Hiss!
Both the Saint Knight Captain and the physician at the door gasped sharply.
Dax Migludia’s hand, which was caressing his cane, froze for a moment, and his expression darkened even further.
A Bloodpact Servant is the Evil God’s chosen agent, also known as a Bloodpact Bearer.
Anyone whose heart harbors a certain obsession and accepts the Evil God’s temptation will be granted a portion of His power.
When a Bloodpact Bearer dies, their power is reclaimed by the Evil God.
Once the Evil God selects the next Bloodpact Bearer, all the Magic Techniques and War Techniques possessed by the previous one are inherited by the new bearer.
Just like the Seven Deadly Sins, such as “Pride,” “Gluttony,” “Envy,” and the rest, loyal to the Evil God.
Different Bloodpact Bearers each possess distinctive powers, and those who inherit such power receive a title.
The Illusory Cycle Mirage was a Magic created by the second-generation Bloodpact Servant who received the title of “Delusion.”
Huddled in the water sphere by the wall, Yosena hugged her fishtail and curled up even tighter: “Has anyone ever broken through Delusion’s illusion Magic?”
For a long time, no one in the secret chamber responded.
“……. Actually, it’s not that no one has ever broken it,” after a while, the elderly Chief Pharmacist finally spoke in a muffled voice, “This is an evil Magic Technique that drags its victims inside and forces them into mutual slaughter. Only the last survivor can walk out alive.”
“From the beginning of the records until now, only two people have escaped this illusion Magic.”
“The first was a Martial Captain who killed all his subordinates who volunteered to die by his hand. But unable to bear the guilt, he went mad after escaping.”
“The second was a Magic Professor who deliberately incited conflict and hunted more than seven hundred Mages and Martial Artists who entered with him. He came out gravely wounded, bled out, and died. Other than that, no one else has ever made it out.”
Silence.
A quietly stifling silence.
“There was actually one other time.”
The Saint Knight Captain at the door hesitated before reporting, “Reporting to Lord Dax Migludia, two months ago, a squad from my Treading Wave Sea Guard Knights had more than twenty knights trapped in Delusion’s spell.”
“They didn’t choose mutual slaughter. Instead, they banded together to resist the phantasmal puppets in the illusion.”
“In the end… they still died to those endlessly respawning phantasmal puppets, their mana completely drained, without exception.”
“Delusion never showed his face from start to finish. Based on the broken Soulstone, all we know is his name: Blaineau. His name shares the same ‘Nuo’ and ‘Lai’ characters as Young Master Lin Nuo’s.”
Sensing the oppressive mood, he added, “Actually, I think if someone had a Magic Technique that could instantly annihilate all the phantasmal puppets at once, there might still be a way to break this illusion….”
“That Xī… the nun beside Young Master Lin Nuo, she can use large-area attack Magic!” Before the Saint Knight Captain could finish, Yosena immediately spoke up: “If she could kill all the puppets in the illusion at once, could she break this Magic Technique?”
Her words seemed to give a glimmer of hope to the Saint Knight Captain, whose voice had been growing hoarse as he explained the Magic Technique to her.
“She can’t, she absolutely cannot break this spell.”
After listening to the scout’s detailed description of the illusion—every detail about the ships, banners, the bleak seascape, and the appearance and dress of the enemies they faced, Dax Migludia, who had been silent to the side, suddenly spoke in a deep voice.
His brows were tightly furrowed: “In the illusion scene, those warships occupied by the cultists represent… that the enemy must have known that nun you mentioned for at least eight years.”
There was no need to say more.
With just this one line, the subtext was clear:
—The opponent is definitely familiar enough with her combat style.
They must be fully prepared for all her possible Magic Techniques.
“So you mean, someone must die?”
“If that’s the case, then… what are they supposed to do?!”
Curled up in her water sphere, the mermaid Yosena’s hoarse voice was full of helplessness.
Between the two of them, can only one survive?
Yosena now fully understood: the “XÄ«” she’d seen killed by Lin Nuo, whose body vanished in her arms, was a fake created by Delusion’s illusion Magic.
And Lin Nuo, even in a dazed state after being hypnotized, had somehow realized the truth about “XÄ«” before she herself could tell the real from the fake….
Or did he really have murderous intent towards her sister?
Clearly, after being pulled into the illusion, XÄ« could have used hypnotic Magic to completely control Lin Nuo at any time, but she never showed the slightest intent to mentally control him.
That meant… her sister… her sister would never kill him.
But on Yosena’s ashen face, fear and helplessness overlapped, ‘Would he… would he really strike at Sister XÄ«?’
Even if they refused to kill each other…
How could the two of them escape?
“Not good!”
“Young Master Lin Nuo! He! He’s actually the first to ambush that nun!”
The scout’s anxious voice filled everyone—including Dax Migludia—with shock.
Sweating even more as he channeled his magic to maintain a connection with the dissipating energy and spy into the illusion, the scout’s voice trembled even more:
“…Oh heavens! The two of them are fighting inside the illusion!”
“What?!”
Inside the illusion.
The one who had received the title “Delusion” from the Evil God, and named himself “Blaineau.”
He watched in silence from the deck, where three blooming paper flowers marked the ever-shrinking safe zone under the siege of cultists and their encroaching Magic.
Even though Xī was clearly aware of the Magic array restricting her ability to use large-area destructive Magic, she still kept her mana ready to burst forth, even able to spare attention to help Lin Nuo fend off some of the cultists…
XÄ« and on the other side Lin Nuo.
Clearly conserving his mana, not fighting with his full strength against the cultists, as if hesitating behind XÄ«’s back, waiting for a chance to strike.
“You chose a weakling—will he really choose to kill you?”
On Blaineau’s face, identical to Lin Nuo’s, his pupils dilated with a mixture of excitement and curiosity.
The sound of clashing weapons rang sharply in the cold sea wind.
On the surface, the two on the deck seemed to be working back-to-back, fighting together.
But in Blaineau’s eyes, they were like two lone ships, each loaded with powerful explosive Magic, each holding the means to detonate the other’s Magic, each holding the other’s life in their hands.
His memories held countless people trapped within this illusion, no matter how devoutly they believed in any goddess, when only two remained and there were no witnesses to uphold morality, no matter how solid their bonds seemed before, no matter how many solemn vows were made, there would always be one who, for self-preservation, would send the other into the abyss first…
Wave after wave of endlessly reviving cultists launched a war of attrition, slowly draining the initial determination of the two trapped within the illusion.
The emptiness from expended mana, the growing fear as death approached, the utter focus required in the ceaseless battle, only to be faced with inevitable defeat.
Unable to communicate openly, forced to guard against the other’s betrayal every second.
All of this.
Would always drive those trapped within to eventually consider the quickest way to end this endless torment….
“He will, just like all the rest!”
After a long time, as the cleaved ship’s cabin was restored once again, the banners burned for at least the twelfth time in the chaos of fire Magic.
Yet another wave of spear-wielding cultists, revived who knows how many times, charged forward.
As if making a decision, Lin Nuo raised his arm behind XÄ«’s back and on the other ship, witnessing it all, Blaineau, as if anticipating this very scene, licked his lips, excitement flashing in his eyes as he pounded the railing: “It’s coming, it’s coming! This is what I’ve been dying to see!”