After Eva decided to free the eighteen devils, she branded them with an abyssal brand and placed a single command, which was to forget about everything related to Ace, Eva, and her mother. She also took away the glass case of her mother with sadness.
After that, it was Ace's duty to drop them wherever he wanted, but first, he spent time with Eva as much as it was needed to make her feel better.
He also told her about what he's been up to and how he gets his hands on Edward's most cherished treasure.
Just like that, six days passed, and Eva felt much better after their peaceful time... passionate time.
At this moment, both of them appeared in the secret treasury, where four objects were stored separately from other treasures.
Eva was adorned in a peachy flowery dress, which fully fluent her devilish figure and curves as she looked at the three objects with great interest.
Her eyes were instantly drawn by the statue of Baphomet, which was emitting a ghastly, sinister undulation.
"A faith idol!" She blurted in great surprise, drawing Ace's full attention.
"What? You know what that statue is?" Ace quickly asked as he was also very curious about what that statue was and why in the world it was giving him the feeling of dread.
Since Eva had memories of the abyssal devil race, he knew it would be shocking if she knew what it was.
Eva's expression was somber as she replied, "Not much; I only have a small portion of awakening memories about the faith idols. Since you know gods exist and even have a connection with one, you should know the others can, too.
"A faith idol is a medium which would let someone establish a connection with a god, and they can receive prophecy, boon, or even missions. However, it is tough to make a faith idol because one needs to draw the attention of a god, not to mention convince the god to use his ability to make a faith idol, which naturally comes with a steep price.
"Baphomet is one of the many names of the God of Evil Occult, and almost all the unorthodox beings like Devil, Demons, Abyssal Beings, and anything related to unorthodox or evil worship him. But having a faith idol of him and in the Mortal Sky Heaven is nigh impossible.
"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it. This could only mean, at some point, the old dog has come in contact with Baphomet or found this faith idol by chance but never used it.
"Because to form a connection, one needed to offer sacrifices suitable to God's nature. If it's Baphomet, I can't imagine what kind of sacrifices needed to form a connection with such a being, and those sacrifices had to be vile, extremely sinister."
Ace was shocked and somewhat paled when he heard this unexpected information, and his heartbeat increased.
'A connection with a god...' Just thinking about what this implies made Ace tingle with trepidation.
Eva then looked at him with squinted eyes, "Now that we are on this topic, how could you form the connection with this Goddess of Thieves so easily? What do you sacrifice?"
Ace looked at Eva's stern expression, and he knew she was suspecting his lies now, and he knew the more memories she awakes, the closer she'd be to the truth.
But, he still didn't want to reveal the system to her because it was too dangerous for anyone to know, and now it was even more so after he heard about these faith idols.
"As I told you before, I have a treasure that can connect me to god anytime I want, and I don't need any sacrifices. Well, if thieveries count as sacrifices, then that's pretty much it.
"But that treasure is bound to my very existence, so I can't show you, and I hope you keep it a secret since it would only bring calamity on us if something like God of Evil Occult found it."
"So, you mean to say even a God, like Baphomet, would do anything to get his hands on this treasure?" Eva asked with a hint of sharpness.
Ace smiled wryly, "Maybe, it's only my guess. But this treasure can't be taken without me being dead."
Eva's eyes flashed with understanding as she nodded, "Then don't tell anyone else. I might be able to do something about it once I get the entire inheritance."
Ace felt Eva's deep conviction and the look in her eyes, which clearly meant, 'I will save you. Just you wait!'
'She took it completely in the wrong way.' Ace felt bitter but didn't say anything since this topic was far out of his or even Eva's reach. He didn't think anyone else could take the system if it didn't want to, especially after he saw that throne, which was clearly under the system's control or was a part of it.
"You don't have to worry about me." Ace gently said, "Can we touch this faith idol?"
Eva looked deeply into his starry dark blue eyes and nodded, "Yes, as long as you don't want to activate it, there should be no problem. Just don't try to use your inner Qi unless you want to be corrupted by it."
Ace nodded before he moved towards the faith idol. He wanted to see if the system could appraise it. Furthermore, despite that dreadful sinister aura, Ace somehow felt a strange feeling of closeness deep within him from that aura, as if it were a part of him.
At this moment, he touched the statue, and the moment he did, without even calling for the system, it spoke on its own, revealing a panel.
=====
[Host has come in contact with a trace of the Sub-origin of Darkness!]
-Faith Idol (???)
-Origin: Darkness
-Sub-Origin Type: Evil Occult
-Quantity: 0.001%
-??? Laws: Need a System Upgrade to Release this Option!
[NOTE: Converging [??? Laws] into [Laws]]
-Laws: Evil Occult (99.99%) Sin (99.99%)
[The First Order of Darkness has generated options!]
-Option(s):
1. Increased the Darkness by 10%
[Price: 100 Million Thief Points]novE(Lb.1n
[Time: 1 Days]
2. Increased the Darkness by 5% and assimilated the entirety of the Law of [Evil Occult] and [Sin] within the Faith Idol!