Chapter 54: Mirror Divination and the Reaper

Seeing his office's familiar door and wall, the black-haired man throned his neck and stretched in his chair. Several satisfying cracks crawled up his back.

"Ah~ I needed that~" Adryan moaned in pleasure as he relaxed in his chair.

"If you keep making those sounds, the idea that I'm just a guard won't work," Flora complained with two fingers on the bridge of her nose, her white hair still tied back in the same ponytail. 

'This guy certainly is a handful...'

The looks she got from the workers still made her click her tongue in annoyance.

She was wearing one of the many dresses she bought over the weekend—a beautiful, polished, thick black dress with leaf and copper detailing along the edges of the long skirt, which formed patterns of branches. Because of the cold that autumn brought, her hands were covered by beautiful white gloves.

"Let them think what they want." The black-haired man rolled his shoulders disinterestedly as he grabbed his cup of coffee.

While it had grown cold, a simple hot breath solved the problem. With a cup of hot coffee in hand, the man looked at the woman with a small smile.

"Have you thought about what I said?" Adryan asked as he took a light sip from his cup.

"I'll do a little test. If you do something useful with it, the others will soon follow." Flora replied calmly, her gaze passing boredly around the office.

One of the multiple companies she controlled from the shadows would make a small investment in her companion's. Of course, it would be one of the minor ones, one that she didn't care if she lost or made a profit.

"That's more than enough for me~" With a victorious chuckle, the man looked at his cup for a few moments before extending it to the woman, "Would you like some?"

Without answering, Flora looked up at him from her spot and extended her hand by twisting her wrist a bit. The next moment, Adryan watched rather interested as the cup disappeared from his hand and reappeared in Flora's, who was quick to start drinking.

'If I wasn't watching it disappear, I wouldn't have even realized it was 'stolen.' Truly, the powers of that pathway give a lot for mischief.' In a way, Adryan could understand why a certain raven enjoyed being a Troll so much.

It was too tempting!

He didn't even notice the weight change when the cup disappeared.

"You drink a lot of coffee."

"Umm?" Raising an eyebrow, Adryan looked curiously at his guard. "Is there something wrong with that? I just like it."

Now that he was the Conspirator of Sequence 6, the caffeine in a simple cup of coffee no longer affected him, so he simply consumed it for the taste.

Flora lowered the cup and looked at him, "Just one thing I noticed. That and your disdain for tea."

For as long as she had known him, she had never seen him drink tea. Not a single bag or leaf was in their home, and the ones that were there, he threw in the trash. The expensive tea equipment in the room was practically gathering dust.

"I don't like it." Adryan rolled his shoulders disinterestedly before smiling flirtatiously. "Why the sudden curiosity? Trying to make an anti-me repellent?"

"Would it work?" Flora arched an eyebrow slightly, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

The red-haired man winked, "Maybe if you were the tea, I wouldn't have so much trouble trying it~"

"And there it is." Shaking her head with her cheeks somewhat hot, the Jacob lamented a little. It still grabbed her good, even if she was ready for what was coming.

Sometimes, she thought he was from Intis and not Feysac because of how flirtatious he usually was, and his methods were more Intisian-like. If it weren't for the time she was in his body, she'd think the guy was dirtier than the streets of East Borough.

As long as she'd known him, the guy hadn't tried to dance his way into a lady. He could tempt them but never go dancing. The closest he ever got was with her in the tower...

Sighing somewhat already accustomed to the man's flirtatious attitude and ignoring her warm ears, she continued, "With how varied your palate is, one wouldn't think there's anything you don't like to eat or drink."

"There are several things I don't like to eat," Adryan admitted honestly.

"Believe it or not, I can't stand the taste of cauliflower, let alone... tripe." The man finished with a visible grimace of disgust and shudder.

He could still remember the day his uncle had made him taste that sin of food, never again.

"How old are you? 10?" Taken a little by surprise, the woman looked a little incredulously at the man.

"First, I don't like the taste of cauliflower. Second, I HATE the towel texture of tripe."

The distaste on the man's face was evident, and Flora laughed in amusement.

Rolling his eyes, the black-haired man leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, "Wake me up if someone's coming."

"Yes, yes, yes, Princess." Smiling mischievously, Flora took another sip of her coffee and laughed silently.

Who would have thought it? There's one thing on this earth that a Feysacian wouldn't eat.

Ignoring Flora's clear amusement, Adryan began to draw the white sphere in his mind.

A moment ago, whispers had reached his ears. 

'Miss Writer asks for her allowance...'

