Mage Manual-Chapter 615 - 495: First Gospel (Third Update)

With more and more guard posts coming into view, Hanna’s heart sank deeper and deeper.

If the Princess was indeed not in the Tower but deep within the Imperial Palace they were advancing towards, it was almost impossible for Ash to come over—the numerous guard posts along the way meant that Ash’s arrival would certainly trigger an alarm. Moreover, if her senses were not wrong, they had just passed at least two Holy Domains.

Although it was known that Nabistin was overrun with Saints and Legendary Mages roamed everywhere, she never expected the concentration of high-ranking Mages to be so dense!

Purple Moth was beginning to regret letting Ash proceed with the original plan. However, given the situation at that time, splitting their forces was undeniably the best choice; if the Princess was still in the Tower, Ash could have completed the task directly; if the Princess was on their side, she could inform Ash to come over and deliver the final blow.

However, with such strict security, the good news was that they were definitely protecting an important person inside, most likely the new Empress; the bad news was that they had to complete the mission themselves.

Hanna tilted her head slightly and exchanged glances with Banjee, Igula, and Harvey, silently altering the plan. Harvey and Banjee were holding a card in their hands, and should a fight become necessary, their cards would summon Coffins and the Ice Spell Dual Guns.

It was obviously impossible to bring Banjee’s suitcase into the Imperial Palace, but leaving aside Harvey’s Coffin for the moment, they certainly couldn’t rely on just their legs to escape when it was time to withdraw; having a spatial item was crucial to their survival rate.

Therefore, Banjee disassembled his suitcase, spending a considerable amount of Gospel Points to turn it into six cards with spatial storage functions, which any Mage could use, but at the cost of a 90% reduction in internal space and with a durability lifespan.

After passing through the sixth guard post, they finally reached their destination: a small, ivory white palace encircled by violets.

There was a passage leading underground within the palace, and the servants followed the Secret Guards down in single file. As they crossed a certain step, as if passing through an invisible barrier, the Funeral Procession’s expressions drastically changed—the Technique Spirits were subdued, and the Void Wings retracted. This was the exact same Realm pressure encountered during the Empress’s appearances!

At that moment, they were utterly certain that the new Empress was below! What they hadn’t anticipated was that the Empress had already transferred most of her forces there—did they really have a way to kill the next Saint who would control the Gospel for fifty years?

Purple Moth glanced at everyone with resolute eyes.

Since they had come this far, there was no room left for retreat!

No matter what, this would be the Funeral Procession’s last Task!

Igula’s expression was extremely grim, clearly uninterested in accompanying Hanna to their deaths; Banjee’s expression was calm, as he had already resigned himself to his fate. Only the corner of Banjee’s mouth quirked up slightly, startlingly excited.

"Tch," the voice of a disdainful Secret Guard came from ahead: "Ugh, clean it up quickly."

As Hanna and the others stepped into the underground hall beneath the palace, the first thing that caught their sight was a corpse with a particularly gruesome death: the head had exploded like a melon, with liquid splattered all over the place, no wonder the Secret Guard had such a strong reaction.

However, if Hanna and the others had felt a heavy sense of trepidation just moments ago, now their emotions were sheer terror!

Because they saw that the Void Wings of the headless corpse were dissipating, and the wings that were spreading out were the Silver Wings, Golden Wings, Seven-Colored Wings, and... the Dark Wings!

The Dark Wings were constantly spreading Darkness, and all the matter swept up in the Darkness was rapidly corroded and assimilated!

This was a Legendary Mage who had condensed his own fourth "Colorless Wings," and whose main Magic was from the Shadow Faction, which explained why he could dye the Colorless Wings with his exclusive color!

This body, sure enough, was the recently deceased Shadow Legend!

Even for Harvey, who found bodies most interesting, there was no room left for curiosity at this time. Witnessing a great Mage whose Realm was far beyond one’s own shattered on the ground like a melon was a huge shock to any Mage.

Yet, when they raised their heads, an even more astonishing scene completely demolished their sanity.

The underground hall only had one light source in the center, and Mages were sitting cross-legged around the light source, with hands joined as if in prayer. With just one glance, Hanna recognized many of these Mages: there were Igvan, Mondala, Poyesia, Abarli... all Legendary Mages who had successfully ascended Ruby Mountain in the past century!

But their attention was only momentarily drawn by these Mages, as the existence in the center of the light source completely captured the Funeral Procession’s gaze.

There, on a throne, sat a person.

But this description wasn’t quite accurate, because this ’person’ was made of transparent flowing light; he was the only light source in the hall, with purple, gold, and silver radiance flowing over his form, creating his appearance.

Moreover, he was not ’one’—it was as if two people were joined together, one side a male dressed in a dark red coat, and the other a beautiful woman clad in a court gown.

Such a bizarre existence, seated on the throne, somehow provoked an impulse to worship.

What surprised the Funeral Procession the most, naturally, was that they recognized the ’half’ that was male.

Ash Heath.

This figure made of flowing light, one half was actually bearing the likeness of Ash!

At that moment, Harvey and Igula exchanged a look, and Igula gently shook his head.

