[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-ring-of-fate":3,"chapter-the-ring-of-fate-the-ring-of-fate-chapter-823":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Ring of Fate",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2298792,4496,"Chapter 823: Obsession","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-823",823,"\u003Cp>Above the dark, low, hollow world within the mirror, countless brilliant stars spilled down one after another clear, radiant beams.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These beams converged, forming pillars of light that engulfed the area behind the mirror, swallowing Franca, the dense “witch” webs scattered here, and Nikila himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Franca and Nikila shattered simultaneously, turning into countless mirror shards; these fragments, along with the protruding invisible silk threads, dissolved rapidly within the starlight and vanished entirely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The starlight soon subsided, and the figures of Nikila and Franca emerged separately in different corners of the area behind the mirror.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing the entrance to the illusory tunnel, thick as a spiderweb, now unobstructed, Nikila felt a surge of joy and pulled out a pale black scroll from an inner pocket of his black wool coat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He forcibly suppressed the urge to cough and forced his voice low as he uttered a Hermesian word:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Windwalk!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pale black scroll instantly ignited with cyan flames; a howling gale surged up, concentrating around Nikila, swirling about him, forcefully propelling his feverish, boiling thoughts—now drifting toward a pot of boiling oatmeal—toward one of the dark tunnels at wind’s speed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before Franca could intercept him, Nikila rode the wind’s momentum and plunged into the tunnel’s entrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet he felt no immense pull from other mirrors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was back where he started.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That dark, illusory tunnel had not opened for him!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mirror Maze!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After becoming the “Witch of Pain,” Franca’s mirror magic expanded; one of its new forms allowed her to use mirrors and prearranged setups to create scene-based illusions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While waiting for Jianna and Anthony to act, she had not only woven invisible webs across the area and scattered multiple pathogens, but also placed a mirror at the entrance of each tunnel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the influence of her extraordinary abilities, these mirrors reflected and layered upon one another, forming a mirror maze invisible to the naked eye, hiding the true tunnel entrance and revealing only its reflections.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That meant the target Nikila had chosen moments ago was false—a projection of the real tunnel—and thus could not serve as an escape route.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seizing this opening, Franca wove another invisible web, sticking it to Nikila and wrapping him in layer upon layer, sometimes making him blush and flush, sometimes causing him to burst into uncontrollable laughter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With prior experience, Nikila did not let himself become fully entangled; he once again used his “Astrologer” ability and personal uniqueness to break free.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the following moments, amid increasingly foggy, scorching sensations and more frequent, violent coughs, he barely held his ground against Franca using scroll after scroll, attempting to destroy the mirrors constructing the mirror maze and locate the true exit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid attacks and distractions from “Wizard” spells—wind blades, lightning strikes, flashes, purification, freezing, paralysis—Franca continuously shifted positions, occasionally using “Mirror Double” to deflect blows, showing remarkable restraint and patience.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her focus remained on sustaining the “Witch” webs and continuously spreading multiple pathogens, while using the “Witch of Pain”’s “Enchantment” to delay time again and again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gradually, Nikila felt he shouldn’t resist, shouldn’t harm that extraordinarily beautiful woman.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His breath grew scorching; his heart, whether affected by pathogens or stirred by her every frown and smile, pounded wildly as if ready to leap from his chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This placed immense strain on Nikila’s body, making him fear he might drop dead from a heart attack in the next second.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He no longer hesitated or spared his resources; from the inner pocket of his black wool coat, he pulled out a scroll etched with multiple lightning-like markings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a powerful item he had purchased through the “Broker.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Storm!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No sooner had he finished chanting than he burst into violent coughing; the scroll erupted in a blinding silver-white glow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The silver-white glow expanded violently, plunging the area behind the mirror into the dominion of a thunderforest; the terrifying hurricane generated alongside it drove the lightning serpents into various tunnel entrances, shattering the mirror props Franca had placed there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With cracking sounds, Franca’s figure shattered, the mirror maze collapsed, and one after another, the true dark tunnels emerged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nikila had no time to rejoice; aided by the scroll’s magic, he dragged his weakened, diseased body toward the nearest tunnel entrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had scrolls capable of limited healing, but under these circumstances, he dared not risk losing his chance to escape by pausing for treatment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing the tunnel entrance now within reach and the “Witch” who had attacked him just materializing in another corner, Nikila was flooded with overwhelming joy—hope had finally arrived.