Chapter 715: 15. Magic Lord
As Jasmine watched “Teacher Fisher,” dressed in a robe, smiling and extending a hand towards her, she felt as if she were gradually intoxicated by the rich aroma of red wine.
Could it be that Teacher Fisher liked her the most?
She bit her lip, and the blush on her cheeks deepened, her mouth curving into an uncontrollable smile, unable to contain her joy.
“Hehe… hehe…”
While laughing, Jasmine seemed to awaken a bit and quickly shook her head, saying,
“But Raphael is still waiting for Teacher Fisher; if that’s the case, Raphael…”
The “Teacher Fisher” was surrounded by a hint of Buddhist incense, still extending a hand toward Jasmine, saying,
“But you’ve waited for me for so long; don’t you feel unwilling? Clearly, you asked your close friend to take care of the possible human who could bring me into existence before deciding to face death, yet now you can’t even stay by your side for long.”
His heart-wrenching expression made Jasmine feel confused because she had never heard anything like what Teacher Fisher was saying. Yet deep down, her heart seemed to be drawn by Fisher’s words, as if they were articulating the thoughts and feelings she had suppressed deep within her soul for years.
“Don’t you want me to belong solely to you? What angels, what Raphael—wouldn’t it be better for them to go to hell?”
“I—I’m not; I didn’t.”
She murmured and took a step back, but the space behind her beneath the table became increasingly constricted. A hand, whose origin she could not discern, suddenly pressed down on her shoulder, causing Jasmine’s pupils to shrink slightly. The blue hair on her head had already turned completely black, while the azure in her pupils faded entirely, becoming a deep, painful brown.
As a Buddhist scripture twisted, a long-repressed roar squeezed out of Jasmine’s throat in agony.
“You’re a false shadow; how long are you going to linger around me?!”
She froze for a moment, not knowing why she said such a thing, but in her eyes, her hand was already uncontrollably raised, as if it were a genetic instinct, and the black strands of Buddhist scripture, under the control of her soul, instantly transformed into exquisitely detailed magic runes, which then radiated an eerie crimson.
“Buzz!”
At that moment, outside the tent, Xu, who was sitting quietly inside, suddenly opened her eyes. In an instant, her medium wrapped around the area within several miles.
Sure enough, in the next moment, an extremely rich wave of world resonance exploded from Jasmine’s tent, followed by a bizarre magic comparable to the mythical rank erupting like a cross spreading across the night sky.
Thanks to Xu’s medium, the entire Saint Nali district remained eerily quiet, with only a few still awake witnessing a white light as if it aimed to penetrate the firmament.
Meanwhile, Raphael, still deep in sleep within the medium, instinctively sensed the danger. She opened her eyes in an instant, but the white light had already consumed her. Without time to think, she manifested a long spear made of dragon blood that wrapped around her.
“Buzz buzz buzz!”
This is…
Magic?!
Raphael had a foundational understanding of magic. When the overwhelming magical power approached, she recognized the source of this massive energy, but she had never seen Fisher cast magic beyond the mythical rank, nor was magic above the mythical rank designed for humans—it was uniquely someone’s patent.
“Ugh!”
Raphael grit her teeth, struggling to hold on, but she could not withstand the immense magical energy. Before she could achieve any further action, she was forcefully thrust out of the tent and could no longer support herself, being lifted up into the sky.
But even before she could act, Xu appeared behind her and effortlessly caught her body, returning to the ground at lightning speed.
In the sky, her medium automatically operated, pulling away all those who could not escape quickly, leaving only herself and Raphael standing before the massive white cross that had blossomed.
Raphael’s red hair was whipped by the terrifying aftermath generated by Xu’s medium. She raised her dragon claw to shield her eyes and asked with difficulty,
“Aunt Xu, what exactly is this?”
Xu did not answer, quietly controlling the medium to gradually suppress the large white cross back to its original place, yet the resistance felt increasingly fierce.
“Boom!!”
“Stop!! Stop now!! Destruction God, stop now!!”
At that moment, a frantic shout came from behind. Xu remained motionless, while Raphael turned back to see Ashley, the Fate Lord wrapped in golden threads, flying over with an anxious yet excited expression.
“I recognize this magic. It’s Asuka’s magic! This is her self-created Apostle magic; she’s back! Isn’t she? Stop, Destruction God!”
“Asuka…?”
Raphael turned her head in confusion, while Xu sighed, her expression growing even colder.
Suddenly, Xu raised her hand, and the medium beside Ashley instantly suppressed her like a mountain, preventing her from getting closer. At the same time, Xu raised another hand without pause, and that medium suddenly pierced through the blossoming Apostle magic before them.
“Boom!!”
The white cross shattered like glass, quickly revealing Jasmine, who was wrapped within it.
