Nightfall, Twinborn Palace.
Around the entrance of the Abyss, several long tables were placed, piled high with books. Igor sat among them, buried in his reading. When his eyes grew tired, he rubbed the corners and used a Hydrotherapy spirit to massage his retinas before diving back into the books.
These books were all moved from the ‘laboratory.’ In truth, with the technical power of the Gray Fox Divine Era, truly important data would surely be stored in cloud storage. It wasn’t that Nightfall lacked cloud storage, but accessing it required identity verification. Not only Igor, but even the Twinborn Cult only had pet-level permissions.
Paper records still existed, but they were extrely disorganized and filled with unannotated jargon. Even though Igor could understand every word individually, when strung together, they beca blasphemous utterances of a Dark God. To him, every sentence was as nonsensical as “taking the teorite staff and the rock ball, then defeating the earth dragon outside Gael’s tunnel.”
For this reason, the Twinborn Cult didn’t mind Igor flipping through these records-after all, they couldn’t understand them either.
However, Igor could have read these materials in the laboratory; there was no need to move them to the entrance of the Abyss. But…
Igor rubbed the bridge of his nose, glanced at the Abyss entrance, then at Raven, who was ditating beside it, before lowering his head again to sift through the materials, trying to extract useful information.
The palace doors opened, and the Dark Serpent Twins walked in, covered in bloodstains, their clothes speckled with blood. Harvey followed behind them.
Igor put down the book in his hand, raised an eyebrow at the necromancer, and smirked, “Congratulations. When will you invite us to your new ho?”
Except for a brief one or two-hour rest in the Virtual Realm, Igor had been working continuously for dozens of hours without bathing or grooming. His golden hair was disheveled, his face pale, and his ntal state was in shambles. Yet, precisely because of this, he exuded a sickly, fragile beauty, like a thorny rose on the verge of wilting, which even stunned the Dark Serpent Twins montarily.
Harvey raised a finger and calmly said, “I went with them to exterminate the Nature Cult.”
“Wow, so diligent,” Igor leaned back in his chair, spreading his hands with a laugh. “But as an outsider, you really need to make a big contribution to establish yourself in a new organization. What did the Twinborn Cult offer you? The head of the Mortuary Services Section, your dream job, or permission to scavenge under the at grinder?”
Harvey pulled out a coffin from his Spatial Card. Alice rose from the coffin and also raised a finger at the Con Artist.
He continued, “In the Nature Cult, we found so texts on the Misty White Demi-God. Also, I’d advise you not to make
raise a third finger.”
Harvey had one finger raised, and Alice had one raised as well. So, who would raise the third finger?
The Con Artist and the necromancer exchanged glances. After a mont, Igor rubbed his hair, exhausted, and slumped onto the table, asking, “Who is the Misty White Demi-God?”
The Dark Serpent Twins finally spoke up, “The Nature Cult follows the Misty White Demi-God of the Gray Fox Divine Era, and the Misty White Demi-God follows the Circle Cicada Demi-God.”
“The Circle Cicada lineage truly runs deep, enduring through countless deaths,” Igor looked up at Harvey, “You thought the Nature Cult might have clues, so you…?”
Harvey placed a few books in front of Igor, then sat down next to Raven with Alice.
Igor flipped through the blood-stained books, and after a brief scan, he raised his eyebrows, “Interesting.”
The Dark Serpent Twins asked, “Any useful information?”
Igor turned slightly, glanced at Harvey and Raven not far away, cleared his throat, and said, “The Misty White Demi-God believes that humans have limits.”
“But so does the soul. All tangible things are destined to et their end. Death is the only certain fate for all things in the world.”
“Although the Misty White Demi-God improved the Physical Sect, researched evolutionary paths, and allowed the human body and soul to evolve to an incredibly powerful state, it could only achieve longevity, far from true Immortality.”
“Thus, the Misty White Demi-God branched off into another path: Since humans can never achieve Immortality on their own, why not fuse with sothing that is Immortal? The Nature Cult are followers of this path, seeking to rge with nature, becoming eternal and indestructible, enduring through the ages.”
“However, the current practices of the Nature Cult are vastly different from their ideals. rging with nature doesn’t an becoming fire, lightning, or the ocean, because even the sun will burn out, lightning is fleeting, and oceans can dry up. ‘All tangible things are destined to et their end’-this principle applies to non-living entities as well.”
“So, true Immortality lies in becoming intangible.”
“Then, what in this world is formless, intangible, yet capable of eternal existence?”
Though Igor’s question was sowhat convoluted, the sorcerers in the palace almost instantly thought of the sa answer-
“Spirit,” Igor said, “the ultimate goal of the Nature Cult is to incarnate as nature itself and then beco an intelligent spirit. However, in the Senlo wasteland, they have an even better option-“
“Beco an intelligent Demi-God.”
After a brief silence, the Dark Serpent Twins suddenly spoke, “We’ve obtained the remnants of a Nature Cult Demi-God. Should we use it to stir up the Abyss?”
Boom!
Vesser slamd her palms against the phantom’s chest, transmitting a soft but potent force throughout its body, causing the phantom to be stunned for two whole seconds, even rendering it unable to use its spellforce!