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, his peripheral vision caught two figures emerging within the side tunnel entrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were Jianna and Anthony, transported here via the final diamond of the “Seven Stones Bracelet”; they had arrived long ago and had been lying in wait at the edge of the corresponding tunnel, unseen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During the weakened, brief storm of lightning, both Jianna and Anthony had inevitably been struck—but one used his own “Mirror Double,” the other relied on “Mirror Doubles” crafted for him by two witches, and both narrowly avoided the worst of the damage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seizing this opportunity, Anthony’s pupils narrowed into slits, turning gold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He radiated the aura of a dragon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Intimidation!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A surge of intense fear and panic erupted in Nikila’s heart; he became utterly disoriented, as if facing an invincible predator.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing her target freeze and spin in place, Jianna pulled a handful of black powder from her pocket, flung it forward, and murmured two or three Hermesian words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was one of the “Witch”’s black magics.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—Because these black magics required materials and incantations, unlike the convenience of frost and black flame, Jianna rarely used them in combat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The black powder ignited instantly, summoning a chilling, icy wind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within the wind, invisible figures, like vengeful ghosts, crowded around Nikila, pressing tightly against him, “covering” his mouth and nose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With this dual interference, Franca’s “Witch” web finally completed its weave, once again sticking to Nikila.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Franca gazed at this “Mirror Person” and smiled from the depths of her heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a hum, Nikila felt his blood split into two streams—one flowing downward, one surging upward—his heart seemed to stop beating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under repeated “Enchantments,” in his state of severe illness and near death, he could no longer resist Franca’s allure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dazed, Nikila saw the woman whose every detail perfectly matched his aesthetic—gently beckoning him, offering a transparent triangular dagger, a symbol of goodwill and dominion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I consent… With this thought, Nikila, without questioning why the web no longer restrained him, extended his right hand and grasped the dagger, feeling a faint prick of pain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His thoughts plunged into icy rigidity, sluggish and dull as rusted machine parts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Frostblade!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After controlling Nikila, Franca glanced at Jianna, signaling her to quickly locate and destroy the remaining mirrors on his person.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, Franca could form an ice spike and perform a frontal lobotomy on Nikila.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—Lu Mi’an was absent; no one could use Ritual Leather to perform the “Beast Creation” ritual and turn Nikila into a giant hound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jianna nodded slightly, sliced off the upper half of Nikila’s right sleeve, stripped off his black wool coat, swiftly found the remaining five mirrors, and shattered them one by one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Throughout this process, Nikila offered no resistance; his gaze, obsessed and pained, remained fixed on Franca, occasionally coughing—spasmodic and intermittent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His hand still clutched the “Frostblade,” dripping thin threads of blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Franca’s left hand condensed white frost into a slender, elongated ice spike.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, Nikila’s expression twisted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Knowledge infusion from the ‘Hermit Sage’? Shit, why now?!” Franca froze for a moment, then understood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Nikila, in his state of critical illness and near death, was highly unlikely to withstand such an influence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He might lose control on the spot!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In an instant, Franca discarded the ice spike and the “Frostblade,” pulled out a mirror, reflected Nikila’s image, then swept her right palm—covered in sinister black flame—across the glass surface.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nikila’s exposed skin now bore one blood-red fissure after another; within them, strange entities were coalescing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, black flames erupted from within his body, burning his soul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jianna, using the blood dripping from Nikila’s palm, began a curse; Anthony aimed his “Winter Is Coming” revolver at Nikila, ready to fire with the “Certain Death” effect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon after, the two “Witches” killed Nikila before he could lose control.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without sound or sign, Nikila collapsed onto the void-black ground behind the mirror, becoming a corpse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On his face, the eye-like entities hidden within the flesh fissures ceased writhing, never emerging.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Franca seized the moment, set up the ritual, and completed the “Mirror Divination.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In her compact mirror, Nikila’s grim, pale figure emerged, with only minor traces of loss of control.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ghost’s eyes still held obsession for Franca—but now also carried the pain and despair of knowing he had been killed by her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The “Witch of Pain”’s “Enchantment” is terrifying… I wonder if the “Little Cupid” of the “Miser” path could also make a target fall hopelessly in love… Franca silently hissed, then asked:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Are you Grifiths?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, I am delighted you know and remember my true name.” The mirror’s Nikila smiled with delight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“… ” Franca nearly lost her voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a pause, she said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do you know what has happened to your superior, Kermelo, one of the ‘Ten Pillars’?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1550,"2026-06-20T06:22:37.987Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","da9f66b2f0eedae9d04592d30e621a2fc2412dc1b8e1a26c1a32829c9f5b1402","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-824","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-822",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-ring-of-fate-cover.jpg"]