Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability

Chapter 1140  A New Balance

After a brief moment of frozen expression, Primordial Demoness Cheek let out a seductive laugh. "Fine, fine! Let's die together! Everyone dies, the entire universe dies!"

Amidst the unrestrained laughter, the speed of Cheek's body's disintegration accelerated rapidly.

Lumian, still wearing his mocking smile, made no reply. He quietly observed Her, as if watching a lunatic performing Her final act on the stage of life.

As the echoes of Her laughter resounded, Cheek completely regressed into a cluster of Beyonder characteristics of varying sizes, encircling a statue of a woman seemingly crafted from bones.

The statue was entirely naked, every detail intricately carved, exuding extraordinary allure. Its face shifted—sometimes blurred and chaotic, other times exceptionally vivid—but it always bore Cheek's visage.

A crisp sound of shattering followed, as the special mirror world, ablaze with the Fire of Destruction, collapsed with a deafening roar.

In the World of Ruins, Franca and the others barely had time to react before feeling the earth tremble violently. Near and far, mountains erupted from the ground, spewing dense smoke and crimson magma.

In the sky, bright streaks of meteors blazed across, crashing into various parts of the Northern and Southern Continents. Their impacts triggered fierce explosions and churned up clouds of dust that obscured the moonlight.

In the fiery lands, snowstorms began to howl. Along the coasts, hurricanes of unprecedented strength made landfall one after another. Catastrophes of all kinds descended indiscriminately upon every unprotected corner of the world, some mild, others devastating.

A true god, in all but name, had fallen.

The divine throne of the Primordial Demoness was now vacant.

Hidden within the protective layer of the Glory Crown, Franca exhaled silently in relief.

From her Traveler's Bag, she retrieved a transparent crystal orb that depicted various scenes of calamity.

This was the Beyonder characteristic of a Demoness of Catastrophe, restructured after being shattered and filtered through the gray fog by Mr. Fool.

Franca swiftly concocted a potion, a swirling liquid reminiscent of the sky before a storm.

She gulped down the potion without hesitation.

Elsewhere, Madam Magician and Madam Justice witnessed the self-destruction of the Demoness of Gray and Demoness of Yellow, each silently remarking on how difficult high-ranking demonesses were to kill.

If Mr. Fool had not been occupied merging with the Celestial Worthy during his slumber, and if Gehrman Sparrow had not been preoccupied holding the astral barrier against the terrifying assaults of the Great Old Dominators, Madam Magician might have been able to ensure at least one of the Demonesses of Catastrophe did not escape.

Using her powers as a Planeswalker, she could recreate historical figures, or summon projections of historical events. With these, she could have "produced" a temporary Gehrman Sparrow in reality. Through that connection, Mr. Fool might have descended and projected a sufficiently powerful force.

But alas, Mr. Fool could not descend directly in his current state. The recreated or summoned figure would only have a connection with Sefirah Castle established, carrying faint imprints of his rank and corruption.

It was enough to affect Saints that were not full-fledged Angels in an indomitable fashion. However, a complete Mythical Creature could sever Their connection, just as They could process information related to the Great Old Dominators.

In this context, had the Demoness of Gray and Demoness of Yellow attempted to escape into the mirror world, They would have been unable to evade a Planeswalker's pursuit or imprisonment. Yet They chose self-destruction instead.

Madam Magician had prepared a response, intending to recreate the Angel of Time's time halt, followed by a Mentor of Deceit's manipulation of rules and mystical connections. The aim was to ensure the self-destruction of the Demoness of Gray and Demoness of Yellow extended to Their true bodies, mirror selves, and dormant mirrors alike.

This plan carried a certain risk of failure. However, bolstered by her boon of good luck, Madam Magician was confident in its success. Unfortunately, before she could act, the Primordial Demoness had already fallen. The ensuing disasters accelerated the self-destruction of the two Demonesses.

Noticing Madam Magician's disappointment, Madam Justice tilted her head with a smile.

"I secretly planted seeds of spiritual plague in them. Given the twisted psyches typical of demonesses, They will undoubtedly suffer issues later on, perhaps even leading to Their demise."

Audrey used the term "perhaps," as she wasn't sure if the Demoness Sect possessed a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact capable of curing or suppressing such "diseases."

On another front, Suah and Tirié successfully sought aid from the Chained God and escaped the entanglement of Ma'am Hermit, the Angel of the Holy Spirit, and the Angel of Time before the arrival of Madam Magician and Madam Justice. They retreated in defeat.

