Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability
chapter-893

Inside the newly rented apartment of Lumian and others on Rue de la Gauche in Quartier de l'Observatoire.

"We're going to the catacombs now," Lumian said to Jenna and Franca in the living room, after glancing out the window at the passing carriages, bicycles, and various mechanical creations.

Before Franca contacted the Demoness of Black again, he wanted to get more intelligence from Krismona's shadow to guard against possible accidents. This required Jenna to advance to Demoness of Affliction at the sacrificial square on the third level of the catacombs.

Jenna looked at the black cloak Lumian was wearing and asked carefully, "Do you need to change your clothes underneath? At least that would make you more comfortable."

Lumian fell silent for a few seconds before stating, "Okay."

Now it was Jenna's turn to be surprised. She had thought Lumian would be more resistant and would need to be persuaded with sufficient reasons.

Franca was equally astonished. When she had drunk the Witch potion, she hadn't accepted such things so quickly.

Her lake-blue eyes flickered slightly, and she quickly made some guesses, her emotions becoming rather complex.

Except for height, Lumian's figure was now similar to Jenna's. After receiving a few pieces of clothing from her, he walked into the bedroom, not completely letting go despite the more intimate relationship between the three of them.

Seeing this, Jenna vaguely understood and turned her head to look at Franca.

"Sigh…" Franca sighed.

Jenna followed by pursing her lips.

Soon after, Lumian came out, wearing the linen men's shirt and dark trousers with a spirited and dashing air.

Franca looked him over and said, "You're too tall. You'll need to find a tailor to make custom-fitted women's clothes."

Lumian tersely acknowledged and walked to the full-length mirror in the living room, looking at himself with his black hair simply tied back.

The stunningly beautiful yet cold-expressionless woman in the reflection made him feel a moment of disorientation. He unconsciously reached into the Traveler's Bag and took out the Lie earring.

His right hand hovered in midair, not immediately putting on the earring.

Franca quickly stepped forward, trying to make her tone sound natural. "I don't think you should force it now. The premise for Aurore's true resurrection is that you always maintain your sense of self and reach the top of the two Calamity pathways. During this process, the fragments of her soul should gradually revive according to your progress. You don't need to deliberately act or imitate her."

"Moreover, Madam Magician guesses that the key part of Aurore's resurrection lies with the Demoness of Unaging. It may not be a good thing for you to let her manifest in you now, just like switching to an adjacent pathway before the Sequence 4 node," Jenna also said in a soft voice.

"Yes, I don't know if your sister ever taught you this phrase: 'Too much of a good thing'. It means that even good things can become bad if taken to excess," Franca added.

Lumian was silent for a moment, then put the Lie earring back into the Traveler's Bag.

Franca quietly let out a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "Do you need a hat with a veil or will you continue to wear the cloak? Looking like this, you'll quickly become the center of attention for everyone on the street."

As fellow Demonesses, she and Jenna both had deep experience with similar situations, and Lumian was now a Demoness with godhood.

Lumian picked up the cloak draped over the back of a nearby chair and put it on again.

As the hood gradually covered his delicate and fine features and simply tied black hair, Lumian turned around and walked towards the door.

Jenna put on a round ladies' hat with a black veil hanging down, while Franca prepared a baseball cap for herself, lowering the brim.

…

On the third level of the catacombs, inside the sacrificial square.

Lumian threw out several mirrors, setting up a Mirror Maze. This way, even if other people came to this level to explore and adventure, they wouldn't be able to see the three Demonesses and their companions, and would pass through normally.

As Jenna adjusted her state and prepared the potion, Franca looked towards the boundary of the maze, which showed no sign of abnormality, and exclaimed in admiration,

"As expected of a demigod. Even though I know the real surrounding area has been hidden by a Mirror Maze, I can't see any problems at all."

In comparison, her own Mirror Maze couldn't achieve this level.

Before Lumian could respond, she asked curiously, "When do you plan to give Voisin Sanson's corpse to Ludwig?"

After Voisin Sanson's death, because he had already been deeply corrupted by the power of Inevitability, and continuing to stay in the special mirror world was quite dangerous, Lumian and the others didn't channel his spirit, but only took away his corpse.

Lumian thought for a moment, then smiled slightly and said, "There's no rush. By stringing him along bit by bit, perhaps the ritual to advance to Sequence 3 of the Hunter pathway will also require team cooperation. Having an Angel team member like this could greatly reduce the number requirement.

"Besides, whether it's you digesting the remaining Affliction potion or Jenna digesting the Affliction potion, we can make use of Ludwig. If we give him all the benefits at once now, how can we make him reluctant to leave?"

