Circle of Inevitability

836 Unorthodox Feint

Albus transformed into a blazing-white, blue-tinged flaming spear, flying to the peak of the corpse mountain, toward Julie's filthy blood descending onto the charred 0-01 banner.

But in the blink of an eye, he lost his target, reverting from his fiery state to land beside the corpse where 0-01 should have been embedded.

At the peak, opening his eyes no longer seemed an issue, but Albus Medici's vision no longer contained the charred banner, Julie's filthy blood, or Celeste.

With his past experience, Albus quickly understood what was happening: This was the mirror world, or a Mirror Maze!

After waiting so long at the peak, Celeste must have made some preparations!

As Albus guessed, this was a Mirror Maze created by multiple mirrors reflecting each other. Celeste stood outside, her gaze pained and distant as she watched the filthy blood race towards the charred flag.

For some reason, the filthy blood slowed its descent, as if repelled by 0-01, but it still sank inexorably, just at a reduced pace.

Albus tried using the crystal necklace coiled around his wrist but found no mirror world to traverse or escape through, confirming he was trapped in the Mirror Maze. He immediately condensed blazing white, blue-tinged fireballs, sending them in all directions to blast the hidden mirrors forming the maze.

Thunderous explosions erupted almost simultaneously, yet Albus still could not break through the Mirror Maze.

Not a single mirror had been damaged!

With a slight narrowing of his eyes, Albus decisively abandoned any further such attempts.

Outside the Mirror Maze, Celeste felt the explosive winds and inwardly scoffed.

In other locations, widespread bombardment might overwhelm a Mirror Maze meant to trap Hunters. But here at the corpse mountain's peak, the heart of 0-01's seal, it would not be so easy.

As a Demoness of Affliction corrupted by 0-01 to some degree like Julie, Celeste could wield traces of that special mirror world's power!

The Mirror Maze's mirrors were not at the peak itself, but scattered among the corpses and bones below, their reflections then projected around 0-01's vicinity through that special mirror world, forming the Mirror Maze.

Seeing Julie's filthy blood nearing the charred banner, Celeste felt a mix of elation and confusion, underlaid by anguish.

From somewhere, she produced a black teardrop-like ornament and affixed it to between her brows.

Inside the Mirror Maze, Albus calmly lowered his head and half-closed his eyes, preparing to do what would inevitably be required.

He murmured in ancient Hermes, "The great God of War, the symbol of iron and blood, the ruler of chaos and strife."

With this three-passage invocation of the honorific name, the iron-black metal flagpole suspending the charred banner shuddered slightly, its drooping flag fully unfurling with a rattling sound despite the stillness, each bloody stain growing vivid.

Julie's filthy bloody halted, hovering a couple meters from 0-01, as if grasped by an unseen hand.

High above, clouds rapidly swirled into an immense vortex tinged with faint purple firelight, larger than the mountain itself, its far end suggesting some vast entity straining against an invisible barrier.

Cracks spread from the Salinger's Blood Banner with snapping sounds, the special mirror world over the peak shattering.

The Mirror Maze dissipated as its special mirror world projection broke apart.

Albus's head snapped up, his irises now flecked with iron-black, a bloody mark stark on his brow.

His gaze fell on Celeste, now adorned with her own black teardrop ornament, meeting her eyes.

Before combat could erupt, Lumian nonchalantly climbed over the peak's edge, a mere seven or eight meters from 0-01.

No communication was needed as Albus and Celeste simultaneously attacked Lumian.

Albus casually thrust out a fist expelling a massive blue-tinged fireball, while frost coalesced around Celeste's head into mirrors, each preceding an eerie, smoldering black flame.

But just as Celeste's icy mirrors would have reflected Lumian, his figure faded, vanishing with a mocking smile.

Behind him, an immense silhouette suddenly loomed into Albus and Celeste's view.

Already over five or six meters tall yet still growing, twisting appendages sprouting, it was covered in patches of brown bark and sickening knobs that oozed clear fluid from the gaps.

For now, the monstrosity cradled a blood-stained, vertebrae-trailing head in one hand, its silvery-black empty eyes dead and sunken.

