Mage Manual-Chapter 193 - 170: So This is What Hatred Feels Like

Chapter 193 -170: So This is What Hatred Feels Like

Before the prison break, Ash had met Ronald alone in the cafeteria once.

Although Ronald was just a tool-man to him, it would be false to say Ash had no sympathy at all, so Ash had probed Ronald’s plans after the prison break, whether to part ways with Lanna or to assassinate him.

If it was the latter, Ash could reach a certain agreement with him — no matter what, after fulfilling Harvey’s contract, the escapees would definitely fight a battle first.

It was not about interests, nor was it about grudges, but purely a matter of trust.

You can’t be sure whether others will harm you, so you must strike first.

When dealing with a group of death row prisoners who crawled out of a cesspit, it was right to think of them in the worst and most filthy way, because they too judged the good with a filthy heart.

If Ronald needed it, Ash could secretly coordinate with Igula and Harvey, and the four of them could focus their attack on Lanna when the breakup occurred. After all, the bald werewolf was indeed the strongest among them in terms of combat power, and being from the ruling Moon Shadow race, they had too many reasons to deal with Lanna.

However, Ronald explicitly refused Ash’s kindness. He was grateful for Ash’s help and proposal, but he firmly forbade Ash and the others from intervening in his affairs.

It wasn’t that Ash looked down on Ronald, but it was absurd that a gang assassin had principles when it came to killing. Ronald did not explain much, just shook his head, indicating that any interference from Ash and the others would ruin his revenge.

“I must make Lanna feel true pain.”

…

Ahead was Gerard, wielding the Blade of Destruction, behind was Ronald, harboring calculated resentment. Lanna’s expression showed neither sadness nor joy, merely tilting his head slightly upon hearing the whistling sound of the steel ball.

Then, a shadow descended.

Pfft!

When Gerard’s chained sword cut into someone, it unexpectedly stopped. He felt the blade, infused with a Miracle, felt like it had cut into the hardest metal, the heaviest mire; all its power absorbed by the frail body in front.

This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.

And this strange sensation of the strike…

The splattering blood felt like scalding whips striking Lanna’s face, and he watched the figure standing in front of him, slightly lowering his eyelids.

The reason Ronald could become ‘Golden Mouth’ with the strength of a One-winged Mage was because he had, in the Void Realm, acquired a secret technique of the Artifact Spirit Faction that allowed him to create disposable steel balls equivalent to an Artifact Spirit. With careful preparation, these steel balls’ destructive power could rival that of a Two-winged, naturally enabling assassination of unprepared Two-winged Mages.

Among these steel balls was one named ‘Flashing Steel Ball,’ which allowed Ronald to move to the location of the steel ball. After the prison break, Lanna had spent much effort to help Ronald gather materials for the Flashing Steel Ball, crafting one for him—Ronald’s previously placed safehouses had long been destroyed and confiscated by the Crime Hunting Hall in a legal seizure.

This Flashing Steel Ball had many potential uses, such as the three critical moments just now when Ronald could’ve used the Flashing Steel Ball to escape, but he did not.

He chose to use it here.

As Gerard retracted his chained sword, Ronald collapsed backwards like a lump of mud, with Lanna catching him, exposing the gruesome, chilling steel bone in the wound where blood was escaping.

This was Ronald’s secret with the steel ball; he did not power it with Magic Power, but used his own steel bone as a base to generate magnetic guidance for the steel ball.

Besides acting as a casting medium, the steel bone also provided Ronald with strong defensive capabilities. His body of steel bones was itself a Miracle, allowing the seemingly frail Ronald to disperse any blows through the steel bones of his entire body; even Lanna had never managed to bite through any of Ronald’s bones.

Therefore, when Gerard struck Ronald, the Golden Mouth was already dead. He successfully blocked Gerard’s full-powered strike, but at the cost of his entire skeleton, organs, and even muscles crushed by the powerful impact.

Lanna felt like what he caught was not a human, but a melting ice cream. Ronald seemed to deliberately maintain the integrity of his face, so Lanna could clearly see his last expression: corners of his mouth turned up, eyes slightly squinting, seemingly smiling.

From above, Lanna could see resentment, relief, and even a hint… of pity.

He hoisted Ronald’s corpse onto his shoulder and then slapped his hand on the high platform’s ground.

“Seeking the dark side of the moon.”

Suddenly, thousands of strange runes surged from the high platform, with Blood Moon casting down dark red light. In an instant, the platform turned into an absolute forbidden zone, repelling everyone on it, including Lanna and Gerard!

Gerard unfurled his three wings and hovered midair, his face ugly as he stared at the portal in the Void Realm being smeared with dark light, “How could you—”

“You should have seen my resume, knew that I was once an elite priest of the Moon Shadow Clan, right?” Lanna put down Ronald’s body, glanced at the priests watching the stage nearby, “In the Hunting Festival, the greatest use of a priest is not to bless, but to seal and destroy the portal.”

“Years have passed, and the ritual of ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ remains unaltered. I can still easily trigger the technique prepared in the altar, complete the final process, activate the power of the Moon Shadow, and thoroughly block the portal to the Void Realm.”

