Chapter 484
I can definitely survive.
Bishop Mathers’s proposal was quickly rejected by Eivass.
Detaining Master Nobel offered no benefit to them. Alchemical potions were mere tinctures in the hands of others, but they could display unique effects when held by an Alchemist.
And currently, they were in need of personnel. Neither Eivass nor Isabel rejected the Path of Balance, making them open to help from Strangers.
After Eivass appeased Bishop Mathers, he obtained the fragments of the Red-Hilted Sword from him.
Holding the familiar weapon once more, Eivass felt a lot more at ease.
Eivass then found Isabel again and told her about their subsequent arrangements.
“It’s time to prepare to leave,” Eivass said seriously. “Take Madam Shafiya with you, and my father too—Oswald will eventually have to protect him, and he can help protect you as well. Diomedes is also yours; take them all with you…
“Originally, your journey to the Church would have been fraught with danger. But that was calculated based on Madam Shafiya being dead and us traveling alone to the Church. Now that Madam Shafiya has been rescued by us, with her protection, your side should not encounter too many problems. I plan to have Bishop Mathers and Master Nobel accompany you… Sherlock and I will stay here. I will keep an eye on him.”
“…And you?”
Isabel looked at Eivass and then asked, “Do you really have to perform the Shadow of Avalon Ritual?”
Their understanding of each other was deepening day by day. Isabel had already guessed what Eivass intended to do.
When Eivass suddenly mentioned the Shadow of Avalon Ritual before, Isabel had felt something was amiss.
“You did say that the ritual was problematic.”
Isabel wanted to stop Eivass. “If you want to ensure your Ascension… we just need to see through that fake Sherlock, right?
I think your father might have already guessed that this is an Ascension Ritual. Through hints, perhaps we can get him to help us eliminate that troublesome ‘Advisor.'”
“The Advisor must be killed,”
Eivass replied. “If he were merely exposed and died, his soul would be damaged but not necessarily destroyed. So I intend to kill him more cleanly.
This way, either his soul will be severely damaged, or he will die from it directly. In either case, it won’t leave him with enough memories… While our acting so far has no flaws, as long as he later realizes that Eivass is ‘Fox’ or Isabel is ‘Lulu,’ all the information we conveyed will be exposed.”
“…Are you saying, during the end of the Ascension Ritual…”
Isabel finally understood.
The “exciting clips” compilation might cut Isabel and Eivass into it.
“But what if he tells these details to his two students?”
Isabel raised a new doubt.
“He won’t,” Eivass stated confidently. “They can’t remember that much. Because I didn’t directly reveal any secrets. The things we said would require analysis combined with real-world information to yield useful results. If he directly tells the original text to his students, they might miss a sentence or two later, and the meaning will be completely different. Moreover, they don’t have the authority to access these secrets of Avalon, nor do they have sufficient experience and life background to analyze them independently.
Therefore, he will definitely summarize the information and then give it to them. Even if he mentions us, as long as there are no witnesses, it becomes a case of one person’s word against another’s.”
“…After all, there are four days, right.”
Isabel also understood. “If they don’t want to be exposed, they can’t write this down. So the final amount of information they can recall won’t be much; it will definitely be the summarized version.”
“That’s right.”
Eivass nodded. “However, I don’t plan to drag the ritual out until the fourth day… I plan to end the Ascension Ritual on the second day.”
“You took the Drunken Dream T, right? The dream should last for four days?”
Isabel sounded somewhat worried. “Is your dream unstable? Should I hurry to the Church at full speed?”
“I took it, I’m fine. I’m thinking about other things…”
Eivass sighed helplessly. “If it were any other Pillar God, I wouldn’t have any objections… But this is a stage created by the Lord of Scales and Feathers.”
As a priest, his inherent knowledge was theology.
He knew the personalities and individual preferences of these Pillar Gods.
The Lord of Scales and Feathers particularly enjoyed stories of mortals surviving hardships.
A little girl who survived after being severely burned in a fire; a warrior who took a dozen bullets and suffered multiple limb disabilities during a war but still fought to survive; a hunter who strove to keep those around him alive through the cold and hunger caused by blizzards or droughts…
These individuals might receive the blessings of the Lord of Scales and Feathers and become His Discs.
He was a god who faced danger head-on, savored suffering, and celebrated hope.
“Adaptation” was not about evasion but about overcoming. Just like the principle of “biomimetics,” it was the victory of the weak.
This was evident from the personality of His Disc, Akropolis—this savior, commonly known as the “battlefield medic,” would equally save all who wished to be saved. He would often appear on the battlefield as a dove, saving soldiers with a strong will to survive; occasionally, he would appear as a sparrow to kiss terminally ill patients, bestowing the miracle of life upon those who, despite their terminal illnesses, continued to strive to live.
