Ian's heart was filled with suspicion. What exactly are these faceless beings? As a wizard brimming with curiosity, Ian decided to intercept one of the Death Eaters for research.
"No eyes, how do they perceive things? Truly interesting creatures..."
Ian twirled his magic wand elegantly between his fingers.
Before Cam could react.
Ian had already moved swiftly.
"Imprisoning Shackles!"
A silver-blue beam of light shot from the magic wand, hitting the Death Eater at the end of the group precisely. The magic chain coiled around the gray-white body like a living snake, forcibly pulling it away from the group. The bound Death Eater struggled fiercely, and a slit suddenly appeared in the middle of its flat face, emitting a screeching metallic twisting sound.
The trapped Death Eater suddenly turned around, its smooth "face" facing Ian. Instantly, a non-human roar erupted from its body, as if thousands were screaming simultaneously, shaking the air. The sound was filled with rage, fury, and a certain indescribable pain, as if it weren't a soulless machine.
But rather a soul that was being imprisoned.
Ian remained unmoved, his magic wand swiftly drawing three Ancient Runes.
"Dust of Sleep!"
A fine golden powder enveloped the struggling creature.
Its movements gradually slowed, eventually freezing like a statue in place.
Ian once again cast a spell to isolate detection.
A semi-transparent magic barrier instantly expanded on the street, like an invisible cage, trapping a Death Eater and its captured criminal within. The other Death Eaters seemed to sense the anomaly but did not stop, silently continuing to move forward, seemingly indifferent to their companion's predicament.
Ian immediately approached.
Intending to carefully examine this mysterious creature.
"Are you insane?" Cam rushed out from his hiding place, "This is openly defying the temple's enforcement!"
"Quiet." Ian was already crouching beside the Death Eater, the tip of his wand glowing with the Diagnosis Spell's blue light, "I want to see what these things really are."
The magic beam scanned over the Death Eater's trunk, revealing its internal structure—no bones, no organs, only countless tiny golden gears and flowing mercury, wrapped in some sort of translucent gelatinous substance. Remarkably, the crystal core in the center of the chest was engraved with miniature hieroglyphics.
"Truly fascinating."
He initially thought these beings were some kind of ancient entity similar to a Dementor, a tool used for magical enforcement prior to the appearance of Dementors—a spirit entity that lived off devouring evil. However, when he used the Life Detection Technique to scan its internal structure, he discovered a startling fact.
This Death Eater, is an alchemical lifeform.
Upon closer inspection, it could be seen that its body was not made of flesh and blood, but constructed from highly sophisticated alchemy materials—the skeleton was a mithril frame mixed with silver mercury alloy, the muscles were woven from magic fiber into active tissue, and the organs were miniature rune engines, continuously operating to sustain its action and perception.
Not just the chest.
Its "brain" was not a biological organ, but a black crystal embedded deep within its skull, packed with densely etched control runes.
Like a magic AI.
"Skill... quite advanced." Ian murmured in amazement. The level of this alchemy far surpassed contemporary mainstream of the Magic Realm. Not only did it mimic the structure of a lifeform, but it also endowed it with abilities for autonomous action, identifying evil, and executing tasks. This was no longer a simple "Artificial Man," but akin to a "Magic Robot."
Ian took out a specially made silver knife, carefully scraping a bit of the tissue from the Death Eater's arm—it wasn't real flesh, but a semi-gel alchemy substance, emitting faint waves of magic power. He placed the sample into a Storage Ring, planning to study it later.
At this moment.
Cam looked around nervously: "We need to leave quickly, the patrol team could arrive at any time..."
"Wait for one more minute." Ian took out a small crystal bottle from his sleeve, collecting some gelatinous material and gear fragments. When he touched the crystal core, a searing pain suddenly struck his fingertips—a scene appeared on the surface of the crystal: countless silhouettes kneeling before a twisted Sun God statue.
