Chapter 1464: Chapter 1464: The Answer Revealed
[Maybe you can let your cat out and let it sniff around; its sense of sll is very keen.]
As Shard hesitated, "she" softly suggested in his ear, but Shard refused without a second thought:
"No, it’s too dangerous. Although "Hamilton Detective Stories" describes Mia as a very capable detective cat, those are all stories made up by Dorothy. I know Mia isn’t that skilled. Bringing her to this manor tonight was already a risky move on my part, how could I expose her to a demon?"
"She" chuckled gently in Shard’s ear, and with the "Cat Power" ruled out, Shard had to decide which of the remaining two animals concealed the demon.
[Want to try your luck? With the blessing from the God of Gambling.]
"She" whispered again in Shard’s ear, but Shard still refused:
"The blessing of the God of Gambling is effective, but you can’t rely solely on luck now. The Lake Goddess views this demon ga as a test for , indicating there is an answer to the ga, one that needs my contemplation, and not just a guess based on luck."
He squinted slightly, as if he had thought of sothing. There’s a possibility that neither of the two remaining animals is the target, and the demon might be hiding elsewhere. After all, if it were Shard setting up the ga, he’d also use this trick for deception.
"Tell
the ga rules set by the demon once again."
Shard said to "her" in his mind, and as the soft whisper repeated in his ear, the demon’s voice erged once more in the gray sky above:
"Only ten minutes left, oh, look at you, so pathetic. Need a hint? I’m such a kind person, hahaha..."
Shard brought the Desecration Cross close to the brown bear and the black snake, but as with the Night Watchman, both animals exhibited similar reactions of discomfort.
The Stone Mirror Demon: Goethe is exceptionally skilled at concealing itself and disguising as another life form through reflection. In this situation, even with Priest Augustus’s eye drops and the Night Watchman’s help, it was hard for Shard to discern the real demon through supernatural power confrontation.
But thankfully, after "she" repeated the rules again, Shard suddenly understood the trick the demon had used. The demon excelled at word gas, and the answer was within the rules.
He did not imdiately point out but muttered softly:
"Let
try that ritual."
As he spoke, he drew the base formation for the mysterious ritual corresponding to the Magician’s Escape Box on the ground with his longsword. He wasn’t worried about the demon seeing through the ritual’s purpose. After all, the owner of the magic box was a male from the Fifth Era, and the randomly drawn base formation at that ti had no aning in mysticism.
Of course, since they were now in the Demon Domain, Shard rely drew the ritual in advance, without calling for Dr. Schneider yet.
After drawing, he disguised his actions by pretending to place the black snake on the brown bear’s back and moving them onto the ritual circle together in the final minutes.
The ritual didn’t have the power to identify demons, so naturally, nothing happened.
Shard nodded slightly:
"Now, I can only guess with a 50-50 chance. I won’t be that unlucky."
"She" laughed softly in Shard’s ear, while the laughter echoing in the gray world turned back into the demon’s mocking words:
"So you finally got here. Mortals always try to prove they are favored by fate, yet they don’t know it’s re arrogance before their inevitable downfall. Five minutes left, you’re bound to lose."
"You’re deliberately guiding and distracting my attention."
Shard focused on the two animals before him:
"What is it that you don’t want
to notice?"
The demon didn’t answer, its irritating laughter constantly echoing in the gray world.
"But did you notice that when setting the rules, despite my good relationship with Desire, I didn’t require that we couldn’t harm each other after this ga to ensure my safety. I only made the laughable demand that the loser cannot leave the manor. You are confident, so didn’t propose we can’t act after the ga, as you are stronger than . Yet, you didn’t realize, not suggesting a similar demand from
indicates my own plan."
There was no humor in Shard’s tone; on the contrary, if Luviya, Dorothy, or Lecia, who knew him well, were here, they’d know Shard was serious:
"You’re skilled at word gas; I knew this from the start. And now, you still wish to play these tricks on . Are you ready, Goethe, ready to fight for your life with
after the ga ends?"
The laughter continued, and Shard kept talking:
"My compassion led
to rescue that squirrel, my curiosity allowed
to discover the story of the tiger and the folklore scholar, my honesty made
keep my promise, granting the demon servants their freedom. These actions helped
eliminate three answers upfront. Without them, my attention would still be stuck on a one-in-five choice, not pondering your tricks."
