When the plot-skips players into the game world

Chapter 650: Chapter 54: The Path of Inscription Chapter 650: Chapter 54: The Path of Inscription Watching Liya raise her hand and fix him with a gaze filled with murderous intent, the Counselor suddenly glanced at the grape beside him, and a moment of inspiration struck.

“I have one last question,” he said rapidly, “Am I the only one you are here to kill?”
Liya did not answer, but her silence itself was an answer.

…As expected, there was no issue with the grape.

Had he triggered some kind of deadly condition…?

In an instant, numerous thoughts spun through the Counselor’s mind.

Although he didn’t know what he had done to make her feel the need to kill him…

he eventually resigned himself to the absence of hope for life.

He had previously witnessed the power of this Phantom Demon firsthand, and he knew if she wanted to kill him, there was absolutely no hope for survival.

If his true self were here, perhaps there would be a chance to escape.

However, Sherlock was merely a third power level Mage, without even a weapon to hand.

Facing this semi-deity possessing divine nature, he had no hope of winning.

Given these circumstances, further struggle was meaningless and might even implicate the grape.

The Counselor quickly made such a resolution.

“Listen!”
As he sidestepped away from “Mycroft,” he called out sharply and quickly, “Do not make an enemy of Aiwass, he is the beneficiary of the Gemini Mirror—”
He made every effort to convey the final piece of intelligence to the grape without revealing their transcendent identities.

Having uttered that critical sentence, the Counselor sighed in relief.

He didn’t know if he would die in reality as a result of this death, but even if he were to survive by chance, he feared he might lose all his memories.

The Counselor fought so desperately not out of paramount loyalty to Valentine VII.

He didn’t care so much for Antimony.

Transcendents from the Path of Dusk are like that, rarely caring deeply about anything from the bottom of their hearts.

—But by the same token, he despised “meaningless deaths” even more.

For it meant nothingness, the burial of value, the oblivion of being forgotten.

And dusk stands for inscribing and eternal pathways.

If he had to die, dying in the midst of a ritual of ascension was the best option.

Not to die for pointless enmities, not for political schemes, not for assassination or entrapment…

but to die in pursuit of the path, to die for a desire to ascend to greater heights.

That was the most meaningful deed.

When he would die, he would leave behind no chain of hatred.

Especially during the full moon ritual, there was no one worth hating; even in the new moon ritual, it was a fair competition under the witness of the Pillar God.

The only one to blame was oneself for not being strong enough, not cautious enough…

Upon death, only intelligence and secrets to be passed on to others remained.

…The only regret was that he was not dying in the ritual from the fifth power level to the sixth on the Path of Dusk.

That was the “final ritual of ascension” only mentioned in legends, where one could be called the strongest in the material realm if they passed.

The death rate in that ritual was extremely high, and even surviving didn’t guarantee successful ascension.

In nearly a thousand years of history, there have been only a few successful ones.

There weren’t many who reached the pinnacle of the fifth power level, and he himself hadn’t maximized his fifth-level strength.

…How wonderful it would be to witness that spectacle, the Counselor thought.

Competing on the same stage with some of the strongest people in the world, success would make one the strongest being in the world; even failure would signify an honorable death—becoming the fuel for miracles, with one’s existence eternally engraved.

So many had reached the fifth power level over thousands of years, yet not many names are remembered.

But if one could become the nourishment for the sixth power level, future generations might remember one’s name…

…Nevertheless, his death was not meaningless.

He had passed the most important intelligence onto the grape.

The grape was a very smart girl who was his most beloved student.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have come all this way to accompany her for her ascension.

He hoped from his words, she would deduce what he truly wanted to express, that she would realize his intentions.

—Aiwass could replicate another’s path and abilities with the blessing of the Gemini Mirror!

The Counselor stared intently at the grape, as if hoping she would understand his thoughts.

As he spoke those words, he continued to move his feet, trying to distance himself from the grape to prevent the attack of the Defiant Flame Butterfly that would kill him from affecting her—his words on the surface seemed to be in favor of Aiwass, giving the Defiant Flame Butterfly even less reason to kill “Mycroft”.

By the time the Counselor’s last words fell, he had already stepped aside three paces.

Before his fourth step could land, a fiery stream burst forth with a roar!

“Sherlock’s” body was completely engulfed by flames in an instant.

Elsewhere, before this.

The Stranger awoke amidst the din of fierce battle.

He clasped his forehead, his expression complex.

…Today, he finally understood why his mission included the clause “not to be taken back to Antimony.”
As it turned out, doing nothing would result in being taken away by the Antimonians…

Indeed.

As someone born into Antimony nobility, the Stranger was very familiar with the Antimony Kingdom’s way of doing things.

If this timeline were to hold, given Antimonians’ craving for research talent, they would undoubtedly snatch Master Nobel.@@novelbin@@

To Antimonians, kidnapping talent was far more crucial than resources or treasures.

In a country that accommodates the Son of the Moon, Necromancers, Demon Scholars, Witches, Alchemists, Mages, Priests, Astrologers, Hunters, and assassins, the one prominent characteristic is that they turn away no one.