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It was like becoming a fetus again, returning to the womb of a mother.
It was also like relaxing one’s body and mind, soaking in a hot spring... The moist and warm liquid was so enchanting that even one’s mood became tranquil.
When Aiwass regained consciousness, he heard the swishing sound of the tides around him.
The thick smell of blood mingled with the sound of people talking.
When he opened his eyes, he saw a dark red sky with a pitch-black crescent moon hanging above.
At their feet, the blood sea frothed with white foam, ebbing and flowing like the sea under the moonlight.
In the center stood a huge mechanism made of brass, a dancing automaton. Her hands were crossed in front of her as she stood elegantly and motionless in place. Her back had butterfly-like wings, but these wings were not biological—they were crafted from countless thin gears and metal pieces.
Aiwass and Lily appeared almost at the same time.
This time Aiwass did not let the Shadow Demon attach to him and cover his entire body.
Instead, he chose another method of disguise—
After all, Aiwass’s hair was already quite long, it was just usually tied into a ponytail. Now he had let down his hair and put on Lily’s clothes—then, with the Shadow Demon covering him, Aiwass looked no different than a female silhouette, as if an "unlocked character" outlined in black.
Lily, on the other hand, adopted the opposite disguise.
She put on Aiwass’s men’s coat and wore a large-brimmed hat—fortunately, Aiwass had brought a grey trench coat and a top hat with him when he left home. Now, they came in handy for Lily.
Although Lily’s curly gray hair still hung down her waist without any concealment, she cleverly changed her posture to that of a man. Just by looking at her fingers crossed, leaning back in the chair, legs crossed, it was difficult to see the current "Mr. Grey" as a woman.
Because according to what Aiwass had said earlier, Miss Aleister was actually a woman. 𝒏𝒐𝙫𝙥𝙪𝙗.𝒄𝙤𝙢
Although the fact that Aleister was Aiwass was known by some...such as Her Majesty the Queen, and the great Guardian. But this was still a secret unknown to outsiders.
—Perhaps this bit of information disparity might suddenly come in handy at some moment in the future. So, Aiwass simply put on Lily’s clothes and planned to play out the identity of "Miss Aleister."
After all, he didn’t have to do anything, not even put on make-up—the ritual of promotion didn’t allow for a clear view of the face, and the voice would also be distorted to some degree. One could only judge the true identity of the other party by posture, clothing, tone, and hairstyle.
As for speaking—
Originally, it was the Shadow Demon who spoke on behalf of Aleister.
Now, it was just a matter of adjusting the voice from that dry, hoarse, monster-like tone to the voice of Miss Assassin.
Compared to that...
Aiwass looked up, taking a keen interest in the crowd.
—He and Lily turned out to be the seventh and eighth fill-ins.
Before their arrival, six people already were present. Judging by the level of enthusiasm in their conversation, they seemed to have been there for a while.
This indicated that the main venue for the ritual was very likely not in Avalon.
The ninth person to appear right after Lily was a small and gaunt old woman wearing a large green hat.
Her body was hunched and shrunken, not quite resembling a human. She looked more like a goblin.
The previous six attendees saw that everyone had arrived, and the man sitting in the first position looked over with interest and asked, "Which among you three is the one on the Path of Transcendence?"
"Shouldn’t you introduce yourself before asking someone else questions?"
Aiwass did not speak.
But the voice of Miss Assassin Croix, sweet and gentle like honey, echoed with a triple resonance—one rough and one sharp.
"Indeed, miss, you are correct."
The man nodded slightly, very polite.
He placed his right hand on his chest, bowed slightly, and said, "I am ’Prohibition,’ Path of Authority."
He appeared vigorous and well-built, seemingly in his early thirties, with a voice that was loud and clear.
"’Philosopher.’"
The second man, with his arms crossed, said coldly, providing a stark contrast to Prohibition.
He seemed as cool and proud as winter itself, exhibiting a sense of superiority. He was probably not young... Although one couldn’t see his face, it seemed that he was at least half bald, probably at least in his forties or fifties.
"You can call me ’Stranger.’ For now, I am just an apprentice Alchemist."
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Another man in his forties answered amicably.
"I’m ’Foundry,’ Path of Devotion, nice to meet you all."
The fourth to speak was a dwarven lady—although she could also be a grandmother or aunt. Because of the general premature aging of dwarves, it was hard to tell her exact age. However, her demeanor was quite friendly.
"I am Janet."
Then a woman who seemed to be using her real name spoke up.
She said with a smile, "Janet Plateau, Path of Love... but I’m not a witch, am I, girls?"
"...Shadow Soul."
The sixth person to speak had his head lowered, looking as if he was about to fall asleep, emitting a hoarse and deep voice.
After a moment of silence, Aiwass tilted his head slightly.
Then, the voice of Croix carried forth, "Alai. You can call me Alai. As you can see, I am a Transcender."
"Grey."
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Lily used her false voice technique to produce a low, husky voice.
Because she had only uttered a single word, silence filled the waiting hall for quite some time.
Finally, the old lady wearing the green hat came to her senses, her voice sharp as she spoke, "I am... the hatmaker, of the Path of Beauty."
Indeed, it was worthy of the New Moon Ritual, Aiwass thought.
What kind of odd assortment of gods and monsters is this...
He glanced around and saw at least three alts.
To have his team, along with Lily as a fill-in, dragged into this... it indicated that the ritual host judged that if they were to pull in Transcenders from the solo queue now, the difference in power levels would be unfair to them.
