Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability
chapter-978

Boom!

The highly compressed red fire serpent exploded, engulfing Zaratulstra before Jenna could complete her curse. It tore him into shreds of paper, causing them to ignite simultaneously.

Zaratulstra once again retreated into the fog of history.

As the explosion from the red fire serpent began to subside, he returned to the present from a corner of the area behind the mirror, dragging out his past self from the Historical Void—the self that was a Sequence 1 Attendant of Mysteries.

As soon as Zaratulstra appeared, clad in a black robe with eyes pure black and lightless, he immediately transformed into a massive vortex composed of countless maggots.

This enormous vortex was deep and dark, extending numerous slimy tentacles covered in bizarre patterns.

Mythical Creature form—the Mythical Creature form of the Seer pathway!

For Angels, the Mythical Creature form was their truest appearance, so there was no question of whether They could or could not transform into it within the dream city. Of course, this too was suppressed to the Sequence 7 level.

The instant he saw the maggot vortex, even Lumian, as a Demoness of Despair and possessing godhood, couldn't help but feel his thoughts stutter, his joints stiffen, and his mind as if it were under attack from a super-strong hurricane.

He instinctively closed his eyes, while Jenna, who was near the mirror tunnel, seemed to be twisting her entire body.

Seizing this opportunity, Zaratulstra's main body made a wish, "My wish is: For my marionettes to return to my side."

As soon as the words were spoken, two more figures appeared in the area behind the mirror.

They were dressed as business people, one male and one female.

As for the other marionettes, they of course belonged to other Marionettists. Zaratulstra could command their operators, not them directly.

Zaratulstra didn't wish to leave the mirror world because he had sensed the presence of Distortion power from the fact that he had been swapped into the mirror world despite hiding in the fog of history. So he chose not to directly leave the current area.

He feared having his position Distorted again, which might cause him to appear out of thin air in front of Yagates, the number one figure in the police department.

At this moment, because Zaratulstra's Mythical Creature form was restricted to Sequence 7, both the godhood impact and mental corruption effects were greatly reduced. So Lumian, as a Demoness of Despair, with his eyes closed and maintaining distance, began to recover. He raised his left hand and snapped his fingers with a loud crack.

In different parts of the area behind the mirror, under the cover of a Mirror Maze composed of numerous mirrors, groups of delayed explosion fireballs that had been prepared in advance received the order to explode immediately!

Rumble!

They exploded simultaneously, intertwining with each other, causing a fierce red flame storm to cover the entire area behind the mirror, completely engulfing Zaratulstra's Historical Void image, the two marionettes, along with Jenna and Lumian.

This was the Hunter's home turf, a battlefield meticulously prepared by Lumian!

As for Zaratulstra's main body, he had once again hidden in the fog of history.

Rumble!

Zaratulstra's two marionettes used Paper Figurine Substitutes, being torn to pieces in the violent impact waves and ignited by the red flames.

Zaratulstra's Historical Void image maintained its Mythical Creature form, extending numerous tentacles to entangle the oncoming flame storm.

He Grafted himself onto the flames, thus avoiding harm, merely drifting to another side with the storm.

Normally, Grafting suppressed to Sequence 7 wouldn't allow Zaratulstra's Historical Void image to recombine with the concept of fire, but Sequence 7 Magician of the Seer pathway could manipulate flames, having a very close connection with fire itself. Therefore, Zaratulstra's Historical Void image could become a special kind of flame, constantly flashing within the storm.

Lumian's body also shattered like a mirror.

Immediately after, he teleported near the newly emerged female marionette, using the mirror in his hand to reflect her figure, and smeared the Flames of Destruction imbued with Cull forces onto the mirror surface.

Affected by both Zaratulstra's main body entering the fog of history and his historical projection turning into a "flame" drifting with the storm, the female marionette had no time to react or time to hide in the fog of history. Extremely suppressed black flames hiding destruction, erupted from within her body.

She quickly regressed into a paper figurine, but when she emerged in another part of the area behind the mirror, the Flames of Destruction on her body had not extinguished.

After using Paper Figurine Substitute twice in succession, this marionette's main body also turned to ashes.

At this point, the terrifying scene created by the groups of delayed explosion fireballs finally subsided. Zaratulstra's Historical Void image extended his right hand and gently grasped.

The surrounding space-time distorted in response, covering the entire area behind the mirror as if with a giant curtain, forming a concealed area isolated from the surroundings.

Realm of Mysteries!

After confirming that Lumian and Jenna had been pulled into the Realm of Mysteries by his historical projection and could not prevent him for a short time, Zaratulstra returned from the fog of history, landing at the edge of the dark and void area behind the mirror.

He ignored his historical projection and the remaining marionettes that were also trapped in the Realm of Mysteries, walking directly towards the glass mirror surface leading to the hot pot restaurant's private room.

Now, he had the energy to be vigilant and avoid the influence of the Distortion forces.

Just as Zaratulstra approached the glass mirror surface, he suddenly heard a "bang" of a gunshot.

