Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 1404 Completes the Closed Loop
Under the moonlight, the most powerful beings on this planet, and even in the entire universe, descended upon this place in their own ways.

"Lord of Mysteries" Klein arrived here as a puppet dressed in a trench coat and top hat. Of course, with his power, he could transform the puppet into his real body at any time, or use authority and abilities that were no different from his real body.

Gray couldn't tell whether "God" Grisha came in his "imaginary" body or as a shadow clone, but he believed that He wouldn't come here in His true form so casually.

The vessel used by "Eternal Darkness" Amanisis for divine descent has been returned to her family by "Mother of Heaven" Philaneias; this time, it should be the true form descending.

Of course, Angel, the "Cataclysmic Disaster," also arrived in her true form. She could have used an almost infinite number of mirror clones to enter reality, while she herself controlled everything in the mirror world. However, as another part closely connected to her, Gray could sense that what was in front of him was the true Great Old One, not some mirror image.

Seeing the sudden appearance of the send-off party, Gray sighed inwardly and quietly withdrew his foot from the complex symbols and patterns that could activate the power of the "City of Calamity".

Her wish to sneak away without alerting anyone seemed impossible.

……

Angel breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed that the runes, which were still etched on the summit like indelible marks after being completely destroyed by the Church of Storms, had not yet been activated.

After discovering that Gray had secretly slipped out of the City of Calamity, she immediately realized what he wanted to do. Without any delay, she contacted Klein, Grisha, and Amanisis and came here to stop Gray.

Of course, Angel understood that Grey's departure was inevitable. She came from another world and did not belong here. Moreover, with the help of the two pillars of that world, she had already achieved her goal of "traveling" here, ending the apocalypse in a completely different way. There was no sufficient reason for her to stay.

Although Gray made himself the original "Angel Granger" when he first arrived, while the original Angel became a person in the mirror, the special properties of the Witch Path, a resurrection method left by the "original creator," allow the original body and the person in the mirror to merge or replace each other. This has created those people in the mirror deep within Trier who have always wanted to replace the original body, and has also blurred the distinction between "Angel" and "Gray".

Ultimately, Angel, who originally belonged to this world, became a true god and ascended to the status of an Outer God. Even though she was essentially a mirror image, she became a truly great being. This made the existence of "Grey" somewhat awkward. She was neither a mirror image that had truly split off and lacked much independent consciousness, nor did she possess an independent consciousness. Unlike the mirror images of other "ageless" witches, she was not completely integrated with herself or enslaved.

Especially after Angel ended the war of the end times and initially stabilized her own state, she no longer needed to rely on her own mastery of a single witch pathway or Gray's mastery of the red priest pathway to prevent the yin and yang sides of the "creator in the mirror" within her body from contacting and merging. Instead, she could accommodate all the pathways under the source matter on her own, just like other Great Old Ones. She only needed an extra "doomsday" witch characteristic to maintain the yin-dominant state and suppress the initial yang side.

Angel saw this as a good thing, as it allowed her to separate Gray, who had merged with her when he became the "Cataclysm," giving him freedom to move around. This was equivalent to having another person in the mirror who shared some of the old power.

But it seems that this is not a good thing in Grey's eyes. She repeatedly mentioned that "time travel must eventually end in a closed loop", which means she wants to return to a future where there is no hope, to a timeline where the barrier has been broken and Earth has no ability to resist the Outer Gods, and to accept her own fate.

According to their speculation, if Gray, rather than Angel, activates the runes in Banshee Harbor, she will be sent back to the point in time before she "traveled," which is 1368 in another timeline, with a delay of up to 10 minutes.

At that time, Gray will face a total of ten Great Old Ones, while Earth does not even have a single normal Great Old One. Judging from the experience of the Angel Doomsday War, just the approach of the "Super Star Overlord" to Earth, which has no protective barrier, is enough to tear the planet apart by gravity. Without the anchor of faith, the Sequence 0 True God will find it impossible to even maintain its own existence, let alone fight against them.