...

A few hours later. Monday night.

Holding the purple-covered book in his left hand, the red-haired man controlled some of the power of the City of Calamities, and a large mirror formed in front of him.

It was full-length, made entirely of what appeared to be silver.

He had already read the entire book and was ready to begin experimenting with mirror divination.

Adryan let out a soft sigh. The redhead raised his hand, and an object in the distance flew into his hand. 

This was a simple towel. It was clearly once white but was now stained dark brown from dried blood.

Adryan stared with expressionless eyes at this handkerchief, his gaze void of emotion.

The blood that had soiled the clean handkerchief was that of someone he considered a friend but who turned out to be just a traitor waiting for the moment to kill him.

He thought he would feel more upset or even a little sad to touch this again, but he surprised himself when all he felt was great apathy.

That surprise lasted a few moments before a soft chuckle came from him.

"I was never one to dwell on the past. What happened, happened. All that's left is to move forward."

Lifting the soiled towel to the mirror, Adryan muttered in Ancient Hermes as he rubbed the mirror's surface with it, starting at the edges, forming various patterns and symbols.

"The potion formula of Assassin... The potion formula of Assassin..."

After repeating the sentence 2 times, the brown color of the towel turned to dark red. Crimson hot liquid began to drip, but the redhead ignored that and continued tracing the symbols.

"The potion formula of Assassin... The potion formula of Assassin..."

The yellowish smoke around him began to move smoothly around him, without any rush, slowly entering the mirror, whose reflective surface began to become turbulent.

At that precise moment, when the mirror's surface began to become turbulent and what it reflected was undistinguishable, the last symbol was drawn in fresh blood in the middle of it. It was a spear, with infinity enveloping it and with an open book at its feet.

As soon as the symbol was painted, the mirror's surface became murky and dark, as if it had suddenly become a window to the bottom of the ocean.

Amidst that turbulence and darkness, a scene slowly began to form...

It was a simple study, with a bookshelf full of books on the wall, a medium-sized desk on one side, and what stood out the most was the large mirror in one corner.

Two people were in the study: a fine-featured man with short blond hair and a beautiful brown-haired woman.

The red-haired man's brow furrowed slightly. He recognized Robert but not the woman who, from their somewhat similar features, appeared to be siblings or, at the very least, family.

'A sister or cousin, but immediate family...' As he thought the scene continued, the strange but familiar woman smiled at Robert and held out a piece of paper.

The man took it with trembling hands. Tears fell from his eyes, "Will I ever see you again?"

A soft laugh came from the woman who gave a gentle nod; even that small gesture had a certain beauty in it.

"When you become a real woman, that's the day we'll be sisters again." The woman responded with an elegant smile, her brown eyes shining warmly.

Then, she blinked, and the warmth was replaced by cold indifference. "Until then."

With those final words, the woman walked to the mirror and took a step. Instead of breaking, the mirror's surface shook like a disturbed river, and the woman stepped into it and disappeared from the room.

After a few moments, the mirror's surface regained its shape and reflected the man's crying face.

Robert shivered slightly before nodding vigorously, "See you soon, Sister Sharon. May the Primordial protect you..."

He then opened the paper and read what was written on it.

<>

Assassin's Formula.

Main ingredients: 5 feathers of Senu and 50 grams of Cursed Earth.

Supplementary ingredients: 100 milliliters of purified water, cannibal snakeskin, 5 drops of Intis Blueberry juice, a pure silver dagger, and 15 milliliters of lead.

Instigator Formula:

Main ingredients: A Demon Throat Honeyguide's Heart, A Dark Prowler's Poison Sac.

Supplemental ingredients...

Witch's Formula:

Main ingredients: Every drop of an Abyss Demonic Fish Blood, An Agate Pacock Egg.

Supplemental ingredients...

<>

At the scene, Robert reread the paper several times before holding it up to the lamp in the room and burning it.

As soon as that happened, the turbulence returned, and Adryan saw himself reflected. His reflection showed a thoughtful expression.

Since the woman appeared, he felt a strange sense of familiarity. He somehow knew her but was sure he had never seen her.

"Robert had said his family was in Tingen..." Adryan mumbled with a hand on his chin.

While clearly, the information the man had told him clearly could be a lie, but the redhead didn't dismiss it.

A Conspirator could not ignore information!

It only took a few moments for the answer to the strange familiarity he felt with the woman to be resolved. After all, as far as he knew, there was only one witch in Tingen.

