Chapter 836: Divine Descent

The entire world seemed to turn gray and white, even the nearly blue flames on Vannack's body solidified into stone.

Lumian's first reaction was to thrust his right hand into the Traveler's Satchel to retrieve the Mirror Clasp, exploiting the fact that "0—01" was already breaching the barrier of this mirror world and seeping in power, while Julie was too occupied to notice—directly escaping the mirror and returning to the true Peak of Corpses to avoid the divine battle about to unfold.

He could tell Julie had just been praying for a divine descent.

And now, a fragment of the Primordial Witch's power had descended!

Lumian was inevitably affected; his body turned gray and white, stiffening, and only the intense burning pain from the residual aura of the Blood Emperor in his right palm allowed him to barely move his arm, slowly and stiffly reaching into the Traveler's Satchel to grasp the glass-like cufflink.

He had barely retracted his hand when he saw Julie, her hair floating midair, turn her body and look directly at him.

The Witch's hair had turned pitch black, like thick, long venomous snakes; her eyes were a brilliant, crystalline blue.

Lumian and Julie merely locked eyes for an instant, and he instantly lost control of his own body.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the gray-white spread thickly upward from his feet, turning every inch of skin and flesh into real stone as it rose.

Why did she target me first?

There are far more dangerous ones here—Vannack and Albus, and even the Half-rotten Hand that doesn't seem quite dead—why target the weakest among us?

Shouldn't I have just been caught in the area-of-effect attack?

Then I'd have had a chance to escape this mirror world and wait for the divine descent to end!

Facing this utterly powerless predicament, Lumian, as a Penitent Monk, could not suppress a surge of fierce resentment and anger.

Throughout this, he did not give up struggling; even as his limbs turned to stone and became immobile, he tried to extend his spirituality to activate the Mirror Clasp clenched in his gray palm and the various pact marks on his body.

But the moment his spirituality neared the spreading thick gray-white, it instantly solidified into stone dust, raining down like raindrops to the ground.

Lumian's neck turned to stone; his face and brain began to gray and whiten.

With his last effort, he turned his eyes slightly, glancing toward Albus Medich's position.

The wasteland was empty.

The descendant of the Red Angel was gone!

He had vanished—or fled—at some point!

"Son of a bitch…" Lumian couldn't help cursing.

The next second, even his thoughts seemed to turn to stone.

In his gray-white eyes, Julie—her appearance transformed, her allure so great it could turn stone to face her—had soared into the air, her entire body engulfed in black flames.

The Witch descended like a giant bird, trailing behind her a black flame that stretched across half the sky, its ends twisting and branching like countless snakes entwined high above, their long tails swaying gently.

Without sound or warning, the mirror world began to collapse; dark voids mixed with black flames continuously caved inward, swallowing the Half-rotten Hand still in its skeletal form, swallowing Vannack who could not break free, swallowing Lumian turned to stone…

The end had come here.

A dead, thoughtless darkness filled every void.

After an unknown length of time, a violent, invisible flame leapt forth, illuminating Lumian's mind.

Lumian immediately felt the burning pain and cold decay in his right palm, and the searing heat in his left chest.

He snapped his eyes open and saw a hundred-meter-high peak formed of corpses and bones.

"I—I'm still alive?" Lumian was utterly bewildered.

His last memory was turning to stone and Julie plunging the entire mirror world into destruction and darkness.

He instinctively lowered his head and saw the gray-white receding rapidly from his body.

This meant what had just happened was no nightmare, no hallucination.

Then how did I survive?

Which entity lent me aid?

Lumian himself didn't believe he could have survived such an apocalypse.

At that moment, he heard Albus Medich's voice, laced with amusement, beside his ear:

"So you can also traverse the 'Mirror World'? Your escape plan synced perfectly with mine—and you did it even while partially petrified. Impressive, impressive.

You relied on that cufflink in your hand?"

Lumian instantly turned his body and saw Albus, his black-and-red-embroidered jacket torn, a crystal necklace wrapped around his wrist.

At this moment, Albus Medich had his eyes tightly shut, but several undead soldiers clad in iron-black armor surrounded him, their eyes burning with either pale or dark red flames.

Lumian blinked, then remembered he should close his eyes too.

This was almost certainly the area surrounding the true Peak of Corpses; if he opened his eyes, he might be silently replaced by a Mirror Person!

