Chapter 834: Reunion

The severed head and neck of the black-green corpse writhed, the rotting flesh rejoining into one.

This made the entire world seem to tremble, the surrounding void creaking.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Something beyond the void was pounding violently, trying to enter here.

Crack! A strange, illusory shattering sound came from afar, drilling into Lu Mi's ears.

"Is this the Broken Hand guy trying to get in and reunite with his body?"

"Is the cracking sound one sign of the seal being briefly broken?"

Lu Mi, eyes still tightly shut, could only deduce from the sounds he heard and the sensations he felt.

Just as he had these thoughts, he heard the metallic, grating voice of the Iron Automaton rise from over ten meters away:

"The space beside the reassembled corpse cracked like glass."

This was Aurore, using the Iron Automaton's voice to relay to Lu Mi what he had seen and what he deemed most noteworthy.

Unable to see, Lu Mi "teleported" this time to his vicinity—avoiding the spot where heavy objects had fallen, staying clear of Zhu Li's position, and keeping far from the "Pus-Swollen Broken Hand" corpse; his possible destinations were severely limited, making an encounter with Aurore highly probable.

Cracked like glass… Hearing Aurore's description, Lu Mi suddenly had a thought.

He had also been puzzled by Zhu Li's confidence and the terrifying commotion she had caused.

He felt that if he hadn't "teleported" away in time, he would have died under that attack.

It exceeded his assessment of Zhu Li's power, making him suspect she might be in a Divine Descent state—but she clearly wasn't.

Now, Lu Mi had a faint suspicion.

Amid the violent shaking of the earth, Aurore ceased using the Iron Automaton's mouth and spoke directly:

"Doesn't it look like a mirror shattering?"

Mirror… Yes! Lu Mi instantly understood the situation:

This was the Mirror World!

This was the continuation or projection of that special Mirror World around "0—01"!

After Zhu Li and Sarist reached their destination, they set a trap, creating a Mirror World entrance at the entrance to the Peak of Corpses; thus, whether it was Vanack, or me and Aurore, none of us noticed the two "Witches" while peering into the corridor—only to be attacked once we entered.

And the "Black Witch" had told Franca that the Witch Cult once controlled that special Mirror World, lost some control after the Four Emperor War, and retained only minimal influence after the Pale Plague.

At this moment, Zhu Li must have already worn the Divine Descent artifact left by the "Primordial Witch," granting her various peculiarities—could one of them be the ability to partially harness the power of the special Mirror World?

It was precisely with the support of the special Mirror World that she was able to unleash that previously terrifying attack!

"If my guess is right—that this truly is the Mirror World…" Lu Mi felt the world trembling, heard the void cracking and the commotion Zhu Li and Vanack were making against the "Pus-Swollen Broken Hand" corpse, then sharply turned his head toward Aurore's position.

He asked in a low voice:

"Did Zhu Li cover her eyes?"

"No," Aurore gave a very definite answer.

Indeed! Lu Mi firmly and decisively opened his eyes.

If this truly was inside the Mirror World, then there was no need to fear "0—01"'s leaking power using the eyes—as a window to the soul, a mystical mirror—to create a corresponding "Mirror Person" and quietly replace the original self!

The next instant, scenes flooded into Lu Mi's eyes:

Countless soldiers in iron-black armor, fallen like straw; the Peak of Corpses several hundred meters to the side; Zhu Li, uncovered eyes, standing atop the frost-covered stairs, a extinguished lantern at her feet; Vanack, twin dark red flames burning in his eye sockets.

At this moment, Zhu Li and Vanack both regarded the black-green corpse of the "Pus-Swollen Broken Hand" as their primary target, launching wave after wave of attacks—as if, in their eyes, it was more dangerous than each other, or even Lu Mi and Aurore.

"Indeed..." Aurore's voice carried a hint of amusement.

He even openly exhaled a sigh of relief as Lu Mi looked over.

Lu Mi's thoughts flashed—he instantly understood what Aurore meant by "indeed":

"This guy was also suspecting this was the Mirror World, but couldn't be sure, so he goaded me into opening my eyes to verify it?"

"Damn! What a dirty mind!"

"Thank goodness I opened my eyes out of absolute certainty!"

In Lu Mi's line of sight, Aurore, wearing a black jacket with red embroidery and hair grown long like burning flames, removed the burned blindfold, chuckled:

"No wonder that 'Witch' kept her lantern lit all along—it was meant to mislead us, to keep us from suspecting this was the Mirror World."

"No wonder her lantern going out caused no issue—how sinister."

"Can you be more sinister?" Lu Mi replied, when suddenly an anomaly erupted around the "Pus-Swollen Broken Hand" corpse.

The space there, like glass struck by a fist, was covered in dense, nearly overlapping white cracks, which spread outward, gradually thinning and becoming transparent.

