Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability

Chapter 1145: Devouring Concepts



"Angel of Devouring? What abilities does it have?" Franca asked Ludwig casually, treating him as one of their own.

After all, he was like her godchild!

Ludwig, who had yet to break the seal and regain his full intelligence, answered honestly, "The core ability is to devour the rules of a specific area and certain shallow-level concepts, though there are limits to the number and range."

"Devour rules? How does that work?" Franca's curiosity was unmasked.

It sounded pretty powerful.

Before Ludwig could respond, Lumian reverted the scene back to the protected zone. The surroundings were no longer layered in dark mirrors, and sunlight once again shone through the windows into the clean, bright living room.

Ludwig glanced at the sunlight streaming in and the well-lit room before slowly opening his mouth.

Suddenly, Franca's vision was consumed by darkness; the entire area became unnaturally black.

For someone like her, who possessed Night Vision, it wasn't an issue. She turned to look at Ludwig and could still see the boy clearly.

"I thought you swallowed up the entire area, including us, into your stomach," Franca joked.

Ludwig froze for a moment before explaining, "I could, but at my current level, I can't directly swallow areas or physical targets. I'd need to create a vortex in my mouth to pull you all in, and you'd be able to resist that pull."

"I see..." Franca switched gears and asked, "So what exactly are you devouring right now?" "It's the rule of Sunlight Illumination. Even if a Beyonder creates sunlight again, until this rule is restored, that sunlight won't function," Ludwig explained earnestly.

Lumian smiled and inquired, "Can you spit out the devoured rule?"

"Once something is devoured, it's gone for good; it can't be restored." Ludwig opened his mouth again.

The sunlight returned to illuminate the living room.

"Didn't you say it couldn't be restored?" Franca asked, amused.

Ludwig picked up the piece of steak from the ground, stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed before answering, "It's not that the rule was restored; I created a new rule similar to the original."

"So devouring a rule allows you to use it yourself?" Franca suddenly understood.

"Only once," Ludwig admitted. "To use it repeatedly, I'd need to devour the source power that creates the rule."

Franca had initially wanted to ask how long it would take for a devoured rule to recover, but her spiritual intuition had already given her the answer: one to three minutes.

"And how does devouring shallow concepts work?" she asked instead.

Ludwig turned his gaze to the crystal chandelier with its golden frame. His eyes reflected the object.

He opened his mouth again.

Franca followed his gaze and noticed the chandelier's faint gold frame turning pitch black and dull, utterly unappealing.

The golden hues of other items in the living room also disappeared, leaving a void of blackness.

"Did you devour the concept of 'gold"?" Franca clicked her tongue.

Ludwig nodded. "Can the concept of 'gold' recover on its own?" Franca asked, finding the suddenly drab living room rather unappealing.

"...It depends on how it's devoured. One method allows for recovery, while the other makes the concept permanently disappear within the affected range-unless other Beyonder powers intervene," Ludwig hesitated before answering.

"Which method did you use just now?" Franca suddenly had a bad feeling.

"The second one," Ludwig confessed.

Lumian chuckled and raised his right hand, snapping his fingers.

With a snap, all the golden hues in the living room were restored.

Franca's first reaction was: You can perform magic and create miracles now?

She immediately remembered that this wasn't the World of Ruins, not the real world. Even Frank Lee's thoughts could affect sailors in their surroundings, let alone Lumian, who could partially wield the powers of a Visionary.

"Let me try next time!" she said regretfully.

Lumian turned to Ludwig and asked, "What's the name of Sequence 1? And what about Sequence o?"

Ludwig mumbled, "Overall, Sequence 1 is called Chaos Gastric Juices, and Sequence o... In the dream city, I saw a term I thought was fitting-Gluttony. Otherwise, you could call it Self- Devourer or Tail-Devourer. It means devouring oneself, digesting oneself, and growing oneself anew."

"Tail-Devourer probably represents a cycle rather than literally devouring oneself. Let's go with Gluttony or Self-Devourer," Franca opined.

Lumian chuckled. "Pathways with the prefix 'Primordial' always seem to have some

connection to chaos."

He then said to Ludwig, "You can go back to the kitchen and continue eating. When the time is right, we'll open the third layer of the Box of the Great Old Ones."

Ludwig breathed a sigh of relief and left the living room reluctantly.

Franca's gaze returned to the Box of the Great Old Ones before glancing at Lumian. She opened her mouth but changed her question at the last moment, "What are the abilities and negative effects of this Grade o Sealed Artifact?"