On either shoulder was a fleshy, head-sized bulge, the surface rippling with some contained liquid.

The next second, the monster leaped to the peak, shedding puddles of wriggling maggot-flesh.

Countless black gaseous tendrils dragged at it from behind, trying to pull it back into the sleek, iron-black breastplate mirror.

The mere sight catalyzed a visceral sensation of corruption in Albus and Celeste.

Celeste's hair billowed outward, rapidly thickening and coarsening, while Albus's face became mapped with protruding black veins.

Boom!

Albus's immense blue-tinged fireball with white remnants exploded against the monstrosity as Celeste's flickering array of frost-mirrors reflected its figure, engulfing it in roiling black flames.

Crack!

The monster shattered mirror-like, its silhouette immediately reappearing beside 0-01, making Albus and Celeste's scalps prickle-it could use Mirror Substitution too.

Raising its severed head, the monstrosity emitted a sound like it came from another world.

Celeste felt herself plunged into cloying, frozen blackness, constrained on all sides in inescapable oppression.

Albus likewise found himself surrounded by stifling darkness.

This was a mystic technique inspired by the Mirror Person's state of being.

At that moment, Lumian, having teleported away to avoid the earlier clash, reappeared at the corpse peak's base.

His silhouette flickered behind Albus in the darkness, mouth opening to harrumph, sending a pale-yellow gaseous breath that washed over him.

For an instant, Albus's eyes went blank, his body swaying before he recovered his senses.

The Red Angel had helped him resist part of the Spell of Harrumph's effects.

Seizing Albus's momentary disorientation, Lumian's left fist blazed with white flames as he struck at his vulnerable point-the neck connecting head and body.

Cull!

As Lumian's fist neared Albus's neck, the member of the Medici family transformed into a humanoid blaze of white, blue-tinged fire.

Not the merger with a flaming spear, but transmutation into living flame itself.

In this fiery state, his neck was no longer a weakness!

Bang!

Lumian's punch only made the flaming figure waver and dim slightly.

In the next instant, Albus became a roaring blue-tinged flaming spear, bursting through the black icy shackles into the air.

Wheeling about like a javelin cast from the high vortex's hidden depths, he unleashed dozens of blue-streaked white fireballs in a thunderous barrage toward the peak.

Boom! Rumble! Boom boom!

Horrific explosions engulfed the area in relentless succession.

The indescribable monstrosity repeatedly used Mirror Substitution yet could not escape the bombardment's range.

Meanwhile, Lumian had teleported pre-emptively back to the mountain's base.

Still teleporting? Hand Bro isn't dead yet? As a chill ran down Lumian's back, he saw Celeste's face reflected in a nearby corpse's smooth breastplate.

The Demoness had not met Albus's assault with Mirror Substitution, instead deploying a mirror to swiftly traverse the mirror world to the wasteland-one of Lumian's backup plans.

Seeing she did not immediately attack him, Lumian turned his gaze back toward the peak.

He did not regret missing the opportunity to eliminate Albus earlier, as that was the outcome he wanted.

If he had intended to kill Albus with that strike, he would not have used only his Cull ability-he would have surely drawn the Sword of Courage or attacked in his Desire Incarnation form instead.

If I killed Albus now, who would help me deal with Celeste and that monster? Just me alone? Lumian inwardly muttered with obvious malice.

His earlier attack had a hidden purpose: to deceive Albus into thinking his defenses were ineffective against Lumian, to make him believe the pitch-black bone ring on his hand could not target him.

Then, at the crucial moment, he could "surprise" Albus by exploiting this misconception!

The thunderous explosions finally subsided. The corpses and bones atop the peak had suffered severe damage, and Julie's filthy blood had dissipated somewhat.

The indescribable monster no longer had Mirror Substitution, its surface charred and tattered.

Albus reappeared, his iron-black eyes lifting his right hand to push forward.

A spiraling storm of white-blue Fire Ravens flocked relentlessly toward the monster's exposed abdomen in overwhelming numbers.

Rumble!

Its weak point battered, the staggering monster collapsed into fragments.

Seeing this, Lumian instantly drew a straight sword resembling the Sword of Courage and teleported to the peak, while Celeste also raced toward it.

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