Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2684: Chapter 2685: Twinborn Mirror

When Angel saw a black hole like an abyss appear in the mirror, he understood that he was being watched.

Earlier, when the Black Earl entered the Hanging Jail Stairway, he had also seen this mirror and even left a mark, but nothing happened to him. Why was it different for Angel?

Comparing their differences before and after entering, the answer was actually quite obvious. There was only one reason, and that was the oil painting.

Angel had destroyed the painting and taken the round wood from it. This clearly provoked some hidden presence in the mirror, and the moment Angel came into contact with the mirror again, the entity immediately noticed him.

The dark abyss presented in the dressing mirror was surely the entity’s doing.

The goal was no other than to ’force’ or ’lure’ Angel into the mirror. As for what awaited inside, it was certainly nothing good.

Therefore, when Angel saw the abyssal passage in the mirror, he immediately chose to retreat while sealing off the mirror.

— Just like the saying Jon often quoted: A gentleman does not stand beneath a dangerous wall. Understanding the principle of ’avoiding unnecessary risks,’ how could Angel recklessly wipe the mirror directly?

Before blowing off the dust, he had prepared to seal the mirror.

The sealing of the mirror involved knowledge of space and mirrors, which happened to be the subject Angel was recently studying. In order to study this topic, he had repeatedly entered and exited the Mirror Grudge’s mirror space, so sealing the mirror was no difficult task for him.

The mirror acts as a conduit between two different "spaces" and is the most fragile point. Once sealed, it is difficult to break.

Angel reacted quite promptly, and shortly after he closed off the mirror, a hand reached out from that abyssal black hole.

This hand was made of translucent gemstones that glowed with a faint light, appearing lustrous and transparent. However, the gemstone composing this hand was a bright red, as if freshly stained with blood.

The gemstone hand’s target was clearly Angel.

It moved extremely fast, intending to break through the mirror to drag Angel inside. However, the moment it touched the mirror, it was repelled by an invisible force field.

This force field was the mirror seal placed by Angel.

The gemstone hand, unwilling to be thwarted, tried to break through the force field, yet no matter how hard it exerted itself, the mirror remained unscathed.

Seeing that Angel was so close but unable to breach the mirror, the gemstone hand could only resort to impotently pounding the mirror in frustration.

In the end, just as Angel was about to leave, the gemstone hand did something that utterly surprised him.

The gemstone hand extended its little finger and stabbed at the mirror fiercely, causing the finger to break at the joint, oozing a liquid akin to fresh blood.

The gemstone hand pinched the broken little finger, using the "blood" inside as ink to write a crooked line of blood words on the mirror.

Angel understood the writing, but the handwriting resembled a child’s... and was written backward.

Angel didn’t expect a monster using its own finger as a pen to understand the concept of mirrored text. After reading the line, he walked out of the room.

...

"Blood words? What did it write?" the Black Earl asked in confusion.

Angel: "A heartless threat."

"Leave here, or forever you’ll have a residency permit."

Hearing Angel read out the blood words, the Black Earl was stunned for quite a while. If he had a physical body, his brow would probably have furrowed deeply.

"What does that mean? A permanent residency permit?"

Angel shrugged: "It’s a typo."

Not only did the gemstone hand write in a childish manner without considering mirror orientation, it also made a typo. It turned the threat of "forever stay" into "permanent residency permit."

In the common language, the characters are quite similar, but one conveys an emotional threat, implying "you can’t leave, die here"; the other is a neutral term without emotional stance: "permanent residency permit."

In other words, what the gemstone hand meant to write was: Leave here, or forever stay.

Unfortunately, the typo softened the harsh words immediately. That’s why Angel said it was an emotionless threat.

After learning the truth, the Black Earl was also dumbfounded. In his mind, the entity in the mirror would either be the so-called "Mirror Demon God" or the "Mirror Bearer" leading Demon God believers to steal the Sacred Object.

To the Black Earl, both the Mirror Demon God and the Mirror Bearer, who was suspected to be high-ranking in Naraku City, were smart individuals.

Otherwise, how could they brainwash Demon God believers?

