Chapter 141: 77. Killing Game
“Is this Kasio’s Silver Mirror?”
This was the first time Fisher had heard of such a magical item. He curiously approached the mirror, watching as the silver surface rippled like a lake, creating layers of waves.
The elderly Shivali scholar beside him smiled and said to the accompanying members of Cardu, “Father Dek, please demonstrate the function of this mirror for Mr. Fisher.”
Fisher stepped back a bit, allowing several members of the Cardu church to approach the small silver mirror. The leading elder extended a finger towards the mirror but did not touch it. As he moved, the ripples on the mirror’s surface intensified.
Jasmine stood behind Fisher, watching the little mirror with curiosity. Suddenly, the small mirror began to change form, and a ring representing “Air” quickly appeared within Fisher’s line of sight. It was not a simple pattern; the design shimmered with light, clearly infused with magical power.
This mirror really does inscribe magic like a human!
Fisher observed the small mirror until a complete spell appeared before him. He recognized that the engraved spell was a medieval version of the three-ring magic “Little Tornado.”
“Medieval magic?”
Fisher looked at the Cardu church personnel beside him. He nodded and explained in less fluent Nali language, “This silver mirror was excavated from the tomb of Archbishop Kasio. He disappeared after committing the church’s taboo of treason. We only learned the location of his tomb after he died and brought back all the items he had stolen from the church.”
“This mirror is not an item of our church but was created by Kasio.”
Created by Kasio?
Fisher had heard of Kasio. He seemed to be a very famous defector in Cardu’s history, having once been a cardinal of the Holy Church. No one expected that this archbishop, who was only a step away from the Pope, would defect and flee from the Holy Church.
As a Nali person, Fisher was not very familiar with Cardu’s history and had only heard his name mentioned.
Just a moment ago, Fisher felt quite puzzled by the silver mirror, but after hearing the Cardu church’s explanation, he suddenly became curious about how Kasio produced a “Relic.”
As Fisher had mentioned earlier, the method of creating relics had been lost a long time ago. No one knew how those items full of magical effects transformed from magic materials into their current form.
“Can I observe this mirror up close?”
In response to Fisher’s request, the elderly Shivali scholar glanced at the Cardu people beside him. After they nodded, he said to Fisher, “Please go ahead, Mr. Fisher.”
Fisher approached the mirror, seeing that its surface appeared to be silver, while the frame was made of some kind of black metal, giving the entire mirror an eerie and strange look.
He examined the magic runes on it. This magic was an unrefined version from medieval times; the magic power was clear, though not abundant. Indeed, it was real magic, and surprisingly, the magic belonged to humans?
This phenomenon caught Fisher’s attention. He did not doubt that the Shivali and Cardu people were plotting a fraud, such as hiding someone elsewhere to secretly infuse magic.
If the Shivali people were playing such tricks, their academic reputation would be ruined if discovered. Moreover, with Prince Losang present, Fisher was certain these scholars would not dare to act like that.
Fisher glanced at Losang, who was leaning against the door, gazing towards the hallway outside, seemingly watching someone.
“Are the engraved spells all medieval versions?”
“Ah, yes, but we are not sure of the exact principle. Perhaps this mirror can only record the magic of that era.”
“Ah.”
Just as Fisher was focused, he suddenly heard a faint wail in his ear, which seemed to be a human sound, yet so subtle that he could not pinpoint it.
Furrowing his brow, he looked around, noting how quiet it was, with everyone’s gaze fixed on him.
Could it be…
Fisher refocused on the mirror in front of him as the layers of ripples suddenly led him to form a horrifying guess.
“Howl.”
He looked down at his slightly glowing magical circuit. The faint wailing grew clearer; ever since his soul seemed to have been transformed by the Soul Supplement Handbook, he became very sensitive to magic, magical power, or, one might say, to souls.
Fisher’s expression changed. He stood up and looked at Jasmine beside him, “Jasmine, rip a piece of paper from the notebook.”
“Eh? Alright!”