Raphael, with keen eyesight, soon spotted Jasmine’s figure. Looking at the black-haired Whale Folk entwined in Buddhist scriptures within the cross, Raphael’s expression turned to shock.
“Jasmine? How could this be…?”
Xu remained silent, gazing at Jasmine, who was struggling with closed eyes, her body covered in Buddhist scriptures. Her gaze flickered, as if recalling the past.
She suddenly remembered when she first met this child, back when she was still young and full of vitality, struggling like a newly fledged bird in this world.
That was when she had just left what she called her teacher. No matter how much Asuka exaggerated her abilities, she still barely managed to survive under the pursuit of countless mythical beings, thanks to the secret assistance from Gouwen and Mikhail.
Of course, since Gouwen had stepped in to help this junior, Xu couldn’t overlook it.
At that time, having witnessed the chaos in the Ideal Nation from afar, Xu naturally adopted the belief that all Trans were harmful. To her and many other mythical beings, Trans were silent demons bearing bombs, waiting to retaliate against the world.
But as they spent time together, Xu gradually discovered that the so-called Trans might share the same soul as them.
Asuka had stayed with Xu and Gouwen for a long time, and even when she had to leave afterward to search for other Trans, attempting to “complete” them to prevent them from becoming threats, Xu and Gouwen still maintained frequent contact with Asuka.
After being hurt by both “mothers” consecutively, Asuka became wary, reluctant to invest similar emotions in anyone else; at that time, Xu had already achieved mythical rank, which also meant that she could no longer have her own children. But back then, Xu was still youthful and reckless, indifferent about the next generation.
She merely felt pity for this Trans, believing that such a kind child should not endure such treatment, and thus took special care of her.
Xu couldn’t help but recall the torment and mental disturbance caused by that chaos, and she vividly remembered Jasmine losing her sanity under the erosion of the Crimson Mist, rushing into her arms while crying and calling her mother.
She had already suffered in that pollution for ten thousand years. Now, having finally cast aside all her past burdens and achieved everything she once dreamed of, all of this had only lasted a little over a hundred years; why must she return to that hell now?
The discontent of Xu and Gouwen regarding Jasmine’s return to the Spirit Realm stemmed from this. Fisher had crossed thousands of years back to the present, but Xu and Gouwen had watched helplessly as that child moved towards tragedy.
“Tsk.”
Xu clicked her tongue, increasing the pressure suppressing that immense magic. After completing the amendment to the laws, having regained her full strength, a simple motion from her caused more and more cracks to appear on the surface of the magic, and the world’s resonance was silenced under Xu’s powerful medium, gradually being reduced to a certain degree.
“Crack crack crack!”
In the next moment, all the white crosses wrapped around Jasmine suddenly shattered, revealing the Jasmine whose Buddhist scriptures were gradually peeling away.
As Xu withdrew her medium, the suppressed Ashley quickly lifted her head to gaze in the direction of the cross, hoping to see the president she had waited many years for. Upon seeing the flowing black hair, her breath momentarily caught in her throat, but the whale-like ears and long tail that followed shattered her anxious heart.
That was clearly not Asuka, but why…
Ashley’s pupils contracted as Xu and Raphael rushed to Jasmine’s side, only to see her wearily rubbing her eyes and beginning to whimper,
“Mom, Raphael, Teacher Fisher, what just happened to me? It feels so strange.”
Raphael, who was about to step forward, paused slightly at her words. She turned to glance at Xu, who wore an expressionless face, and dumbly said,
“Fisher? Jasmine, Fisher isn’t here.”
“Not here?”
Jasmine rubbed her eyes, then shook her head, pointing towards Raphael’s side and saying,
“But Teacher Fisher is clearly right there! He said if he saw me talking to other women, he would—he would kill him! He also said he likes me the most, hehe.”
“…”
Raphael shot a strange glance at the empty space beside her, helplessly pinching her baby-fat cheeks and saying,
“I think you’re really tired, Jasmine.”
Yet, Xu seemed to have been unfazed by this and gently patted Jasmine’s head, her tone still calm, even carrying a hint of indulgence.
“Hmm, it’s alright. Later, you can rest next to your Teacher Fisher with me.”
“Uh-huh.”
Jasmine nodded, fatigue washing over her as she fell into Xu’s embrace, contentedly closing her eyes.
Raphael opened her mouth, frowning, while behind her, Ashley, who looked incredulous, rushed forward to see Jasmine but was stopped by Raphael’s hand.
“Wait a minute, Miss Ashley.”
“What on earth is going on, Destruction God? Tell me, that magic just now was clearly Asuka’s magic! Right? You should have recognized it!”
“Asuka…”
Raphael chewed on that name, but Xu’s expression darkened.
“Your president will not appear again; go back and rest.”