With a loud grunt, Adryan slapped his face in exasperation, "I killed Sharon's little brother..."

How bad was his luck?

Sighing a little, the redhead rolled his shoulders disinterestedly, and his hands burst into flames, burning the towel to ashes.

"Well, never mind. Klein should have dealt with her by now. I don't have to..." In the middle of his words, Adryan stopped like a train hitting the brakes.

"..." After a few seconds of awkward silence, he nodded slowly. "Almost."

Never tempt fate, she's a bad tempered woman.

"...Next time I see him, I'll ask him about it..." Mumbling a little, the redhead reached out his hand to the side.

From the haze of yellowish smoke, an object shot out towards him, on its way several crimson droplets disappeared into the yellowish ground.

A few meters from reaching him, the object stopped in mid-air. It was a beautiful S-shaped dagger, dark black in color. Its blade released thick drops of blood that did not seem to stop, and its handle was orange with fine slashes all over it.

2- 48 Blood Dagger! The artifact made with the characteristics of Reaper!

Before, Adryan planned to wait for Nathan to return to use his divination to get the Reaper's potion formula after fragmenting the artifact and recovering its characteristics, but now it wasn't necessary.

After using Robert's blood for a test, Adryan considered himself ready to obtain his formula using the artifact as a medium!

Mirror divination is similar to pendulum divination and dream divination. To perform mirror divination, you must repeat a prayer about what you seek to obtain several times in powerful language and perform certain steps.

Although mirror divination does not require using cogitation to enter a trance, unlike those divinations, it is even recommended not to do so. 

The state of calm and trance that it brought could cause accidents, that state could make one look beyond what one should or do things that would jeopardize the outcome of the divination.

Another difference of mirror divination is that it does not use the astral body to receive revelations through the spiritual world. This is for obvious reasons, one of which is that the Mirror World is its own dimension completely unrelated to the Spirit World.

To perform mirror divination, one must use the corresponding symbols and ingredients. Each symbol was a letter that formed a sentence, and to put the final point to that sentence, one had to place the symbol of the Primordial Demoness...

For obvious reasons, the redhead used his symbol as the Scarlet Monarch instead.

The ingredients could vary a lot, depending on what you wanted to achieve and how, if you wanted to divine over someone or something specific, the best way was to use that person's blood. What followed the blood was hair, pieces of skin, and nails.

It didn't matter if the blood had dried; as long as it was enough, the mirror divination process would make it liquid.

Once all that is done, you can perform mirror divination.

Extending his right hand and letting Blood Dager's falling blood wash over it, Adryan began to trace various symbols in the mirror with the blood while repeating in Ancient Hermes.

" The potion formula of Reaper... The potion formula of Reaper..."

As the mirror's surface began to become turbulent and what it reflected was indistinguishable, he traced the symbol of the Scarlet Monarch.

The murky, dark surface returned but was soon slowly replaced...

The red-haired man's eyebrows raised slightly before the scene was fully charged, and a quiet, elegant melody emanated from the mirror.

"Music?" Adryan whispered a little confused before the scene in the mirror manifested itself.

It was a beautiful, luxurious room. The fine, detailed linens, along with the purple curtains, gave it a regal air. 

In the detailed chair of that luxurious study was a man about 30 years old, with short reddish black hair cut in a military style. His eyes were a deep iron-black color, and hot air surrounded him.

Behind him, a large shield almost covered the entire wall. It was the figure of a man in armor, carrying a spear in his hand, pointing to the ground.

In front of this man was another, much younger. He was in his mid-20s with medium-length red hair. His eyes were blue, and his posture was incredibly straight. A bead of sweat trickled down his brow, which was slightly furrowed in discomfort.

"Your contributions in the battles have been notorious, Asur. I have not ceased to hear praise for you at the celebrations." 

"Your words praise me, Uncle. It is always an honor to serve the family." Asur smiled, but his lips trembled.

Uncle at that just guffawed and shook his head. "I have things to do, so I will not be able to assist you with this. That will be entirely in your hands. Shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"No, Uncle. Never." Asur shook his head. The discomfort seemed to have left him, and now there was great excitement in his eyes.

The older man made a disinterested 'Mmm' as he pulled a letter sealed with the same crest from a drawer in his desk behind him and extended it to the young man in front of him.

"Try to memorize it; once you open it, it will be destroyed."

The hand that grasped the letter didn't even flinch at that; the young man just nodded and opened the letter without hesitation.

<>

Reaper's Formula.

Main ingredients: Gray Demonic Wolf's Front Claws and the Forest Hunter's Tongue.