When the people nearby saw Fisher take action, they all turned their attention to him.
After Jasmine tore off a piece of rough paper for notes, Fisher bit his finger, drawing magic runes on the paper with his blood.
Fisher’s decisive actions caught Jasmine’s attention. Although he was inscribing magic with his blood, for some reason, Jasmine bit her lip, appearing worried.
A soul-targeting magic soon appeared in Fisher’s hand. This magic was quite similar to the proving magic in his thesis, but it was not directed at himself.
Once the magic was completed, he stood up and aimed it at the silver mirror.
“Mr. Fisher, what is this?”
The Shivali scholar was about to stop Fisher. Who knows what kind of magic he was using? What if he accidentally broke the mirror?
However, Father Dek from Cardu generously allowed Fisher to proceed with his magic, so the Shivali scholar ultimately did not intervene.
Fisher’s soul-targeting magic lit up in his hand and surged toward the small silver mirror in an instant. In the horrified gaze of the scholars beside him, the magic activated at once, revealing distorted human phantoms of various sizes behind the mirror.
Those phantoms seemed to be intertwined, unable to separate; one phantom’s arm was another’s leg, and two heads shared a pair of features, creating a grotesque soul silhouette like a massive ball of flesh that was repulsive.
The figures that emerged from the illusion cried out in wails. Others could not hear them, but for Fisher, the cacophony of voices reached a peak, revealing their endless suffering.
Even Fisher appeared taken aback; he had merely guessed, yet did not expect to unveil the true nature of these entities.
“Mr. Fisher, this…”
The Cardu church members stared in shock at the terrifying phantoms behind the mirror. They immediately clasped their hands together in a prayer gesture, seeking the Mother’s protection.
“This mirror is made of mixed human souls, and judging from the resilience of these souls, they must have practiced magic. That’s why this mirror can release medieval magic.”
“Souls? You mean humans understood the existence of souls long ago? And they also knew how to create relics?”
Fisher raised the magic runes in his hand, which had begun to dissipate, signaling that the magic he used was the same as the one in his thesis. When faced with the Shivali scholar’s question, he shook his head, “I’m not sure. Perhaps Archbishop Kasio knew, or perhaps he did not. This silver mirror might have been given to him by someone else.”
Currently, there were no records related to souls in the magic literature; all that existed were records about magical circuits and resonating the world. But after all, knowing whether magic arises from the soul does not have any impact on using magic, yet for Fisher, this theory might bring more possibilities to magic in the future.
The Cardu church personnel beside him sighed and approached Fisher, continuing their explanation, “There are no texts in the Holy Church confirming whether Archbishop Kasio understood that magic comes from souls. Our knowledge of him is quite limited.”
“At that time, he was one of the three major cardinals of the church, only a step away from the Pope. Yet overnight, he changed his pure belief in the Mother and vanished. It was not until decades after his death that we learned the location of his tomb from cultists.”
Hearing the secrets of the Cardu Holy Church, everyone listened intently to the church personnel’s words.
Fisher pondered while putting down the dull magic runes. As the magic dissipated, the phantoms behind the mirror slowly vanished as well.
He had a vague sense of unease, especially after learning about the mirror’s origins.
“Father Dek, are you saying that Archbishop Kasio betrayed the Mother?”
“Betrayed the Mother? Oh no.”
Father Dek recalled the contents of the church texts and after some thought replied, “On the contrary, his faith in the Mother was fervent. He believed that the current doctrines of the Holy Church completely distorted the path to the Mother. He thought that ordinary rituals and strict adherence could never bring one close to the Mother; there was only one path to reach her presence.”
“And that is sorcery.”
At this moment, as Father Dek uttered this term, countless thoughts suddenly surged through Fisher’s mind. Those broken pieces of thought connected fully, and his expression changed as he stood up, looking at Father Dek beside him and asked, “Are you saying that Archbishop Kasio is the founder of the Sorceress Research Society?”