He took a small bottle of water from his pocket, pouring the liquid into the air. Under the effect of the sorcery "Water Flow Manipulation," a thin water curtain ford in front of Shard.
"When you set the rules earlier, you said, ’I will reflect as any animal at will.’"
Shard looked at the water curtain. Although the burning forest could not illuminate the dark courtyard, the silver light of the sword in his hand, the Night Watchman, illuminated the water curtain, turning it almost into a mirror reflecting the images of the snake and the brown bear:
"Therefore..."
Shard’s eyes remained fixed on the two animals as his left hand reached into the water curtain toward the mirror reflection of ’Ston Osenfort’ riding on the brown bear:
"Just as you described yourself, you didn’t really transform into an animal; you beca their reflection in the mirror!"
Crash!
The grey world cracked, with large sections peeling away. The firelight of the real world illuminated Shard’s pale, blood-stained side face and shone on the massive ancient stone mirror into which Shard had reached his hand.
Petrified rose vines adorned the surface of the black stone mirror fra, ancient evil demon runes telling stories of demons. The mirror was stained with the blood of the innocent, and the souls of the fallen wailed on the fra.
’Ston Osenfort’ clapped his hands and laughed loudly in the mirror of the demon’s body:
"How wonderful! Did seeing your arrogance last ti also infect
with the great sin of arrogance?"
Shard turned his head, the hand wearing the Demon Hunting Seal reached into the mirror, gripping the demon’s throat:
"Ga over, I win!"
The demon continued to laugh, smoke rising from its neck as the skin corroded, yet it clasped Shard’s hand with both of its hands, urging him to squeeze its throat even harder as its body was corroded by the power of the Demon Hunting Seal:
"I abide by our contract not to leave here before sunrise, and Ston Osenfort’s soul is yours. But daring to get so close to , do you not realize what you are doing? Maybe you have your precautions, but at this mont, you have already failed!"
The demon’s domain was collapsing, the Black Snake was dead, the tiger, the lion, the two squirrels, and the brown bear were fleeing in panic. The burning forest of the real world turned the entire manor red, as if this place was a fiery inferno of Hell.
A gale mixed with a grey snowstorm greeted Shard returning to the real world. Haila Osenfort watched silently from the third-floor window of the manor, while Miss Sylvia raced towards the manor walls. Ms. Hendel dragged the soul-pierced Osenfort by the black chains toward the manor entrance, as if this story had finally reached its end.
Although calling itself ’Arrogance,’ the Stone Mirror Demon understood that Shard surely had the confidence to deal with it. This ti, it did not hold back as it had at Worsent Manor, and its pitch-black eyes gazed at Shard, the image of ’Ston Osenfort’ in a robe was lting and deforming.
Shard’s left hand broke free from the demon’s increasingly void-like deford hands. The gale made his right hand’s Roder Card Deck fly out; fifty-four Roder Cards whirled around him, the card sliding in front of him spinning 180 degrees — it was Genesis: Darkness.
The use of relics and their effects both required ti, but at most ten seconds, the doctor would appear:
Amidst the whirling cards, the dazzling firelight, the scenes of distant mountains and cities resembling apocalyptic disaster, Shard wielded the Night Watchman with both hands. The weapon from the Third Era’s Demon Hunter once again pierced the demon’s body in this remote Sixth Era.
The longsword pierced into the mirror, and the surface began to shatter. The blade stabbed into that deep darkness within the mirror. Shard once again heard the sound of clapping:
"Do you know who the greatest enemy of mortals is?"
"Eight seconds left."
The clash of forces between the Night Watchman and the demon’s body, Shard, who was already in poor condition, could only grit his teeth to maintain himself and the longsword from being repelled.
"When mortals gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."
"Six seconds left."
The Stone Mirror erupted because of the power of the Night Watchman, and the image of Ston Osenfort in the mirror completely disappeared, reflecting another person in that darkness.
"I co from the reflections of mortals’ hearts, from those darkest secrets they wish not to be seen."
"Four seconds!"
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