Chapter 835: Activation

Lu Mi's gaze, along with those of the others, was drawn to those luminous, beautiful eyes, as if their souls were about to drown in the depths of that crimson hue.

But in an instant, those eyes swarmed with irrational rage, madness, and chaos, their vortex core an unspeakable void.

All who witnessed it felt a deep unease, as if a perfect object had just cracked open.

Lu Mi had just shaken off the daze when he saw the "Pus-Swollen Stump"'s crimson eyes fixate on him.

It noticed its Qiyuezhe first.

It openly revealed its cruel, bloodthirsty impulses.

Lu Mi's heart lurched; the hairs on his skin stood rigid from the stimulation.

"Damn, it's targeting me first!" Lu Mi immediately prepared to "Teleport" to the side of the Bone Peak in the Mirror World, evading the "Pus-Swollen Stump"'s imminent strike.

He felt unjustly treated—he'd merely been watching, hadn't even tried to interfere with the Stump's body reassembly, yet now it was fixated on him, while Julie and Valentine were clearly the villains.

"Besides, I was the one who painstakingly gathered your entire body together! I don't expect thanks, but at least don't kill me first!" Lu Mi muttered inwardly, following his "Hunter" instincts and personal nature, while activating the black sigil on his right shoulder.

At that moment, Julie and Valentine both sensed the body—having evolved from decay and revulsion into near-perfection—had grown even more dangerous.

Seizing the opportunity as the "Pus-Swollen Stump" fixated on Lu Mi, they each began channeling their most powerful and likely effective attacks.

Julie raised her left hand and pointed toward the sky.

High above, deep and dark, layers of clouds were whipped by gales into a colossal vortex; within its depths, a iron-black meteor slowly took shape, unnaturally heavy.

The "Pus-Swollen Stump"'s gaze instantly tore away from Lu Mi's vanishing figure and settled on Julie.

Within those luminous crimson eyes, Julie's figure in her slit long dress appeared, then the "Pus-Swollen Stump"'s own raised white palm.

That palm clenched tightly.

Julie's neck instantly emitted a crunching sound, visibly caving inward.

Crack, crack, crack—mirrors on her body shattered, yet failed to free her from her predicament.

Her entire body slowly floated upward, her facial muscles twisted in agony, as if her throat were being gripped and lifted into midair.

Her hands instinctively retracted, trying to pry open the invisible hand choking her neck.

The nearly formed iron-black meteor dissolved; the gales ceased, the cloud layers scattered.

Lu Mi, who had just materialized beside the Bone Peak, stared at this scene and sincerely marveled at the terror of the "Pus-Swollen Stump."

In the outside world, without first summoning the "Magician" lady to guard it, fulfilling the contract would be suicide.

At this moment, Lu Mi felt an inexplicable lightness, as if an invisible shackle within him had been removed.

He had fulfilled his promise—he could now access Divinity again.

Lu Mi's gaze swept over Julie, whose mouth was slowly opening, her face turning increasingly blue-purple, and he furrowed his brow in confusion:

"Where's Sylvestre?"

"Julie was supposed to block intruders in the Mirror World, while Sylvestre acted against '0—01'?"

In a flash of thought, Lu Mi's eyes turned to Ablis Medich, now hundreds of meters away:

"This guy has serious issues too…"

"He could've influenced and controlled the iron automatons in the underground mausoleum—why did he only enter now, after Julie and Sylvestre moved first?"

"Is he preparing something? Or is he afraid he can't bypass Valentine's blockade, waiting for chaos to strike?"

Just as Julie's eyes began to bulge and she resolved to unleash the full power of her sapphire ring, the Mirror World shook violently again—cracks appeared everywhere, clear and sharp.

From these fissures, nearly invisible flames bloomed one by one, seeping inward.

In an instant, sky and earth began to burn.

Lu Mi suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to submit, his body instinctively avoiding those nearly invisible, flame-shaped entities, avoiding the melting earth, rocks, and void.

He knew his resistance to burning damage wouldn't suffice—he'd be reduced to ash the moment he touched them.

Simultaneously, the palm of his right hand grew searing hot; violent, mad energy surged through his body, yet couldn't break free from the dead, icy restraint of the "Mingdao Man" sigil.

The residual aura of the "Blood Emperor" Arista Tudo had spontaneously ignited—fully ignited!

Lu Mi felt as if he were a balloon stretched to its limit, still being pumped full of air.

It was excruciating.

The area around the "Pus-Swollen Stump," where fissures were most numerous and flames most dense, plunged into a burning hell; its perfect body sank slowly, the invisible hand gripping Julie loosening.

Witnessing this change, feeling the unspeakable agony, Lu Mi suddenly recalled a passage from the "0—01" containment records:

"Non-Humans above Rank 5 must not approach. Warning: Non-Humans above Rank 5 must not approach!"

And now, the reassembled and revived "Pus-Swollen Stump" clearly possessed Divinity—immense Divinity!

"Is it… is '0—01' sensing the presence of a Semi-God-tier Non-Human, and forcibly breaking the Mirror World's barrier?"