Landing in front of Gray, looking at the face that was almost identical to his own, Angel sighed softly and said:
"Since there's only despair left over there, why not stay in this world you're trying so hard to save?"

Klein, Grisha, and Amanisis also landed a little further away, not disturbing their conversation, but instead using their powers of concealment and shadow veils to isolate the space.

Hearing Angel's almost accusatory tone, Gray shook his head and replied:

"This is not my world after all, and they... are not the people I know. My home is on the other side, in that world that is about to be destroyed."

As she spoke, she glanced at the few onlookers who were quietly watching, and continued:
"Although your friends and partners look the same as those I remember, and their personalities are almost identical, they are not the people who went through everything with me."

Even though my memories of another timeline have become unclear, as if shrouded in mist, I still remember where I came from.

"There is no place for me here."

“Of course!” Angel retorted immediately, then lowered his voice, as if the volume of his voice had no effect on the several onlookers beside him, who were all from the past. “I am your mirror image…and you are mine too. Everything I have belongs to you: the church, my faith, my friends, and my family. After we deal with the issue of the ‘creator in the mirror,’ I can give you a piece of ‘Apocalypse,’ or ‘Conqueror’ will do. In the Tarot Club, you are the ‘Chariot,’ in the church, you are the Pope, and in the mirror world, you are me…”

At this point, Angel glanced at Klein, who was wearing a top hat and had a polite smile on his face, and lowered his voice even further.

"Except for him, of course."

This addition finally amused Grey, who burst out laughing and helplessly hugged Angel, silencing the rest of his words.

"Alright, I had already thought this through before I 'traveled' here. Whether I succeed or fail here, I will return to the starting point and face my own 'doomsday'."

Gray whispered in Angel's ear.

"This world no longer needs me, but that world still does. Besides, if this 'closed loop' hadn't been completed, I probably wouldn't have come here in the first place. And without this variable, the world you live in would have ended up in the same desperate apocalypse as the one I live in."

What Gray described was a low-probability event; more likely, the two "timelines" are independent of each other and do not interfere with each other, and the parts that have become history will not change because of her choice.

But no one dares to gamble on that probability.

Unable to voice any of the reasons he had prepared, Angel could only sigh inwardly, then turn around and hug Grey tightly, bidding her a final farewell.

At that moment, she even had an impulse to go with him to another timeline to help Grey save the apocalypse.

But she knew that as an Old One, she had lost the ability to "travel". The two "uniquenesses" that supported her in containing the source matter could not travel to the past or future through the characteristics of the City of Calamity. And if she used a clone of a certain "doomsday" position, it would be impossible to change the situation on another timeline.

Abandoning their physical bodies and extraordinary characteristics, and using the imagined status of "God" to travel through time while retaining only their spiritual bodies, is the only way, and it is also the choice made by Klein and Grisha in another timeline.

Having convinced Angel, Gray slowly loosened his arms, breaking free from the embrace that Angel was unwilling to let go, and looked at the other three onlookers.

As Great Old Ones who knew Angel Grey's origins and could deduce the importance of the "closed loop," they did not try to persuade him to stay; they came only to say goodbye.

Klein removed his top hat and pressed it to his chest, gave a slight bow, and said:

"Hopefully, you can find a way to survive the apocalypse over there."

This can be considered a blessing, and it's the only thing he can do. Even if he becomes the "King of Time and Space," Klein cannot truly change the past. This is something only the original creator could do.

Even if he gathered the authority and symbols of all the great beings present, he could only send a witch who was no more than Sequence 1 and related to the "City of Calamity" to the past, just like his counterpart in another timeline. And what good would that do... Thinking of this, Klein was also taken aback.

Beside him, "Eternal Darkness" Amanisis bent down, lifting her skirt, and said in a soft voice:
"Thank you for everything you've done."

His expression was calm, as if he had known all along that this moment was inevitable.

The last to speak was "God" Grisha:

"Since your purpose in coming here is to save the world, then a perfect ending is the best reward for you."