“But—”
Xu no longer paid her any heed, turning instead to Raphael.
“Raphael, tomorrow morning I will personally take Jasmine to temporarily leave for the Spirit Realm. Everything left here will be up to you.”
“Okay, Aunt Xu.”
Xu nodded and then slowly carried Jasmine, whose black hair was gradually returning to its azure color, towards the originally designated resting place, leaving behind a displeased Ashley and a slightly headache-inducing scene for Raphael to observe.
In the Spirit Realm, the Angel’s Sanctuary.
Standing on the deck of the mechanism battleship, Fisher suddenly shivered for some reason. He touched his nose, watching David start this warship manufactured by Captain Alagina in the cockpit. As the battleship began to sway slowly, Emhart stealthily peeked out of Fisher’s arms, watching Renee drift around nearby. Like a mouse sensing a cat, he retreated back into his embrace.
He regretted feeling that way; had he known he would have yielded to Xu and Jasmine even when threatened, now, arriving in the Spirit Realm, he couldn’t even see a shadow, just like when he had stayed loyal to Renee and she didn’t show up then.
Wait, why is it whenever I stand somewhere, no one shows up? Is my esteemed Sir Book Emhart really seeing things wrong?
“Buzz buzz buzz!”
“Mr. Fisher, we can shift the materials of the ceiling now.”
“Alright.”
Fisher controlled the Fluid Sword to open a hole above. Just as he cautiously used Gouwen’s small boat to deploy a protective shield around the entire battleship, he was shocked to find the outside was pitch-black, with no trace of crimson mist visible.
“What the…”
Renee leaned against the railing of the deck, gazing at the outside scene, saying,
“The pollution must have been attracted elsewhere by something, temporarily leaving this area; after that attracting thing disappears, it will unconsciously spread back.”
Fisher frowned. Generally, this situation should relate to Jasmine’s circumstances, but he wasn’t yet at the twentieth rank and dared not look toward the crevice.
Fortunately, the Fate Completion Manual didn’t require any special reading conditions, making it the lowest barrier to entry among these Outer Gods. Otherwise, Ashley wouldn’t have survived to this point, allowing him to successfully meet the advancement criteria.
It was also because of that sudden disappearance of crimson mist that the Spirit Realm revealed its originally deep and profound appearance. Fisher glanced around, surveying the mushroom-like sanctuary when, from not far away in the darkness outside the sanctuary, he suddenly spotted a shattered giant statue.
“That’s…”
He squinted, straining to look at the hazy and ruggedly beautiful giant figure, ultimately recognizing that it was the lower half of a woman. The upper half of that statue had already shattered.
[You have unlocked the map: Statue of the Magic Lord – Part Three]
“The Statue of the Magic Lord?”
Fisher murmured, while Renee beside him looked somewhat surprised, questioning Fisher.
“You actually recognized the true form of that statue, even though it clearly doesn’t have a head.”
Fisher glanced at Renee’s face full of skepticism, merely saying,
“I also have the Completion Manual, and it’s related to the Creation Society; I just feel like… this statue was built by members of the Creation Society, so how has it already shattered?”
Renee looked at the broken top half of the statue in the dark void, shaking her head.
“No, this statue was created by my predecessor. In fact, there are not just this one, but as many as seven.”
“Made by the Mother Goddess, huh.”
Renee’s lips curled slightly, but there was a hint of sadness in her smile.
“My predecessor was a very good friend of that Trans. The loneliness I’ve experienced since my birth has not been so profound thanks to you, and my predecessor was able to escape loneliness because of her dear friend. The stars are the followers of my predecessor; they, like humans, honor my predecessor as ‘Mother Goddess.’ They loved her and supported her, and were protected by my predecessor.
“When the Spirit Realm pollution first erupted, it was my predecessor who reconciled them, so even when the Spirit Realm pollution was at its strongest, only five relatively weak Chaos Races entered reality through the crevices. But all this changed when my predecessor intervened in reality and the gods launched an assault. She perished completely, and I was born; the stars believed that the Magic Lord caused my predecessor’s demise, and thus they resented her, destroying all the statues of the Magic Lord she had created after her death.”
Fisher sensed the sadness in Renee’s tone, knowing it came from those stars.
“They don’t see you as the Mother Goddess, do they?”
“Yeah, though I feel the same way. But actually, from the very beginning, they did regard me as the Mother Goddess, after all, we were all born from the same authority. They hoped I would refuse the treaty set by the gods, wanting me to lead them away from the torment of Spirit Realm pollution. But for me, who had just been born, I didn’t even know them; how could I know so much? Thus, with each disappointment, they completely severed ties with me, and the name they called me changed from ‘Mother Goddess’ to ‘Authority.’”
(End of this chapter)
