Mage Manual

Chapter 1681 - 1238: I’m Back

Level Six of Hell and Seven Heavens are connected?

Ash paused, then a flash of insight suddenly linked all the clues together: Level Six of Hell only has five layers, Seven Heavens only has six...

The hint Drama Poet gave for the Divine Lord’s ascension was "at the top of Hell, step into the bottom of Heaven"...

So that’s it, this is the Six-winged God’s Path of Origin, and it’s actually so difficult yet so simple. But whose side is that Drama Poet bastard really on? He looks like he’s helping us, but he’s actually helping the Void Realm. If he hadn’t given us this hint, that might have been better.

Seeing Ash’s expression of sudden realization, Death Mad guessed that he had seen through the final secret of the Path of Origin: "So you understand that they simply can’t split Level Six of Hell... not even the Void Realm can split it, unless you’re willing to pay a price beyond imagination—but that’s basically the same as destroying the world."

"But they should know this too." Ash looked at the Divine Lords. "They’re also Heaven Lords who ascended through Origin!"

"They have no other way. Just by exchanging a single glance with Uroboros, they knew they could never stop Uroboros from destroying Hell. Other than abandoning Hell, what else can they do?" Death Mad said. "Self-deception has another name: having no options."

"Besides, what if it works? Even if it only buys a few decades, that’s enough time for them to grow to the limit of mage civilization... though it’s meaningless anyway."

Ash looked down at the Abyss connecting the four levels of Hell, stared at the infinite colors at the deepest point, and heard Hell start to tremble again, like some monster outside the world was grinding its teeth on Hell.

"How much time do we have left?"

"Two months, or one month," Death Mad said. "The speed of destroying food is far faster than the speed of digesting it."

"You bet everything on this gamble of hope, and not only did you fail to win more time, you actually sped up the coming of the end. The only thing you won is dignity—among all world-lines, you’re the only world that wasn’t eaten by Uroboros. You’ll die in the serpent’s kiss of the End Serpent with the dignity of mages; no world will die with more backbone than you."

Her words were full of mockery, yet Death Mad’s voice carried no trace of ridicule, instead holding a strange pity. It was as if she truly believed that a dignified ending no longer counted as the worst outcome.

There aren’t that many Fairy Tales in this world. Sometimes a story can only choose between a bad ending and an even worse one—reality is just that cruel.

"It can’t end like this." Ash slowly shook his head, murmuring softly, "The ending I want is absolutely not like this. I even wagered her memories, I clearly even—"

Death Mad: "Speaking of that..."

"What are you muttering about?" Dazzling Star looked at Ash. "Whose memories did you pay?"

"Dazzling Star!" Ash said seriously. "Hell can’t be split. We have to stay here and—"

Thump!

With the final war-drum-like heartbeat booming out, Ash’s whole body jolted, as if someone had slapped him and slapped out the mad girl hiding in his heart... or perhaps his soul body had simply reached its limit and could no longer imprison the Black Demon King whose strength far surpassed his.

"...Your Spirit has finished paying."

Death Mad’s voice sounded in his ear:

"The deal is over."

Ash no longer had the strength to respond to Death Mad. The instant he lost the Black Demon, an immense fatigue crushed his soul. He had long expected this; with his level, to forcibly control five Heavenly Kingdoms, he could only use the Black Demon’s split personality to squeeze his mind to the limit. When Black Demon was there, none of it was a problem; when Black Demon wasn’t, all the problems erupted at once... The truly powerful one was pilot Black Demon; Ash was just a high-performance chassis.

And it just had to be at a time like this...

Forget convincing them—right now he couldn’t even protect himself...

Ash’s body went limp and he fell downward. He sensed the Divine Lords instantly lock onto him, as if he were a chunk of fat falling from the sky and everyone could take a bite.

But the only one who could actually reach him was Dazzling Star at his side.

Dazzling Star grabbed his arm, making him still look like he was standing tall in the sky. She turned her head toward the four Divine Lords and said calmly, "You go evacuate the Demigods. I’ll keep watch on Uroboros."

Her tone didn’t sound like she was speaking to competitors; it sounded more like she was speaking to subordinates. As if the Hell Demigods and these four Divine Lords would all end up as her possessions in the end.

The four Divine Lords hesitated for a moment, seemingly still wanting to struggle, but with Imaginary Music Master taking the initiative to leave, this loose alliance could only give up their little schemes and hand Ash over to Dazzling Star.

But Ash felt no fear at all, and Dazzling Star also felt no joy at getting what she wanted.

"The weak fear consequences; the strong fear causes." Dazzling Star said calmly. "Just now you said you were willing to guard the world for the four Divine Lords and wipe away the grudges between you and them. I’m also willing to guard my world for you and let you go once."

"I never owe anyone, and I won’t let anyone owe me."

"But the next time we meet..."

Just then, two Hell Demigods rushed to Ash’s side, mustering all their courage to surround Dazzling Star. Dazzling Star glanced at the two of them, tossed Ash into their arms, and said, "Stay by my side until he goes back."

Held in Igula’s arms, Ash finally relaxed, his eyelids fighting to stay open. He vaguely heard Igula say something to him, then felt a Space Ring slipped onto his finger...

...

...

Ash opened his eyes, his head heavy and muddled, and for a moment he actually couldn’t get up.

The price for running his mind in overdrive had carried over into reality; his soul was probably overstrained, and his brain might even have a bit of a problem... best to chop it off and grow a new one.

His memories slowly rose to the surface: Uroboros, Dazzling Star, Death Mad, Level Six of Hell, two months or one month... Ash slowly closed his eyes again, wishing he hadn’t woken up.

Compared to the fatigue of his soul, the dejection of his Spirit dragged him down even more. He didn’t even want to get up; if he got up, what could he do—count how much time he had left?

It’d be better to just sleep straight through to two months later. Then he wouldn’t have to worry about anything...

Ash took a few deep breaths, forced himself to sit up, and suddenly felt something moving in his arms. Looking down, he saw a white-haired little girl. She seemed to have been woken up by Ash, let out a lazy little murmur, so sleepy she didn’t even want to open her eyes, wrapped her arms around his neck and pushed him back onto the bed, softly saying, "You’re back?"

Just like when he was held by Igula, Ash looked at the white-haired little girl in his arms, and a strange sense of peace and responsibility seeped through his entire body. With her drowsy greeting, the gloom shrouding Ash’s heart quietly dispersed.

The world was on the brink of doom, but at least for now, he had more important things to do.

Ash rubbed her little head and replied in a light tone:

"I’m back."

PS: Got kidney stones. Yesterday afternoon I was rolling on the floor in pain, drenched in cold sweat; it took an hour for the painkiller from the ER to kick in. Early this morning I have to go get an ultrasound to check things out, I’ll probably take a sick day. Everyone, drink more water—kidney stones are truly a pain worse than death. It’s a pity today isn’t the Chapter where Ash gets tortured by the Black Demon, or I’d definitely put my cutting-edge experience to good use and make Ash suffer the torment of kidney stones.

It’s over, the pain flared up again when I lay down at midnight, so I rushed to the ER for an antispasmodic shot. No sleep tonight. Luckily I finished writing two Chapters before it started hurting again.