Chapter 728: Fragments of Fate

The Rosel Gustav in the mirror?

Whether it was Francia, or Jianna and Anthony, upon hearing this name—so dazzling to an Intisian—linked with the "Mirror Man," their minds briefly went blank.

They instinctively wanted to question it, but Moran Avini's reaction and shifting expression seemed to confirm Lumian's guess.

"But the Emperor has been dead for over a hundred years—how could there still be a corresponding 'Mirror Man'?" Francia finally regained her train of thought.

It was perfectly understandable that Emperor Rosel had encountered the specific contamination beneath Tierre—he lived in Tierre for years after coming of age, and he was never one to sit still; once he seized control of all Intis, he remodeled Tierre, expanded the city, launched the Patriot Hygiene Movement—but wasn't he already dead?

Lumian's grim expression had softened:

"At first, I dared not even consider this possibility, but then I remembered something: at Emperor Rosel's level, even death doesn't necessarily mean total annihilation—there might still be a chance of resurrection."

Like the corpse of the "Divine Scourge" Naporedisli lying in the "Dream Festival" tomb.

"Dead but not decayed…" Francia uttered another strange remark.

With the "Divine Scourge" corpse of a Demon King preceding it, she, Jianna, and Anthony accepted Lumian's explanation more readily.

Lumian looked at Moran Avini's ashen face and smiled slightly:

"I made a bold hypothesis and cautiously verified it—I told him my guess, and he very 'cooperatively' confirmed it."

Moran Avini's lips twitched, as if to defend himself, but he ultimately said nothing.

He felt every explanation only helped this group more.

Driven by an urge to confess, he added one more sentence:

"Now you know our 'Mirror Men' also possess tremendous power, don't you?

"If we could fully unseal Tierre of the Fourth Era, we wouldn't be weaker than any true god church!"

Francia ignored Moran Avini's boasting and muttered to herself:

"No wonder the half-gods of the Church never want to come underground to personally handle the anomalies here—unless it's something as severe as last time, when the Fourth Era Tierre seal was breached.

"This isn't about resolving anomalies—it's about creating more anomalies!"

Although the half-gods of the Eternal Sun Church didn't need to fear the birth of their own corresponding "Mirror Men," the contamination beneath Tierre wasn't limited to just the Mirror World!

Wasn't the underground of Tierre too filthy, too terrifying?

This was even under the condition that Fourth Era Tierre had been relatively well-sealed—what exactly had those four emperors done during the War of the Four Emperors, especially the Blood Emperor Aristar Tudo? The problems they left behind were still terrifying after a thousand years!

We've frequently entered the underground of Tierre—even entered Fourth Era Tierre and that special Mirror World—could we ourselves have corresponding, unique "Mirror Men"?

No, not "could we"—we definitely already have one! We've seen it before!

Lumian likewise ignored Moran Avini's self-praise and turned to Jianna:

"Our investigation into the 'Mirror Men' has made major progress. Combined with the clearly divine 'Overseer,' what comes next is beyond our involvement. Once you get the coordinates of the 'Overseer's' mirror, report everything immediately."

Jianna murmured "Mm," then gave a self-deprecating smile:

"Actually, I want to report it right now."

In her view, though they still didn't know why the Truth School sought Rosel's final tomb or what goal they aimed for, given that they had likely obtained key intelligence and now cooperated with Mirror Rosel, the situation had clearly become extremely urgent—and absolutely not a good thing.

"You can start writing the letter now," Lumian nodded lightly, then turned his gaze back to Moran Avini.

He intended to hunt his fate.

"Hunting fate" wasn't the goal—using the moment of contact with fate to extract critical intelligence from past fragments was.

This was the second-to-last step of "interrogation."

The final step was "spirit channeling," to forcibly obtain the coordinates of the "Overseer's" mirror!

Additionally, Lumian wanted to observe what would happen to the target if he harvested just one fate fragment without exchanging fate or directly causing death.

This wasn't mentioned in the "Fate Hunter"'s innate occult knowledge; the only thing Lumian was certain of was that "the past cannot be changed; what has ended cannot be altered."

Originally, Lumian had planned to ask who else among the "Mirror Men" maintained contact with Moran Avini and where they were located, but the urgency of the current situation led him to postpone these questions until the end—until the "spirit channeling" phase—since they weren't particularly important.

In Lumian's view, more critical was identifying which "Mirror Men" had infiltrated the Witch Cult and which had gone to Lunbao to retrieve an item—but Moran Avini clearly didn't know.