“I thought you would say that these were all necessary sacrifices.”

Gray chuckled softly in response, then looked at Angel and whispered in her ear:

"Having a child might be a good way to maintain humanity; the original God had two children before he went mad."

Before Angel could react or retort, Gray took two steps back, stepping onto the altar where the intricate patterns and symbols had suddenly brightened. He took a deep breath, smiled, and looked at the crowd, saying:
"After that, it's your turn..."

Before she finished speaking, her figure disappeared above the altar.

Klein tightened his grip on the top hat, Amanisis's face seemed to be veiled in black, and Grisha's ever-smiling face stiffened.

Angel took a few steps forward, seemingly wanting to follow his reflection in the mirror onto the altar and head towards that hopeless future.

But reason stopped her, and she finally stopped at the edge of the gradually dimming runes, looking down at the leaking point of the "City of Calamity" power, which was covered with charred and bloody marks, and remained silent for a long time.

...This silence lasted for a full three minutes, then suddenly, Klein spoke in a probing tone:

“In Angel Gray’s view, her future is a world on the verge of doom, a world without any hope, but is that really the case?”

Angel looked at him with some confusion, and the other two old friends also cast their gazes at him, waiting for his further explanation.

“That’s how it is,” Klein walked to Angel’s side and stood in front of the altar where Gray had just left, and continued, “After I became the ‘Lord of Mysteries,’ I realized the essence of the ‘parallel world’ problem. Using the ‘door’ as the key to all mystical worlds, one can open and enter other parallel worlds, but there is no other ‘Lord of Mysteries’ or ‘God’ there, nor is there a second group of Outer Gods besieging Earth… It is just a space similar to the Mirror World, without any extraordinary characteristics that exceed the original number.”

As he spoke, he looked at Angel.

"Therefore, the essence of parallel worlds is still a subset of this universe. Otherwise, we could open the door and plunder more extraordinary characteristics, or even uniqueness and source matter, from other worlds to enrich our own world."

"No one, except the Creator, can change the law of conservation of extraordinary properties."

Amanisis added.

Regarding this point, Gray had also emphasized that even if one were to travel back to a point in the past through the "City of Calamity," creating two "Angels" in the present, it wouldn't cause my extraordinary characteristics to become two separate entities. This is because it's essentially a manifestation of the power of the mirror world, and it will disappear after the overlapping portion of time ends. Furthermore, the power of the mirror world comes from the creator within the mirror and does not violate the conservation of extraordinary characteristics in reality… Angel pondered this, subconsciously asking:

"You mean there isn't a second 'apocalypse' timeline?"
"Where did Gray come from?"

Suddenly, Angel froze.

After Gray arrived in this timeline, her extraordinary abilities could not be maintained for long, and even her own existence had to depend on another Angel... The plan of being mirror images of each other went so smoothly, without any problems in coordination... She was so determined to complete the "closed loop," as if it were a task rooted in her heart... One question after another popped into Angel's mind, causing her eyes to gradually widen.

"Could it be that there isn't a second parallel universe, and all of this happened in our own universe?"

She had a rough idea, and while seemingly asking Klein a question, she was actually guiding the conversation.

Klein nodded, his gaze shifting to Grisha, whose smile was gradually spreading across his face, and said:

"The key point is that Gray has already given us the answer: she traveled through time with the combined help of the 'Lord of Mysteries' and 'God'."

The latter clearly understood this and immediately replied:
“I will take charge of the false memories part, but I need your cooperation, as well as the Source Castle’s cooperation, otherwise everything will be exposed once Miss ‘Chariot’ joins the Tarot Club.”

“You’ve been observing us from the sidelines every day, so there shouldn’t be any oversights in the details. But I’ll be the one to adjust the ‘Dream City’ part. I’ve asked her in detail about how she awakened the ‘Fool’ in that world.”

Klein picked up the conversation, a smile appearing on his face.

Only then did Angel understand the meaning of these two pillars, and the gloom that had settled over Gray's departure vanished.