"The first layer swaps the internal space with the target area, rapidly turning whatever is placed into the box into toys. The second layer records various scenes and allows the user to add new ones. When opened, the holder and all living beings within the designated range are forcibly transported to the specified location.

"The hidden risk of this transportation is randomness. It only works as intended a small fraction of the time. Most of the time, the destination changes unpredictably. Furthermore, the good luck given by the Post-Apocalyptic Scripture can't influence it, or to be more precise -Sequence 1-level or lower good fortune cannot influence this randomness accurately.

"As for the third layer, well, you've already heard it." Lumian gave a brief summary of the Box of the Great Old One's abilities.

Franca was taken aback. "Good luck from anything below Sequence o can hardly influence the randomness?

"Then how did Madam Temperance accurately transport herself and the Demoness of Black to the Underworld using the blessings of the Angel of Mercury? Or was it actually Mr. Fool's miracle that made it happen?"

Franca was very interested in her former superior, Demoness of Black Clarice. During their return to the protected zone, she had briefly asked Madam Temperance about her fate. The latter had explained in rough detail through written notes.

She knew that the Demoness of Black had been transported to the Underworld by the Box of the Great Old Ones and perished there. However, her dormant mirror remained intact, enabling future resurrection.

Of course, reviving through a dormant mirror was a process that took time. When the mirror world completely collapsed with the fall of the Primordial Demoness and the world's mirrors shattered, dormant mirrors would be hard-pressed to survive-unless placed in locations with exceptional protection or potent interference.

Based on this, Franca suspected that the Demoness of Black had failed to resurrect before her

dormant mirror was destroyed and was truly dead.

This aligned closely with what Lumian had relayed from Mr. Fool's final remarks.

Lumian smiled at Franca but offered no explanation.

Franca wanted to press further but closed her mouth instead.

As Lumian sealed the Box of the Great Old Ones, he said to Franca, "Give me a dormant mirrorn/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

to keep in my divine kingdom. In the future, as long as you're not killed by one of a few

specific abilities, you'll always be able to resurrect."

"Alright, I'll fetch one later-or rather, I'll make a new one," Franca readily agreed. She, of

course, didn't carry dormant mirrors on her person. They were hidden in secret places, like the Nation of the Evernight. After becoming a Demoness of Catastrophe, she could now create three more dormant mirrors even before her potion was fully digested.

Lumian hummed in acknowledgment and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Franca calculated the time and found that his "occasional" bout of

clarity wasn't over yet.

"Helping Mr. Moon digest his potion. I feel like he's about to summon me," Lumian replied

with a smile.

"Sounds like fun," Franca said, her eyes relaxing into a smile.

She pondered for a moment and said, "Once I've made a new dormant mirror, I'll visit my

only subordinate and let her know the Demoness Sect is finished."

...

Backlund, in the basement of a villa.

In the underground area of a villa, a vibrant tomb surrounded by mutated grass, flowers, grains, and insects stood tall. Several Sanguine stood upright before it.

The Moon Emlyn was nearby, setting up a ritual altar.

He felt a little confused about the situation. Originally, he had only intended to enhance the

digestion of his potion by summoning a high-level existence. To ensure the effect, he planned to have a few Counts under his command witness the ritual as audience members for feedback. However, the Sanguine had taken this matter exceptionally seriously. They had asked him to conduct the summoning in front of the Round Moon Duke Olmer's coffin and even summoned several younger marquises to observe.

What was supposed to be a small affair suddenly became solemn and grand.

Although bewildered, Emlyn understood the current situation.

All the existing Dukes of the Sanguine were too old. Their bodies were failing, and leaving their coffins for prolonged periods was not an option. Other marquises were either similarly aged and weakened or lacked sufficient protection from those of higher ranks, making them vulnerable to losing control during the advancement ritual under the crimson moon's

influence.

Thus, Emlyn had become the Sanguine's hope-the marquis most likely to ascend to angelhood in recent years. No amount of importance attached to him was excessive. Did I ever tell them who I'm summoning? I think I only mentioned summoning a high-ranking existence... The Moon Emlyn pondered over this trivial matter while arranging the altar. The upcoming summoning was likely one of the rarest in mysticism history. He couldn't simply rely on his abilities to create a Door of Summoning and call it a day. Respect and ceremony were a must.

Of course, this wasn't his first high-level summoning. If the projection of Gehrman Sparrow he had summoned in the dream city had been complete, his High Summoner potion would

have been fully digested long ago.

Before long, The Moon Emlyn finished preparing the altar. He turned to the tomb of the Round Moon Duke Olmer and the surrounding Sanguine marquises and announced, "I'm about to begin the summoning."