“Ah, although I am reluctant to admit it, it is indeed so. The location of his tomb was revealed to us by those damned cultists. This mirror is also considered a holy object by those cultists, and for years, they have schemed to reclaim it from the Holy Church.”
Got it!
Fisher finally understood why this mirror used medieval magic, why the Pink Pavilion arranged for Carlo to enter Saint Nali University to assassinate Shivali’s people, even though they knew Carlo could not really kill them.
They didn’t want Carlo to take action at all!
What they wanted was to fabricate an attack by the Sorceress Research Society to reclaim their holy artifact as an assault on the Shivali officials!
In other words, the assassination of these Shivali scholars had another perpetrator!
Fisher’s face darkened. As the puzzled gazes of others were upon him, he walked out of the small room. He surveyed the bright sky outside, increasingly feeling that something was off in the surroundings.
“Mr. Fisher! What are you…”
The next second, in the astonished eyes of the crowd, Fisher raised his fist and smashed it against the nearby window, shattering the glass.
A shocking scene unfolded: outside was not a school at all but a pitch-black, void-like black space. In the dead silence, the shards of glass Fisher broke fell from the building’s edge, yet no sound of landing followed, as if they had vanished entirely.
In that darkness, Fisher saw ring after ring pulsating with deep purple and white magical runes. He recognized them as composed of the power of a constructed sorceress’ medieval magic runes.
Thirteen-ring magic, “Spatial Prison.”
A representative work of ultra-ring space magic, Spatial Prison, was also the only magic in medieval times to exceed thirteen rings.
Its exact effect was to completely isolate the space inside and outside the magic circle, meaning it perfectly replicated the environment inside the magic circle, causing the prey to be unaware when entering the magic cage.
Patrolling outside, anyone entering the building at that moment would find that everyone inside had vanished, as they were currently trapped in the magic.
The only way to break the magic was to find the magical runes inscribed on the building. The magic outside in the void could not touch them. If one jumped out of the window, they would instantly disappear, and no one knew what would happen if they leaped out of this magic.
This was the true killing game of the Pink Pavilion, and crucially, aside from Fisher, who knew the inside story, there was no evidence to prove that the Pink Pavilion had planned all of this.
Constructed sorceress power, medieval magic, constructed sorceress Carlo, the holy relic of the Sorceress Research Society brought by Shivali from Cardu.
One link connected to another, ultimately forming an inescapable killing game at this very moment!
The other scholars beside him changed their expressions simultaneously. The Shivali scholars looked angrily at the nearby Nali people, as if to say:
Of course, the security is your Nali New Party’s responsibility. How could you miss that this ultra-ring magic was set up here?
“Impossible! The Nali police have thoroughly inspected this building inside and out. There’s absolutely no trace of any magic engraved. We only did this this morning, and such high-level magic could not have been set up so quickly!”
Ken’s face reflected disbelief as he gazed at the pitch-black space outside. Standing inside the window, they felt as if they were in a massive cage, helpless.
Behind him, Father Dek looked out at the medieval ultra-ring magic with a dazed expression, murmuring to those beside him, “It’s the Sorceress Research Society! They have targeted our holy relic! They want to take back this silver mirror!”
Fisher turned to look at them; the situation had already developed to this point. It was no longer a time to wonder why, but to solve the problem. Only Fisher knew that the mastermind behind the scenes was the Pink Pavilion, which also meant that their real purpose was certainly not this Kasio’s silver mirror, but all Shivali visitors present, even Prince Losang!
Prince Losang’s expression was solemn. Fisher was just about to speak when the lights around extinguished one by one, plunging the entire building into darkness. The banquet hall below erupted with several puzzled shouts, causing Fisher to remember that the visiting group’s family members were still downstairs!
Jasmine moved closer to Fisher, looking worried. She did not gaze into the black space outside; instead, she looked toward the building’s interior, as if discovering something strange hidden inside the space.
“Hehe.”
A cold wind swept by, and Fisher and his group had fallen into the killing game.
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(End of this chapter)