Seeing Lumian seriously considering returning to Sequence 3 of the Hunter pathway, Franca felt a wave of joy and was quite gratified, her arms involuntarily swaying twice.

"Anthony is also about to become Sequence 5, just waiting for the final ritual preparation," Lumian suddenly said.

"Uh…" Franca was stunned for a moment. "When did this happen?"

"He told me yesterday. While you were advancing matters related to the Demoness Sect, he was also completing Madam Justice's tasks. He's already established initial contact with the Psychology Alchemists and naturally received corresponding rewards. He's been applying his Hypnosis ability all along, including helping me, and completed the digestion some time ago," Lumian briefly explained. "What he currently needs is to go to the spirit world to contract a certain creature, gaining the characteristic of maintaining clarity in dreams. This can also be substituted by other methods, and Ludwig's dishes might be able to help."

Franca smacked her lips. "We haven't been caring enough about Anthony…"

"For a Spectator, he might not want you to care too much about him or pay attention to him," Lumian glanced at a corner of the Mirror Maze. "Just like he's here now too, ready to Placate Jenna immediately if the situation goes wrong."

He's here too? Franca felt as if she had heard a ghost story.

At this time, Jenna, who had already eaten the Ice Lemon Fish fillet, had prepared the Affliction potion, which was black-based with green foam on top.

Lumian immediately raised both arms.

Behind Jenna, a crystal-clear ice pillar with multiple protrusions rose from the ground, ready to serve as a stake.

Then, Jenna handed the Affliction potion to Lumian and climbed to the top of the ice pillar on her own, allowing Franca to tightly bind her body, restricting her movement.

Bright white Fire Ravens lit up around Lumian. They circled and flew out, landing on Jenna's body surface.

Jenna was quickly set on fire, her expression uncontrollably twisting.

Lumian stepped on layers of frost-condensed stairs, coming to Jenna's front, and poured that bottle of potion into his companion's mouth.

Jenna's mind began to blur, the pain in her body pulling at her, keeping her last bit of clarity.

Lumian then floated lightly from the top of the frost stairs to the ground, focusing on sensing the surroundings.

He was waiting for Krismona's shadow to arrive. Having lost Mr. Fool's seal, he currently couldn't enter the area around the Samaritan Women's Spring.

Franca kept watching Jenna, seeing her skin quickly blacken, her face twist to deformation, contorted in pain, her teeth no longer able to bite, emitting painful sounds.

This made Franca extremely distressed, seemingly more tormented than when she herself had performed this ritual.

Suddenly, Lumian's light blue eyes first took on an iron-black color, then became silver-white with black.

He felt that Krismona's shadow, or rather her residual consciousness, had descended within the Mirror Maze, yet he couldn't see her at all.

Jenna's thoughts continued to drift, her sense of self gradually losing itself. She recalled the pain and joy of her time with Lumian, and also remembered the experience of helping Franca find pleasure and her inner emotions during that period—addicted because of enjoyment, awakened because of pain.

In this state, Jenna had no way of knowing whether she had been noticed by the Primordial Demoness. By the time she regained some of her thoughts, a sacred figure wearing a plain white robe, blurry and hard to see clearly, had appeared before her eyes.

"Lady Krismona," Jenna called out the other's name, and learning from last time's lesson, she quickly and directly asked, "Why does the Primordial One hate pure females who walk the Demoness pathway?"

Krismona answered in an ethereal voice, "My mother hates those Demonesses who don't experience the pain of gender change, and She's also guarding against them."

"Why guard against them?" Jenna further inquired.

Krismona spoke in an extremely hollow tone, "Pure female Demonesses, after becoming Angels, or perhaps after becoming Demonesses of Unaging, might encounter a very terrifying matter. They might overcome it, or they might not. If they can't, it's a very big problem for my mother. She can't let it happen."

Jenna was stunned for a moment, then blurted out, "What about you?"

Strands of blood color suddenly appeared on the surface of Krismona's blurry face. Her previously hollow voice suddenly carried a hint of suppression and pain. "So, I died…"

Before the words faded, this former Demoness of Catastrophe, a true Child of God, rapidly faded away.

"What exactly is that terrifying matter?" Jenna rushed to ask.

Krismona's shadow quickly dissipated, leaving only half a sentence: "That mirror world…"

Jenna suddenly came to her senses, seeing the charred skin on her body surface falling off in pieces, while the ropes had been burned through at some unknown time.

She immediately concealed her form and sought a corner to change her clothes.

Phew… Seeing this, Franca instinctively let out the worry and torment pent up in her heart.

At the same time, she seemed to hear Lumian also quietly let out a sigh of relief.