But now, the owner of the gemstone hand seemed not very smart... even a little foolish.

This was a stark contrast to what the Black Earl imagined.

"Can you tell what creature it is? Is it a human or a magical creature?" the Black Earl asked.

Angel was about to answer when Dox’s voice called out from outside: "Black, Gold? Are you still inside?"

Angel glanced at the Black Earl and softly said: "Let’s go out first and talk while walking."

The Black Earl had no objections; their conversation couldn’t be hidden from the Wise Sovereign. Or rather, when Angel went to wipe the mirror, the Wise Sovereign probably saw it through the mana array’s God’s View, so there was no need to be particularly secretive.

After leaving the room, sure enough, Angel immediately met the Wise Sovereign’s gaze.

The Wise Sovereign looked quietly at Angel. Although he didn’t display much expression, the deep meaning in his eyes was undoubtedly telling Angel: I’ve seen everything you said and did.

To this, Angel had no choice; this was the Wise Sovereign’s domain, and having laid out his plan for millennia, his advantage was immense. It’s very difficult for them to turn the tables here.

This was probably why Dororo warned him, "The wise are not foolish," when trying to stir trouble in the underground aqueduct because one cannot bypass the Wise Sovereign.

How to handle the relationship with the Wise Sovereign was indeed the situation they would face next.

Angel sighed quietly in his heart and looked away.

"Sir, are we going to the third floor now?" Kaier immediately stepped forward to ask when he saw Angel come out of the room.

After a pause, Kaier glanced at the end of the corridor: "Or do you plan to take a look at the Void over here?"

Check out the Void? Why?

Angel was taken aback for a moment, not comprehending right away. It wasn’t until he saw Kaier’s serious expression that he suddenly realized.

Kaier probably thought since Angel had looked at the Void on the left path, he might also want to check the Void on the right, which is why he asked.

"No, let’s just go back."

"Go back?" Kaier asked in confusion, "Aren’t we going to the third floor?"

"I suppose we don’t need to go."

"Huh?" Kaier had just asked instinctively. In his view, since they hadn’t found the Wood Spirit, they definitely needed to go to the third layer. After all, the Black Earl had left many marks on the third layer; perhaps the Wood Spirit was among those marks.

But unexpectedly, he thought Angel made a slip of the tongue, yet now Angel explicitly stated... not going to the third layer?!

"Why?" It was Dox who asked this question.

But not only Dox, everyone else, even the Wise Sovereign was puzzled as to why Angel chose not to go to the third layer.

Facing everyone’s confusion, Angel provided a somewhat ambiguous explanation: "The Wood Spirit should be on the second layer, but the exact location still needs to be confirmed."

"The Wood Spirit is on the second layer? How did you come to this conclusion?" Dox asked in confusion.

Angel was silent for a moment and then uttered a word Dox was quite familiar with: "Inspiration."

Dox was stunned: "Inspiration?! Is it that casual?"

Angel: "If this counts as casual, then you must have been living quite casually."

Dox scratched the bridge of his nose, feeling a bit at a loss, yet he really couldn’t trust Angel’s talk about inspiration.

Angel: "My judgment is that it should be on the second layer. If we can’t find the Wood Spirit, going to the third layer is a waste of time, and it would be better to leave."

As Angel spoke, he glanced at Dox: "Precisely, if we can’t find the Wood Spirit, it can also give you more time to explore the third layer."

After speaking, Angel bypassed the crowd and moved to the front.

The crowd watched Angel’s back, exchanged glances, and could only follow him.

...

Angel hadn’t walked far when he heard a rustling noise in his ear, and upon turning back, the Black Earl had already flown to his side.

"Shall we continue our previous topic?" Angel asked.

Black Earl: "...Alright."

The Black Earl actually wanted to ask Angel why he suddenly decided not to go to the second layer, had he discovered something? Or was he unwilling to continue this absurd "bonus" game?

But in the end, the Black Earl held back. He trusted Angel’s judgment; at least since entering the Underground Aqueduct, every choice Angel made was correct.

As for how Angel arrived at these judgments, the Black Earl planned to set aside for now. After all, Angel had done many unbelievable things previously that proved to be correct; adding one more wouldn’t change much.