In the collapsing special mirror world, Lumian, his face still bearing a mocking smile, gazed at the female statue and the two dark orbs containing the absorbed Beyonder characteristics. Yet he did not allow them to merge with the Cheek face on his shoulder. Instead, he exerted all his strength to resist the inevitable pull of the Law of Beyonder Characteristics Convergence.

He held on until the Fire of Destruction began consuming his original head, melting the Cheek and Tudor faces beside the chaotic vortex. Only then did the two remaining steel puppets take action. The face shared by Aurore and Jenna was not cursed like Cheek's and was only affected by Lumian's burning influence later. Its melting was less severe.

The steel puppet wearing dark gloves extended both hands, extracting the self-awareness and spiritual imprints of Cheek from the two Demoness of Apocalypse characteristics.

This extraction, limited by the puppet's rank, was temporary and incapable of permanently possessing the entities. If suitable vessels were not found, the extracted consciousness and imprint would soon return to their original characteristics.

At that moment, the other steel puppet, cloaked in an illusory mantle, extended its right hand and completed the Grafting.

It transferred the extracted self-awareness and spiritual imprint to the female statue—the Uniqueness of the Demoness pathway.

As the strongest resonance for Cheek's self-awareness and spiritual imprints, the statue readily accepted them. Even if it hadn't, Fooling or Deceit awaited to ensure compliance.

Once this was done, the steel puppets succumbed to the collapsing mirror world, and Lumian ceased his resistance. He allowed the Uniqueness to merge with the melting Cheek face.

Enduring immense pain, Lumian smiled and plunged 0-01 into the melting Tudor face, driving it completely in.

Then, he swallowed the two blood-soaked crowns.

The now-purified Demoness of Apocalypse Beyonder characteristics were guided into the blood-stained faces of Aurore and Jenna.

At last, the three Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics and the Uniqueness of the Demoness pathway reunited within Lumian, becoming whole.

Their aggregation intensified, and Lumian's head, along with the Fire of Destruction from the curse, seemed to collapse into a singularity.

Enduring immense pain, Lumian smiled and plunged 0-01 into the melting Tudor face, driving it completely in.

Then, he swallowed the two blood-soaked crowns.

The Red Priest pathway's three Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics and Uniqueness were also gathered.

Rumble!

Thunder rumbled as silver-white lightning struck various parts of the World of Ruins.

The Hanged Man Alger and Justice Audrey instinctively looked to the sky. They saw the projections of the crimson moon and the stars ignited by an invisible, colorless flame, bringing light to the world.

For a brief moment, it was as if they had returned to Fourth Epoch Trier, before the seal had been broken, when the sky was composed of flames.

Catastrophes grew fiercer. Audrey noticed the massive oaks in the distance bending their branches. She saw The Magician Fors and The Moon Emlyn alternating between masculine and feminine forms, sometimes androgynous, sometimes normal.

Coughing and fever afflicted these demigods, inexplicably spreading a strange illness, forcing them to bow their heads. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

A surge of impulse arose within their hearts—to track down and confront the demonesses once more.

Amidst this chaos, the cries of monsters filled the oak forest as they turned upon one another.

Simultaneously, as Franca advanced toward becoming a Demoness of Catastrophe, she sensed fragments of her shattered mirrors forming new domains behind mirrors.

The mirror world was reborn!

Within the World of Ruins, patches of gray and chaos were consumed by flames, leaving nothing behind.

In the destroyed then reborn special mirror world, Lumian's three heads rose slowly as his body re-formed. His right side was female, clad in a skeletal white dress, while his left was male, draped in a blood-red robe.

The right head bore the purified faces of Aurore and Jenna—clean, brimming with spirituality, though their eyes remained shut, unable to speak or convey consciousness.

The left head featured Cheek's face, now less maternal and more alluring, with a captivating smile and slightly parted lips. Tudor's face appeared sharper, with the blood-red flag mark on its forehead protruding slightly. The face of the chaotic vortex continued to absorb the Fire of Destruction, rotating faintly.

Lumian's own head grew more handsome, his long hair the color of blood, his features exuding sharp masculinity.

Beneath his left armpit and ribs, additional arms sprouted, holding a scorched, blood-stained banner. On his right, matching arms extended, pale as white jade but empty-handed.

A new Red Priest and Chaos Demoness had been born!

As a god, some Uniquenesses manifested as parts of one's body or belongings; others remained hidden.

In the next moment, Lumian raised his three heads, gazing at the crimson moon returning to the region.

"You're still at your critical stage of merging," he sneered. "This little interference—what can it achieve? Nothing before, nothing now!" Grinning boldly, Lumian raised his four new arms.

Invisible, colorless flames and a chaotic vortex of endless possibilities surged toward the crimson moon's projection.