Every forehead was linked with golden threads.
Clearly.
This was a legitimate priest scene or rather, the operational "program" set for the Death Eaters; they were to take those people as offerings to the false Sun God.
"Sir!" Cam suddenly tugged his sleeve, "There's movement!"
As the words fell.
Footsteps echoed from the distant street; at least ten fully armed temple guards were approaching. Ian quickly withdrew his magic wand, lifting the Imprisonment Spell.
The now freed Death Eater slowly stood up; its featureless "face" turned in Ian's direction, but seemed to see nothing, merely mechanically turned away, heading towards the direction where its companions had left.
"It... can't see us?" Cam asked in shock, his eyes wide.
"It's not that it can't see us." Ian watched the disappearing silhouette of the Death Eater.
"It's a matter of criteria." He pointed to the remaining gold dust on the ground—those were dropped from the captured person, "These creatures only react to 'evil doers.'"
Cam was enlightened: "So you weren't attacked because..."
"Because I wasn't deemed a criminal by them."
Ian put away the crystal bottle, but his brow furrowed even deeper, "But this raises a more severe issue—who defines the standard for 'evil'? And who wrote the enforcement program for these alchemical lives?"
As he said this.
Guards forced to operate at night, in special uniform, also moved away from them—as if this group were patrolling, but rather racing against time, merely going through motions.
No one wanted to be active at night, even with protective gear issued by the temple. Suddenly, a blinding red light illuminated in the temple's direction, dyeing half the sky blood-red. Ian and Cam looked up in unison, seeing seven shadows ascending from the temple spire, forming a massive balance symbol in the nighttime sky.
"Judgment has begun..." Cam's voice trembled, "Those captured will be sent to..."
"It's not just judgment." Ian's voice resonated like muffled thunder, his gray-green eyes fixed on the twisted balance symbol under the blood-colored sky, "Last night, there was no such commotion."
Cam's throat moved up and down, his wand trembling slightly: "You mean... this is deliberately targeting us?"
Ian did not answer immediately. His gaze swept across the street, once filled with screaming residents, now all had quietly retreated into their houses.
Husbands, families, captured, no longer mattered.
They also sensed something was wrong.
Even children's cries were abruptly cut off.
The entire Memphis City seemed frozen, only the eerie hum from the temple's direction remained, like thousands of bees fluttering in a metal can.
"Listen." Ian suddenly raised a finger.
From the distant street corner, drifted a faint song.
The tune was strangely eerie, making the scalp tingle—it was neither a merry folk song nor a sorrowful elegy, but a mechanical, unchanging chant.
Each note was as precise as if measured by a ruler.
"Moon rise... moon set... bride... dressing..."
The lyrics appeared and disappeared.
Cam's pupils shrunk rapidly: "What the hell is this?"
Ian's wand had entered battle mode, the tip glowing a ghostly blue. As the song drew closer, a shadowy figure slowly emerged from the street corner—a humanoid in tattered bridal attire, with each step, murky liquid dripped from the hem, corroding small pits on the cobblestone.
"Gold comb... combing gold hair... silver comb... combing silver veil..."
The song grew clearer, and the shadow gradually revealed its true form. When moonlight hit that ghastly pale face, Ian's breath caught—it's the maid who died by the river that morning! Her eye sockets still filled with golden sand, but now the sand was eerily moving, forming various patterns like a living thing.
Cam gasped: "Impossible... we saw her corpse being taken by the temple..."
The maid suddenly halted, her neck twisting at an impossible angle. Her mouth opened wide, so wide it tore at the corners, exposing inside a densely packed array of needle-like teeth. The song continued flowing from that pitch-black maw:
"Bride... awaits groom... awaits sun..."
Ian's magic perception alarmed furiously—this walking corpse was surrounded by at least seven different curses, each could instantly kill an ordinary wizard.
Even more terrifying.
The magic power emanating from her identical to the embryo beneath the temple!