours.
Either ritual was of hellish difficulty.
One could even say that each was an almost impossible task.
The reason it was called "almost" impossible was that Roland Morningstar Lucifiel had actually accomplished it. Before him, it was completely impossible. Most importantly, in a forbidden ritual where one was supposed to choose only one path, he, arrogant as he was, chose both.
The former was quite easy for him. The Lucifiel family vault contained everything, including the remains of powerhouses; once a life form reached a sufficiently high tier, their very body became an extremely valuable material.
As for the latter, a mysterious old friend who wished to remain anonymous was more than willing to help him, creating homunculi possessing life but no soul, allowing him to complete it with ease.
【Beast and Human: Mad and cunning beast, you need to meticulously plan a tragic and horrific bloody sacrificial ritual to proclaim the arrival of a great existence to the world; arrogant and rational human, you need to go on a bloody slaughter frenzy alone to prove that you yourself are the symbol of the greatest existence】
【You have passed the trial】
【"Human" and "Beast" have conflicted】
【The price of the forbidden is about to descend】
【"Original Sin · King of Pride · Lucifer" has exempted this price】
As for the other forbidden ritual, 【Blood and Flesh】, it was even simpler, and its description was extraordinarily clear. As stated, the sacrificer needed to bathe in their own blood and flesh, with death as the price. As for success, if you succeeded, you succeeded; if you failed, you died.
【Blood and Flesh: You need to bathe in your own blood and flesh to perform a forbidden sacrifice. Death is the most trivial price to pay, to be reborn in blood amidst endless glory】
【"Original Sin · King of Pride · Lucifer" forcefully exempted the price of death】
【You have passed the trial】
【"Original Sin · King of Pride · Lucifer" has exempted this price】
...
Roland Morningstar Lucifiel, you truly are an arrogant fellow!
To actually undergo two impossible forbidden rituals at the same time.
【Pride · Soul Forge (Prismatic): Obtained after passing the forbidden ritual of "Beast and Human." Your soul has received immense satisfaction. Influenced by "Original Sin · King of Pride · Lucifer," "Soul Forge" has specialized into "Original Sin (Pride) · Soul Forge." You can harvest and devour the lingering souls of corpses to infinitely strengthen your soul intensity and mental power.】
【Pride · Feast (Prismatic): Obtained after passing the forbidden ritual of "Blood and Flesh." Your physical body has received immense satisfaction. Influenced by "Original Sin · King of Pride · Lucifer," "Feast" has specialized into "Original Sin (Pride) · Feast." You can devour all lingering energy from corpses to infinitely strengthen your physical body strength.】
“Oho, it actually turned out to be Prismatic.”
Roland examined it with great interest.
In the original game plot, Roland Morningstar Lucifiel possessed these exact same abilities. He was already well aware of this. Once again, the devs had balanced the stats with their feet, but luckily, all those broken stats had now been bestowed upon himself.
This was also enough to prove Roland's fondness for this character.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have given his own name to the character.
Or rather, the two of them were originally the very same person.
By now, Roland had fully grasped the situation. This traced back to 【Original Sin · King of Pride · Lucifer】, an ability with a very interesting quirk.
【Original Sin · King of Pride · Lucifer (Prismatic): Completely immune to beguiling abilities from all ranks below True God. You suffer no negative effects. The King of Pride refuses death in any abnormal form (costs, curses, plagues, sacrifices...), reigning over the world in full glory in peak condition. Targets of the same rank or lower are judged as "weaklings." You possess absolute suppressive power over "weaklings," temporarily and perfectly copying a specially enhanced version of all their abilities. For higher-ranked enemies, you can copy a degraded version of their abilities, up to a maximum of three.】
The most crucial point lay in: The King of Pride refuses death in any abnormal form, reigning over the world in full glory in peak condition.
In the game, to prevent players from exploiting bugs where non-physical attacks depleted his HP bar, Roland Morningstar Lucifiel would directly restore to full health. The lore background described this exact ability as well.
In other words, during the execution of the two forbidden rituals...
...the original Roland Morningstar Lucifiel had indeed died, or rather entered a state of death. However, because it was an abnormal death, and the death state was treated as a debuff, it fell directly within the judgment scope of 【Original Sin · King of Pride · Lucifer】, resulting in him ultimately reigning over the world in full glory in peak condition.
There was a lot to be said about "reigning over the world in full glory in peak condition."
Roland hadn't merely transmigrated into another's soul; he had been legitimately reincarnated into this world, albeit having lost his memories.
Through 【Original Sin · King of Pride · Lucifer】, Roland entered his peak condition and directly awakened his past life's wisdom and memories. This led to the current situation: Roland was Roland Morningstar Lucifiel, and likewise, Roland Morningstar Lucifiel was Roland.
“This is really too interesting... You can actually play it like this?”
Rate on N.U.