Supplementary ingredients: 80 milliliters of Gray Demonic Wolf's blood, 2 fangs of the Forest Hunter, 10 drops of Colorful Bearded Horned Lizard Venom, 10 drops of Hornbeam Essential Oils....

Ritual: Plan and execute a successful capture of a target with a Sequence higher than your own. Flaunt the completed conspiracy before them and consume the potion as they witness your victory, filled with fear and despair.

<>

"A team of Punishers have taken to patrolling the coasts west of the island. An Ocean Songster is their captain. You shouldn't have any trouble dealing with him, should you?" 

Asur smiled and nodded, "Of course..." 

The man's voice went from being heard clearly to just gurgling, his clear image fading into the turbulent surface.

The mirror's surface trembled again and now only reflected Adryan's figure.

Adryan smiled hugely at his reflection.

He recognized the shield that appeared in the mirror very well. Why, every good Feysac, whether rich or poor, would recognize it.

The Coat of Arms of the imperial family of Feysac, Eirnhon!

"So you're made of Royal Blood, eh?" The red-haired man looked at the floating dagger at his side and laughed in amusement.

If he used the characteristics of this dagger, wouldn't that make him royalty by inheritance?

Shaking his head at how horrible that idea sounded to him, Adryan controlled the smoke so that it cleared his hand, done so he returned to touching the dripping blood and retraced several symbols.

Unlike before, these were not so complicated, yet they radiated a great amount of mysticism.

'While your sealing method is easy for someone like me, it's a huge waste. At least it seems that creativity is not lacking in the Church...' Clicking his tongue with some annoyance, Adryan began to mutter in Ancient Hermes.

"The blood of the dagger will work as a substitute... The blood of the dagger will work as a substitute..."

Finishing reciting the prayer 5 times, Adryan drew the symbol of the Scarlet Monarch.

The mirror's surface showed no change for a few moments before its calmness broke for a second before returning to normal. The sight was very similar to a drop falling into still water.

A sigh full of joy came from the redhead. "Positive!"

If the surface was broken like this, it meant a positive result, but if it remained unchanged and the reflection spilled the blood of the symbols, it was a negative result.

"Well, at least that makes it easier to get the supplementary ingredients." Laughing a little, Adryan patted the handle of the dagger playfully.

"To your corner you return, O Imperial Child~" The dagger vibrated for a moment, not seeming to like the nickname, but the man ignored it and waved his hand disinterestedly.

The dagger shot towards his designated punishment zone, but a few feet in, Adryan snapped his fingers.

Fush!

The dagger ignited in orange flames, which grew in magnitude as it touched the dripping blood from the black blade.

While he wanted to accumulate the blood to use as a future explosive, it was not possible to do that. 

When he received the artifact, he also received a copy of all the experiments they did with it.

It didn't matter where it went. If the amount of blood the Blood Dager released was equal to the amount in a 6-inch puddle, it didn't matter if he separated them into containers; the dagger would still go into a frenzy.

It also didn't work to trigger a freneci and kill the owner to keep the previous puddle, it would just burst into flames on its own and disappear soon after.

Sealing the Blood Dager was quite simple: set it on an intense fire and let the blood feed the flames.

Watching the dagger burn silently, Adryan couldn't help but find it poetic.

"Hunters must bathe in blood, flames, and destruction to grow. Without conflict, we would be stagnant. And those who do not seek conflict are not saved, for they will be used to climb to the throne of the one who reigns over war..." Mumbling thoughtfully, the redhead paused for a moment before laughing softly.

"We are born of blood, we become men by blood, and we die by blood." 

Shaking his head, Adryan closed his eyes and, after a moment, left the City of Calamities.

-----

Good morning and late Happy Halloween!

Just a quick thing. For anyone interested, I created a Kofi account.

Here is the link:

https://ko-fi.com/thewitness

I made it more for my mom than for me. She really wants me to charge for the chapters, but Nuh Huh! I have to make this more for her peace of mind than for me.

Also, for my socials, if anyone wants to drop a follow!

https://x.com/TheWitnessFoD?t=8DIEw-a8DtsZGxu5XbIblA&s=08

https://bsky.app/profile/witnes.bsky.social

I started publishing this story in AO3, too! That version has a lot of fixes for the early chapters. Here is the link. It is still in chapter 30, but this weekend, I plan to drop more chapters for it.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/60041170

That's all! Love yuuu~

Also, a short note: if I held a small lottery, would you all participate? I will check this comment in three weeks to see the results.