Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 1361 Begins to Accommodate

As the powers of the "City of Calamity" and the "River of Eternal Darkness" merged, the corresponding symbols and authorities such as "End" and "Eternal Slumber" became one. The bone sword in Angel's hand, formed from the uniqueness of the "Witch," began to twist and shrink continuously. Apart from the black flames generated by the symbol of "Chaos," it almost disappeared in its physical form.

This does not mean the destruction of "uniqueness", because even if the two source substances are merged, it is impossible to truly and completely break the "immortality of extraordinary characteristics" and end the uniqueness that represents the corresponding authority.

It's like... it's still missing a certain symbol, it's not the real "fourth pillar"... Angel hesitated for a moment, then exerted force on his wrist, slashing the bone sword that was constantly attracting concepts of time and space, collapsing along with it, at the evil dragon hiding behind the black hole.

Upon encountering a black hole that was also absorbing light and the surrounding sea of ​​blood, forming an ever-growing accretion disk, the concept of one of the most terrifying "natural disasters" in the universe was immediately terminated. The energy and matter sucked into it gushed out from both ends of the disk-shaped black hole, like a bright line leading straight to heaven and earth, dividing Angel's vision into two halves.

In an instant, the sea of ​​blood surged, the chains shook, and the evil spirits who were struggling to bind the wicked dragon swayed precariously, unable to hold on any longer.

Seeing the same bright light reflected in its eyes, and the bone sword that followed, devouring and ending everything, the evil dragon tried to squeeze out through the gap and escape from this area while the seal was temporarily opened and the dragon-locking chains could not be maintained.

"Don't think about it!"

A loud roar rang out. Gray, who had switched places with Angel and returned to the outer edge of the seal, raised the blood-stained banner that had not drifted with the tide in the sea of ​​blood but instead wavered wildly, and shouted at the distorted and sluggish demons:
"Fellow Daoists, heed my command and end this calamity!"

Although her words were a command, her tone was very sincere, like a request.

Because these evil spirits are not mindless ghosts, some of them are evil spirits summoned by successive Haoli leaders who control the power of the "Eternal Dark River," who died from natural disasters and man-made calamities and have great hatred for the "evil dragon," but most of them are cultivators who sacrificed themselves in the war against the consciousness and believers of the City of Calamity initiated by the fifth generation "Celestial Master."

They were willing to accept transformation, endure eternal torment, and fall into the hell of demons, all in order to seal the evil dragon before them, quell the disaster, and restore peace to the world.

Having already learned of this from the current Celestial Master, Gray naturally wouldn't order them to "forcibly conscript" the demons into his legion. Instead, he hoped to awaken the consciousness of these victims and make them play a role in the final battle.

Upon hearing the title "Fellow Daoist," a name that seemed both strange and familiar, as if it came from a thousand years ago, the originally ferocious-looking demons were all stunned.

They remembered why they had been trapped in the Dragon-Locking Well for a thousand years, and they remembered the "Tao" they had been pursuing.

In an instant, Gray felt countless demons on the Dragon Chains join his legion, becoming his teammates and fellow Daoists!
She immediately shared the unique "Red Priest" position, which contained two Sequence 1 properties and was blessed by the source matter with them.

Although it is not as powerful as the one controlled and suppressed by the "River of Eternal Darkness", it can effectively counter the few abilities of the evil dragon that can be activated within the seal, such as "Conquest" and "Charm", so that the soldiers who are holding the chains and restricting the evil dragon's abilities no longer hesitate.

At the same time, the will they transmitted also surfaced in Gray's mind, who was of one mind with them and inseparable from them.

That was the indignation of the people who died from the massacres and famines that followed the war; that was the desperate cries of the dead buried deep underground by floods and earthquakes; that was the unfinished will of the heroes who fell one after another before the awakened consciousness and the Daoists in the "city of disaster"...

For thousands of years, they have maintained the chains beneath the Dragon-Locking Well, amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood, sealing the evil dragon, waiting for this day—the day when they can truly kill the evil dragon and end the calamity.

Even as consciousness fades and spirit is worn down by time, the flame buried deep in the heart remains unextinguished.

These flames burst forth, burning in every link of every chain, like the eyes of demons igniting their fierce fighting spirit.

The chains, which were about to break free of the evil dragon, tightened immediately, locking its massive body firmly in the center of the seal and binding it in front of Angel's bone sword.

"Fellow Daoist, we are here to help you!"

A grand, layered sense of purpose flowed from their connection into Gray's mind and reached Angel's ears as he charged forward with his sword raised, like the roar of ten thousand men.

