Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1445 Threat Theory (First Update)

"Girls, look at how low his taste has fallen."

Joan of Arc flipped through the data panel, a sly smile spreading across her face. Salomon didn't stop her; instead, he stuffed a piece of meat into his and Milia's mouths, and even the Cheshire Cat got a small piece of fatty meat—something Milia wouldn't eat. "Your investigation into this party planner is quite thorough," Joan said, showing the images on the panel to the others at the table. "Is there anything about her worth noting?"

"Nothing except that she's lived a very long time." Salomon, cigarette in hand, swallowed the meat with a swig of wine. Immortality was already quite extraordinary, but for this manor, his actual biological age had long been incalculable due to frequent intergalactic travel, and the two witches were also over five hundred years old.

"It originated around the time of Cescillo."

"Late Neolithic period, 7510 BC to 6190 BC." Laura Crawford raised a fork skewered with roasting meat. If there was any benefit to recuperating here, it was that she was no longer surprised by the existence of immortals. There was so much knowledge here; she could absorb it freely. She examined the photograph closely. "There is now evidence that the Sessicans of Greece came from Asia Minor. Black hair, high cheekbones—very Anatolian racial characteristics. If this is true, it means this woman has lived for almost ten thousand years?"

"Finally, someone understands I'm handling official business." Salomon clapped his hands, startling Milia. He quickly reassured the girl sitting on his lap, then gestured for Diana to pour Laura Crawford a glass of whiskey. This manor did indeed have many refined rules, but those were for the guests, not for the owner himself to follow. Rules created a sense of distance, highlighting the owner's unapproachability; Salomon himself didn't need those annoying rules.

“I like this.” Laura Crawford downed two shots of whiskey in one gulp, then placed the Iberian ham from the appetizer on a piece of fried bread and popped it into her mouth. It wasn't necessarily delicious, but it was certainly satisfying, and the relaxed atmosphere at the table completely captivated her. “I’m also interested in your business,” Laura Crawford swallowed. “I’ve never seen anyone live this long. The Divine Source?”

“No, the Divine Source is merely a byproduct of the Philosopher's Stone,” Salomon said. “You can find the method for creating Philosopher's Stones through the Red Dragon Approach in my library, along with an alchemy dictionary for reference. If you can learn it, you too can create Philosopher's Stones. Wanda?”

"Hmm?" The red-haired witch looked up from the plate.

"I think Miss Crawford needs some information about the Red Dragon pathway after dinner, the kind made using the wet method."

"How important is this woman?" Bayonetta interrupted the conversation, which was about to veer off course. Although she disliked Salomon bringing official business to the manor, especially to the dinner table, if a matter was so troublesome that Salomon had to handle it at the dinner table, it meant it was a big problem. If he was in trouble, it meant the manor was in trouble, and Bayonetta absolutely would not allow anyone to disrupt her current peaceful life.

"The Celestial Race".

Quiet fell over the dining table, with only Milia and the Cheshire Cat still chewing. Even though the Shadow Witch's library wasn't as extensive as Kamar-Taj's, Bayonetta, as a well-read witch, had also read the relevant texts. Even Wanda Maximoff, engrossed in her meal, stopped. Back at Strucker Castle, she had heard of the First, Second, and Third Advents—catastrophes beyond human imagination, the extinction of parts of the human race simply because the Celestials viewed humanity as a genetic research project to study the effects of the First Advent—to be precise, Salomon's expectations for the human race were also based on the First Advent; he believed the human race possessed limitless potential to become a race surpassing all others in the galaxy, a destiny ordained by Heaven.

When Salomon explained to her why the existence of gods was harmful and useless, the Celestials were the best example: if a god were truly omniscient and omnipotent, then worship and prayer would lose their meaning, and superstition would only prove humanity's weakness and fear. Humanity needs faith, but what it needs to believe in is its own courage and unity, its faith in reason and sacrifice.

"She's one of the Celestials' tools, the guardian of their genetic engineering." Salomon took a deep drag on his cigarette, then extinguished it in the ashtray. He picked up a gummy bear and popped it into his mouth, clearing the lingering sweetness of the herbal ointment from his tongue. "I discovered and tracked her many years ago, trying to figure out her purpose and thoughts, but only now do I realize she's worth paying attention to. She and her kind."

Why are you paying attention to this now?

"Because their deformed, exiled, and crippled kin are leading the Dark Order toward Earth," Salomon revealed the information he had received from his foster mother. He didn't tell the whole truth; some deeper, more subtle information remained unknown to him. He feared the Eternals were connected to his time-traveling self. To be precise, if the Eternals had been hiding within human society or secretly guiding human development, then they must be connected to him. "The Eternals aren't truly immortal; they simply live longer. But they possess a way to resurrect themselves. A technology we know very little about—capturing specific souls from the Aether Sea and then infusing them into specific bodies."

“A ritual of insemination,” Bayonetta said. “It’s not entirely technology.”

"Perhaps. We don't know the Eternals' attitude towards their exiled people," Salomon said solemnly. The atmosphere around the table remained the same, but it lacked its previous warmth. "Regardless, destroy that tool, completely sever this race's resurrection ritual, and cut off any possibility of the Dark Lord's resurrection. I must kill them before they summon their master, because we currently lack the power to confront their master. The past battles, with the gods dead, can never be repeated; our chances of victory are very low."

"Why doesn't she summon their master now?" Joan of Arc asked, "if the Eternals would want to."

"I don't know, and I don't care. All I need to know is that she has the ability to do it. Whether she and her kind want to do it is irrelevant. A few kind-hearted Eternals cannot sacrifice any innocent life for their own self-satisfied moral sense. Any sacrifice that is meaningless to the continuation of the human race is a waste." Cold words uttered from perfect lips, instantly changing the atmosphere at the table. Laura Crawford didn't know what Eternals or Celestials were, nor did she understand the era of gods walking on the earth mentioned in the conversation, but she could still hear a certain resistance and hatred in those words.

She witnessed the war waged by those warriors in Paititi, a war that no human being could bear.

"Regardless of the Eternals' thoughts, they can never stand against their masters. In that case, eliminating the threat in advance is what we should do. I will not let the lives of human soldiers be wasted on a meaningless battlefield."

"Do you need any help?"

"Not now. I think you have some more important battlefields to deal with," Salomon said. "The Sorcerer Supreme has not yet returned, and Kamar-Taj is vulnerable. I need your strength, my dear witches. Our enemies are gradually infiltrating this world, and Kamar-Taj needs you."

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)