Mage Manual
Chapter 498 - 408: Trick After Trick (Thanks to the new alliance leader ‘The Striving Chasing Light Squirrel’)

Chapter 498: Chapter 408: Trick After Trick (Thanks to the new alliance leader ‘The Striving Chasing Light Squirrel’)

"As long as I can revive the glory of my ancestors, sacrificing everything is worth it!"

"Since you’ll become Necromancy beings eventually, why not use you as my nourishment?"

"Don’t blame me, your deaths are not worthless. If you want to blame someone, blame the Rusted Crow, it was he who sold me this ritual. I will avenge you by killing the Rusted Crow."

As they watched the image of ancestor Vandus ruthlessly killing his kin, everyone moved away from him a bit more. Cleos from the Crying Red Hat even slightly raised her gun muzzle, seemingly prepared to aim at any moment.

Like Hanna, Vandus’s ritual had been skipped by the Gospel, directly transitioning to the celebration after the completion of the ritual.

"Vandus sat in an ominous Blood Pattern Array, surrounded by the corpses of the Kaiseri people: they were bisected at the waist by Vandus, their upper bodies outside the array with hands clasped, their lower bodies with legs together, kneeling in front of the bodies, devoid of all blood, all of it having collected on Vandus’s forehead, forming a diamond-shaped Blood Mark."

"Fate... I see it..." the brilliance flowed in Vandus’s pupils: "Everything will inevitably come to an end."

"Vandus Kaiseri receives the spoils ’Blood Pattern’."

"Blood Pattern: Activate the Blood Pattern with 100 milliliters of Kaiseri people’s blood, lasting 10 minutes once activated, during which the Mage’s cognitive abilities increase by 15%."

The image had ended, but the aftershocks lingered on.

"Kaiseri," Mercury weighed his words, "this is an internal matter of your family, and I will not comment. But you can no longer represent the Kaiseri family, so you cannot participate in the spoils distribution—but I guarantee, in the name of the Mercury family, all intelligence obtained will be shared with the Kaiseri."

Mercury’s approach was both soft and firm, putting in a lot of effort, given that the future list clearly pointed out Vandus’s future misdeeds. Not taking the opportunity to remove him would be a waste of the Gospel’s assistance. But he still needed the combat power of the Kaiseri Mage, at least to deter Senheiser, so he gave Vandus enough face.

"Heh."

Vandus suddenly chuckled: "I don’t think so. You might ask the Kaiseri Clan Leader; he still trusts me."

"Quite confident," Qinna raised her eyebrows: "If a traitor harming his kin appeared in Senheiser, I would definitely turn him into fireworks. Or do you believe you can convince your clansmen that the rank on the ’Deceit List’ is a trap set by the Gospel?"

"No, I am sure of it. This is my future," Vandus said. "I do admire the Cross ancestor. If given the chance, I would definitely take every risk to dabble in the Fate Faction of the ancestor Cross... not even needing external pressure, just to break through the Holy Domain, ascend to Legendary, I would do it because I have no other path left."

When Vandus said he had ’no path’, the Holy Sanctuary Mages fell into silence. They had all been immersed in the Holy Domain realm for many years, frequent visitors of the Distant Realm, achieving countless respected accomplishments in the secular world. Yet, the anxiety of having ’no path’ still tormented their hearts incessantly.

Some devoted themselves to their families, like Qinna; others to their careers, like Anna; some pursued rankings, like Cleos... Holy Sanctuary Mages were almost all incredibly talented and therefore, they found it the hardest to accept that their talents had limits, like someone who thought they were free only to realize they were in a much larger cage.

Vandus saying he would go to such dark extremes for power made everyone immediately believe him. They wouldn’t do it, not because they didn’t want to, but because there were things more important than power in life.

"But the truly dangerous person on the ’Deceit List’ isn’t me," Vandus said. "After deception, comes more deception."

Everyone was slightly startled, looking down at the ongoing updates of the ’Deceit List’.

"’Deceit List’ 8th place: Morgan’s Fusion Understanding Ritual"

"Summary: Morgan Dorn is a Legendary Mage from the Spirit Faction, renowned for love miracles; during his lifetime, no matter the age, sex, or legendary status, everyone fell for him. To seize Morgans’s power, on April 10, 1678, Joel Hopkins decided to sacrifice an additional male Holy Sanctuary Mage, a female Holy Sanctuary Mage, and 100 individuals of various ages from each gender to carry out the Fusion Understanding Ritual."

"The mastermind behind it: Joel Hopkins"

"Joel Hopkins is a Two-winged Mage from Modora," Mercury said with a grave expression: "Very talented and seen as a seed of the Holy Domain. It wouldn’t be surprising if he achieved the Holy Domain within ten years."

But no one paid attention to Mercury’s information; everyone noticed the eerie information revealed through the future rankings.

"’Deceit List’ 7th place: Napolet’s Mercy Purification Ritual"

"Summary: Napolet Dijir was once a Legendary Mage of the Truth Faction, regarded as ’the legendary closest to an Angel’. To inherit the power of his ancestor Napolet, on April 10, 1678, Jeremy Dijir destroyed the Abyss Seal, triggering an Abyss uprising allowing the deep abyss’s monsters to wreak havoc across the City, thus initiating the Mercy Purification Ritual."