A golden bullet, carrying an indescribable sense of decay, flew out from one of the spider web-like tunnels, heading straight for his chest.

Anthony, wearing a cheap black T-shirt and sporting a crew cut, flashed out of the tunnel following the bullet.

He had been lurking there using the power of the Ice Mirror Charm, not venturing into the area behind the mirror, so he wasn't encompassed by the Realm of Mysteries created by Zaratulstra's historical projection.

As Zaratulstra's main body avoided the bullet, Anthony, using the remnant power of Mirror Traversal, instantly appeared beside the white-haired old man.

He raised a pre-drawn picture while his eyes turned golden and vertical.

Frenzy!

Anthony thought that Zaratulstra had resurrected by seizing Loki's body, so there might still be some struggle between them. Therefore, using Frenzy to target Zaratulstra's mental state might have a miraculous effect.

The picture in his hand was drawn on a blank sketchbook, depicting a door, a lock, and wooden bars completely sealing the door.

The picture spontaneously ignited, turning into a phantom image that attached itself to the glass mirror surface leading to the outside world, sealing it with wooden bars and adding a lock.

Zaratulstra, directly affected by Frenzy, suddenly faded, becoming a phantom.

This was a Magician's ability to create illusions.

After returning from the fog of history, the first thing Zaratulstra actually did was create an illusion, rather than directly approaching the exit.

He used this to make Anthony misjudge his position, only hitting the illusion.

Zaratulstra's true figure quickly sketched itself not far away, speaking coldly in Dragonese, "My wish is: To banish the enemies here."

Before Anthony could use his area-of-effect Awe, he suddenly blacked out, as if lifted by an invisible force and thrown into the air.

When he regained consciousness, he found himself in a prison, with no mirror-like objects around to use—all the iron bars were wrapped in cotton cloth.

Zaratulstra chose to banish Anthony rather than wish for his death because this Angel believed that the enemy mixed with the Demoness likely also had one or two Mirror Substitutions, which would lead to a momentary failure of the wish and a waste of time.

However, this meant that Lumian, who was inside the Realm of Mysteries, was unaffected by the miracle and remained inside.

Zaratulstra's wish was to banish the enemies "here", and the Realm of Mysteries no longer belonged to "here"!

No longer disturbed by Anthony, Zaratulstra turned his gaze back to the glass mirror surface.

He had already realized two wishes, creating two miracles, which had considerably drained him. So he just opened his mouth, preparing to use an Air Cannon to blast the wooden bars and lock, removing their blockade of the exit.

Inside the Realm of Mysteries,Jenna had disappeared, while Lumian, having slightly recovered, teleported behind Zaratulstra's historical projection.

He raised his head, looking up high, letting his eyes, which had burst many capillaries from directly viewing the Mythical Creature form earlier, turn iron-black. At the same time, he let out a harrumph.

As two beams of white light shot from his nostrils towards the dark vortex composed of worms, he threw the Sword of Courage in his hand upwards towards a certain point in the sky.

That place appeared pale white in his eyes.

It was the weakness of the Realm of Mysteries!

Even though the Realm of Mysteries was an ability that only Sequence 1 could use, it currently only had the strength of Sequence 7!

Outside the Realm of Mysteries.

Zaratulstra made a "bang" sound, firing an Air Cannon, causing the wooden bars and iron lock drawn on the glass mirror surface to shatter inch by inch.

At this moment, several figures traversed through another tunnel.

There was Ludwig wearing a child's formal attire, a slightly plump female version of Anthony with a mature demeanor and fairly pretty features, and a handsome male version of Jenna with flaxen hair styled dashingly.

The real Jenna was still hiding inside the tunnel, not entering this area behind the mirror.

Her previous appearance was a shallow mirror person created using special Mirror World Fragments, which could be maintained for a longer time to confuse Zaratulstra. However, under the influence of Lumian's area explosion and the Realm of Mysteries earlier, that weak shallow mirror person had been destroyed.

The current male version of Jenna and female version of Anthony were deep mirror people created in advance using the special Mirror World Fragments in Franca and Lumian's possession. They could only be maintained for three minutes, but in terms of abilities, they almost perfectly replicated the originals, and could also borrow power from the special mirror world to a certain extent.

After the battle with the reanimated female corpse, Lumian and the others began to pay more attention to the abilities that came with the special Mirror World Fragments.

In the real world, the effect might not be obvious, but in the dream city where everyone was suppressed to Sequence 7, the more mirror helpers, the better!

Jenna hadn't let her male version, the female version of Anthony, and Ludwig follow Anthony to attack Zaratulstra earlier because she remembered Lumian's prior reminder: "If we fail to assassinate successfully, subsequent attacks should come in batches. We can't all rush in at once, lest Zaratulstra's special ability takes us all away at once. This can also deplete his spirituality and the number of times he can use his special abilities…"

In the Hunter's home turf, although it couldn't be said that they could make arrangements for the enemy from beginning to end, at least the first few waves of attacks could reflect their intentions!