Chapter 725: The Secret of Eternal Youth

After a period of waiting, Anthony Reed returned to the quarry hollow, the fixed entrance to the Mirror World, dragging a listless brown-and-yellow giant dog.

He said to Lu Mi:

"You can now lift the Beast-Making Ritual."

Looking at the giant dog, now devoid of its former ferocity, Lu Mi smiled and recited the dismissal incantation in Hermesian:

"Monk!"

This ritual dogskin was made by himself; he set the activation incantation identical to that of the parish priest Guillaume Béne, but altered the dismissal incantation.

Lu Mi had originally intended to use the name of one of his two great idols, Germain Sparrow, as the dismissal incantation, but considered that the man was the Redeemer Angel of Mr. "The Fool," and uttering his name in Hermesian might produce strange effects—and feel sacrilegious—so he abandoned the idea.

Since his first ritual skin was made of doghide, he drew inspiration from "The Monk Who Chased Dogs" and chose the word "Monk" as the dismissal incantation.

A dim glow flared, and Moran Avini appeared, looking somewhat disheveled.

He instinctively pulled a handkerchief from his chest pocket and wiped away the dried blood, tears, saliva, and snot on his face.

Lu Mi did not jump straight to the point; he planned to begin with less critical questions to strengthen his "credibility" and maximize the hypnotic effect.

He said, half mocking, half sighing:

"I don't understand why you 'Mirror People' hate your counterparts in the real world so much."

Moran Avini sneered:

"If you were trapped forever in a cold, dark, enclosed mirror, you'd hate the version of yourself living in sunlight, enjoying food and alcohol, leisure and joy."

"But you weren't naturally born—you arose from accident," Jian Na nearly added: you're monsters from a special mirror world.

Moran Avini chuckled:

"What does that have to do with our envy or hatred?

"The accident wasn't our doing; since we've been born and have continued our lineage, we have the right to pursue a better life."

This statement left Franca and Jian Na momentarily speechless.

"You do have that right," Lu Mi said in a friendly tone, "but not at the cost of murdering or harming your originals. Why not cooperate with legitimate organizations, like the Church of 'The Fool'? After escaping from Trill in the Fourth Era, you could have left this city, this nation, and started new lives elsewhere."

Moran Avini scoffed:

"Do you think we can trust these organizations under the sun and cooperate with them?"

"But aren't you already cooperating with the 'School of Truth'?" Lu Mi exposed Moran Avini's lie.

Moran Avini fell silent for several seconds, then said:

"We have our own mission: to restore the true nature of this world."

"Truth?" Lu Mi provoked deliberately. "How can there be truth in a mirror? You 'Mirror People' are merely approaching truth—you turn back into mirror shards after death."

After provoking, Lu Mi's eyes turned silver-black as he observed Moran Avini's fate streams, preventing him from giving an answer that would endanger his life.

After a brief observation, confirming his question posed no great risk, Lu Mi terminated "The Eye of Catastrophe" to conserve spiritual energy.

Moran Avini offered a knowing smile:

"No, in a certain sense, what's inside the mirror is the truth.

"When we complete our mission, we shall return utterly to the true!"

"Why say that?" Franca wondered where Moran Avini's confidence came from.

Moran Avini's gaze swept over the two witches; in his "Sage Time," he chuckled softly:

"The fundamental reason is beyond even my understanding. I can only tell you this: it relates to the 'Chaos Witch' deep within the Mirror World, whom we worship—She is the true 'Primordial Witch'!

"Moreover, I can give you an example:

"After becoming a 'Witch' and attuning to 'Mirror Magic,' every witch's truest self resides within the mirror."

Seeing Franca and Jian Na express disbelief, the talkative Moran Avini smiled and asked:

"Do you know what the Sequence 3 of the 'Witch' path is called?"

"No," Franca and Jian Na shook their heads simultaneously.

Moran Avini nodded slightly:

"It's called the 'Eternal Witch'—eternally youthful, skilled in resurrection and rebirth.

"Why are they so hard to kill, able to resurrect and rebirth? Because what you kill is merely their facade; their true selves remain locked inside the mirror, imprisoned by themselves!

"When the false version dies, it quickly resurrects by drawing upon the projection of its true self within the mirror!