They recognized not only the ’half’ that was male but also knew the ’other half’ that was female—they could not possibly forget her, for it was she and the female Sword Master who had killed them in the Void Realm Combat Arena, causing them to completely miss their chance to assassinate the Heroic Soul Commander!

However, a similar appearance was a normal occurrence, and so much time having passed, they weren’t sure if it was the same person; there was no need to mention it.

By now the servants had begun to clean up the traces of the body on the ground, and naturally, Hanna and the others didn’t dare slack off and got to work quickly—at this point, they no longer had any idea of causing trouble here.

"Everything was almost over, how come I suddenly couldn’t maintain my composure..." the Secret Guard murmured, suddenly opening the Gospel Book: "Hmm?"

It seemed something had happened outside, and the Secret Guard immediately left the underground hall, leaving the servants behind. Once the footsteps of the Secret Guard disappeared, Igula suddenly gasped for breath—he had been so tense he had forgotten to breathe.

Even though there were still over a dozen Legendary Mages gathered around, Hanna and the others had a strong intuition: these Legendary Mages, just like the servants, were all carcasses manipulated by the Gospel, unworthy of their attention.

Harvey cast a covetous look at the headless body, "This body..."

"Don’t even think about it," Hanna warned in a hushed voice, staring at the luminous figure on the throne, "What the hell is that?"

"You don’t know either?" Igula could no longer contain his resentment, "I don’t have such a big grievance with you, do I? If you wanted to kill yourself, you could’ve just asked Harvey for help, why drag us into this dangerous task full of uncertainties?"

"That’s a Divine Being."

Banjee closed the Gospel Book, "As for which Divine Being it is, the Gospel doesn’t say."

"Why does the Divine Being have Ash’s face?" Harvey asked with curiosity, "This is really disgusting... Hey, look closely, isn’t the part that belongs to Ash increasing?"

When everyone took a closer look, they indeed found this to be true. If just a moment ago the body of light was 60% Ash, 40% female, now it had become 70% Ash, 30% female, and the rate of Ash’s ’takeover’ was accelerating!

At that moment, Hanna showed a strange expression, "No way..."

"Do I have to beg you to get the information?" Igula said coldly.

Hanna spoke, "I’m not certain either... I’ve seen an ancient summoning ritual called ’Armored Saint’ in my family’s records before. The principle was for the Mage to imitate the Divine Being’s actions, demeanor, and appearance, thereby summoning the Divine Being onto oneself and even achieving complete fusion with the Divine Being, accomplishing the feat of a mortal body wielding the power of a Divine Being."

"However, this kind of summoning ritual has long since declined, as there are no longer any Divine Beings in reality."

"What does this have to do with the Divine Being taking Ash’s face—" Igula cursed halfway through when he suddenly choked up, as if he realized something and was thoroughly stunned.

"People imitate Divine Beings to fuse with them," Hanna murmured, "So what happens when a Divine Being imitates a person?"

While they were talking, the ’Ash’ inside the light had successfully taken over completely, reaching 100% completion!

At the same moment, everyone’s Gospel Books popped out automatically.

...

Creak.

The door frame emitted a pretentious groan filled with the echoes of time, as Ash and Liss stepped into the Princess’s room and found the light on.

The soft bed was covered with a pristine white sheet, a cherry-pink bookshelf held beautifully bound fairy tale books, the carpet was comfortable and neat, and a bear-patterned teacup was overturned on the coffee table, all telling the story that a young girl lived here.

But there was an extremely jarring piece of furniture in the room, considered so not only by the Liss sisters but by Ash as well.

In the center of the room, there was an exquisite and ornate full-length mirror, and it was directly facing the door. When Ash and Liss walked in, they saw their own reflections in the mirror.

Just as they were astonished, their Gospel Books suddenly sprang out on their own.

It was over, everything was too late, they thought.

However, rather than being disheartened, Liss felt as if a weight had lifted from her heart, her body felt lighter, and her mood even improved significantly. Since it was too late, there was no need to obsess over Nina; they had done all they could.

Their lives from now on would be for themselves and Ash.

But this optimistic outlook on the future lasted only a moment before it vanished.

"The 10th on the Gospel List, Art Foremost."

"The 9th on the Gospel List, Shadow of the Family."

"The 8th on the Gospel List, Source of Tricks."

"The 7th on the Gospel List, Beyond Happiness."

"The 6th on the Gospel List, Nemesis of Evil Magic."

"The 5th on the Gospel List, Assassination Nightmare."

"The 4th on the Gospel List, Ruthless Person..."

The Gospel List updated rapidly, and with each update, Ash’s heart sunk faster. By the time the Gospel List reached the last page, Ash no longer had the strength to flip it open.

Snap!

Just at that moment, fifty fireworks blossomed in the sky over Nabistin, the intense Resonance tore through the spatial distance, and bright violet Spider Web fireworks instantly spread across the whole night sky of the Gospel, covering the entire Gospel under the dominion of the spider.web.

"The 1st on the Gospel List, Yayin."

This content is taken from fr𝒆ewebnove(l).com