Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability

Hearing Edefana's words, Madam Magician froze for a moment.

She finally realized she should be using her high-speed Blinking to support other battlefields.

That was something she normally would have done.

From the very beginning, I've been subtly influenced? Edefana doesn't seem to be just Sequence 2. Madam Magician quickly followed her spiritual intuition, her figure Blinking rapidly as she appeared in various places across the Northern and Southern Continents.

Then, she found that the battlefields were stabilizing, with the forces of the orthodox Churches and government organizations gaining the upper hand. The only difference was how quickly they would eliminate the disruptors.

The only area with serious issues was beyond her ability to intervene or participate.

It was far too high-level!

While helping allied forces quickly clear out cultists, she redirected most of her attention back to Miss Audrey's dreamscape.

At this moment, Edefana, the ancient dragon, had stopped fighting and landed on the stone tower deep within the dreamscape.

Madam Justice had also reverted from her Mythical Creature form, gazing at Edefana. In Dragonese, she asked, "A normal Sequence 2 dragon couldn't survive from the mid-First Epoch to the present?"

Edefana's terrifying lizard-like face, its gray-white scales slightly dim, revealed an eerily human smile.

"Even Angels have a limited lifespan: it's just that most Angels don't live long enough to reach it.

"Vampire is a pathway that significantly increases lifespan. Didn't Round Moon Olmer have to seal Himself in a coffin, trying to slow the passage of time? He's also a Sequence 2 Angel, and nearly two thousand years younger than me."

Madam Magician flickered rapidly, ready to prevent Edefana from escaping, while muttering inwardly. Two thousand years older than Duke Round Moon Olmer? Truly worthy of being a dragon born in the mid-First Epoch…

Initially, she thought Duke Round Moon's age exceeded 3,000 years. After gaining more knowledge of mysticism, she suspected the Sanguine duke could be over 5,000 years old!

The Fifth Epoch was currently in its 1,359th year, and the Fourth Epoch lasted 1,233 years, adding up to 2,592 years. Duke Round Moon existed before the Cataclysm, so He was widely believed to be over 3,000 years old.

Madam Magician confirmed that this duke had truly followed the Sanguine's ancestor, Lilith, so His age must include the 1,086 years of the Third Epoch.

Moreover, Lilith's "demise" wasn't the hallmark event marking the end of the Second Epoch, being 800-900 years apart, during which Olmer followed Her for several centuries.

Considering all this, Madam Magician estimated Duke Round Moon to be at least 5,000 years old. Even as an Angel of the long-lived Sanguine, He still had to live an abject life in a coffin to prolong His life.

Yet Edefana claimed to be almost two thousand years older?

That aligned with His self-introduction as a dragon born in the mid-First Epoch.

Madam Justice discerned the unspoken meaning in Edefana's words and probed, "You were once corrupted by a power higher than your own, and even now, it controls you?"

If Edefana had used a Marauder pathway's Sealed Artifact to siphon life or relied on a similar method, He wouldn't have posed such a question.

Edefana's aged, lizard-like face appeared somewhat dazed.

"You're perceptive.

"I am a dragon of the mind domain."

Which means..., polluted by the Chaos Sea? Like the Dragon of Imagination, Ankewelt? Then influenced and driven by the godhood of the Primordial God Almighty? Madam Magician's gaze sharpened. "It was the Primordial God Almighty who sent you to delay us?" R̃

Edefana chuckled, producing a deep, buzzing laugh.

"Yes, I'm able to tell you this because the influence he exerted over me has rapidly receded. Without His influence, I will soon age and die."

"Rapidly receded?" Madam Justice repeated, her tone heavy with foreboding.

Edefana unfurled His massive wings, His gray-white scales dimming further.

"Yes. He is retracting the powers he was covertly reviving. This isn't due to any mishap but because He is concentrating His will.

"Tonight, he has two opportunities for true resurrection-two!"

Edefana's voice brimmed with fear.

…

When the mirrored Creator's soul fragments, mixed with Jenna's, fused into Lumian's body, Lumian, tormented by the relentless cycle of pain and madness, his consciousness on the brink of collapse, suddenly ceased the unconscious twitching and twisting of his head.

His iron-black eyes became filled with violent emotions:

Jenna...

He wanted to stop struggling, to let the collapse happen, but he also understood why Jenna had become what she was.

He raised his head, letting out a pained roar.

It was a scream of anger, hatred, madness, and defiance.

At that moment, Lumian seemed to hear Aurore's gentle voice: "There's still a chance.

"Leave it to me."

Lumian seemed to see Aurore's phantom, cloaked in her thick golden hair.

His body began to change, becoming more feminine on one side.

His feminine aspect grew active, striving to merge Jenna's soul fragments with his own.