Given the Lord of Scales and Feathers’ nature, this ritual would either escalate in intensity or present dangers that could only be overcome with courage. And there would be no absolutely safe place.
The reason Eivass had rescued so many people was to ensure Isabel’s safe arrival at the Church.
Eivass, on the other hand, intended to remain on Glass Island until the very end.
“If it drags on until the last day, it will be very dangerous for me. So I hope you can reach the Church before dawn on the third day. But don’t be too fast either, because I still need to find Olive. Or rather, I need to wait for Olive to find me.”
Eivass looked at Isabel seriously. “Although we are undergoing the Ascension Ritual to gain the blessings of the Pillar Gods to increase our ‘levels.’ The Ascension Ritual is essentially still a ‘simulation.’
Since it’s a simulation, it naturally needs to test things that cannot be tested in the real world. Take the ‘Shadow of Avalon’ for example. I cannot perform the ritual myself using the Queen’s Blood, so I need the help of other Ritualists. I don’t know what will happen after the Shadow of Avalon is completed… So I plan to complete the ritual at dusk tomorrow, and you will enter the Church after dark.”
Eivass gave Isabel instructions. “We will act separately. We won’t be able to contact each other in between; we’ll have to rely on our tacit understanding. Therefore, I can’t have anyone else stay here for me… Only if I stay here myself can I be at ease; only if you control the timing of your journey to the Church can I be at peace.”
“…Indeed, Olive is Master Ibn.”
Isabel finally ascertained the truth.
If Olive were anyone else, Eivass would never have trusted him so much, let alone shared the secret of the Shadow of Avalon with him.
“Yes,” Eivass nodded slowly. “The only problem is that this plan will leave Master Ibn in a dangerous place. But I will also do my best to protect him…”
“—You must protect yourself, Eivass.”
Isabel interrupted Eivass, saying with utmost seriousness.
Knowing that Eivass had allies nearby, Isabel felt a little more relieved.
She made a lighthearted remark and said softly, “Don’t forget… tomorrow night, we have a date. You must survive, Eivass.”
“There’s no absolutely safe Ascension Ritual… But I can definitely survive.”
Eivass smiled. “After all, I’m not completely alone. At least Leah is with me.”
“—Who is Leah?” Isabel asked, slightly wary.
“Butterfly. That’s the name I just gave her. Sounds good, doesn’t it?”
“It’s acceptable.”
Isabel glossed over the topic vaguely.
She then asked, “Do you know how to perform the Shadow of Avalon Ritual? Should I tell you?”
Although she still felt some unease, she chose to trust Eivass.
Silver Crown Dragon, Twin…
I hope you will watch over Eivass. May he be safe.
“Then, I will need… Teacher Lulu’s serious instruction.”
Eivass grabbed Isabel’s wrist and leaned close to her ear, lowering his voice and chuckling softly.
However, Eivass himself was not as calm as he appeared.
A Dungeon made by the Lord of Scales and Feathers himself… it couldn’t be that simple.
He wasn’t worried about himself. He could survive in any way, or give up on the Shadow of Avalon Ritual. It was just an experiment, and also a way to earn points. But when it came to his own safety and that of his friends, he knew which he should choose.
At present, everything seemed to be going smoothly, but that was because Eivass’s informational advantage allowed him to choose the best possible outcome in every event.
But on Isabel’s side…
Eivass could only do his utmost and give her all the teammates he found and rescued.
“I beseech the Lord of Scales and Feathers, God of Sacred Number Six. God of Scale and Feather, God of Thousand Disguises…”
Eivass also prayed silently in his heart. “I hope Isabel can be safe.”
And at this time.
In a certain area of the Dream Realm, nine transparent souls sat on marble chairs, their heads bowed, entering a dream within a dream.
Akropolis stood in the center, idly toying with the small snake on his staff. He glanced at their progress from time to time.
He suddenly narrowed his eyes.
“—Halt, Miss Enyo.”
Akropolis said slowly.
Not far away, a red-haired girl in light armor, covered in fresh blood, quietly appeared.
She held an invisible hammer forged from a hurricane and, leaving bloody footprints, advanced towards Eivass’s Spirit.
When she appeared, a storm filled with the scent of blood swirled around.
“Halt.”
Akropolis warned again.
He raised his snake staff and looked coldly at the Disc of the Bear Heavenly Envoy, “The City Breaker” Enyo.
“I don’t want to say it a third time.”
(End of Chapter)