She glanced at Klein and Grisha as if to confirm, and said:
"So, Gray really is my 'mirror image'?"

Klein nodded and said:

"As long as we can deceive her, and deceive those of us from before, she is someone else."

At this moment, Amanisis suddenly spoke in an aria-like tone:

"It's all part of the Destiny Stone..."

“Alright, this is getting a bit too melodramatic…” Klein interrupted the goddess, a rare occurrence for him. “We need to hurry. If we miss the timeline for Grey’s ‘Back to the Future,’ the loop might not be able to be completed.”

Upon hearing this, Angel no longer hesitated and immediately brought a mirror stand-in waiting in the mirror world into reality. She relinquished the authority of the "master of the mirror," gradually bringing the somewhat dazed stand-in's expression to life, as if it had become another version of her.

At the same time, "God" Grisha placed a figment of his imagination, a "doomsday" characteristic, into this body, granting her a temporary Sequence 1 status.

Along with this characteristic are all the memories of "Angel Grey," some of which come from the information He obtained from this mirror double five years ago, and some of which come from the details that Klein "grafted" into His mind.

If the details are insufficient, just gloss over it with "memory is gradually fading"!
What "Lord of Mysteries" Klein needs to do is to make the modified memories in the Stand's mind her own and fix them with the power of the Source Castle.

In this way, even if Angel Gray ascends to the Gray Fog and becomes a member of the Tarot Society, the modifications made by Grisha will not be erased by the power of the Source.

In Gray Mist's view, that was a modification made by "Source Castle" itself.

After all this was done, the mirror double, who looked exactly like Angel but with only slight differences in facial expression, slowly opened its eyes.

Her mind was a bit confused, and she couldn't tell where she was for a moment, but soon, countless memories flooded her mind, making her eyes panic and her expression somewhat frightened.

The Fallen Mother Goddess has entered the barrier... The Outer Gods are about to invade, and Earth is powerless to resist... Angel Grey pursed his lips and subconsciously looked up at the sky, but noticed two familiar figures in front of him.

It was Mr. Fool and Adam after merging with the "True Creator"... She immediately slipped into character, forcing a smile as she asked:
"Dear Mr. Fool, may I ask, has the end of the world arrived?"

Klein put the top hat back on, shook his head, and said:
"The end of the world is coming, but we still have one chance..."

"Now, 'God' and I will send you back to 1349, back to the moment you came into this world."

"Only in this way can we save the world from destruction and save ourselves."

……

Seeing the "person in the mirror" who looked bewildered but whose eyes gradually hardened, Angel, whose form had been concealed by Amanisis's "secret" authority, suppressed a laugh and activated the power of the "City of Calamity," sending this "Angel Gray" back to the past.

She will return to the early morning of June 28, 1349, to Daffodil Street in Tingen, and tell Adam and Amanisis, who have rushed to the scene, about the "future." Then, she will complete a difficult five-year journey, doing her best to save the world and survive the apocalyptic war with minimal losses.

Afterwards, she will bid farewell to Angel and, with the mindset of returning to the "original timeline" to die a heroic death, step onto the same altar, returning to the early morning of June 28, 1354.

The time will be delayed by a maximum of 10 minutes...

With that thought in mind, Angel left the "hidden" area and returned to the altar where he had just seen off the person in his mirror, waiting for that figure to appear.

The same applies to Klein, Grisha, and Amanisis.

The moment their gazes focused on the altar, the symbols and patterns beneath their feet brightened again, outlining a figure with pale golden hair.

"...This is your era."

Angel Gray appeared above the altar, accompanied by words he hadn't had time to finish saying 10 minutes earlier.

Her forced smile crumbled instantly, replaced by a resolute acceptance of everything.

Then, she noticed four figures standing in front of her, belonging to "another timeline," whom she had just said goodbye to.

"I...I failed to time travel?"

Gray stared blankly, managing to squeeze out a question through his lips.

(End of this chapter)