I loaded the Mysticism panel.

Richard knew what they were expecting.

He did a lot of work at his desk that year.

He's the first person people think of if they have something of dubious origin.

Hercules once said, "You know quite a lot of people."

The fact that he had a highly knowledgeable scholar standing behind him was common knowledge to everyone at the table.

Therefore, the other five people at the table had already been calculating in their minds.

Dionysus thought: This kid has the wildest methods; he might actually pull out a surprise from some hidden corner.

Hercules, however, thought that the old professor behind the other side probably wouldn't get involved himself.

Scholars, after all, have never been particularly good at direct combat.

Generally speaking, it's debatable whether a highly skilled scholar could defeat a less skilled hunter in an encounter.

But that old professor is clearly very influential in the circle, and might actually be able to help Hermes obtain the crucial power from somewhere.

Prometheus, on the other hand, thought that as long as the external aid that the other side brought in was as powerful as his puppet, that would be enough.

Nemesis looked at him with some concern, and Richard could understand what he meant.

Catherine probably assumed that he was also a family elder she had invited, and she might even have already guessed who it was.

Gerald Ashford, the master hunter, is the name that's been on everyone's lips in the industry these past few months.

But no matter who it is, the upper limit of everyone's internal measuring stick is at the same mark.

No matter who Hermes invites, it will never surpass the head of the household.

That's a master of the Abyss tradition, definitely the ceiling this table can reach tonight.

"I have indeed found one," Richard said slowly.

"Who is it?"

Richard didn't answer; he stood up.

Around the round table surrounded by seven stone chairs, the boundless darkness receded.

Richard closed his eyes and began to read the first sentence.

"Walking on a road of no return, sharing the same path we came from."

As soon as these words were spoken, all the lights in the temple dimmed simultaneously.

Hercules was not sitting properly in the chair and almost slid off;

Demeter's hands hung in mid-air, unsure of where to land;

The wine in Dionysus's amphora splashed out;

The flames above Prometheus's head kept shrinking inward.

The three-part honorific title—everyone at the table knew what it meant.

Hercules' mouth was wide open beneath his mask; he had spent countless trips on the battlefield throughout his life.

He had only heard someone recite such three respectful names once before, and after that recitation, everything on the entire battle line, whether dead or alive, prostrated itself.

Demeter turned sharply to look at the head of the table, where Hecate had already stood up.

Richard ignored them and continued reciting his second sentence.

"One who once returned from the deep realm with an army."

A path appeared on the marble floor of the temple, rising from nothingness, with nothing on it.

The scales above Nemesis's head began to tip, and she couldn't hold them up at all.

"My feet have become a path, my bones a bridge, only the way home remains suspended in the world."

Footsteps sounded on the road, and a pair of boots emerged on their own, then joined together to form the man whose hair looked like a clump of withered grass.

As soon as it came out, it looked around and frowned.

"This place looks quite grand..."

Halfway through his sentence, he gestured with his hand towards the seven stone chairs: "There are just too few chairs."

No one in the temple made a sound.

Hercules gripped the armrests tightly with both hands, his whole body trembling uncontrollably;

Demeter stood up and bowed slightly in that direction, the kind of bow a farmer would make when facing a thunderstorm.

Dionysus put the cup aside and lowered his head;

Prometheus's flame shrank to almost extinguishing.

He recently thought he had mastered the "foresight" of the mask of divine name, but now he can't see anything... It is precisely because he can't see that it is even more terrifying.

Nemesis lowered his hand and stopped supporting the scales.

She turned to look at Richard, thinking to herself: With such a relationship, how could he keep quiet about it?

Richard, like her, remained silent at this moment.

Because Matthew had said beforehand: don't say anything when you enter, let the head of the household see for himself.

Matthew stood there for a while.

It looked around before finally fixing its gaze on the main seat.

Hecate stood before the main seat.

For the first time, the two overlapping eyes beneath the golden mask were fully revealed.

The suture between the upper half of the girl's face and the lower half of the old woman's face split to its deepest point at that moment.

She knew this prestigious name before anyone else at the table.

In fact, she had already asked them for help long ago.

That time, after she finished reading those three sentences, the condition she handed over through the curtain was all she could offer.

The other end only replied with one word: "Get lost!"

Now, the very person who told her to get lost is standing right next to her table, casually called out by someone in the industry.

"Long time no see," Matthew said jokingly.

Hecate pressed her hand against the back of the chair.

"……you."

When that sound came out of the three-tone vocal tract, the girl's voice cracked first.

"Hmm? How am I?"

"Aren't you in the New World?"

"I am in the New World."

Matthew spread his hands: "I'm in the New World now."

"and you……"

"I forge my own path, and I can go wherever I want."

It took two steps forward.

That path that rises from nothingness, we follow it forward.

Hecate stood before the main seat.

She set the seating order at this table, calling out each person's name one by one, and everyone had to bow their head.

She couldn't utter a single word tonight.

Richard sat in his chair and could feel that the ether surrounding Hecate was in complete chaos at that moment.

"I'll just call you Hecate for now," Matthew suddenly said.

Hecate looked up.

"Your mask is indeed well made; the Triad Goddess governs the past, present, and future."

It grinned: "Still so self-righteous."

"What are you trying to say!"

Hecate's hands tightened on the back of the chair, clearly annoyed but not daring to show it.

Everyone present except Richard kept their heads down, pretending not to have heard anything.

"I don't want to say anything," Matthew laughed.

"I was invited here."

It gestured with its chin toward Richard.

"This kid is much more interesting than you."

Hecate's torch swayed slightly before she slowly sat back down.

………………

Even after the event was over, the road remained.

Dionysus carried the cup upside down when he left, and only realized it halfway there.