"How could the true self, imprisoned, sealed, and used as a source of resurrection by its false counterpart, not hate the false version in the real world? How could it not wish to escape the mirror and reclaim what belongs to it?"

Hearing this, Franca suddenly recalled her first entry into the special Mirror World:

At that time, she encountered her original body—the self before consuming the 'Witch' potion—a man with thick brown eyebrows and short flaxen hair, his face caked in blood, his eyes filled with malice and hatred.

Did consuming the 'Witch' potion, becoming female, not erase the original male self, but exile it into the mirror, unable to return? Franca was stunned and doubtful.

Jian Na also recalled a memory:

During her ascension into 'Witch,' in her hallucination, she had seen another version of herself—malicious, mirror-like—both falling into black flames; she had struggled desperately to crawl out, returning to the icy surface above the flames, completing her ascent, while the malicious version was dragged by a serpent-like shadow into an unseen abyss.

Did that symbolize the splitting of the self?

Is part of "me" suffering inside the mirror now?

Seeing both witch companions lost in shock and confusion, Lu Mi smiled at Moran Avini:

"It may not be imprisonment of the self—it could be that, during ascension into 'Witch,' a deep connection is formed with the mirror self, allowing one to harness Mirror Magic, and at a certain stage, use it for resurrection."

"The mirror self is bloody, malicious, hateful, and grotesque because it was always that way—always jealous of the real self, just like you 'Mirror People' from the special world."

Unable to discern the truth for now, Lu Mi preferred not to torment himself, instead shifting blame entirely onto others.

Moreover, as a 'Mirror Person,' Moran Avini naturally held a biased perspective; his words required careful scrutiny and frequent perspective shifts.

After hearing Lu Mi's words, Franca and Jian Na's expressions softened; Moran Avini replied with sarcasm:

"Self-deception cannot conceal the existence of truth."

Lu Mi, sensing the groundwork was sufficient, decided to steer the conversation toward its core.

Their original goal had been the 'Mirror People,' but now Lu Mi believed the matter concerning the 'School of Truth' was more urgent and critical.

His eyes turned silver-black again as he stared at Moran Avini:

"Did you sign a contract with that 'Supervisor' from the 'School of Truth'?"

"Of course I did—how else would we cooperate? We value contracts deeply," Moran Avini answered proudly.

Lu Mi chuckled:

"Didn't he secretly alter the terms the moment you signed?"

"No. I pay close attention to such matters—you know, I'm a 'Judge' in the esoteric sense," Moran Avini said with great confidence.

Lu Mi pressed further:

"Have you ever met that 'Supervisor'?"

Moran Avini shook his head:

"He signed first, then his subordinate delivered the contract—we never met face-to-face."

"What has that 'Supervisor' been doing lately?" Lu Mi cautiously advanced the question.

Moran Avini laughed:

"I'm merely one link in his vast dark box, his enormous black net—helping complete tasks through trade, but I don't know what those tasks truly aim for or their underlying purpose.

"Once, he said he intended to use people like me to weave an invisible, colossal vortex—a vortex that could absorb one's strongest desire and produce results.

"A few days ago, he casually mentioned that the vortex was nearly complete."

The vortex is nearly complete… Lu Mi continued observing the shifts in Moran Avini's fate streams, pondering:

"How do you normally communicate with that 'Supervisor'?

"Is there an emergency backup method?"

This needed to be clarified quickly—Moran Avini, as Minister of the Intis Industrial Department, had been suddenly attacked and mysteriously vanished—a major news story; the information would spread soon, and the 'Supervisor' would inevitably hear of it and immediately sever their original channels.

…………

Inside Moran Avini's villa.

As captain of the Purifier mobile unit directly under the Trill Diocese, Angoulême de François arrived at the scene immediately, well-prepared.

After listening to the Purifiers' reports and inspecting the site, Angoulême frowned:

"People from the 'Aurora Society'?"

Not the 'Sleeve Sword' group?

What are they up to?!

After brief thought, Angoulême issued orders:

"First, suppress news of Moran Avini's incident—don't alert the hidden forces behind this anomaly. We might still find clues and pursue them."

This was his experience, and the standard procedure the Purifiers had long followed.

(End of Chapter)