From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 434 Ambition
The projection of Velakis fell silent, a stark contrast to the adventurers who were breathing heavily after surviving the ordeal.

“We all know who you really are, Vairakis.” Ivy said calmly, as if having a casual conversation with a visiting guest. “You are neither a god nor immortal. You are nothing more than a lich who squanders the souls and bodies of his subjects at will.”

"Enough!" Vellakis interrupted Ivy with a roar. "Who do you think you are? Daring to point fingers at the great Vellakis? I admire the ability and quality you've shown, but remember, your good luck won't last until the next time we meet!"

"Now, I have a proposal! Offer me the Astral Prism and your loyalty! I will grant you and your companions purification and advancement!" Vellakis attempted to recruit Ivy, seemingly unconcerned about his recent failure. "If you dare refuse, all of Faerûn will face the wrath of the Githyanki!"

"Your divinity is utterly laughable, your threats are utterly feeble." Ivy remained unmoved, already annoyed by Vyrakis's interruption. "You should know very well that the Astral Prism and its inhabitants are completely out of your control. And your servants are nothing but a bunch of bandits, with no chance of conquering an entire plane. If you want to take the Astral Prism, you'd better leave your fortress in the Astral Plane and come to take it yourself."

At this point, Ivy laughed again: "But I highly doubt that once you leave Tunaras, you'll never be able to go back."

Velakis didn't answer, or yell like a shrew who hadn't gotten the better of him, but simply scrutinized Ivy with his eyes that shone with a golden-red light.

This changed Ivy's impression of her somewhat.

Ivy had no reason to back down and met Verakis's gaze.

After a while, the three gems on top of the plane projector suddenly lost their light, and the projection of Vairakis disappeared as if the signal source of cable TV had been cut off.

Velakis no longer looked at this space, and the shadow of death completely left the adventurers' heads.

“Verakis has fled in disarray…” Gale groaned, feeling every joint in his body screaming. “It’s unbelievable.”

"The Regent Queen of the Githyanki is just a lich? Unbelievable. But it's not surprising, Turanas is no different from a tomb to her. Did you see the look on her face? Not much better than a little girl who has lost her doll." Minsara was using sarcastic mockery to cover up her previous panic. When Verakis cast the wish spell, she didn't even have the courage to draw her weapon.

“What those obsessed with power fear most is losing the power they have already obtained,” Will sighed. “Perhaps for Vellakis, what she fears most is losing her empire.”

“Why…” Leezer, still kneeling on the ground, asked in a daze.

"What?" Shadowheart, standing behind her, looked worried, but the words that came out of her mouth still conveyed malice. "I thought you weren't blind! Evil thoughts were just questioning the divinity of Vyrakis, and she flew into a rage. Ivy was right, Vyrakis's rule over the Githyankis is built on lies. Perhaps you find it hard to accept now, but one day in the future, you might be glad you saw her true colors today."

"Why doesn't she deny it!" Leezel drew his greatsword and slashed desperately at the dimensional projector in front of him.

However, the Githyanki's creations were not so easily damaged, and besides, the chaotic thoughts in his mind disrupted Lyezal's attack trajectory. After the greatsword collided with the metal casing of the plane projector, it immediately tilted to one side and slammed heavily onto the floor.

The reaction force traveled upwards along the blade of the greatsword, and Lyezel couldn't help but clutch his wrist and let out a muffled groan.

“You followers of Shar simply don’t understand!” Star Bay’s female leader turned her anger towards Shadowheart. “She didn’t deny it at all! Whether it’s the lich or the consumption of my people’s souls and bodies! I can’t even find a single reason to continue wielding the sword in her name! She promised us advancement and purification, but left without a word after being refused!”

“What did my past loyalty amount to? What did I mean by taking her rage as my own and wielding my weapon with all my might?” Lyezel cried out in accusation. “She just left! Without any explanation! I can’t even deceive myself into thinking this is just another trial!”

“It was all a lie… but I never betrayed her… it was her… it was her who betrayed me…” Leizer’s voice was no longer angry, but filled with exhaustion.

She walked around Shadowheart, turned back to pick up her weapon from the ground, and said in a barely audible voice, "I will no longer wield my sword for Vairakis... but what reason could I possibly have to wield it?"

“For your own sake, and for ours.” Ivy placed a hand on Leezel’s shoulder. “We still have many enemies to conquer. But as the captain of this squad, I’ll allow you to take a break today and give yourself a day off. No guard duty, patrols, or sword training. I can even find you a good bottle of wine from our collection.”

“Thank you, Ivy.” Lyezel swung his wrist and slung the greatsword back over his shoulder. “But I’m not that weak. You’re right, from now on I will wield my sword for myself, for freedom. And my first goal is to join you in destroying the cultists hiding in the Tower of the Moonrise.”

"It's so good to see your smile, Leezel." Karak, who was warm-hearted in every sense of the word, finally put down the worried expression on her face and patted Star Bay Women's University's shoulder hard.

But Leizer wasn't having any of it, waving her arm away: "You're mistaken, it's just a temporary spasm in the jaw."

However, Kara's strange "I understand" smile made Star Bay Women's College give up her stubbornness. She sighed, "Perhaps that's the reason... Even in such a dark time, there are still things that can cheer me up."

“Wow—” Karak clapped her hands. “I couldn’t think of a better way to say it.”

"Alright." Seeing that Leezel had regained his proud warrior demeanor, Ivy drew everyone's attention back. "Don't forget the artifact buried deep in this monastery, guys. If we hurry up, we might be able to catch the camp sentries' supper."

