Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability

"After the Vortex incident…" Mocoxidos continued, "God specifically bestowed upon me, telling me to stay in Trier, not to do anything else, not to expose myself."

"It wasn't because you made some special contribution?" Lumian quickly followed up.

When he heard the word "Vortex," he thought he'd found a key point, but unexpectedly, Mocoxidos's answer was completely different from what he had imagined.

This was even more suspicious!

"Because I am devout," Mocoxidos said fanatically. "Compared to the Order of All Extinction, we are the overlooked faction, doing less. God specifically bestowing upon me could only be because of my devotion…"

Before he could finish speaking, his remnant soul had faded too much to sustain the spirit channeling.

Lumian and Franca could only watch helplessly as he completely dissipated.

Franca took out the Inevitable Gun and placed it where the cyan-green yellowish light points were gathering and floating upward.

Since this was an ordinary mirror world, the return of the boon was only partially affected. While it settled down again, most of it still broke free and disappeared.

While waiting for the Inevitable Gun's power to be replenished and show more mutations, Franca said to Lumian, "Getting a Sequence 3-equivalent boon without needing to make any contribution?

"I thought becoming a Demoness of Unaging was already easy enough, but I didn't expect there could be something even easier."

Smiling, Lumian replied, "Didn't you notice this when you were in the Savoie Mob? If they suddenly give you a gun, it's definitely to make you do something dangerous, to use you as cannon fodder."

"Right, there's no such thing as a free lunch—the more free it seems, the more expensive it actually is." Franca understood Lumian's meaning. "The entity worshiped by the Sick Church gave Mocoxidos and others more boons, instructing them to lie low in the Trier region, because in the near future they'll be made to do something quite crucial, something they must do even if it leads to all their deaths?"

Lumian nodded. "It's unfortunate that the Sick Church is a fringe sect. If we had captured a Sequence 3 Saint from the Order of All Extinction, we might already know what the issue is."

This could be seen from the names of the first few boon sequences of the Patient pathway—the followers of that great existence naturally tended toward infiltrating Trier's upper and middle classes, gradually corrupting the entire system.

Disease and plague were just two among that being's many authorities.

"Indeed." Franca sighed. "Whatever the case, removing one nail is still one nail removed. We don't need to worry about the Sick Church for now."

At this point, her Inevitable Gun showed some changes, expanding slightly overall and taking on a faint cyan-green tinge.

Franca retrieved the revolver with spider silk and learned the final "results" by querying her own spirituality.

The shots with either Certain Death or Sure Hit effects were restored to 13 times, and an additional new effect was added that could stun enemies, cause their thoughts to decay, and significantly affect their thinking and actions.

This didn't require actually hitting the target to take effect—as long as the target was locked onto and the shot was fired, they would experience similar conditions.

And if a bullet with this effect actually hit, unless the target had previously used a body double ability, their original body would inevitably decay and move toward death, though this wouldn't affect the mirror that the Demoness of Unaging had hidden away earlier with most mystical connections severed.

"It can't compare to the original left hand—it won't make targets truly feel like they're facing divine descent, completely unable to move or even think. Let's just say it can be useful in split-second moments, leaving enemies no time to react…" Franca casually explained.

She quickly named this effect "God's Gaze," which could only be triggered once.

Franca then sighed.

"It's a pity we were too rushed—if we had brought Anthony's Winter is Coming, his weapon could have been replenished too."

Franca and Lumian had originally thought Dalberro's superior would at most be a Sequence 4 Doomed One. Although they had made contingency plans for encountering a Sequence 3 Saint, that wasn't their main focus, so the execution was inevitably somewhat hasty. Many preparations they should have made weren't done, and they could only rely on the Demoness of Unaging's bizarre unkillable trait to forcefully confront and block the target.

"There will be other chances." Lumian smiled slightly.

He was referring to the Sequence 4 demigod currently under Mr. Fool's control.

Of course, this was assuming Mr. Fool didn't plan to use that puppet for something else.

Franca made an affirmative sound, then said, "The gathering time is set for 10 pm Saturday. You got the message, right?"

"I did." Lumian nodded.

…

Saturday night at 10pm, in the ancient and dilapidated palace of the Nation of the Evernight, Lumian's figure quickly materialized.

He was once again dressed as a warlock, wearing a silver-white half mask.

After waiting another five minutes, Hidden Blade Franca, still wearing her assassin outfit, walked to the huge stone chair and cleared her throat.

"Everyone, I have announcements to make."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it transmitted through the mirror items carried by many Curly-Haired Baboons Research Society members, allowing everyone to hear clearly.