The mirrored Creator was truly Fooled, no longer caring about Jenna's soul fragments, allowing them to detach and integrate into Lumian's feminine side.

His consciousness focused solely on the Demoness of Apocalypse, Cheek, and the Giant Queen, Omebella.

They were fused together.

Balance was restored, but it was vastly different from before.

Lumian's body stopped collapsing, quickly expanding outward, gaining new life.

The two masses of flesh protruding from his torso surged toward his neck, vying to replace his head.

They competed, even as they began to fuse, High above, in the infinite heights, the faint light door tinged with bluish-black and surrounded by gray- white fog reappeared. Mr. Fool alternated the use of Fooling and Grafting.

The two fusing flesh masses abruptly shifted to Lumian's left shoulder, writhing as they formed a dripping wet head.

This head had two faces, one on each side. The right face was identical to the Primordial Demoness, Cheek - stunningly beautiful, pure, yet exuding maternal radiance. The left face resembled Alista Tudor but bore jet-black hair and a flawless, nearly divine beauty.

The madness and characteristics in Lumian's body converged into this head. Each face exuded its own raw, violent, or pathological nature, an unrestrained desire to destroy and create everything.

The two faces did not cease merging. At times, they overlapped; at times, they split apart, ultimately forming a vortex that absorbed their features.

From within the vortex, a liquid containing all colors and possibilities seeped out, leaving the face in chaos.

Deep within the chaos, a new face slowly began to take shape.

The previously grinning, observing Primordial Demoness, Cheek, abruptly retreated, disappearing from the area.

Before vanishing, Her black hair fully unfurled, thick and slick like venomous snakes, whipping furiously through the air as though resisting an unseen force.

Lumian, his mind flooded with pain, madness, and destructive desires, sensed an exalted consciousness, gazing down upon all, being born within the new head on his left shoulder and rapidly growing stronger.

Mr. Fool, witnessing this, prepared to use a Wish to suppress and delay the Primordial God Almighty's resurrection, seeking time to find a solution.

The new face in the chaos grew clearer.

In an instant, Amon hurled an object into the special mirror world, landing it in Mr. Fool's hand.

It was an extraordinarily bizarre dark-golden mask, large enough to cover a human face.

Lumian, his face twisted in agony and madness, recognized the mask.

It had been obtained from the sea prayer ritual, originating from Loki, later given to the Aurora Order.

And now, it was here.

Mr. Fool caught the mask, and a shadow from the faintly visible door of light above descended upon the dark-golden mask.

Mr. Fool pressed the mask onto the new face emerging from the chaos.

The face did not resist or stop him because, still unresurrected, He had been Fooled-Fooled into believing the mask would make Him unimaginably powerful.

The dark-golden mask merged seamlessly with the face, becoming inseparable.

The head paused, no longer absorbing Lumian's madness or characteristics.

The two faces reappeared on its sides-one belonging to Primordial Demoness Cheek, radiating maternal brilliance, the other to the more handsome and perfect Alista Tudor.

Each face held an unmistakable hint of madness and destruction.

The gray-white fog and the bluish-black-tinged door of light high above disappeared.

On Lumian's right shoulder, flesh writhed, abruptly forming a new head with two faces. One was the radiant Aurore, the other, the exquisite Jenna. Both had closed eyes, no consciousness, and bloodstained features.

Elsewhere in the mirror world.

Red Angel Medici, intending to leave without bothering with the two lunatics, sensed the changes deep within the special mirror world.

Here's the chance!

Though Medici didn't fully understand what had occurred, He hesitated not for a moment. Swiftly assessing the situation, He made His decision and prepared to execute His original plan.

His goals for today were twofold: to suppress any signs of the Primordial God Almighty's resurrection and to cull Lumian Lee, securing ultimate victory in the battle for 0-01.

He had no fear of The Fool's interference. Since He dared to come, He had a way to ensure The Fool couldn't act in time.

Red Angel Medici advanced, retrieving lifelike metallic soldier figurines from a small black pouch at His waist.

Each one contained fused Beyonder characterístics from different pathways, effectively making them Sealed Artifacts.

Medici scattered the figurines, allowing them to grow enormous, gain life, and surround Him.

The Red of War legion reappeared.

Meanwhile, within the astral world composed of abstract concepts and strange symbols.

The childlike doodle sun had long become a blazing golden-yellow fireball, terrifying in its intensity, opposing the crimson round moon beyond the invisible barrier.

The burning surface of the sun, pure and sacred, suddenly darkened in patches.

These dark patches extended outward, forming a colossal luminous humanoid figure surrounded by chaos.

The luminous humanoid instantly descended into the depths of the special mirror world, engulfing all of The Fool's manifestations!

***

Thanks to the users "Максим Довбняк", "TempestUknow" for the chapters provided!