Hercules stood at the door for a long time, but in the end, without asking anything, he plunged into the sea of ​​stars.

Demeter walked very slowly.

Before leaving, Prometheus glanced back at Richard.

That glance contained not only awe but also calculation.

If an expert is willing to endorse someone, that person must possess something that others don't.

Nemesis was left until the very end.

As she walked past Richard, the words came to mind: "Call me if you need anything."

Richard nodded, and she left quickly.

Matthew stood on that road, his hands in his pockets.

"Kid, you should leave too."

Hecate raised her hand to stop her, but under Matthew's gaze, she withdrew it.

After Richard left, only the two of them, the senior and junior brothers, remained in the temple.

Hecate withdrew her hand from the table.

"Sit down," she said helplessly.

"There's no chair for me here." The man stood with his hands in his pockets, unmoved.

"If you want, I can arrange a match for you right now."

Matthew smiled.

"After all these years, you're still the same."

"What is it like?"

"You think everything can be solved by scheming?"

Hecate did not answer; the lights in the temple burned very faintly.

It took her a long time to speak.

"Teacher...are you alright?"

Matthew stood on that road, not answering immediately.

I saw her once last month.

"How is she?"

"She was still sitting in that chair, and there were still so many mirrors in the room."

"I've worn out several chairs by sitting on them, and I don't even remember which one she used."

Hecate's hand tightened on the table.

"Did she... mention me?"

Matthew looked at her with a sarcastic expression.

"no."

Hecate gave a dry laugh, a very unpleasant laugh.

………………

On the same night, at the foot of a mountain on the Apennine Peninsula, in an old monastery.

This monastery has had no monks since the 12th century.

The Papal States used it as a granary, then as a military barracks, and later it became nothing at all.

The long table in the cellar was moved down from the chapel upstairs, and the grooves on the tabletop where the sacred objects were placed are still there.

After setting up the ceremony, Minerva extended invitations to the other six.

Of the seven chairs, Minerva naturally sat at the head of the table.

Her mask had deep-set eyes and an extremely fine star pattern etched on her forehead.

The silhouette of an owl hung overhead, and below it was a short spear that gleamed faintly.

"The information has been verified." Fortuna was the first to speak.

Her mask was the simplest, a plain round plate with nothing on it, and the Wheel of Fortune hanging above her head slowly turned.

"Tell me about it," Minerva said, looking at her.

Fortuna placed her hand on the table and briefly introduced the six people, emphasizing one person in particular.

"Hermes, most likely a scholar, tradition unclear, speculated to be a classic text."

Although they are practitioners, this is actually the most troublesome aspect.

Minerva looked up.

"How so?"

Fortuna tapped her finger on the table.

"He only signed his name last year, ranked fourth in terms of resonance, and his image was published earlier than the two junior experts."

"The most crucial thing is..."

She stopped.

"Speak," Minerva urged.

"Our line of reading stopped in May of this year."

The table fell silent, and Mars pressed his palm down on the surface.

His mask was made of iron, with a deep groove running from his brow bone to his jawline.

A spear and a round shield hang overhead, with wolf heads on the shield.

"What does 'broken' mean?"

"The literal meaning," Fortuna explained.

"We can discern the hierarchy of the Greek team, who their foreign players were, and the level of resonance they achieved."

"But this one, by May of this year, could no longer be photographed."

What does it mean that the image can't be captured?

Fortuna thought for a moment: "If you reach out and touch it, all you'll touch is your own hand."

Mars snorted through his nose.

"You can't even read about someone who works in the field?"

"I don't know." Fortuna leaned back listlessly.

Minerva, sitting at the head of the table, spoke the least.

"continue."

Fortuna continued to introduce the opposing team's foreign players.

When Demeter mentioned the three little proficiencies, Venus laughed out loud.

"Not a single one of the three?"

"Not a single one."

"Then their table is missing three players."

"Don't rush." ​​Fortuna took her hand back from the table.

"Hecate invited one."

Minerva looked up.

"Who?"

"The Abyss Master from the Ross Empire, she has a wide business, you should all have heard of her. Her relationship with Hecate probably dates back more than a decade."

The table fell silent.

"Anything else?" Minerva asked again.

Fortuna began to stammer.

"Hermes also invited one."

"who."

"……I have no idea."

Mars suddenly looked up.

"You don't know?"

"I just don't know," Fortuna said helplessly.

"We only read one thing on that line."

"What is it?"

Fortuna raised her hand to make a gesture, and the shape was barely formed.

"One road."

The lamps inside the hall began to flicker.

"What road?" Venus asked.

"I can't explain it, the line just disappeared on its own when I read it that far."

"It dares not read further."

No one spoke at the table.

Fortuna lowered her hand.

"The last three words I read were..."

"The Road of No Return, the Deep Realm, Returning with an Army."

Mars stood up from the chair, which then tipped over behind him.

"A master!"

"right."

"Impossible," Mars exclaimed in disbelief.

"The rules clearly state that experts in the seat competition cannot directly participate."

"It could just be a bluff." Venus began to use her inner demons.

"It's just reciting the name of the Venerable One in three parts; anyone can recite the name of the Venerable One."

"Reciting someone's name and inviting them to the temple are two different things. How do you know they've actually succeeded?"

Fortuna turned her head.

"Because after we read those three words, we couldn't read any more information."

Venus's self-consolation came to an end.

"When?"

"Tonight."

Minerva finally spoke.

"Sit down, everyone."

Mars stood still.

"Mars!"

He could hear heavy breathing coming from under the iron mask. He helped himself up in the chair and sat back down.

Minerva placed his hands on the table.

"I have something to tell you all first."

"I never wanted to play this match in the first place."