Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability

821 Infatuation

Above the dark and low void of the mirror world, numerous brilliant stars shed beams of clear light.

These beams converged into a column of light, illuminating the mirror world and engulfing Franca, the Demoness webs, and Nikila himself.

Franca and Nikila both shattered into countless mirror fragments. These shards, along with the invisible webs, quickly dissolved into nothing under the starlight.

The starlight quickly faded, and Nikila and Franca's figures reappeared in different corners of the mirror world.

Seeing the entrance to the tunnel of webs now unobstructed, Nikila felt a surge of joy. He pulled out a dark gray scroll from the inner pocket of his black wool coat.

Suppressing the urge to cough, he whispered a Hermes word, "Wind!"

The dark gray scroll instantly ignited with cyan flames, a roaring wind gathering around Nikila, pushing his feverish and muddled thoughts forward at the speed of the wind toward one of the dark tunnels.

Nikila, seizing the moment before Franca could intervene, followed the wind into the tunnel entrance.

However, he didn't feel the familiar pull from other mirrors.

He was back where he started.

The dark, illusory tunnel wasn't open to him!

Mirror Maze!

After becoming a Demoness of Affliction, Franca's mirror magic had evolved, allowing her to create scene illusions with pre-set mirrors.

While waiting for Jenna and Anthony to act, she had woven invisible webs, spread pathogens, and placed mirrors at multiple tunnel entrances.

These mirrors, influenced by Beyonder powers, reflected each other, creating a mirror maze that hid the real tunnel entrances, showing only their reflections.

Nikila had chosen a false target, the reflection of a real tunnel, and naturally couldn't escape.

Taking advantage of this gap, Franca wove another web, ensnaring Nikila, wrapping him in layers, either making him blush or laugh uncontrollably.

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Having experienced this before, Nikila didn't let himself get completely entangled. Using his abilities as a Constellations Master, he broke free once again.

In the following time, amidst increasing fever and violent coughing, he barely managed to fend off Franca using scrolls and attempted to destroy the mirrors creating the maze, seeking the real exit.

Under Warlock attacks and interference from spells like wind blades, lightning, flashes, purification, freezing, and paralysis, Franca kept changing positions, sometimes using Mirror Substitution to block an attack, showing great patience and restraint.

Her focus was on maintaining the Demoness webs and spreading pathogens, using her Demoness of Affliction's Charm to buy time.

Gradually, Nikila felt he shouldn't resist or harm the beautiful lady.

His breath grew hot, his heart racing either from the pathogens or her every move, pounding as if to leap from his chest.

The immense pressure made him suspect he might suffer a heart attack any second.

Without hesitation, he pulled out a scroll etched with lightning patterns from his coat's inner pocket.

It was a powerful item he bought from a Broker.

"Storm!" Just as he finished chanting, Nikila started coughing violently, and the scroll erupted into a dazzling silver light.

The silver light expanded, filling the mirror world with a thunderstorm, the accompanying wind pushing lightning into the tunnel entrances, shattering the mirrors Franca had placed.

With the sound of breaking glass, Franca's figure shattered, the mirror maze collapsed, revealing the true dark tunnels.

Nikila had no tto celebrate. Aided by the scroll's spell, dragging his sick body, he dashed toward the nearest tunnel entrance.

He had scrolls with shealing effects but didn't want to miss the chance to escape.

Seeing the tunnel entrance within reach and the attacking Demoness reappearing in another corner, Nikila's heart surged with hope.

At that moment, he saw two figures in the tunnel entrance out of the corner of his eye.

Jenna and Anthony, who had teleported using the last diamond of the Seven-Stone Bracelet, had arrived and been lying in wait.

During the brief and weakened storm, both had been struck by lightning but evaded the worst damage using Mirror Substitution-one from her own ability, the other from the Mirror Substitution created by the two Demonesses.

Seizing this chance, Anthony's eyes turned gold, radiating a dragon-like aura.

Awe!

Fear and panic surged in Nikila's heart, leaving him disoriented, as if facing an unbeatable predator.

Seeing the target pause and turn in circles, Jenna threw a handful of black powder and chanted a few Hermes words.

It was one of a Witch's black magic spells.

Due to their need for materials and incantations, Jenna rarely used these in combat, opting for the convenience of frost and black flames.

The black powder ignited, and a cold wind rose, surrounding Nikila with ghostly figures pressing against him, covering his mouth and nose.

With this dual interference, Franca's Demoness webs wove again, sticking Nikila in place.

Franca smiled sincerely at the Mirror Person.

With a buzz, Nikila felt his blood split, half surging upward, half downward, his heart seeming to stop.

Under repeated Charms and his severe illness, he could no longer resist Franca's allure.

In a daze, Nikila saw the woman, whose every detail fit his aesthetic, beckon to him and offer a transparent triangular spike symbolizing goodwill and control.

I wholeheartedly accept... With this thought, Nikila didn't question why the webs no longer restricted him. He reached out and grasped the triangular spike, feeling a slight sting.

His thoughts froze completely, becoming as sluggish and stiff as rusted machine parts.

Wintry Blade!

With Nikila under control, Franca glanced at Jenna, signaling her to find and destroy the remaining mirrors on him.

Then, Franca could form an ice spike and perform a lobotomy on Nikila.

With Lumian absent, there was no one to use the ritual leather for the Animal Creation Spell to turn Nikila into a large hound.

Jenna nodded slightly, cutting off the lower half of Nikila's right sleeve, and quickly took off his black wool coat. She swiftly found the remaining five mirrors and smashed them one by one.

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During this process, Nikila did not resist. He looked at Franca with a mixture of obsession and pain, coughing intermittently.

He still held the Wintry Blade, blood trickling from his hand.

Franca's left hand formed a long, thin ice spike.

Suddenly, Nikila's expression twisted.

Knowledge infusion from the Hidden Sage? Dammit, why now? Franca was first stunned, then understood the reason.

In his severely ill and dying state, Nikila was unlikely to withstand this.

He might lose control on the spot!

In a flash, Franca discarded the ice spike and the Wintry Blade, taking out a mirror that reflected Nikila's image. She then wiped the glass surface with her right hand, covered in eerie black flames.

Nikila's exposed skin was marked with numerous blood-red cracks, with strange things forming inside them.

At that moment, pitch-black flames erupted from his body, burning his soul.

Using the blood dripping from Nikila's hand, Jenna began a curse, while Anthony aimed the Winter is Coming revolver at Nikila, ready to use the Certain Death effect at any moment.

Soon, the two Demonesses acted before Nikila could lose control, ending his life completely.

Silently, Nikila fell to the void and dark ground of the mirror world, becoming a corpse.

The eye-like objects hidden within his flesh stopped moving, unable to emerge.

Franca quickly set up a ritual, completing the Magic Mirror Divination.

In her makeup mirror, Nikila's eerie, pale figure appeared, showing only slight signs of losing control.

The ghost's eyes still held a trace of obsession with Franca but now included the pain and despair of being killed by her.

A Demoness of Affliction's Charm is terrifying... I wonder if Baby Cupid from the Scrooge pathway can make someone fall hopelessly in love with them too... Franca mused with a sigh and then asked, "Are you Griffith?"

"Yes, I am very pleased you know and remember my true name." The mirror's Nikila smiled joyfully.

".." Franca was momentarily speechless.

She paused for a second before asking, "Do you know what happened to your superior, Kmerolo, one of the Ten Pillars?"