Chapter 166 (1): Decide the Victor and the Survivor

Twenty minutes ago, ten o’clock at night.

Luxury suite, fourth floor, Capital Hotel.

The pin of the gramophone gently lowered, and the disk began to turn, playing a lilting melody that filled every part of the suite. Filomina tied her bathrobe and walked out of the bathroom, her long legs peeking out from under her bathrobe, and her delicate collarbones and fair skin visible under the slightly open collar.

She sat down before the vanity to put on night cream. The mirror reflected her beautiful face and her cascading blond hair, running down her shoulders. She was a sight to behold.

Filomina Ursula, the veiled woman Wayne had encountered in the hotel’s restaurant.

She was a high reverend that the Church of Moonlight had deployed to Londan and a Gold-rank mage. If nothing went wrong, she would become the top leader of the church’s Windsor branch, shouldering the responsibility of expanding Moonlight’s influence in the country.

Why would a Gold-rank mage live in a luxury suite rather than the best presidential suite? If she were only a regular Gold-rank mage, she would be able to live wherever she wanted, but she was also going to be the District High Reverend, with her expenses reimbursed. Thus, she had to lead by example and cut costs as much as possible.

The other mages lived in the regular rooms on the second floor, sharing rooms in pairs to save money.

Filomina sighed at the beautiful face in the mirror. She had lost her youth. Every time she looked in a mirror, she felt like she had gotten older.

Appearance-wise, she couldn’t be further from the word ‘old’, better described as elegant and maturely charismatic, but she didn’t think that way even though she would maintain her peak beauty until her death as a Gold-rank mage.

She

felt

older.

Magic sustained her youthful appearance, while duty aged her mentally. The face of late twenties felt increasingly at odds with her decaying and aging heart.

Take this trip to Londan as an example. The Windsor royal family permitted the Church of Moonlight to expand their influence in the country. The Windsor Ministry of Magic negotiated with the Church of Moonlight, and several high officials of the ministry seized the chance to bargain for their benefits.

It would be an exchange. When the Church of Moonlight expanded its military presence in Windsor, the high officials who had received the benefits would greenlight everything to expedite the process.

If the church refused to give those benefits, that was fine. The high officials wouldn’t stoop so low that they intentionally made things difficult for the church, but if something happened, sorry not sorry, the church should line up and do everything by the book like other people

.

That was the way of magic!

Filomina brought the benefits the Ministry of Magic had requested to Luzerbourg, the agreed-upon meeting place. It was a small nation with a small population, and outside of the Church of Heavenly Father, there was no other faith’s presence, making it a good place to conduct a deal.

It would be done under the table. After the deal, they would be strangers, and neither would ever speak of the exchange openly.

They were supposed to meet in the canyon. To avoid foul play that would waste the church’s resources and to prevent the Ministry of Magic from going back on their word after taking everything they offered, the Church of Moonlight had set up several emergency measures in the canyon. However, the Ministry of Magic still hadn’t shown up after a week of waiting.

Life wasn’t easy, the High Reverend sighed wearily.

If this was the efficiency of Windsor’s bureaucracy, she didn’t think it was that great a loss to give them some gifts, or the Church of Moonlight could encounter countless delays due to the red tape.

Filomina put night cream on her legs and prepared for bed. Before she turned off the light, she sensed an indescribable change in the air. She could detect it, but couldn’t put it into words. Trusting her instinct as a Gold-rank mage, she tightened her silk waistband and went up to the window in the bedroom.

Outside, the moon was bright, accompanied by a smattering of stars. The street lamps lining the road extended to both sides, and a few cars moved by at a leisurely pace. There seemed to be nothing amiss.

She narrowed her eyes, concealing her shock while pushing the window open.

There was no moon or star, but a mirrored bedroom. The only difference was that she wasn’t in the reflection.

“A barrier?” Filomina murmured, suspecting this to be the Ministry of Magic’s doing. Instead of exploring the mirrored bedroom, she went to take a black briefcase out of the closet.

“A deal can only be a deal when both parties consent. Taking something without the owner’s permission constitutes theft, and openly taking something away from the owner by force constitutes robbery.”

Her expression darkened. The Ministry of Magic was trampling on the church like a large business bullying its customers. They wanted benefits but didn’t want to shoulder any responsibilities. That crossed a line!