"You can completely trust my abilities." The evil thought pulled the magical artifact that once belonged to the corpse and ashes closer together, not putting it down even in the face of Vyrakis's wish spell. This was completely out of character for her assassins. Perhaps it was because she didn't believe a projection could truly be lethal?
The squad spread out in the hall, searching for the mechanisms hidden by the Losanda followers. Meanwhile, discussions about Vairakis continued to echo in the space.

“That must be a wish spell! Right!” Gale pretended to be very interested in the mural and strolled up to Ivy. “Even among the notoriously difficult ninth-ring spells, that’s the most unimaginable spell! You’re undoubtedly an archmage! Ivy! I’m starting to get curious about the Strathaven Magical Academy you mentioned!”

Ivy raised an eyebrow: "Weren't you curious before?"

“Okay, then I’ll correct myself, I’m even more curious.” Gale continued in a low voice, “Don’t you have anything you want to share?”

"About what?" Ivy asked calmly, but from an outsider's perspective, he seemed to have developed a strong interest in the contents of the bucket in front of him.

"About all of this! Vairakis! The Prayer spell! And why you got involved in the Supreme God's conspiracy!" Gale's voice was filled with barely suppressed curiosity. "If you say it's all a coincidence, I don't believe it!"

“Indeed.” Ivy nodded. “Let’s use a more mysterious word to describe it. What do you think of the word ‘fate’?”

Gale remained silent for a long time with a strange expression before continuing, "Actually... I've long felt that some kind of great force from outside the Prime Material Plane is interfering with all of this... Think about who we are! Me, a former chosen one of Mystra; Shadowheart, a loyal follower who carries out a death mission for Shar; Evil Thought, a Baal descendant who has lost his memory; Will, the only son of the High Duke of Baldur's Gate, and a sorcerer directly under the command of Zariel's demons! Karak is Zariel's champion warrior! In this squad, the future matriarch of the Banri family of Menzoberranzan is already the most mediocre! Oh, that's without considering Lyezal. Besides, she's quite special; I dare say many people on the Forgotten Realms have never even heard of the Githyanki, let alone seen one alive. And you! A swordsman from the Astral Plane who calls himself a bard, and also an archmage professor at a magic academy in another world!"

“Go on.” Ivy turned half her face and gestured with her chin toward him.

“Don’t you understand? Certain gods with unimaginable power have gathered us together, wanting to use us to help them accomplish things they can’t do themselves,” Gale said in a lower voice, as if someone were eavesdropping behind him. “But you and I both know that even true gods aren’t always as omnipotent as evil thoughts believe. They’ve deliberately chosen us as pawns to take their place, so we shouldn’t assume things will always go according to their plan.”

“You have quite the ambition, Gale.” Ivy turned her face completely towards him.

“I know that myself. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been unlucky enough to become the host of the Destruction Orb.” Gale turned to make sure his teammates weren’t looking in their direction before continuing, “While ambition doesn’t always guarantee a good outcome, for a mage, the lack of ambition is the most tragic thing. I don’t think you’ll disagree. As far as we’re concerned, at least three deities have already been drawn into this conflict called the Supreme God: Mystra, Shar, and Serene, and perhaps Losanda as well. The more deities involved, the greater our chances.”

“Serenne? Apart from some ruins left by Serenne’s followers, we don’t seem to have had any dealings with this goddess, have we?” Ivy asked.

“Now that Shar has already appeared, can Serene be far behind? I even think that Shadowheart might be a brainwashed Serene follower!” Gale couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief when he didn’t see Shadowheart’s long braid in his field of vision. “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have said such blasphemous things!”

Noticing Ivy's gaze, he continued, "I am indeed very ambitious, but I lack the strength to match it. In my past experience, this has often led to unpredictable disasters."

He couldn't help but touch his chest; the Orb of Destruction lay beneath his skin, as always yearning for magical items.

“If you hadn’t demonstrated the ability to cast ninth-circle spells, or if the ninth-circle spells you knew weren’t just wish spells, I wouldn’t have discussed these issues with you so bluntly. At most, I would have used a couple of lines of poetry that weren’t quite rhyming to remind Shadowheart,” Gale said earnestly, completely unaware that Shadowheart was already standing behind him.

"Remind me of what, Gale?" Shadowheart asked bluntly, arms crossed.

“Oh!” Gale exclaimed, turning around. “I meant… hair! I was just telling Ivy that your bangs were a little ill-considered…”

"Really?" Yingxin didn't rush to comment, but looked at Ivy. "Ivy, is that what you think too?"

“Hmm…” Ivy knew he shouldn’t agree with Gale’s quick thinking at this moment, but lying was obviously not a wise decision either. Fortunately, his companion once again shared his worries, “It seems that Evil Thoughts has found the mechanism left by the Losanda believers. We should go and take a look. Let’s talk about it after we get back to camp, Shadowheart. And of course, you too, Gale.”

Ivy nodded to Shadowheart and Gale, then drifted away towards the direction of the evil thoughts. Shadowheart glared at Gale, then turned and left as well.

Evil Thoughts stood amidst a pile of boxes and barrels, along with two statues of Losanda. She had already searched through all the boxes and barrels and was now trying to move the statues.

With the force of the evil thought, one of the statues rotated ninety degrees, changing its gaze from that of the Losanda statue opposite it.

“It seems you’ve already discovered something.” Ivy approached Evil Thought, her gaze passing over her shoulder to look at the base of the two statues.

There are two similar but not exactly the same lines engraved there: "Lossanda sends its blessings to the sunrise / The sunset bids it a heartfelt farewell."

“Yes.” Xie Nian clapped his hands and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “I guess these two statues should be facing east and west respectively, but the one on the other side seems to be stuck.”

“Leave it to me,” Ivy volunteered. “I can handle it with just a few small tools.”

(End of this chapter)