This meant that indeed, there were many alts participating in the New Moon Ritual.
Prohibition, Philosopher, and Stranger were very likely in the same team, and these three individuals could all be alts.
As for the Foundry, it was hard to say, but he seemed to be a Dwarven blacksmith at first glance. Such a supporting occupation tended to find teammates easily.
One of her teammates was Janet Plateau. Shadow Soul wasn’t sure if he was part of their group.
Aiwass knew of this person.
Janet was actually an Avalonian.
A well-known Fairy Scholar—she had entered the Fairy Kingdom once, receiving healing abilities from the fairies... an ability to create something akin to witch ointment. However, this ability was extremely unstable, working only intermittently, and sometimes it would turn into poison or a prank potion.
Yet, she wasn’t arrested for accidentally killing someone with her treatments; rather, it was because she, as a journalist, repeatedly made public political statements—including, but not limited to, "The royals being killed off one by one without much worry from the monarchy suggests that the Queen wants to pass the throne to someone in particular," "Avalon actually can’t stand a chance against Star Antimony, we’d shatter upon their first assault," "Gryphons are utterly useless, less functional than motorcycles for the public well-being," "The alchemy of Avalon actually has no real development, and those supposed technological breakthroughs are all useless,"—such cutting comments.
Although a fair share of truth was mixed in her speculations, she really had no evidence—it was all wild guessing.
Moreover, she also reported on stories that were surely not true.
For instance, she repeatedly claimed that Sherlock Hermes became a famous detective because he had staged those cases himself. For reasons unknown, she harbored strong animosity towards Sherlock, criticizing him publicly on numerous occasions.
But eventually, her loose lips led to disaster—she got caught and spent six months on a treadmill and, once released, she fled to Star Antimony.
If these six were all from Star Antimony, then it would explain why their first words upon speaking were to directly ask which of us was a Transcender.
Shadow Soul was most likely from the Path of Dusk, and Stranger was an Alchemist. These three Paths are the absolute mainstream in Star Antimony, just as the Paths of Authority and Dedication are in Avalon. It’s unlikely they were placed there to fill up space.
If none of these three was a Transcender, it would mean someone among the rest was lying—and for this reason, Aiwass was able to confirm that these six individuals were at least not in the same team.
The New Moon Ritual allows a maximum of three winners, and failure often comes with a cost. So, teams can only consist of up to three members.
These six had to divide into two or three teams, but all were in Star Antimony. That’s why the ritual had to pull him and Lily, along with this likely Goblin "hatmaker," to fill the ranks.
--After leaving the radiation range of Avalon, even the racial proportions had increased.
Aiwass experimented a bit, placing his hand on the armrest. The shadows concealed his movement, and in the palm of his hand, card after card emerged.
[Blade of Shadows], [Shadow Cloak], [Earthbound Spirit].
——As expected, the Defiant Flame Butterfly could not be summoned.
It was unclear whether the Sin Card was completely unusable or if it was only the Defiant Flame Butterfly associated with the Path of Devotion that couldn’t be utilized.
This was simple. Once Little Butterfly also reached the Fifth Power Level, Aiwass would be able to draw her strength to make some weaker cards.
All one had to do was wait until the next New Moon Ritual to see if these cards extracted from Little Butterfly could be used.
After everyone had introduced themselves, the bloody waiting room was suddenly filled with the delightful sound of a music box.
The brass dancer in the center flapped her wings ever so slightly, dancing gracefully to the light melody.
The dance immediately captured everyone’s attention; they were immersed in it. Merely watching the dance was enough to feel spiritually healed.
Her dance became more intense, more frenzied. Finally, she opened her eyes, and those eyes, like the most beautiful emeralds, dazzled and enchanted everyone.
Eventually, her dance calmed down. Once the dance was over, she closed her eyes and returned to her original state, motionless.
"I am Terpsichore."
Her ethereal voice echoed in everyone’s hearts, "The Muse of the Gemini Mirror."
Beyond that, she didn’t ramble another word.
[This time there are seven Transcenders with multiple Paths, but please note: only the abilities of your Path of Advancement and the Extraordinary Items you crafted yourself are permitted during the ritual]
[The ritual time limit is sixteen hours, with a reality ratio of eight to one]
[You must survive until the end of the ritual or meet the special victory conditions for early settlement]
[As this is a New Moon Ritual, points for kills will be considered in tallying the scores, and the winners will be selected from the highest to lowest points at the end of the ritual]
[There will be three regular victors for this ritual, with special conditions for victory]
[The special victory conditions for this ritual are: "Secret Reflection" and "Twin Victory"]
[Secret Reflection: In this ritual, all Transcenders’ genders are opposite to the roles they play. Uncover the real identities of all the other Transcenders without exposing your own and win outright, regardless of any other conditions]
[Twin Victory: At least two Transcenders must remain at the end of the ritual; if only one survives, they will automatically lose and the two deceased Transcenders with the most points will be declared victors]
[The difficulty level for this ritual is "Hard Challenge"; true death within the ritual will result in ninety days of weakness in the real world, with a small chance of soul damage, and an extremely small chance of disability]
[The dreamscape for this ritual is constructed by ’Amber’, and the script and bonus rules are managed by ’Gemini Mirror’]
Then Terpsichore paused for a moment. Like telling a story, she sang softly:
[The year 1580, Helasal Empire...]