Nothing happened… Just as I suspected—I'm now Vannack's ally, one of the dangerous ones, a puppet of "0—01," no need to fear certain taboos… Too bad I didn't react sooner; I was still stunned and confused, otherwise I could've closed my eyes again before Albus looked over, and used this to trap him at a critical moment… Lumian regretted it, but now understood how Albus had escaped the Primordial Witch's divine descent:

He had the same idea as me—waiting for "0—01" to breach the mirror world's barrier and seep in power, while Julie, absorbed in praying for the descent, was distracted—using an item capable of "Mirror Transit" to return to the real mausoleum.

The only difference was that Julie, before the descent was fully complete, had already fixed her gaze on Lumian and ignored Albus—so one escaped, the other didn't.

"Why did you look at me then? You should've focused on sealing the entire world—that way, none of us could escape!" Lumian mentally scolded Julie, deciding he must've activated the Mirror Clasp just before his thoughts fully petrified, which is why he survived.

But after a quick check, he realized something was wrong.

The Mirror Clasp still had two uses left!

He hadn't used it at all just now!

This… could Heraberg the Archbishop have secretly helped me? After all, even deities require special arrangements to manifest even a fragment of power inside the underground mausoleum of Morola—it's unlikely some outsider suddenly intervened… Surely not Julie remembered how good her boss was and gave me a final push to shove me out of that mirror world? Lumian decided to set this aside for now.

Now is not the time to seek the truth!

The danger is still immense!

He glanced at Albus and saw the descendant of the Red Angel studying him thoughtfully through the surrounding undead soldiers.

"So Albus didn't attack me just now—not because he didn't want to, but because he was cautious; he must think my actions exceeded his expectations, and my escape is full of mystery—he fears stepping into a trap…" Just as Lumian had this thought, a change occurred overhead.

Julie's figure, clad in a slit long dress, appeared in the sky, partially illuminated by firelight.

Lumian's scalp prickled instantly:

She's still alive? Still in divine descent?

Lumian immediately noticed Julie's figure was unnaturally transparent; the blue sapphire ring on her left hand was gone.

Phew… he heard Albus Medich exhale a long breath.

Julie lowered her head and gazed toward the peak of the Peak of Corpses.

Lumian followed her gaze and saw a rod of iron-black metal, two or three meters tall; hanging from its tip was a charred banner, covered in countless dark red or black blood spots and stained patches.

Merely glancing at it, Lumian felt dizzy, his neck suddenly stinging, blood seeping from his brow and various spots on his face.

"0—01"? "Salingel's Blood Flag"? My contamination has significantly deepened… Looks like I don't need to finish reading all the remaining books—mastering this one now should suffice… I can't rely on such direct contamination to save time anymore; I'll easily surpass the threshold… Lumian quickly averted his gaze and spotted Sylvestre standing just beside the flag.

The Witch wore a black robe, staring intently at the point where the iron-black metal pole pierced the peak's summit.

The next second, she sensed something, lifted her head, and looked up at Julie in the sky.

Julie's lips curled into a beautiful, radiant smile.

She opened her moist lips, as if saying, "Leave it to you."

In an instant, Lumian saw Julie's figure rapidly fade and shrink into a pool of foul blood.

The foul blood was no larger than a palm, falling straight downward.

It fell toward "0—01"'s charred banner, as if destined to become one more blood spot or stain upon it.

Sylvestre finally snapped out of her daze and cried out in excruciating pain:

"Julie!"

At that moment, Albus's face changed; he instantly transformed into a blazing, white-and-blue flame spear and shot upward toward the top of "0—01"'s banner.

He clearly did not want Julie's remaining foul blood to stain the charred banner.

You finally start moving… Lumian muttered, not rushing to follow Albus toward the peak's summit to plant a mark or stop Albus and Sylvestre.

He planned to "join" after Albus and Sylvestre had fought for a while!

Of course, Lumian could see Albus valued Julie's foul blood deeply and didn't want it to become a stain on "0—01"'s banner—if Albus failed to prevent it from landing in place, he'd teleport over to assist.

Seizing this rare opportunity, Lumian pulled an item from the Traveler's Satchel.

It was not the Sword of Courage, but the "Demon's Whisper" bone ring, originating from "Siso."

(End of Chapter)