This was a technique she learned from a note in Raven Annihilation, nad “Dysfunction.” By precisely inducing ‘combat qi’ regardless of where the attack lands, it could target the pituitary gland, heart, or spine, thus completely disabling a sorcerer’s ability to counterattack!
Of course, when Vesser initially acquired the note, she rely considered it the wild musings of a madman. Only later did she discover that the note’s previous owner was nad Tamashi of Raven Annihilation.
But it was only in the Trials that she could barely manage to execute this move. Without the unimaginable limits to which her physical condition and senses had been elevated through the Trials, she would never be able to produce what they called ‘combat qi,’ just as ordinary people can’t fathom how a sorcerer summons spirits.
This also showed just how outrageous Tamashi, the remnant of Raven Annihilation, truly was.
However, the term ‘combat qi’ was too long, perhaps it should be simply called…
As Vesser pondered this, two cold gleams flashed behind the phantom, and then a head soared high into the air, landing on the ground.
Two balls of fla burst forth from the phantom’s corpse, flying into the bodies of the two onlookers.
The Observer wiped the blood from his sword with his elbow, sheathed his blade, and stepped back ten paces from Vesser.
Ten paces, the perfect distance ensuring that if one suddenly made a move, the other could react in ti.
Although Vesser and the Observer had been through three combat Trials together, surprisingly, they had not spoken a single word.
There was no need for communication; their actions alone ford a perfect understanding. They maintained a ten-step distance when advancing and divided the battle area into ‘front and back,’ ‘up and down,’ ensuring they always had sight of each other.
With mutual wariness as a premise, they also achieved nearly perfect cooperation in battle. One would entangle, the other would strike; when one faced the phantom with a fierce attack, the other would make a significant move. Neither could exploit the other’s actions to their detrint, nor would they find themselves overwheld.
Even when Vesser collaborated with Yolan, they never achieved such an unspoken understanding.
In a fleeting mont, Vesser felt that the Observer was the ‘perfect ally’ she had been searching for. So cold, so calm, sharing the sa way of thinking as her-even more perfect and detached than she was.
It couldn’t get any better, Vesser thought. Even the ‘real Ashe’ would probably be just like this.
So, should she find a way to kill Ashe and keep the Observer?
As this thought crossed her mind, Vesser recalled the scene from last night: the Sword Princess, Ashe, and the Witch sitting on the edge of the rooftop, their fingers tightly interlocked.
They listened to each other’s pasts and contemplated their futures.
Suddenly, Vesser rembered sothing-could Ashe and Yolan really cooperate to survive the Trial?
But she quickly found her answer: Yes.
For so reason, Vesser was absolutely certain that Ashe could not only cooperate with Yolan but do so with complete openness and sincerity-unlike the wary synergy she shared with the Observer.
If it were Ashe, he would definitely persuade Yolan and trust her.
If it were Ashe, he wouldn’t maintain a ten-step safety distance but would walk side by side with Yolan.
If it were Ashe, he wouldn’t worry about losing sight of Yolan or hold back-he would work with her to defeat the Trial’s phantoms with the fastest and most brutal efficiency.
If it were Ashe…
If it were …
Seeing Vesser clutch her head and stop in her tracks, the Observer also halted and took five steps back.
Her head pounding, Vesser turned and saw this. Her thoughts felt torn in two-one half telling her the Observer was right, that she should step back and create more distance for safety; the other half screaming that if Ashe were here, he would at least pretend to care about her, wouldn’t he?
Vesser shook her head, clenched her teeth, and pressed on.
Too weak.
When did I… beco so weak?
Soon, before the next Trial began, a strange tremor suddenly rippled through the underground.
The Trial Takers looked up at the ceiling, and Vesser imdiately realized it must be Ashe’s companions trying to rescue him-it couldn’t be the Twinborn Cult, who had made no progress in all these years. It had to be the ntal sorcerers.
At that mont, the Trial countdown ended.
A figure Vesser didn’t recognize slowly erged from the passageway. The mont she appeared, Vesser sensed the oppressive aura she exuded-a sanctuary sorcerer!
The Trial had finally introduced sanctuary-level combatants!
Tap.
Vesser turned to see the Observer gripping his sword hilt tightly, his pupils contracting, his usually cold expression rippling for the first ti.
Was it the appearance of a sanctuary-level opponent that made even him lose his composure?
anwhile, Ashe heard a noise behind him and saw Yolan sitting on the ground, dazed.
“What’s wrong?”
Ashe called out twice before Yolan snapped out of it, looking pitiful as she said, “I didn’t think we’d really have to fight a sanctuary sorcerer… My legs are shaking. Ashe, it’s up to you this ti!”
Ashe naturally didn’t believe any show of weakness from the Mirror Master, but facing a sanctuary sorcerer, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy. “Against a sanctuary sorcerer, we’ll have to slowly drain her spellforce before we can attack her originals… Be prepared for a tough fight.”
“But… I know her. Back when I knew her, she wasn’t even a sorcerer. The Divine Fire Trial is truly incredible-it can actually recreate…”
“A sanctuary-level Freya from mories.”
At the end of the passageway, the Bewitching Girl slowly opened her eyes.
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