Chapter 459
The Death of Eivass
“You know, old man,” Oswald said out of the blue, narrowing his eyes. “While you’ve had your own difficulties, this time you’ve gone too far. We’ll have to remember this.”
“As we ought to.” The elf with a stern, upright face simply nodded solemnly. “I’ve done my best anyway; the rest is no longer my concern.”
He paused here and looked at Eivass, quietly warning, “Be careful lately, Bishop Moriarty. Unless there’s something particularly important, don’t leave your home… no need to go to church either. Where the candle burns eternally is the sanctuary of the Candlemaster.”
Although it seemed quite strange for a butler to lecture a bishop about church and faith, it was perfectly reasonable if one knew he was part of the Pope’s Guard.
“Don’t always talk about the Young Master. You be careful too, old man…” Oswald walked over, unceremoniously placing his hand on Diomedes’s back as if to usher him away.
Diomedes obediently followed Oswald as he left. If nothing unexpected happened, Oswald would likely question him about some matters once they were outside Moriarty Manor.
After the old butler left with the other butler, old James turned back to Eivass with interest. “Did you sense something? Can you tell me, Father, when did you feel that something was wrong?”
Eivass didn’t answer, instead asking, “Then why didn’t you attend the banquet?”
“Don’t answer a question with another question, Eivass.” James leaned back on the sofa, a slight smile on his lips. However, he still good-naturedly provided an answer. “Because all that trouble wasn’t suitable for me. Since I declined the invitation, it wouldn’t be appropriate to freeload.”
Professor Moriarty smiled slightly and said calmly, “Does that satisfy your curiosity, Father? Now, back to the previous question—when did you sense something was wrong, and why did you refuse so firmly?”
Eivass’s heart was suddenly gripped by an invisible pressure. Judging solely by Professor Moriarty’s words, it seemed he was merely talking about the royal engagement banquet. What he refused seemed to be merely an invitation from Queen Sophia… but Eivass understood his meaning: Old James had refused the invitation to rebel from people like Dross.
Even though he had clearly stated his position, not siding with those rebels, Dross still dared not make a move against old James—their behavior could even be described as hesitant. From another perspective, his foster father had also not sided with the royal family.
In the game’s storyline, James had been completely invisible throughout. At least, before Version 0, there was no way to tell that James was acting suspiciously. After Eivass and Isabel fled to the Church Nation, Oswald, James, and Edward also disappeared without a trace. From then on, Edward had been with James the entire time. His combat power increased at an unbelievable rate, as if he had cheated, and he always gained some special benefits from world-ending disasters.
By the time Edward reappeared as a supporting character with lines and voice acting, he was already the main BOSS of Version 0. While his foster father was theoretically the final BOSS, he technically never entered the dungeon; he was a mechanism kill outside of combat. That was the last main storyline dungeon of Version 0, and the last dungeon Eivass had played before transmigrating.
Eivass remembered the performance of that dungeon clearly even now. The final BOSS of that dungeon was a blackened Edward. He had fused with the dragon heart of the “Calamity Demon Dragon,” wielded the corrupted Broken Holy Sword “Excalibur,” and absorbed three Heavenly Envoy Fragments, becoming extraordinarily powerful.
After thePlayers arduous victory over the extremely strong Edward, who could have expected Professor Moriarty, previously thought to be merely a schemer, to suddenly appear and effortlessly intercept the finishing blow? But James was not his usual deep and gentle self; he had become frantic and grim, his once-upright back hunched. He claimed that Eivass had been his person from the very beginning and attempted to persuade Eivass to defect.
The Professor stated that “his Great Deed” was nearing its end and no longer needed “Players”—the “Players” here would display the name the player filled in themselves, clearly referring to the player.
But at this moment, Eivass appeared hesitant. He wanted to go with James but tried to beg for mercy for the Player. This indecisive cowardice angered the somewhat deranged James. He directly attacked the Player, attempting to kill him and take something from him. Professor Moriarty’s power was extraordinary—his attack froze time itself, turning the entire world into a “negative color.” The Player, using the Divine Artifact gifted by the Hourglass, could barely carve out a small area to engage him.
Just then, Edward, who had just recovered from a near-death state, over-utilized his power and used an instant-death spell to launch a sneak attack on the Player. That instant-death spell was a core mechanic in Edward’s dungeon. Edward had seven selves, meaning six clones that could appear and disappear at will. Any damage dealt to his main body would be distributed among the other clones present, with the main body remaining invincible and taking no damage. While damage could be dealt to the clones normally, if a clone died, Edward would guide and re-summon a new, fully healed clone.
The Players had to use the Twin Mirror Divine Artifact to set up overlapping, chaotic spaces, without allowing Edward’s other spells to destroy those fragile spaces—if the angle of the mirror was too wide, it would be destroyed by these beams. The instant-death beam, ultimately only released by guiding Edward’s main body, was refracted multiple times to hit another clone of Edward present at the same time. If hit by this beam, the player character would die instantly, ignoring all resistances, and could not be revived during the battle. Since the beam disappeared after killing one person, when the mirror’s angle was incorrect or the number of mirrors was insufficient, a summoned creature could be sacrificed to block the beam once. However, even if a summoned creature blocked the beam and died, it could no longer be summoned in this battle. In terms of game mechanics, it was “permanently killed.” Based on this characteristic, this mechanic could be circumvented—the clone hit by this beam could similarly not be re-summoned by Edward, thus permanently killing one clone. This had to be repeated six times to clear all clones before damage could be dealt to the main body. Afterward, Edward would transform into a more aggressive demon dragon, but with the special mechanics gone, he was much easier to fight and was quickly defeated by the Players, leading to an unskippable settlement CG—the part where James appeared.