"The mastermind behind it: Jeremy Dijir"

...

"’Deceit List’ 3rd place: Mercury Korintenna’s Glory Forging Ritual"

"Summary: The ancestor of the Mercury family, Korintenna Mercury, controlled Divine Beings with a Mortal Body, his grand power extending through generations hardly diluted, ensuring that each generation of the Mercury family possessed Shadow Faction talents, yet also fearing light, fragile and short-lived. To inherit the power of his ancestor Korintenna, on April 10, 1678, Rein Mercury pulled the entire City into the shadow, using 7,853,454 people as sacrifices to initiate the Glory Forging Ritual."

"Behind the Scenes Mastermind: Rein Mercury"

Noticing everyone’s gaze towards the Shadow Sanctuary Mage, Ash didn’t need to ask to know his name was Rein.

Compared to those Sanctuary Mages who would easily slaughter their own families or sacrifice an entire city, Hanna, who merely killed attendees at a banquet, seemed relatively pure and good.

But compared to the sins that Rein, Zuvendas, and Hanna would commit in the future, what everyone cared more about now was the information revealed by the future list —

"Who exactly is Rusted Crow?" Cleos couldn’t help but ask, "Why does it seem like all the rituals come from him?"

In all the images that had appeared so far, although the mastermind behind each was different, one person tied them all together—Rusted Crow!

The crowning of Kings, the reappearance of Wisdom, the integration of Understanding... all these costly and extraordinarily evil sacrificial rituals came from the hands of Rusted Crow! Though Anna and the others were the masterminds, they were also consumers; the one providing ritual knowledge, Rusted Crow, was the true evil source, the disaster of this world!

Moreover, more than that, the seven deceptions, seven rituals, all occurred on the same day, April 10, 1678.

This was definitely not a coincidence, but these seven couldn’t possibly have arranged to get together to make big news—at least Hanna wouldn’t likely have any intersection with them.

Moreover, it was strange that the future list provided such specific timing; this wasn’t the past list, why would the future list reduce its own margin for error?

"Ash," Purple Moth suddenly leaned into the Cult Leader’s ear and whispered, "Did you notice... these seven deceptions, though not complete, are all related to resurrection."

"Uh-huh," Ash’s expression was solemn, "And then?"

"No and then, but don’t you think I’m quite clever?"

"If you were as young as Liss, I might pat your head, but you’re already this big..." Ash reached out and flicked Hanna’s nose, "I’ll grudgingly allow you to hug me."

Hanna pounded his sides with her fists, clearly very pleased—the attention of everyone had now shifted to the list and Rusted Crow, resulting in less focus on the funeral ceremony. If Qinna just toughened up a bit, they might be able to all return to Vatican Mura, although this time they probably couldn’t escape Qinna’s grasp...

At this moment, the list updated again, revealing another familiar name.

"Deceit List Rank 2: The Basic Aggregation Ritual of Everton"

"Synopsis: Everton Belladett, the ancestor of the Belladett family, was a Two-winged Mage and Demigod Angel who had commanded several Divine Beings. To dominate the necromantic form of ancestor Everton, on April 10, 1678, Yvalin Belladett burned the spirits of all the dominated to activate the Basic Aggregation Ritual."

"Behind the Scenes Mastermind: Yvalin Belladett"

Damn!

Everyone internally exclaimed with deep admiration for Yvalin.

This was the loudest move they had seen so far—Yvalin was not simply reviving her ancestor or inheriting her ancestor’s legacy but outright dominating her own ancestor!

This was something only a Belladett could do, after all, other people’s ancestors had long returned to the Void Realm, while only Belladett’s necromantic angel was still barely lingering in some tomb. Coincidentally, Belladett’s ancestral techniques belonged to the Dominion Faction, all key elements aligned perfectly, not trying to dominate their own ancestor would indeed waste the arrangements of fate.

From afar, the otherwise nonchalant Yvalin also slightly furrowed her brow.

She didn’t expect the Belladett family’s years of planning to be exposed like this.

Indeed, this wasn’t just her idea; from generations ago—perhaps starting with Everton’s son—the Belladetts had been pondering over how to dominate this necromantic angel.

However, because there was no survival pressure, the plan had been kept perfecting and was never practiced, and it also had many significant, unavoidable flaws, so Yvalin had never considered it herself.

But one look at the images made it clear how clever the ritual Rusted Crow sold her was: she burned a massive amount of spiritual power to twist reality, creating a body from nothing, and used the Bloodline Ritual to summon the necromantic angel’s sliver of consciousness, imprisoning it within the body. Since every cell of this body was under Yvalin’s dominion, this cage effectively trapped the necromantic angel, achieving indirect control.

Yvalin was instantly compelled, itching to try it immediately.

But everyone had the same question as her: Rusted Crow, who exactly were you?

Soon, the Gospel Book would completely answer all their questions—

"Deceit List Rank 1: Ash’s Kingdom Resurrection Ritual"