"Regarding that Gemstone Hand, I can’t determine its form. However, I feel it’s somewhat similar to an Earth-type Elemental Creature," Angel recalled the Gemstone Hand, always feeling a bit similar to the Wise Posia of the Wild Stone Wasteland.

The Wise Posia was indeed an Earth-type creature, entirely composed of yellow crystal.

And that Gemstone Hand was composed of something resembling ruby or red crystal.

"Within Earth-type Elemental Creatures, there indeed exist forms of gemstones and crystals." Black Earl: "What you said, it’s possible."

If the Gemstone Hand is an Elemental Creature, then the previous inconsistent handwriting and misspellings become understandable. Moreover, Elemental Creatures are completely unconcerned with limb damage; the Gemstone Hand breaking its little finger seemed disconcerting but if considered as an Elemental Creature, breaking off a finger would be akin to humans trimming nails - painless, seamless, and able to regrow.

"The Noah Clan has always prided themselves on their connection to the Earth. Could this Earth-type creature have anything to do with that Noah ancestor?" Angel posed another thought.

The Black Earl pondered for a moment and said, "The early Noah Clan wasn’t entirely an Earth family and comprised many other types. However, the Earth lineage did dominate the majority, that’s true. As for that Noah ancestor, according to records, was indeed part of the Earth lineage. But whether this Earth-type creature is related to them, that’s not recorded."

After listening to the Black Earl’s account, Angel suddenly thought of a possibility.

If the Earth-type creature is indeed related to Augustine, could it originate from Augustine’s legacy?

Following this line of thought, Augustine’s legacy should relate to ’mirrors.’

And the followers of the Underground Church worship the "Mirror Demon God," could this also relate to Augustine’s legacy? After all, the Black Earl discovered information about Augustine by glimpsing into the Uyisu language left behind by this group of followers.

More importantly, what Angel cares about the most is; Augustine, the Mirror Demon God, the mirror... these names remind him of a Mysterious Object.

The Mirror of Truth!

This Mysterious Object is quite renowned, even comparable to the "Book of Kael"! Even within the Orderly Guild, it remains one of the most confidential, top-tier, and highly protected Mysterious Objects.

Moreover, it has another name—

Augustine’s Twinborn Mirror!

...

Just the name of this Mysterious Object alone is enough for Angel to let his imagination soar.

Setting aside the prefix, merely mentioning the term "Twinborn Mirror" fits well with the current situation.

Throughout their journey, they’ve encountered intelligence related to "mirrors" continuously, so the mirror itself is quite worthy of exploration.

And what about "Twinborn?"

In Angel’s understanding, Twinborn implies Twins.

And the imagery of twins; they’ve encountered that as well, originating from... the artwork of the Mirror Demon God.

In the artwork of the Mirror Demon God, it can be clearly seen; a circular boundary divides into two halves, the left half-circle displaying a hat-wearing male, while the right half-circle shows a long-haired female.

While the artwork alone cannot confirm if they are genuine twins; however, with the Mirror Demon God having imagery of a male on one half and a female on the other, it’s starting to appear to have a bit of the Twinborn essence.

Even if it’s not entirely affirmable, so many clues revolving around the mirror, the Mirror Demon God, and Augustine prompt Angel to make more associations.

Angel believes that Augustine’s Twinborn Mirror definitely is not at the legacy site. Because according to Isabel, this Mysterious Object currently resides in the Origin World, which she had borrowed in the past.

Yet, despite the absence of this Mysterious Object, the appeal of the legacy site to Angel is considerably enhanced.

Previously, his visit to the Underground Aqueduct was largely driven by curiosity about that wall, eager to see what the legacy site held to better facilitate his actions in the Nightmare Realm.

But now, he’s grown interested in anything related to the "mirror" within the legacy site.

If the "Augustine’s Twinborn Mirror" truly has any connection to Augustine Noah, the legacy site might very well be the birthplace of the Twinborn Mirror.

If that proves true, Angel’s previous nonchalant attitude towards the legacy site may need to change.