So that's how it is... Even if Tudor and Chik really have a way to become dual-path true gods, or break the seal of the Western Continent to come here and try to contain the City of Calamity, they will not have the opportunity to become the "Cataclysmic Destruction". These evil spirits will be the first barrier to stop them. What they need is the opportunity to end the calamity, not the incarnation of another calamity... Sensing the will of the evil spirits who entrusted him with the heavy responsibility of killing the evil dragon, Angel was somewhat moved.

She gathered her thoughts, raised the bone sword that had completely melted into a blank area in space, and passed through the "black hole" that had not yet completely dissipated, arriving in front of the evil dragon that was bound by iron chains and struggling.

The black dragon head on the left of the latter roared angrily, trying to "conquer" the evil spirits on the chains, while the beautiful human face on the right was on the verge of tears, trying to "bewitch" the person holding the sword in front of it. The head in the middle, which was made of a chaotic vortex and had only a few holes representing facial features, calmly raised its head, as if it had already accepted its fate.

But whether He accepts it or not, the outcome is destined to remain unchanged.

One after another, figures, some tall and some petite, emerged from behind Angel. These were the consciousnesses of the Dao-merging beings from the "City of Calamity" who had left the Mirror World but had not yet returned to the body of the evil dragon. They watched this direction quietly, without any intention of interfering.

At the same time, the "Celestial Master," "Holy Monk," and others outside the Dragon-Locking Well continued to relax the seal's suppression, leaving only many iron chains, preventing the evil dragon from leaving through the mirror world or using a substitute to block the attack.

Swah——

The bone sword in Angel's hand, trembling as if about to burst from its extreme state of collapse, pierced the top of the evil dragon's black and white body, which was clearly defined yet intertwined, penetrating the point where the three different heads connected to the body.

The roar of the dragon's head and the weeping of the human face abruptly ceased, and the chaotic vortex on the surface of the head that separated them also stopped.

Immediately, a small, dark, and still dot appeared from where Angel had stabbed her, and immediately began to tear at the surrounding flesh and blood. Then came black dragon scales, white jade-like bones, steel and flames gushing from the wound, and abstract things symbolizing power and concepts such as "conquest," "femininity," and "chaos."

The evil dragon only had time to twist its body, which was as tall as a mountain and as wide as a city, before it was completely swallowed up by the small dot of deep darkness, along with the sealed sea of ​​blood around it, the iron chains binding its body, and countless evil spirits.

The demons who had completed their tasks did not struggle or try to escape. Instead, they straightened their crooked crowns, tidied their tattered clothes, wiped the blood from their faces, and tied up their disheveled hair.

They were also sucked into that black spot.

Farewell... Angel silently said in the consciousness connected to these heroes as he watched them calmly face their end.

She then swiftly retreated, leaving behind the increasingly unstable black dot that was constantly absorbing the sea of ​​blood and chains. The next second, the black dot turned bright and exploded violently, scattering the remaining unabsorbed objects and energy outwards, like a giant hand sweeping across the seal, utterly destroying everything it touched.

The blood-red ocean, stretching for hundreds of kilometers with virtually no edge, was wiped away, including some evil spirits that had not yet been defeated, as well as the floating corpses that were constantly being sent into it to maintain the seal.

Even Angel and Gray were reduced to scattered mirror fragments in the explosion, reappearing high in the sky near the hole connecting to the well of dragon lock.

Above them, the Celestial Master, the Holy Monk, the Master of the Dark Abode, and the Headmaster of Haoli, who had been sitting cross-legged, all stood up, together with the Heavenly Emperor who reappeared at the palace gate on the horizon, bidding farewell to the warriors inside the seal in their own way.

In their perception, the towering sea of ​​blood in the well had been cleared away by the explosion, and the suppressed and sealed evil dragon had also disappeared. The battle seemed to have ended with Angel's victory.

But in an instant, the mad aura of the evil dragon surged forth again. Amidst the swirling mist, its towering, mountain-like body appeared and disappeared, gradually taking shape again.

As long as the "City of Calamity" remains, the spirit and consciousness of the source will not truly disappear. Given some time, the complete and unrestricted evil dragon will be reborn.

This time, however, there will be no seals binding Him. Angel will face a terrifying being who possesses the authority and symbolism of both "witch" and "red priestess," and who also has an ancient status.

But this was exactly what she had expected.

Without a word, Gray disappeared from inside the seal, while Angel quickly ascended, passing through the well where the iron chains were broken and the stone slabs were cracked. He nodded to the Celestial Master and the others, flew out of the wooden tower, and arrived above the vast city.

