Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability

After Lumian called out that name, the image reflected on the mirror's surface shattered, like a stone thrown into a lake.

"Zaratulstra? No, in the real world, we should call Him Zaratul." Franca also recognized who those eyes belonged to.

Jenna added, "The Celestial Worthy's subordinates are cooperating with the Malady God's bestowed?

"What's the purpose of this Tudor coin?"

Lumian first shook his head, then said, "Mocoxidos only received the Sequence 3 boon after the Vortex event. I suspect that whoever possessed that palm—the cooperation between the Celestial Worthy's subordinates and the Malady God's blessed ones—is an aftershock of the Vortex event, or rather, a result of one of its branches.

"Such a massive event, involving so many great existences, definitely can't be ended just because the one the Aurora Order believes in says so.

"This might be why He changed His stance, hoping for Mr. Fool to awaken soon."

Franca and the others nodded—Ludwig had been taken care of by Jenna while Lumian was performing Magic Mirror Divination, changing out of his wet clothes, and was now once again a clean and fresh little boy.

"The Tudor coin's purpose involves the schemes of great existences, so we probably can't divine its purpose," Lumian pondered aloud. "But we can try to divine who owned the coin before its previous owner, which might yield some insights."

He immediately put his words into action, again seeking Mr. Fool's observation to eliminate certain dangers and interference.

"Who was the owner before the previous owner of this coin…

"Who was the owner before the previous owner of this coin…

"…"

Lumian held the dark gold coin, chanting the question several times.

The mirror placed before him suddenly became bright, as if there was a light source bursting from within.

No, that was formless, colorless flames burning—the entire mirror had caught fire.

Thin gray fog descended, preventing the flames from spreading, but the mirror and desk quickly turned to ashes.

Seeing this, Franca's first two thoughts were: There really is great danger. Good thing we were careful enough, and good thing Mr. Fool is so powerful!

That was scary—fortunately, I had already collected all the coins from the drawer…

After the formless, colorless flames extinguished, Lumian, as the 0-01 proxy, laughed with a slightly deep voice.

"I know where this Tudor coin came from:

"Fourth Epoch Trier!"

Everyone present, except Ludwig, had been to Fourth Epoch Trier, and this revelation sparked certain associations in their minds.

"The goal of cooperation between the Malady God's bestowed and the Celestial Worthy's subordinates points to Fourth Epoch Trier?" Franca said thoughtfully. "Will this Tudor coin serve as a medium for some purpose then?"

Lumian nodded and placed the Tudor coin into the Traveler's Bag. "What we need to do next is search for clues about Zaratul's whereabouts and uncover more of the Celestial Worthy's subordinates and members of the Order of All Extinction."

Then, he said to Anthony, "We don't know how long we'll have to wait for Madam Justice, so we can first get the Manipulator's potion formula and try collecting and preparing the ingredients ourselves. If we run into difficulties, we can ask for their help then."

Manipulator was the name of the Sequence 4 potion in the Spectator pathway, and it was Anthony's next Sequence.

"I have no objections," Anthony agreed, feeling they couldn't pin all their hopes on Madam Justice finding that ancient dragon.

Lumian then turned to Jenna. "Julien will be back in two days. Have you figured out what to do?"

Jenna was silent for a few seconds before saying, "I'll use money and Instigation to help create a good position for him in Port LeSeur, Suhit, or Nouvell—one of these big cities—with a three-year term.

"And then…"

Jenna paused before continuing, "If Julien won't listen to my persuasion and insists on staying, I'll get Anthony to help me 'convince' him with some degree of hypnosis."

"Wh—" Franca blurted out in surprise.

Wasn't this the approach Jenna had been quite opposed to and unwilling to use?

She didn't want to use Beyonder powers to influence Julien or interfere with his personal choices!

Jenna gave a self-mocking smile.

"If this were a choice that would affect Julien's entire life, I definitely wouldn't do this, but for just three years, I can accept it."

The smile gradually disappeared from her face as she muttered to herself, "Life is about constantly moving forward while giving up certain principles…

"At this point, some obsessions with purity can be discarded. Demonesses are meant to bear pain and torment. Whether I become harsh or cold-hearted doesn't matter—what matters is whether Julien can escape his dangerous situation."

At this point, Jenna mocked herself again, "Let's push the guilt and blame onto divinity, just consider it the price I pay for obtaining godhood."

"No, a certain someone will bear all of this sin," Lumian responded in a joking tone.

Then he nodded. "This is the best solution. It's like moving house—if you have plenty of time, many days ahead, then naturally you can carefully pack and organize, abandon nothing, break nothing. But if you only have a few minutes before the room explodes and you can't prevent it, you can only take what's most important and essential, leaving everything else to be destroyed no matter how reluctant you are."

