The two lines of text overlap at the central letter "S". The vertical text's original meaning is: "Crux Sacra Sit Mihi Lux," which means, "May the Holy Cross be my light."
And the horizontal text's original meaning is: "Non Draco Sit Mihi Dux," which broadly means, "Let not the evil one be my guide!"
At the top of the cross is the word PAX, meaning "PEACE."
The four corner letters around it are: "C.S.P.B."
This is an abbreviation for the Cross of Saint Father Benedict, originally meaning: "Crux Sancti Patris Benedicti."
And surrounding the cross from the right side are these letters: "V.R.S.N.S.M.V." Surrounding the cross from the left side are: "S.M.Q.L.I.V.B."
Their meanings are: "Vade retro Satana! Nunquam suade mihi vana!" meaning, "Begone, Satan! Never tempt me with your vanities!"
And "Sunt mala quae libas; ipse venena bibas!" meaning, "The cup you offer is evil; drink the poison yourself!"
On the spine connecting the front and back covers of "elegy of the evil spirit," there is even an inscription of the famous quote from Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I: "Fiat justicia et pereat mundus…"
"Let justice be done, though the World perish…" Emil chanted Ferdinand I's maxim, his finger gently stroking the cover of the holy book.
Contrary to his imagination, Emil could indeed feel a power contained within this holy book, but this power caused no harm to his body. It was like a spring breeze, warm and intoxicating, blowing directly into his heart, completely without conflict with the Vengeful Ghost Yin Power Emil himself possessed.
This was truly strange; from every angle, Emil's body was solidified from negative emotions. And the Church's power, as everyone knew, was pure and holy positive energy. Yet, these two forces, diametrically opposed in nature, achieved a neutralizing effect through Emil's body as an intermediary.
One positive, one negative, the two forces converged at Emil's fingertips, achieving a subtle balance.
Emil slowly began to smile; he truly found his body peculiar. Logically speaking, as a Vengeful Ghost, he should not have been able to appear in sunlight. But strangely, Emil could even transform his ghost body into a physical one.
A genuine physical body that could breathe, drink Water, and eat, and sunlight caused him no harm whatsoever. This already set him apart from ordinary spiritual beings, and today's discovery was even more outrageous: not even the holy light of the Church could harm Emil.
Then, in this World, was there truly any power that could harm him?
If he wasn't worried about this being a World of Superheroes, possessing countless strange abilities; if he wasn't concerned about the quiet reading environment in the library, afraid of disturbing other readers, Emil would have truly wanted to jump on a chair and laugh three times to express his joy!
Just as Emil was secretly stifling his laughter with nowhere to release it, a young man, also wearing a Columbia University uniform, sat down opposite him.
Emil initially didn't pay attention. The number of people in the library was not large, but not small either. There were always about a hundred people, and since Emil hadn't booked the place, of course, everyone could sit down and read.
However, he soon felt something was amiss. The young man sitting opposite him wasn't focusing on the rare and precious magic books outside. Instead, his gaze was fixed on Emil, observing him with interest.
Emil couldn't help but frown. He looked up and returned the gaze with some confusion.
"Emil, Emil, I never thought you'd come back alive." The young man sitting opposite Emil watched him look up and couldn't help but sneer. His hands clenched, making a "crunch," "crunch" sound, as he looked at Emil with ill intent: "What, you don't recognize me?"
Of course, he recognized him. Even if the original Master of Emil's body had long since died, or if this young man in front of him had turned to ashes, he would still recognize him. Rarely, without Emil needing to recall carefully, the identity of this person automatically surfaced in his mind from his body's memories.
It seemed that Emil's body, when alive, had suffered no less bullying from this young man.
With the guidance of Emil's body's memories, recalling was much easier for him.
Unlike Emil, who had earned his admission to Columbia University through his own merits, the young man in front of him, Quentin Landon, had bought his way into Columbia University because he was the only son of Herbert Landon, the chairman of Brand Group.
Well, it could only be said that whether in Emil's past life or this life, at home or abroad, the gap between rich and poor was significant. In fact, to be precise, the Landon Family was also a pivotal thousand-year-old family within the Church's influence.
However, due to various restrictions, the Church's influence, headquartered in the Vatican, had no way to directly control the development and growth of these families.
After thousands of years of development, the Church's potential influence in the secular World was far more than what was apparent. Of course, the true potential influence that could still obey the Church's commands was also far less massive than some people imagined.
With the rapid development of modern science and technology, many ancient families had found new vitality. The Landon Family was one of them; they had made significant breakthroughs in new biology research, and their research on human DNA mutations could be said to have reached a relative peak.
The son of such a powerful large group would normally have no interaction with a poor student like Emil. However, by coincidence, Emil and Quentin both fell in love with a girl from Columbia University Divinity School—Belica—one after the other.
Thus, some form of competition was inevitably generated.
At least, that's how Emil's body viewed it during his lifetime; he saw the rivalry between himself and Quentin as a contest between love rivals. Because of this, the usually timid and cowardly Emil often suffered losses at Quentin's hands.
Even after his soul had dispersed, leaving only a body, his resentment and fear towards Quentin only grew. However, this contest between love rivals, which was not of the same magnitude, had actually come to an end a few days ago. Because a few days ago, Emil's body was murdered in the suburbs of New York City.