The power of Edward’s instant-death beam came from the Calamity Demon Dragon—a corrupted, fallen self that the Silver Crown Dragon had cut off. Its power was such that even the Divine Artifact gifted by the Hourglass could not withstand it.
At this moment, Eivass, who had been standing by idly, unsure of what to do, suddenly noticed this scene. He could have delivered a finishing blow to the dying Edward and interrupted his spell channeling, but Eivass was unwilling to kill Edward and lacked the ability to block the spell. This was because the Twin Mirror Divine Artifact, capable of refracting the death beam, was in the Player’s possession, not “Eivass’s.” Thus, after hesitating, Eivass resolutely stood in front of the Player at the last moment and blocked the attack with his own body.
Professor Moriarty was instantly enraged, and before he could go mad, the Player was urgently teleported away by another friendly powerhouse. In terms of plot, there was only one Player, not “Players.” Those enemies were actually all defeated by the Player alone. Therefore, after Eivass died, only one person remained in the party, and it was still possible to save just one person. The moment Eivass’s protective barrier shattered, he was teleported away by the friendly powerhouse.
This was all the details Eivass remembered about the event “The Death of Eivass.” It was etched in Eivass’s mind as if carved by knife and chisel. Eivass didn’t actually know Professor Moriarty’s purpose or abilities. This was clearly content for a later storyline, but the game had not updated to this section before Eivass transmigrated. If one insisted on considering death only after confirming the cessation of breathing, he couldn’t even confirm if “Eivass” was truly dead—after all, the Player didn’t even have time to hold Eivass’s corpse and shout a couple of times, only seeing the back of a figure that instantly became tattered and shattered. The Players generally believed Eivass was dead mainly because the background music at the time suddenly became sad, and a slow-motion close-up was given. Although his death was abrupt, the atmosphere had been built up to that point, and it would have been impolite if he hadn’t died in the end.
Eivass, who was almost a prophet of the future, knew nothing about his foster father. And the unknown brought fear. Therefore, ever since Eivass awakened his past life memories, he had been very vigilant towards his foster father. In the current timeline of Eivass’s world, Edward had not been taken away by Professor Moriarty. As a result, he appeared to be just an ordinary Fourth Tier Law Master, with no discernible special traits. It was quite clear then—the special one was Moriarty, not Edward at all.
Looking back, it seemed Professor Moriarty was also involved in the “Cruel Autumn” incident of the past. Did his foster father suddenly fake his death and leave Avalon because he saw through Eivass’s changes and no longer intended to be involved in this plan? Or did he hope to leave Eivass’s side to allow Eivass to develop freely and observe his changes?
Seeing Eivass’s delayed response, Professor Moriarty simply showed a gentle smile. “Is that so? Then I understand. —Is there anything I can help you with, Eivass?”
Now, hearing his foster father’s words, Eivass felt a chill run down his spine. He must have guessed it! His foster father might have even guessed that he was another “Eivass”… Now, all he needed was to reveal his identity as an Ascender, and he would die for it.
The Professor Moriarty in this Ascension Ritual immediately realized something was wrong with Eivass because Eivass’s tone of refusal was too firm. Yet, he was still kindly asking Eivass what he should do, much like a father playing a game with his child. Since the simulated Professor Moriarty could easily see through the “Eivass” that had been replaced, even though the core was still Eivass, would the real Professor Moriarty… would he really not realize that Eivass had awakened his past life memories that day?
Eivass recalled that when he had just awakened his past life memories, and before he had even sorted them out, he had asked his foster father to help him find the rope from the gallows and the nails from the heads of those subjected to the torture of dismemberment, claiming it was “a ritual to seal Shadow Demons seen in an ancient book.” At that time, he was quite proud of his understanding that surpassed the current version, believing his foster father couldn’t possibly know how to seal Shadow Demons—since even the Star Antimony people didn’t know. Eivass’s actions back then were quite wild and reckless. It wasn’t until later, when his foster father and Sherlock faked their deaths consecutively and Oswald went missing, that he began to feel pressure and slightly restrained himself.
But thinking back now… his foster father had specifically hinted to him not to use human materials, as it would incur the sin of “Heavenly Sin.” At the time, Eivass could only interpret it as a coincidence. Now, reflecting on it… perhaps his foster father had already realized that Eivass was not himself back then. He just didn’t say anything. Just like now, smiling calmly, looking at Eivass. Was he unconcerned? Or was Eivass unable to affect him? Or, perhaps, was this all within his control?
Eivass didn’t know how strong his foster father truly was, what he planned to do, or how much he knew. He had driven Diomedes away, partly to protect Eivass, and partly because he hoped this matter would only be known to himself.
…Such intense pressure. Eivass felt like he was about to break out in a sweat. He didn’t even know if he should respond to Professor Moriarty’s inquiry. If this Moriarty was a Chess Player… then who would be playing against him? For some reason, Eivass’s mind suddenly conjured his grandfather’s name.
—Jacob.
If there was anyone the Professor couldn’t predict or control, it would likely be him…
Eivass hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded and said, “There is indeed some… if Father is willing.”
“Speak, Eivass,” Professor Moriarty said with a gentle smile. “If possible, Father will try his best to help you. If not…” He smiled and said slowly, “Father will also tell you why it’s not possible. Mr. Eivass Moriarty… my dear little key.”
Updated!