This is the largest and most prosperous city in the Western Continent, with a population of over one million. Its purpose is strikingly similar to that of Trier in the Northern Continent, both being deliberately built to seal the source energy power beneath.

Rather, the seal beneath Trier was established using methods from the Western Continent… Angel pondered, her figure in the black dress growing larger and larger, her snake-like hair hanging down, her hands outstretched, her fingers opening and closing as if pulling on something invisible.

With her movements, the city in front of her seemed to split into two: above the solid buildings and streets, another semi-transparent, illusory shadow slowly floated up.

This is the "City of Calamity," which is both a physical entity and possesses certain unpredictable characteristics. Its influence can range from large to small, but it most often manifests as a city that overlaps with reality, with overlapping doors and streets throughout the physical city.

Even in the ancient times before the "original creator" had awakened, this primal substance would manifest in reality in this strange state, creating many secret disappearances and terrifying legends.

The streets and buildings belonging to different eras and cultures that Angel saw in the mirror world of the "City of Calamity" that had leaked out of the seal also originated from this.

With her pull, the "City of Calamity" completely detached from the city below. The flying heads that wandered back and forth inside, and the swollen fan-wielding lady, who had just emerged from the sight of ordinary people in reality, were all taken into the air, shrank in an instant, and flew towards Angel.

However, Angel did not immediately try to absorb this source essence, but waited quietly, even as the aura of the "evil dragon" grew stronger.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

In the Northern Continent, Angel Grey's spirit returned to his body, and the fluttering, blood-stained banner merged into his body, no longer visible.

Without the slightest delay, she entered the mirror world and returned to the deepest "City of Calamity".

This is not the original source of that essence, but rather a false city in a mirror world that has formed outside the seal due to multiple leaks of source power.

It partly merged with the ancient Banshee, leading the locals to believe that blood sacrifices could appease the gods and avert disaster; partly overlapped with the primitive tribal villages of Sona Island, only to be quietly buried during the colonists' reconstruction; partly was sealed deep underground within Trier in the Quaternary period, following the fall of the "Blood Emperor"; and even within the sealed and isolated giant villages of the Eastern Continent, untouched by the Dark Sun, a trace of this primordial substance remained…

Recalling how Angel had obtained power at several source leakage points in advance, Gray landed on the streets of the mirror city, which seemed to be a mixture of buildings from countless different eras. He was surprised to find that the houses here had begun to collapse continuously in the earthquake, and the originally flat ground of the streets was twisted and cracked, as if it had fallen into disaster.

"When the essence is about to be contained, will this mirror city also collapse and disappear?"

Before she could make any further moves, she noticed several figures appearing beside her one after another.

Chik, dressed in a white dress, with black hair and blue eyes, whose appearance somewhat resembled the beautiful face on the right side of the evil dragon, stood beside him. Tudor, clad in black armor, with a cold expression and crazed eyes, had transformed into Angel's appearance, his expression somewhat bewildered as he looked around in the shadows, representing the negative side of the "creator in the mirror."

Only the "positive side," because of its different gender from Gray's, has no chance to appear inside the City of Calamity. Otherwise, if the yin and yang sides were to meet, something terrifying might happen that Angel and Gray would not want to see.

Ignoring the questioning looks from these phantoms, which were essentially manifestations of the power within the two of them, Gray once again drifted towards the sky, where the moon was shattered and meteorites were constantly streaking across, symbolizing an inevitable disaster. Just like Angel, who was currently in the Western Continent, he stretched out his hands and clenched his fingers together, as if he were pulling on something heavy.

She needs to simultaneously begin to contain the source energy that has leaked out of the seal, and to contain this "city of calamity" in the mirror.

If the seal on the Western Continent has been lifted, the two of them wouldn't need such complicated and troublesome methods. As long as Angel's body goes to the Western Continent, it can contain that source essence on its own.

However, all seven portions of the Source Essence, except for the Chaos Sea and the Source Castle, are now sealed. The Secret Ceremony can only send spirits and minds to the Western Continent, which means Angel lacks the physical foundation to accommodate the Source Essence. This part can only be filled by her mirror image, Gray.

This was the only way for external deities to ascend to the "Old Ones" before the seal was broken. Apart from Angel, the "Goddess of Calamity" who possessed the person in the mirror and had already established a connection with the City of Calamity, no other deity could do this.

This is our special nature, and also our special nature as a result of our arrangements... Watching the "City of Calamity" below, with its streets and buildings constantly collapsing, gradually shrink and fly towards him, Gray put his right hand back and touched the spot on his chest.

A blood-red banner mark was slowly emerging there.

Because of this uniqueness, her and Angel's "source essence" mark is not on their foreheads, but on their chests!

(End of this chapter)