As they listened, Franca, Jenna, and Anthony suddenly realized that Lumian was actually talking about the conflict between humanity and godhood, about what Beyonders should do as they advance sequence by sequence.

Lumian was speaking from experience, thinking of his previous conversation with Mr. Fool.

For the sake of more important things, this was the only choice.

Was it worth it?

It's worth it.

"Indeed." Franca sighed, then turned to Jenna and said, "Actually, have you considered teaching your brother mystical knowledge and collecting corresponding potions for him, letting him become a Beyonder? This way, he could understand why he must leave Trier."

Jenna slowly shook her head.

"No, I know him well. He's a very stubborn person. Once he understands the real reason, if I don't leave, he won't either, and I…"

At this point, Jenna's gaze swept across Lumian and Franca.

Then, after some thought, she said, "The hypnosis will still be necessary, but that doesn't conflict with teaching Julien mystical knowledge and guiding him to become a Beyonder.

"Yes, even just a low sequence would improve his ability to protect himself, but we absolutely cannot tell him about the approaching apocalypse or that major changes will happen in Trier within a year or two. That would make him anxious, and when he's anxious, he tends to go to extremes and take wrong paths."

"Then we need to choose a good pathway for him, at least not obviously problematic ones like Devil, Prisoner, Earth, Moon, or Assassin." Franca helped think it through.

In the end, she still felt that, being Demonesses, flipping a coin and relying on spirituality to choose might yield better accuracy. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

…

In the afternoon.

Since Jenna was taking the slightly taller Ludwig shopping for new clothes with Franca accompanying them, and Anthony had gone out to meet his informant and contact members of the Psychology Alchemists, Lumian was left alone in the large villa.

He collapsed onto the sofa, wondering whether he should contract a spirit world creature specialized in house cleaning.

After resting for a while, Lumian contemplated the tasks ahead and his responsibilities as the Major Arcana—The Chariot.

First is to consolidate and deepen the faith of the Sick Church's believers in me and Franca.

Second, I need to consider the Sequence 2 issue. I have the Demoness of Catastrophe potion formula, but as a Demoness of Unaging, I still don't know how difficult Demonesses of Catastrophe are to kill. Plus, they have the protection of the Primordial Demoness, and Mr. Fool is only in a preliminary awakened state… The best choice would be the Sequence 2 Weather Warlock from the Hunter pathway. During the previous divine assembly, Mr. Fool showed the Red Priest card—I could exchange the potion formula from him.

Besides the Sauron family and Einhorn family, where else might there be Weather Warlock's Beyonder characteristics? Some Grade 0 Sealed Artifact in a Church?

If there weren't any other choices, I'd rather not go to the Blue Avenger's treasury and face that Alista Tudor inside the mirror…

Heh heh, maybe I have no choice…

Among the Tarot Club's missions, I'm not responsible for the Great Mother matters right now, but with my current condition, it's very difficult to truly avoid it… For now, I just need to find Zaratul's whereabouts and members of the Order of All Extinction… The first task isn't easy—even Mr. Fool, as a supreme being of the Seer pathway, hasn't located Zaratul… At this point, Lumian suddenly sensed something and turned his gaze toward the edge of the living room.

His messenger, who looked like a charred corpse, Penitent Baynfel, appeared holding a letter.

Lumian stared for a few seconds at Bayenfeld, whose eye sockets burned with dark flames, before finally speaking, "Give me the letter."

He then took the letter and opened it, finding the contents were simple.

"I would like to visit you this evening, if possible?

"The Hermit."

What does Ma'am Hermit want? My previous speculation about the Hidden Sage state? Lumian nodded thoughtfully and said to Baynfel, "Please help me reply to the sender, tell her it's fine."

Baynfel nodded and disappeared at the edge of the living room.

In the evening, just as night fell, Lumian, Franca, Jenna, and the others who had been waiting heard the doorbell ring.

Ding dong, ding dong.

"Ma'am Hermit is so polite…" After getting used to Madam Magician's style of suddenly appearing and disappearing and rarely using doors, Lumian felt somewhat unaccustomed to this situation.

He personally went to open the door and found it was indeed Ma'am Hermit, wearing thick glasses and a purple-patterned robe.

After exchanging greetings, he led his peer, a king of the seas, into the living room and invited her to sit in an armchair.

Lumian sat down next to Franca and Jenna, and after just a few moments of small talk, heard Ma'am Hermit say directly, "I have something I'd like your help with."

"What is it?" Lumian asked thoughtfully.

The Hermit looked up toward the ceiling without immediately answering.

The next second, thin gray fog spread throughout the living room.

Wh— Lumian realized things weren't as simple as he had imagined.

After everyone sat up straight, The Hermit said in a low voice, "Mr. Fool is preparing to hunt down the Hidden Sage."