Just then, a loud noise came from a corner of the fifth floor, followed immediately by a series of fading explosions, moving in an indistinct direction. Filomina sensed Death’s energy and holy light in a chaotic mix.

“Am I not the target?”

She looked at the direction of the mana disturbance in surprise. The explosive mana should be coming from Gold-rank mages like her. A fight between two Gold-rank mages...

The strange barrier suddenly made sense. The ambush was targeting someone else, with whom she happened to share a hotel.

“I misunderstood the Ministry of Magic!”

Filomina threw on a jacket and went to the corridor with the briefcase. The chilling Death energy lingered amid scattered sacred flames. The two incredible forces left the fourth floor of the hotel in ruins. Thankfully, the two Gold-rank mages were moving farther and farther, or ordinary people could be caught in the crossfire.

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

On the third floor, Filomina frowned at ‘herself’, who was climbing up the stairs. Dressed in a white long robe, she had covered her aged appearance under thick makeup, her blond hair yellowed and dim, and her cheeks hollowed to the point that her cheekbones threatened to protrude from her skin.

“Got you, Filomina.” Inner Filomina curled her black lips into an unsettling smile, combined with purple eye shadow.

“What are you?”

“Can’t you see? I am you!”

“Apologies, I can’t tell.”

Filomina felt sorry for her other self for a few seconds out of politeness. The woman was old and ugly, with a terrible taste in makeup. That couldn’t be her.

Inner Filomina’s eyes glinted with crimson light, overflowing with malice. Under the robe, her hand suddenly lifted to pull the trigger of her intricate gun several times. The bullets didn’t harm Filomina at all. She raised the vitality barrier of a Gold-rank mage and blocked all the bullets.

Life could evolve!

A regular person who had never learned magic would still possess some earth, fire, water, and wind elements from prolonged exposure, and by training themselves, they could gain a strong physique. If they pushed themselves to their physical limit and reached the level of a top mercenary, the seed of mana might take shape in their body.

At the Hexagram stage, a mage apprentice would form their seed of mana and acquire mana.

At Silver rank, a mage’s mana would become stronger, and they would master more ways to manipulate mana.

At Gold rank, the seed of mana would bloom and bear fruit, granting a vitality barrier that would allow the Gold-rank mage to reject the outside world and enter the Astral Plane. However, they could not stay for too long, or they would lose their sanity!

At Legendary rank, the vitality barrier would evolve into a vitality field. Legendary mages had independent selves and could reject any changes, so even after entering the Astral Plane, they would not lose their sanity.

That was if the legendary mage rejected changes and the omnipresent knowledge. If they broke the principle and allowed their desires to run wild, they would lose themselves just like the Lord of the Void, denying their insanity.

A vitality field still had room to evolve, but that would require innumerable four elements that the Chosen land didn’t have. Only the Divine Realms hidden within the Astral Plane could supply the amount.

Plundering the four elements in the Astral Plane would be certain death, so the only viable method was to find an entrance into a Divine Realm. Since every Divine Realm belonged to someone, legendary mages had to be prepared to give themselves away in exchange for resources. If they were willing, they could get stronger. If not, they would be stuck at the Legendary rank their entire lives until they inevitably met their end.

Back to the mirrored hotel. Inner Filomina cast away her now emptied handgun and reached into her white robe to draw a sword and a gun—the single-edged blade represented the waning crescent, and the magic gun represented the new moon.

The single-edged sword had a straight, slim blade, glinting with a cold light like the Milky Way in the night sky, hazy yet brilliant. The Pistol of New Moon was all light silver, longer than an average pistol. The elegant glow made the overall form of the firearm look beautifully streamlined.

Filomina’s expression turned grave when she saw the two weapons. “I’m starting to believe that you

are

me.”

“I’ve always been, have I not?” Inner Filomina smiled viciously, at the end of her patience.

Filomina lowered her briefcase and lifted her hands, drawing a longsword and a gun that were identical to Inner Filomina’s. “But not now. Me from fifty years later, nice to meet you, and thank you for telling me what a destitute state I’ll be in in the future.”

Bang, bang, bang!

Inner Filomina raised her gun and unleashed a barrage of bullets. The damn hag had been calling her old nonstop. Enough was enough!