"That's a nice trick, Hidden Blade," someone immediately praised.

Hidden Blade's past actions and previously established image meant people didn't respect and revere her like they did Hela and Gandalf, instead treating her more like a friend they could tease.

Franca's lips curled into a smile. "You're right. The first thing I want to announce is:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I've become a demigod!"

As the many Research Society members stared in shock, unable to believe it and about to express their emotions with profanity, the flaxen-colored long hair extending from under Franca's hood floated up, becoming slightly darker and thicker.

This made the vast majority of Curly-Haired Baboons Research Society members inexplicably alarmed, instinctively lowering their heads as if threads of electricity were coursing through their bodies.

This wasn't displaying an incomplete Mythical Creature form—Franca wouldn't dare do that. She was merely showing a hint of her godhood's aura to make her words more convincing.

The entire ancient palace suddenly fell silent.

After a moment, when everyone came to their senses, they instinctively wanted to express various opinions and use different tone words, but instantly remembered Hidden Blade's previous display and closed their mouths again.

That was the aura of godhood.

Hidden Blade was now half-god, half-human.

Franca's deliberate showing off was mainly to strengthen the persuasiveness of her subsequent words. Seeing their reaction, she smoothly continued, "We're still brothers and sisters, don't be so formal.

"After all these years, don't you know what kind of person I am?

"If you don't curse a bit, don't marvel at how Hidden Blade suddenly became so powerful, don't express your inner shock and admiration, wouldn't my showing off be for nothing?"

Right, right, right, Hidden Blade's air is back! The Research Society members immediately relaxed considerably and, like those people in the telegram group, began expressing their shock and admiration.

Franca immediately harvested joy from this.

She had to admit that a small part of her deliberate showing off was for the showing off itself.

When everyone's discussion had somewhat subsided, Franca said in a low voice, "The second thing I want to announce is that I've received intelligence that those evil cults across the Northern and Southern Continents and the Five Seas will do something big in the next year or two, which might bring apocalyptic scenes.

"If you have chances to advance your Sequence, try your best to do so. If not, that's fine too—just enjoy life and when the time comes, hide in places like the cathedrals in major cities.

"As long as the true gods can hold on, things won't be too hopeless. If They can't hold on, everyone should first preserve their useful selves and decide what to do based on the specific situation. Personally, I think catastrophe will inevitably come, but it's possible to survive them."

The Curly-Haired Baboons Research Society members looked at each other, both bewildered and confused.

If Hidden Blade hadn't become a demigod Demoness, they would have thought she was joking, playing a prank.

How could the apocalypse come so suddenly?

Were there no omens or prophecies?

Everyone turned their gazes toward Hela and Gandalf—compared to the newly-made demigod Hidden Blade, these two had more authority and were more trustworthy.

Hela walked to Franca's side and looked around. "Members in Trier, try to leave within half a year. This city will be one of the key nodes where problems erupt.

"Even if you really like life in Trier, you can return after things are over."

This indirectly endorsed Franca's previous words.

The Curly-Haired Baboons Research Society members immediately erupted, asking all at once, "What exactly is going to happen?"

"Which places will be safer?"

"Will remote villages be affected?"

"…"

Franca pressed down with one hand, gesturing for everyone to calm down.

"The specifics aren't clear.

"Just treat it as a prophecy made by a prophet—there might not be only one interpretation."

As everyone discussed, she and Hela walked down the steps.

Gandalf came to where they had just been standing, showing no surprise or shock about the apocalyptic matter.

This president of the Curly-Haired Baboons Research Society looked at everyone and said, "Let me add one more point:

"Try to hide in big cities, but not the capitals of various countries."

The successive confirmations made the gathering's atmosphere suddenly heavy, though not to the point of freezing or despair.

The Academy group's gathering spot had the same atmosphere.

Professor, wearing a butterfly bow tie, looked at Lumian and asked, "Muggle, you're quite familiar with Hidden Blade. Have you heard more details?"

"No," Lumian added, "I only know that the Eternal Blazing Sun Church has placed nearly half its forces in Trier."

After Periodic Table, Isotope, Associate Professor and others discussed for a while, Lumian thoughtfully said, "I have something to remind you about. After becoming a Warlock, I was infused with quite a bit of knowledge by the Hidden Sage, some of which was about summoning special creatures from the spirit world.

"This had significant problems. It took me a long time to resolve them, so I have some experience.

"Have you been infused with knowledge in this area? Something about weak balls of telepathic connections."