Crack!

The cluster of dense white cracks shattered, and a rotting, pus-dripping black-green swollen hand flew in.

The "Pus-Swollen Broken Hand" had finally broken through all obstacles and arrived here!

The moment it appeared, it used "Spirit World Transit" to place itself directly onto the severed wrist.

Seeing this, Zhu Li felt a strong premonition of doom.

She immediately made the blue sapphire ring on her left hand glow faintly.

Then, she lowered her hands and raised them from below upward.

The earth trembled violently; a small volcano rapidly formed beneath the black-green corpse, spewing crimson-to-white magma and vast clouds of ash.

It instantly engulfed the black-green, rotting corpse, melting its flesh, attempting to solidify it within volcanic rock.

A tiny drop of blood seeped painfully from Vanack's brow, twisting as if trying to form a strange pattern.

With this change, Vanack raised his right hand.

The dead soldiers clad in iron-black armor, lying on the ground, rose again, their eye sockets reigniting with either pale or dark red flames.

Vanack then condensed a spear of flame, nearly entirely blue with streaks of incandescent white, and hurled it at the writhing corpse still struggling in the magma.

The undead soldiers followed suit, conjuring countless spears of blazing white flame, mimicking Vanack's motion and hurling them at the target.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The flame spears nearly obscured half the sky.

Seeing this, Aurore moved toward the entrance; Lu Mi silently did the same.

Soon, the flame spears covered the black-green corpse of the "Pus-Swollen Broken Hand," tearing it into countless clumps of rotting flesh.

These clumps were set ablaze and fell into the crimson-to-white magma.

Suddenly, without warning, a section of the magma collapsed, and the flaming rotting flesh, as if pulled by an invisible force, gathered toward it.

In the blink of an eye, the black-green corpse reappeared within the magma and flames.

The rotting flesh on its surface, each patch aflame, peeled off one by one; beneath it, fresh, living flesh and pale, sun-starved yet healthy skin writhed and grew.

Zhu Li and Vanack's attacks continued—ice hail like cannonballs, black flames burning, thunderous strikes, terrifying fireballs—each one arriving in succession, but their damage could not keep pace with the "Pus-Swollen Broken Hand"'s rapid reassembly and healing.

Within mere seconds, the charred skin and rotting flesh on the "Pus-Swollen Broken Hand"'s face fell away entirely, revealing a refined, handsome face.

Thick, long black eyelashes fluttered; beneath the pale, soft eyelids, the eyes slowly turned.

Whether Zhu Li, raised in the Witch circle, Lu Mi, who often dealt with Witches, Aurore Medici with his deep background, or Vanack in his peculiar state—all of them held their breath, momentarily lost in that ineffable beauty.

It was like gazing upon a timeless, flawless masterpiece.

They did not notice their hair visibly lengthening, their wounds rapidly healing, their depleted spirituality replenished like a lake evaporated by drought suddenly drenched by a storm.

They saw the flawless, slightly effeminate face: beneath the high nose, lips of perfect thickness parted slightly, revealing clean white teeth; the naked body gleamed with luminous skin, muscles sharply defined, proportions flawless.

Seeing the object between the perfect body's legs, Zhu Li involuntarily swallowed, her right hand clenching reflexively.

The perfect body arched slightly backward, as if enduring some pain.

His chest swelled; his groin shrank rapidly; his body's contours softened further.

He grew more beautiful, approaching the limit of perfection.

But the transformation stalled—as if lacking some crucial item to complete it.

Thanks to this stall, Aurore broke free from the overwhelming awe and enchantment, touched the increasingly noticeable stubble around his mouth, burned it away with flame, and frowned slightly at Lu Mi:

"What kind of monster did you assemble from this corpse?"

Lu Mi barely recovered and laughed:

"I don't know."

"..." Aurore was momentarily speechless.

Lu Mi's gaze remained fixed on the complete corpse of the "Pus-Swollen Broken Hand."

This was indeed the guy—but he seemed to be turning into a girl.

"But if this were a change from a Supernatural Trait, like the 'Witch,' the gender should be fixed—it shouldn't revert to a male body upon death, then shift back to female upon resurrection..."

"This feels more like a corruption… The Broken Hand guy was killed before the corruption could fully alter his body, then split into pieces and sealed? That was to prevent his reassembly and revival, which would bring back the corruption?"

"Now, what is preventing the corruption from fully transforming the Broken Hand guy? Is it a problem with the source of the corruption—or is it something special about Mora?"

Lu Mi had just made a tentative guess based on his limited occult knowledge when he saw the pale eyelids of the "Pus-Swollen Broken Hand" tremble slightly and open.

They were a pair of luminous, beautiful crimson eyes.

(End of Chapter)