—Lumian suspected the "Mirror Man" who went to Lunbao was searching for clues to "0—01," since, according to records, the item was closely tied to the Blood Emperor Aristar Tudo; the method of sealing it resembled that of sealing Fourth Era Tierre, and for "Mirror Men" from the special Mirror World within Fourth Era Tierre, this might be vital.

Lumian extended his right palm and, from a distance, pressed it toward Moran Avini through empty space.

His blue eyes rapidly turned silver-black.

This strange manifestation left Moran Avini utterly bewildered.

Though he possessed Sequence 5 power, he had spent the last decade and more active in politics, keeping distance from the occult and new demon cults; after becoming Minister of Industry, he distanced himself even further, relying almost entirely on internal "Mirror Man" connections and "Truth School" "brokers" to obtain knowledge, intelligence, and artifacts—he had almost no direct contact with wild adepts, so naturally he couldn't discern what Lumian was doing, only intuitively sensing the man had some intent, not mere performance.

Lumian's right palm "touched" the silver-mercury phantom river corresponding to Moran Avini through empty space.

Instantly, his vision filled with the man's entire life—fate fragments surged forth like waves.

Lumian couldn't examine them carefully; within just two or three seconds, he focused on two specific fate fragments:

One showed how Moran Avini remotely instructed the "Overseer" of the Truth School to perform the ritual and establish contact with Mirror Rosel Gustav;

The other showed how this "Mirror Man" was born.

In the first fragment, Lumian saw Moran Avini slip a silver, classically styled mirror into his own vanity mirror and lend it to the "Overseer."

At the source of the silver-mercury fate river, a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old Mirror Moran Avini rapidly materialized in a dark, cold room, his expression naturally cruel.

"That classical silver mirror resembles the one Francia picked up at the site of Mirror World contamination leakage… In the 'Inn' operation, she used the latter to enter Fourth Era Tierre… Are these mirrors closely tied to 'Mirror Men'?

"Didn't Moran Avini say descendants of the Tamara bloodline naturally develop corresponding 'Mirror Men'? Then why wasn't his 'Mirror Man' born as an infant? Must Tamara descendants reach a certain age or perform a specific act before their 'Mirror Man' appears? He himself seems unclear about how this works…"

In a flash of thought, Lumian didn't let his "hunting fate" attempt end naturally into failure—he seized the moment, clenching his right hand around a fate fragment and, through a surge of spiritual force, slowly pried the heavy target out of the silver-mercury phantom river.

That fate fragment corresponded to Moran Avini's explosion of lust under the "Chant of Hatred."

As time passed, as Francia and Jianna asked about other "Mirror Men" and distracted Moran Avini's attention, the fate fragment finally broke free from the silver-mercury river.

The void left behind was neither filled nor rewoven—void and chaos occupied it, spreading thin mist.

Lumian compressed the harvested fate fragment into his spiritual body and carefully observed Moran Avini's changes.

While waiting, he muttered inwardly:

"The fact that Moran Avini was captured by us hasn't changed…

"His ingestion of truth serum and hypnosis hasn't changed…

"The things he just told us haven't been forgotten…

"Hmm, this 'hunting fate' took exactly three minutes—the lust explosion fragment was among the heaviest in Moran Avini's entire life, since it caused his fate to plummet…

"Hunting requires proximity within fifteen meters; if you've obtained the target's blood, distance doesn't matter…

"Once you've pried fate, you cannot attack during the waiting period, but you can retreat…

"Still, killing him directly is easier—takes only seconds to complete the hunt…"

As Lumian reviewed, Moran Avini's weak breath gradually strengthened, his complexion reddened.

The bloodstains and tear tracks on his face vanished.

"Hmm, no lust explosion, so no serious injury…" As Moran Avini's face lit up with surprise, Lumian let out a "Hmph."

Two beams of white light struck Moran Avini, sending him into sudden unconsciousness.

Simultaneously, Jianna and Francia, closely watching Lumian's actions, both aimed their revolvers at Moran Avini's head before he could collapse.

Bang! Bang! The head of this "Punisher Knight" exploded like a crimson firework.

Lumian didn't complain that Francia and Jianna had denied him the chance to harvest—he didn't want to waste spiritual energy on harvesting anyway; when he had appeared at the last moment, shattered Moran Avini's remaining mirror doppelgänger, and captured him, he had already felt the drug's digestion through successful harvest.

Thud!

Moran Avini's corpse fell to the ground; Francia prepared for spirit channeling.

(End of Chapter)