At this point, Gerard was no longer in a hurry. After watching Ash enter the portal to the Void Realm, he reverted to his usual self as the bloodthirsty Hunter Captain, “But this also means you can’t escape.”

“For me, Shattered Lake Prison, Kaimon City, or any other nation, it makes no difference,” Lanna said as he took off his cloak, revealing his fierce, beardless face, “It’s just that Ronnie desperately wanted to escape, and I did all I could to fulfill his wish.”

“Ash helped Ronnie just now. I hope this token of appreciation will satisfy Ash.”

“Ash Heath, he truly is a devil more enthralling than Meiwa,” Gerard sighed, “to think that even a Moon Shadow traitor is willing to sacrifice himself to facilitate his escape.”

“Who said I’m sacrificing myself?”

Lanna removed his shirt, revealing a physique chiseled like marble.

“Are you saying that you plan to escape right in front of me?” Gerard gently shook his chain sword, dispersing the fresh blood on the blade into a mist of blood, “I am not a sole believer in Magic Power, but you just exerted all your strength merely to fend off the edge of my chain sword. I don’t think you have the capacity.”

“Moreover, I’m somewhat irritated tonight and want to go home early to rest. After all, I’m now working overtime.” The white-haired Hunter’s red eyes glimmered fiercely, “I’m not going to adhere to the safety statutes in the ‘Crime Hunting Hall Enforcement Code’ tonight. I’ll show no mercy to anyone trying to keep me from going off duty.”

Lanna, seemingly unaffected by Gerard’s murderous intent, asked calmly, “As a favorite of the Extreme Master of Blood Moon, do you know what the difference is between the Moon Shadow Clan and the Blood Saint Clan?”

Gerard replied without hesitation, “Moon Shadow bears life, Blood Saint guards death.”

“Yes, Moon Shadow bears life, Blood Saint guards death, which represents not only the social division of the two clans but also embodies their character traits. The Blood Saint Clan possesses a death-like calm, while the Moon Shadow Clan always maintains a newborn-like passion,” Lanna glanced at the Moon Shadow priests curiously gathering nearby, “But in my view, this can also be interpreted to mean that the Blood Saint Clan are dirty adults and the Moon Shadow Clan are mischievous children.”

Recalling his subordinate Emi, the big wolf with a tail, Gerard had to admit Lanna was right. Just then, the white-haired Hunter realized something and fixed his gaze on Lanna, “Lanna Chios, you seem…”

“‘Only the pure of heart, who do not forget to pray at night, can turn into a Moon Shadow on the night when monkshood blooms.'” Lanna spoke, “Ever since I was a child, I realized I was different from the other Moon Shadow candidates. They were full of passion, impulsive, pure, naive, purely greedy, while I was the exact opposite—I inherently lacked emotion, devoid of desire.”

“Interestingly, I still became a Moon Shadow, transforming into a werewolf that can only shift in the shadows. The priests instructed me to conceal myself, but most Technique Spirits in the Moon Shadow faction require emotions as fuel, so I had to resort to the ‘Affection’ Technique Spirit’s help.”

“Perhaps it was luck, or perhaps it was misfortune, but I acquired a set of forbidden rituals from the Spirit Faction in the Void Realm, which were designed to help a mage harvest emotions, seemingly to complement miraculous needs that consumed large amounts of emotions.”

“However, for me, emotions were precisely what I needed. I needed to harvest feelings; I needed something to fill the void within.”

“I modified the ritual, but the process turned even more bloody. I was soon caught, and my secret consequently came to light, but the Church didn’t execute me—they never do execute one of their own. So, I was sent to Shattered Lake Prison, where I could continue my studies.”

“I would plant ‘Affection’ within a target’s heart while letting affection flow through their entire body. I tried my best to mimic ‘love,’ but to no avail. Being devoid of emotions, even if I harvested countless emotions, I ultimately couldn’t understand or feel them.”

“But just now, watching Ronnie die before my eyes, the wasteland within me experienced its first sprout.” Lanna clenched his bloodstained fists, “After nine years, I finally acquired an emotion.”

“Was it love?” Gerard asked with interest.

“No, it was hate,” Lanna’s tone finally fluctuated slightly, “Ronnie died in front of me because he hated me!”

“He knew my emotions were a façade, knew that any revenge was meaningless to me. The only way to make me suffer was to make me feel emotion.”

“So, he wanted to escape from Blood Moon, accumulate hope, gather joy, and then choose a suitable moment to die in front of me in the most tragic fashion, like a bubble.”

“That way, the distorted tree growing in his heart, watered with hope, fertilized with joy, and basking in the sunlight of freedom, yet rooted in pain, would bear the most radiant fruit and plant it deep within me.”

“He succeeded, and so did I.”

Lanna raised his thumbs, using Ronald’s blood to draw two streaks of blood under his eyes.

“So, this is what hate feels like.”

Seeing this, Gerard’s eyebrows twitched uncontrollably as unpleasant memories surged back to him.