"Did my… my 'Blood Emperor' mark, stimulated by '0—01''s aura, ignite uncontrollably… completely?" Lu Mi thought, in unbearable pain, his thoughts fragmented.

Ablis Medich also lowered his head; the flame-like hair on his back grew another inch.

Julie collapsed onto the top of the frost-covered steps, finally escaping her near-death state.

On her slender, pale neck, red swelling and dark bruising intertwined, with five deep finger marks sunk into her flesh.

Julie exhaled, then raised her left hand again.

She intended to eliminate it entirely while the enemy, restrained by '0—01''s intrusion, was immobilized.

On the other side, Valentine's body ignited with nearly cyan flames.

He extended his right palm, letting the flames surge forward and coalesce into a massive fireball.

The fireball drew in the surrounding nearly invisible flames, absorbing them layer by layer.

Behind Valentine, the undead army was ignited by the flames seeping through the cracks—but instead of turning to ash, they fused with the flames, one by one flying toward Valentine's fireball.

The fireball grew larger, its color gradually shifting to purple.

Valentine, his eye sockets burning with dark red flames, clenched his lips tightly—he had reached his limit.

He then shoved the pale-purple colossal fireball forward, toward the "Pus-Swollen Stump."

The moment the fireball touched the Stump's perfect body, a meteor, ignited by atmospheric friction, fell from above.

The meteor accelerated, striking directly the target, half-submissive and unable to move.

Lu Mi, struggling against the "Blood Emperor"'s residual aura, first saw the explosion's flash and rising dust before hearing the deafening roar that left him ringing, feeling the earth shake violently.

The world lost its color, turned gray and dark.

"Did we succeed?" Julie's eyes lit up as she stared at the meteor's impact zone.

Though dust choked the air and invisible gales raged, Julie used her connection to the Mirror World to make her eyes mirror-like, revealing the explosion's core.

The perfect body had been shattered into pieces—flesh charred or vaporized, leaving only a broken, incomplete black skeleton standing where it had been.

Yet upon that skeleton, tiny new flesh was growing, and bone was writhing, shedding its blackened coating.

"Still not dead?" Julie's weakened heart sank heavily.

The next second, a sharp pain pierced Julie's brow—her flesh there seemed to gain self-awareness, struggling to seep out, break free from her skin, and fully reveal its form.

Her ears buzzed; images flooded her mind—blood-red banners floating high above, drifting lazily.

As her face contorted in pain, she struggled to think:

"Is '0—01'… targeting me?"

"I can't… hold on much longer…"

"I'm going to become its puppet…"

Julie's body slowly bent forward, as if crushed by invisible weight; her eyes darkened, veins threading through them.

She stared at Valentine on the wasteland, at the dust surging skyward, her gaze growing manic—like when she first entered Morola.

She gritted her teeth and whispered:

"I'll take everyone here with me!"

"Sylvestre, it's your turn now!"

"Do you remember the famous line from 'Eternal Love'?"

"'Idiot, live well!'"

Live well! Julie screamed silently; the sapphire ring on her left hand erupted in blinding light.

She was calling for the Primordial Divine Descent!

Within the light, the crimson mark on Julie's brow rapidly faded; her hair floated upward, growing longer, thicker.

Around her, gray-white spread swiftly; the entire wasteland turned gray-white.

Lu Mi froze rigid, like a stone statue, while the "Blood Emperor"'s residual aura burned ceaselessly in his right palm.

Then he saw Julie—her appearance altered—suddenly turn toward him from within the gray-white.

…………

Trier, inside the Jisiguangchang at the entrance to the third level of the underground tomb.

Franca had checked the surroundings, confirmed no one else was present, and set up the "Mirror Maze."

"You can drink the potion now." She nodded to Jianna.

Jianna immediately took out the corresponding ingredients from the "Traveler's Satchel," mixed the "Joy" potion in a crystal glass cup.

Gazing at the potion, its faint pinkish blood hue shimmering, Jianna didn't hesitate—tilted her head back and swallowed it in one gulp.

She felt herself float upward, as if standing on clouds; fine, needle-like pains prickled across her body; her hair, influenced by invisible force, detached from gravity and stretched outward.

Faintly, Jianna saw shadowy serpents slithering through the gloom, rising up on their lower halves.

Each serpent's head bore a strange eye—Jianna instinctively sensed extreme danger, as if she'd be torn to shreds in the next second.

The illusion vanished instantly; Jianna saw a blurred, holy figure draped in a simple white robe.

The female figure sighed, hollow and distant:

"As a woman, do you know how dangerous this path is?"

"I have no other choice," Yu Jianna answered, half-conscious and half-dazed.

The holy figure fell silent for a moment, then said:

"Make peace with your mirror self, for you are one and the same."

"Do you have anything else you wish to ask?"

The figure gradually faded, as if about to vanish.

Yu Jianna blurted out:

"Are you Lady Clarismona? And… who is your father?"

The moment she asked, Yu Jianna wanted to slap herself.

Had she gotten into the habit of discussing improper things with Lu Mi and Fu Lan Ka? There were so many important questions she could have asked—and yet she blurted out something so absurd!

The holy figure, clad in a simple white robe, paused silently before answering:

"My father is Aristar Tudo."

(End of Chapter)